Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!!  What a yucky day!!  I am happy that the High School Track Meet in Osceola was cancelled due to weather.  I was not at all looking forward to watching people run in this weather.  We have had a very good stretch here this week.  Kids seem to be keeping busy and working hard this week.  Next week I hope they continue to do the same!!!

Iowa Assessments - We will be taking these tests all next week.  Testing days will be Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  If there is anything we haven't finished we will pick it up on Friday morning.  I am hoping to show them a movie on Friday just as a pick-me-up from a full week of testing.  Please, be sure your child gets a full night's sleep, eats a good breakfast, and tries their very best!!  We will be having snacks for "brain food" during the tests provided by the PTO.  It is nice to come to the gym or go outside and take a small break from all the testing.  Just remember to encourage your child to do their very best work!!

Language Arts- This week the students completed the Unit 5 assessment.  We took a small portion of it everyday.   I was hoping by doing that they would put all their effort into it and use all the time.  Some kids did that, others still just flew through it not paying attention to the questions or going back and looking for the answers in the story.  I checked each portion as they did them.  They were to look over what they missed to see if it would help them as they did the next day's testing.  Again, some took advantage and got better and some did not!  I have yet to finish checking today's.  I hope to see some improvement from last unit.  The only other thing we did this week was write the Dollars for Scholars Essays.  I will put on here tomorrow the top 3 essays that will be going on with a chance to win $50.

Math - I am so very happy with this class in Math!!  They learned a new strategy this week.  The strategy you all know and love, the standard algorithm for multiplying!  They caught on and did a great job.  We took our time this week and even had a fun day today with the 30 sided die, where they each roll a number and that becomes their multiplication problem.  I love hearing them argue or discuss whose answer is right and why someone's is wrong.  It is a great learning experience for both kids.  No homework tonight.  I gave them a break.  Tomorrow we will have a lesson on bigger numbers.  A number in the hundreds multiplied by a double-digit.  Woohoo!!

Social Studies -  Projects are getting closer!! I am getting excited!!  We are on lesson 4 in this chapter which means we are finishing up the Midwest.  We will then move onto the Southwest Region.  This region is small and I will move quickly through it so we can get into the West because it covers more states.  Students are doing a great job.  We need to practicing where the states are and really memorizing that States and Capitals song.  We will begin singing it everyday so we get it down.  Those capital tests will be coming.

I will be gone next Wednesday, April 9th.  I will be going with 9 students to the Young Writer's Conference in Lamoni at Graceland College.  I am taking 3 students from each 3rd, 4th and 5th grades.  Halle Evans, Sarah Rhone, and Jacob Zachary are the students attending from this room.  There will be a substitute in the room and life will go on as normal for the students not attending.  It is an early out, with Mass and Lenten Angels so should be a good day.

Have a great weekend!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels