Thursday, May 21, 2015

Dear Parents,
      Happy Last Thursday!!! Yes, this is the last Blog I will be writing for these students!!  This is crazy!! This is the first year I am not ready to end the year!!  We have lots of things we are doing over the next 2 days!  I am trying to make Tuesday as fun as I can without any work. You will find your student's Iowa Assessment results in their folders today.  It is the envelope made out to the parents.
       I would like to wish everyone a great summer vacation.  I hope everyone finds the time to go somewhere as a family.  You have a 4th grader that I am sure has suggestions of where they would like to go. Keep in mind there are some great things to see close to home.  Be safe!!

Language Arts - Students have been working hard on their book projects here at school.  Some of them have a little bit of stuff to finish up for tomorrow. Remember they are all due tomorrow.  They will share all of them tomorrow with the class.  We have taken the Unit test over Charlie and Chocolate Factory all ready and it is today's folder.  I was very happy at how all of them did.  I also gave out awards today for their Journals.  I gave an award for best pictures.  Reese Glynn won this award.  His pictures were always very neat, covered the whole page, and colorful.  I appreciate his work.  All students had pictures but some of them were not colored every time.  I also gave an award for the journal entries.  I gave it to the person whose entries were very consistent in quantity.  Patrick Varner won this prize.  He always wrote from 3-8 sentences on each entry.  He really told me what he knew.  Some kids began to get skimpy with entries.  Both winners received a box of Gobstoppers to take home.  Might as well give Wonka candy for the prize!  This has been a fun unit for the kids.  I am so glad we were able to do it.

Math - We are still working in Math.  We completed lesson 6.2 today and will do 6.3 tomorrow.  We have at least learned what equivalent fractions are and how to find them.  We used models to see what they looked, now we can find equivalent fractions without models.  Tomorrow we will work on fractions in simplest form!  Ms. Surma is very happy we are getting this in by the end of the year!!

Social Studies - We are finishing up chapter 10 with a test today.  We will take the end-of-the-year map test tomorrow.  Students need to be able to locate all 50 states on a map and name the capital of the state.  I also plan on reading some interesting facts about the West Region in our book since we are not getting to it.  Projects were fun this last time.  Students will be bringing them home today and tomorrow.

Last Day of School, Tuesday, May 26th -  This next Tuesday is our last day of school.  I plan on cleaning most items out of our desks on Friday, but if we don't get it all done then we will finish on Tuesday.  We will have field day starting at 10:00 A.M.  We will be eating lunch 3-4-5 together and watching a Disney movie the rest of afternoon.  We haven't decided what yet but are looking at movies like The Apple Dumpling Game, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks.  Your student needs to come to school with a lunch which includes a drink.  If you know pop has an effect on your student I ask that you not send it.  Send something else to drink.  It's the last day and we are all excited all ready without enhancing that.  We will end the day in the gym at 2:40 with prayer and saying good-bye.  You are welcome to attend any of these events throughout the day if you want.  Please feel welcome to join us.

I would just like to say, I have had a great year with your child.  I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of them.  Thank you for sharing them with me. I hope all of you will have a great summer.  You will find me at the ballpark.  I will spend all of June at a ballpark somewhere watching my oldest two play.  I love it.  It's my favorite summer activity.  Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of every week in the month of June I will be watching softball!!  Yes it's busy!  

God Bless and Have a Great Summer,
Mrs. Sickels

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!! Maybe I should say Happy Soggy Thursday.  I am enjoying every minute of school today because I will probably sit at a very wet track meet all night!  We are watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today!  Kids are excited!  It is a great movie.  They have really enjoyed the book.  This is crazy to think, but next Thursday is my last Thursday blog.  I can't believe it!  I am going to miss these kids.

Language Arts - We finished the book Charlie and Chocolate Factory yesterday!  Today we are watching the movie and tomorrow we will discuss book projects.  I know you are all thinking "WHAT, another  project!?"  Well, never fear,  I am going to introduce it to them tomorrow and then I expect them to do all the work in class next week.  I will want them to bring any boxes they need on Monday, and they will be given class time to create their projects.  I will be able to provide all the other stuff, paper, a paper cutter, pens, markers ect.   I want to see this projects being created.  If they choose the candy package project, they will also be making a completely made up candy, and that will need to be done at home.  Same as Social Studies, if you wish they wouldn't do that project then just let your child know.  There are plenty of projects to choose from.  Next Friday they will present their book projects to the class.  This one should be a fun one for them

Math - We finished chapter 5 this week.  This is the last math test we will take this year.  I plan to dig into chapter 6 and teach it clear up to the last day!  I will get through as much as a can as long as everyone is understanding.  We will be working on Fractions the whole time.  I hope to make these lessons more hands on using tiles and cubes to help understand fractions.  They really can be fun in the beginning.  Being able to see the difference in fractions helps to make a lot of sense too. 

Social Studies - We started hearing out last projects today.  We will have projects due all next week also.  I am anxious to see what we have from each student.  We will take a States and Capitals practice test this afternoon.  We will do one today and one next week.  Next Friday we will do the real test.  They will need to label a map, locating all 50 States and naming their capitals.  I have a map they can use for practice.  I will send that home today.  We will finish chapter 10 today and take one more test next week.  We will then begin reading chapter 12.  We will not test over it but we will do vocabulary and worksheets like normal.  We will do this until the end of the year.  I can't believe I have to keep thinking about the end being so close.

Field Trip - We had a great time on our field trip.  I would like to thank Katie Turner, and Rachel Glynn, and Dennis Kinsella for driving.  We also want to thank Dennis for treating the kids to an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen! It was a great end to our day.  The train ride was fun.  They loved the High Bridge, and going over the Des Moines River.  There was a lot of debris at the river.  Full trees that have floated down the river and I assume got stuck in ice jams over the winter and shoved up on shore.  They also saw the YMCA camp.  They thought it looked like a lot of fun!  We ate at Ledges State Park in a shelter house.  We didn't have time to go for a hike, but it would have been a little muddy.  They then drove through the spillways at ledges.  There are 5 of them.  It was fun.  Kids were trying to take photos of everything.  Some of you even probably saw videos.  It was a great day! Here are some photos I took.







I hope everyone has a great weekend!!  One more full week of school!! Summer is near!

God Bless, 
Mrs. Sickels

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Dear Parents,
      Happy Thursday!!!  What a soggy week!!!  I want the sun to come back.  Cloudy skies causes drowsy kids!!!  Also a drowsy teacher!  At least recesses have been outside all week.  We are happy about that.  We have our field trip tomorrow. Next week we are looking at a Math test and hopefully watching a movie!  The end is getting closer and closer.  The students are still maintaining and working very hard.  I appreciate that.

Field Trip - Tomorrow is the day!! Please remember to bring a sack lunch with you.  Also watch the weather and dress accordingly.  Again we will ride rain or shine.  There is no heat or air on the train.  Also no flip-flops, comfortable shoes for walking.  If you are driving please be here early to fill out the driver's form in the office.  You will need your driver's license and I think license plate number.  I plan to load the kids up and leave at 8:15 so your child needs to be in my room by 8:00.  Also we will not be back in time for kids to ride the bus so they will need to be picked up.  We will  be back by 3:30.  My phone number is 641-202-1580 if you want to text me and ask if our arrival will be on time.  I will keep Sarah informed if we are running late.  I hope the weather holds up for us. 

Language Arts - We have covered several chapters this week.  We have worked on our fantasy story.  They have a setting worked out, and now they have characters for their story. On Monday, we will work more with that.  We have read up to chapter 23 so far.  I hope that we finish the book next week.  We will watch the movie when we are completely done.  I do have a Unit test over the book to take.  It has multiple choice, matching and true and false on it.  It also has some questions that require written answers.  I think it will easy after all we have done throughout the book.

Math -  We finished chapter 5 today.  Students are working on their chapter review.  We will check that on Monday and then they will take a test on Tuesday.  This has been a short chapter.  We will move right into chapter 6 on Fractions as soon as we are done.  It will be fun!  I have lots of manipulatives to use for fractions.

Social Studies - We are studying the Southwest Region which is made up of 4 states: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.  We will finish this chapter and move onto the first chapter of the West.  Projects are due quickly.  Students should be doing their research.  Monday I will get their posters, cake tracers, and person to them.  So far in this chapter we have read about the Grand Canyon and watched a movie over it.  Today we will move onto the next lesson over climates.  They have a varied climate in this region.  We will end the chapter discussing the discovery of oil in Beaumont, Texas.  Then we will test! I hope to be close by the end of next week!

A note from the Music Room:  The music program is Tuesday, May 12th, at 6:00 in the High School Auditorium.  Students are to arrive and be in their seats by 5:50.  Students can dress nice yet casual.  Nice shorts are allowed with a colored shirt.  Girls are welcome to wear skirts and colored shirts if they choose.  Shoes need to allow them to move around.  I would steer clear of high heels.  They need to be able to dance around.  We are planning a dress rehearsal that afternoon at the High school.  Please fill out permission form and return tomorrow! Thank you.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! It is recital weekend!! Enjoy it! We have family back for it and will be relieved when it is all over!!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels


This is the 911 Memorial Building.  This is taken from the base of it looking up.  Pretty cool.  Looks like it continues on forever!

This is the South Tower Reflection Pool.  It is the footprint of where the actual building stood.  Names of those who died from this building are listed around the edge.  There is a North Tower Pool also.

Another view of the South Tower Pool.  The center drops down.  It is suppose to represent the tower going down instead of up.  It's reversed. Water falls down all sides then down into the center.

This is Ladder 54 that was on scene when the towers fell.  It was heavily damaged