Week of January 18, 2021-January 22, 2021
Spelling: All of our spelling words this week have -ed or -ing endings: tasted, ripping, forced, flipping, tapped, flipped, scared, flagged, ripped, skipped, tapping, saved, skipping, scaring, flagging, discussed, saving, tasting, forcing, discussing
Reading: Narrative non-fiction. AR goal for the week is 5%. New goals start this week.
Grammar: Pronouns.
Math: Division and Multiplication
Idaho History: Oregon Trail
Read Aloud: Bud, Not Buddy
Remote Friday: Grammar quiz, Vocab quiz, Comp quiz, Spelling assignment, Math assignment
Upcoming Events:
January 18: No school
January 19: STEM returns to KES!
January 26 and 28: Parent/Teacher Conferences
January 27-28: AR Parties
January 29: No school, no remote Friday
February 5: Butler and Harmon Ski Trip (this is on a Friday)
February 15: No School
March 5: No School (secondary level parent/teacher conferences this week)
March 22-26: Spring Break
April 23: No school
May 31: No school
June 2: Last day of school
My name is Lance Butler (Parents, please, please, please call me “Lance”. The kids can call me “Mr. Butler”, "Mr. B.", "The Ugly One", or any other number of things), and I am the lucky teacher who gets to have your child in my class this year! I am very excited to get this year started and to have the chance to get to know you and your child. Here's a little bit about what you can expect this year (part of it for distance learning and part of it for when things are back to normal).
- Due to Covid19, this year is going to be different. I want you to know that I take my job very seriously (mostly because I love love love what I do). I am available all day and evening to answer questions, etc. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need to. During distance learning, I will have "office hours" every day where I will be online on Microsoft Teams for video chat with students to answer questions, teach lessons, etc.
- I challenge students to do things that are harder than they think they can do. Unfortunately, this year, this may include some online distance learning. I will do whatever I need to do to help your student get through the things he or she needs to do.
- Expect the unexpected.
- Homework. If you child says he or she only has 30 minutes of reading for homework, they are probably telling the truth. I do this on purpose. I want the kids to go home and climb trees, chase snakes, etc. Any help you can do at home with working on spelling words or math facts is greatly appreciated!
- Homework part 2. When we get things "back to normal", we will be doing a lot of wood projects this year with hammers, hand saws, etc., to do some hands on math work. Please invite your child to do things at home with you that involve math, whether it be cooking, building, or whatever. I will try to send home suggestions regularly for things you can do to reinforce what we are doing in the classroom.
- Homework part 3. Anytime I come across any safe broken electrical equipment to take apart, we will do that. If your child says, "Mom, I need to bring a Phillips head screwdriver to school", they are probably telling the truth. Also, I tell the kids that any reverse engineering they do at home MUST be done with parental permission and that, if I hear they have been dismantling things without permission, that I don't know them.
- Every day, I will spend time reading novels to the kids. When we have face to face classes, I will do this in person. Otherwise, I will add new videos to my webpage every day with me reading to the kids. We will read from a variety of authors with a variety of topics. If a book has been turned into a movie, we try to watch the movie as a compare/contrast activity. I will post the books we read on my page for you to examine (we will start with Holes by Louis Sachar). I let them count these books as part of their AR goal.
- Fridays are going to be distance days regardless of what level we are in due to Covid 19. I will have activities for your child do work on at home. Because I know things are going to be difficult, the assignments the students will have can be done any time Thursday afternoon-Sunday night. These activities will not necessarily be electronic. I realize some students have to share devices, go to day care, etc., and so I am not going to put a hard and fast deadline on things. I BELIEVE THAT SHOWING ME WHAT THEY CAN DO IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN GETTING EVERYTHING DONE.
As the year goes on, we will have activities and projects that come up from time to time. I will do my best to let you know about these. If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, my door is always open. You can contact me via e-mail (lbutler@kimberly.edu) or on my work phone (208-423-4170, ext. 3024). I look forward to getting to work with you and your child!
To join The Remind notification system (the school uses this for all sorts of notifications. I promise I won’t abuse it).
On your phone, text “@mrbutler4t” to 81010
OR
Email “mrbutler4t@mail.remind.com
Read-aloud: The Lawn Boy Returns
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Reading Resources:
Audible Stories Lots of books available for free during the school shut downs.
Unite For Literacy Lots of smaller non-fiction books available.
Epic! Audio books as well as books to read.
Other Resources:
Art For Kids Hub Literally hundreds of videos on how to draw different things.
The Bob Ross YouTube Channel I still don't know how he does the things he does.
Physical Education Resources Gotta keep active!
Virtual Field Trips:
Idaho Capitol Building: Videos and Video Scavenger Hunt
Old Idaho Penitentiary: Quick Tour, The "Doin' Time" Video, and The Old Idaho Penitentiary YouTube Channel with lots of videos.
Over 30 Different Field Trips! Click Here This will take you to a Google docs page. To access the field trips, you will probably need to hold down the ctrl key when you click on the link.
Older Content:
Goofy Distance Learning Videos