Dear Parents,
I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!! Safe travels to all of you who are traveling to be with family. I am not going to complete a formal letter, but just want to make you aware of some things before the break!!
Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving break is here!!! We get out at 2:10 on Wednesday, and have no school Thursday or Friday. Enjoy the break and the time with family!
Advent - Remember Advent starts on Monday. We will be lighting an Advent wreath here at school during prayer. The student will also have advent angels and do activities together with their partner throughout Advent.
Dress Rehearsal for Christmas Concert: The Christmas concert dress rehearsal is on Friday, December 6th. Please check the take home folder for the permission form. We will be going to the YMCA for practice.
Lighted Christmas Parade: The Civics Club is helping put together a float for the Lighted Christmas Parade. The parade is on Thursday, December 5th at 7:00 pm. We will be in need of students to walk along with the float and hand out "testamints" and holy cards.
Art- I am looking at trying to get in an art project in the month of December. This project requires the student to have a milk jug. It doesn't matter what size, it can be gallon or half gallon, but MUST be plastic. No cardboard. Have your child bring one in whenever you can in the first couple weeks of December. Please be sure to rinse them out thoroughly so there will be no curdled milk smell. If you are on Pinterest you can go to my "education" board and see the project I plan to do. When the students bring it home they are going to want a small strand of white Christmas lights. I was hoping to get done and send home and people could find lights on clearance after Christmas to put in it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I feel like Thursdays are coming around very quickly. We are nearing the end of the year. The end of the year from conferences/Halloween to Christmas break always seems to fly by. We are coming up to Thanksgiving all ready. We have really had a great month. I feel the students have really enjoyed a lot of the things we have been doing in class. Even though I had an extra month of summer vacation, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. We are traveling to Chicago, with my two 16 year old girls sharing in the driving!! It will be great experience for them. Honestly, there is no traffic at the time, except on I-80, but once we are off that right inside Illinois, it's smooth sailing. I hope all of you who may be traveling have a safe trip and a great Thanksgiving.
Math - We only have about one more lesson in Math that is required in the Iowa Core. I will preparing them for a test. We will take it before Thanksgiving, so we are able to start something new when we return. We will move into reading and interpreting graphs and data. It will be a chapter that the kids will enjoy. After that we will really hit the hard stuff, meaning multiplication. We will learn to multiply double digits. I really enjoy teaching this section because it is a "new" topic and the kids really feel "big" when they learn it. I see the smiles, and I see them working hard to understand because they want to be like the big kids. You can help by starting to work on their multiplication facts at home.
Language Arts - We finished up the Unit 2 test last week. We are in the 2nd story in Unit 3 now. Last week we read a story on hurricanes, this week it is on Earthquakes. The difference in the stories is that last week was informational text or a non-fiction selection that was chock full of information. This story on earthquakes is historical fiction, so while trying to give us information on earthquakes it is also telling a story. It is an interesting story line about a father and son in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. They were in a tenement building at the time and end of trapped. It brings up fears of natural disasters with kids. We have talked about our fears in class. This is also a story that makes us look a little deeper into the thoughts of the characters.
Social Studies - I hope everyone is working on their projects for the Northeast. Some students need to bring in their poster board so I can get it ready for them. I want to remind you these are meant to be fun and only a few require adult supervision. These are not meant to be stressful. I know students are very busy outside of school, which is why I try to give them an ample amount of time to work on them. Please check out the dates they are due. I wrote down some wrong dates. The day is correct but the date is wrong. If I said the 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th, the dates are a day off. Not sure what I did wrong but maybe was looking at wrong calendar. We are moving through this chapter quite quickly. We just finished a lesson on the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island. We learned how they lived, what they lived in, how society worked, and what they used for government.
I hope you all have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I was out of the classroom for a test that was run in Des Moines. I really hate being out of the classroom and away from the kids. My time off at the beginning was more than enough for me. I am hoping that was the last of my appointments until next fall. We all need to put that in our prayers.
Language Arts - We have accomplished a lot this week. We have taken the Unit 2 test this week and covered a story!! This has made it busy but it does work. I usually begin the class with one section of the test, then finish out with the activities we do over the story. This story this week is very hard. It is an informative piece on Hurricanes. It is interesting yet very descriptive and I am finding it challenging to follow. I will do my best to help the students understand, but I am going to insist the students bring their book home today and read the story to / with a parent. I am hoping this will help you see how much this series steps it up and makes the students accountable for some challenging reading and show you that we are trying to get students to do some deeper thinking when reading different genres. I will share results of the Unit test with students next week, and send a copy of results home to you in next weeks folder.
Math - I am finding this chapter fun to teach. We have tons of vocabulary words we are learning about. I am finding it successful to have them put vocab into their notebooks before we begin going over the lesson. This makes the lesson very easy to teach or help them to understand. I feel they are showing a little more enthusiasm about this content also. I do know Mrs. Burg covered this stuff last year quite well. We are taking this chapter slowly. I will pick up the pace when I am not trying to teach too much in one day, or the vocabulary amount slows down. I am sure we will be testing over this chapter in December.
Social Studies - We took a test this week. Students did pretty well over all. There were a lot of vocabulary on this test. Some really struggled in this area. I hope to send the test home today or tomorrow for you to look at and sign. We will begin moving onto the next chapter today. We are still covering the Northeast region. I will be working with them now on locating or labeling a map with those states. I will give them a blank sheet with just that region on it, and have them practice labeling the states. On the next test they will be expected to label all 11 correctly. This is a difficult region because there are so many small states that are easily confused. This is something that you could help them work on at home. They can bring a blank sheet to have at home also.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I was out of the classroom for a test that was run in Des Moines. I really hate being out of the classroom and away from the kids. My time off at the beginning was more than enough for me. I am hoping that was the last of my appointments until next fall. We all need to put that in our prayers.
Language Arts - We have accomplished a lot this week. We have taken the Unit 2 test this week and covered a story!! This has made it busy but it does work. I usually begin the class with one section of the test, then finish out with the activities we do over the story. This story this week is very hard. It is an informative piece on Hurricanes. It is interesting yet very descriptive and I am finding it challenging to follow. I will do my best to help the students understand, but I am going to insist the students bring their book home today and read the story to / with a parent. I am hoping this will help you see how much this series steps it up and makes the students accountable for some challenging reading and show you that we are trying to get students to do some deeper thinking when reading different genres. I will share results of the Unit test with students next week, and send a copy of results home to you in next weeks folder.
Math - I am finding this chapter fun to teach. We have tons of vocabulary words we are learning about. I am finding it successful to have them put vocab into their notebooks before we begin going over the lesson. This makes the lesson very easy to teach or help them to understand. I feel they are showing a little more enthusiasm about this content also. I do know Mrs. Burg covered this stuff last year quite well. We are taking this chapter slowly. I will pick up the pace when I am not trying to teach too much in one day, or the vocabulary amount slows down. I am sure we will be testing over this chapter in December.
Social Studies - We took a test this week. Students did pretty well over all. There were a lot of vocabulary on this test. Some really struggled in this area. I hope to send the test home today or tomorrow for you to look at and sign. We will begin moving onto the next chapter today. We are still covering the Northeast region. I will be working with them now on locating or labeling a map with those states. I will give them a blank sheet with just that region on it, and have them practice labeling the states. On the next test they will be expected to label all 11 correctly. This is a difficult region because there are so many small states that are easily confused. This is something that you could help them work on at home. They can bring a blank sheet to have at home also.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I hope everyone is having a great week! We are doing well here in 4th grade. This is like the 2nd full week of school since my return on September 30th. We have either had no school or early outs every week but 2!! I actually can't count it a full week though because I am leaving at 11:30 today for a doctor's appointment. This appointment is with a neurologist. He will watch me for a while to make decisions about the seizure I had and when to take me off the medicine for them. He will not release me to drive. That doesn't happen until January 21st of 2014, so next year!! In case you didn't know it is a state law that if you have a seizure you can't drive for 6 months. I have to admit it is a long time, but I believe it is a good law to protect myself, my kids and others on the road.
Math - We started geometry this week. We have spend three days talking about shapes and all their features. The students actually created solid figures with a partner and used them to make a chart listing number of faces, number of edges, and number of vertices each shape has. This one lesson, which is to be taught in one day had 15 vocabulary words!!! That was insane. We will spend the next 2-3 weeks dealing with different kinds of shapes. We also have another lesson with 13 vocabulary words dealing with lines, line segments, and angles. Lots of work for us in the future!! I admit this can be a fun chapter too!!
