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
Thursday, September 29, 2016
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
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