Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I hope all of you have had a great week! Mine, not so great! Starting out with being sick and gone 2 days was not what I wanted. I hate being gone. I will say, it was almost worth it. When you have 6-9 students tell you they missed or excited you are back, let's you know how much you are appreciated. That was so sweet! You have great kids!
Conferences - The conference sign up went out yesterday!! I hope all of you have seen it. I put it on the blog and sent you an email. There has been a great response so far. Keep it up. I look forward to visiting with you.
Language Arts - This week we read a story called Sacagawea. It is a biography that tells about her life on the Louis and Clark Expedition. It tells about all the things she did that were important to the success of the expedition. We have been going over abbreviations this week in grammar. Pretty much all abbreviations that are out there. Ones we use when addressing someone, mailing address abbreviations, time, measurement, months, days of the week, anything you can think of we have covered this week. We also talked about "shades of meaning". This is looking at synonyms yet realizing there is a difference in the meanings. If I say something is big or I say enormous, you get a different picture of what they may look like. We talked about different words that have different shades of meaning. Tomorrow is assessment day. Study the spelling words and vocab words!!
Math - We have finished lesson 6 in math. It just wanted kids to practice using the three strategies that we have learned. The area box, partial product and regrouping strategies were there choices. I told them to use them equally. We will move on today into lesson 7, which is problem solving and then it is time to get ready for a test. We will be having a test next week!! The next chapter we do will be chapter 13 focusing on area and perimeter, which is short and sweet. Then it is back to the grindstone with division. That will also be a longer process for us. I try to be sure I have everyone understanding before moving forward. So the pace may slow down a little bit.
Social Studies - We are at the end of the chapter!! We will begin the study guide tomorrow, check it on Monday, then test on Tuesday! Which means I will be getting their due dates for their projects out!! I told students today that if they have a Southeast state they need to be researching and not to wait for the due date to start. My plan is to have some due before spring break and then the rest due after. So some will only have a couple weeks to work on it. I will be working on those due dates next week to send home for sure! I have a few pieces of poster board from students that I will work on and have ready for Monday. Old projects will be coming home if they have been hanging in the hall. Some of the poor things have taken a beating! I apologize but it's mainly from kids leaning on them. Also remember since I put the Southeast and Midwest together your child will only be completing 3 projects instead of 4!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thank you for those who donated to the Auction basket. I plan to go shopping on Saturday for items to fill it in! I am excited about the basket theme cause it is right up my alley. If you still want to donate, yesterday was the deadline, but I won't turn anything away today or tomorrow.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Hello Parents,
Here is the link to sign up for Spring Conferences. I have emailed each of you personally but in case your email is not working or you don't get it, here it is again. The slots are 15 minutes long. I tried to put some breaks in to use a catch up time. I also put some time slots in for Tuesday, March 15th to help some of you out. If there are not any of these times that work for you contact me and we will work on something. Thank you!
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0544A5A72CA1FE3-4thgrade1
Have a great day!
Mrs. Sickels
Here is the link to sign up for Spring Conferences. I have emailed each of you personally but in case your email is not working or you don't get it, here it is again. The slots are 15 minutes long. I tried to put some breaks in to use a catch up time. I also put some time slots in for Tuesday, March 15th to help some of you out. If there are not any of these times that work for you contact me and we will work on something. Thank you!
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F0544A5A72CA1FE3-4thgrade1
Have a great day!
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I bet you are tired of my little posts on the blog! Here is the normal weekly one for you!! How about this weather? I hope everyone enjoys today and tomorrow in some way! Who knows how long it will stick around. We had a great professional development on Wednesday! We are learning some great strategies to use in our classrooms. These will help make the kids a lot more engaged in their learning and it gets them up and moving around the room. Just the little I have done to make small changes in my room have great results. I feel kids are more attentive to me. It's learning how to not take advantage of Mrs. Sickels that is the struggle. Being able to do the fun things yet calm back down to focus on the job at hand, is where some have problems. We are working on this. I set timer to get them to regroup or transition to the next thing. It is working tremendously!! If you need something to get your kids to move quicker at home use a timer! They really focus and pick up the pace!
Silent Auction Video! I just want to report it coming along fine. Your kids are being very cooperative! Today, Meg had something come up and was unable to be hear. So the plan is tomorrow the kids need to wear western gear again!! I am okay that they are wearing the same thing each day, just be sure they don't wear it all night too. On Monday, we want kids to wear all St. Malachy shirts or sweatshirts. If your child doesn't have anything let me know as soon as you can and I will help find something for them. We have kids with extras but I have 3 kids with stuff at home. I will share for a day. This should hopefully wrap things up Monday. I can't wait to see the end product. I haven't received many donations! Remember the deadline is next Wednesday, March 24th. No donation is too small!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Harvesting Hope. It is the story of Cesar Chavez and the work he did for the migrant farm workers in California. Their living conditions and pay was really poor. He started a march to the capital to protest. The march took place during a very important time that grapes needed harvested or they rotted. Well, the grapes rotted and because of that things happened and a union was set up for those migrant workers. Conditions were improved. In spelling we worked on words with suffixes this week. They did pretty well as a whole this week. In grammar we talked about independent and dependent clauses. We also read a short story about an "Edible Classroom". It is a classroom that takes place in a garden, kitchen and a classroom. They have to care for the fruits, vegetables and herbs in the garden. They learn to create healthy meals from the garden items and they cook them. I think what a fun experience but it wouldn't work here. Most of the harvest takes place over the summer. The kids were pretty interested in this short story. Tomorrow is the end of week assessment and spelling test!
Math - We have been working on the regrouping strategy or standard algorithm of multiplication this week. Double digits proves to be harder than the single digit. Some are taking a little longer to pick up on it which is just fine. Everyone learns at their own pace and also learn by mistakes. We will work on it again today and tomorrow is a correction day where they will be given back work to correct and I will have some one on one with those who need me. Next week I plan to finish out the chapter. We will then test and move onto to a little bit of geometry. Focusing on Area and perimeter.
Social Studies - We have picked our new states and projects!! I have had to make some changes to how I normally do this due to the amount of kids I have and the lack of time!! Some kids have Southeast state and some have a Midwest state. The Southeast state projects will be due first then those who have the Midwest will be due when we start the Midwest. Please make sure if you need posterboard you are getting it and start working on the project. I will give due dates next week. I may have some due before Spring Break, so let's not wait to begin. After next week I will have an idea of how long I will take on the next chapter. I will then give due dates. I will stress to the kids to make sure they are starting things. We will be finishing up this chapter next week and then testing. We have one more chapter on the Southeast Region. I will keep you posted on how we progress and when due dates are assigned!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Enjoy the sun!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I bet you are tired of my little posts on the blog! Here is the normal weekly one for you!! How about this weather? I hope everyone enjoys today and tomorrow in some way! Who knows how long it will stick around. We had a great professional development on Wednesday! We are learning some great strategies to use in our classrooms. These will help make the kids a lot more engaged in their learning and it gets them up and moving around the room. Just the little I have done to make small changes in my room have great results. I feel kids are more attentive to me. It's learning how to not take advantage of Mrs. Sickels that is the struggle. Being able to do the fun things yet calm back down to focus on the job at hand, is where some have problems. We are working on this. I set timer to get them to regroup or transition to the next thing. It is working tremendously!! If you need something to get your kids to move quicker at home use a timer! They really focus and pick up the pace!
Silent Auction Video! I just want to report it coming along fine. Your kids are being very cooperative! Today, Meg had something come up and was unable to be hear. So the plan is tomorrow the kids need to wear western gear again!! I am okay that they are wearing the same thing each day, just be sure they don't wear it all night too. On Monday, we want kids to wear all St. Malachy shirts or sweatshirts. If your child doesn't have anything let me know as soon as you can and I will help find something for them. We have kids with extras but I have 3 kids with stuff at home. I will share for a day. This should hopefully wrap things up Monday. I can't wait to see the end product. I haven't received many donations! Remember the deadline is next Wednesday, March 24th. No donation is too small!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Harvesting Hope. It is the story of Cesar Chavez and the work he did for the migrant farm workers in California. Their living conditions and pay was really poor. He started a march to the capital to protest. The march took place during a very important time that grapes needed harvested or they rotted. Well, the grapes rotted and because of that things happened and a union was set up for those migrant workers. Conditions were improved. In spelling we worked on words with suffixes this week. They did pretty well as a whole this week. In grammar we talked about independent and dependent clauses. We also read a short story about an "Edible Classroom". It is a classroom that takes place in a garden, kitchen and a classroom. They have to care for the fruits, vegetables and herbs in the garden. They learn to create healthy meals from the garden items and they cook them. I think what a fun experience but it wouldn't work here. Most of the harvest takes place over the summer. The kids were pretty interested in this short story. Tomorrow is the end of week assessment and spelling test!
Math - We have been working on the regrouping strategy or standard algorithm of multiplication this week. Double digits proves to be harder than the single digit. Some are taking a little longer to pick up on it which is just fine. Everyone learns at their own pace and also learn by mistakes. We will work on it again today and tomorrow is a correction day where they will be given back work to correct and I will have some one on one with those who need me. Next week I plan to finish out the chapter. We will then test and move onto to a little bit of geometry. Focusing on Area and perimeter.
Social Studies - We have picked our new states and projects!! I have had to make some changes to how I normally do this due to the amount of kids I have and the lack of time!! Some kids have Southeast state and some have a Midwest state. The Southeast state projects will be due first then those who have the Midwest will be due when we start the Midwest. Please make sure if you need posterboard you are getting it and start working on the project. I will give due dates next week. I may have some due before Spring Break, so let's not wait to begin. After next week I will have an idea of how long I will take on the next chapter. I will then give due dates. I will stress to the kids to make sure they are starting things. We will be finishing up this chapter next week and then testing. We have one more chapter on the Southeast Region. I will keep you posted on how we progress and when due dates are assigned!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! Enjoy the sun!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
Dear Parents,
Just a reminder tomorrow we will be shooting some of the video for our 4th grade silent auction item. Make sure your child wears western wear tomorrow. Also, make sure they have memorized their part to the song. Friday, I sent a sheet home with each of them showing the piece of the song they need to memorize and talked to them about locating western clothing. The song is John Mellancamp, John Deere and John 3:16 by Keith Urban. You can find it on Youtube. I am excite! This will be very fun! I like doing things that have never been done before! This has not! Thanks to the mom's who came up with the idea. Have a great Monday!!
Just a reminder tomorrow we will be shooting some of the video for our 4th grade silent auction item. Make sure your child wears western wear tomorrow. Also, make sure they have memorized their part to the song. Friday, I sent a sheet home with each of them showing the piece of the song they need to memorize and talked to them about locating western clothing. The song is John Mellancamp, John Deere and John 3:16 by Keith Urban. You can find it on Youtube. I am excite! This will be very fun! I like doing things that have never been done before! This has not! Thanks to the mom's who came up with the idea. Have a great Monday!!
Thursday, February 11, 2016
It’s that time of year! We are ready to put together the “Annual
Auction Basket”. We have chosen a theme:
Coffee Lovers Basket!! This basket already
has a couple great donations. We have a
brand new BUNN coffee maker and Keurig single cup coffee maker, one for the “I
need a whole pot of coffee” person and one for the” single cup” person. What a great start!
We are asking for your donations towards this
basket. Just think about anything coffee
and send it our way! If you would rather
give a monetary donation those are appreciated too. We can do the shopping and be sure we have a
good variety of items. Mrs. Sickels has
contacted her nephew who manages a Starbucks asking for a donation from
them. Here are just a few ideas for the
basket: coffee mugs, travel mugs,
filters for the Bunn, filter basket for the Keurig, flavored coffees, K-cups
for Keurig, creamers, hot chocolates for
Keurig, regular coffee, or gift
cards to coffee places in town or Starbucks.
Please have all donations sent to Mrs. Sickels by Wednesday, February
24th. We want plenty of time to shop and
put together the basket.
|
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! I hope all of you are keeping warm! Just a reminder make sure your child is dressed appropriately for school. We will go outside unless the temperatures fall to 0 or below. This does include wind chill. We want them outside playing as much as we can. Some of the students are choosing not to bring boots. This gets them some fresh air but not the chance to run and play. Will you double check that your child is bringing the necessary gear to school, please. Thank you. It is no fun standing on the sidewalk. Please pay special attention to the Auction Basket information in today's folder.
St. Malachy Foundation Auction - The Auction is fast approaching!! It is March 5th. We are preparing a basket to put in the auction. It is a coffee lovers basket. So any item dealing with coffee will be greatly appreciated. There is a flyer in the kids folders talking about it but I will also post a copy of the flyer on my blog following this letter. Our silent auction item this year is a video that will be produced by Meg Haines. She also has a flyer in the folder pertaining to that. Be on the look out for wear for your child. If you don't have any ask to borrow things. I will also add that flyer to my blog with auction basket flyer. Any donations you can give even monetary will be greatly appreciated!!
Language Arts- This week we are reading a FUN story. It is called Hercules' Quest. It tells a very different story from the movie. Hercules' mom is jealous of his relationship with his father. She feels Zeus is giving more attention to their son and not her, so she tricks Hercules' into using his strength for the wrong reasons. Hercules' is then sent to Earth to prove himself. His goal is to earn his place on Mount Olympus. He is given 3 impossible tasks to do to prove himself. He accomplishes them and earns his place. I usually show the movie to the kids for fun so they can see the difference in the two. Since we had the field trip Tuesday we are kind of out of time. I may show it Friday during the Valentine Party, I will give them the choice. We talked quickly about prepositions and prepositional phrases this week in grammar. We also read another short story about Zomo the Rabbit and how he doesn't have friends. By the end he gains friends. This is a great story. Ask you child about it. They may have learned a few things about friendship.
Math - This week we have moved onto learning the partial product strategy of multiplication. This is the same as the area box strategy without the box. Some are finding they still need the box to help guide them. We will be moving onto the regrouping strategy which is the standard algorithm we learned growing up. I was asked which is most commonly used. I would say in my eyes the regrouping is most commonly used only because it used to be the only strategy taught. If you ask which one should be most commonly used it is the strategy we are learning right now. It helps them see what exactly they are doing. It shows each step. I have taught this strategy for many years. Probably for at least 10 of my 18 years. I use it more than the standard algorithm. Our kids having so many different ways to find answers helps them to choose the strategy which is the best fit for them.
Social Studies- We are will be discussing elevation maps tomorrow. I will show them some examples of elevation maps. We will practice our knowledge of reading them. We talk about how to show elevation on maps when they are not printed in color. We mainly focus on maps of color when talking about shading but not all maps can be printed that way, like our worksheet. So I discuss how that works. We just finished talking about the land and how it is made up. We learned about the Inner and Outer Coastal Plains, Piedmont region, Appalachain Mountains, and the Fall Line. Next week we will focus on the climate of the region. The average temperatures and precipitation. I always compare the region we are discussing to our region. I compare their land to ours, their climate to ours. I want them to recognize how it is the same or how it is different from where we live. We will take considerable about Hurricanes and Hurricane season, since this is something we personally are not familiar with, kids have a lot of interest in it. We talk about the destruction they cause. I try to compare to tornadoes here.
Valentine's Party - We will be celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow at 2:00. Danica is supplying the treats since her birthday is on Valentine's Day. Daniel is supplying our drinks. We will pass out our valentines to one another and open them. I do not allow them to eat any candy because they are getting a snack. All the candy items will come home in their valentine bag. We may watch Hercules during this time also. It usually takes a while to pass out valentines when there are so many kids in the class. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. We will be spending our weekend in Ames because Molly has a dance competition. I hope the weather stays good for everyone. Next week is finally a normal week of school!! Oh Wait!! We have a teacher inservice on Wednesday! So NO School! So I guess not a normal week! I am ready to have a normal week and I think the students are too. Missing too much school throws kids way off track. I think everyone is off track due to the crazy weeks we have had. I am ready for it to calm down.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! I hope all of you are keeping warm! Just a reminder make sure your child is dressed appropriately for school. We will go outside unless the temperatures fall to 0 or below. This does include wind chill. We want them outside playing as much as we can. Some of the students are choosing not to bring boots. This gets them some fresh air but not the chance to run and play. Will you double check that your child is bringing the necessary gear to school, please. Thank you. It is no fun standing on the sidewalk. Please pay special attention to the Auction Basket information in today's folder.
St. Malachy Foundation Auction - The Auction is fast approaching!! It is March 5th. We are preparing a basket to put in the auction. It is a coffee lovers basket. So any item dealing with coffee will be greatly appreciated. There is a flyer in the kids folders talking about it but I will also post a copy of the flyer on my blog following this letter. Our silent auction item this year is a video that will be produced by Meg Haines. She also has a flyer in the folder pertaining to that. Be on the look out for wear for your child. If you don't have any ask to borrow things. I will also add that flyer to my blog with auction basket flyer. Any donations you can give even monetary will be greatly appreciated!!
Language Arts- This week we are reading a FUN story. It is called Hercules' Quest. It tells a very different story from the movie. Hercules' mom is jealous of his relationship with his father. She feels Zeus is giving more attention to their son and not her, so she tricks Hercules' into using his strength for the wrong reasons. Hercules' is then sent to Earth to prove himself. His goal is to earn his place on Mount Olympus. He is given 3 impossible tasks to do to prove himself. He accomplishes them and earns his place. I usually show the movie to the kids for fun so they can see the difference in the two. Since we had the field trip Tuesday we are kind of out of time. I may show it Friday during the Valentine Party, I will give them the choice. We talked quickly about prepositions and prepositional phrases this week in grammar. We also read another short story about Zomo the Rabbit and how he doesn't have friends. By the end he gains friends. This is a great story. Ask you child about it. They may have learned a few things about friendship.
Math - This week we have moved onto learning the partial product strategy of multiplication. This is the same as the area box strategy without the box. Some are finding they still need the box to help guide them. We will be moving onto the regrouping strategy which is the standard algorithm we learned growing up. I was asked which is most commonly used. I would say in my eyes the regrouping is most commonly used only because it used to be the only strategy taught. If you ask which one should be most commonly used it is the strategy we are learning right now. It helps them see what exactly they are doing. It shows each step. I have taught this strategy for many years. Probably for at least 10 of my 18 years. I use it more than the standard algorithm. Our kids having so many different ways to find answers helps them to choose the strategy which is the best fit for them.
Social Studies- We are will be discussing elevation maps tomorrow. I will show them some examples of elevation maps. We will practice our knowledge of reading them. We talk about how to show elevation on maps when they are not printed in color. We mainly focus on maps of color when talking about shading but not all maps can be printed that way, like our worksheet. So I discuss how that works. We just finished talking about the land and how it is made up. We learned about the Inner and Outer Coastal Plains, Piedmont region, Appalachain Mountains, and the Fall Line. Next week we will focus on the climate of the region. The average temperatures and precipitation. I always compare the region we are discussing to our region. I compare their land to ours, their climate to ours. I want them to recognize how it is the same or how it is different from where we live. We will take considerable about Hurricanes and Hurricane season, since this is something we personally are not familiar with, kids have a lot of interest in it. We talk about the destruction they cause. I try to compare to tornadoes here.
Valentine's Party - We will be celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow at 2:00. Danica is supplying the treats since her birthday is on Valentine's Day. Daniel is supplying our drinks. We will pass out our valentines to one another and open them. I do not allow them to eat any candy because they are getting a snack. All the candy items will come home in their valentine bag. We may watch Hercules during this time also. It usually takes a while to pass out valentines when there are so many kids in the class. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. We will be spending our weekend in Ames because Molly has a dance competition. I hope the weather stays good for everyone. Next week is finally a normal week of school!! Oh Wait!! We have a teacher inservice on Wednesday! So NO School! So I guess not a normal week! I am ready to have a normal week and I think the students are too. Missing too much school throws kids way off track. I think everyone is off track due to the crazy weeks we have had. I am ready for it to calm down.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Well, we got our "Snow Day" this week! I guess pajama day was meant to be pajama day at home. I know some kids are disappointed that they couldn't wear them to school. This is a very busy week! We are enjoying all the fun! I am trying to get photos everyday! If you are not friends with me on Facebook, make it happen because I am posting all pictures there. The St. Malachy page always shares the photos from the day too. This year I feel we have prepared some great activities. The Living Rosary we will be doing on Friday morning, very cool! It is great we are celebrating our Catholic Identity this week. We also included service, by making Valentine's Day cards for servicemen and women and the nursing home! Tomorrow is our dress up day so we look nice for our Grandparents or special guests. WOW what a fabulous week. We have still been working like we normally do just with sprinkles of fun. Valentine's Day is next week!
Valentine's Day Celebration - We will hold our Valentine's Day celebration next Friday the 12th at 2:00. Please be sure your student has a valentine card for everyone in the room. Don't forget Mrs. Thomas!! I am looking for someone to supply a drink and/or a snack for our party. If you are interested please email me, send a text, or send a note. Amy Starlin and Polly Luther have donated for past parties. If your child has candy with their Valentine's cards that is fine but I don't allow them to eat any candy here. We have a snack and a drink so I feel we don't need anymore sugar than that. They will decorate a bag here at school to put their Valentines in and bring them home.
Language Arts - This week we read a story called The Right Dog For the Job. It is a nonfictional story about what a dog goes through to become a service dog. It talks about the training form when it is born to when it gets its first assignment. It is quite incredible the things they teach them. I am not sure the kids are very interested in this story but I was. I learned quite a bit about how the hard work that goes into training a dog. I also felt sad because different people have different roles in the training so the poor dog doesn't have a place to call home for a while. Once it gets used to one place they move on. Grammar this week we have talked about Adverbs. The students learned adverbs describe a verb and answer the questions HOW, WHEN, WHERE. Remember tomorrow is a test day. Be sure your child is looking over their vocabulary words and spelling words.
Math - We haven't had a ton of time for Math this week. We finished up using area boxes to multiply numbers. I heard many kids say they like this strategy. I also love this strategy. I feel they can see their math at work here. They have an understanding of what numbers they are multiplying together. Next lesson is partial product which is same thing as area box just without the picture. So, There is no need to draw the picture. I Iike showing them the connection between the two strategies. Partial Product is a strategy I choose to use over the standard algorithm. Other adults have seen me use this strategy and ask what I am doing. We will start that strategy next week. This chapter is moving along very smoothly.
Social Studies - I apologize, I am not going to get to projects this week. This week is a little busy. Next week I will fit it in for sure! We started a new chapter this week. They are back to doing vocabulary words in a packet this week. They have a lot less vocabulary words this chapter. They are happy about that. Our first lesson begins talking about the geography of the Southeast. The Inner and Outer Coastal Plains, the Piedmont area, Appalachain Mountains, and the Fall Line. They will finish the first lesson tomorrow.
Iowa Energy Game- Here is some information about the field trip.
I hope everyone has enjoyed this week! Next week we have a fun week too! On Monday, the 4th graders will be making donuts for the entire school to celebrate Fat Tuesday. Yes, I know it's the day before but that is due to the school field trip on Tuesday to Iowa Energy. The student body would be highly disappointed if they didn't get donuts and the 4th grade would too. So donuts Monday and field trip on Tuesday! Another fun week ! (or at least the beginning of the week is fun.) Have a great weekend!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Well, we got our "Snow Day" this week! I guess pajama day was meant to be pajama day at home. I know some kids are disappointed that they couldn't wear them to school. This is a very busy week! We are enjoying all the fun! I am trying to get photos everyday! If you are not friends with me on Facebook, make it happen because I am posting all pictures there. The St. Malachy page always shares the photos from the day too. This year I feel we have prepared some great activities. The Living Rosary we will be doing on Friday morning, very cool! It is great we are celebrating our Catholic Identity this week. We also included service, by making Valentine's Day cards for servicemen and women and the nursing home! Tomorrow is our dress up day so we look nice for our Grandparents or special guests. WOW what a fabulous week. We have still been working like we normally do just with sprinkles of fun. Valentine's Day is next week!
Valentine's Day Celebration - We will hold our Valentine's Day celebration next Friday the 12th at 2:00. Please be sure your student has a valentine card for everyone in the room. Don't forget Mrs. Thomas!! I am looking for someone to supply a drink and/or a snack for our party. If you are interested please email me, send a text, or send a note. Amy Starlin and Polly Luther have donated for past parties. If your child has candy with their Valentine's cards that is fine but I don't allow them to eat any candy here. We have a snack and a drink so I feel we don't need anymore sugar than that. They will decorate a bag here at school to put their Valentines in and bring them home.
Language Arts - This week we read a story called The Right Dog For the Job. It is a nonfictional story about what a dog goes through to become a service dog. It talks about the training form when it is born to when it gets its first assignment. It is quite incredible the things they teach them. I am not sure the kids are very interested in this story but I was. I learned quite a bit about how the hard work that goes into training a dog. I also felt sad because different people have different roles in the training so the poor dog doesn't have a place to call home for a while. Once it gets used to one place they move on. Grammar this week we have talked about Adverbs. The students learned adverbs describe a verb and answer the questions HOW, WHEN, WHERE. Remember tomorrow is a test day. Be sure your child is looking over their vocabulary words and spelling words.
Math - We haven't had a ton of time for Math this week. We finished up using area boxes to multiply numbers. I heard many kids say they like this strategy. I also love this strategy. I feel they can see their math at work here. They have an understanding of what numbers they are multiplying together. Next lesson is partial product which is same thing as area box just without the picture. So, There is no need to draw the picture. I Iike showing them the connection between the two strategies. Partial Product is a strategy I choose to use over the standard algorithm. Other adults have seen me use this strategy and ask what I am doing. We will start that strategy next week. This chapter is moving along very smoothly.
Social Studies - I apologize, I am not going to get to projects this week. This week is a little busy. Next week I will fit it in for sure! We started a new chapter this week. They are back to doing vocabulary words in a packet this week. They have a lot less vocabulary words this chapter. They are happy about that. Our first lesson begins talking about the geography of the Southeast. The Inner and Outer Coastal Plains, the Piedmont area, Appalachain Mountains, and the Fall Line. They will finish the first lesson tomorrow.
Iowa Energy Game- Here is some information about the field trip.
Tuesday, February 9th
Buses leave at 8:30 am
Buses will back by 2:45 pm
*Wear St. Malachy Gear
*All students will ride on the bus to the event.
*Students may leave with their parents. Students MUST check in with their teacher prior to leaving.
*School lunch is provided
*We will not be purchasing from the concession stands.
*Students should never be without an adult for any reason.
*If you child is not riding the bus home please contact the office by Monday at 3pm to let the school know their travel arrangements.I hope everyone has enjoyed this week! Next week we have a fun week too! On Monday, the 4th graders will be making donuts for the entire school to celebrate Fat Tuesday. Yes, I know it's the day before but that is due to the school field trip on Tuesday to Iowa Energy. The student body would be highly disappointed if they didn't get donuts and the 4th grade would too. So donuts Monday and field trip on Tuesday! Another fun week ! (or at least the beginning of the week is fun.) Have a great weekend!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)