Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday and Happy Halloween!!!   It gets a little crazy on these days because kids are so pumped up for the afternoon activities.  I am trying to force some actual learning in this morning.  Our parade is always the favorite of the day along with scary stories, haunted houses, and eating cookies.  Please be safe tonight on your trick or treating adventures.  I would like to point out that I will not be home for the kids to come to my house.  I will be in Lewis Central watching the girls volleyball team on their second round in the regional tournament.  If they would win tonight it will be the first time since 1987 that Creston Volleyball has made it to substate, which was when the team made it all the way to state.  I am proud to say I was member of that team!!  Go Panthers!!!

Language Arts- We read a story last week called "Invasion of Mars" it was a story based on the Orson Welle's War of the Worlds.  It was a radio broadcast of that event meant to entertain people.  The problem with it was if people didn't hear the introduction, they thought the broadcast was live and true.  They assumed we were really being attacked by aliens.  It was total chaos.  Yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of this broadcast.  I found it on internet and we listened to it.  We decided it did sound real and would be very scary.  This week we are reading about a young girl who is writing an apology to the librarian for something she did.  It is a funny story about how we do things cause we are told to but never fully take responsibility for our own behavior.  We have laughed about it but also talked about how we each do this in some way.  We have worked on compound and complex sentences this week, which has not been an easy task.  Also in decoding we practiced recognizing common beginning syllables like: a, be, de, con, com, and pre.  The students worked in partners to divided words into syllables.   Remember to study vocabulary tonight, we will take the end of the week assessment tomorrow.

Math - Today we took a test over Chapter 3.  I am excited to see how the students did. This is the first assessment I have given the kids in this subject where I have taught all the material.  I hope to see some great scores!!  I feel they did a great job learning the skills taught this chapter.  We focused on multiplication and division and also had a little bit of algebra in there working with variables.  Next we will move into a chapter on Geometry.  We will probably spend the rest of this year discussing Geometry.  Towards December we may work on charts, graphs and data.  

Social Studies- We picked our states this week!  They also chose the project they will do.  I will send home due dates next week. They are all very excited about doing this.  We have begun talking about the Northeast Region.  It is made up of 11 states:  Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.  We have talked about Niagara Falls and the power plants there.  We have talked about the Appalachian Mountains, and a few other significant mountain ranges.  We have also discussed that two states out of the 11 do not have a border with the Atlantic Ocean and that the region has both rocky shores and sandy beaches on their coastline.

Happy Halloween!!  Have a great night trick or treating, but remember the Language arts end of the week test!!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Tomorrow ( Oct. 30). is red and black day in honor of football playoffs.  I realize it is a mass day.  Students who choose to wear red and black may also wear jeans.  If they choose to not wear red and black they are expected to wear regular mass clothing.

We also have mass on Friday, because it is All Saints Day and a holy day of obligation for all Catholics.  We expect regular mass attire on this day.

Have a great week!!

Dear Parents,
 Happy Thursday!!  Next week we have conferences!! I only have one family not signed up.  Please be sure to sign up and double check your times.  I apologize that my schedule has changed a couple of times.  I have been trying to set up my own at the High School and that takes some work.  I look forward to seeing all of you and discussing how your children are doing.  See you all next week.

Math - We have been discussing division in math.  We have used manipulatives to show what division looks like, we talked about multiplication and division being related using fact families,  we have also spent some time writing multiplication and division story problems.  We will be working our way towards a test very soon.

Language Arts -  This week we read a story called Me and Uncle Romie, it was a good story.  The story was around centered on art and so the vocabulary words were also related to the artist world.  We discussed syllables in words and how some sounds are stressed and others are not.  We have been working on the sounds /ou/ and /o^/ in spelling.  We talked today about figurative language.  This is one of my favorites.  We compared if you took the words literally what they would look like and what they look like as figurative language.  Some of the phrases used were familiar and some were not.  Tomorrow we will read the story the last time, hold discussion then take the end of the week test.  I think I am seeing these scores get better.  I will share them at conferences.

Social Studies - In social studies we are finishing up the chapter on economy.  The students will be testing tomorrow.  We went over the study guide today and they have the answers they need to study for tomorrow.  Next week we begin Unit 2 which starts talking about one specific region which is the Northeast.  We will also begin practicing our states and capitals song.  This is one way to learn all the states and their capitals. It is a fun song. You can find it on youtube.  It is sung by Macho Nacho and is called the States and Capitals song.  Please get it so they can practice at home.  Projects for social studies will also begin soon.  I will hand out a packet and discuss at conferences.

Thank you for all you do for your kids at home to help them be better students.  I am seeing some improvements in their use of study hall and working hard to get things done.  I am also seeing some getting into a routine and being organized.  Those who are still struggling, we will get there.  I have no doubt about that.  Have a great weekend.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents:

     Happy Thursday!!!  I am on my second week back and feel great!!  I am really keeping on top of the kids using their time wisely.  During work time they really want to visit, play with things, or just stare around the room.  I am pushing  for them to work hard so they are not bringing homework home. These students have the capability to work hard if they would focus and work.  A few more weeks and I will have them trained.  I will look forward to conferences to discuss your child's progress and behaviors specifically during that work time.  Remember conference schedule is online, please sign up.  I have first 2 times crossed off so that I can go to the High School and have my own conferences for my older two.  There are still 20 slots to fit all of you in.  Please find a time that works.

Math - This week we reviewed the distributive property.  After students completed the diagnostic checkpoint on Monday, there were students who didn't show their work.  What I found was they didn't understand it enough to show the work.  I retaught the lesson and gave them a few more problems to practice.  We are now starting to work on Division. We used manipulatives to show how to work division problems and today we discussed how multiplication and division are related and practiced fact families.  I feel like these topics are easy for them right now.  It will get harder as we go along.  

Language Arts - This was my first week actually teaching the weekly lessons.  WOW!! It is busy and has  a lot of material to cover.  I covered what I thought was important for he students to learn.  I felt like the week was a success. Reading the story everyday is new to me and hard!!  We read everyday but one.  I read it to them first day, they read with partner second day, third day on their own, and Friday we will read as whole group and discuss.  We have had spelling lessons, grammar lessons, vocabulary lessons and decoding lessons mixed in.  WHEW  Thats a lot.  Your kids are really learning a great deal more now in this new series!  Your child is also writing a Halloween Story.  It is due tomorrow.  

Social Studies - We are learning about the economy of the United States.  Pretty difficult stuff!  We know our economy is called  a free enterprise system and is based on supply and demand.  We learned what producers and consumers are and how to make a profit.  There are a lot of "big" words in this chapter.  We will focus on globalization, and interdependence next week.  Have your kids talk to you about these items.

I am very happy to  be back, and I am enjoying being with the kids everyday.  Thank you for all your patience!!  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about your child.  I have a prep period from 8:30 - 9;00 everyday but Wed. and  on Tuesday it is 8:30 - 9:30.  I am usually at school til 3:45 every night.  Have a great weekend!!

God Bless,

Melissa Sickels

I really want to apologize about the Coming Events section or Important Dates.  I have been trying to change them since Thursday.  There must be a problem somewhere.  I am not the only one experiencing technical difficulty.  I will change them as soon as I can get it to work.  Sorry that it is all September dates.  Have a great week!!!

Dear Parents,

     I Am Back!!!!   I am here and doing great!!  I am enjoying being back with the students and getting into a routine with them.  I do go home right after school each night and am very tired.  I try to take it easy all evening, but even that has gotten better since the beginning of the week.  I have more energy than I thought I would.  I bet I can blame the students smiles on my energy level!!  It truly has been a great week back.  I will admit only thing I miss is my "coffee ladies" and "lunch ladies".  We did coffee more than lunch.  

Mrs. Gammell did a great job!  She did everything I would have done.  I walked in and my plans are right on track.  What an awesome feeling for a teacher.  I know that the kids learned while I was gone and that was the important thing.  Things won't change much, except she did a lot of worksheets together that I consider homework for the students to do on their own. So students will be kept busier and learn the importance of a study hall and working hard. 

Language Arts - Students have been taking the Unit 1 test this week.  It is good for me to come back and look at how much they learned and talk to Mrs. G to hear where they struggled.  We will finish this test today.  Next week we will dig into Unit 2, which will be new to me.  From what I can see in the text, we will be busy, busy, busy!!

Math - They are doing well in Math.  Again it was great to see them right on track!!  We have discussed the distributive property this week and used it to help us work on multiples of 10, 11, and 12.  We worked with flash cards to practice our facts too.  I know they did a lot of work out of the book while I was away which is great, but I do more work using  worksheets.  We will use the problems in the book for guided practice, or if I can see we are struggling with the skill I will start by having them complete work out of the book and spend a couple days on that lesson.

Social Studies -  This week we begin talking about how the Economic System of the United States began.  We begin by discussing trade and what it was like then and now.  We will move on to learn what our economic system is called and what it is primarily based on.  It is a free enterprise system, which says we can produce and sell whatever we want.  It is based on supply and demand.  How much something is needed and how much we have of it.  Great lesson for kids to learn but for some it may be a lot to grasp. Chapter 3 is the last chapter over the United States as whole.  In Chapter 4 we begin discussing the regions separately.

I would like to say thank you to all of you for being patient during unfortunate time.  It did put me at ease knowing that my classroom was covered very well, by someone who I knew would teach the kids.  I appreciate you working with her.  I would like to point out I will still be missing half days here and there because I have to continue to see a neurologist for the seizure I had.  He will decide if the tumor was the actual reason for the seizure, which we are pretty sure it was.  He will decide when to take me off the medicine and when I can drive again, which still looks to be January 21st.  

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels