Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Welcome back from Spring Break! I hope all of you had a nice relaxing break whether you traveled or stayed at home. I had a great time with my kids and spent time with family! We also got some important things accomplished like graduation invites made and ordered! Graduation is coming quickly for me! Too quickly! The kids are back and all full of energy! I am happy to be back. When I saw kids at church on Sunday I realized I missed them. I was happy to be back. My lack of sleep is catching up with me now and I feel like I need a day to sleep! Track meets started this week also! UGH!
Language Arts - This week we jumped right into story #3 in our book. It is called The Ever-Living Tree. This is a story about the giant redwood trees or "Sequoia's" in California. It tells a story of the tree from the time it sprouted from the seed to the day it finally fell over. It talks about the importance of these trees and shows it's lifespan by showing things that were happening all over the world while the tree was growing. The kids even felt that it was sad when the tree fell. In grammar this week we have been working on ending punctuation, quotation marks, and punctuation marks for effect (elipse ..., exclamation points(!) and dash). Tomorrow is our end of the week testing! Please be sure to study vocabulary words and spelling tonight.
Math - We are working on Area this week in math. We will finish up that this week and move on to finding area of combined rectangles and then finding unknown measures. These to lessons will be the most challenging in this unit and the last two lessons we will have. Then we will take a short test over these skills. Next up division!! I think the students have had a lot of fun with perimeter and area! I know I have.
Social Studies - This week we started working on lesson 3 which is covering the Civil War. I used a new strategy on the kids that I have learned during professional development it is called Mark it, Explain it, understand it. I gave them a couple paragraphs on paper that they could read and mark all over. They picked out important words or phrases then jotted down notes about them. They found it so fun to mark all over a paper. Then they got into partners and shared what they marked up and then on poster size, they combined their thoughts. All their highlights and marks were put on the big one. I have those posters hanging around the room and they compared things that were the same on all posters. It is an activity that requires the kids to be up around the room and discussing. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I like this activity. They were learning that slavery played a role in the start of the Civil War but also the argument of who had more control the Federal Government or the State government over the states. This is a topic that they will need to know for the test. These discussions help with their understanding of the topic.
Thank you for all meeting with me for conferences. I am always happy to talk about what is going on with your child. These next 2 months will be full of work. We will keep plugging away at all the things we need to learn before 5th grade. Hard to believe we are at this point all ready. This really is great class. Be proud of them. I know I am.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
I just wanted to say
Thank You
for all those parents who
meant with me yesterday for
conferences!
It was great to meet with all of you! I can't believe the year is about over. Two more months of hard work in 4th grade! Thanks for sharing your child with me. I am truly enjoying all of them.
I hope all of you have a very relaxing and safe Spring Break!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Wow, what a great week this week! The weather has really spoiled us! I pray no more cold weather! The kids are really enjoying their time outside also. Most of us would like to spending some time outside!!
Language Arts - This week we read a fiction story, called The World According to Humphrey. It was a fantasy story that taught us a lesson. The family always watched TV or listened to the radio. They always had noise in their house. Everyone had to speak real loud to be heard. They even ate supper in front of the TV. A hamster comes home with one of the kids for the weekend. He is a class pet that they take turn taking home on weekends to care for. The Hamster unplugs the TV because he sees the wrong in all this. It causes the family to play games and go outside. When the parents discover the TV was just unplugged they leave it that way. The Hamster actually teaches the family a lesson. The story is told in the point of view of Humphrey the Hamster which is why it is fantasy. Everyone seemed to like the story. We have talked about comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs this week in grammar. Please remember to study spelling words and vocab tonight for end of week assessment.
Math - We finished up chapter 3 this week. They have taken the test and made corrections. I will get the tests back when all kids have completed corrections. I have a couple still working. I am pleased with how the students did. I now know they can have chosen a strategy they are comfortable with and can multiply. We worked on introducing chapter 13 yesterday. We will cover the first lesson today over perimeter. I hope the students have fun with this chapter. It is a little lighter than what we have done so far this year.
Social Studies - We had our first project today! It was a food project on South Carolina. It was a very good project. The foods are very interesting. We samples a form of BBQ from there. South Carolina claims to be the state that introduced BBQ. We are working on vocabulary words for this chapter. We only have one more left. We are ready to read lesson 2 on the History of the South. We will touch on many things the Civil War included. Projects over the Southeast are continually due up until Spring Break. I will be handing out the due dates to the Midwest also.
Friday, March 11th Lunch - Just an explanation of what you see on the menu for Friday. This is a day where we are allowing kids to bring in sack lunches but ONLY if they choose to do so. We will still be serving tomato soup and grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches, but you have the option of bringing in your own lunch tomorrow. Keep in mind it is still Lent and they should still follow the no meat rule. Unless you are not Catholic. Ala Carte will only be available to those who choose to eat the school lunch on Friday. I explained all this to the kids today but I wanted you to know they do NOT have to bring in a sack lunch tomorrow. It is not necessary that you run out and buy them a lunch.
Friday, Cross Walk - We will be taking our pilgrimage to the church tomorrow afternoon. WE will gather in the courtyard at 12:45 to begin our stations of the Cross Walk. Station one will take place here, station 2 at Old Market, station 3 at Coen's Furniture, station 4 at Carter Agency, and station 5 at Maple Street Memories. We will then proceed to the church and finish the stations in the Church. When we are finished we will walk back to school. The entire school will walk as a whole to and from the church. All family or friends are welcome to join us in our pilgrimage. At each place the kids will receive a symbol of the station. Please keep in mind we only have enough items for all the students, not for special guests. Come join in the fun!
I hope all of you have a great "rainy" weekend!! We all better enjoy the next two days since it looks like rain over the weekend. I also wish everyone who is traveling over Spring Break a very safe trip! We are heading to Dallas to my cousin's house then on to Port O'Conner Texas, which is on the Gulf north of Padre. This is the first time we have traveled so far. I guess when your kids are Seniors you want to enjoy every last chance you get!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Wow, what a great week this week! The weather has really spoiled us! I pray no more cold weather! The kids are really enjoying their time outside also. Most of us would like to spending some time outside!!
Language Arts - This week we read a fiction story, called The World According to Humphrey. It was a fantasy story that taught us a lesson. The family always watched TV or listened to the radio. They always had noise in their house. Everyone had to speak real loud to be heard. They even ate supper in front of the TV. A hamster comes home with one of the kids for the weekend. He is a class pet that they take turn taking home on weekends to care for. The Hamster unplugs the TV because he sees the wrong in all this. It causes the family to play games and go outside. When the parents discover the TV was just unplugged they leave it that way. The Hamster actually teaches the family a lesson. The story is told in the point of view of Humphrey the Hamster which is why it is fantasy. Everyone seemed to like the story. We have talked about comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs this week in grammar. Please remember to study spelling words and vocab tonight for end of week assessment.
Math - We finished up chapter 3 this week. They have taken the test and made corrections. I will get the tests back when all kids have completed corrections. I have a couple still working. I am pleased with how the students did. I now know they can have chosen a strategy they are comfortable with and can multiply. We worked on introducing chapter 13 yesterday. We will cover the first lesson today over perimeter. I hope the students have fun with this chapter. It is a little lighter than what we have done so far this year.
Social Studies - We had our first project today! It was a food project on South Carolina. It was a very good project. The foods are very interesting. We samples a form of BBQ from there. South Carolina claims to be the state that introduced BBQ. We are working on vocabulary words for this chapter. We only have one more left. We are ready to read lesson 2 on the History of the South. We will touch on many things the Civil War included. Projects over the Southeast are continually due up until Spring Break. I will be handing out the due dates to the Midwest also.
Friday, March 11th Lunch - Just an explanation of what you see on the menu for Friday. This is a day where we are allowing kids to bring in sack lunches but ONLY if they choose to do so. We will still be serving tomato soup and grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches, but you have the option of bringing in your own lunch tomorrow. Keep in mind it is still Lent and they should still follow the no meat rule. Unless you are not Catholic. Ala Carte will only be available to those who choose to eat the school lunch on Friday. I explained all this to the kids today but I wanted you to know they do NOT have to bring in a sack lunch tomorrow. It is not necessary that you run out and buy them a lunch.
Friday, Cross Walk - We will be taking our pilgrimage to the church tomorrow afternoon. WE will gather in the courtyard at 12:45 to begin our stations of the Cross Walk. Station one will take place here, station 2 at Old Market, station 3 at Coen's Furniture, station 4 at Carter Agency, and station 5 at Maple Street Memories. We will then proceed to the church and finish the stations in the Church. When we are finished we will walk back to school. The entire school will walk as a whole to and from the church. All family or friends are welcome to join us in our pilgrimage. At each place the kids will receive a symbol of the station. Please keep in mind we only have enough items for all the students, not for special guests. Come join in the fun!
I hope all of you have a great "rainy" weekend!! We all better enjoy the next two days since it looks like rain over the weekend. I also wish everyone who is traveling over Spring Break a very safe trip! We are heading to Dallas to my cousin's house then on to Port O'Conner Texas, which is on the Gulf north of Padre. This is the first time we have traveled so far. I guess when your kids are Seniors you want to enjoy every last chance you get!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Today is an exciting day! We have Pat McManus with Rockin' Prevention here for the afternoon. This is a rock band that uses music to teach kids about bully prevention and preventing use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. There are 15 high school kids who volunteered to come and help with the program. The 4th grade seems a little excited about it! I hope they come home and have lots to say! This program was sponsored by our very own PTO!!
