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