Dear Parents,
      Wow, how about that rain!!  We finally received the much needed rain.  I heard on radio this morning almost 4 inches total.  That should make all the farmers happy!! Students are struggling right now to pay attention and focus.  It definitely showed in their Language Arts test results.  You will find the sheet of results in their folders today.  Please make sure you look them over and sign and return.  I have written notes on some of them.  This is the hardest test of the year dealing with strategies like summarizing, generalizations, and text structure.

Language Arts -  We have started Unit 6 this week.  We are back to a normal routine of spelling tests and reading stories.  We will be finishing Charlie and Chocolate Factory also in next couple of weeks.  We have 5 chapters left.  I plan on showing the movie next Thursday afternoon.  It is a great time after they worked hard on Lap-a-thon in the morning.  We will then work on picking projects.  

Dollars for Scholars Essay-  We worked on an essay the week after Spring Break for the Dollars for Scholars group.  The 4th graders were asked to write "Why Education Is Important to Me".  They wrote their response, which had to be 250 words or less, and then we edited and revised.  Ms. Hartstack and I mainly focused on spelling and punctuation.  We did not change the way a student worded things.  We may have pointed out areas where things were confusing and didn't make sense but the student had to make the changes.  The essays were judged by three teachers in this building and the top 3 essays were chosen.  Congratulations to Olivia Hagen, Ansley Waigand, and Sierra Myers for writing essays that advance to the next level.  The essays were then given to the Dollars for Scholars group to be judged by a group of teachers from SWCC.  There will be one winner from these three girls that will be awarded a $50 savings bond.  Good luck to all three!!  We will not hear anything until mid May.

Social Studies-  We have begin Chapter 10 on the Southwest region.  We have started by talking about the Grand Canyon.  We talked about who first saw it and who was the first person to explore through it.  We will be watching a video I have on it when we finish reading the lesson.  We will view it Friday and Monday.  It is very interesting and shows great views of the National Park.  I will work on getting the students their due dates for their last project while they are watching the video.  Due dates will range between May 6-17.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!   

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels