Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! Here we are, the last Thursday before break. ONE WEEK until Christmas!! I knew this would all move quickly and it has. This will be my last letter for a while. Students have been good, we are still working hard. We will be a good place in all subjects to end for break. I hope everyone has a great break. I hope to do something fun with my kids over break besides opening gifts. We may go Prom dress shopping. I am NOT sure how much "fun" that will be for me, but it has to be done.
Language Arts- This week our story was called Life and Times of the Ant. We learned a lot about ants, their nests or anthills, and the jobs that ants perform. Most interesting is that we learned that ants work until they die. Our spelling list this week focused on a final long e sound. The word has a long e in the final syllable which could be spelling with a -y or an -ey or -ie. In grammar we talked about participles, which are verbs ending in -ed or -ing and are used as adjectives instead of verbs. We focused on present participles (-ing) and past participles (-ed). We also read a fable called "The Ant and the Dove". It taught us to do nice things for others. We are testing today instead of tomorrow. We have too much going on tomorrow, so I prepared the kids to test today.
Math - This week in Math we have focused on partial product. The student have been practicing this strategy all week. Today they will do a Chapter Mid-point check. I want to be sure they are successfully able to work problems using the strategies they have learned so far before we move on. We will not move on until we get back from Christmas break and then we learn the regrouping strategy or the algorithm that you and I learned. Tomorrow and Monday we will be doing some fun math. It deals with a grid and directions of what to do in each square on the grid. If they follow directions well, they should have a Christmas picture when they are done. All my classes have loved this and found it challenging yet fun!! Normally in the last series I taught out of we were studying coordinates and a coordinate grid right now so it was very fitting. I am doing for fun this year and will have to talk a bit about a grid and the directions.
Social Studies - The projects that have been coming in have been great!! I am so pleased with the work they are putting into them. I am trying to give advice on presenting their projects. Students need to slow down and speak clearly. If no one can understand what you are saying they are not learning from your presentation. I have had some do excellent and some that have zipped right through very quickly. We have begun the next chapter which is on People of the Northeast. We will cover the first lesson and then stop because it is a great place to stop for break. I will play State and Capitals bingo with them and trivia games dealing with states and capitals. We may even take a quiz over them.
Tuesday, Dec. 23rd - I want to let you know what will be happening on Tuesday. Students will still go to Music as planned. When they return we will spend some time in read aloud. I am reading the first Harry Potter book and though they have seen the movies they are really enjoying this and want me to read the all the time. At 9:30 we will have a small Christmas party. I am looking for someone to bring a drink and someone to supply a treat for that day. If you are interested shoot me an email or text. We will then play games. The students are welcome to bring a board game from home that they really like to play. We will all have treats and enjoy each others company for the morning. We will then eat lunch with Advent Angels and then have the all school sing-a-long in the gym. I want you to know you are invited to come join us for ANY of these activities. Please feel free to come for all day if you would like. Pack a lunch and join us!!!
I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
A Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord!
Luke 2:11
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I told you these next few weeks would go quickly. I know for the kids it really doesn't but for us who are really preparing for Christmas it goes fast. Next week is our last full week until next year! That sounds crazy. Next week will be treated like a normal week. The only difference will be is Friday the 19th. Our schedule will be very different that day. The kids are all very excited this time of year but sometimes I feel a little too much. Usually when they are this out of sorts a big snow storm is brewing. I am not sure that is true, but if we get a good one before Christmas, I will say I am not surprised!!
Language Arts - In language arts this week, we continue the theme of nonfiction stories. This one is Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World. We heard from an author who truly researches her subjects before writing about them. She went and stayed in Antarctica for four months for research. She was there over Christmas, which the kids and I had a hard time understanding. I did talk about no one being able to be there during their true winter season because it is too dangerous. This week in spelling we are working on more words ending in -ed and -ing. We learned about words parts -spect,
-struct, -tele, and -vis. We learned that 3 of them originated from Latin and one Greek. We learned their meanings which makes sense with our words that contain these parts. In grammar we are discussing modal auxilaries, which are words like; may, might, can, could, would, should, and must. We are learning what these words express and how to use them properly. This is a challenge to teach when the slang of today changes the true meaning of these words. Our main strategies and skills we are working on in the story are sequence, which we did activity over it in our small books that go along with the story, and summarizing. I reviewed the "Fab 5", that I went over earlier this year. Our end of week assessment will be tomorrow. Study those spelling words and vocabulary words!!
Math - We are working in chapter 3 on double-digit multiplication. We have reviewed area boxes this week and how to do them with a double-digit number. I am a huge fan of this strategy because it gives a visual that we can all understand. It uses partial products which again is one of my favorites. They have been working problems using area box the last couple of days. Today we will use the area box to help us, but we will be focusing on partial products. We will work our way into solving the problem using partial products without the area box. This class will catch on quickly. They have done an excellent job learning multiplication. I am enjoying teaching this content! Next week we will learn the regrouping strategy or the standard algorithm that you and I learned. After that lesson we will spend a few extra days practicing what we learned and then we will do a Math activity that deals with coordinates and following directions. They will create fun Christmas pictures following directions for coloring using a grid. It is just a fun activity to do before a break. I like to do this when I find a good spot to consider a stopping point for their vacation.
Social Studies - The projects have started arriving!! We have shared a couple. I talked to the students about proper way to present their work. I stressed no being silly and goofy and how they should be proud of the work they have done and want to share it so their classmates can enjoy their work also. We are finishing the week with a test over chapter 4. Next week we will begin chapter 5. I will be sure to have a good stopping point in this subject also.
Friday, December 19th - On this day our schedule will be a little different. The Finals of the National Geography Bee will be held in the gym at 10:15. All parents are welcome to attend to see what this event is all about. We held the preliminary rounds the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This event is for grades 4-8. Our ten finalists are : Rowan Pope, LIly Pryor, Garon Wurster, Danika Schultes, Jaxie Luther, Aubrey Allen, Olivia Hagen, Aliyah Drey, Megan Pellman, and Tessa Powers. In the afternoon, we will travel to the Performing Arts Center to practice for our Christmas Concert. We will be gone most of the afternoon. Please look for the permission form in your students take home folder. Sign it and return it to me ASAP. They need this filled out to travel to the YMCA that day.
Monday, December 22nd - We will be going to the Congregate Meal site with the 5th grade to sing our Christmas songs to the people there. We will just walk since it is in the Depot. Mrs. Weishaar-Mullin, Ms. Surma and myself will be walking them over. We will go around 11:30 and be back by 11:55. Short trip but I know the people will enjoy the show.
Tuesday, December 23rd - This is the last day before our Christmas Break!! This day will be very different. I will let you know specifically what we will be doing those last couple of days in next weeks blog. The main thing I wanted you to know so you could plan ahead is: at 2:30 we will all meet in the gym for caroling. The student sit with their advent angels and we sing Christmas Carols. If you have never been here, I would highly recommend you try to get here. It is the most awesome thing we do as a school. The singing is loud and fills the gym. It brings tears to most of our eyes watching the kids enjoy each other. Truly fills you with the Christmas Spirit!! Please feel free to come sing with us.
I will have a lot more information next week concerning December 22nd & 23rd. So stand by until next week!! Have a great weekend, I hope all of you are getting your shopping done!!! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and hope you are enjoying the Holiday Season.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I told you these next few weeks would go quickly. I know for the kids it really doesn't but for us who are really preparing for Christmas it goes fast. Next week is our last full week until next year! That sounds crazy. Next week will be treated like a normal week. The only difference will be is Friday the 19th. Our schedule will be very different that day. The kids are all very excited this time of year but sometimes I feel a little too much. Usually when they are this out of sorts a big snow storm is brewing. I am not sure that is true, but if we get a good one before Christmas, I will say I am not surprised!!
Language Arts - In language arts this week, we continue the theme of nonfiction stories. This one is Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World. We heard from an author who truly researches her subjects before writing about them. She went and stayed in Antarctica for four months for research. She was there over Christmas, which the kids and I had a hard time understanding. I did talk about no one being able to be there during their true winter season because it is too dangerous. This week in spelling we are working on more words ending in -ed and -ing. We learned about words parts -spect,
-struct, -tele, and -vis. We learned that 3 of them originated from Latin and one Greek. We learned their meanings which makes sense with our words that contain these parts. In grammar we are discussing modal auxilaries, which are words like; may, might, can, could, would, should, and must. We are learning what these words express and how to use them properly. This is a challenge to teach when the slang of today changes the true meaning of these words. Our main strategies and skills we are working on in the story are sequence, which we did activity over it in our small books that go along with the story, and summarizing. I reviewed the "Fab 5", that I went over earlier this year. Our end of week assessment will be tomorrow. Study those spelling words and vocabulary words!!
Math - We are working in chapter 3 on double-digit multiplication. We have reviewed area boxes this week and how to do them with a double-digit number. I am a huge fan of this strategy because it gives a visual that we can all understand. It uses partial products which again is one of my favorites. They have been working problems using area box the last couple of days. Today we will use the area box to help us, but we will be focusing on partial products. We will work our way into solving the problem using partial products without the area box. This class will catch on quickly. They have done an excellent job learning multiplication. I am enjoying teaching this content! Next week we will learn the regrouping strategy or the standard algorithm that you and I learned. After that lesson we will spend a few extra days practicing what we learned and then we will do a Math activity that deals with coordinates and following directions. They will create fun Christmas pictures following directions for coloring using a grid. It is just a fun activity to do before a break. I like to do this when I find a good spot to consider a stopping point for their vacation.
Social Studies - The projects have started arriving!! We have shared a couple. I talked to the students about proper way to present their work. I stressed no being silly and goofy and how they should be proud of the work they have done and want to share it so their classmates can enjoy their work also. We are finishing the week with a test over chapter 4. Next week we will begin chapter 5. I will be sure to have a good stopping point in this subject also.
Friday, December 19th - On this day our schedule will be a little different. The Finals of the National Geography Bee will be held in the gym at 10:15. All parents are welcome to attend to see what this event is all about. We held the preliminary rounds the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. This event is for grades 4-8. Our ten finalists are : Rowan Pope, LIly Pryor, Garon Wurster, Danika Schultes, Jaxie Luther, Aubrey Allen, Olivia Hagen, Aliyah Drey, Megan Pellman, and Tessa Powers. In the afternoon, we will travel to the Performing Arts Center to practice for our Christmas Concert. We will be gone most of the afternoon. Please look for the permission form in your students take home folder. Sign it and return it to me ASAP. They need this filled out to travel to the YMCA that day.
Monday, December 22nd - We will be going to the Congregate Meal site with the 5th grade to sing our Christmas songs to the people there. We will just walk since it is in the Depot. Mrs. Weishaar-Mullin, Ms. Surma and myself will be walking them over. We will go around 11:30 and be back by 11:55. Short trip but I know the people will enjoy the show.
Tuesday, December 23rd - This is the last day before our Christmas Break!! This day will be very different. I will let you know specifically what we will be doing those last couple of days in next weeks blog. The main thing I wanted you to know so you could plan ahead is: at 2:30 we will all meet in the gym for caroling. The student sit with their advent angels and we sing Christmas Carols. If you have never been here, I would highly recommend you try to get here. It is the most awesome thing we do as a school. The singing is loud and fills the gym. It brings tears to most of our eyes watching the kids enjoy each other. Truly fills you with the Christmas Spirit!! Please feel free to come sing with us.
I will have a lot more information next week concerning December 22nd & 23rd. So stand by until next week!! Have a great weekend, I hope all of you are getting your shopping done!!! Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and hope you are enjoying the Holiday Season.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Friday, December 5, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Holidays!! I hope all of you had a very happy Thanksgiving. We did. We had a nice trip to Chicago. We enjoyed some shopping on Friday. Macy's was my favorite black Friday shopping!! They had some great deals. I have a good start to my Christmas shopping. I am almost done. Now, I am looking for specific things. The rest of the month will go quickly. We are gearing up for Christmas but at school we are still working very hard. We will work as hard as we can up to that very last week. On the last day we are hear we will finish up some important stuff but then have fun and celebrate the season with one another. We will be adding a tree to our wing tomorrow. Kids are creating ornaments to put on them.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called The Earth Dragon Awakes. This is a story about the Earthquake in San Francisco, California in April of 1906. We consider this Historical Fiction because it is about a true event in History. The destruction is real, but the actual story of a father Ah Sing and son Chin was fiction. It is kind of a scary story thinking about being in a real earthquake and being trapped beneath rubble. There were real pictures from that day added in also. We have focused on visualizing this week. Students chose a scene out of their book report books and drew a picture of what was happening. They shared in their groups. Fun activity. In grammar we are focusing on possessive nouns. They are getting familiar with the apostrophe again. They are learning about singular possessive nouns and plural possessive nouns. Our spelling list and decoding this week go hand in hand. The spelling list was on words ending in -ed and -ing. They had to either drop an e before adding the endings or they needed to double a consonant. We talked about how that works and how to find the base word when we remove the ending sound. Tomorrow is our weekly assessment. They should be studying their spelling words and vocabulary.
Math - We just started chapter 3. I would love to have it done by Christmas but that may not happen. We have jumped up into double-digit multiplication. Ms. Sherrod taught the first lesson and did an EXCELLENT job. We covered the first part of lesson 2 today which is on estimating products which they find very easy. Since they estimate every answer before they find the real answer they enjoy this lesson cause they don't know how to find the exact answer yet. We will continue to practice out multiplication basic facts also. I am so excited we are learning this content earlier in the year than I used to teach!!
Social Studies- We are getting closer to our first due dates!! Social studies projects will soon be in our halls. I am pumped to see them!! We have learned about land forms and resourced in the Northeast. My favorite fact is that out of 1,000 cranberry bogs in the United States, 500 of them are in Massachusetts. Not a very big state to have that many!! We will be finishing up this chapter soon and taking another test before Christmas Break. We will even get the next chapter started before we take off. Again, I said we are going to work hard and get as much done as we can, as long as we are learning!!
Please remember book orders are due tomorrow. Let me know if you are ordering for gifts. There were a lot of great things in the book orders!! I love the Holiday order. The Hunger Games Foil box set would make a great gift. I always push for kids to read the books because they are so much better than the movies. I started reading the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone book out loud and they are really enjoying it because it has so much more than the movie. They all say, that didn't happen!! Send in your orders if you have them!! Thank you!
Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs.Sickels
Happy Holidays!! I hope all of you had a very happy Thanksgiving. We did. We had a nice trip to Chicago. We enjoyed some shopping on Friday. Macy's was my favorite black Friday shopping!! They had some great deals. I have a good start to my Christmas shopping. I am almost done. Now, I am looking for specific things. The rest of the month will go quickly. We are gearing up for Christmas but at school we are still working very hard. We will work as hard as we can up to that very last week. On the last day we are hear we will finish up some important stuff but then have fun and celebrate the season with one another. We will be adding a tree to our wing tomorrow. Kids are creating ornaments to put on them.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called The Earth Dragon Awakes. This is a story about the Earthquake in San Francisco, California in April of 1906. We consider this Historical Fiction because it is about a true event in History. The destruction is real, but the actual story of a father Ah Sing and son Chin was fiction. It is kind of a scary story thinking about being in a real earthquake and being trapped beneath rubble. There were real pictures from that day added in also. We have focused on visualizing this week. Students chose a scene out of their book report books and drew a picture of what was happening. They shared in their groups. Fun activity. In grammar we are focusing on possessive nouns. They are getting familiar with the apostrophe again. They are learning about singular possessive nouns and plural possessive nouns. Our spelling list and decoding this week go hand in hand. The spelling list was on words ending in -ed and -ing. They had to either drop an e before adding the endings or they needed to double a consonant. We talked about how that works and how to find the base word when we remove the ending sound. Tomorrow is our weekly assessment. They should be studying their spelling words and vocabulary.
Math - We just started chapter 3. I would love to have it done by Christmas but that may not happen. We have jumped up into double-digit multiplication. Ms. Sherrod taught the first lesson and did an EXCELLENT job. We covered the first part of lesson 2 today which is on estimating products which they find very easy. Since they estimate every answer before they find the real answer they enjoy this lesson cause they don't know how to find the exact answer yet. We will continue to practice out multiplication basic facts also. I am so excited we are learning this content earlier in the year than I used to teach!!
Social Studies- We are getting closer to our first due dates!! Social studies projects will soon be in our halls. I am pumped to see them!! We have learned about land forms and resourced in the Northeast. My favorite fact is that out of 1,000 cranberry bogs in the United States, 500 of them are in Massachusetts. Not a very big state to have that many!! We will be finishing up this chapter soon and taking another test before Christmas Break. We will even get the next chapter started before we take off. Again, I said we are going to work hard and get as much done as we can, as long as we are learning!!
Please remember book orders are due tomorrow. Let me know if you are ordering for gifts. There were a lot of great things in the book orders!! I love the Holiday order. The Hunger Games Foil box set would make a great gift. I always push for kids to read the books because they are so much better than the movies. I started reading the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone book out loud and they are really enjoying it because it has so much more than the movie. They all say, that didn't happen!! Send in your orders if you have them!! Thank you!
Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs.Sickels
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Dear Parents,
WOW!! The cold is here!! Too cold, as a matter of fact. I hope we get some warmth back in there a little or it will be a long winter. Thank you for being patient and rescheduling conferences so I could go to the football game. I appreciate it and I know my kids did too. I am finally finished with all of them. Thank you for meeting with me, I enjoy talking with all of you. Thank you for sharing your children with me. I do enjoy them every day.
Language Arts - This week we have started back in the book with a story called Hurricanes. It is a nonfiction piece on how hurricanes form and where. Also where they hit. Our spelling list was on compound words and we are talking about homophones in grammar. The homophones are the most frequently confused: to, too, two, there, their, they're, its and it's. We also touched on hear, here, read, and red. We also worked on decoding compound words. The end of week assessment is tomorrow. Please remember to study the vocabulary. Next week is a very short week so we will not read a story in the book. I plan to do another fluency evaluation and for the students to do a writing project. This also means no spelling words next week.
Math - We are finishing up chapter 2. They were assigned the review today. We will check it tomorrow. The actual test will be on Monday. We will correct it on Tuesday. I don't plan on starting chapter 3 until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Please, talk to them about trying their hardest. They also took a timed test today over multiplication facts. I am seeing improvements. Yay!! Keep working!!
Social Studies - Your child was given their due dates today for the first projects. They were excited. I will get the poster boards and cake tracers out to them next week. They may begin work on them. We are visiting the Northeast region, talking about NIagra Falls, the Appalachain Mountains, and the different mountain ranges that are in there, also the different coastlines. Maine has a very rocky coastline where in New Jersey it is sandy with great beaches. We also talked about the Appalachain Trail. It is a trail that covers 2,160 miles on top of the Appalachain Mountains. It goes through 14 states, starting in Maine all the way through Georgia. I think that is very interesting. I will be anxious to see the first projects in December!!
Book Orders - I sent home two book orders today for November, I just decided that I am gong to also send 2 for December home tomorrow. Please look at all four. You can order out of any of them. I would like them due back on Dec. 5th so that I can get them sent off and back by Christmas. If you would like to get your child gift secretly we can do that. Just email me, send me a note, stop order off to Sarah in office, I will do whatever to make it happen. I can email you when they get here and work something out to make sure it stays a secret!! I love secrets!!!
Please read the school letter on the website as well. We will be having a celebration on December 1st for Nate and T.J. Frey and it talks about the events that will be happening that day.
Have a great weeknd!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
WOW!! The cold is here!! Too cold, as a matter of fact. I hope we get some warmth back in there a little or it will be a long winter. Thank you for being patient and rescheduling conferences so I could go to the football game. I appreciate it and I know my kids did too. I am finally finished with all of them. Thank you for meeting with me, I enjoy talking with all of you. Thank you for sharing your children with me. I do enjoy them every day.
Language Arts - This week we have started back in the book with a story called Hurricanes. It is a nonfiction piece on how hurricanes form and where. Also where they hit. Our spelling list was on compound words and we are talking about homophones in grammar. The homophones are the most frequently confused: to, too, two, there, their, they're, its and it's. We also touched on hear, here, read, and red. We also worked on decoding compound words. The end of week assessment is tomorrow. Please remember to study the vocabulary. Next week is a very short week so we will not read a story in the book. I plan to do another fluency evaluation and for the students to do a writing project. This also means no spelling words next week.
Math - We are finishing up chapter 2. They were assigned the review today. We will check it tomorrow. The actual test will be on Monday. We will correct it on Tuesday. I don't plan on starting chapter 3 until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Please, talk to them about trying their hardest. They also took a timed test today over multiplication facts. I am seeing improvements. Yay!! Keep working!!
Social Studies - Your child was given their due dates today for the first projects. They were excited. I will get the poster boards and cake tracers out to them next week. They may begin work on them. We are visiting the Northeast region, talking about NIagra Falls, the Appalachain Mountains, and the different mountain ranges that are in there, also the different coastlines. Maine has a very rocky coastline where in New Jersey it is sandy with great beaches. We also talked about the Appalachain Trail. It is a trail that covers 2,160 miles on top of the Appalachain Mountains. It goes through 14 states, starting in Maine all the way through Georgia. I think that is very interesting. I will be anxious to see the first projects in December!!
Book Orders - I sent home two book orders today for November, I just decided that I am gong to also send 2 for December home tomorrow. Please look at all four. You can order out of any of them. I would like them due back on Dec. 5th so that I can get them sent off and back by Christmas. If you would like to get your child gift secretly we can do that. Just email me, send me a note, stop order off to Sarah in office, I will do whatever to make it happen. I can email you when they get here and work something out to make sure it stays a secret!! I love secrets!!!
Please read the school letter on the website as well. We will be having a celebration on December 1st for Nate and T.J. Frey and it talks about the events that will be happening that day.
Have a great weeknd!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I want to say the end of the year is coming!! Once we hit October, I feel like it all flies by. First we have conferences, which about 3 of you need to check out and sign up, then it is Thanksgiving, next we hit Advent and Christmas. It all seems to run together and be over before I know it. We will still work hard through all these exciting times. I look forward to all the breaks with my family. So far so good with the weather, but we all know winter is coming. Again. please be sure your child is coming to school prepared for the day. Sweatshirts at recess are not enough, especially if they are wearing the coat in the classroom too. They need to bring a coat, to put on over the sweatshirt. Also, dig out those hats and mittens and get them ready!!
Language Arts - This week we are ready a Biography about Jose Limon. The story is called Jose, Born to Dance. It tells of his life growing up and how he became a dancer later in life. Everyone thought he would be an artist because he loved to draw and paint. He spent his young life focusing on that. In grammar we have discussed subject and object pronouns. Ask your students about learning the pronouns. We also learned what an antecedent is. That is what the pronoun actually stands for. We also read poetry on dance. This is the last story in Unit 2, so we will be taking a unit test next week. There will not be a regular spelling test or reading stories. We will focus on testing, sharing book reports and I will assign the next book report, if I have time. Conferences throw a wrench into the schedule, so I will get done as much as I can, the test being the priority.
Math - We learned the standard algorithm for multiplication today. This is the strategy that you all know and love. Personally it is no longer my favorite. It doesn't show the true understanding of what you are doing when you multiply. It is easier and quicker but that is not my goal as a teacher for your child. Yes, I want to teach them the things that make it easier for them, but I want them to understand the reasoning behind it. I also want them to have several options to get an answer. Deeper understanding of math is my goal. It will only help them when learning algebra and higher level courses in High School. I am very pleased with all of them and how well they are picking up on it all. We will keep up the hard work. After this chapter we will focus on double-digit multiplication. I will begin working with basic facts here at school. Please, spend a few minutes at home practicing. There are apps for ipods out there to help them get their facts.
Social Studies - We just finished chapter 3 today. Tomorrow we will correct tests. Next week we will begin studying our first Region of the United States. Which also means "PROJECTS"!! I will go over each project available with your student and then hand you the packets at conferences and share with you. I am so excited!! This is my favorite part of social studies. We will also start learning a song about the states and capitals. This will help them memorize all the states and their capitals. We will also be sure to master the location of the states within the region. They will only learn a region at a time. I feel this makes more sense to master one region at a time. By the end of the year they will be able to do all 50 states and name their capitals. Woohoo!! That is also exciting.
I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Go cheer on the Panthers Friday night in Dallas Center-Grimes!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I want to say the end of the year is coming!! Once we hit October, I feel like it all flies by. First we have conferences, which about 3 of you need to check out and sign up, then it is Thanksgiving, next we hit Advent and Christmas. It all seems to run together and be over before I know it. We will still work hard through all these exciting times. I look forward to all the breaks with my family. So far so good with the weather, but we all know winter is coming. Again. please be sure your child is coming to school prepared for the day. Sweatshirts at recess are not enough, especially if they are wearing the coat in the classroom too. They need to bring a coat, to put on over the sweatshirt. Also, dig out those hats and mittens and get them ready!!
Language Arts - This week we are ready a Biography about Jose Limon. The story is called Jose, Born to Dance. It tells of his life growing up and how he became a dancer later in life. Everyone thought he would be an artist because he loved to draw and paint. He spent his young life focusing on that. In grammar we have discussed subject and object pronouns. Ask your students about learning the pronouns. We also learned what an antecedent is. That is what the pronoun actually stands for. We also read poetry on dance. This is the last story in Unit 2, so we will be taking a unit test next week. There will not be a regular spelling test or reading stories. We will focus on testing, sharing book reports and I will assign the next book report, if I have time. Conferences throw a wrench into the schedule, so I will get done as much as I can, the test being the priority.
Math - We learned the standard algorithm for multiplication today. This is the strategy that you all know and love. Personally it is no longer my favorite. It doesn't show the true understanding of what you are doing when you multiply. It is easier and quicker but that is not my goal as a teacher for your child. Yes, I want to teach them the things that make it easier for them, but I want them to understand the reasoning behind it. I also want them to have several options to get an answer. Deeper understanding of math is my goal. It will only help them when learning algebra and higher level courses in High School. I am very pleased with all of them and how well they are picking up on it all. We will keep up the hard work. After this chapter we will focus on double-digit multiplication. I will begin working with basic facts here at school. Please, spend a few minutes at home practicing. There are apps for ipods out there to help them get their facts.
Social Studies - We just finished chapter 3 today. Tomorrow we will correct tests. Next week we will begin studying our first Region of the United States. Which also means "PROJECTS"!! I will go over each project available with your student and then hand you the packets at conferences and share with you. I am so excited!! This is my favorite part of social studies. We will also start learning a song about the states and capitals. This will help them memorize all the states and their capitals. We will also be sure to master the location of the states within the region. They will only learn a region at a time. I feel this makes more sense to master one region at a time. By the end of the year they will be able to do all 50 states and name their capitals. Woohoo!! That is also exciting.
I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. Go cheer on the Panthers Friday night in Dallas Center-Grimes!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I think our really warm weather has moved on. It always seems that Halloween is when the real cold begins. I know 17 years ago on Oct. 26, we had a bad snow storm because I ended up with no electricity, and had to take the twins to my parents for warmth. They were just 4 months old at them time. Funny thing is, I didn't even know it was suppose to snow that night! Maybe the snow will stay away for a while. At least til all our local farmers get their crops out. I have really notice the trees this year. They are really pretty. The oranges and reds seem more brilliant. My neighbor had a great orange colored tree but last weekend it lost all it's leaves in one day. My kids make fun of me for pointing those things out, except one day one of the older two pointed a pretty red tree out to me. I hope everyone enjoys Halloween!!
Halloween at St. Malachy - Well, here are the details for Halloween. The morning will be a regular Friday for us. We will do everything we normally do. Yes, spelling post test and Language Arts assessment will still take place. In the late morning about 11:15 I will begin showing them the movie The Wizard of Oz. We just finished reading the book aloud and it was very different from the book. I know most of them have seen the movie a million times but I thought a fun Halloween activity. After lunch we will continue to watch it until it is out turn to go to the Halloween activities. I have a snack being brought in and juice to have while watching the movie. This is what our Halloween Party consists of, movie an snack. We will go to the upper wing when it is time and do some spooky fun activities. At 2:30 the Halloween Parade will take place in the gym. Get there early to get a good spot. If you attend the parade and want to take your child home as soon as it is over just come down to the room and pick them up. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!!
Math - We have started work on the 2nd half of the Math chapter 2. We begin with mental math strategies. These are strategies I have always taught, but the difference is this book throws 4 different strategies at them at once where last year I taught one strategy each day for 4 days. We are finding out that having several options to work a problem is awesome! Just today I shared a way I would work a problem and someone else did a different strategy from the page and we got the same answer. What I felt was the easier strategy someone else didn't. The kids thought it was cool. I know I am out of some people's comfort zones with this. It was always that way in the past also. Today they are doing all their work in partners and will not bring it home to work on. I also want to let you know that if your child is struggling with some of the work, bring them to school early. I am here by 7:45 every morning. On Mondays I have breakfast duty but Tuesday through Friday I am in my room. Students may come in during the morning and get help. I have had a couple take advantage of that all ready. I would encourage you to do this, especially when it is something you are struggling to help with. Most parents want to revert to their way of doing things. We need to keep in mind we only learned one way to work problems. Which is sad that our our trained that way. We are working our way up to those strategies. Your child is lucky to be getting a deeper understanding of math and how it works. High School math will be so much easier for them. If you aren't understanding what they are doing send them to me in the morning and we will work it out.
Language Arts - This week we are reading Dear Mr. Winston. This is a humorous story about a child who needed to do some research on a snake. The snake book she needs is a reference book and can't be checked out of the library, sooooo she brings the snack in a box into the library. The librarian is deathly afraid. When he notices what she is doing he asks what is in the box. She tells him not to look but he does. He passes out in fear and is taken away. As he passes out he drops the box and the snake gets away and wasn't found. The story is about her apology letter to the librarian for what happened. In the letter she states things like "My parents are making me write this and Dad is going to read it to see if acceptable." She also supports her reasoning for bringing in the snake and the fact that she told him not to look in the box. It's a funny story. We are working on compound and complex sentences in grammar and we worked on beginning sounds in decoding. Spelling post test and regular assessment of Friday. Study spelling and vocabulary words tonight!
Social Studies - We will be working on a study guide tomorrow in class. If they don't get done it will be homework. We will check the study guide on Monday and take a test on Tuesday. Then we will begin to look at the Northeast region. I will show the states in the region and I will also introduce the song we use to help them memorize the states and capitals. Any practice you can do at home for locating the states will be great! I know you can get apps called Stack the states and a United States puzzle map on iphones or ipods to help. Stack the States makes them familiar with the shapes. This is when social studies gets a lot more exciting!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I finally have a weekend that I don't have a kid to follow somewhere for some activity! I am very excited. We are going to work on the garage and making it so Jami and Josie can get their car in there for the winter!!
I am praying the volleyball team wins their game tonight. If they do, only one more game to decide if they will attend state!! We are very excited about this. The last time Creston went to state in Volleyball was when I was junior in high school on the team, 27 years ago!! My daughter being on the team and a junior also, is very exciting. I think I want this as much as my daughter and their coach since we were in the same class.
If the volleyball team would make it, State is during the week of conferences. I will need to make arrangements to change my conference times. Please go ahead and sign up for conferences like normal. I will contact each of you if things work out and I need to be gone. We will set up times before that week or in the following week. I will be very flexible and work with each one of you. This is just a heads up. We will know for sure if we lose tonight or if we win the 3rd game next Tuesday.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I think our really warm weather has moved on. It always seems that Halloween is when the real cold begins. I know 17 years ago on Oct. 26, we had a bad snow storm because I ended up with no electricity, and had to take the twins to my parents for warmth. They were just 4 months old at them time. Funny thing is, I didn't even know it was suppose to snow that night! Maybe the snow will stay away for a while. At least til all our local farmers get their crops out. I have really notice the trees this year. They are really pretty. The oranges and reds seem more brilliant. My neighbor had a great orange colored tree but last weekend it lost all it's leaves in one day. My kids make fun of me for pointing those things out, except one day one of the older two pointed a pretty red tree out to me. I hope everyone enjoys Halloween!!
Halloween at St. Malachy - Well, here are the details for Halloween. The morning will be a regular Friday for us. We will do everything we normally do. Yes, spelling post test and Language Arts assessment will still take place. In the late morning about 11:15 I will begin showing them the movie The Wizard of Oz. We just finished reading the book aloud and it was very different from the book. I know most of them have seen the movie a million times but I thought a fun Halloween activity. After lunch we will continue to watch it until it is out turn to go to the Halloween activities. I have a snack being brought in and juice to have while watching the movie. This is what our Halloween Party consists of, movie an snack. We will go to the upper wing when it is time and do some spooky fun activities. At 2:30 the Halloween Parade will take place in the gym. Get there early to get a good spot. If you attend the parade and want to take your child home as soon as it is over just come down to the room and pick them up. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!!
Math - We have started work on the 2nd half of the Math chapter 2. We begin with mental math strategies. These are strategies I have always taught, but the difference is this book throws 4 different strategies at them at once where last year I taught one strategy each day for 4 days. We are finding out that having several options to work a problem is awesome! Just today I shared a way I would work a problem and someone else did a different strategy from the page and we got the same answer. What I felt was the easier strategy someone else didn't. The kids thought it was cool. I know I am out of some people's comfort zones with this. It was always that way in the past also. Today they are doing all their work in partners and will not bring it home to work on. I also want to let you know that if your child is struggling with some of the work, bring them to school early. I am here by 7:45 every morning. On Mondays I have breakfast duty but Tuesday through Friday I am in my room. Students may come in during the morning and get help. I have had a couple take advantage of that all ready. I would encourage you to do this, especially when it is something you are struggling to help with. Most parents want to revert to their way of doing things. We need to keep in mind we only learned one way to work problems. Which is sad that our our trained that way. We are working our way up to those strategies. Your child is lucky to be getting a deeper understanding of math and how it works. High School math will be so much easier for them. If you aren't understanding what they are doing send them to me in the morning and we will work it out.
Language Arts - This week we are reading Dear Mr. Winston. This is a humorous story about a child who needed to do some research on a snake. The snake book she needs is a reference book and can't be checked out of the library, sooooo she brings the snack in a box into the library. The librarian is deathly afraid. When he notices what she is doing he asks what is in the box. She tells him not to look but he does. He passes out in fear and is taken away. As he passes out he drops the box and the snake gets away and wasn't found. The story is about her apology letter to the librarian for what happened. In the letter she states things like "My parents are making me write this and Dad is going to read it to see if acceptable." She also supports her reasoning for bringing in the snake and the fact that she told him not to look in the box. It's a funny story. We are working on compound and complex sentences in grammar and we worked on beginning sounds in decoding. Spelling post test and regular assessment of Friday. Study spelling and vocabulary words tonight!
Social Studies - We will be working on a study guide tomorrow in class. If they don't get done it will be homework. We will check the study guide on Monday and take a test on Tuesday. Then we will begin to look at the Northeast region. I will show the states in the region and I will also introduce the song we use to help them memorize the states and capitals. Any practice you can do at home for locating the states will be great! I know you can get apps called Stack the states and a United States puzzle map on iphones or ipods to help. Stack the States makes them familiar with the shapes. This is when social studies gets a lot more exciting!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I finally have a weekend that I don't have a kid to follow somewhere for some activity! I am very excited. We are going to work on the garage and making it so Jami and Josie can get their car in there for the winter!!
I am praying the volleyball team wins their game tonight. If they do, only one more game to decide if they will attend state!! We are very excited about this. The last time Creston went to state in Volleyball was when I was junior in high school on the team, 27 years ago!! My daughter being on the team and a junior also, is very exciting. I think I want this as much as my daughter and their coach since we were in the same class.
If the volleyball team would make it, State is during the week of conferences. I will need to make arrangements to change my conference times. Please go ahead and sign up for conferences like normal. I will contact each of you if things work out and I need to be gone. We will set up times before that week or in the following week. I will be very flexible and work with each one of you. This is just a heads up. We will know for sure if we lose tonight or if we win the 3rd game next Tuesday.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Again I feel like I just wrote a letter. Most of the time I feel the week is dragging along. We are still working very hard in 4th grade. You should see all results of things on Power School. I put all tests and most of the student's homework on it. Please keep in mind, homework is for the students to practice what they are learning and for me to see how they are doing and if more time is needed in that area. If I feel the score is not where I think they should be I will have them make corrections. If they do a good job on corrections then I will adjust their grade appropriately. So you may see one score one day and the next it may be different after they have made changes. I hope you are all on there following your students. This is how I keep up with my high-schoolers and how they are doing. It is very handy to see if they are getting their work done. I don't receive late slips from high school teachers telling me my kids are falling behind. Now is the time to get online and learn how to keep track of your student. If you are unsure how to do it come see Sarah or give her a call. She is a great resource to answer your questions.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Me and Uncle Romie. It is written about Romare Beardon a well-known collage artist. (if you follow the art world) We have talked about what a collage artist creates and the story actually has a good example. We have talked about verb tenses again this week focusing on present progressive verbs. We also reviewed the 4 kinds of sentences we write. Our target skill was characters and paying close attention to characters, what they are thinking, what they are doing and how they speak. This gives us a good idea of what kind of character they are. We also spent some time on the target strategy of visualizing. I read a paragraph from our read aloud book to them (Wizard of Oz) and they were to draw a picture of the scene they were hearing. According to a couple students it was a fun activitiy. I also compared it to books that have been made into motion pictures. I told the kids to create that motion picture in their mind as they read. Remember to study spelling words and vocabulary words for tomorrow.
Math - We have completed half of chapter 2! The students worked on their mid chapter checkpoint review yesterday. We went over it today. It shows me I need to spend about one more day on partial product. Some students had corrections to work on today and those who didn't played a game. I have a 30 sided die that they role to make multiplication problems and then they were to use the expanded form and partial product strategy to work them. Tomorrow we will review the partial product strategy and have a worksheet to complete on it. I just feel they need a little more practice before moving on. This chapter is very important because in chapter 3 we do the exact same strategies but with double- digit numbers instead of single digit. It will be harder, so we need to master the strategies now. I love these strategies and totally enjoy teaching this chapter. They are learning a lot!
Social Studies - We are finishing up lesson three so we will be looking at reviewing for a test towards the end of next week. I am glad to be at the end because we will talk about each region separately and I enjoy doing that. Especially those regions where I have not been but the kids have. I learn a lot and enjoy it. I will be getting packets ready to send home over the social studies projects that 4th graders will do this year. If you have had me before you all ready know all about them. I will discuss them at conferences so everyone is up to speed, in case this is your first year with me.
I hope all of you have a great weekend! This is "Molly" weekend. It is dancing at Ice Hockey game Saturday night then parents preview on Sunday. Also, volleyball with her on Saturday morning. I am happy to be right here in town though. Maybe I can get some much needed things done!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Again I feel like I just wrote a letter. Most of the time I feel the week is dragging along. We are still working very hard in 4th grade. You should see all results of things on Power School. I put all tests and most of the student's homework on it. Please keep in mind, homework is for the students to practice what they are learning and for me to see how they are doing and if more time is needed in that area. If I feel the score is not where I think they should be I will have them make corrections. If they do a good job on corrections then I will adjust their grade appropriately. So you may see one score one day and the next it may be different after they have made changes. I hope you are all on there following your students. This is how I keep up with my high-schoolers and how they are doing. It is very handy to see if they are getting their work done. I don't receive late slips from high school teachers telling me my kids are falling behind. Now is the time to get online and learn how to keep track of your student. If you are unsure how to do it come see Sarah or give her a call. She is a great resource to answer your questions.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Me and Uncle Romie. It is written about Romare Beardon a well-known collage artist. (if you follow the art world) We have talked about what a collage artist creates and the story actually has a good example. We have talked about verb tenses again this week focusing on present progressive verbs. We also reviewed the 4 kinds of sentences we write. Our target skill was characters and paying close attention to characters, what they are thinking, what they are doing and how they speak. This gives us a good idea of what kind of character they are. We also spent some time on the target strategy of visualizing. I read a paragraph from our read aloud book to them (Wizard of Oz) and they were to draw a picture of the scene they were hearing. According to a couple students it was a fun activitiy. I also compared it to books that have been made into motion pictures. I told the kids to create that motion picture in their mind as they read. Remember to study spelling words and vocabulary words for tomorrow.
Math - We have completed half of chapter 2! The students worked on their mid chapter checkpoint review yesterday. We went over it today. It shows me I need to spend about one more day on partial product. Some students had corrections to work on today and those who didn't played a game. I have a 30 sided die that they role to make multiplication problems and then they were to use the expanded form and partial product strategy to work them. Tomorrow we will review the partial product strategy and have a worksheet to complete on it. I just feel they need a little more practice before moving on. This chapter is very important because in chapter 3 we do the exact same strategies but with double- digit numbers instead of single digit. It will be harder, so we need to master the strategies now. I love these strategies and totally enjoy teaching this chapter. They are learning a lot!
Social Studies - We are finishing up lesson three so we will be looking at reviewing for a test towards the end of next week. I am glad to be at the end because we will talk about each region separately and I enjoy doing that. Especially those regions where I have not been but the kids have. I learn a lot and enjoy it. I will be getting packets ready to send home over the social studies projects that 4th graders will do this year. If you have had me before you all ready know all about them. I will discuss them at conferences so everyone is up to speed, in case this is your first year with me.
I hope all of you have a great weekend! This is "Molly" weekend. It is dancing at Ice Hockey game Saturday night then parents preview on Sunday. Also, volleyball with her on Saturday morning. I am happy to be right here in town though. Maybe I can get some much needed things done!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Wow, time seams to fly in 4th grade. I feel like I just wrote a parent letter!! We are working very hard. The weather seems to by turning cooler, which is to be expected. This is the last month for the students to wear shorts. On November 1st, we are no longer able to wear shorts. Please refer to the handbook and look back over the dress code. I love the sunshine today. Conferences are coming. I hope all of you are following your child's progress online. I am entering test scores and homework assignments on there so you can keep up with how your child is doing. If you are unable to get online please contact Sarah in the office and she will help you.
Math - I am very excited about Math this week. I have begun teaching partial product which to me is the best way to do a multiplication problem because you walk through every step and you understand exactly what you are doing. This made multiplication make better sense to me as an adult. I learned this strategy about 8 years ago and have been teaching it ever since. Please, take the time to learn the strategy from your child. It incorporates the distributive property into it and uses expanded form which we learned in chapter 1. I also like to to show them how what we learn carries over into other things. It would be of great help if you worked on some basic facts at home with your child. Do flashcards or find an online game or program that works on memorizing those basic facts. Math would be easier for them if they were able to multiply basic facts quickly.
Social Studies - We are moving through lesson 3 rather quickly. Before long we will move into chapter 4 which begins our learning on each region of the United States. We will focus on only those states within that regions. We will learn about the people who once lived there, resources that are found there and what they have to offer the rest of the United States. We will also begin focusing on the map of the United States and practice placing the states in their proper places. We will do a region at a time. My intent is that they master the region before we move on and add more states. By the end of the year, they should be able to do all 50 states. This is also something that can be reinforced at home with a map, a game, or computer game. We have sequence United States at our house. It helps to familiarize them with the shape of the states. These are all fun ways to learn.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called "Coming Distractions". It is informational text on movie making. I am not sure the students were very interested in this story. I tried to do a lot of discussing to pull some interest out of them. I related to movies that I know they watch. We are working on verb tenses in grammar. There are three verb tenses: past, present, and future. They have bee doing some worksheets showing their understanding of these. We worked on a reading strategy summarizing this week. I found a great sheet called FAB 5 for summarizing. It is an easy way to summarize a fictional story. We completed an activity on summarizing where they had to use the FAB 5 to give me a summary of a very short story. We found out not all aspects of the 5 are necessarily used in every story. They wrote a few summaries for me. We also discussed that this strategy would not lend itself to the information text stories full of facts. Remember to study spelling words and vocabulary tonight for the assessment tomorrow.
Book Orders were placed today!! Thank you very much for the orders!!!
I hope all of you have a great weekend! Mine is not as busy as last weekend but I do have a Molly playing volleyball on Saturday and Jami playing in Winterset on Saturday. Wish I could be two places at once!! Where is the Harry Potter time turner when you need it!! Sorry, if you are not a Harry Potter fan you won't know what I am saying. It does make it so someone can be two places at once.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! Remember there is no school tomorrow!! There will be around 450 teachers at the Creston High School for 21st Century Learning. These are mini session on how technology is incorporated into the classrooms. Most of the sessions are lead by teachers who are successful with technology in their rooms. It is an interesting day and I usually learn something very helpful. I also think being taught by peers that are having success helps. The 2nd half of the day the St. Malachy teachers will be at St. Malachy for School of Faith which is faith formation for the teachers. It is a time where we get to share about our faith backgrounds and learn and grow in faith together! I enjoy this time with my co-workers. All ready I have made some changes in my life dealing with faith. I am looking forward to both activities tomorrow brings.
Book Orders - Here are 2 book orders for the month of October. Please look them over and return to me by Thursday, Oct. 16th. If I order by the 20th I get extra bonus points and free books for the classroom. Fourth grade students should be moving into reading chapter books on a regular basis. Picture books are okay for fun reading every now and then, but at this level they should be finding authors that they enjoy. Mike Lupica is a great sports writer along with Matt Christopher. I would recommend those for the sports readers.
Language Arts - We were back to normal this week. We read a play this week. On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater Company broadcast the radio play Invasion from Mars, adapted from the novel The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells Listeners who tuned in after the broadcast began were alarmed by what they heard. They thought what was happening was real. We read this story but I also let them listen to the exact broadcast. I found it on Utube. I typed in War of the Worlds radio broadcast. It is an hour long but out story takes place at about the 10 minute mark. It sounds very real. We listened to the introduction than skipped ahead. We discussed how important hearing that introduction was. If you missed it, you would have thought it was really happening. We started talking about verbs this week. I threw a lot at them, linking verbs, action verbs and we discussed helping verb with a main verb. It was a short week but I have been checking their assessments for the week and all are doing rather well. Check the scores online next week.
Math - We have spent some extra time on lesson 2.4 which is on estimating products. I was not real pleased with how they did on their homework assignment so we made corrections today on them and I gave them another worksheet to hopefully show me they are better understanding it now. I went over with them the problems they were struggling with. I plan to move onto the next lesson on Monday. It is the distributive property which is a great strategy for multiplying. I have just learned this strategy two years ago and have been teaching it. The students like it and some use it all the time to do their multiplication problems because they understand exactly what they are doing because they have a visual. It is something you were not taught, it is just another strategy. I love that we are giving kids more choices on how to work problems instead of just one firm way of doing things. More kids will be successful because of all the different strategies to work problems. This will take a couple of days for us to get down but I will take as much time as they need. If your child is struggling be sure to have them come see me before school and we can work out any problems that may occur.
Social Studies - Students took chapter 2 test on Tuesday. They made corrections today. I will hand them back to be signed on Monday. We will move into chapter 3 next week. This is the last chapter that is about the whole United States. Chapter 4 starts with the first region. I will be getting their State Project packets together and be handing those out at conferences. We will also sing a states and capitals song to help memorize them. You can find it on Utube. Just look up States and Capital song by Macho Nacho. It has a nice tune to it and I have copied all the words down on paper for the students to sing along until they memorize the song. Put it on their ipods at home and they will be able to memorize it much faster.
I hope all of you have a great weekend with an extra day thrown in there. I am off to Overland Park, Kansas to watch Josie play in the Kansas State Softball Tournament for USSSA Softball. It will be a cold one!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! Remember there is no school tomorrow!! There will be around 450 teachers at the Creston High School for 21st Century Learning. These are mini session on how technology is incorporated into the classrooms. Most of the sessions are lead by teachers who are successful with technology in their rooms. It is an interesting day and I usually learn something very helpful. I also think being taught by peers that are having success helps. The 2nd half of the day the St. Malachy teachers will be at St. Malachy for School of Faith which is faith formation for the teachers. It is a time where we get to share about our faith backgrounds and learn and grow in faith together! I enjoy this time with my co-workers. All ready I have made some changes in my life dealing with faith. I am looking forward to both activities tomorrow brings.
Book Orders - Here are 2 book orders for the month of October. Please look them over and return to me by Thursday, Oct. 16th. If I order by the 20th I get extra bonus points and free books for the classroom. Fourth grade students should be moving into reading chapter books on a regular basis. Picture books are okay for fun reading every now and then, but at this level they should be finding authors that they enjoy. Mike Lupica is a great sports writer along with Matt Christopher. I would recommend those for the sports readers.
Language Arts - We were back to normal this week. We read a play this week. On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater Company broadcast the radio play Invasion from Mars, adapted from the novel The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells Listeners who tuned in after the broadcast began were alarmed by what they heard. They thought what was happening was real. We read this story but I also let them listen to the exact broadcast. I found it on Utube. I typed in War of the Worlds radio broadcast. It is an hour long but out story takes place at about the 10 minute mark. It sounds very real. We listened to the introduction than skipped ahead. We discussed how important hearing that introduction was. If you missed it, you would have thought it was really happening. We started talking about verbs this week. I threw a lot at them, linking verbs, action verbs and we discussed helping verb with a main verb. It was a short week but I have been checking their assessments for the week and all are doing rather well. Check the scores online next week.
Math - We have spent some extra time on lesson 2.4 which is on estimating products. I was not real pleased with how they did on their homework assignment so we made corrections today on them and I gave them another worksheet to hopefully show me they are better understanding it now. I went over with them the problems they were struggling with. I plan to move onto the next lesson on Monday. It is the distributive property which is a great strategy for multiplying. I have just learned this strategy two years ago and have been teaching it. The students like it and some use it all the time to do their multiplication problems because they understand exactly what they are doing because they have a visual. It is something you were not taught, it is just another strategy. I love that we are giving kids more choices on how to work problems instead of just one firm way of doing things. More kids will be successful because of all the different strategies to work problems. This will take a couple of days for us to get down but I will take as much time as they need. If your child is struggling be sure to have them come see me before school and we can work out any problems that may occur.
Social Studies - Students took chapter 2 test on Tuesday. They made corrections today. I will hand them back to be signed on Monday. We will move into chapter 3 next week. This is the last chapter that is about the whole United States. Chapter 4 starts with the first region. I will be getting their State Project packets together and be handing those out at conferences. We will also sing a states and capitals song to help memorize them. You can find it on Utube. Just look up States and Capital song by Macho Nacho. It has a nice tune to it and I have copied all the words down on paper for the students to sing along until they memorize the song. Put it on their ipods at home and they will be able to memorize it much faster.
I hope all of you have a great weekend with an extra day thrown in there. I am off to Overland Park, Kansas to watch Josie play in the Kansas State Softball Tournament for USSSA Softball. It will be a cold one!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Well, the week started out nice and warm and ending on a very chilly note!! I have been seeing lots of Farmer's Almanac predictions for winter and whether it will be good or bad. Seems everything I see says LOTS of snow. I guess time will tell. I would rather have snow than freezing temps!!
Today we were in charge of Mass. I think the 4th graders did an excellent job!!!! I normally always get them their parts on Monday, but some of them didn't get them til the day before and did a great job learning them. I was very proud of them and I let them know that!!
Math- We have been working in chapter 2 this week. This chapter is focusing on multiplication. It has started out with us understanding comparison multiplication. These students will have a good understanding of this because we have spent 2 lessons on it. I love the model or picture it shows us to draw because it shows an understanding of the problem. It helps the students to work the problem. Some of the problems require more work than the others. This is a great strategy for them to learn and understand. We are giving our students so much more opportunity to be successful by teaching them more than one strategy. One strategy may click with a student more than the standard algorithm which is the only way we learned to work a problem. I understand that a lot of the things your child is doing may be unfamiliar to you. If you don't understand the strategy we are using and your child is struggling, tell them to come visit me in morning before school. I want to help them so they are using the strategy we are working on. I was okay at math in high school because I just did what they told me and never understood why we did it or how it even made sense. So many things make more sense to me now, because I am being introduced to the nuts and bolts of math. Math is so much more than the standard algorithm.
Social Studies - We are talking about rights and responsibilities. The important part of being a citizen of the United States are the rights that the Constitution gives us, but it also includes our responsibilities as citizens. We have been talking about the basic rights our Constitution protects. Mainly freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion. We also discussed things that we must do as citizens to help our country be successful. We talked about passports and their importance. If you have one share it with your child so they see what one looks like. We also talked a little bit about taxes. When taxes are paid and what the money is used for. Most of them had no idea that's how police/firemen were paid and that's how our roads are fixed or maintained.
Language Arts - We have been focusing on testing this week. We have been testing over Unit 1. This test is long but I chunk it up so the students are not taking it all in one day. I will be sending home the results of this test next week. We doing the last section of the test today. It is a constructed response section. The rest of the test was multiple choice. I also assigned their first book report this week. It is due on October 31st. They must read a book with more than 130 pages. I also count off for pictures. I am very strict about the students reading chapter books this year and not picture books. I don't allow Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Bones, or Big Nate books to be read as book report books. I also don't like them to read them during out DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time. There are a lot of chapter books out there to interest the students. We will also be beginning to write Halloween stories tomorrow. It gives us most of the month to work on it and get is completed. It is a fun writing project that most of my 4th graders have a lot of fun writing! Next week we will get back into the book and begin Unit 2!
Homecoming!! This week is Homecoming week!! Tomorrow is RED and Black DAY!! Please come dressed in your best outfit to support the Panthers!! We will have a pep rally in the morning to get us all pumped up for the football game! St. Malachy will have float in the parade. Your child is welcome to ride on the float if they want. They are to meet at Prairie and Sycamore to get on the float and students are to be picked up at the Holy Spirit Church parking lot after that parade! They will get to throw candy to the crowd.
Happy Thursday!! Well, the week started out nice and warm and ending on a very chilly note!! I have been seeing lots of Farmer's Almanac predictions for winter and whether it will be good or bad. Seems everything I see says LOTS of snow. I guess time will tell. I would rather have snow than freezing temps!!
Today we were in charge of Mass. I think the 4th graders did an excellent job!!!! I normally always get them their parts on Monday, but some of them didn't get them til the day before and did a great job learning them. I was very proud of them and I let them know that!!
Math- We have been working in chapter 2 this week. This chapter is focusing on multiplication. It has started out with us understanding comparison multiplication. These students will have a good understanding of this because we have spent 2 lessons on it. I love the model or picture it shows us to draw because it shows an understanding of the problem. It helps the students to work the problem. Some of the problems require more work than the others. This is a great strategy for them to learn and understand. We are giving our students so much more opportunity to be successful by teaching them more than one strategy. One strategy may click with a student more than the standard algorithm which is the only way we learned to work a problem. I understand that a lot of the things your child is doing may be unfamiliar to you. If you don't understand the strategy we are using and your child is struggling, tell them to come visit me in morning before school. I want to help them so they are using the strategy we are working on. I was okay at math in high school because I just did what they told me and never understood why we did it or how it even made sense. So many things make more sense to me now, because I am being introduced to the nuts and bolts of math. Math is so much more than the standard algorithm.
Social Studies - We are talking about rights and responsibilities. The important part of being a citizen of the United States are the rights that the Constitution gives us, but it also includes our responsibilities as citizens. We have been talking about the basic rights our Constitution protects. Mainly freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of religion. We also discussed things that we must do as citizens to help our country be successful. We talked about passports and their importance. If you have one share it with your child so they see what one looks like. We also talked a little bit about taxes. When taxes are paid and what the money is used for. Most of them had no idea that's how police/firemen were paid and that's how our roads are fixed or maintained.
Language Arts - We have been focusing on testing this week. We have been testing over Unit 1. This test is long but I chunk it up so the students are not taking it all in one day. I will be sending home the results of this test next week. We doing the last section of the test today. It is a constructed response section. The rest of the test was multiple choice. I also assigned their first book report this week. It is due on October 31st. They must read a book with more than 130 pages. I also count off for pictures. I am very strict about the students reading chapter books this year and not picture books. I don't allow Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Bones, or Big Nate books to be read as book report books. I also don't like them to read them during out DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time. There are a lot of chapter books out there to interest the students. We will also be beginning to write Halloween stories tomorrow. It gives us most of the month to work on it and get is completed. It is a fun writing project that most of my 4th graders have a lot of fun writing! Next week we will get back into the book and begin Unit 2!
Homecoming!! This week is Homecoming week!! Tomorrow is RED and Black DAY!! Please come dressed in your best outfit to support the Panthers!! We will have a pep rally in the morning to get us all pumped up for the football game! St. Malachy will have float in the parade. Your child is welcome to ride on the float if they want. They are to meet at Prairie and Sycamore to get on the float and students are to be picked up at the Holy Spirit Church parking lot after that parade! They will get to throw candy to the crowd.
Have a safe and fun filled Homecoming!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! It's a good week. Two good things happened this week. One is our amazing volleyball team!!! They are undefeated in the conference. Tuesday's game was quite tense. Going all five games is crazy. I would just like to say come out and watch them. They will not disappoint. The other amazing thing is 7 of the members of the starting team are St. Malachy graduates!! The second good thing is, I went to Des Moines to see my brain surgeon and everything is great. Everything looks as it should and I don't need another scan for 2 years now. YAY ME!! I am very relieved and really feel like I can put all of that behind me. Now, with all that said let's talk about school and your kids.
Book Orders - I aksed that the book orders be due today. I received one order. The Scholastic website was not up and working today so I didn't place the order. The good news is you still have another day to place an order. Please, send any order in tomorrow. Whenever you purchase books for your kids I receive bonus points towards the classroom. I order books for the shelf in my room through these bonus points. I have a great shelf with great titles but new books are always being published! I would love to have some newer titles.
Language Arts - We have read the story Stormalong this week. This story is a Tall Tale. It is a story that is exaggerated and is meant to be humorous. Tall tales normally tell a story about how something came about or why something is. This story is about a boy named Alfred Bulltop Stormalong. He is boy that is huge as a baby and stays huge all his life. Very very tall and muscular. He loves the sea and works on ship. He is an outcast due to his size. He goes away to try to fit in somewhere else but ends up coming back to the sea. He dies and is buried near the sea with many sailors in attendance. Every since then seamen first class put "A.B.S." safter their names. Most people believe this means "Able-Bodied Seaman" but the Old New England seafaring men know different they believe it is for Alfred Bulltop Stormalong. Fun story to read. We are working on homophones for spelling words. We have been working on Capitalization with Historical Events, Historical Documents, and writing titles. Remember tomorrow is Friday so study those vocabulary words and spelling words.
Math - We finished chapter 1 this week!! I think the students all did a great job!! We will begin chapter 2 tomorrow. This chapter is on multiplication. We will really be dissecting multiplication and really understanding the meaning of what we are doing and why we can work problems this way. I am excited because I feel like I am getting a better understanding myself. I intend for this chapter to move along just like the first one. We may just need to stop and take our time on certain lessons if we are struggling. This chapter has more lessons in it. The first chapter consisted of 8 chapters and this one has 12 chapters. At home you could begin practicing the multiplication facts. If they know their facts this will be easier on the students.
Social Studies - We have begun talking about Government. We will talk about the 3 levels of Government and the three branches. The levels are Local, State, and National. The branches are Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. We also talk about the Constitution. We will also discuss each branch and what it does.
Next week we will have a testing week for Language Arts. We have covered the whole first unit of 5 stories so now we check what the students learned and retained. We will also have a writing activity we will work on.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am off to spend the weekend watching Josie play softball. She plays in Norwalk and Bondurant. We have had fun meeting families from other teams in our conference and becoming friends. Conference teams represented on her softball team are Clarinda, Shenandoah, Lewis Central, and Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. The last one isn't in the Hawkeye 10 but we meet up with them periodically in sports. We played them in Volleyball last weekend at Red Oak tournament. Fun experience.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! It's a good week. Two good things happened this week. One is our amazing volleyball team!!! They are undefeated in the conference. Tuesday's game was quite tense. Going all five games is crazy. I would just like to say come out and watch them. They will not disappoint. The other amazing thing is 7 of the members of the starting team are St. Malachy graduates!! The second good thing is, I went to Des Moines to see my brain surgeon and everything is great. Everything looks as it should and I don't need another scan for 2 years now. YAY ME!! I am very relieved and really feel like I can put all of that behind me. Now, with all that said let's talk about school and your kids.
Book Orders - I aksed that the book orders be due today. I received one order. The Scholastic website was not up and working today so I didn't place the order. The good news is you still have another day to place an order. Please, send any order in tomorrow. Whenever you purchase books for your kids I receive bonus points towards the classroom. I order books for the shelf in my room through these bonus points. I have a great shelf with great titles but new books are always being published! I would love to have some newer titles.
Language Arts - We have read the story Stormalong this week. This story is a Tall Tale. It is a story that is exaggerated and is meant to be humorous. Tall tales normally tell a story about how something came about or why something is. This story is about a boy named Alfred Bulltop Stormalong. He is boy that is huge as a baby and stays huge all his life. Very very tall and muscular. He loves the sea and works on ship. He is an outcast due to his size. He goes away to try to fit in somewhere else but ends up coming back to the sea. He dies and is buried near the sea with many sailors in attendance. Every since then seamen first class put "A.B.S." safter their names. Most people believe this means "Able-Bodied Seaman" but the Old New England seafaring men know different they believe it is for Alfred Bulltop Stormalong. Fun story to read. We are working on homophones for spelling words. We have been working on Capitalization with Historical Events, Historical Documents, and writing titles. Remember tomorrow is Friday so study those vocabulary words and spelling words.
Math - We finished chapter 1 this week!! I think the students all did a great job!! We will begin chapter 2 tomorrow. This chapter is on multiplication. We will really be dissecting multiplication and really understanding the meaning of what we are doing and why we can work problems this way. I am excited because I feel like I am getting a better understanding myself. I intend for this chapter to move along just like the first one. We may just need to stop and take our time on certain lessons if we are struggling. This chapter has more lessons in it. The first chapter consisted of 8 chapters and this one has 12 chapters. At home you could begin practicing the multiplication facts. If they know their facts this will be easier on the students.
Social Studies - We have begun talking about Government. We will talk about the 3 levels of Government and the three branches. The levels are Local, State, and National. The branches are Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. We also talk about the Constitution. We will also discuss each branch and what it does.
Next week we will have a testing week for Language Arts. We have covered the whole first unit of 5 stories so now we check what the students learned and retained. We will also have a writing activity we will work on.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am off to spend the weekend watching Josie play softball. She plays in Norwalk and Bondurant. We have had fun meeting families from other teams in our conference and becoming friends. Conference teams represented on her softball team are Clarinda, Shenandoah, Lewis Central, and Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. The last one isn't in the Hawkeye 10 but we meet up with them periodically in sports. We played them in Volleyball last weekend at Red Oak tournament. Fun experience.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I am glad it warmed back up for us. Hopefully it will carry through the weekend!! Things are going well in 4th grade. We are busy all day working hard. Our group work is becoming more and more routine. I think working is smaller groups on skills is very helpful for our students. They have more opportunity to ask questions and share their ideas.
Book Orders - I sent two book orders home today with your child. Please look them over. Your child must have a chapter book to read at all times. I don't accept picture type books like Dairy of Wimpy Kid or Bones. If you are interested in ordering a book, fill out the form, send it back with payment. If you write a check please make it out to Melissa Sickels. The company requests one check. I place order online and books are usually here within a week. The book orders are due Sept. 25. You have one week to look it over. I told the kids Oct. 1, but I was looking at the calendar wrong! So the actual due date is Sept. 25. Any books you purchase earns the classroom points and that is how I supply the books on the bookshelves in my room. Thank you in advance for anyone who orders.
Language Arts - We are reading the story The Power of W.O.W this week. The W.O.W. stands for Words On Wheels which is a van that brings books from the public library to a neighborhood that is too far away. Kids are unable to get to the real library so this van brings the library to them. The program is a pilot program and the funds have been exhausted, so the kids come up with ways to raise money to donate to the program. It's theme is that when a community pulls together they can make good things happen. The smaller books we read in groups also had stories based on similar story lines. They were focused on communities coming together for one purpose and it being successful. We spent the week focusing on sentence fragments, run-on sentences and how to fix them. In decoding we reviewed the 3 strategies or rules we have learned so far. One is V/CV pattern when first vowel has long sound. The second is VC/V pattern when first vowel has short sound, and last is VC/CV patter when first vowel has short sound. End of the week assessment and post test for spelling are tomorrow. STUDY!! STUDY!!
Social Studies - We took our first test on Tuesday. I gave them back today so that they could make corrections. Overall I thought we did pretty well. There were a few that didn't do so hot, but I also heard them say they didn't study at all. It really does pay to get into a good habit of studying! We will be starting chapter 2 tomorrow. Your child will bring home their tests tomorrow night for a signature. Please, sign it and return it to me. Thank you.
Math - We are finishing up our first chapter in Math. We will finish up the last lesson tomorrow. Next week we will begin reviewing for the test. I am not sure exactly which day we will test but it will be later next week. It will also depend on whether I decide their are some problem areas that we need to clear up. This has been a great chapter to begin the year with. It is good to review.
I want to thank all of you for filling out the Highlights form! I received all of them back and have it in the mail so I can get my gift for the room. I hope everyone has a great weekend!! I will be helping Mrs. Cline celebrate the marriage of her son, Brandon to a former student, Rachel Griffith.
As always, any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at msickels@crestonstmalachy.com or call before school, after school, or between 8:30 and 9 in morning.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I am glad it warmed back up for us. Hopefully it will carry through the weekend!! Things are going well in 4th grade. We are busy all day working hard. Our group work is becoming more and more routine. I think working is smaller groups on skills is very helpful for our students. They have more opportunity to ask questions and share their ideas.
Book Orders - I sent two book orders home today with your child. Please look them over. Your child must have a chapter book to read at all times. I don't accept picture type books like Dairy of Wimpy Kid or Bones. If you are interested in ordering a book, fill out the form, send it back with payment. If you write a check please make it out to Melissa Sickels. The company requests one check. I place order online and books are usually here within a week. The book orders are due Sept. 25. You have one week to look it over. I told the kids Oct. 1, but I was looking at the calendar wrong! So the actual due date is Sept. 25. Any books you purchase earns the classroom points and that is how I supply the books on the bookshelves in my room. Thank you in advance for anyone who orders.
Language Arts - We are reading the story The Power of W.O.W this week. The W.O.W. stands for Words On Wheels which is a van that brings books from the public library to a neighborhood that is too far away. Kids are unable to get to the real library so this van brings the library to them. The program is a pilot program and the funds have been exhausted, so the kids come up with ways to raise money to donate to the program. It's theme is that when a community pulls together they can make good things happen. The smaller books we read in groups also had stories based on similar story lines. They were focused on communities coming together for one purpose and it being successful. We spent the week focusing on sentence fragments, run-on sentences and how to fix them. In decoding we reviewed the 3 strategies or rules we have learned so far. One is V/CV pattern when first vowel has long sound. The second is VC/V pattern when first vowel has short sound, and last is VC/CV patter when first vowel has short sound. End of the week assessment and post test for spelling are tomorrow. STUDY!! STUDY!!
Social Studies - We took our first test on Tuesday. I gave them back today so that they could make corrections. Overall I thought we did pretty well. There were a few that didn't do so hot, but I also heard them say they didn't study at all. It really does pay to get into a good habit of studying! We will be starting chapter 2 tomorrow. Your child will bring home their tests tomorrow night for a signature. Please, sign it and return it to me. Thank you.
Math - We are finishing up our first chapter in Math. We will finish up the last lesson tomorrow. Next week we will begin reviewing for the test. I am not sure exactly which day we will test but it will be later next week. It will also depend on whether I decide their are some problem areas that we need to clear up. This has been a great chapter to begin the year with. It is good to review.
I want to thank all of you for filling out the Highlights form! I received all of them back and have it in the mail so I can get my gift for the room. I hope everyone has a great weekend!! I will be helping Mrs. Cline celebrate the marriage of her son, Brandon to a former student, Rachel Griffith.
As always, any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at msickels@crestonstmalachy.com or call before school, after school, or between 8:30 and 9 in morning.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! We are ending the week with some cold weather!! Please be sure your child comes prepared with sweatshirts and jackets. Sounds like tomorrow will be even chillier than today. We received a note from Brad Baker at the public school. In regards to any home football games: Any student found on the visitors side without administrative permission will be asked to leave the football game. Evidently some students went to the visitors side to sit during the last home game. This will not be tolerated and students will be asked to leave. Go out and support our Panthers!!!
Also, please take note of the Highlights offer in the take home folder. If you would like to order, great!! If not, please check no and send it in anyway. I get free classroom items even if all of you say no. I use these items in my room with your students. They are usually gifts or prizes I can give out. Sign it and return it! Thank you very much!!
Language Arts - This week we are reading My Librarian is a Camel. This is a nonfiction story that is sharing with us how children in remote rural areas get access to library books when they do not have libraries visit. There are 6 different countries we learn about: Canada, Peru, Kenya, Thailand, Finland, and Mongolia. It is very interesting the creative ways in which children are supplied with the opportunity to check out books. We have read stories in groups that talked about service projects or volunteering. In grammar we are talking about quotation marks, and how to use them. We have talked about quotation marks in dialogue and split quotations. Tomorrow is our end of week assessment and this on will have a skills check which a "cold" read with some questions dealing with skills we have covered. It is a little longer than the normal end of week assessment because that "cold" read is in addition to what we normally do on a Friday. Make sure your kids study their spelling and vocabulary tonight!!
Math- We are still working on Numbers and Operations in Base Ten. We have been focusing on generalizing place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers. Today we finished talking about renaming numbers. This was easy when they were drawing pictures and using models. When they started putting in word problems it looked quite a bit different for them. We will still be working on Chapter 1. The last three lessons are adding whole numbers, subtracting whole numbers, and word problems. We will then take our first chapter test. This has been a great chapter to start with. I am very pleased with the progression of our text. I really feel the students will benefit from the new series and it's relationship to the Iowa Core.
Social Studies - We are discussing natural resources right now. We are looking at how each region has a certain resource and how resources may have played an important role in how to divide the states into regions. The book also discusses conserving resources and what renewable and nonrenewable resources. Today's homework is deciding whether a resource in renewable or nonrenewable. We will be ending this chapter next week and taking a test. The test may not happen until the following week.
I would like to share that we have an S.O.S. student in our room every other day. This is a student from the high school who is participating in Students of Service. This is a required class as a senior. It is only pass or fail. The student must show up on the days they are scheduled and do work while they are here. Sometimes they will check papers, hang things on walls, take things down, make copies, read with kids, put folders together on Thursday, work in groups, etc. I try to have them do a variety of things. Our S.O.S. student is Hanna Luther. She is a St. Malachy graduate. She is also the setter for the Varsity volleyball team. Your child may want to attend a game and watch her play. We welcome Hanna to our room!!
Happy Thursday!!! We are ending the week with some cold weather!! Please be sure your child comes prepared with sweatshirts and jackets. Sounds like tomorrow will be even chillier than today. We received a note from Brad Baker at the public school. In regards to any home football games: Any student found on the visitors side without administrative permission will be asked to leave the football game. Evidently some students went to the visitors side to sit during the last home game. This will not be tolerated and students will be asked to leave. Go out and support our Panthers!!!
Also, please take note of the Highlights offer in the take home folder. If you would like to order, great!! If not, please check no and send it in anyway. I get free classroom items even if all of you say no. I use these items in my room with your students. They are usually gifts or prizes I can give out. Sign it and return it! Thank you very much!!
Language Arts - This week we are reading My Librarian is a Camel. This is a nonfiction story that is sharing with us how children in remote rural areas get access to library books when they do not have libraries visit. There are 6 different countries we learn about: Canada, Peru, Kenya, Thailand, Finland, and Mongolia. It is very interesting the creative ways in which children are supplied with the opportunity to check out books. We have read stories in groups that talked about service projects or volunteering. In grammar we are talking about quotation marks, and how to use them. We have talked about quotation marks in dialogue and split quotations. Tomorrow is our end of week assessment and this on will have a skills check which a "cold" read with some questions dealing with skills we have covered. It is a little longer than the normal end of week assessment because that "cold" read is in addition to what we normally do on a Friday. Make sure your kids study their spelling and vocabulary tonight!!
Math- We are still working on Numbers and Operations in Base Ten. We have been focusing on generalizing place value understanding for multi-digit whole numbers. Today we finished talking about renaming numbers. This was easy when they were drawing pictures and using models. When they started putting in word problems it looked quite a bit different for them. We will still be working on Chapter 1. The last three lessons are adding whole numbers, subtracting whole numbers, and word problems. We will then take our first chapter test. This has been a great chapter to start with. I am very pleased with the progression of our text. I really feel the students will benefit from the new series and it's relationship to the Iowa Core.
Social Studies - We are discussing natural resources right now. We are looking at how each region has a certain resource and how resources may have played an important role in how to divide the states into regions. The book also discusses conserving resources and what renewable and nonrenewable resources. Today's homework is deciding whether a resource in renewable or nonrenewable. We will be ending this chapter next week and taking a test. The test may not happen until the following week.
I would like to share that we have an S.O.S. student in our room every other day. This is a student from the high school who is participating in Students of Service. This is a required class as a senior. It is only pass or fail. The student must show up on the days they are scheduled and do work while they are here. Sometimes they will check papers, hang things on walls, take things down, make copies, read with kids, put folders together on Thursday, work in groups, etc. I try to have them do a variety of things. Our S.O.S. student is Hanna Luther. She is a St. Malachy graduate. She is also the setter for the Varsity volleyball team. Your child may want to attend a game and watch her play. We welcome Hanna to our room!!
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Dear Parents,
Hello and Happy Thursday!!!! I hope all of you had a great weekend! We had a great time in Chicago. I have shared a couple photos from out trip. The first one is of the Ferris Wheel I can now cross off my bucket list! It constantly moves and you have to jump in as it's moving, which is very slow. It was fine but when we got to the top it stopped!! That was NOT okay with me!! I about panicked!! The 2nd picture is of "The Bean" in Millennium Park. It is in the Guiness Book for largest mirror or something close to that. I used to have the book it was in and it is missing. As you can see it was a very busy place. It is good to be home and headed back into our routine. The students seemed a little tired on Tuesday but things have returned to normal.
Here is the Ferris Wheel on Navy Pier we rode!!
This is what they call the "Bean" in Millinnium Park.
Language Arts - This week we read the story My Brother Martin, which is a biography about Martin Luther King Jr. written by his older sister. We learned about his life as a boy and the things he enjoyed and what ideas that may have lead him to being a significant leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Talking about a topic they can't even grasp is hard, BUT I am glad they don't understand. Vocabulary words used were segregation and injustice which I think are higher level words for this age. They really don't understand why in the world segregation ever took place or why it happened. This shows maybe Martin's work was successful! Grammar this week was learning the 4 kinds of sentences. Ask your child to describe each to you: declarative sentence, interrogative sentence, imperative sentence, and exclamatory sentence. We talked about all four, what they are and what punctuation they end in. We also discussed prefixes this week. Please be sure they study their spelling words and vocabulary words tonight for the end of the week assessment.
Math - I am very pleased with how the students are all doing in Math so far. They have done a great job learning and showing me they understand this first few assignments. I told them how proud of them I am today. With that, we moved onto rounding numbers and talking about estimation. This is where students begin to struggle. I felt like we did a good job on the lesson today but will finish it up tomorrow. We will review what we did today and then move on. Please pay attention to the homework sheet that will come home Friday night. This may be the one that causes them some problems. I hope to have all their confidences built up so they will be comfortable to do the work on their on. After this lesson we are ready for a mid-chapter review. This is a stop and check how we are doing retaining what we have learned in the first half of the chapter.
Social Studies - We are talking about different climates. We talked about the 3 factors that influence climate. One is where we are compared to the equator, one is if we are near a large lake or ocean, and the third is elevation. All of these affect climate. We also talked a little about the water cycle. The next lesson will focus on resources common to the regions. This will be last lesson in the chapter so a test is coming!!
I hope everyone gets out and enjoys the nice weather this weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! A week under a belt is a great feeling. Things are going well in 4th grade. On the first day of homework I did not have to give any late slips, which was a first!! Now, the 2nd day is a different story. This is how we learn how important it is to double check that all our work is completed. Things are still moving slowly as we continue to learn the of 4th grade, but soon it will be moving steadily along. Students are doing a great job paying attention and be engaged in lessons.
I will be gone tomorrow Aug. 29th. We are leaving for Chicago tonight. I am visiting the University of Chicago with my daughter Jami on Friday. Not sure this is my first choice of schools for her just because of the distance but we have family there. Molly is attending the One Direction Concert with her Aunt as a birthday gift on Saturday night. As for me, my birthday is Friday and I consider the whole trip my birthday trip. Sunday we will spend on a boat on Lake Michigan which I have never done. Exciting!!
Language Arts - We are finishing up our week on the story Because of Winn-Dixie. We have spend a lot of time this week focusing on the vocabulary words form the story, decoding words, and picking out subjects and predicates of a sentence. These are all things that they will be assessed on tomorrow. It will also assess their comprehension of the story. I also worked on an extra story with some students and we focused on story elements: setting, characters, and plot. Remember there is a spelling post test tomorrow! I have instructed the students to be sure and study for spelling and also study their vocabulary words in their notebooks.
Math - We have had two full lessons in Math this week. The first one focused on the base ten system and understanding that each place value is 10 times the previous place value. We looked at base ten blocks up to 1,000 then discussed what they would look like if we had physical example past 1,000. We also learned 3 ways to read and write numbers: standard form, word form, expanded form. Ask your student to show you. Their homework tonight focuses on this topic. We will move on to comparing numbers next.
Social Studies - We are discussing the 5 regions of the United States. These regions are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. We begin by talking about the United States as a whole and our government system. Then we will move on and study the states by their region. All 4th graders love social studies because of the content we study and the projects they will complete.
I hope everyone has a very enjoyable and safe Labor Day weekend!! Mrs. Irelan will be here in the room tomorrow with the kids. We are meeting tonight to go over her day tomorrow. I am sure they will have a very productive day.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! A week under a belt is a great feeling. Things are going well in 4th grade. On the first day of homework I did not have to give any late slips, which was a first!! Now, the 2nd day is a different story. This is how we learn how important it is to double check that all our work is completed. Things are still moving slowly as we continue to learn the of 4th grade, but soon it will be moving steadily along. Students are doing a great job paying attention and be engaged in lessons.
I will be gone tomorrow Aug. 29th. We are leaving for Chicago tonight. I am visiting the University of Chicago with my daughter Jami on Friday. Not sure this is my first choice of schools for her just because of the distance but we have family there. Molly is attending the One Direction Concert with her Aunt as a birthday gift on Saturday night. As for me, my birthday is Friday and I consider the whole trip my birthday trip. Sunday we will spend on a boat on Lake Michigan which I have never done. Exciting!!
Language Arts - We are finishing up our week on the story Because of Winn-Dixie. We have spend a lot of time this week focusing on the vocabulary words form the story, decoding words, and picking out subjects and predicates of a sentence. These are all things that they will be assessed on tomorrow. It will also assess their comprehension of the story. I also worked on an extra story with some students and we focused on story elements: setting, characters, and plot. Remember there is a spelling post test tomorrow! I have instructed the students to be sure and study for spelling and also study their vocabulary words in their notebooks.
Math - We have had two full lessons in Math this week. The first one focused on the base ten system and understanding that each place value is 10 times the previous place value. We looked at base ten blocks up to 1,000 then discussed what they would look like if we had physical example past 1,000. We also learned 3 ways to read and write numbers: standard form, word form, expanded form. Ask your student to show you. Their homework tonight focuses on this topic. We will move on to comparing numbers next.
Social Studies - We are discussing the 5 regions of the United States. These regions are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. We begin by talking about the United States as a whole and our government system. Then we will move on and study the states by their region. All 4th graders love social studies because of the content we study and the projects they will complete.
I hope everyone has a very enjoyable and safe Labor Day weekend!! Mrs. Irelan will be here in the room tomorrow with the kids. We are meeting tonight to go over her day tomorrow. I am sure they will have a very productive day.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Hello!!! Welcome to 4th grade!!!
I am so excited about starting a new year. I am looking forward to working with your child!! Thank you for sharing your precious gem with me! I think we have had a great first couple of days. The class has been rather quiet, which is normal in the beginning of the year. I know this will change so I will just enjoy it! So far no homework!! I have been working on assessing your kids to see where they are in Language Arts and Math so I know what direction I need to go with them. I did give them an extra recess today just to get outside and wake up. I hope this blog is helpful in keeping you posted on things we are doing in class and fun things we may do throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns for me shoot me an email at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org or call the school 641-782-7125. I am available most mornings 7:45 - 8:10 then again 8:30-9:00. Also at the end of the day 3:15-3:45.
Language Arts - This first few days I am assessing the kids on what they retained from last year and what areas they struggle in, so I know where to begin work with them. We took half of the test today and will finish tomorrow. I also gave them a diagnostic spelling test to see how well they spell. Next week I will begin the first story of the Unit with them, which is called Because of Winn Dixie. It is a story from a book right off my book shelf written by Kate DiCamillo. They will enjoy it. You will begin to see homework next week.
Math - I am very excited about our new math series!! The math series is based on Iowa Core. This means I will be teaching the students all the standards and benchmarks that are aligned with Iowa Core. I will use the same strategies to teach the material to the students that I have been using. I love the way this book progresses through the year. We took half of a diagnostic test today, this test will tell me what they retained from last year. Keep in mind this is based on if the students had learned from this series. It will really tell me what area they really don't know and what I need to focus on. We will take a beginning of the year test next week which is based on what they are going to learn this year. This will let me know the weak areas that I may need to slow down and allow time for students to absorb new concepts.
Science and Religion - Just a reminder that your child will go to Ms Surma for Religion class and Mrs. Burg for Science. I am in charge of 3-5 Social Studies. This is the same as last year. Any questions about these two classes, please feel free to contact them.
Again I am looking forward to a great year full of fun and LOTS of learning. Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
I am so excited about starting a new year. I am looking forward to working with your child!! Thank you for sharing your precious gem with me! I think we have had a great first couple of days. The class has been rather quiet, which is normal in the beginning of the year. I know this will change so I will just enjoy it! So far no homework!! I have been working on assessing your kids to see where they are in Language Arts and Math so I know what direction I need to go with them. I did give them an extra recess today just to get outside and wake up. I hope this blog is helpful in keeping you posted on things we are doing in class and fun things we may do throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns for me shoot me an email at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org or call the school 641-782-7125. I am available most mornings 7:45 - 8:10 then again 8:30-9:00. Also at the end of the day 3:15-3:45.
Language Arts - This first few days I am assessing the kids on what they retained from last year and what areas they struggle in, so I know where to begin work with them. We took half of the test today and will finish tomorrow. I also gave them a diagnostic spelling test to see how well they spell. Next week I will begin the first story of the Unit with them, which is called Because of Winn Dixie. It is a story from a book right off my book shelf written by Kate DiCamillo. They will enjoy it. You will begin to see homework next week.
Math - I am very excited about our new math series!! The math series is based on Iowa Core. This means I will be teaching the students all the standards and benchmarks that are aligned with Iowa Core. I will use the same strategies to teach the material to the students that I have been using. I love the way this book progresses through the year. We took half of a diagnostic test today, this test will tell me what they retained from last year. Keep in mind this is based on if the students had learned from this series. It will really tell me what area they really don't know and what I need to focus on. We will take a beginning of the year test next week which is based on what they are going to learn this year. This will let me know the weak areas that I may need to slow down and allow time for students to absorb new concepts.
Science and Religion - Just a reminder that your child will go to Ms Surma for Religion class and Mrs. Burg for Science. I am in charge of 3-5 Social Studies. This is the same as last year. Any questions about these two classes, please feel free to contact them.
Again I am looking forward to a great year full of fun and LOTS of learning. Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Dear Parents,
Happy Last Thursday of the 2013-2014 school year!!! WOW!! I really can't believe we are at this point all ready! Time has flown but maybe because I had the first 5 weeks of school off! I have really enjoyed this time I have spent with your kids. I thank you for sharing them with me. Here are just few things that we will be doing in these last days of school.
Language Arts - We are finishing up out last unit test today. The students took the first part of it on Tuesday and today they are finishing up the Revising and Editing section which is based on grammar skills. This is the final test for this subject. I was very pleased with out last Friday assessment the students took. All score were 85% or above!! Half the students missed only 1! It was exciting. So far I have checked the first half of the Unit test and I am impressed with how they have done. It looks better than previous tests. We have been working on finishing up Author Reports this week. Today will be peer editing and then they will publish and share with other students on Friday. I am looking forward to learning about other authors.
Math - We have focused on division problems all week. I went over division with money amounts and we discussed divisibility rules. Today they will complete a diagnostic checkpoint which will show me how they are doing on division problems. I will use this as an assessment because we will not be taking a test over the last chapter. On Friday we will take the end-of-the-year test. We took this test at the beginning of the year also, and so I can compare the scores. It is just a great way to see where kids are still struggling to pass on to the 5th grade teacher.
Social Studies - You should have seen their last test last night and signed. We are reading in the book about the West. We will take another practice test for states and capitals on Friday. Tuesday is their big states and capitals test. They have to be able to label a map with the correct state and its capital. Great projects this round!! Thank you for all the hard work.
Tuesday, May 27th!! The last day!! Here are my plans for the last day of school. We will begin the day with the social studies map test. When they are finished they will clean out their desks. When the majority are done with that I will start movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Usually I read this book with the kids as a unit and we do activities. This year with the new reading series it didn't work due to time. I still would like to show the movie. The movie I show is the 1960's version. We talk a little about special effects and such. We may not get to see all of it but will see majority. The 5th grade may come join us. We will eat lunch at noon. We plan to eat lunch with our class either outside or in classroom. Please remember to send a sack lunch with your child. You can even send a drink. NO milk will be provided that day. We will enjoy lunch, and talk with our friends from other classrooms then we will prepare for field day. Field day will begin at 12:45. We will play games and enjoy the outdoors until 2:15. We will then come back to rooms and prepare for the end of the day prayer. This will be held in the gym. We share in prayer and say good-bye to the 8th grade and those people who will be leaving us. Kids will be dismissed then at normal time.
It has been great working with all of you this year. It has been one wild ride for us all. I will have a closeness to this class different from all my others just due to the make-up of our year. I think 4th grade will be a memory for all the students too. I will always remember the hard times we went through together and how strong these students are!! I hope all of you have a great summer!!! See you next year.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Last Thursday of the 2013-2014 school year!!! WOW!! I really can't believe we are at this point all ready! Time has flown but maybe because I had the first 5 weeks of school off! I have really enjoyed this time I have spent with your kids. I thank you for sharing them with me. Here are just few things that we will be doing in these last days of school.
Language Arts - We are finishing up out last unit test today. The students took the first part of it on Tuesday and today they are finishing up the Revising and Editing section which is based on grammar skills. This is the final test for this subject. I was very pleased with out last Friday assessment the students took. All score were 85% or above!! Half the students missed only 1! It was exciting. So far I have checked the first half of the Unit test and I am impressed with how they have done. It looks better than previous tests. We have been working on finishing up Author Reports this week. Today will be peer editing and then they will publish and share with other students on Friday. I am looking forward to learning about other authors.
Math - We have focused on division problems all week. I went over division with money amounts and we discussed divisibility rules. Today they will complete a diagnostic checkpoint which will show me how they are doing on division problems. I will use this as an assessment because we will not be taking a test over the last chapter. On Friday we will take the end-of-the-year test. We took this test at the beginning of the year also, and so I can compare the scores. It is just a great way to see where kids are still struggling to pass on to the 5th grade teacher.
Social Studies - You should have seen their last test last night and signed. We are reading in the book about the West. We will take another practice test for states and capitals on Friday. Tuesday is their big states and capitals test. They have to be able to label a map with the correct state and its capital. Great projects this round!! Thank you for all the hard work.
Tuesday, May 27th!! The last day!! Here are my plans for the last day of school. We will begin the day with the social studies map test. When they are finished they will clean out their desks. When the majority are done with that I will start movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Usually I read this book with the kids as a unit and we do activities. This year with the new reading series it didn't work due to time. I still would like to show the movie. The movie I show is the 1960's version. We talk a little about special effects and such. We may not get to see all of it but will see majority. The 5th grade may come join us. We will eat lunch at noon. We plan to eat lunch with our class either outside or in classroom. Please remember to send a sack lunch with your child. You can even send a drink. NO milk will be provided that day. We will enjoy lunch, and talk with our friends from other classrooms then we will prepare for field day. Field day will begin at 12:45. We will play games and enjoy the outdoors until 2:15. We will then come back to rooms and prepare for the end of the day prayer. This will be held in the gym. We share in prayer and say good-bye to the 8th grade and those people who will be leaving us. Kids will be dismissed then at normal time.
It has been great working with all of you this year. It has been one wild ride for us all. I will have a closeness to this class different from all my others just due to the make-up of our year. I think 4th grade will be a memory for all the students too. I will always remember the hard times we went through together and how strong these students are!! I hope all of you have a great summer!!! See you next year.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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