Thursday, January 30, 2014

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  Well we are at that time of year where we start talking about the St. Malachy Foundation Auction.  I am slow to get going this year.  I am wondering if anyone is interested in helping to put together a basket for our class.  I have some ideas and don't mind helping but would like a parent of two to join in.  Let me know if you are willing or able.  I always do a scrapbook for out silent auction.  That won't change I plan on doing that again.  I work with Maple Street Memories on that but will love to have parent helpers the day we are making the pages.  I will plan on doing that on Wednesday, February 19th, at 2:00.  Let me know if you can help out for either things.

Language Arts - We haven't had a normal week here because of Catholic Schools week activities but we are on target.  We will still plan on spelling post test and end of week test tomorrow.  Our story this week was Harvesting Hope the story of Cesar Chavez.  I tells about his journey in protecting migrant farmers.  We also hit a hard topic in grammar discussing independent clauses, dependent clauses, relative pronouns and relative adverbs.  Wow, don't those sound heavy!?  They are.  We will see tomorrow how well we get it.  One more week with a story and then we will be taking a unit test.  

Math - We needed to go back and review a couple topics this past week.  They were estimating products and partial product.  We have now moved on.  I taught them the standard algorithm to multiplication.  This was a 2 digit number by a single digit number.  We have now moved to a 3 digit number.  We just went over partial product and will practice it again tomorrow.  Next week we will move onto the standard algorithm for the 3 digit number.  They understand each strategy but have a hard time keeping them straight.  When I ask you to use partial product what do you do?  If I show them do it this way they totally get it.  I am trying to stress what each of them are called as we do them so they know the difference.  This can be confusing.

Social Studies - We are getting closer to projects being due.  If your child has a person or poster they need to get them poster board to me, so we can trace their state.  If you have cake I will try to get these out today or tomorrow.  We are talking about the people and events that shaped the Southeast Region.  Right now our discussion is on the Cherokee.  They are only Native Americans to have a written language.  Sequoya was the Native American to create a Cherokee alphabet.  This language is still being shared in schools in North Carolina where the Cherokee still live today.  We also discussed the government making them leave their lands and taking the "Trail of Tears" to Oklahoma where they were given a reservation to live on.  We will be skimming the topic of the Civil War next week.


We are all saddened that the weather didn't cooperate for us to take our trip to Des Moines.  We will still get to go, just not today. 

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels





Thursday, January 23, 2014

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!!  Wow, another cold one today.  Let's hope this is one of the last ones.  We have had a lot of inside recesses lately due to the cold.  Our rule is if it is 0 or below we stay in so we are not putting the children at risk. We consider the wind chill if there is one.  As much as we try to get our kids to remember all their winter items (gloves, hat, scarves, and boots) some of them forget.  Try to make them double check everything before they leave in the morning to be sure they are prepared.

Language Arts - This week we are reading a fun story called Hercules' Quest.   Everyone is enjoying this story because they can relate to the disney movie.  The pictures in the book look like the same characters on the movie.  I may see about showing the movie sometime next week just as a fun way to end out story.  The story has a nice theme to it about using your strengths to do kind things instead of bad.  This story is a myth and so a lot of things in it are impossible to happen in real life.  We have picked out those things.  I am so glad we have a nice "light" story after the two we just had which were nonfiction stories with a lot of information.  The spelling list this week was a good one for the students over the prefixes -dis, -re, and -un.  They did really well on the pretest.  In grammar we are focusing on prepositions and prepositional phrases.  This is a hard topic to teach and get them to understand.  We just keep practicing!!

Math - We have covered 4 lessons in the multiplication chapter.  We have learned to multiply by 10, 100, and 1,000's, we have learned to estimate products using rounding and compatible numbers, we have learned mental math strategies of breaking apart and compatible numbers, and we learned to use arrays to multiply which is called partial product.  I know you didn't learn this strategy of multiplication because I didn't, plus the SOS Student in our room also commented that he had no clue what I was doing.  I know it can be frustrating to try and help your child when you are unsure of what we are doing.  I promise you partial product is one of the best strategies out there that helps them understand what multiplication is actually doing.  It leads right into the standard algorithm which is what you and I learned.  Let your child teach you what they are doing and explain the process. This will also be great practice for them and help them master the skill.  Please continue to work on those flash cards if you have them.  They had an opportunity this week to do that here at school with partners.  Bigger and better things are yet to come in Math!!!

Social Studies - We are taking a test today!!  This is over Chapter 6.  We will begin Chapter 7 next week.  This will be the last chapter in the Southeast Region and we will talk about people from the area.  I hope everyone is working on their projects. They are excited to see the new ones.

