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