Dear Parents!!
Happy Thursday!! What a crazy week!! I about forgot to write a blog for today. We have had a lot of fun this week with our dress up days! We have also put in some work this week. It is now coming to an end. Today we had a busy morning with a normal afternoon and tomorrow it is a normal morning with a busy afternoon. I hope to see grandparents and special friends tomorrow. Thank you for sharing your child with me. It is my pleasure to get to work with them and teach them. I enjoy everyday and love my job!! I am looking forward to a fun weekend after the fun week. We are prom dress shopping!! We are excited. Just a new adventure for us. Hopefully it will be a successful trip.
Language Arts - We read a story this week called The Right Dog for the Job. It is a narrative nonfiction story that tells how a dog goes from birth to being a guide dog or service dog. It is interesting to see that the dog goes into a 6th grade classroom to practice sitting still in one place while other things are going on. The kids thought it would be cool to have a dog in here. We studied sequence and I had them read the story in groups and write down the steps or order in which he was trained at certain things to become a service dog. They did a great job. We talked about adverbs this week. We learned what they are and what questions they answer. This grammar was little harder than adjectives. Spending only a week on these two parts of speech seems pretty quick. I used to devote a lot more time to them. They won't completely go away, they will appear again.
Math - We jumped to a chapter later in the book. It is only 5 lessons long and it seems fitting to do right after learning about multiplication. We are doing a chapter on Perimeter and Area. We have so far talked about perimeter. The students have done most of it in group work finding perimeter of rectangles. They were taught the formula of P= (2 X L) + (2 X W). They were given rectangles and they plugged the numbers in and found the perimeter with no problem. The only problem they have is not wanting to show their work. I made them show the formula and each step in finding the solution. A few were frustrated and wanted to do it all in their head. I hope to start Area tomorrow.
Social Studies - The students picked their states and projects this week. I will get their due dates out to them next week. I will also get my part of their projects to them by the end of next week. We so far have talked about the landforms in the Southeast region. I introduced the Outer Coastal Plain, Inner Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Appalachain Mountains. We talked about Mt. Mitchell being the highest point in the Southeast which is in North Carolina. We also have talked about this area having a lot of wetlands swamps and marshes. We are moving a little quicker through these lessons. The students seem to enjoy moving at a quicker pace. A small group like this is easy to do that with.
I hope your kids have enjoyed this week celebrating our school!! I know I have. I am great with getting to wear jeans everyday but one!! I hope all of you have a great weekend!! I hope to share some photos later when I get them downloaded.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Dear Parents,
Another good week under our belt!! This week has kind have been all about testing. We had a Math test and Social Studies test plus our regular Language Arts end of week testing. Wow!!! Next week we are moving into a very fun week. It is our Catholic Schools Week celebration. We will still complete academics this week as we have some fun along with it!! We always look forward to this week. Please be sure to read the section on this, so your student can participate each day.
Catholic Schools Week- Here is our schedule of the week. You received a hard copy of this last week in their folders. We are sending another copy home today in case you missed it.
Sunday - Opening of Catholic Schools Week 9:00 A.M.
Mass at the church and a brunch to follow.
Monday - Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day
Students need to bring a sack lunch today. Milk will be provided.
Hat Day - Wear your favorite hat to school all day!!
Tuesday - School Appreciation Day
Come as You Are - Yes this means come still in your pajamas!
Wednesday - Community Appreciation Day
Class Theme Day - Come dressed as a Lumberjack!!
Thursday - Student Appreciation Day
Talent Show in the gym at 9:30
Blue and Gold Day - Come dressed in St. Malachy gear
Friday - Grandparent/Special Guest Day
Our special mass begins at 1:30 at the Church. Invite someone special to you to enjoy Mass.
This is Dress up day!! Let's look our best to show our friends how proud we are of our school.
Whew!!! I hope you have it all down. That's a lot of fun packed into our week!!!
Math - We took our Chapter 3 test in Math today. I am excited about how well we did. I feel like students definitely have a grasp on how to do multiplication problems. They know 3 different strategies to use to solve the problems and can work them successfully. They struggle when they have to explain themselves. When asked to explain how they arrived at their answer, they don't want to write anything. Some thing just showing the computation is enough. I am trying to teach them it is not enough and how to show what they know. We will get better as the year goes on. I am very proud of their scores!!!
Social Studies - We finished up Chapter 5 today. I will give them back their tests tomorrow and introduce the next region to them. We will pick new states and projects next week. They are excited!! We will cover the Southeast. It has 12 states in it. A fun new region to learn about. We will be moving at a quicker pace through these lessons. Due to not having class on Wednesdays we are behind where I like to be. They are ready to pick up the pace themselves.
Language Arts - This week we read a story called Riding Freedom. This could be compared to the Disney movie Mulan in a way because a woman is disguising herself as a man to do a man's job. The job is driving a team of horses leading a stagecoach. The stagecoach carries people and mail from place to place. It is an interesting story to read. She loses sight in one eye, due to an accident and has to teach herself how to drive the team with just one eye. This makes a huge difference and she must rely on other senses to help her. In grammar we are learning about adjectives. What they are, what they describe, and that if you have more than one adjective describing the same noun there is a correct order to put them in. We have also been discussing figurative language. We talked about similes, metaphors, and idioms. We also discussed adages and proverbs. These are always fun. Especially they idioms. Kids love these sayings. I make them think about the literal meanings and we laugh.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Another good week under our belt!! This week has kind have been all about testing. We had a Math test and Social Studies test plus our regular Language Arts end of week testing. Wow!!! Next week we are moving into a very fun week. It is our Catholic Schools Week celebration. We will still complete academics this week as we have some fun along with it!! We always look forward to this week. Please be sure to read the section on this, so your student can participate each day.
Catholic Schools Week- Here is our schedule of the week. You received a hard copy of this last week in their folders. We are sending another copy home today in case you missed it.
Sunday - Opening of Catholic Schools Week 9:00 A.M.
Mass at the church and a brunch to follow.
Monday - Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day
Students need to bring a sack lunch today. Milk will be provided.
Hat Day - Wear your favorite hat to school all day!!
Tuesday - School Appreciation Day
Come as You Are - Yes this means come still in your pajamas!
Wednesday - Community Appreciation Day
Class Theme Day - Come dressed as a Lumberjack!!
Thursday - Student Appreciation Day
Talent Show in the gym at 9:30
Blue and Gold Day - Come dressed in St. Malachy gear
Friday - Grandparent/Special Guest Day
Our special mass begins at 1:30 at the Church. Invite someone special to you to enjoy Mass.
This is Dress up day!! Let's look our best to show our friends how proud we are of our school.
Whew!!! I hope you have it all down. That's a lot of fun packed into our week!!!
Math - We took our Chapter 3 test in Math today. I am excited about how well we did. I feel like students definitely have a grasp on how to do multiplication problems. They know 3 different strategies to use to solve the problems and can work them successfully. They struggle when they have to explain themselves. When asked to explain how they arrived at their answer, they don't want to write anything. Some thing just showing the computation is enough. I am trying to teach them it is not enough and how to show what they know. We will get better as the year goes on. I am very proud of their scores!!!
Social Studies - We finished up Chapter 5 today. I will give them back their tests tomorrow and introduce the next region to them. We will pick new states and projects next week. They are excited!! We will cover the Southeast. It has 12 states in it. A fun new region to learn about. We will be moving at a quicker pace through these lessons. Due to not having class on Wednesdays we are behind where I like to be. They are ready to pick up the pace themselves.
Language Arts - This week we read a story called Riding Freedom. This could be compared to the Disney movie Mulan in a way because a woman is disguising herself as a man to do a man's job. The job is driving a team of horses leading a stagecoach. The stagecoach carries people and mail from place to place. It is an interesting story to read. She loses sight in one eye, due to an accident and has to teach herself how to drive the team with just one eye. This makes a huge difference and she must rely on other senses to help her. In grammar we are learning about adjectives. What they are, what they describe, and that if you have more than one adjective describing the same noun there is a correct order to put them in. We have also been discussing figurative language. We talked about similes, metaphors, and idioms. We also discussed adages and proverbs. These are always fun. Especially they idioms. Kids love these sayings. I make them think about the literal meanings and we laugh.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! This is a much better week!! Welcome back to normal!! Weather is good, kids are finally going outside for recess, no threat of snow, ice or cold weather. Whew!! I pray I didn't just jinx us. We are getting back into our routine of things here at school. Please be sure your child has everything they need to go outside for recess. Hats, gloves, mittens, scarves and boots are needed!!! Just because it is warmer, it does not mean no coats. Some kids think since it has warmed up a little they can survive with just a sweatshirt. It's not that warm. Also boots are a must. It will be melting the next few days and that makes for a very mushy playground. If they want to play and enjoy recess they must have boots. We would prefer to not have the mess in the building on our regular shoes.
Language Arts - We have been taking a benchmark test this week. They have completed a section of the test each day since Tuesday. They finished the test today. I have been checking the test each day. Your child knows if they have been doing well or not. Some seem to not have their head back in the game yet. This unit test was actually a benchmark test which tells me how they are doing in regards to the Iowa Core benchmarks that I am teaching. I warned them this test was not easy and it was highly important that they take their time and look up answers to be sure they are right. The results to this test should come home with your student next Thursday. Next week we will get back into the book, language arts will be back to a normal routine.
Math - We are working on finishing up our Chapter 3 on Multiplication. I am looking at the students testing next week. We will then either do a chapter on Area and perimeter or we will get right into division. The division chapter is very long. The area chapter is only 5 lessons and I feel is great to do right after we studied multiplication. It might be just enough of a small break to get their minds ready to really focus on division. We will move on to division timed tests during this time so you will be able to start working on division flash cards at home also. Division is just the opposite of multiplication and I don't fore see any issues but we will be learning strategies that you have not learned. It will be a struggle at home. I try to take our time and be sure the kids are understanding before they leave me for the day to lessen the stress at home. Again, coming in before school will work. I now have morning duty on Thursdays so I am available Mon. -Wed and Friday.
Social Studies- We are finishing up our last chapter on the Northeast. We will be testing soon and then moving on to the Southeast region. We will be getting ready to assign the next project. The kids are getting excited about that. I plan to pick up the pace a little bit in Social Studies. We don't have class on Wednesdays due to the hour early every week, and this is causing me to not be where I am normally at this time of the year. I will begin to move through lessons more quickly with the students, which may give them more work. I don't like skipping anything because I feel like all chapters and lessons are very meaningful. Now that the 4th graders have half a year under their belt, I feel they can handle moving forward at a quicker pace.
Ms. Ogbern - As you know Ms. Miller left us at Christmas to move to Ames, Iowa, where she found a full time job. We have replaced her with Ms. Ogbern. She is from the Corning area. She will the aide for 3-5 from 9:30 -3:00 every day. She is hear all day on Wednesdays. We hope to use her in the same way we used Ms. MIller. She will be working with groups of students to ensure their growth. She just graduated in December with a degree in History. Her hope is to one day hold down a job in a library working on programs for youth. What a great way to gain experience with kids than to work with us. She also had experience with children all ready. We welcome her to the classroom!
Catholic Schools week is coming!!! Here is a quick overview of the week. I will get more in depth next week.
Monday- Hat Day
Tuesday - Come As You Are (P.J.'s)
Wednesday - Theme Day (Lumberjacks)
Thursday - Blue and Gold or St. Malachy Day
Friday - Dress Up Day
Next week I will let you know everything that will happen each day.
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! This is a much better week!! Welcome back to normal!! Weather is good, kids are finally going outside for recess, no threat of snow, ice or cold weather. Whew!! I pray I didn't just jinx us. We are getting back into our routine of things here at school. Please be sure your child has everything they need to go outside for recess. Hats, gloves, mittens, scarves and boots are needed!!! Just because it is warmer, it does not mean no coats. Some kids think since it has warmed up a little they can survive with just a sweatshirt. It's not that warm. Also boots are a must. It will be melting the next few days and that makes for a very mushy playground. If they want to play and enjoy recess they must have boots. We would prefer to not have the mess in the building on our regular shoes.