Catholic Schools Week:  We kick of Catholic Schools Week this Sunday at mass. Some of your students have parts in this mass please check today's folder for those. Don't forget brunch will follow!  Monday is hat day.  We know I have a million of those to choose from!!  I am not sure I even want to wear one since I spend 6-10 weeks in them!  Also your child needs to bring a sack lunch that day.  They will eat with their advent angel and then they go back to the rooms and watch a movie, while the enjoy a luncheon provided by the PTO.  Tuesday is "Come as you are" day or pajama day.  Wednesday is class theme day.  The 4th and 5th grade wanted go with a "Nate and T.J." day, so we are being auctioneers, cowboys, or cowgirls.  Those boys loved the Sale Barn and all the people in it, so we all are going to enjoy our day being who those boys loved.  Thursday is "Blue and Gold" day or St. Malachy gear.  We have our field trip to Des Moines to go bowling.  This will be a fun day for all. Your child will be eating a sack lunch provided by the school that day.  We will eat our lunches at Christ the King School.  We will get to meet the teaches and student there also.  What a great day for meeting new friends!!  Friday is our BEST day the Grandparent/special friend day!!!  This is held at the church starting at 1:30.  We will bus kids over there, you will meet them there and find a seat.  What a great way to end our week in celebration with God. I hope all the students enjoy the week and participate in all the fun things planned.  Oh, remember, learning will also still take place next week!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels




Thursday, January 16, 2014

Dear Parents,  
     Happy Thursday!!  Finally a normal week of school!!  Well, with exception of Wednesday's early out.  We are struggling getting back into a routine again because of all these interruptions with weather. Let's pray together for better conditions and no more "no school" days!!  

Language Arts - We read a narrative nonfiction story this week called The Right Dog For the Job.  It was an interesting story but one of our longer ones.  The students complained that is was long.  We learned about service dogs and how they are trained.  We learned about "foster" puppy raisers, and how they played an important part of a service dog's career. The focus was on a service dog named Ira who helped a blind man.  It was a nice heartwarming story about the training of the dog, how students were involved, and how the match up to the owners who need their assistance.  Vocabulary was not too difficult this week.  We also spend out time learner about adverbs.  The parts of speech are much more difficult to learn this year than in the last series.  It is not a bad thing, just a lot more in depth.

Math - We finished chapter 4 and took a test.  The students really did a nice job on the test over all.  We corrected them on Wednesday, so look for them to sign today or tomorrow.  We will be moving on to multiplication today.  It starts out nice and easy but we work our way up into more difficult concepts.  These students will do fine as long as they listen, participate in all the activities we do, and complete their homework.  If your child is struggling and afraid to say it,please let me know.  I try to  let them know that I am always here for them, and to ask any questions they may have. Again I will go at the pace of the students with this chapter.  I want them to master and feel comfortable with it.

Social Studies - We chose our new states and projects this week.  They will be due starting the 2nd week in February.  That will have given them about a month.  I hope to get their due dates to them tomorrow.  We are studying the resources of the Southeast right now.  They will learn a lot about what their state has to offer in our discussions in this lesson.  I always tell them pay attention and take some notes when we are talking about their states.  We will be getting ready for another test for them by the end of next week.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!!  Stay warm.  Any questions or concerns for me please call or email.  My door is always open also!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Dear Parents,
     Well, welcome back to 2014!!!  What a time we have had all ready.  Illness has struck and so did the arctic air!  I feel like I am having a hard time accomplishing anything due to another short week.  This makes us work very hard.  I had a great Christmas break and hope all of you did also.  It was relaxing, but time was cut short with family due to the snow that hit the weekend before.  All of them traveled and left after our Christmas Saturday to try and beat the storm.  They were traveling back to Iowa City, Omaha, and Chicago.  Now, we are finally back together to work.

Language Arts - Well, we took a unit test last Thursday and Friday.  I really feel over all the kids did quite well on it.  Maybe we are finally in a routine enough that they are getting it.  We started the first story in new unit this week.  It is a short week so we are trying to fit in all the learning we have to do.  The story is called Freedom Ride.  It is about Charlotte Parkhurst.  She is a women that pretended to be a boy to be a stagecoach driver.  She was in an accident and lost an eye.  She had to reteach herself how to drive with one eye then prove herself to her boss she was still a good driver.  It is a great story.  We will finish the week as always with a spelling post test and a weekly assessment.

Math- We are getting a slow start to this subject.  We are learning now about taking a survey, organizing our results, and creating a graph to show our results.  This will be the last of this chapter. We will be taking a test next week over this graphing chapter.  Then the next topic will be Multiplication.  Yes, this is a tough content area.  I will slow down the pace to ensure that every student gets a good grasp on what we are doing.  Please, be patient with your child at home as they will be learning some things that you and I were never taught.  I will do my best to make sure there is not many questions coming home.  Hopefully, they will just want to share with you the new things they are learning.

Social Studies -  We are moving quite well through this area.  We will be picking our new states and projects today.  The students are very excited to get their new assignment.  We have moved into the Southeast Region of the United States.  We have been discussing the land and it's elevation.  We learned about an elevation map and what it shows.  They will need start to practice labeling the Southeast States correctly to prepare for the test.  We begin to move a little faster through the lessons in the 2nd half of the year.  I worked on getting them adjusted to how things work, now I will pick up the pace a little more now they know what is expected from them.

I hope everyone stays warm, and we have good weather the rest of our winter season.  Our "cold" day will be made up the Monday after Easter.  On January 27th, it is a scheduled day off for the public school.  We WILL be having school that day!!  Please remember there will be no buses that day so you will need to make arrangements for your child to get to school.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels