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!