Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  I am so glad I was able to visit with all of you last week. I appreciate you taking the time to come in and look at how things are going in 4th grade.  I hope if you have questions or concerns in the future you will reach out via email so we can discuss or set up another time to meet.  
     What a change in the weather!!  Wednesday was definitely interesting day for weather.  I was out of school that day.  I was in Omaha on a college visit with my daughter Jami.  It was a very good visit.  We had a great tour guide and the campus is very compact and beautiful.  Last Friday I went to Iowa State with Josie.  It was also a great day.  Being back on campus was a great feeling even if I am old.  She really loved the campus and all it has to offer.  I have one more visit, this Saturday in Iowa City.  I hope after that Jami will make a decision.  Josie is definitely a Cyclone!!

Language Arts - This week we are reading the last story in Unit 2.  The story is called Jose`! Born to Dance.  It is about a young boy and his years growing up and leading to him becoming a famous dancer.  He made the decision later in life to be a dancer and had to work very hard at it. He didn't start dance at an early age.  We have been learning about pronouns (subject and object), we talked about reflexive and demonstrative pronouns as well. Today's lesson was over pronouns and their antecedents.  The antecedent is the words or words that the pronoun replaces.  We did a lot of sharing of examples.  Tomorrow is our end of the week testing day like normal.  Next week will be a unit 2 test week.  We will not have a spelling test.  I split the test up so we do a little bit of test every day and then we will do other activities. Most likely something to do with writing. I try to make these fun activities for them.

Math - We are working on some basic skills the students will need as we push further into the chapter on multiplication.  I feel like we are all in good place right now and the lessons have not been too grueling.  We are going to embark on some new stuff today or tomorrow.  I think it is fun, it requires them to draw arrays on graph paper.  I also think it shows us an easy way to multiply larger numbers.  We will be using the Distributive Property of Multiplication to do it.  It will take us 2-3 days to get the hang of it.  I am excited about it because I think it is fun to teach.  They will see they can work with bigger numbers and make it easier for them to deal with.  I know this is something that you are not used to doing.  Let them show you how it works.  We will take it slow so everyone understand.

Social Studies -  We finished up chapter 3 and are working on reviewing.  They will have a test on Monday.  The study guide was assigned today, we will check it tomorrow, they will test on Monday, which is great to have the weekend to study.  Please remember to study the vocabulary words in the packet.  Next week we will  begin learning our states and capitals song, talk about studying the regions, a region at a time, and go over projects and how they work.  If at anytime you have questions about projects be sure to ask.  Social Studies is about to get a lot more interesting!!

I would like to thank those families that donated books to the library in my classroom! I love having books in my room for students when they are needing something new to read.  I encourage them to check out library books but sometimes they finish those and need something new.  I have a great selection in the classroom.  Thanks again very very much!

Tomorrow is Spirit Day!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels