Dear Parents,
     Well here we are it's Thursday!!  To be more specific the last Thursday before Christmas break.  YAY!!  I will miss your children over our long break.  I think we are all ready for the time away though.  It will be important for them to spend time with their family.  Some are so excited about family they get to see!!  This to me is what the season is about.  The smiles on their faces and not hearing about presents, but family.  You are all amazing and have taught your children well.  Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

Language Arts-  We will finish the last lesson in Unit 3 this week.  We will take a normal Friday assessment tomorrow.  This week the story was Ecology for Kids.  It was pointing out the ecosystems in the world and how they affect one another and how important they are.  It also talked about what we can do to help protect them.  When we return from break, on the Thursday and Friday we will be taking the Unit 3 test.  

Social Studies - We finished up the Northeast Region this week.  You should have seen the test scores last night.  I was very happy with them.  Some students really need to work on the labeling of the states.  This is highly important.  At the end of the year they will ask to label all 50.  Learning them a region at a time is not so overwhelming.  Please help work with them on this.  When we return from break we will start the Southeast and assign new projects.  I have really enjoyed the kids projects this round!  They all seem to have worked hard and are very proud of their work.  They are improving on presenting also.

Math - We have been focusing on graphs.  They have learned about pictographs, bar graphs, line plots, and a line graph.  We also learned how to use graphs to solve problems.  We did a fun activity last week involving coordinate grids and being able to follow directions on a grid.  They loved it.  I have 5 or 6 pictures to create. Most of them have a goal of doing all of them.  Tomorrow we will spend some time, playing games or doing those pictures.  When we return from break, we will kick it into full gear and begin new content.  Double-digit multiplication will cause us to slow down.  I need to be able to see that each student masters this skill.  I will teach at a pace, which is considered student lead.  I will take all the time we need to understand. 

Reminder:  Make sure you send a sack lunch with your student tomorrow.  Do not send a drink with them, milk will be provided!  We will have a normal morning then will be watching a movie after our caroling in the gym.  We will have a snack and water during the movie.  Both are provided. 

I would like to say to you again, thank you all for sharing your children with me!!  I really enjoy working with all of them.  I hope you all have a very very Merry Christmas!!  My next letter will be next year!!!  Have a safe New Year.  God Bless 2014!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels