I LOVED hearing about everyone's long weekends today!!!

Hello there.

Ultrasound was awesome this morning before school. It turns out doctor was wrong with the due date. Baby Grewell is now due June 15th. Yay!!! I don't have to worry about missing school now. Whew! They are stuck with me all year long! All was well in baby land. I shared picture with the class. She/he is as big as a piece of rice (not a gummy bear yet). The heart was strong and beating quick! Fun, fun, fun!

A BIG thank you to Hanna and Josh. Hanna brought me back a pack of million dollar bills from the mint in Washington DC. Kidding!!! Turns out it was a notepad. Awesome! Thanks for thinking of me and tying our money system into your trip. I will have to find a special way to use those million dollar bills!



And, Josh knew that I just love chocolate. Baby and I will enjoy our LOVE m&ms from the M&M store in Vegas! I love that you looked for a BELIEVE one!!!! LOVE it!!! Thanks and yum!



While in Vegas, Josh went to a great display of Da Vinci inventions. Guess what he found…the hygrometer!!!! No way! How awesome is that since we just learned that a bit ago in science. He also ended up in a space tank. Oh my! Fun in the sun for him!!!


A BIG sorry to Gwen's family. I said that they were in thermopiles, when they were really in Yellowstone National Park. Sorry about that one. I read my text a little too quickly!

I also forgot to post the picture of Kyra's leaves on yesterday's blog. Shame on me! Here they are…beautiful!


Homework tonight is a math sheet. We started our NE states so this is a trivia page that when solved will give facts about one of the 11 states found in this region! Awesome learning!

Book report books need to be finished by next Monday. We will start the book report then.

A BIG thank you to Laney, Gabrielle, Kyra, Hanna, AJ, Noah L, Espen, Landon, and Reece's families for agreeing to bring a dozen cupcakes on Friday for the Halloween party. Please drop them off at the office before 6 pm on Friday night. Thanks!!

I think that about sums it up for the great day of Monday! Have a wonderful evening!
Mrs. Grewell

Cupcakes Needed This Friday! :0)

Howdy Folks!

It feels like ages ago that I last blogged to you. Please make sure you read the blog above this one if you missed it last week. You can also write in the code word if you missed it! :0) I LOVE that over half the class checks the blog even though chances were high that I would not blog. So awesome!!! Thank you for being so dedicated!

Last Friday (Wednesday) we had a wonderful time joining up with MCC for their Make a Difference Project. The kids LOVED painting the boards with black chalkboard paint. They worked together and the worked carefully. I was very proud of all of them. Some went home with a  little paint, but over all they were careful, careful. Thanks for the paint clothes! Here is what the project will look like when they hang it downtown. Ours won't say Before I Die. It will say I can make a difference in Billings by…I will make sure to let you know when it is up and ready. It will be hung next weekend. The contact person at MCC for this project is Erin. (Hint, hint to anyone that might want to capture this moment in time for Billings and put it on the news. :0)).



Erin started the project out in the classroom by making a classroom sized poster similar to the one that will be hung downtown. Each kiddo came up and added to the list on what they wanted a neighborhood to be like. They also made name tags, but instead of writing their names, they wrote words of how they can make a difference. Fun!



Then, we finally went outside to paint! Well done 4th graders!!!



This weekend, I was surprised with a couple of very fun pictures. Gwen was in Thermopolis, Wyoming. It looks as if she needs to jump in those hot pools!!! Brrrrr! According to mom, she had a great time learning all about the area and what it entails! Awesome!!!



Hanna and family went to Washington, DC. She sent these pictures of her by the Washington Monument and at Arlington Cemetery where she watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We will be learning about this VERY soon!!!! This brought me back to my Florida teaching days where we took our 5th graders on a field trip to DC on a train and stayed for a week. Awesome fun!!! Thanks for bringing me back to some fun memories Hanna! I hope you had a BLAST!



Thanks to both kiddos for sharing with me. I LOVE being a part of your world!

We welcomed back Kyra from her family trip to Pennsylvania. It was great to have her back in the classroom. We missed her! A HUGE thank you to her for bringing me back some beautiful fall pressed leaves that she found there. Look at those colors! I loved the picture she sent with her in the fall background. I love that she brought me back a piece of it. Definitely a gift from the heart…just like Bradley says in our book! :0)

This week begins our box top collection contest. Will it be the cats or the GRIZ????? Bring those box tops in, starting tomorrow, and put them in the bag of your choice! May the best team (GRIZ) win! :0)



This coming Friday, we will kick off the beginning of Red Ribbon Week. Although, the actual week starts the following week, I like to have my first guest speaker come before it starts. He is a DEA agent and goes undercover often in the drug world. Every year, I have him come in and tell the story behind Red Ribbon Week. He talks about DEA Agent Kiki Camarena and how he gave his life to help make the USA a safe place to live, especially for kids. His life ending is tragic, but it will be shared in an age appropriate way. We will do many activities for this week. Watch for permission slips coming home soon. I am a big believer that 4th graders are ready for the truth, but only in a way that is age appropriate. All of our guest speakers will know that coming in. In the past, it has been an awesome week during fly time!!!! There will also be dress up days to show school unity in this fight against drugs. Those will be posted soon! :0)



Academically this week…

Math: Finish algebra by looking into equations and solving across an equals sign by using the reciprocal of the given operation. Wow!

Lead 21: New unit! Going green. Students will read about how to help keep the Earth safe. We will work on predicting, literal questions, inferential questions, and determining importance of information all throughout the unit. Kids will also be responsible for a new inquiry project. This one will be full of action! Kids will need to do something that will make a difference in their community or school. Fun!

Language: Plural nouns

Spelling: long and short oo sounds. Congratulations to Landon, Noah B, Noah L, Reece, Krissy, Claire, Avery, AJ, Espen, Dominic, Adler, Gabrielle, Josh, Carl, Gwen, Cayden, and Kyra for making alternate club this week!

S.S.: Northeast Region

MT History: Major Cities and a scavenger hunt

Science: Weather fronts

Mark those calendars: THIS Friday is the PTA Halloween Party at Arrowhead. Get those costumes out and ready. I can't wait to see you there. Remember, they are in need of cupcakes! One dozen is all they need from you! So, I can let them know who they can count on, please write YES if you are planning on donating a dozen fun Halloween themed cupcakes or NO if you can't help out this time in the planner for $10 tomorrow. Thanks!!!

I am excited to leave you today with a HUGE , HUGE shout out to Carl's dad, Doug!!!! His company, Treasure State Engineering, donated the needed funds to buy the rest of the books Mrs. Gleason and I needed for our Fly Time Meetings!!!! We are doing the biggest happy dance right now! Thank you so very much Mr. Strand! You and your business just made a difference in the lives of kids for years to come! Thank You!!!!!



Have a wonderful Sunday!
Mrs. Grewell

Inquiring mind wants to know who can't live without the nightly blog. :0)

Soooooooo…who checks the blog even when I say there will be no blog????? If you are reading this write I DO!!!! in the planner for $100 tomorrow at check in!

Dr. Appointment went great. Little one is still too little to hear the heartbeat. However, we get to see her/him on Monday Morning before school when we have our ultrasound. Yay!!! Nurse says he/she is the size of a gummy bear right now. CUTE! I will try super hard to not schedule appointments during the work day. I HATE missing school!!! Due date is May 30th. Baby and I had a serious talk afterward. Told her/him that they will have to be one week late. :0) Time will tell. So fun! Thanks for all the supportive texts and emails.

Happy Birthday to Gabrielle. I hope her dinner out at Fancy Sushi is awesome and that she loves her gifts (especially the one where she gets to spend some great time with her family and friends!) We sure loved her Halloween cupcakes!


I will not blog again until Sunday. Enjoy the break and remind kiddos read their book report books over the break.

Homework tonight was a comprehension sheet on Theodore Roosevelt. Man, I wish I could have been alive in his time as president. :0)

PAINT clothes tomorrow please. No new shoes, pants or shirts. We will be painting with black paint, and it is bound to get on us.

I leave you with a fun photo of some boots that were made for walking at the NILE. :0)



Have a wonderful break!
Mrs. Grewell

Thank you chaperones: Mr. Wildin and Mrs. Nyquist!!

Make your own digital slideshow

This slideshow about sums up our day. We had a BLAST at the NILE and learned a TON!!! Bonus question tonight: How many regular size sugar beets does it take to make a 5 pound bag of sugar? 20, 40 or 100??? Write answer that your kiddo tells you in the planner. :0)

Homework tonight is cursive page 2.

Have a great night!
Mrs. Grewell

Zoo Montana Rocks! NILE Tomorrow!

Well Hiya!

I hope your weekend was full of outside adventures. The kids and I spent Saturday at Zoo Montana loving the fall colors and falling leaves! We had yet to see the new Tigers so that was extremely exciting. They were up and at it. It was fun to watch them use a tree stump to itch their faces! Our favorites however have and always will be the river otters and the beavers. They were cracking us up! There was one beaver that kept diving underwater to get a certain stick to add to the lodge. He would get it just right and then it would get tangled under a different one. All this, while the other beaver was just hanging out watching him become frustrated. Too funny! We also got to see our good friend Jeff the Zoo Guy. He was out doing what he does best…entertaining people and getting them excited about nature! What an awesome guy!



This week is a short week. It is a half day on Wednesday (out at noon), and then everyone is off on Thursday and Friday. I will spend my time teaching a class at MSU-B about teaching gifted children in the regular classroom using relationship building and character driven lessons to create an environment they are willing to take risks in. One of my favorite things to talk about!!!! I LOVE to challenge kids on all levels. The best part is that I get to teach it along side of one of my favorite people on Earth…my mother in law! She is a retired gifted teacher from Laurel. We LOVE that connection between us. Fun!

There will not be a spelling test this week. We will do Unit 6, which is a review of Units 1-5. There will only be book work this week. In math we will continue on with our algebra lessons by moving into equations rather than expressions. We will use a hands on approach to learn this once we grasp the basics. In science we will take a look at air pressure once again with a lab involving a package peanut. Say what???? In Lead 21, we will finish up sequencing and author's purpose. In SS we will make our NE Regional flashcards.

On Wednesday, we will be working along side my good friends at Montana Conservation Corps doing some projects to help the environment. This will be a great segway to our next unit in Lead 21: A green earth. LOVE working with these folks. Please send kind in clothes that are old and can get paint on them on this day.

On Tuesday, we will meet our 2nd grade buddies. We will team up with Mrs. Powell's class this year. I LOVE buddies because it is a time for kids to just learn while having FUN! 4th graders have such a powerful opportunity to make a difference in the life of a second grader. Awesome! We will do a match up activity and then help them with a Halloween project.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Gleason and I wrote a grant for PTA to purchase some new books to use at Fly Time. You know how much these stories/lessons mean to your kiddos! PTA was only able to fund part of the needed donation (which we say thank you a million times over!). We are still about $200 short of the needed funds to purchase all the books we researched for all the different character traits. If your business is looking for a way to get a tax right off and a BIG ole shout out on both our blogs, we would love to help them do so. Please write me a note in the planner or text me if you want more details. It would mean the WORLD to us to continue to bring powerful lessons through literature (picture books) during our Fly Time to all your children! Thanks!

It is always hard to have kiddos absent, but sometimes it means more to me that they are forming some pretty awesome memories with their families. Kyra is doing just that this weekend. She is in Pennsylvania with her family celebrating an 80th birthday for a pretty special family member. From the looks of her picture she texted me, she is also LOVING the fall weather. What I love most about the picture of her in the leaves however is the word on her shirt. It really does say it all doesn't it. That is what life is all about…relationships, love, and making lasting memories. I hope that you are having the best of time Miss. Kyra and family. Thank you for sharing those with me!



Tomorrow is our NILE field trip. We leave right away at 8:30 and will be back before lunch. That means, kids do NOT have to pack a lunch. We will be back in time to eat in the lunchroom. Kids should wear footwear that can get some cow poop on them and some mud. Boots or tennis shoes are recommended. It will also be smart to wear layers, so a short sleeve shirt with a sweat shirt will be perfect. A HUGE thank you to Hanna's dad and Espon's mom for chaperoning. Being pregnant, I can't take my allergy medicine so I may not be able to go into the animal barns. Having these two helpers will be PERFECT so the kids can still enjoy everything without me if I start to wheeze up. :0) All kids are going on the trip. I knew they could do it!!! Yay Grewell class! Don't worry, I will take plenty of pictures to share with you.

Well, I think that about sums it up for the weekend blog. Have a wonderful night!

Mrs. Grewell

Happy Birthday Avery!

Hi there.

What a wonderful day! It started off with Bill Merical visiting and helping us do our Fly Time meeting. Then kids got a chance to get a second autograph. Avery was the lucky duck to get the Happy Birthday message in hers as well! Pretty cool present girlie! Bill was so down to earth with all the students. He even told us how the first chapter of the second book would go if he were to ever write it. Cool!!! Zach, Emma, Beau and I were fortunate enough to also take him to dinner tonight. What a great man that is so passionate about helping kids become better adults! A HUGE thank you to him for coming to share his knowledge and making a difference in all our lives! Thanks Bill! Rumor has it we made the KULR8 news!?!


Homework tonight was a reading comprehension sheet and to gather library books to return or check out again.

Kyra was star of the week this week. Who knew she was a Pokemon fan and played soccer. This is why I love star of the week! I get to know even more about kids all the time! Thanks for sharing with us Kyra!



A happy birthday to Avery! I hope that she had a wonderful evening full of fun, family, and yummy cake! A BIG thank you to her for her yummy hot pink soccer cupcakes. Yum!


Tomorrow is Friday. Yay! That means Accelerated Math day. If you are free from 11 to 11:45 I can use your help. Just show up, sign in, and come on back. Thanks!

Remember next week is a short week. It is a half day on Wednesday (out at noon) and then off all day Thursday and Friday. Field trip on Monday morning. I have a chaperone, (thanks Hanna's dad!). If you would like to join your child on the trip, please know that you are welcome. We will arrive at the Metra in the lower farm buildings (just follow all the school busses). Please feel free to meet us there. Lost??? Just text me and I will get you to us! :0)


If you have read this today, write BLOG in the planner for $10.

Have a wonderful day!!!!
Mrs. Grewell

Sweet, sweet kiddos! I LOVE this class!!!

Hello there.

First off, I was once again surprised with a  gift from a student on vacation. How sweet are these kiddos to remember their dear old teacher while they are away. :0) AJ must think I am a "goofy" teacher though. I LOVE my new Goofy key chain AJ. I put it on my work keys so I see it every single day! So sweet. Thanks AJ.



David also shared a special gift with me this morning. How sweet, and it makes me sooooo happy that kids are starting to love my favorite word as well! Thanks David!



Today's homework is Accelerated Math. Kids need to be ready to scan tomorrow. If they have a test they should do that as well as their practice sheets. Kids also need to continue to read daily for at least 15 minutes.

Ask your kiddo what layer of the atmosphere they see when they look out the window. If they can tell you, write it in the planner for $10. They should tell you troposphere.

Tomorrow, Bill Merical will be at Arrowhead!!!!! We are soooooo excited! Kids may want to bring their book back. He will be in our classroom from 8:30-9:30 tomorrow morning. Please feel free to join in on the fun!

Have a fantastic evening!
Mrs. Grewell