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