Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I hope everyone is having a good week. The students have been a little talkative this week and several have served some time outside on the wall at recess. I have a few that are struggling to stay in their own seats. Winter is always a restless time. I ask that you check with your child to see if they are needed some updated supplies. I have several who do not have red checking pens and they need to have them. I have told the kids to let you know. I appreciate your keeping them supplied with items we need.
Language Arts - This week in language arts we are back to our normal routine. We read the story Riding Freedom this week. This is about a woman wanting to do a man's job. The job is being a stagecoach driver. This was only a job for men. I asked the kids in the beginning how do you think she accomplished this? I had about 6 of them guess that she disguised herself as a man. This prediction was true. The thing is she in injured in an accident and loses the use of one of her eyes and has to wear a patch. The story is more about overcoming this obstacle. She reteaches herself to drive a coach using her other senses. She ends up proving her abilities by the end of the story. We did Spelling just a tad bit different on Monday. We took the pretest and then I read the answers to them so they could check their own work. I feel like this was pretty successful. It makes them look at the word and see where they made their mistake. So instead of just memorizing each word , they may learn from seeing their mistake. If I checked the test, they would look at the test just to see how many they missed but never really looked at each word to see why. This requires them to see why. Next week I may change the way we do Wednesday's words with this same idea in mind. Grammar had us learning about adjectives this week. Not only did we just spend one day picking out adjectives, we also talked about the correct order of adjectives. I do not remember learning this at all in school. The kids' worksheet has a chart at the top showing the order adjectives should be in if there is more than one describing a single noun. We went over the chart and they will complete the worksheet but again it is a very quick lesson. We are working on editing and revising the paragraph on their bedrooms.
Math - Well, chapter 2 is behind us. I have some stragglers still making corrections due to being absent, but otherwise we have moved into chapter 3. The first lesson took us a bit to refresh their memories but we are not moving through. Lesson two was on estimation and they seem to enjoy this because it is quick. They round the numbers or use compatible numbers then use a quick mental math strategy to find the answer. I am hoping this chapter is not as hard for them. I am trying to pick up the pace with them a little bit, but I am also very big on mastery and being sure students have a good understanding before moving on. All that they do builds upon each lesson so they need to understand each one. We will have completed the first two lesson and starting the 3rd by the end of this week. Again, this chapter has a lot less in it, I think just 8 lessons.
Social Studies - We have spent his whole week gearing up for the test over Chapter 5 which is Friday. The biggest thing with this test is labeling a map with the northeast states and being able to name the capitals of the states. We have been singing the song at school this week to help. I hope the kids have the song at home and are practicing it there also. Next week we will work on getting our next projects going. The next region of study is the Southeast.
I hope you are all excited about Catholic Schools Week next week and of course a snow storm. It seems to always happen that way. Today in your child's folder you may find a mass part. If you signed them up to participate in Sunday's mass you will find a blue sheet telling what they are doing. Otherwise your child may have an orange sheet which is showing that they will participate in Grandparent's Day Mass on Friday. Please be sure they practice their parts and if they are participating in Sunday's mass be sure they are there in the church by 8:30. Thank you very much.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! I hope all you received the paper we sent home yesterday about the Iowa Energy game. I am so sorry for all the confusion with this. You will be getting information in the folders today about the game and what is going on. We found out by accident that we needed to know exact numbers by tomorrow morning. Check out your children's folders for information. Again, this was not meant to confuse people, we just needed a number for the parents going. We also received a lot of money today for kids fees. That was just the fee for the parents. The fee will be a little more to include the bus fee. If you sent money today that is fine, we have collected it and kept track of who sent what.
Language Arts - This week was a Unit 3 test week. We took the test over 3 days. I will send results home next week. Not all sections have been corrected yet. The other activities we have done this week include more DEAR time for the kids. I also have read out loud to them a little more. A few 7th graders came into the room on Tuesday and shared some narrative poems that they had created using the website POWTOONS. Their poems came alive on the computers. We shared them on my whiteboard. I think the kids thought this was pretty cool. I told them this was a website they could go to for free and create stories or poems. I also said if anyone chose to do it for fun we would share here at school. We ended the week with do an Appointment clock activity I was introduced to recently. It is a grouping strategy. They matched up with people and then wrote names on their clock by certain times. When I want them to partner up quickly, I may say get with your 4 o'clock partner and they immediately go to the person who is on their calendar at 4:00. Now that the clock is finalized we can do partner activities and not waste time assigning partners or finding partners. Very cool. Tomorrow we are gong to work on a writing activity. The students will be working on writing descriptive paragraphs on their bedrooms. They will need to write a paragraph describing their bedroom using all five senses. It is a fun one especially when it comes to describing the smell of one's room. It has been a fun relaxing week. Next week we get back into our textbook. It will be a normal week with spelling, grammar, and a story to read. In spelling, I am making a little bit of a change to how we pretest. This decision to change was based on an article I read that showed some interesting research on spelling tests. Spelling is very important to reading. As a matter of fact "Spelling leads to being a better reader", it is not the other way around which is most people's belief. This change does not affect you or what your child does at home, it will for right now effect pretest days. Instead of me checking their tests I will be having the kids check their own papers as I read the answers out loud. This allows them or forces them to see what mistakes they are missing and maybe see a pattern. I will still pick them up and double check the first couple of times and I will put the scores on website so you are aware how they are doing. I hope this leads to them understanding their errors and not just plain memorizing.
Math - We finished up chapter 2 this week and will begin chapter 3 today. I will get their tests back next week to come home and be signed. I have a few not finished correcting yet and checking back over their corrections is a tedious job. I am very particular with corrections especially since I gave some guidance on what I expect. We will begin chapter 3 today with the introduction pages. This chapter is on double-digit multiplication. It will move quicker than chapter 2. We all ready know all the strategies we will just change them a little. There are not as many lessons in this chapter either. It pretty much sticks to some main strategies that are important for them to learn. I look forward to this chapter because it is shorter and seems less stressful. Chapter 2 is just too long!
Social Studies - Projects are done!! We are in the last lesson of this chapter also. We will be testing next week over the last chapter of the Northeast Region. I plan to assign the next set of states too them soon. The next region will move a little faster, it has to. We have 3 more projects to get done by the end of the year. Isn't that crazy that I have to think about the end of the year all ready!!
Please be sure to check with your child to see if they are needing new notebooks, crayons or colored pencils. Sometimes we lose things or use things up. I know some kids need some things because they are borrowing from others which is not always a good idea. I am finding I am needing crayons and colored pencils for my stash because I am loaning them out and not getting everything back. Just a mid year check to replenish any supplies. Thank you.
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! I hope all you received the paper we sent home yesterday about the Iowa Energy game. I am so sorry for all the confusion with this. You will be getting information in the folders today about the game and what is going on. We found out by accident that we needed to know exact numbers by tomorrow morning. Check out your children's folders for information. Again, this was not meant to confuse people, we just needed a number for the parents going. We also received a lot of money today for kids fees. That was just the fee for the parents. The fee will be a little more to include the bus fee. If you sent money today that is fine, we have collected it and kept track of who sent what.
Language Arts - This week was a Unit 3 test week. We took the test over 3 days. I will send results home next week. Not all sections have been corrected yet. The other activities we have done this week include more DEAR time for the kids. I also have read out loud to them a little more. A few 7th graders came into the room on Tuesday and shared some narrative poems that they had created using the website POWTOONS. Their poems came alive on the computers. We shared them on my whiteboard. I think the kids thought this was pretty cool. I told them this was a website they could go to for free and create stories or poems. I also said if anyone chose to do it for fun we would share here at school. We ended the week with do an Appointment clock activity I was introduced to recently. It is a grouping strategy. They matched up with people and then wrote names on their clock by certain times. When I want them to partner up quickly, I may say get with your 4 o'clock partner and they immediately go to the person who is on their calendar at 4:00. Now that the clock is finalized we can do partner activities and not waste time assigning partners or finding partners. Very cool. Tomorrow we are gong to work on a writing activity. The students will be working on writing descriptive paragraphs on their bedrooms. They will need to write a paragraph describing their bedroom using all five senses. It is a fun one especially when it comes to describing the smell of one's room. It has been a fun relaxing week. Next week we get back into our textbook. It will be a normal week with spelling, grammar, and a story to read. In spelling, I am making a little bit of a change to how we pretest. This decision to change was based on an article I read that showed some interesting research on spelling tests. Spelling is very important to reading. As a matter of fact "Spelling leads to being a better reader", it is not the other way around which is most people's belief. This change does not affect you or what your child does at home, it will for right now effect pretest days. Instead of me checking their tests I will be having the kids check their own papers as I read the answers out loud. This allows them or forces them to see what mistakes they are missing and maybe see a pattern. I will still pick them up and double check the first couple of times and I will put the scores on website so you are aware how they are doing. I hope this leads to them understanding their errors and not just plain memorizing.
Math - We finished up chapter 2 this week and will begin chapter 3 today. I will get their tests back next week to come home and be signed. I have a few not finished correcting yet and checking back over their corrections is a tedious job. I am very particular with corrections especially since I gave some guidance on what I expect. We will begin chapter 3 today with the introduction pages. This chapter is on double-digit multiplication. It will move quicker than chapter 2. We all ready know all the strategies we will just change them a little. There are not as many lessons in this chapter either. It pretty much sticks to some main strategies that are important for them to learn. I look forward to this chapter because it is shorter and seems less stressful. Chapter 2 is just too long!
Social Studies - Projects are done!! We are in the last lesson of this chapter also. We will be testing next week over the last chapter of the Northeast Region. I plan to assign the next set of states too them soon. The next region will move a little faster, it has to. We have 3 more projects to get done by the end of the year. Isn't that crazy that I have to think about the end of the year all ready!!
Please be sure to check with your child to see if they are needing new notebooks, crayons or colored pencils. Sometimes we lose things or use things up. I know some kids need some things because they are borrowing from others which is not always a good idea. I am finding I am needing crayons and colored pencils for my stash because I am loaning them out and not getting everything back. Just a mid year check to replenish any supplies. Thank you.
Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! Just an FYI sickness has hit our room. Yes, we have had the bronchitis stuff, but now it's the flu. I just want you to be aware of it. If your child complains about feeling like they could throw up, they may be telling the truth.
How about this warm up. Enjoy it while it lasts because the cold is coming back. Please be sure your child is still bringing the necessary recess gear. It the temp and windchill are above 0 we will still be going outside! If the windchill falls below we keep them inside for safety. We don't want frostbite!!
Language Arts- This week is our last story of Unit 3 which means next week is a Unit test week! We will talk about Book reports which are due January 29th, we will have a small writing project, and also meet with 7th graders to see their poems they created on Powtoons. We will also work on the Unit 3 test.
This week we read the story Ecology for Kids. It is a nonfiction story about ecology of the earth. They explain what ecology means and what exactly an ecologist studies. It also talks about ways in which students can help protect our environment. In grammar we have talked about irregular past tense verbs, we have focused on the verb "be" and talked about past tense verbs with helping verbs. The decoding lesson was on 3 syllable words and how to break them into those 3 syllables. Tomorrow will be our end of the week test and spelling post test. Please be sure your child is looking over these items.
Math- In math this week we discussed problem solving and then moved on to reviewing for a test. The test is today. We will make corrections tomorrow in class. Next week we will begin chapter 3 which is multiplying 2-digit numbers. This chapter is shorter and will go quicker because we know all the strategies, we are just making it about a bigger number. After that we do a chapter on geometry where the focus is on area and perimeter. It is nice to slide that chapter in right after multiplication because that is what area consists of. I hope everyone looked over the problems I clued them in on yesterday. Good luck on the test!
Social Studies - We are winding down on projects for the Northeast! About the time we are completely done we will be assigning the next region! We are in the middle of the chapter right now, but will finish quickly. We are most likely looking at a test at the end of next week. Possibly the beginning of the next. We will pick up singing our states and capitals song again here at school to help them remember capitals. They will need to be able to name the states of the Northeast and capitals and also place them on a map. I hope to get some map work in next week also.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. We have some family coming, so I look forward to my weekend. Don't forget January 30th is Trivia Night. See the Principal's blog for information on how to sign up or refer to your flyer from last week.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! Just an FYI sickness has hit our room. Yes, we have had the bronchitis stuff, but now it's the flu. I just want you to be aware of it. If your child complains about feeling like they could throw up, they may be telling the truth.
How about this warm up. Enjoy it while it lasts because the cold is coming back. Please be sure your child is still bringing the necessary recess gear. It the temp and windchill are above 0 we will still be going outside! If the windchill falls below we keep them inside for safety. We don't want frostbite!!
Language Arts- This week is our last story of Unit 3 which means next week is a Unit test week! We will talk about Book reports which are due January 29th, we will have a small writing project, and also meet with 7th graders to see their poems they created on Powtoons. We will also work on the Unit 3 test.
This week we read the story Ecology for Kids. It is a nonfiction story about ecology of the earth. They explain what ecology means and what exactly an ecologist studies. It also talks about ways in which students can help protect our environment. In grammar we have talked about irregular past tense verbs, we have focused on the verb "be" and talked about past tense verbs with helping verbs. The decoding lesson was on 3 syllable words and how to break them into those 3 syllables. Tomorrow will be our end of the week test and spelling post test. Please be sure your child is looking over these items.
Math- In math this week we discussed problem solving and then moved on to reviewing for a test. The test is today. We will make corrections tomorrow in class. Next week we will begin chapter 3 which is multiplying 2-digit numbers. This chapter is shorter and will go quicker because we know all the strategies, we are just making it about a bigger number. After that we do a chapter on geometry where the focus is on area and perimeter. It is nice to slide that chapter in right after multiplication because that is what area consists of. I hope everyone looked over the problems I clued them in on yesterday. Good luck on the test!
Social Studies - We are winding down on projects for the Northeast! About the time we are completely done we will be assigning the next region! We are in the middle of the chapter right now, but will finish quickly. We are most likely looking at a test at the end of next week. Possibly the beginning of the next. We will pick up singing our states and capitals song again here at school to help them remember capitals. They will need to be able to name the states of the Northeast and capitals and also place them on a map. I hope to get some map work in next week also.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. We have some family coming, so I look forward to my weekend. Don't forget January 30th is Trivia Night. See the Principal's blog for information on how to sign up or refer to your flyer from last week.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! Welcome back!! I think students were happy to see each other on Monday. They were a little chatty. They have calmed down and are hard at work now. The students came back and we slipped right back into our routine. I am looking forward to January and all the hard work I get after having a Christmas break. I hope all of you enjoy that your children are back to school. I am happy to see them. I really did miss seeing them over break.
Language Arts - We walked right in and began a new story with spelling words and the whole bit!! The story this week is called The Life and Times of the Ant. It is really kind of interesting because it compares the life of the ant to human life. It compares the jobs of ants to jobs humans do. We learned that ants are the strongest insects and in some instances stronger than humans because they can lift a seed that is 5 times its weight. I tried to compare what 5 times a human's weight is and that you have to really really strong and work out to lift that much. The spelling words this week focus on the final ending in words. This list proved to be quite difficult for students or they were just not ready to dive back into spelling. I am going with it was difficult list. No worries, we learn from it. In grammar this week we discussing participles; present participles, past participles and participle phrases. The first two were pretty easy, the phrases was little more difficult even for me! We discussed decoding this week with suffixes. I tried to walk them through how to separate the suffix from the base word then work with putting the base word into syllables. Tomorrow is our normal assessment day. Remember to have your student go over their spelling words and vocabulary.
Math - We reviewed the standard algorithm, then moved onto to larger numbers. This lesson worked on 3 and 4 digit numbers times a single digit. It also added money amounts. We worked on that for a couple days. Today we will begin talking about multi-step word problems. This will be word problems that require you to work more than one problem. After this lesson we will be reviewing for a test. Next week we will take the test over Chapter 2. I am excited about that because then we move onto multiplying by 2 digit numbers which is easy because they know all the strategies all ready. It is also a shorter chapter.
Social Studies - We are starting chapter 5 this week. They have been working on vocabulary and we began reading lesson 1 on the Narraganset Native American Tribe in Rhode Island. We are learning their way of life and that they were lead by a Sachem. We will be finishing up lesson 1 tomorrow. This is the last chapter over the Northeast Region. They will be expected to label a map with the Northeast states this time and capitals of those states. Please practice these items at home. We will spend one day at school working on this but it should carry over to home. Sing, sing, sing the song. If your child doesn't have it, it is free on itunes. It is States and Capitals song by Macho Nacho.
Again, I want to thank all of you for the generous gifts given to me and to the classroom. The kids are so excited when you open their gift which puts the biggest smile on my face. I had a great break but am very ready to be back. I hope all of you enjoyed it also.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! Welcome back!! I think students were happy to see each other on Monday. They were a little chatty. They have calmed down and are hard at work now. The students came back and we slipped right back into our routine. I am looking forward to January and all the hard work I get after having a Christmas break. I hope all of you enjoy that your children are back to school. I am happy to see them. I really did miss seeing them over break.
Language Arts - We walked right in and began a new story with spelling words and the whole bit!! The story this week is called The Life and Times of the Ant. It is really kind of interesting because it compares the life of the ant to human life. It compares the jobs of ants to jobs humans do. We learned that ants are the strongest insects and in some instances stronger than humans because they can lift a seed that is 5 times its weight. I tried to compare what 5 times a human's weight is and that you have to really really strong and work out to lift that much. The spelling words this week focus on the final ending in words. This list proved to be quite difficult for students or they were just not ready to dive back into spelling. I am going with it was difficult list. No worries, we learn from it. In grammar this week we discussing participles; present participles, past participles and participle phrases. The first two were pretty easy, the phrases was little more difficult even for me! We discussed decoding this week with suffixes. I tried to walk them through how to separate the suffix from the base word then work with putting the base word into syllables. Tomorrow is our normal assessment day. Remember to have your student go over their spelling words and vocabulary.
Math - We reviewed the standard algorithm, then moved onto to larger numbers. This lesson worked on 3 and 4 digit numbers times a single digit. It also added money amounts. We worked on that for a couple days. Today we will begin talking about multi-step word problems. This will be word problems that require you to work more than one problem. After this lesson we will be reviewing for a test. Next week we will take the test over Chapter 2. I am excited about that because then we move onto multiplying by 2 digit numbers which is easy because they know all the strategies all ready. It is also a shorter chapter.
Social Studies - We are starting chapter 5 this week. They have been working on vocabulary and we began reading lesson 1 on the Narraganset Native American Tribe in Rhode Island. We are learning their way of life and that they were lead by a Sachem. We will be finishing up lesson 1 tomorrow. This is the last chapter over the Northeast Region. They will be expected to label a map with the Northeast states this time and capitals of those states. Please practice these items at home. We will spend one day at school working on this but it should carry over to home. Sing, sing, sing the song. If your child doesn't have it, it is free on itunes. It is States and Capitals song by Macho Nacho.
Again, I want to thank all of you for the generous gifts given to me and to the classroom. The kids are so excited when you open their gift which puts the biggest smile on my face. I had a great break but am very ready to be back. I hope all of you enjoyed it also.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Hello!!
I just wanted to say it is great to be back. I missed seeing your children for 2 weeks!!! I hope everyone is remembering their hats, mittens, boots and winter coats, we are in for a cold spell. It's a lot more fun at recess when we can actually play in the snow.
I would also like to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts!! I loved all of them. I wrote thank you's to the kids but I never know if they hit home or not. I really enjoyed receiving all those items from the snowflakes on the tree, that was fun and nice to add to my room. I received several clipboards to which I am thankful for because I had some students who didn't have the right size or their's broke, so now I can share. I appreciate all of you thinking of me and the classroom during this season. I hope everyone had a great time with family friends over break. I know I enjoyed myself. I read a book, yes just one, only because it was a slow book and I watched a lot of movies with the kids or played games with Molly. I brought out my ancient Monopoly game and we played several times!!
Welcome back and Happy New Year and I look forward to the last half of the year.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
I just wanted to say it is great to be back. I missed seeing your children for 2 weeks!!! I hope everyone is remembering their hats, mittens, boots and winter coats, we are in for a cold spell. It's a lot more fun at recess when we can actually play in the snow.
I would also like to thank everyone for the wonderful gifts!! I loved all of them. I wrote thank you's to the kids but I never know if they hit home or not. I really enjoyed receiving all those items from the snowflakes on the tree, that was fun and nice to add to my room. I received several clipboards to which I am thankful for because I had some students who didn't have the right size or their's broke, so now I can share. I appreciate all of you thinking of me and the classroom during this season. I hope everyone had a great time with family friends over break. I know I enjoyed myself. I read a book, yes just one, only because it was a slow book and I watched a lot of movies with the kids or played games with Molly. I brought out my ancient Monopoly game and we played several times!!
Welcome back and Happy New Year and I look forward to the last half of the year.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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