Language Arts - We have been taking a benchmark test this week. They have completed a section of the test each day since Tuesday. They finished the test today. I have been checking the test each day. Your child knows if they have been doing well or not. Some seem to not have their head back in the game yet. This unit test was actually a benchmark test which tells me how they are doing in regards to the Iowa Core benchmarks that I am teaching. I warned them this test was not easy and it was highly important that they take their time and look up answers to be sure they are right. The results to this test should come home with your student next Thursday. Next week we will get back into the book, language arts will be back to a normal routine.
Math - We are working on finishing up our Chapter 3 on Multiplication. I am looking at the students testing next week. We will then either do a chapter on Area and perimeter or we will get right into division. The division chapter is very long. The area chapter is only 5 lessons and I feel is great to do right after we studied multiplication. It might be just enough of a small break to get their minds ready to really focus on division. We will move on to division timed tests during this time so you will be able to start working on division flash cards at home also. Division is just the opposite of multiplication and I don't fore see any issues but we will be learning strategies that you have not learned. It will be a struggle at home. I try to take our time and be sure the kids are understanding before they leave me for the day to lessen the stress at home. Again, coming in before school will work. I now have morning duty on Thursdays so I am available Mon. -Wed and Friday.
Social Studies- We are finishing up our last chapter on the Northeast. We will be testing soon and then moving on to the Southeast region. We will be getting ready to assign the next project. The kids are getting excited about that. I plan to pick up the pace a little bit in Social Studies. We don't have class on Wednesdays due to the hour early every week, and this is causing me to not be where I am normally at this time of the year. I will begin to move through lessons more quickly with the students, which may give them more work. I don't like skipping anything because I feel like all chapters and lessons are very meaningful. Now that the 4th graders have half a year under their belt, I feel they can handle moving forward at a quicker pace.
Ms. Ogbern - As you know Ms. Miller left us at Christmas to move to Ames, Iowa, where she found a full time job. We have replaced her with Ms. Ogbern. She is from the Corning area. She will the aide for 3-5 from 9:30 -3:00 every day. She is hear all day on Wednesdays. We hope to use her in the same way we used Ms. MIller. She will be working with groups of students to ensure their growth. She just graduated in December with a degree in History. Her hope is to one day hold down a job in a library working on programs for youth. What a great way to gain experience with kids than to work with us. She also had experience with children all ready. We welcome her to the classroom!
Catholic Schools week is coming!!! Here is a quick overview of the week. I will get more in depth next week.
Monday- Hat Day
Tuesday - Come As You Are (P.J.'s)
Wednesday - Theme Day (Lumberjacks)
Thursday - Blue and Gold or St. Malachy Day
Friday - Dress Up Day
Next week I will let you know everything that will happen each day.
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Dear Parents,
Well....we are back!! What a week to come back!! Between the weather and the flu this is not a good week. Attendance for us has been great this week, we haven't had any flu issues. My house is not so lucky. I had one wake up early this morning and has been sick feeling. I made her stay home. I am praying no one else gets it. I will be here unless a fever starts on any of them then I will be staying home. I like to keep an eye on the fevers myself and I figure if they running fevers I don't need to be spreading anything here. I am praying it will all happen over the weekend. This weather is crazy!! The winds and below zero temps are insane!! It is not nice outside. We will keep the kids inside for recess unless the temperature including wind chill rises above 0 degrees. Two big things we have no control over, weather and flu. This does not make for a fun week. I also understand that tomorrow is suppose to be colder than Wednesday morning. UGH!!
Language Arts - We are reading a story called Ecology for Kids. It is suppose to give kids information about what ecology is and how important this science is. It also gives kids an idea of what they can do to help our environment. This is not the most entertaining story at all. We are discussing irregular verbs, the "be" verb and how it is used. In spelling the list covers words that you would change the -y to -i and add -est, -es or -ed. It was a difficult list for students even though we have covered this before. Examples would be families, ladies, funniest, happiest, copied, and studied to name a few. Since we have missed a day our Friday schedule is now next Monday. We will take a post test Monday and the test over the story will be on Monday. If we would have another "wind chill" day tomorrow, we will bump all of that to Tuesday. It works nicely that we can do this because this is the last story of Unit 3 and next week would be testing over Unit 3. This is a benchmark test which is more difficult than the others. We will spend the rest of next week completing that. I am also working on a writing project for next week.
Math- We have done some reviewing this week. We had math centers on Monday where we had a group working on Flash Cards, a group playing with a 30 sided die to create math problems to practice partial product, then one other group that worked on white boards with me to show me they were mastering the partial product strategy. We have now begun to learn the regrouping strategy, which is better known as the math you learned. It is sometimes hard to change from one strategy to another. I am working with them trying to point out all the mistakes that can easily be made. The students have worked problems on the board so I can see what they are doing ad try to fix the errors they are making. They have been assigned some problems for tonight for practice. Tomorrow we will go over those and see if they are ready for the worksheet. I want them to understand what they are doing before we move on. You can watch your child work them to see if they are understanding and if not help them learn the process. Keep working on Flash cards also.
Social Studies - We have started a new lesson this week. We are discussing the Northeast and its importance to the beginnings of the United States. Nine of the first Thirteen Colonies were located in the Northeast. We briefly talked about the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When and where they were written. We also talked about New York City being the first of our Nation's capitals. That was only for a year. Then Philadelphia became capital for 10 years. Then we moved to Washington D.C. where it remains. This is our last chapter about the Northeast and then we will move on to the Southeast. Which means new projects will be chosen and assigned. That is coming up!!
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I pray that the weather gets better, and the flu stays away.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Well....we are back!! What a week to come back!! Between the weather and the flu this is not a good week. Attendance for us has been great this week, we haven't had any flu issues. My house is not so lucky. I had one wake up early this morning and has been sick feeling. I made her stay home. I am praying no one else gets it. I will be here unless a fever starts on any of them then I will be staying home. I like to keep an eye on the fevers myself and I figure if they running fevers I don't need to be spreading anything here. I am praying it will all happen over the weekend. This weather is crazy!! The winds and below zero temps are insane!! It is not nice outside. We will keep the kids inside for recess unless the temperature including wind chill rises above 0 degrees. Two big things we have no control over, weather and flu. This does not make for a fun week. I also understand that tomorrow is suppose to be colder than Wednesday morning. UGH!!
Language Arts - We are reading a story called Ecology for Kids. It is suppose to give kids information about what ecology is and how important this science is. It also gives kids an idea of what they can do to help our environment. This is not the most entertaining story at all. We are discussing irregular verbs, the "be" verb and how it is used. In spelling the list covers words that you would change the -y to -i and add -est, -es or -ed. It was a difficult list for students even though we have covered this before. Examples would be families, ladies, funniest, happiest, copied, and studied to name a few. Since we have missed a day our Friday schedule is now next Monday. We will take a post test Monday and the test over the story will be on Monday. If we would have another "wind chill" day tomorrow, we will bump all of that to Tuesday. It works nicely that we can do this because this is the last story of Unit 3 and next week would be testing over Unit 3. This is a benchmark test which is more difficult than the others. We will spend the rest of next week completing that. I am also working on a writing project for next week.
Math- We have done some reviewing this week. We had math centers on Monday where we had a group working on Flash Cards, a group playing with a 30 sided die to create math problems to practice partial product, then one other group that worked on white boards with me to show me they were mastering the partial product strategy. We have now begun to learn the regrouping strategy, which is better known as the math you learned. It is sometimes hard to change from one strategy to another. I am working with them trying to point out all the mistakes that can easily be made. The students have worked problems on the board so I can see what they are doing ad try to fix the errors they are making. They have been assigned some problems for tonight for practice. Tomorrow we will go over those and see if they are ready for the worksheet. I want them to understand what they are doing before we move on. You can watch your child work them to see if they are understanding and if not help them learn the process. Keep working on Flash cards also.
Social Studies - We have started a new lesson this week. We are discussing the Northeast and its importance to the beginnings of the United States. Nine of the first Thirteen Colonies were located in the Northeast. We briefly talked about the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. When and where they were written. We also talked about New York City being the first of our Nation's capitals. That was only for a year. Then Philadelphia became capital for 10 years. Then we moved to Washington D.C. where it remains. This is our last chapter about the Northeast and then we will move on to the Southeast. Which means new projects will be chosen and assigned. That is coming up!!
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I pray that the weather gets better, and the flu stays away.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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