Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! This is the last Thursday we are in school before Christmas!! Next week your kiddos will be home! I can tell Christmas is coming and it is a full moon!! They are very talkative! We will make it though!! I am looking forward to Christmas Break myself. Both kids are home and I am at work! I will be happy to be home with them! Sounds like a wild weekend of weather! I hope all of you keep warm this weekend!
Language Arts - We have read the story Antarctic Journal this week. It is actually a journal account from a visit to Antarctica. It was very informative and interesting to learn about this continent. It talked about penguins and everyone loves penguins! We have been looking at Modal auxilaries this week for grammar. Which is the proper use of may, might, could should, can, and must. These can be very confusing when looked at properly. The kids will probably mix up may, can and might. We also looked at Latin and Greek word parts that we use today. Word parts such as: spect, tele, vis, and struct. We looked at the meaning of each part and how some of the words we use also reflect these meanings.
Math - We have hit the middle of chapter 3. I have discovered there is no way I could get a test in before our vacation, so we have stopped here at the mid chapter review. After break we will review what we learned so far and then take off on the second half which is only 3 lessons. We will learn the regrouping strategy which is the strategy that we all learned as kids. Right now we are working on some fun math that goes with geometry and a little bit of map skills. It uses a coordinate grid to make a picture. I have all sorts of pictures. We are making Christmas related pictures right now. They all had to make a Christmas tree then they could choose their next picture. This class is doing a great job catching on to the new concepts presented to them!! Kudos to them!
Social Studies - We are working through our chapter on the Northeast. We are in the middle of a lesson right now. When we finish this lesson we are going to learn the States and Capitals song and start some map work. This will help us prepare for the states and capitals portion of our test! Next week for fun I plan to have them color the flags of the Northeast regiion. I have coloring pages and we will look the flags up on the computer and put on whiteboard for them to copy. When we get all the flags done we will put them into our interactive notebooks with a few more facts about the states. Just another fun way for the students to be more engaged in their learning. I apologize now about the states and capitals song because they will be singing it all the time once they learn it. I am sure all of you will also know it.
Wednesday, December 22nd - I want to tell you about what will go on this day! In the morning I plan on finishing up anything we need to so that our subjects all have a proper stopping pioint. Then we will have a Christmas Party. At this time we will have a snack and drink. I am looking for volunteers who would like provide one or the other for the class. If you would like to provide one please email me and let me know. While we enjoy our snack we will also play board games. Sometimes it is just fun to sit and play your favorite games with your friends. So your child may bring in their favorite game that day. It doesn't matter what it is, card game board game ect. My favorite game is Battleship. IF anyone has a working electrtonic Battleship game I request it! I have never played one. Last year someone brought one but it didn't work. Your child will need to bring a sack lunch that day to eat with their Advent Angel. Milk will be provided so NO drinks please. After they eat we will sing Christmas Carols in the gym from 12:30 to 1:00. All are welcome to come join in our singing! This is truly the best time of the day! After caroling, the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades will get together in one room and watch a movie for the afternoon. Then they will be all ready to go home!!! WOW what a busy fun day ! At least I hope it is. What fun to celebrate the holiday with your class.
Again I hope all of you have a great weekend! I have my first family Christmas this weekend! It is always great fun! It starts at my house Friday night then to my in-laws all day Saturday! We really enjoy our time together. Last year I was sick and unable to attend. This year I am looking forward to it.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Wow, I can tell Christmas is coming! This is a very busy time of the year at school and at home. I can see it in the kids in many ways. Mainly I hear all the talking they are doing. They are having a very difficult time holding in their conversations. I know it is the excitement of the time of year and I am trying to be patient. We have lots of things going on these next couple of weeks! I hope we can keep everything straight!
Geography Bee - The finals for the Geography Bee will take place Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 10:30 in the gym. All parents of finalists are invited to watch. All students 3-8 grade will be present to watch and cheer on their classmates.
Spirit Day/Sack Lunch - On Friday, Dec. 16th we have a spirit day. Students can pay their dollar to wear sweats, just like all other Spirit Days. This is also an optional sack lunch day. You can bring your own lunch or eat what is provided by the lunchroom.
Food Pantry - All Food Pantry donations are due on Friday, Dec. 16th. Our class has been asked to bring in shaving cream and Q-tips. Next time you are at the store and think about it pick up an item and bring it in. Dollar Tree is a great place to get these items. Once a month these items are handed out at the Food Pantry for those who need a little extra help. We thank you for all your donations.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a fun story called The Earth Dragon Awakes. This story is historical fiction and is about the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Maybe you could google some pictures and real articles from this earthquake to share with your child. I feel it is an interesting story due to the story line. A family of 2 is in a tenement building that crumbles down floor by floor. This gives it kind of suspenseful tone. We have worked with possessive nouns this week for grammar. Nouns that show ownership. They use apostrophes. We covered singular and plural possessive nouns. We also talked about synonyms. Remember to study for the end of week assessment and the spelling post test!
Math- We covered lesson 3 today which is using Area Box strategy to multiply. They seem to find this strategy fun and caught on to it pretty quickly. I love this strategy because I am a visual learner and I totally understand exactly what I am doing. Yes, this strategy may take a little bit more time but if a student is struggling with a problem sometimes this is the one they go back to because they do understand it best. We are doing a great job working through chapter 3. I am still praying we can finish it and test over it by Christmas break, but I am not sure we will get it done. We are working hard but sometimes things get in the way and we go with the flow. If we hit a strategy they don't get I will also slow down and spend more time on it so they really catch on. So far we haven't had to do that!
Social Studies - We chose states and projects today. The students can begin their research! I will send home due dates next week! The due dates will begin after Christmas Break. If they chose cake, or quarter they will have one of the first due dates. I schedule 2 projects due a day. We share then move on to our work in the book so class is not put completely on hold. This is when our class gets really fun for the kids. It quickly becomes their favorite subject!
I hope all of you have a great weekend! I am shoppping! Pray for me!! I am not a good shopper! I like doing it from home on Amazon! Sometimes you just have to go to the store though!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Wow, I can tell Christmas is coming! This is a very busy time of the year at school and at home. I can see it in the kids in many ways. Mainly I hear all the talking they are doing. They are having a very difficult time holding in their conversations. I know it is the excitement of the time of year and I am trying to be patient. We have lots of things going on these next couple of weeks! I hope we can keep everything straight!
Geography Bee - The finals for the Geography Bee will take place Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 10:30 in the gym. All parents of finalists are invited to watch. All students 3-8 grade will be present to watch and cheer on their classmates.
Spirit Day/Sack Lunch - On Friday, Dec. 16th we have a spirit day. Students can pay their dollar to wear sweats, just like all other Spirit Days. This is also an optional sack lunch day. You can bring your own lunch or eat what is provided by the lunchroom.
Food Pantry - All Food Pantry donations are due on Friday, Dec. 16th. Our class has been asked to bring in shaving cream and Q-tips. Next time you are at the store and think about it pick up an item and bring it in. Dollar Tree is a great place to get these items. Once a month these items are handed out at the Food Pantry for those who need a little extra help. We thank you for all your donations.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a fun story called The Earth Dragon Awakes. This story is historical fiction and is about the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Maybe you could google some pictures and real articles from this earthquake to share with your child. I feel it is an interesting story due to the story line. A family of 2 is in a tenement building that crumbles down floor by floor. This gives it kind of suspenseful tone. We have worked with possessive nouns this week for grammar. Nouns that show ownership. They use apostrophes. We covered singular and plural possessive nouns. We also talked about synonyms. Remember to study for the end of week assessment and the spelling post test!
Math- We covered lesson 3 today which is using Area Box strategy to multiply. They seem to find this strategy fun and caught on to it pretty quickly. I love this strategy because I am a visual learner and I totally understand exactly what I am doing. Yes, this strategy may take a little bit more time but if a student is struggling with a problem sometimes this is the one they go back to because they do understand it best. We are doing a great job working through chapter 3. I am still praying we can finish it and test over it by Christmas break, but I am not sure we will get it done. We are working hard but sometimes things get in the way and we go with the flow. If we hit a strategy they don't get I will also slow down and spend more time on it so they really catch on. So far we haven't had to do that!
Social Studies - We chose states and projects today. The students can begin their research! I will send home due dates next week! The due dates will begin after Christmas Break. If they chose cake, or quarter they will have one of the first due dates. I schedule 2 projects due a day. We share then move on to our work in the book so class is not put completely on hold. This is when our class gets really fun for the kids. It quickly becomes their favorite subject!
I hope all of you have a great weekend! I am shoppping! Pray for me!! I am not a good shopper! I like doing it from home on Amazon! Sometimes you just have to go to the store though!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday and welcome to Advent!! Today being the first day of December gets us all in the mood for Christmas. We are back to having full weeks of school which we have not had for a while. For the students this will be a very long 3 weeks but for the teachers it seems to go quickly. I have goals I want to reach academically by the time Christmas Break gets here and sometimes it is difficult to get those things done due to all of our activities we have going on. I plan to work them hard and have fun this month!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms. It is not the most entertaining story to read. It is non fiction and full of information. I have had the kids read it everyday this week just because it is a difficult one. Tuesday and Thursday they read with partners. Monday I read to them. Wednesday they read silently to themselves. On Friday we will read it together and have a discussion as a large group. I am hoping hearing it 5 times will help them with the end of week assessment. In grammar this week we talked about those fun easily confused words that people like to blast each other about on Facebook. Their, there, and they're, to, too, and two, and its and it's. We have spent a day discussing each group. They seem to understand the difference but they don't pay attention in their writing and put the correct one. Spelling words this week were on compound words. These words can be two words joined together into one work like fireplace or classmate, they can be joined with a hyphen like make-believe and twenty-two, and they can be two separate words like all right and alarm clock. Tomorrow they will take a post test so be sure they are studying!!
Math - We finished up chapter 2 took a test. They have completed their chapter 3 pretest online (which was very difficult and some were just plain mad at me for not helping). I kept telling them it is pretest do the best they can. They will see a huge jump when they take the test at the end of the chapter and they learn a ton of new stuff!! Chapter 3 is kind of an extension of chapter 2. It is multiplication but with double digits. Most lessons they will catch on to pretty quickly. Some we may need to spend a couple days on. I hope to have chapter 3 complete by Christmas break since it is only 7 lessons long. It will take some hard work on all our parts to make this happen, but I have faith in us. Keep working on multiplication flash cards at home! It helps tremendously.
Social Studies - We have begun talking about the Northeast Region. We are learning new vocabulary words. Today we talked about Niagara Falls and its beauty. We also talked about how important it is to the state of New York because the hydropower plants at Niagara Falls supplies the state with electricity or hydroelectricity. We will be using a cross cross-cut diagram to learn how a hydropower plant works. I will soon be going over the Social Studies projects with the kids and assigning the first one which will be due after Christmas break. We will also begin putting together an interactive notebook on the Northeast states and learning how to label a map with the states. I will also begin using the song to help them memorize states and capitals. What a busy time we have!!!!
Two important things:
Tomorrow is a Spirit day!! We are trying to raise a little extra money for our adopt-a-family so we are upping the Spirit! You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats and you can pay an extra $1.00 to wear a hat for the day.
The second item is a reminder that tomorrow we walk to the Food Pantry so make sure your child comes prepared for the walk. They will want a coat, hat and mittens. Thank you!
Christmas Tree - I have a Christmas tree on the bulletin board in my room. We want to get into the holiday spirit so if you could send an ornament with your student, we will hang them on the tree and have a class tree. Please do not send breakable ornaments, because if they fall on floor they will break. Otherwise any ornament works. I will send them back home with the kids when they leave for Christmas Break.
Report Cards - They will be coming available soon. I think next week. Nothing on the report card should be a surprise to you. We talked at conferences and if you follow on Power School you can see how your child is doing. Please be sure to take a look at them!!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! My family and I had a great time in Chicago. I got a lot of my shopping taken care of while I was there. It was a fun relaxing weekend. I am thankful we are able to go and the weather cooperated!! I am praying for snow! In my eyes it is not Christmas without snow!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday and welcome to Advent!! Today being the first day of December gets us all in the mood for Christmas. We are back to having full weeks of school which we have not had for a while. For the students this will be a very long 3 weeks but for the teachers it seems to go quickly. I have goals I want to reach academically by the time Christmas Break gets here and sometimes it is difficult to get those things done due to all of our activities we have going on. I plan to work them hard and have fun this month!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms. It is not the most entertaining story to read. It is non fiction and full of information. I have had the kids read it everyday this week just because it is a difficult one. Tuesday and Thursday they read with partners. Monday I read to them. Wednesday they read silently to themselves. On Friday we will read it together and have a discussion as a large group. I am hoping hearing it 5 times will help them with the end of week assessment. In grammar this week we talked about those fun easily confused words that people like to blast each other about on Facebook. Their, there, and they're, to, too, and two, and its and it's. We have spent a day discussing each group. They seem to understand the difference but they don't pay attention in their writing and put the correct one. Spelling words this week were on compound words. These words can be two words joined together into one work like fireplace or classmate, they can be joined with a hyphen like make-believe and twenty-two, and they can be two separate words like all right and alarm clock. Tomorrow they will take a post test so be sure they are studying!!
Math - We finished up chapter 2 took a test. They have completed their chapter 3 pretest online (which was very difficult and some were just plain mad at me for not helping). I kept telling them it is pretest do the best they can. They will see a huge jump when they take the test at the end of the chapter and they learn a ton of new stuff!! Chapter 3 is kind of an extension of chapter 2. It is multiplication but with double digits. Most lessons they will catch on to pretty quickly. Some we may need to spend a couple days on. I hope to have chapter 3 complete by Christmas break since it is only 7 lessons long. It will take some hard work on all our parts to make this happen, but I have faith in us. Keep working on multiplication flash cards at home! It helps tremendously.
Social Studies - We have begun talking about the Northeast Region. We are learning new vocabulary words. Today we talked about Niagara Falls and its beauty. We also talked about how important it is to the state of New York because the hydropower plants at Niagara Falls supplies the state with electricity or hydroelectricity. We will be using a cross cross-cut diagram to learn how a hydropower plant works. I will soon be going over the Social Studies projects with the kids and assigning the first one which will be due after Christmas break. We will also begin putting together an interactive notebook on the Northeast states and learning how to label a map with the states. I will also begin using the song to help them memorize states and capitals. What a busy time we have!!!!
Two important things:
Tomorrow is a Spirit day!! We are trying to raise a little extra money for our adopt-a-family so we are upping the Spirit! You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats and you can pay an extra $1.00 to wear a hat for the day.
The second item is a reminder that tomorrow we walk to the Food Pantry so make sure your child comes prepared for the walk. They will want a coat, hat and mittens. Thank you!
Christmas Tree - I have a Christmas tree on the bulletin board in my room. We want to get into the holiday spirit so if you could send an ornament with your student, we will hang them on the tree and have a class tree. Please do not send breakable ornaments, because if they fall on floor they will break. Otherwise any ornament works. I will send them back home with the kids when they leave for Christmas Break.
Report Cards - They will be coming available soon. I think next week. Nothing on the report card should be a surprise to you. We talked at conferences and if you follow on Power School you can see how your child is doing. Please be sure to take a look at them!!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!! My family and I had a great time in Chicago. I got a lot of my shopping taken care of while I was there. It was a fun relaxing weekend. I am thankful we are able to go and the weather cooperated!! I am praying for snow! In my eyes it is not Christmas without snow!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! What a very nice Thursday it is. Weather is great but "Hello" it's Thanksgiving time I want the cold. I am ready for some winter weather. I am a winter person! Just not feeling the "Season" with these summer like temps! Monday, the 28th we are having our celebration lunch for Nate and T.J. Frey. The Frey family provides pizza for the whole school because it was one of the boys favorite things to eat. I will discuss with the kids the importance of the day and the meaning of it. I want them to know this is more than just a pizza day. Also this year has some significance because T.J. would be in 8th grade and graduating with his class in May. For this class it may be difficult because they will not get this celebration anymore. I am expecting some tears that day. Please help them understand.
Language Arts - This week has been a Unit test week. Watch Power School for the results from this test. I will link standards/benchmarks to it so you can see how they did concerning Iowa Core. Next week due to a short week we will not start a new story in Unit 3. We will do that when we return from Thanksgiving Break. Tuesday I will hold my annual "Cuddle Up and Read" day. On Tuesday your child may bring a blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal to school. They don't HAVE to bring anything but are welcome to bring all three or any combination of the three. They will spend an entire hour laying on the floor reading a chapter book to themselves. It is 60 minutes of Book it minutes for them!! The kids love this day and get very excited. I love this day also. I will read with them for the hour. I try to read during DEAR time when we have it during the week. I like to model reading for them. I usually bring in my reading experiences to them when talking about new skills. I love showing them the fun of reading.
Math - We are ending chapter 2!! We will start reviewing today and will take the test next week. What a great way to head off to Thanksgiving break. We will start a brand new chapter when we return. Chapter 3 is also on Multiplication but moving to double digit multiplication. We learn the same strategies just with a bigger number. I am looking forward to getting into that chapter because the kids feel so much like big people learning big multiplication. After chapter 3 we will skip back to chapter 13 and work on perimeter and area. This is a fun chapter because I have them explore the building and measure items and fine perimeter and area. Some of the students are all ready working on this in their ST Math on the computer so it will be review and good hands on activity for them. This class does a great job paying attention so we can move in Math class.
Social Studies - The students started their study guides today for Chapter 3. We will check it tomorrow and take the test on Monday. Tuesday they will make corrections. Great way to finish before break! We will begin Chapter 4 which is over the Northeast Region when we return. I will also go over the projects with them. We will assign the first project and it will be due after Christmas. When we discuss each region separately we learn about Native Americans who were there, resources in the region and usually landforms and some climate. All of these help to show them how they are divided into regions. This is actually when they really start to enjoy social studies. We will also begin singing our States and Capitals song. This can be found for free on Itunes. It is States and Capitals song by Macho Nacho. When working on a region we will also work on maps to help us learn where they states are located. On their tests they will be asked to label a map with the states from the region we are working on. You can help by sharing maps with them at home or pulling some up on the computer for them to practice with. I think there is an app for ipod and iphone on states and locating them. Stack the States is one of them. If you just search geography of United States you will get some good apps to help them.
Geography Bee The preliminary round for the geography bee is on Monday. The 4th - 8th graders are split up between 3 rooms with 2 teachers in each room. They are asked 7 rounds of questions from the National Geography Bee competition. The top 10 with most questions answered correctly will advance to our Final round which will be held December 14th following Mass. At this time we will determine a winner. I have had 4th graders in the past make it to the final rounds. It is very exciting when that happens.
Mass and Reception- The 4th graders have Mass on November 30th. Following mass on this day we would like to invite any family members to stay after mass and share donuts and juice. Hope to see you there!
I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving Break! If you are traveling I hope you are safe. My family will be traveling to Chicago as we do every year. We have a great time with family and do some shopping for Christmas. Black Friday in the Chicago Area is not a big deal like it is around here so places are not that crowded. If we traveled downtown to see Macy's and it's windows, that would be crowded!! We have done that in the past but not this year!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! What a very nice Thursday it is. Weather is great but "Hello" it's Thanksgiving time I want the cold. I am ready for some winter weather. I am a winter person! Just not feeling the "Season" with these summer like temps! Monday, the 28th we are having our celebration lunch for Nate and T.J. Frey. The Frey family provides pizza for the whole school because it was one of the boys favorite things to eat. I will discuss with the kids the importance of the day and the meaning of it. I want them to know this is more than just a pizza day. Also this year has some significance because T.J. would be in 8th grade and graduating with his class in May. For this class it may be difficult because they will not get this celebration anymore. I am expecting some tears that day. Please help them understand.
Language Arts - This week has been a Unit test week. Watch Power School for the results from this test. I will link standards/benchmarks to it so you can see how they did concerning Iowa Core. Next week due to a short week we will not start a new story in Unit 3. We will do that when we return from Thanksgiving Break. Tuesday I will hold my annual "Cuddle Up and Read" day. On Tuesday your child may bring a blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal to school. They don't HAVE to bring anything but are welcome to bring all three or any combination of the three. They will spend an entire hour laying on the floor reading a chapter book to themselves. It is 60 minutes of Book it minutes for them!! The kids love this day and get very excited. I love this day also. I will read with them for the hour. I try to read during DEAR time when we have it during the week. I like to model reading for them. I usually bring in my reading experiences to them when talking about new skills. I love showing them the fun of reading.
Math - We are ending chapter 2!! We will start reviewing today and will take the test next week. What a great way to head off to Thanksgiving break. We will start a brand new chapter when we return. Chapter 3 is also on Multiplication but moving to double digit multiplication. We learn the same strategies just with a bigger number. I am looking forward to getting into that chapter because the kids feel so much like big people learning big multiplication. After chapter 3 we will skip back to chapter 13 and work on perimeter and area. This is a fun chapter because I have them explore the building and measure items and fine perimeter and area. Some of the students are all ready working on this in their ST Math on the computer so it will be review and good hands on activity for them. This class does a great job paying attention so we can move in Math class.
Social Studies - The students started their study guides today for Chapter 3. We will check it tomorrow and take the test on Monday. Tuesday they will make corrections. Great way to finish before break! We will begin Chapter 4 which is over the Northeast Region when we return. I will also go over the projects with them. We will assign the first project and it will be due after Christmas. When we discuss each region separately we learn about Native Americans who were there, resources in the region and usually landforms and some climate. All of these help to show them how they are divided into regions. This is actually when they really start to enjoy social studies. We will also begin singing our States and Capitals song. This can be found for free on Itunes. It is States and Capitals song by Macho Nacho. When working on a region we will also work on maps to help us learn where they states are located. On their tests they will be asked to label a map with the states from the region we are working on. You can help by sharing maps with them at home or pulling some up on the computer for them to practice with. I think there is an app for ipod and iphone on states and locating them. Stack the States is one of them. If you just search geography of United States you will get some good apps to help them.
Geography Bee The preliminary round for the geography bee is on Monday. The 4th - 8th graders are split up between 3 rooms with 2 teachers in each room. They are asked 7 rounds of questions from the National Geography Bee competition. The top 10 with most questions answered correctly will advance to our Final round which will be held December 14th following Mass. At this time we will determine a winner. I have had 4th graders in the past make it to the final rounds. It is very exciting when that happens.
Mass and Reception- The 4th graders have Mass on November 30th. Following mass on this day we would like to invite any family members to stay after mass and share donuts and juice. Hope to see you there!
I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving Break! If you are traveling I hope you are safe. My family will be traveling to Chicago as we do every year. We have a great time with family and do some shopping for Christmas. Black Friday in the Chicago Area is not a big deal like it is around here so places are not that crowded. If we traveled downtown to see Macy's and it's windows, that would be crowded!! We have done that in the past but not this year!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Dear Parents,
Hello and happy Thursday!! Thank you for meeting with me last week to talk about what has been going on is school so far this year. I am always happy to talk about where your child is and how they are doing. Just a reminder, everything they do that is considered homework or any test that they take will have results on Power School. I also link all standards and benchmarks to any test or assignment when it applies. You are able to follow the progress of your child on Power School. Any marks I give your student on the report card should not be a surprise to you because you will have seen it all ready on the grade book. You will also find the student's work in their folders each week. After I enter the results in the grade book I put the paper in their mailboxes to come home on Thursday.
Language Arts - This week we have read the story Jose`Born to Dance. This is a biography about Jose` Limon who was a well know Modern Dancer. We watched a short little biography on You Tube about him. It showed pictures and some video clips of him dancing. He died in 1972 but there is still a dance troupe out there with his name on it. I tried to explain a little bit about Modern Dance to the students. Modern dance tells a story. You will watch people dance without words, but it is to tell you a story about people through the emotions of the dance. In grammar this week we are focusing on Pronouns. We talked about subject and object pronouns, reflexive and demonstrative pronouns, and pronouns and their antecedents. An antecedent is what the pronoun stands for. We have talked about similes and metaphors this week also. Another topic we discussed which made kids go "aha" was shades of meaning. If you look at the words: big, large, huge, enormous and gigantic, they are all synonyms. But if you look at each word they all have a little bit different picture of what "big" represents. Which word to you would make you picture the biggest thing? The kids said gigantic would be the biggest. That is true. They had some fun with this. Remember tomorrow is end of the week so they need to study spelling words and vocabulary words tonight.
Math - We are doing very well getting through chapter 2. We are all ready on lesson 10. Today they learned the standard algorithm or regrouping strategy for multiplication. This is the only strategy you were taught as a child. You will know be able to help your child with homework. I am so proud of the way this class has picked up on the strategies I have taught them. They are doing a great job listening to me and really working at learning the strategies. We will get this chapter finished and wrapped up and head into chapter three before Christmas! YAY! That is awesome!!
Social Studies- We are talking about our country being made up of the Free Enterprise System, which says any business can produce any good or service they want, they don't need the government's permission. We learned the economy is based on a supply and demand economy which helped explain why we have price increases and sales on items. We also learned what it means to make a profit. I like this lesson cause most don't take the profit into consideration. We also had a short discussion this week on what it means to be a citizen of the United States. That entailed discussions of our right to vote but also voting being a responsibility of all citizens. We also held a discussion about how if the person we voted for didn't win, it is again our duty to accept the decision of the people and move on. We have to be supportive of whoever won. This is right in the social studies book, last chapter when we learned about government and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. I didn't have much discussion with them the day after the election. This class didn't come with any comments about who won or if that was good or bad. I am very glad. We all know this was a nasty election. I have never seen so much negative as I saw this election. I am thankful it is over.
Book Reports! Book reports are rapidly coming due. They are due Friday, November 18th, the last day of the trimester. Most students seem to be finished reading their books, it is now just making sure there is time to work on the projects. I told the students, color and design is key to this project since cereal is something little kids like to eat. If they can't read the box what are they looking for. A fun package!! I will be having the 1st grade come down and pick their favorites! Please check with your student to see if they have finished ready. If not maybe you could do some together reading over the weekend to boost that along!! I really push that the book be read first before doing the project. There are things they can fill out as they go along but most are taking me literally and not doing anything until they have finished the book.
Have a great weekend! Again, thank you all for coming. I had 100% turnout for conferences! I appreciate that.
Don't forget STEM night tonight in the gym from 5:30 - 7:30!!
Also tomorrow is SPIRIT DAY!! Wear your sweats and pay $1.00.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Hello and happy Thursday!! Thank you for meeting with me last week to talk about what has been going on is school so far this year. I am always happy to talk about where your child is and how they are doing. Just a reminder, everything they do that is considered homework or any test that they take will have results on Power School. I also link all standards and benchmarks to any test or assignment when it applies. You are able to follow the progress of your child on Power School. Any marks I give your student on the report card should not be a surprise to you because you will have seen it all ready on the grade book. You will also find the student's work in their folders each week. After I enter the results in the grade book I put the paper in their mailboxes to come home on Thursday.
Language Arts - This week we have read the story Jose`Born to Dance. This is a biography about Jose` Limon who was a well know Modern Dancer. We watched a short little biography on You Tube about him. It showed pictures and some video clips of him dancing. He died in 1972 but there is still a dance troupe out there with his name on it. I tried to explain a little bit about Modern Dance to the students. Modern dance tells a story. You will watch people dance without words, but it is to tell you a story about people through the emotions of the dance. In grammar this week we are focusing on Pronouns. We talked about subject and object pronouns, reflexive and demonstrative pronouns, and pronouns and their antecedents. An antecedent is what the pronoun stands for. We have talked about similes and metaphors this week also. Another topic we discussed which made kids go "aha" was shades of meaning. If you look at the words: big, large, huge, enormous and gigantic, they are all synonyms. But if you look at each word they all have a little bit different picture of what "big" represents. Which word to you would make you picture the biggest thing? The kids said gigantic would be the biggest. That is true. They had some fun with this. Remember tomorrow is end of the week so they need to study spelling words and vocabulary words tonight.
Math - We are doing very well getting through chapter 2. We are all ready on lesson 10. Today they learned the standard algorithm or regrouping strategy for multiplication. This is the only strategy you were taught as a child. You will know be able to help your child with homework. I am so proud of the way this class has picked up on the strategies I have taught them. They are doing a great job listening to me and really working at learning the strategies. We will get this chapter finished and wrapped up and head into chapter three before Christmas! YAY! That is awesome!!
Social Studies- We are talking about our country being made up of the Free Enterprise System, which says any business can produce any good or service they want, they don't need the government's permission. We learned the economy is based on a supply and demand economy which helped explain why we have price increases and sales on items. We also learned what it means to make a profit. I like this lesson cause most don't take the profit into consideration. We also had a short discussion this week on what it means to be a citizen of the United States. That entailed discussions of our right to vote but also voting being a responsibility of all citizens. We also held a discussion about how if the person we voted for didn't win, it is again our duty to accept the decision of the people and move on. We have to be supportive of whoever won. This is right in the social studies book, last chapter when we learned about government and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. I didn't have much discussion with them the day after the election. This class didn't come with any comments about who won or if that was good or bad. I am very glad. We all know this was a nasty election. I have never seen so much negative as I saw this election. I am thankful it is over.
Book Reports! Book reports are rapidly coming due. They are due Friday, November 18th, the last day of the trimester. Most students seem to be finished reading their books, it is now just making sure there is time to work on the projects. I told the students, color and design is key to this project since cereal is something little kids like to eat. If they can't read the box what are they looking for. A fun package!! I will be having the 1st grade come down and pick their favorites! Please check with your student to see if they have finished ready. If not maybe you could do some together reading over the weekend to boost that along!! I really push that the book be read first before doing the project. There are things they can fill out as they go along but most are taking me literally and not doing anything until they have finished the book.
Have a great weekend! Again, thank you all for coming. I had 100% turnout for conferences! I appreciate that.
Don't forget STEM night tonight in the gym from 5:30 - 7:30!!
Also tomorrow is SPIRIT DAY!! Wear your sweats and pay $1.00.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! We are surviving our first full week in a very long time!!! Only to be given a "Crazy" week next week. We have Halloween activities on Monday and then we are out extra early on Thursday so we can hold conferences. I hope all of you have signed up for time slot to meet with me. I am looking forward to discussing your child with you! The rest of this year will move along very quickly. Once conferences are here it pretty much the end. After conferences we have 2 short weeks til Thanksgiving, then Advent starts and Christmas is just around the corner! Then BOOM! it's 2017. So crazy to think half the year would be over.
Conferences - I have sent out a link to your emails to sign up for conferences. There are still about 9 of you who have not signed up. You may just need to check your emails. If your are having trouble with signing up please call the school and let the office help you. I have lots of times on Thursday still open. I appreciate all of you who have all ready singed up. I will see you next week!
Language Arts - This week we have read a story called Me and Uncle Romie. It is realistic fiction. It is a fun story about a boy who goes to stay with his Aunt and Uncle because his parents are having twins. He is from North Carolina and is going to stay in New York City. He learns a lot. It is a very fun loving story. We have worked on visualizing as our skill. The grammar we are focusing on this week was about progressive verbs. These verbs have a helping verb in front of the main verb and the main verb ends in -ing. The helping verb decides the verb tense, whether it is past, present, or future. We also talked about figurative language this week. Idioms was our focus. Phrases that mean something different then what the words really mean. Examples would be "Good as gold, hang in there, safe and sound, chow down, and head over heals". We practiced putting them into sentences. As always tomorrow is our end of the week assessment and spelling test! Please be sure your child studies.
Math- We have begun learning strategies to multiplication. Yesterday we learned the expanded form strategy. I really like this one. It breaks the number down so we can easily get the answer. They actually learned 2 ways to use expanded form, the used an area box which they all really liked because it provided a visual for them. They also learned just a written form. This form is a form of Algebra. Once we learned how to do it I told them they just learned Algebra. They were excited and amazed. I told them that was exactly why I didn't tell them up front they would be learning algebra today. They would have had a little panic in them. When you tell them after it's done they have that sense of "Wow, I can do it!" For a teacher this is the best part. We will also learn partial product before the week is up which is similar to what we are doing, it is just recorded differently. This strategy is the way I prefer to do multiplication. I understand what I am doing better than the standard algorithm which is what you learned in school. The students are doing a great job listening and participating in math and we are moving very smoothly through this chapter which tends to drag on and on. We are coming up to some times that we miss a lot of time to teach math, but I plan to keep our momentum going.
Social Studies - We just finished Chapter 2. The students began chapter 3 today. We completed a vocabulary preview page and began putting vocabulary words into our packets. This is a very important chapter which focuses on the United State's Economy. We will learn a lot of big vocabulary words explaining our country's economic system and how it works. This is the last chapter we have based on the United States as a whole. The chapters to follow will be designated on a certain region. We will study the Northwest Region first. This is also means our social projects will begin. These are fun projects the students do to share information about a state. I will discuss these briefly at conferences next week!
I hope all of you have a great weekend!! I am excited about the football game!!
GO PANTHERS!! In honor of the football game tomorrow is a FREE spirit day!!! You can wear all your PANTHER gear including sweatpants for free tomorrow. Let's rock the red and black so I can take a group photo!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! We are surviving our first full week in a very long time!!! Only to be given a "Crazy" week next week. We have Halloween activities on Monday and then we are out extra early on Thursday so we can hold conferences. I hope all of you have signed up for time slot to meet with me. I am looking forward to discussing your child with you! The rest of this year will move along very quickly. Once conferences are here it pretty much the end. After conferences we have 2 short weeks til Thanksgiving, then Advent starts and Christmas is just around the corner! Then BOOM! it's 2017. So crazy to think half the year would be over.
Conferences - I have sent out a link to your emails to sign up for conferences. There are still about 9 of you who have not signed up. You may just need to check your emails. If your are having trouble with signing up please call the school and let the office help you. I have lots of times on Thursday still open. I appreciate all of you who have all ready singed up. I will see you next week!
Language Arts - This week we have read a story called Me and Uncle Romie. It is realistic fiction. It is a fun story about a boy who goes to stay with his Aunt and Uncle because his parents are having twins. He is from North Carolina and is going to stay in New York City. He learns a lot. It is a very fun loving story. We have worked on visualizing as our skill. The grammar we are focusing on this week was about progressive verbs. These verbs have a helping verb in front of the main verb and the main verb ends in -ing. The helping verb decides the verb tense, whether it is past, present, or future. We also talked about figurative language this week. Idioms was our focus. Phrases that mean something different then what the words really mean. Examples would be "Good as gold, hang in there, safe and sound, chow down, and head over heals". We practiced putting them into sentences. As always tomorrow is our end of the week assessment and spelling test! Please be sure your child studies.
Math- We have begun learning strategies to multiplication. Yesterday we learned the expanded form strategy. I really like this one. It breaks the number down so we can easily get the answer. They actually learned 2 ways to use expanded form, the used an area box which they all really liked because it provided a visual for them. They also learned just a written form. This form is a form of Algebra. Once we learned how to do it I told them they just learned Algebra. They were excited and amazed. I told them that was exactly why I didn't tell them up front they would be learning algebra today. They would have had a little panic in them. When you tell them after it's done they have that sense of "Wow, I can do it!" For a teacher this is the best part. We will also learn partial product before the week is up which is similar to what we are doing, it is just recorded differently. This strategy is the way I prefer to do multiplication. I understand what I am doing better than the standard algorithm which is what you learned in school. The students are doing a great job listening and participating in math and we are moving very smoothly through this chapter which tends to drag on and on. We are coming up to some times that we miss a lot of time to teach math, but I plan to keep our momentum going.
Social Studies - We just finished Chapter 2. The students began chapter 3 today. We completed a vocabulary preview page and began putting vocabulary words into our packets. This is a very important chapter which focuses on the United State's Economy. We will learn a lot of big vocabulary words explaining our country's economic system and how it works. This is the last chapter we have based on the United States as a whole. The chapters to follow will be designated on a certain region. We will study the Northwest Region first. This is also means our social projects will begin. These are fun projects the students do to share information about a state. I will discuss these briefly at conferences next week!
I hope all of you have a great weekend!! I am excited about the football game!!
GO PANTHERS!! In honor of the football game tomorrow is a FREE spirit day!!! You can wear all your PANTHER gear including sweatpants for free tomorrow. Let's rock the red and black so I can take a group photo!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Dear Parents,
Hello!! Happy Thursday! I am so sorry I blew off writing a parent letter last week. The short week just totally threw me off. This short week is also throwing me off. The kids are actually handling all these short weeks better than I am. I sometimes feel like life is crazy in the classroom!! I know they enjoy my craziness sometimes. The question is can we handle a full couple of weeks??
Conferences - Conferences are coming up quickly. They are Thursday, Nov. 3rd. I have sent out the schedule for sign up to your emails. Please be sure to check it out. I opened up some extra spots on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please only sign up here if you really have a conflict with Thursday. I know I had a parent that will be out of town on business on Thursday and that is why I did this. I am anxious to meet with all of you to discuss how your child is adapting to my classroom.
Language Arts - I am trying something very different this Unit. I am working on figuring out how to use the online assessment tools that are offered to us. The students took last week's end of the week test online. You will not be receiving any test results from last weeks test because I am still learning. This week I will be sure to have the results for you. The story they read this week was called Coming Distractions. It talks about things in movies that don't make sense in real life. Examples would be in Charlie's Angels the women fight in high heels, when a parent loses a job they still drive fancy cars and live in big houses, and when cars crash people walk away from them unscathed. These are just a few things that show how movies can be meant to be realistic yet be so unrealistic. They like talking about movies and certain scenes but reading about this stuff wasn't very interesting to them. Their favorite activity we did this week was I played a theme song to a movie and they had to guess the movie. This was fun. Of course they knew Titanic, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jaws, and Pretty Little LIars, but didn't know Superman, Hunger Games, and Avengers. They have asked to do more of that every day! In grammar this week we reviewed verb tenses, Past, Present and Future. We made decisions on what tense sentences were in and what verbs should be used. We talked about being consistent with verbs. If one is future tense in a sentence then they all should be. We also learned about helping verbs and past participle. This is a past tense verb that has a helping verb in front of it. Students need to study spelling words and their vocabulary words tonight for end of the week test.
Math - We are working through chapter 2 in math. I feel like it is progressing quite nicely so far. Every day we stress the importance of paying attention in class and doing what is asked of us. Participation is also the key to success. I feel like they are really listening and trying to do this. We have finished 3 lessons in this chapter so far. I feel like they are really catching on. I plan to keep moving at a good pace to keep them learning and understanding. This chapter can drag on forever and I don't want to do that with them. We need to keep moving. I am thinking the ST Math we do 3 times a week is helping this process also. One thing that you could do at home is practice multiplication facts! The quicker they are and the more they know their facts the easier this will be. We will find some days here where we work flash cards with a partner. The more practice at home the better.
Social Studies We have finished up chapter 2 and will be taking a test on Monday. This chapter covered a lot of areas. The most important being the lesson on Government. We learned about the 3 branches and the 3 levels, which is review from 3rd grade but we also talked a little deeper,learning what each branch does. You will find in their notebooks where they took their own notes over what they read. We also talked about theories of how Native Americans got to America, you will find notes in the notebook on these 2 theories. The third thing was explorers. They learned about a few explorers that came to explore. You will also find a chart in their notebooks on this. They did a lot of reading and looking for information this chapter. They really liked to be in charge of what they were to look for. They got more out of the lesson reading with someone finding answers and then sharing in discussion with the whole group. This was all something new for me to try with students and they seemed to thrive on it. I hope this test shows that what we did was useful!
I hope all of you have a great weekend! Remember to sign up for a conference time!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Hello!! Happy Thursday! I am so sorry I blew off writing a parent letter last week. The short week just totally threw me off. This short week is also throwing me off. The kids are actually handling all these short weeks better than I am. I sometimes feel like life is crazy in the classroom!! I know they enjoy my craziness sometimes. The question is can we handle a full couple of weeks??
Conferences - Conferences are coming up quickly. They are Thursday, Nov. 3rd. I have sent out the schedule for sign up to your emails. Please be sure to check it out. I opened up some extra spots on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please only sign up here if you really have a conflict with Thursday. I know I had a parent that will be out of town on business on Thursday and that is why I did this. I am anxious to meet with all of you to discuss how your child is adapting to my classroom.
Language Arts - I am trying something very different this Unit. I am working on figuring out how to use the online assessment tools that are offered to us. The students took last week's end of the week test online. You will not be receiving any test results from last weeks test because I am still learning. This week I will be sure to have the results for you. The story they read this week was called Coming Distractions. It talks about things in movies that don't make sense in real life. Examples would be in Charlie's Angels the women fight in high heels, when a parent loses a job they still drive fancy cars and live in big houses, and when cars crash people walk away from them unscathed. These are just a few things that show how movies can be meant to be realistic yet be so unrealistic. They like talking about movies and certain scenes but reading about this stuff wasn't very interesting to them. Their favorite activity we did this week was I played a theme song to a movie and they had to guess the movie. This was fun. Of course they knew Titanic, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jaws, and Pretty Little LIars, but didn't know Superman, Hunger Games, and Avengers. They have asked to do more of that every day! In grammar this week we reviewed verb tenses, Past, Present and Future. We made decisions on what tense sentences were in and what verbs should be used. We talked about being consistent with verbs. If one is future tense in a sentence then they all should be. We also learned about helping verbs and past participle. This is a past tense verb that has a helping verb in front of it. Students need to study spelling words and their vocabulary words tonight for end of the week test.
Math - We are working through chapter 2 in math. I feel like it is progressing quite nicely so far. Every day we stress the importance of paying attention in class and doing what is asked of us. Participation is also the key to success. I feel like they are really listening and trying to do this. We have finished 3 lessons in this chapter so far. I feel like they are really catching on. I plan to keep moving at a good pace to keep them learning and understanding. This chapter can drag on forever and I don't want to do that with them. We need to keep moving. I am thinking the ST Math we do 3 times a week is helping this process also. One thing that you could do at home is practice multiplication facts! The quicker they are and the more they know their facts the easier this will be. We will find some days here where we work flash cards with a partner. The more practice at home the better.
Social Studies We have finished up chapter 2 and will be taking a test on Monday. This chapter covered a lot of areas. The most important being the lesson on Government. We learned about the 3 branches and the 3 levels, which is review from 3rd grade but we also talked a little deeper,learning what each branch does. You will find in their notebooks where they took their own notes over what they read. We also talked about theories of how Native Americans got to America, you will find notes in the notebook on these 2 theories. The third thing was explorers. They learned about a few explorers that came to explore. You will also find a chart in their notebooks on this. They did a lot of reading and looking for information this chapter. They really liked to be in charge of what they were to look for. They got more out of the lesson reading with someone finding answers and then sharing in discussion with the whole group. This was all something new for me to try with students and they seemed to thrive on it. I hope this test shows that what we did was useful!
I hope all of you have a great weekend! Remember to sign up for a conference time!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Best day about Thursday is tomorrow is Friday!!! Best part about tomorrow is, it is Spirit Day!!! The kids can pay $1.00 and wear sweat pants for the day. Teachers get to pay and wear jeans! The money raised goes into our Pay it Forward Fund. The teachers do different things with this money to help those in need. We may give to a family who is going through a difficult time, or a school who has lost a student or co-worker. Last year we collected a lot of money and unfortunately we sent out a lot of goodie baskets. Our baskets went as far as Waukee and Boone. We let the kids know what we do and where the money goes. It is a really good thing. We know this is a great feeling when other schools are thinking of you. We experienced this ourselves and received a basket from another school. This is when it all began for us. If your child doesn't want to wear sweats a donation is greatly appreciated!
Language Arts - We have spent this week testing. It is our first Unit test. This is a very large test which I spread out over 3 days. We are finished with it. Today we will enter our results online. I have found the tests online where it can generate reports for me. It will show me who is struggling and in what areas they are struggling. We are also going to start a Halloween writing project this week! They will be writing a Halloween story based on a story line of a children's story or fairy tale. Examples would be The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Three Billy Goat's Gruff, Gingerbread Man, and Little Red Riding Hood. They have also been assigned their first book report. The book needed to more than 100 pages and a chapter book. I don't allow Dairy of Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, or any book that is mainly pictures. At the 4th grade level they need to be challenging themselves with more Chapter Books. I asked that they stay away from Magic Tree House and Animal Ark books also. I want them to branch out and discover new books. Next week we are back to the book, reading stories and learning strategies and skills!!
Math - We finished chapter 1, we took pretest for chapter 2 and today we will get started with chapter 2. This is a long drawn out chapter. I talked to the students yesterday about what they can do to help get us through this chapter smoothly. Their suggestions were to pay attention, participate, listen and focus. These are great ideas. I told them I would hold them to that. This chapter is over multiplication. We will learn several strategies to solve a multiplication problem. All the of them are really good!! They really explain what multiplication is doing and how it works. It takes some time to get used to and I know parents will struggle trying to help at home. It will all be fine and we will get through it. I am taking the lessons and teaching them my own way instead of how the book says to teach it. Yes, we will be doing the same thing you just may not see them filling out their books fully. Yesterday we ripped out all of chapter one from their books. That will be coming home in their folders tonight. You can see we use some of the pages but not all of the pages. That will be the same with this next chapter. You are welcome to use the pages in the book for practice at home, ONLY if we have passed that lesson and I didn't use them. I will definitely use the On Your Own section.
Social Studies - We are working on chapter 2. We have discussed 2 theories of how Native Americans came to North America. We talked about explorers who explored the area and why. Now we are talking about our Government. We are learning about the 3 branches and their purpose and Who makes up each branch like President, Congress and Supreme Court. We only skim the surface of government. There is a lot of information in this one lesson. We discuss being a republic, democracy, and representative democracy. We also talk about Congress being made up of the Senate and House of Representatives. I also shared with them how many members are in each, or at least how the figure it. This is a very informative chapter. We will begin working on a map skill next week. We will cover a Time Zone Map. I like this lesson because some kids don't realize we have time zones and why. This tells them why and shows about where they boundaries are. They will color a map in and answer time zone questions using the map.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!! I know I will, I have family back from Texas! I am excited to see them and get to spend some time with them. Now, let's pray the weather cooperates.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Best day about Thursday is tomorrow is Friday!!! Best part about tomorrow is, it is Spirit Day!!! The kids can pay $1.00 and wear sweat pants for the day. Teachers get to pay and wear jeans! The money raised goes into our Pay it Forward Fund. The teachers do different things with this money to help those in need. We may give to a family who is going through a difficult time, or a school who has lost a student or co-worker. Last year we collected a lot of money and unfortunately we sent out a lot of goodie baskets. Our baskets went as far as Waukee and Boone. We let the kids know what we do and where the money goes. It is a really good thing. We know this is a great feeling when other schools are thinking of you. We experienced this ourselves and received a basket from another school. This is when it all began for us. If your child doesn't want to wear sweats a donation is greatly appreciated!
Language Arts - We have spent this week testing. It is our first Unit test. This is a very large test which I spread out over 3 days. We are finished with it. Today we will enter our results online. I have found the tests online where it can generate reports for me. It will show me who is struggling and in what areas they are struggling. We are also going to start a Halloween writing project this week! They will be writing a Halloween story based on a story line of a children's story or fairy tale. Examples would be The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Three Billy Goat's Gruff, Gingerbread Man, and Little Red Riding Hood. They have also been assigned their first book report. The book needed to more than 100 pages and a chapter book. I don't allow Dairy of Wimpy Kid, Dork Diaries, or any book that is mainly pictures. At the 4th grade level they need to be challenging themselves with more Chapter Books. I asked that they stay away from Magic Tree House and Animal Ark books also. I want them to branch out and discover new books. Next week we are back to the book, reading stories and learning strategies and skills!!
Math - We finished chapter 1, we took pretest for chapter 2 and today we will get started with chapter 2. This is a long drawn out chapter. I talked to the students yesterday about what they can do to help get us through this chapter smoothly. Their suggestions were to pay attention, participate, listen and focus. These are great ideas. I told them I would hold them to that. This chapter is over multiplication. We will learn several strategies to solve a multiplication problem. All the of them are really good!! They really explain what multiplication is doing and how it works. It takes some time to get used to and I know parents will struggle trying to help at home. It will all be fine and we will get through it. I am taking the lessons and teaching them my own way instead of how the book says to teach it. Yes, we will be doing the same thing you just may not see them filling out their books fully. Yesterday we ripped out all of chapter one from their books. That will be coming home in their folders tonight. You can see we use some of the pages but not all of the pages. That will be the same with this next chapter. You are welcome to use the pages in the book for practice at home, ONLY if we have passed that lesson and I didn't use them. I will definitely use the On Your Own section.
Social Studies - We are working on chapter 2. We have discussed 2 theories of how Native Americans came to North America. We talked about explorers who explored the area and why. Now we are talking about our Government. We are learning about the 3 branches and their purpose and Who makes up each branch like President, Congress and Supreme Court. We only skim the surface of government. There is a lot of information in this one lesson. We discuss being a republic, democracy, and representative democracy. We also talk about Congress being made up of the Senate and House of Representatives. I also shared with them how many members are in each, or at least how the figure it. This is a very informative chapter. We will begin working on a map skill next week. We will cover a Time Zone Map. I like this lesson because some kids don't realize we have time zones and why. This tells them why and shows about where they boundaries are. They will color a map in and answer time zone questions using the map.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!! I know I will, I have family back from Texas! I am excited to see them and get to spend some time with them. Now, let's pray the weather cooperates.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! What a nice week! Fall is finally here! I hope it sticks around a while. It was a little chillier this week and I had several students without jackets or sweatshirts. They need to have these items for when they go outside. All of the teachers agree 50's is not warm enough to not have a jacket or sweatshirt on. Please make sure to check the weather and make sure your child has one of these things. Thank you. Wednesday was coldest day and I had morning duty and many students complained about being cold. Again just be sure they are prepared.
Language Arts - We read our 5th story in Unit 1 this week. The story was called Stormalong. It is a tall tale. Tall tales always have some sort of person with a superhuman ability. Stormalong's was his size. He was a huge man. He was too big to fit on a boat, which was his dream job. He was a seafaring man and belonged to the sea. He leaves and goes to the Midwest to become a farmer because he feels the sea is not for him because of his size. He finds he is very unhappy. He goes back to the sea and his friends make a boat big enough for him because they can see that he is unhappy. The moral of the story is be true to yourself. Don't try to be a different person than what you are meant to be. This is a big moral for kids this age but we did discuss it and I think they get it. This week we studied capitalization rules for names, documents, historical events, Nationalities, languages and titles of essays, stories or books. This was a lot but a few of them they should have known. The spelling list this week was on Homophones, which are words that sound the exact same but have different meanings and are spelled differently. Tomorrow is our assessment day. Please be sure your child looks over the vocabulary packet and spelling words. Thank you.
Math - Students are taking their chapter 1 math test today. We will do the paper/pencil work today. Tomorrow they will enter their answer on the computers. I can't wait to see their improvement! Yes, I am very positive that I shall see improvement for everyone. We worked hard on this chapter. Every one seems to be working really hard on the test also. We will begin chapter 2 next week. This chapter is longer than the first one so we will be working on it for a while. I will do my best to keep us moving and learning. This chapter is over multiplying by a 1-digit number. There are lots of strategies to learn in this chapter. Chapter 1 was 8 lessons long. Chapter 2 is 14. That is a big difference. This chapter takes a while to go through. We will begin with a pretest to see what students all ready know and I can base my instruction on that. This is a very important chapter for the students. We need to work hard!! I also may start having what I plan to call Fraction Friday. I hope to use Fridays to start in learning about fractions. It is a a fun unit where the students will get to use a few more manipulatives to aid in their learning. It is a way for me to cover a couple different things at once, which will help make our year a little more successful.
Social Studies - We took a test this week in social studies. I was very pleased with how well the test was done by all. It shows me they are learning those good study habits. We have started chapter 2. This chapter is about how Native Americans arrived in North America. It will discuss the government and how is it organized. These things are important to understand before we begin talking about each region separately. Please note that I only skim the surface, when talking about government. We just focus on the branches and what their purpose is. This is an election year and there have been some opinions floating around about the candidates by students. I am glad to know these discussions are going on at home.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!! Remember next Friday is our first day to help unload the Food Pantry truck. We will walk down there unload and walk back. This is weather permitting of course, but kids need to be sure to dress appropriately. We will go if it is chilly so they need to be prepared.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! What a nice week! Fall is finally here! I hope it sticks around a while. It was a little chillier this week and I had several students without jackets or sweatshirts. They need to have these items for when they go outside. All of the teachers agree 50's is not warm enough to not have a jacket or sweatshirt on. Please make sure to check the weather and make sure your child has one of these things. Thank you. Wednesday was coldest day and I had morning duty and many students complained about being cold. Again just be sure they are prepared.
Language Arts - We read our 5th story in Unit 1 this week. The story was called Stormalong. It is a tall tale. Tall tales always have some sort of person with a superhuman ability. Stormalong's was his size. He was a huge man. He was too big to fit on a boat, which was his dream job. He was a seafaring man and belonged to the sea. He leaves and goes to the Midwest to become a farmer because he feels the sea is not for him because of his size. He finds he is very unhappy. He goes back to the sea and his friends make a boat big enough for him because they can see that he is unhappy. The moral of the story is be true to yourself. Don't try to be a different person than what you are meant to be. This is a big moral for kids this age but we did discuss it and I think they get it. This week we studied capitalization rules for names, documents, historical events, Nationalities, languages and titles of essays, stories or books. This was a lot but a few of them they should have known. The spelling list this week was on Homophones, which are words that sound the exact same but have different meanings and are spelled differently. Tomorrow is our assessment day. Please be sure your child looks over the vocabulary packet and spelling words. Thank you.
Math - Students are taking their chapter 1 math test today. We will do the paper/pencil work today. Tomorrow they will enter their answer on the computers. I can't wait to see their improvement! Yes, I am very positive that I shall see improvement for everyone. We worked hard on this chapter. Every one seems to be working really hard on the test also. We will begin chapter 2 next week. This chapter is longer than the first one so we will be working on it for a while. I will do my best to keep us moving and learning. This chapter is over multiplying by a 1-digit number. There are lots of strategies to learn in this chapter. Chapter 1 was 8 lessons long. Chapter 2 is 14. That is a big difference. This chapter takes a while to go through. We will begin with a pretest to see what students all ready know and I can base my instruction on that. This is a very important chapter for the students. We need to work hard!! I also may start having what I plan to call Fraction Friday. I hope to use Fridays to start in learning about fractions. It is a a fun unit where the students will get to use a few more manipulatives to aid in their learning. It is a way for me to cover a couple different things at once, which will help make our year a little more successful.
Social Studies - We took a test this week in social studies. I was very pleased with how well the test was done by all. It shows me they are learning those good study habits. We have started chapter 2. This chapter is about how Native Americans arrived in North America. It will discuss the government and how is it organized. These things are important to understand before we begin talking about each region separately. Please note that I only skim the surface, when talking about government. We just focus on the branches and what their purpose is. This is an election year and there have been some opinions floating around about the candidates by students. I am glad to know these discussions are going on at home.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!! Remember next Friday is our first day to help unload the Food Pantry truck. We will walk down there unload and walk back. This is weather permitting of course, but kids need to be sure to dress appropriately. We will go if it is chilly so they need to be prepared.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Hello Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! I hope you are all having a good week! It is a very short week at school. We are having quite the learning week. We are getting a little more homework on our plate and learning how important it is to use our time wisely. They are receiving a few more late slips also. The students will really figure out how important any free time or work time can be. Even just 5 minutes. I am trying to push them to use even 3 minutes wisely and that is less time needed at home for the work. Some realize they can even finish something they started in that amount of time. Others still want to talk and be social. We are working on behaviors in the lunch room. We have a total of 64 kids to get through the lunch line, fed, seconds, ala carte and clean plates in 30 minutes. It is very difficult so we are working on getting the kids to understand the importance of time in the lunch room.
Book Orders- There are book orders in the folders today. Please return any orders to me on Monday Sept. 26th. I take care of all of it. I don not do online ordering. Please, if your child wants a book, make the check payable to Melissa Sickels. I write one check to the company or use debit card. They do not want several checks to deal with. I will place the order Monday or Tuesday and it will arrive by the beginning of the next week. If you are looking for gifts, I can be secretive! I love doing that. Let me know if you have any questions. Remember they are due on Monday!
Language Arts - This week being a short week we are working really hard through this story. The week's story is a drama or play. It is called The Power of W.O.W. This story is about a book program called Words on Wheels (W.O.W.) and it is a bus that carries books to kids living out in suburbs far away from the city library. They have ran out of funding and are going to give up the program. The kids who benefit from this program are so upset they hold a car wash to earn money. It tells a little about the hard work they put it and how people coming together can make a difference. They raise enough money for the program to continue. It is a great "feel good" story where kids are the ones to make things happen. Our spelling list this week was over short o long o. The grammar we discussed dealt with sentence fragments and run-on sentences. We also practiced writing titles. They should be going over their spelling words and vocab packets tonight to help review for their tests tomorrow.
Math- This week in math we have reviewed addition with numbers in the hundred thousands, and also subtraction with numbers in the hundred thousands. Today we will begin the last lesson in this chapter. It will be over problem solving. We will focus on subtraction problems and how to draw a picture to show what we are doing or needing to find. Some kids work much better being able to see the problem. This will hopefully help those students to understand what they are doing. Next week we will work on a review and be taking a chapter 1 test. We will take the test on paper in the room, then we will enter our answers into the computer where it will generate some comparisons for me. It should show progress from the pretest to the post test. I will be able to print off some data to show you during conferences using this computer piece. It will show progress and if no progress than it will show which areas need some more work.
Social Studies - We have been reviewing for a test this week. They will be taking a test over chapter 1 tomorrow. It will happen first thing in morning at 8:30. This test is very similar to the tests they took last year. It just may have more questions to answer. There will be a section on vocabulary where you match the word to it's definition. There is a section of multiple choice questions and then a section where you will have to answer questions by writing out answers in sentences. Monday we will make corrections and then we move on into the next chapter.
PTO - I want to make you aware of what our PTO is up to for our school. The PTO just recently purchased a 2nd set of chromebooks to be shared in the lower wing. These funds come from all the fundraising efforts of the families here at St. Malachy. As much as we appreciate all your hard efforts, we would also like for you to attend the weekly meetings to help them with coordinating the fundraising and events that benefit our school. One way to hopefully up attendance at meetings is by having a contest. The PTO is keeping track of who shows up at meetings and the class your child is in will receive credit. The class at the end of the year with the most attendance will get a pizza party. The kids are pretty pumped about this, but it is you parents that have to make it happen. I talked to the kids today about this contest, so if they come home pushing for you to attend, that is why. Right now, the first grade is winning! Kudos to them!! We are using the laptops in our classroom 3-4 times a week. They were well worth the investment and we would love for 3-4-5 students to have a one-to-one computers. That is a goal for us to have one day. We hope soon!! Please join in with our PTO to continue to make is a successful organization for our school!
I hope all of you have a great weekend. I hope you enjoy a very fun and safe Homecoming. It was always one of my favorite times when I had kids in High School. I think next week is finally another FULL week!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! I hope you are all having a good week! It is a very short week at school. We are having quite the learning week. We are getting a little more homework on our plate and learning how important it is to use our time wisely. They are receiving a few more late slips also. The students will really figure out how important any free time or work time can be. Even just 5 minutes. I am trying to push them to use even 3 minutes wisely and that is less time needed at home for the work. Some realize they can even finish something they started in that amount of time. Others still want to talk and be social. We are working on behaviors in the lunch room. We have a total of 64 kids to get through the lunch line, fed, seconds, ala carte and clean plates in 30 minutes. It is very difficult so we are working on getting the kids to understand the importance of time in the lunch room.
Book Orders- There are book orders in the folders today. Please return any orders to me on Monday Sept. 26th. I take care of all of it. I don not do online ordering. Please, if your child wants a book, make the check payable to Melissa Sickels. I write one check to the company or use debit card. They do not want several checks to deal with. I will place the order Monday or Tuesday and it will arrive by the beginning of the next week. If you are looking for gifts, I can be secretive! I love doing that. Let me know if you have any questions. Remember they are due on Monday!
Language Arts - This week being a short week we are working really hard through this story. The week's story is a drama or play. It is called The Power of W.O.W. This story is about a book program called Words on Wheels (W.O.W.) and it is a bus that carries books to kids living out in suburbs far away from the city library. They have ran out of funding and are going to give up the program. The kids who benefit from this program are so upset they hold a car wash to earn money. It tells a little about the hard work they put it and how people coming together can make a difference. They raise enough money for the program to continue. It is a great "feel good" story where kids are the ones to make things happen. Our spelling list this week was over short o long o. The grammar we discussed dealt with sentence fragments and run-on sentences. We also practiced writing titles. They should be going over their spelling words and vocab packets tonight to help review for their tests tomorrow.
Math- This week in math we have reviewed addition with numbers in the hundred thousands, and also subtraction with numbers in the hundred thousands. Today we will begin the last lesson in this chapter. It will be over problem solving. We will focus on subtraction problems and how to draw a picture to show what we are doing or needing to find. Some kids work much better being able to see the problem. This will hopefully help those students to understand what they are doing. Next week we will work on a review and be taking a chapter 1 test. We will take the test on paper in the room, then we will enter our answers into the computer where it will generate some comparisons for me. It should show progress from the pretest to the post test. I will be able to print off some data to show you during conferences using this computer piece. It will show progress and if no progress than it will show which areas need some more work.
Social Studies - We have been reviewing for a test this week. They will be taking a test over chapter 1 tomorrow. It will happen first thing in morning at 8:30. This test is very similar to the tests they took last year. It just may have more questions to answer. There will be a section on vocabulary where you match the word to it's definition. There is a section of multiple choice questions and then a section where you will have to answer questions by writing out answers in sentences. Monday we will make corrections and then we move on into the next chapter.
PTO - I want to make you aware of what our PTO is up to for our school. The PTO just recently purchased a 2nd set of chromebooks to be shared in the lower wing. These funds come from all the fundraising efforts of the families here at St. Malachy. As much as we appreciate all your hard efforts, we would also like for you to attend the weekly meetings to help them with coordinating the fundraising and events that benefit our school. One way to hopefully up attendance at meetings is by having a contest. The PTO is keeping track of who shows up at meetings and the class your child is in will receive credit. The class at the end of the year with the most attendance will get a pizza party. The kids are pretty pumped about this, but it is you parents that have to make it happen. I talked to the kids today about this contest, so if they come home pushing for you to attend, that is why. Right now, the first grade is winning! Kudos to them!! We are using the laptops in our classroom 3-4 times a week. They were well worth the investment and we would love for 3-4-5 students to have a one-to-one computers. That is a goal for us to have one day. We hope soon!! Please join in with our PTO to continue to make is a successful organization for our school!
I hope all of you have a great weekend. I hope you enjoy a very fun and safe Homecoming. It was always one of my favorite times when I had kids in High School. I think next week is finally another FULL week!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! A full week this week! We are surviving. But next week we have another short one. No School on Monday, teacher inservice, and Friday we are out early for Homecoming! The kids will not know how to handle a full week when we get going and back into that routine. I may not either! I am pleased with how this class has matured over the summer and come in and adjusted to 4th grade. I have not given out a ton of late slips and that is a good thing. The students have been having a study hall each day, but that is changing due to computer time. We have finally gotten to where we can fluently get on the computers and work. So that will now take place of the study hall. You may begin to see a little more homework floating home with your student. Please be sure to set aside time for them to complete the homework. I have included a copy of our schedule for you to see how our day works.
Service Work - The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be participating once a month in some community service. They will be walking down to The Food Bank of Iowa and helping to unload the truck that comes in on Fridays. It usually arrives around 1:15 or 1:30 and may take about 20-30 minutes to unload. The Food Bank provides supplemental food to those in need. The students will providing a great service to those who volunteer their time to unload the truck, shelve the products and help the day it is distributed to families. We are excited that they are being given this opportunity to help others in the community. I have provided a permission form in today's folder for you to sign regarding this opportunity. It lists the dates the student will walk down to the food pantry, which is on Wyoming Street. It is on the corner of Division and Wyoming. Of course this will always be weather permitting. We will not walk in the rain or when the weather is too cold. The teacher in charge will make the decision. The 4th grade will be going the 1st Friday of every month . Please return the permission form as soon as possible.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a nonfiction story in our book called My Librarian is a Camel. It is an interesting story that talks about very remote places that don't have the means of a Public Library building so they improvise. It shares several ways in which books are transported to children. Some of the ways are by mail, camel, elephant, bus, and boat. I tried to discuss we are lucky to have access to books all the time. We have access in our schools, a public library and via the internet. I tried to get them to understand how lucky they are and that others are not. They studied using quotation marks in grammar and their spelling list was short i long i. Tomorrow is assessment day so they will take a spelling post test and end of the week assessment. They have a vocabulary packet to study and their spelling words.
Social Studies - This week in social studies we have discussed resources in a region. There are many resources that different regions provide. We have talked about the most important ones to the five different regions. We have discussed industries, capital resources, human resources, natural resources, raw materials, and the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources. The students have done a great job participating in the group discussion, choral reading, partner reading, and group work. Today they have an individual homework assignment deciphering if something is a nonrenewable or renewable resource. We are nearing the end of this chapter ad will be getting ready for a test by the end of next week.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. Sounds the weather will be great. Rainy all week but beautiful weekend. Get out and enjoy the balloons. Remember NO SCHOOL MONDAY!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! A full week this week! We are surviving. But next week we have another short one. No School on Monday, teacher inservice, and Friday we are out early for Homecoming! The kids will not know how to handle a full week when we get going and back into that routine. I may not either! I am pleased with how this class has matured over the summer and come in and adjusted to 4th grade. I have not given out a ton of late slips and that is a good thing. The students have been having a study hall each day, but that is changing due to computer time. We have finally gotten to where we can fluently get on the computers and work. So that will now take place of the study hall. You may begin to see a little more homework floating home with your student. Please be sure to set aside time for them to complete the homework. I have included a copy of our schedule for you to see how our day works.
Service Work - The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students will be participating once a month in some community service. They will be walking down to The Food Bank of Iowa and helping to unload the truck that comes in on Fridays. It usually arrives around 1:15 or 1:30 and may take about 20-30 minutes to unload. The Food Bank provides supplemental food to those in need. The students will providing a great service to those who volunteer their time to unload the truck, shelve the products and help the day it is distributed to families. We are excited that they are being given this opportunity to help others in the community. I have provided a permission form in today's folder for you to sign regarding this opportunity. It lists the dates the student will walk down to the food pantry, which is on Wyoming Street. It is on the corner of Division and Wyoming. Of course this will always be weather permitting. We will not walk in the rain or when the weather is too cold. The teacher in charge will make the decision. The 4th grade will be going the 1st Friday of every month . Please return the permission form as soon as possible.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a nonfiction story in our book called My Librarian is a Camel. It is an interesting story that talks about very remote places that don't have the means of a Public Library building so they improvise. It shares several ways in which books are transported to children. Some of the ways are by mail, camel, elephant, bus, and boat. I tried to discuss we are lucky to have access to books all the time. We have access in our schools, a public library and via the internet. I tried to get them to understand how lucky they are and that others are not. They studied using quotation marks in grammar and their spelling list was short i long i. Tomorrow is assessment day so they will take a spelling post test and end of the week assessment. They have a vocabulary packet to study and their spelling words.
Social Studies - This week in social studies we have discussed resources in a region. There are many resources that different regions provide. We have talked about the most important ones to the five different regions. We have discussed industries, capital resources, human resources, natural resources, raw materials, and the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources. The students have done a great job participating in the group discussion, choral reading, partner reading, and group work. Today they have an individual homework assignment deciphering if something is a nonrenewable or renewable resource. We are nearing the end of this chapter ad will be getting ready for a test by the end of next week.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. Sounds the weather will be great. Rainy all week but beautiful weekend. Get out and enjoy the balloons. Remember NO SCHOOL MONDAY!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! Tomorrow is Friday!! It is also our first Spirit Day! We are celebrating the CyHawk game!! We are slowly adjusting to 4th grade routines. We have been working on getting the kids logged in to computers. We had the chromebooks in our room yesterday and will hopefully get them back in today or tomorrow so that they learn to log in and get where they need to be quickly. It is a slow process but once they figure it out it will go smoothly. I look forward to that. The only thing that stresses me out in the classroom is bringing in the new technology. Soon we will be working on them like professionals!
Language Arts - This week we read a biography called My Brother Martin. It is about Martin Luther King Jr and his childhood. It tells us what happened in his life to inspire him to do the great things he did. It is a very interesting story. We have worked on sentences and the 4 kinds of sentences. We studied the names of the sentences and their ending punctuation. We reviewed what contractions are and how they work. We also talked about Idioms. Ask your child to tell you what an Idiom is. We had fun with this topic. Spelling words this week are on the Short e and long e vowel sounds. I do not send a list home at the beginning of the week. Your child will do a worksheet on Tuesday and Thursday over spelling words and the list appears on those worksheets. Also on Wednesday they will be practicing their misspelled words 5 times. They have their spelling notebooks that they took the pretest in they can bring home also, if you want to see the list. Tomorrow students will take their spelling posttest and end of the week assessment. Please be sure they are studying their spelling words and vocab words tonight. This week's vocab words can be found in their language arts notebook.
Math - This week we continue to work on place value. We have talked about the 3 ways to write numbers: Standard Form, Written Form and Expanded Form. We also worked on comparing numbers using <,>, = symbols and them to greatest or vice versa. So far they are doing a great job. We also started STMath. This is on the computers. We finished logging in and getting started. They are very excited!
Social Studies- We are focusing on the whole United States right now. We have talked about where the hottest and coldest temperatures in the U.S. are and the highest and lowest landforms in the U.S. We compared the temperatures in the hottest/coldest place to what it was in Creston today. We will do that a couple times a week just for fun. We have moved into lesson 2 which is on Climate. Here we talk about what climate is like in the regions but I am also sharing what is was like when I was a kid versus how it is today.
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is Spirit Day, our student can choose to wear sweatpants on this day. Not sure many will pay the $1.00 to day that since it's so warm, but teachers will definitely pay to wear jeans and an Iowa/Iowa State Shirt. Yes, I will be supporting my Iowa State Cyclones!
I hope all of you have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! Tomorrow is Friday!! It is also our first Spirit Day! We are celebrating the CyHawk game!! We are slowly adjusting to 4th grade routines. We have been working on getting the kids logged in to computers. We had the chromebooks in our room yesterday and will hopefully get them back in today or tomorrow so that they learn to log in and get where they need to be quickly. It is a slow process but once they figure it out it will go smoothly. I look forward to that. The only thing that stresses me out in the classroom is bringing in the new technology. Soon we will be working on them like professionals!
Language Arts - This week we read a biography called My Brother Martin. It is about Martin Luther King Jr and his childhood. It tells us what happened in his life to inspire him to do the great things he did. It is a very interesting story. We have worked on sentences and the 4 kinds of sentences. We studied the names of the sentences and their ending punctuation. We reviewed what contractions are and how they work. We also talked about Idioms. Ask your child to tell you what an Idiom is. We had fun with this topic. Spelling words this week are on the Short e and long e vowel sounds. I do not send a list home at the beginning of the week. Your child will do a worksheet on Tuesday and Thursday over spelling words and the list appears on those worksheets. Also on Wednesday they will be practicing their misspelled words 5 times. They have their spelling notebooks that they took the pretest in they can bring home also, if you want to see the list. Tomorrow students will take their spelling posttest and end of the week assessment. Please be sure they are studying their spelling words and vocab words tonight. This week's vocab words can be found in their language arts notebook.
Math - This week we continue to work on place value. We have talked about the 3 ways to write numbers: Standard Form, Written Form and Expanded Form. We also worked on comparing numbers using <,>, = symbols and them to greatest or vice versa. So far they are doing a great job. We also started STMath. This is on the computers. We finished logging in and getting started. They are very excited!
Social Studies- We are focusing on the whole United States right now. We have talked about where the hottest and coldest temperatures in the U.S. are and the highest and lowest landforms in the U.S. We compared the temperatures in the hottest/coldest place to what it was in Creston today. We will do that a couple times a week just for fun. We have moved into lesson 2 which is on Climate. Here we talk about what climate is like in the regions but I am also sharing what is was like when I was a kid versus how it is today.
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is Spirit Day, our student can choose to wear sweatpants on this day. Not sure many will pay the $1.00 to day that since it's so warm, but teachers will definitely pay to wear jeans and an Iowa/Iowa State Shirt. Yes, I will be supporting my Iowa State Cyclones!
I hope all of you have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Hello!! Welcome to 4th grade!!!
I am very excited to be teaching your children this year. Thank you for sharing your precious gem with me! We have had a good week! I think..... I feel they have gone very well. Your kids may say differently. We are learning the basics. They have to get used to me and how I run my classroom. They have to get familiar with all my expectations and how work is done. Everything is new to them. I am sure it has been overwhelming for them. I feel overwhelmed sometimes also. We will get the bugs worked out then the day will run like a well-oiled machine! (we hope) My classroom is very routine. We will stick to the schedule. Only time we venture off schedule is when extra fun activities are planned: Advent Angels, Lenten Angels, Bullying days, Catholic Schools Week, or snow days.
I hope this blog is helpful in keeping you posted on things we are doing in the classroom and fun things we may do throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns for me shoot me an email at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org or call the school 641-782-7125. I am available most mornings 7:45- 8:10 then again 9:30-10:00. Also at the end of the day 3:15-3:45. The BEST way to reach me and get a response is via email.
Language Arts - We are finishing up our week on the story Because of Winn-Dixie. We have spent time this week focusing on the vocabulary words form the story, and picking out subjects and predicates of a sentence. These are all things that they will be assessed on tomorrow. It will also assess their comprehension of the story. Remember there is a spelling post test tomorrow! I have instructed the students to be sure and study for spelling and also study their vocabulary words in their notebooks. These are items tested over every Friday. I request they bring their vocabulary notebooks home to study every Thursday night.
Math - We have had one full lesson in Math this week. It focused on the base ten system and understanding that each place value is 10 times the previous place value. We looked at base ten blocks up to 1,000 then discussed what they would look like if we had physical example past 1,000. I found something new this year online with our series which helps keep track of kids and where they are. Because of this I am giving a pretest for chapter 1 today. They will do it on paper and then enter their answers onto computer. This is so I can generate reports about each student and the class as a whole to show me what they are all ready good at and what areas need work. This will help with planning and pacing of the chapter. I am excited to see if this program does what it is suppose to.
Social Studies - We will be studying the United States this whole year. The first three chapters focus on "Living in the United States". We will learn that the U.S. can be split into 5 different regions. We will also talk about our Government and how it is set up. We will then study the states a region at a time. Kids will be able to label on a map the states of each region and by the end of the year they will label all 50 States on a map. We have projects we complete during each region. The projects usually start after conferences so we will discuss them more then. I hope your kids love this subject as much as I do.
Science and Religion- Just a reminder that our child will go to Ms. Surma for Religion class and Mrs. Burg for Science. I am in charge of 3-5 Social Studies. Ms. Surma is also doing all art 3-5 this year. You should check out their blogs to see if there is anything about 4th grade on them. If you have questions or concerns about these two classes you will need to make contact with these two teacher.
I hope all of you have a great long weekend!! My family is headed to Chicago to visit family! I am taking off at noon on Friday when my kids arrive home from college and we are taking off. I am looking forward to this time with my kids. Have a safe weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
I am very excited to be teaching your children this year. Thank you for sharing your precious gem with me! We have had a good week! I think..... I feel they have gone very well. Your kids may say differently. We are learning the basics. They have to get used to me and how I run my classroom. They have to get familiar with all my expectations and how work is done. Everything is new to them. I am sure it has been overwhelming for them. I feel overwhelmed sometimes also. We will get the bugs worked out then the day will run like a well-oiled machine! (we hope) My classroom is very routine. We will stick to the schedule. Only time we venture off schedule is when extra fun activities are planned: Advent Angels, Lenten Angels, Bullying days, Catholic Schools Week, or snow days.
I hope this blog is helpful in keeping you posted on things we are doing in the classroom and fun things we may do throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns for me shoot me an email at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org or call the school 641-782-7125. I am available most mornings 7:45- 8:10 then again 9:30-10:00. Also at the end of the day 3:15-3:45. The BEST way to reach me and get a response is via email.
Language Arts - We are finishing up our week on the story Because of Winn-Dixie. We have spent time this week focusing on the vocabulary words form the story, and picking out subjects and predicates of a sentence. These are all things that they will be assessed on tomorrow. It will also assess their comprehension of the story. Remember there is a spelling post test tomorrow! I have instructed the students to be sure and study for spelling and also study their vocabulary words in their notebooks. These are items tested over every Friday. I request they bring their vocabulary notebooks home to study every Thursday night.
Math - We have had one full lesson in Math this week. It focused on the base ten system and understanding that each place value is 10 times the previous place value. We looked at base ten blocks up to 1,000 then discussed what they would look like if we had physical example past 1,000. I found something new this year online with our series which helps keep track of kids and where they are. Because of this I am giving a pretest for chapter 1 today. They will do it on paper and then enter their answers onto computer. This is so I can generate reports about each student and the class as a whole to show me what they are all ready good at and what areas need work. This will help with planning and pacing of the chapter. I am excited to see if this program does what it is suppose to.
Social Studies - We will be studying the United States this whole year. The first three chapters focus on "Living in the United States". We will learn that the U.S. can be split into 5 different regions. We will also talk about our Government and how it is set up. We will then study the states a region at a time. Kids will be able to label on a map the states of each region and by the end of the year they will label all 50 States on a map. We have projects we complete during each region. The projects usually start after conferences so we will discuss them more then. I hope your kids love this subject as much as I do.
Science and Religion- Just a reminder that our child will go to Ms. Surma for Religion class and Mrs. Burg for Science. I am in charge of 3-5 Social Studies. Ms. Surma is also doing all art 3-5 this year. You should check out their blogs to see if there is anything about 4th grade on them. If you have questions or concerns about these two classes you will need to make contact with these two teacher.
I hope all of you have a great long weekend!! My family is headed to Chicago to visit family! I am taking off at noon on Friday when my kids arrive home from college and we are taking off. I am looking forward to this time with my kids. Have a safe weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Dear Parents,
WOW!! Well, it is here, the last blog for this school year. I just can't believe that it is here all ready. I am blown away that tomorrow is the last day of school! We have been working on things all week and still working on certain subjects today.
Language Arts - We finished up, rather quickly, the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We discussed the last three chapters then I showed them the old movie from the 1960's. This movie is much more appropriate. I am not a huge fan of the new one. The kids sat quietly and enjoyed the movie this morning. I was impressed with how quiet they were for that length of time. They discussed any differences from the book when they appeared differently in the movie, which was great!! I love this book and movie and usually I spend time talking about similarities and differences between them with a VENN diagram. We ran out of time this year. If we have time to kill tomorrow we will share these ideas on the board together.
Math - We worked this week on the standard algorithm of division. I think most of them have a good idea of what is expected but working through the problem we get lost on what is next. This is definitely a skill I would practice over the summer. One way to keep their math skills sharp over the summer is to pick a time of day when you know your child will be sitting down for a while like breakfast, lunch, or before bed and do one math problem at that time. Make this problem a division problem. Have it on the table with their breakfast and have them complete while eating. It's a good brain exercise for the day. You could also make a part of bedtime routine. This will just help them to retain the skills learned this year.
Social Studies - Tomorrow is their big test! They will be locating all 50 states on a blank map and listing the capital with it. I have had 2 students take it all ready due to having their last day earlier. They have done real well. I told the kids to study as soon as they got home, again at bedtime, then in morning. Sing the song over and over! They will begin this test at 8:30 in the morning! That is the last academic thing for the year!!
I want to say again, Thank you for sharing your children with me! I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them! You have GREAT kids!! I am sad to see them move on but am thankful I still have the opportunity to teach them in Social Studies next year!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
WOW!! Well, it is here, the last blog for this school year. I just can't believe that it is here all ready. I am blown away that tomorrow is the last day of school! We have been working on things all week and still working on certain subjects today.
Language Arts - We finished up, rather quickly, the end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We discussed the last three chapters then I showed them the old movie from the 1960's. This movie is much more appropriate. I am not a huge fan of the new one. The kids sat quietly and enjoyed the movie this morning. I was impressed with how quiet they were for that length of time. They discussed any differences from the book when they appeared differently in the movie, which was great!! I love this book and movie and usually I spend time talking about similarities and differences between them with a VENN diagram. We ran out of time this year. If we have time to kill tomorrow we will share these ideas on the board together.
Math - We worked this week on the standard algorithm of division. I think most of them have a good idea of what is expected but working through the problem we get lost on what is next. This is definitely a skill I would practice over the summer. One way to keep their math skills sharp over the summer is to pick a time of day when you know your child will be sitting down for a while like breakfast, lunch, or before bed and do one math problem at that time. Make this problem a division problem. Have it on the table with their breakfast and have them complete while eating. It's a good brain exercise for the day. You could also make a part of bedtime routine. This will just help them to retain the skills learned this year.
Social Studies - Tomorrow is their big test! They will be locating all 50 states on a blank map and listing the capital with it. I have had 2 students take it all ready due to having their last day earlier. They have done real well. I told the kids to study as soon as they got home, again at bedtime, then in morning. Sing the song over and over! They will begin this test at 8:30 in the morning! That is the last academic thing for the year!!
I want to say again, Thank you for sharing your children with me! I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them! You have GREAT kids!! I am sad to see them move on but am thankful I still have the opportunity to teach them in Social Studies next year!!
Have a great summer!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! It is for me cause it is my Friday. I will not be here tomorrow due to preparing for my daughters' graduation party and watching one of them run at State Track in the morning. Whew! It has been a busy week. One more week to go. This week is Gavin's last week, he will be traveling with family next week. We are praying they have a safe trip and can't wait to see him again next year.
Language Arts - We have read about 11 chapters in Charlie and Chocolate Factory. We discussed funny vocab words and how we would feel if we won a golden ticket. We will continue to work on vocab and reading chapters so we can get through the book and watch the movie. I will touch on a few more grammar things and parts of speech also. We also will finish sharing our book reports. We have a lot to get done!
Math- We are working on estimating quotients using compatible numbers. We are using the multiplication table to help us with this strategy. Next week we will learn how to use the standard algorithm to divide. It is the way that you have learned to divide. By Friday I hope to have them doing division problems comfortably.
Social Studies- We are learning a few good facts about the Southwest Region this week and then we will move onto the West Region next week. I finding the facts like climate and important things about the History of the area that helped to shape the United States to cover with them. Remember the "big" map test will be next week. It will happen like Thursday or Friday morning. I am not sure which yet. Study, study, study!!
Sorry things are so short but we are winding down to the end!!! Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! It is for me cause it is my Friday. I will not be here tomorrow due to preparing for my daughters' graduation party and watching one of them run at State Track in the morning. Whew! It has been a busy week. One more week to go. This week is Gavin's last week, he will be traveling with family next week. We are praying they have a safe trip and can't wait to see him again next year.
Language Arts - We have read about 11 chapters in Charlie and Chocolate Factory. We discussed funny vocab words and how we would feel if we won a golden ticket. We will continue to work on vocab and reading chapters so we can get through the book and watch the movie. I will touch on a few more grammar things and parts of speech also. We also will finish sharing our book reports. We have a lot to get done!
Math- We are working on estimating quotients using compatible numbers. We are using the multiplication table to help us with this strategy. Next week we will learn how to use the standard algorithm to divide. It is the way that you have learned to divide. By Friday I hope to have them doing division problems comfortably.
Social Studies- We are learning a few good facts about the Southwest Region this week and then we will move onto the West Region next week. I finding the facts like climate and important things about the History of the area that helped to shape the United States to cover with them. Remember the "big" map test will be next week. It will happen like Thursday or Friday morning. I am not sure which yet. Study, study, study!!
Sorry things are so short but we are winding down to the end!!! Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Friday, May 13, 2016
Dear Parents,
Yesterday was a fun day! We had a great time riding on the train. They also had a great time shopping in the gift shop. I hope they came home with appropriate things. I feel sorry for the mustache whistle buyers parents. Those things were piercing! The kids were all well-behaved and I am proud of them. I am always reminded what great kids we have when I see other schools. I will take this 25 with me anywhere. It was a total family affair yesterday. I was told we had 11 cousins on that trip. Nine of the students were related then the two adults that went along. I appreciate them going. I was able to split the group up so we each had about 8-9 kids we were responsible for. That always makes things nice.
Language Arts - We are working on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and will be until the end. We created "Golden Tickets" today! Some found this fun and some not so much. They are hanging outside the classroom on the wall. The 5th graders will get to vote for their favorite when all of them are complete. We will work on reading up to chapter 10 next week and doing some work with verbs, adjectives, plural nouns, similes, contractions, adverbs and helping verbs. This is so great, we review everything we have learned this year.
Math - We finished up division with remainders today. Next is divide tens, hundreds, and thousands. I intend for this to be quick and easy. Then we will spend the rest of the time focused on the standard algorithm of division. There will not be another formal test in Math. I will be observing how they are doing on daily work and homework pieces. Keep working on division facts!
Social Studies - We are working on learning some facts about Iowa right now. I then plan to move into the Southwest states and gain some knowledge about these 4 states. We had our first practice state and capitals test today. I feel it went much better than I thought it would. They just need to keep practicing. Memorize the song and they will have it down. I gave them a map of all 50 states today. I had them making an answer key then they have two practice maps to work on. If they need more all they need to do is ask. They will have the test over all 50 states May 25th. This is our last formal test in Social Studies. Knowing the capitals is half the battle. They just need to practice location.
WOW! The temperature sure dropped from this morning. I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Only 2 more weeks of school left. I will not be here on May 20th. I took the day off to prepare for our Graduation party but will also get to attend State Track and watch Josie run in the 4 X 200. What a great end to the year.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Yesterday was a fun day! We had a great time riding on the train. They also had a great time shopping in the gift shop. I hope they came home with appropriate things. I feel sorry for the mustache whistle buyers parents. Those things were piercing! The kids were all well-behaved and I am proud of them. I am always reminded what great kids we have when I see other schools. I will take this 25 with me anywhere. It was a total family affair yesterday. I was told we had 11 cousins on that trip. Nine of the students were related then the two adults that went along. I appreciate them going. I was able to split the group up so we each had about 8-9 kids we were responsible for. That always makes things nice.
Language Arts - We are working on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and will be until the end. We created "Golden Tickets" today! Some found this fun and some not so much. They are hanging outside the classroom on the wall. The 5th graders will get to vote for their favorite when all of them are complete. We will work on reading up to chapter 10 next week and doing some work with verbs, adjectives, plural nouns, similes, contractions, adverbs and helping verbs. This is so great, we review everything we have learned this year.
Math - We finished up division with remainders today. Next is divide tens, hundreds, and thousands. I intend for this to be quick and easy. Then we will spend the rest of the time focused on the standard algorithm of division. There will not be another formal test in Math. I will be observing how they are doing on daily work and homework pieces. Keep working on division facts!
Social Studies - We are working on learning some facts about Iowa right now. I then plan to move into the Southwest states and gain some knowledge about these 4 states. We had our first practice state and capitals test today. I feel it went much better than I thought it would. They just need to keep practicing. Memorize the song and they will have it down. I gave them a map of all 50 states today. I had them making an answer key then they have two practice maps to work on. If they need more all they need to do is ask. They will have the test over all 50 states May 25th. This is our last formal test in Social Studies. Knowing the capitals is half the battle. They just need to practice location.
WOW! The temperature sure dropped from this morning. I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Only 2 more weeks of school left. I will not be here on May 20th. I took the day off to prepare for our Graduation party but will also get to attend State Track and watch Josie run in the 4 X 200. What a great end to the year.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! I honestly feel like it just wrote this letter. The weeks are flying by for me. I am very busy with middle school track, high school track, and graduation things I can't keep the days straight. The 4th graders are very chatty and finding it hard to focus this week. I know it is just the fact that it is May and there are 25 of them. I plan on teaching meaningful content up to the time we leave for summer. I am changing the way we do things and allowing for more movement and cooperative work so that talking is appropriate but needs to focus on the content at hand. Only 16 days left. I am sad in couple ways, I feel our year has gone quickly and I have really enjoyed all of the students, plus my oldest two are graduating and will be moving on. So proud I can still be that ISU fan!! I am happy to be an ISU mom. Also I will be a UNO Maverick fan!! Universtiy of Omaha will be blessed with one of mine!!
Field Trip - I have planned our yearly field trip to Boone, Iowa. We will be visiting the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad and taking a train ride. On this train they get the feel of riding on a train like they did long ago and a little Iowa History on the way. I have sent in your child's folder a schedule of our day, fees, and permission form to fill out. Please read through all of it and return ASAP. The train ride is free, it is paid for by donation. We have the $10 a child fee for the bus. Please, be sure to include that money with the permission form. The most important part of that information is that the bus will leave St. Malachy at 7:45 in the morning. Yes, this is before school normally starts so it is important that your child is here. The bus must be pulling away at this time or we will not make our boarding time for train. If your child is not here, they will miss the opportunity to go. Train is very particular about arrival times and boarding. There are several other schools involved so they won't hold the train for us. Also be sure your child brings a sack lunch. Sometimes it is nice if we pack an extra item in lunch bag in case someone forgets their lunch we can all share an item. It has happened before. This is a fun day and interesting trip. The "high" bridge is the best part for the kids but not for me. I have to set myself in the middle of the train and pray. I get very nervous. Sometimes I take my book and read across it so I am not thinking about it. They slow the train down and go over it at a snail's pace!
Language Arts - We have begun reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They have read the firs 4 chapters. We have worked on vocabulary words, discussed the chapters and now they are working on an 8-page book showing the steps of making chocolate. This activity is being completed at school with partners. We will also be reviewing what sentences are, the use of commas, identifying nouns, adjectives and quotation marks. We will then move onto the next section which is chapters 5-10. We will again work on vocabulary, create golden tickets and discuss the chapters. The kids are having fun with this so far. The downfall is the kids are sharing the books and I apologize for that, I only have 16 books. I will try to work something out when there is homework with the books.
Math - We are learning to use their multiplication tables to estimate division problems this week. They will be able to complete the worksheet using the multiplication table. I also plan to show them how to do it without the table. We will focus on estimation and the standard algorithm for the rest of our days. It is very important they have that down before they move on to 5th grade. They seemed to be having fun with the lesson yesterday. It is always fun when you feel good about getting an answer. At home you could be working on those division facts.
Social Studies - We have begun a study guide over the first chapter in Midwest States. They will need to be able to label a map with the states and also list the capitals. This is the only test we will take over the MIdwest. We are going to finish the Midwest by doing some puzzle sheets on the states and it will require them to do some research, so we will be going to the computer lab for most of it. We will also cover the Southwest in this way also. The puzzle pages are very challenging.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!!! The graduation parties start!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! I honestly feel like it just wrote this letter. The weeks are flying by for me. I am very busy with middle school track, high school track, and graduation things I can't keep the days straight. The 4th graders are very chatty and finding it hard to focus this week. I know it is just the fact that it is May and there are 25 of them. I plan on teaching meaningful content up to the time we leave for summer. I am changing the way we do things and allowing for more movement and cooperative work so that talking is appropriate but needs to focus on the content at hand. Only 16 days left. I am sad in couple ways, I feel our year has gone quickly and I have really enjoyed all of the students, plus my oldest two are graduating and will be moving on. So proud I can still be that ISU fan!! I am happy to be an ISU mom. Also I will be a UNO Maverick fan!! Universtiy of Omaha will be blessed with one of mine!!
Field Trip - I have planned our yearly field trip to Boone, Iowa. We will be visiting the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad and taking a train ride. On this train they get the feel of riding on a train like they did long ago and a little Iowa History on the way. I have sent in your child's folder a schedule of our day, fees, and permission form to fill out. Please read through all of it and return ASAP. The train ride is free, it is paid for by donation. We have the $10 a child fee for the bus. Please, be sure to include that money with the permission form. The most important part of that information is that the bus will leave St. Malachy at 7:45 in the morning. Yes, this is before school normally starts so it is important that your child is here. The bus must be pulling away at this time or we will not make our boarding time for train. If your child is not here, they will miss the opportunity to go. Train is very particular about arrival times and boarding. There are several other schools involved so they won't hold the train for us. Also be sure your child brings a sack lunch. Sometimes it is nice if we pack an extra item in lunch bag in case someone forgets their lunch we can all share an item. It has happened before. This is a fun day and interesting trip. The "high" bridge is the best part for the kids but not for me. I have to set myself in the middle of the train and pray. I get very nervous. Sometimes I take my book and read across it so I am not thinking about it. They slow the train down and go over it at a snail's pace!
Language Arts - We have begun reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They have read the firs 4 chapters. We have worked on vocabulary words, discussed the chapters and now they are working on an 8-page book showing the steps of making chocolate. This activity is being completed at school with partners. We will also be reviewing what sentences are, the use of commas, identifying nouns, adjectives and quotation marks. We will then move onto the next section which is chapters 5-10. We will again work on vocabulary, create golden tickets and discuss the chapters. The kids are having fun with this so far. The downfall is the kids are sharing the books and I apologize for that, I only have 16 books. I will try to work something out when there is homework with the books.
Math - We are learning to use their multiplication tables to estimate division problems this week. They will be able to complete the worksheet using the multiplication table. I also plan to show them how to do it without the table. We will focus on estimation and the standard algorithm for the rest of our days. It is very important they have that down before they move on to 5th grade. They seemed to be having fun with the lesson yesterday. It is always fun when you feel good about getting an answer. At home you could be working on those division facts.
Social Studies - We have begun a study guide over the first chapter in Midwest States. They will need to be able to label a map with the states and also list the capitals. This is the only test we will take over the MIdwest. We are going to finish the Midwest by doing some puzzle sheets on the states and it will require them to do some research, so we will be going to the computer lab for most of it. We will also cover the Southwest in this way also. The puzzle pages are very challenging.
I hope all of you have a great weekend!!! The graduation parties start!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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