Language Arts- I would like to point out that the student scores on last weeks story were FABULOUS!! The decoding is getting better! I had lots of 10/10 scores. I am getting more comfortable with the subject matter and trying to make the learning process more inviting. This week is lesson 10 which is the last one is Unit 2. That means next week will be a test week over unit 2. If you remember from conferences I discussed how long these tests were. We will take it over 3 days next week.
Social Studies - I will send home the student's project due dates tomorrow. The dates will range from Dec. 8 - 20!! They still have lots of time to work on the project. Please any questions make sure you ask. We have talked this week about the resourced of the Northeast, focusing on grapes, cranberries, maple syrup, marble and granite.
As seasons are definitely changing and colder weather is approaching there is a rule on the dress code I need to put out to you. This was a new addition to the dress code for this year. I have had to review it myself so wanted to make the parents aware also. I know there have been a couple of students who have broken it all ready and I have missed it. This rule is found in Everyday, all-year-long expectations (letter D) and in Mass expectations (letter D).
Here it is: Leggings may be worn as long as the bottom of the dress, skirt, or shirt extends to at least mid- thigh. The mass expectation is the same but only applies to dress or skirt. Shirts not allowed on mass days.
The problem we have been seeing is that the sweater is not reaching mid-thigh, yes it is covering the child up, but needs to come to mid-thigh so when they bend over or reach up high they still remain covered appropriately. You can refer to the dress code on the St. Malachy website. Thank you for all your cooperation.
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I hope everyone is having a great week! We are doing well here in 4th grade. This is like the 2nd full week of school since my return on September 30th. We have either had no school or early outs every week but 2!! I actually can't count it a full week though because I am leaving at 11:30 today for a doctor's appointment. This appointment is with a neurologist. He will watch me for a while to make decisions about the seizure I had and when to take me off the medicine for them. He will not release me to drive. That doesn't happen until January 21st of 2014, so next year!! In case you didn't know it is a state law that if you have a seizure you can't drive for 6 months. I have to admit it is a long time, but I believe it is a good law to protect myself, my kids and others on the road.
Math - We started geometry this week. We have spend three days talking about shapes and all their features. The students actually created solid figures with a partner and used them to make a chart listing number of faces, number of edges, and number of vertices each shape has. This one lesson, which is to be taught in one day had 15 vocabulary words!!! That was insane. We will spend the next 2-3 weeks dealing with different kinds of shapes. We also have another lesson with 13 vocabulary words dealing with lines, line segments, and angles. Lots of work for us in the future!! I admit this can be a fun chapter too!!
Language Arts- I would like to point out that the student scores on last weeks story were FABULOUS!! The decoding is getting better! I had lots of 10/10 scores. I am getting more comfortable with the subject matter and trying to make the learning process more inviting. This week is lesson 10 which is the last one is Unit 2. That means next week will be a test week over unit 2. If you remember from conferences I discussed how long these tests were. We will take it over 3 days next week.
Social Studies - I will send home the student's project due dates tomorrow. The dates will range from Dec. 8 - 20!! They still have lots of time to work on the project. Please any questions make sure you ask. We have talked this week about the resourced of the Northeast, focusing on grapes, cranberries, maple syrup, marble and granite.
As seasons are definitely changing and colder weather is approaching there is a rule on the dress code I need to put out to you. This was a new addition to the dress code for this year. I have had to review it myself so wanted to make the parents aware also. I know there have been a couple of students who have broken it all ready and I have missed it. This rule is found in Everyday, all-year-long expectations (letter D) and in Mass expectations (letter D).
Here it is: Leggings may be worn as long as the bottom of the dress, skirt, or shirt extends to at least mid- thigh. The mass expectation is the same but only applies to dress or skirt. Shirts not allowed on mass days.
The problem we have been seeing is that the sweater is not reaching mid-thigh, yes it is covering the child up, but needs to come to mid-thigh so when they bend over or reach up high they still remain covered appropriately. You can refer to the dress code on the St. Malachy website. Thank you for all your cooperation.
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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