Conference Week

Thank you to those who supported the Bitterroot PTA and volunteered and/or attended the Pumpkin Patch Party.  It looks like it was tons of fun!

Reminder costumes may not be worn to school on Halloween.  We are only allowed one party per year and I have chosen to have a Valentine's Day party this year.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are noon dismissal days due to Parent Teacher Conferences.  Please contact me or call the office if you need to switch your conference time.  I am looking forward to sharing all the great things your child has accomplished so far!

Report cards go home on Tuesday.  Please remember report cards are not like they used to be.  They are now a standards based progress report.  This means we look at the full year expectations and report where your child is currently.  However, in the reading categories we look at the current quarter's reading level expectations and report based on those reading levels.  There will be many 1s and 2s on your child's report card.  This is perfectly normal.  A 3 is our goal for the end of the year.  A 1 does not necessarily mean your child is not where they should be academically.  Information writing will be blank because I have not taught that yet.  We will go over your child's report card during conferences and visit more on how your child was assessed.  Be proud of their accomplishments!

We are starting unit 2 in our reading series.  The first week focuses on jobs in the community.  We will be reading lots of different texts about community jobs and even using PebbleGo to research jobs.

We are taking a break from opinion writing this week and will be starting informational writing.  We will start out by writing how-to books.

In math, we will continue to work on number bonds and subtraction.  We will work on finding the missing part in an equation and introduce fact families.

See you at conferences!

Mrs. Dimock

Red Ribbon Week

Did you remember to return your conference slip?  If not, please return ASAP as we will be scheduling your times this week.

Help needed!  Do you have time to volunteer to work with some first graders.  I am looking for someone to come in from 1:30-2:00 up to 3 days a week and work on numbers with some of the kids.  You could do one time, two times, or even three times a week if your schedule allows it. You would need to have a completed background check done. If you are interested, please email me!

On Monday, we will be having bus safety.  The bus driver will show your kids the proper way to get on a bus, get off a bus, how to evacuate in case of an emergency, and how far in front of a bus they need to cross to ensure that the bus driver sees them.

On Friday, we have tentatively scheduled a fire safety presentation with our very own first grade firefighter dad!  This presentation is a great reminder of picking a meeting place for you and your family to meet if there is a fire in your home. It also shows your child how to safely exit the home. The firefighter even puts on all his gear so the kids can see what he would look like in full uniform.

It is Red Ribbon week!
Here are the themes for each day:
Monday, October 24 Be red-y to say no to drugs--Wear red
Tuesday, October 25 I elect to be drug free--Wear red, white, and blue
Wednesday, October 26 PAWS-itively proud to be drug free--show your school spirit and wear Bitterroot Bobcat colors (blue and gold) and paws (Temporary tattoos will go home Tuesday for the kiddos to wear on Wednesday.  Picture day is Friday and I am not sure how temporary the tattoos are...place tattoos accordingly!!!).
Thursday, October 27-Smarties choose to be drug free--dress smart
Friday, October 28-Sock-it to drugs--wear mismatched or crazy socks

This week in reading, our theme question will be "How does your body move?" We will be learning exercise, physical, agree, difficult, and exhausted for our vocabulary words.

In math, we will begin to learn subtraction strategies.  Some strategies are how to use a number line, counting back, drawing a picture, and using doubles to subtract.  We will learn about related facts, taking away zero, and horizontal and vertical subtraction.  We will also learn how to apply these strategies to word problems.

In writing, we will review the parts of an opinion paper: introduction, stating your opinion, giving as many reasons as you can think of, and a conclusion.  We will also discuss the 5 stars of writing: capitals, punctuation, spaces, makes sense, and nice handwriting.  We will begin an opinion piece on our favorite places in Billings and learn how to use a rubric for our writing.

The students will be writing our poem this week.  It will be called "Spider Soup".  Every year, we serve up our delicious spider soup to first graders.  It has been quite a popular event in the past. Your children will be picking out the ingredients to put into the soup.  I have started collecting many spiders!  We will eat it on October 31st.  I promise it is not as gross as it sounds.  Trust me!

We do not celebrate Halloween at Bitterroot School.  It is a typical school day.  Kids are not allowed to wear costumes or face paint.  However, we do try to incorporate some fun activities.  Please be prepared for a rough day on Tuesday, November 1.  The kids will be exhausted from Halloween and trying to recover from all the sugar they ate.  Please keep all candy at home and do not pack it in their lunches.  Watch out!  First graders are known for sneaking candy to school. Check their backpacks and pockets!  

Have a great week!

Sunday Update

On Wednesday, October 19 school will be dismissed at noon.

There is no school on Thursday, October 20 and Friday, October 21.  School resumes on Monday, October 24.

Green folders will be going home on Monday, not Wednesday this week.  There will be a form to fill out regarding parent-teacher conference times.  Please fill it out and return it to school with your kiddo.

Attendance is key component to academic growth.  Please make sure your kiddo is to school on time each and every day.

Pack the Place in Pink is Tuesday, October 18.  Wear pink and show your support for those who currently are or who have been affected by breast cancer.

Red Ribbon week will be October 24-October 28.  Mrs. Neese is holding the second annual drug free door decorating contest.  The winning classroom will get a slime making party with Mrs. Neese.  If any of you creative parents would like to come in and decorate the classroom door with a drug-free theme please let me know.  Pinterest has lots of cute ideas.  In first grade, we talk more about making healthy choices and putting healthy things into our body and not so much about drugs themselves.

Here are the themes for Red Ribbon Week...
Monday, October 24 Be red-y to say no to drugs--Wear red
Tuesday, October 25 I elect to be drug free--Wear red, white, and blue
Wednesday, October 26 PAWS-itvely proud to be drug free--show your school spirit and wear Bitterroot Bobcat colors (blue and gold) and paws (Temporary tattoos will go home Tuesday for the kiddos to wear on Wednesday.  Picture day is Friday and I am not sure how temporary the tattoos are...place tattoos accordingly!!!).
Thursday, October 27-Smarties choose to be drug free--dress smart
Friday, October 28-Sock-it to drugs--wear mismatched or crazy socks

Due to the short week, we will not be starting anything new in reading.  We will use this week to go back and dig a little deeper into the texts we have already read.  We will also be incorporating some reader's theater into our short week.

No new spelling words this week.

We will be continuing to work on Our Favorite Places opinion writing piece.

In math, we are launching Daily 3.  This is very similar to the way we do our morning reading rotations.  We will start with a mini-lesson and then break out into center rotations and continue this pattern for our hour math block.  The students will be able to select from Number Work, Math with Someone, and Math Technology.  During this time I will be calling small groups to work with me.  This allows me to meet the needs of the students better than just teaching whole group math.  This week will we will mostly be putting our math rotation procedures into place and learning what is expected during this time.  I am looking forward to math groups!

Wishing you well,
Mrs. Dimock

FYI 10/09/16

I cannot believe how fast the year is going!  We only have 12.5 days left until the end of first quarter.

It looks like we are going to have some cold weather on Tuesday.  Please make sure your kiddo is prepared for the cold weather and snow.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't snow.  I'm just not ready for it quite yet!

This week we our essential question is "What do friends do together?"  As always, we will be reading and digging deep into various texts to find the answer to our question.  We will be working on finding evidence from the text, asking and answering key details about the text, identifying the main idea, and using photos/illustrations.

Our spelling rule for the week is short o as in hot.  Even though we are not taking spelling tests, it is important your child is practicing reading short o words and spelling short o words at home.

In writing, we will be finishing up our first opinion piece and completing the final draft.  We will then move onto our second opinion piece about our favorite place in Billings.  Often it is hard for students to think of their favorite place.  Please help your kiddo brainstorm a few of your family's favorite places to go in Billings.  It could be a park, a store, restaurant, etc.

In math, we are continuing to work on our addition facts.  We will use number bonds this week to help understand that addition is taking two parts and putting them together to make the whole.  We will use the part-part-whole terminology throughout the year.  This approach really seems to help when we move into subtraction.  Please help your kiddo with their addition facts.  It is so important that students know their addition facts.

Wishing you well,
Mrs. Dimock