Language Arts - This week has been a Unit test week. We are also sharing the book reports the students have. I am also using this week as a "catch all" week. I have had so many kids absent of Fridays that we are trying to make up tests. We made up the spelling tests all ready, I am trying to catch them up on end of week assessments. We are doing more DEAR time and read aloud this week also. The kids are totally loving me reading Harry Potter to them. I am sure it helps that I absolutely love reading them to the kids! Next week we will go back to reading a story and having spelling tests. We are heading into unit 5 which is the last unit in this book. Then we will pick up the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and read it together and use the skills and strategies we have learned with this book. I all ready have activities and things to do with it. That will take us up to the end of the year! Crazy thought!!
Math - We are working on taking a test over chapter 3 right now. We started it today and will finish it tomorrow. Monday we will spend class making corrections. Next week we will skip to the back and cover chapter 13. It is a quick chapter because it has few lessons in it and not sure I cover all of them. We focus on Perimeter and Area. So I am covering a little bit of the geometry I need to cover. It is really kind of a fun chapter plus if they understand area box they all ready know area!! This chapter is a good breather between such heavy topics. Plus area deals with multiplication. The next heavy topic is division!!!
Social Studies - We took a test this week and worked on corrections over chapter 6! I was very impressed, we had 6 perfect papers AND several that missed one or two! I would say this is a very successful chapter!! Most of them did an awesome job labeling the map with the states of the region. Those who struggled have another opportunity on the next chapter test to redeem themselves. For the next test they will have to list the capitals also. In this chapter we will talk about the Cherokee who had their homes in the Southeast,we will talk about Charleston, South Carolina and how the Civil War started there and why, we will also discuss cities of the Southeast and how they are still growing. The Midwest is next. Please be sure to pay attention to your child's social studies project and when it is due. IF they have a Southeast state they have due dates if it is part of the Midwest, it will definitely be after Spring Break and I will get those dates out soon.
Thank you very much for the donations that were given to our Auction Basket and thank yo to Meg Haines for Producing the music video for our Silent Auction item. The kids watched the video today and loved it! The basket I feel is a very nice one!! Hope to see you at the dinner and auction Saturday night!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Today is an exciting day! We have Pat McManus with Rockin' Prevention here for the afternoon. This is a rock band that uses music to teach kids about bully prevention and preventing use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. There are 15 high school kids who volunteered to come and help with the program. The 4th grade seems a little excited about it! I hope they come home and have lots to say! This program was sponsored by our very own PTO!!
Language Arts - This week has been a Unit test week. We are also sharing the book reports the students have. I am also using this week as a "catch all" week. I have had so many kids absent of Fridays that we are trying to make up tests. We made up the spelling tests all ready, I am trying to catch them up on end of week assessments. We are doing more DEAR time and read aloud this week also. The kids are totally loving me reading Harry Potter to them. I am sure it helps that I absolutely love reading them to the kids! Next week we will go back to reading a story and having spelling tests. We are heading into unit 5 which is the last unit in this book. Then we will pick up the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and read it together and use the skills and strategies we have learned with this book. I all ready have activities and things to do with it. That will take us up to the end of the year! Crazy thought!!
Math - We are working on taking a test over chapter 3 right now. We started it today and will finish it tomorrow. Monday we will spend class making corrections. Next week we will skip to the back and cover chapter 13. It is a quick chapter because it has few lessons in it and not sure I cover all of them. We focus on Perimeter and Area. So I am covering a little bit of the geometry I need to cover. It is really kind of a fun chapter plus if they understand area box they all ready know area!! This chapter is a good breather between such heavy topics. Plus area deals with multiplication. The next heavy topic is division!!!
Social Studies - We took a test this week and worked on corrections over chapter 6! I was very impressed, we had 6 perfect papers AND several that missed one or two! I would say this is a very successful chapter!! Most of them did an awesome job labeling the map with the states of the region. Those who struggled have another opportunity on the next chapter test to redeem themselves. For the next test they will have to list the capitals also. In this chapter we will talk about the Cherokee who had their homes in the Southeast,we will talk about Charleston, South Carolina and how the Civil War started there and why, we will also discuss cities of the Southeast and how they are still growing. The Midwest is next. Please be sure to pay attention to your child's social studies project and when it is due. IF they have a Southeast state they have due dates if it is part of the Midwest, it will definitely be after Spring Break and I will get those dates out soon.
Thank you very much for the donations that were given to our Auction Basket and thank yo to Meg Haines for Producing the music video for our Silent Auction item. The kids watched the video today and loved it! The basket I feel is a very nice one!! Hope to see you at the dinner and auction Saturday night!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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