Dear Parents,
      Happy Thursday!!  Wow, I can tell Christmas is coming!  This is a very busy time of the year at school and at home.  I can see it in the kids in many ways.  Mainly I hear all the talking they are doing.  They are having a very difficult time holding in their conversations.  I know it is the excitement of the time of year and I am trying to be patient.  We have lots of things going on these next couple of weeks!  I hope we can keep everything straight!

Geography Bee -  The finals for the Geography Bee will take place Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 10:30 in the gym.  All parents of finalists are invited to watch.  All students 3-8 grade will be present to watch and cheer on their classmates.

Spirit Day/Sack Lunch -  On Friday, Dec. 16th we have a spirit day.  Students can pay their dollar to wear sweats, just like all other Spirit Days.  This is also an optional sack lunch day.  You can bring your own lunch or eat what is provided by the lunchroom.

Food Pantry -  All Food Pantry donations are due on Friday, Dec. 16th.  Our class has been asked to bring in shaving cream and Q-tips.  Next time you are at the store and think about it pick up an item and bring it in.  Dollar Tree is a great place to get these items.  Once a month these items are handed out at the Food Pantry for those who need a little extra help.  We thank you for all your donations.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a fun story called The Earth Dragon Awakes.  This story is historical fiction and is about the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.  Maybe you could google some pictures and real articles from this earthquake to share with your child.  I feel it is an interesting story due to the story line.  A family of 2 is in a tenement building that crumbles down floor by floor.  This gives it kind of suspenseful tone.  We have worked with possessive nouns this week for grammar.  Nouns that show ownership.  They use apostrophes.  We covered singular and plural possessive nouns.  We also talked about synonyms.  Remember to study for the end of week assessment and the spelling post test!

Math- We covered lesson 3 today which is using Area Box strategy to multiply.  They seem to find this strategy fun and caught on to it pretty quickly.  I love this strategy because I am a visual learner and I totally understand exactly what I am doing.  Yes, this strategy may take a little bit more time but if a student is struggling with a problem sometimes this is the one they go back to because they do understand it best.  We are doing a great job working through chapter 3.  I am still praying we can finish it and test over it by Christmas break, but I am not sure we will get it done.  We are working hard but sometimes things get in the way and we go with the flow.  If we hit a strategy they don't get I will also slow down and spend more time on it so they really catch on.  So far we haven't had to do that!  

Social Studies - We chose states and projects today.  The students can begin their research!  I will send home due dates next week!  The due dates will begin after Christmas Break.  If they chose cake, or quarter they will have one of the first due dates.  I schedule 2 projects due a day. We share then move on to our work in the book so class is not put completely on hold.  This is when our class gets really fun for the kids.  It quickly becomes their favorite subject!

I hope all of you have a great weekend!  I am shoppping!  Pray for me!!  I am not a good shopper!  I like doing it from home on Amazon!  Sometimes you just have to go to the store though!!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels