Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  It is our last Thursday before Christmas break!   We have had a fun week.  Today we have had a day of Christmas Celebration.  We began our day with PE and then came back to the room and did some house cleaning.  They cleaned our desks and expanded files.  They took everything out of their desks and even cleaned inside with clorox wipes.  We rearranged desks ready to go for the new year.  We then got to play games and enjoy each others company.  This afternoon we watched a movie with 3rd and 5th grade to celebrate with our whole grade band.  It has been a very nice day and really for the most part they have behaved appropriately.

Thank you!  

I would like to thank all of you for the wonderful Christmas gifts you have given to me and to the classroom.  I love them all.  The kids know me so well!  It is so nice of them to think of me.

Thank you!  

We would also like to extend a huge thank you to our homeroom mom, Calista Purdum,  for supplying us with treats today.  She gave us a couple different snacks, a drink and a saran wrap ball with candy bars in it for the kids to unwrap.  They sat in a circle and unwrapped until a candy bar fell our then passed it on to the next person.  It was a fun game.  We appreciate all you have done so far this year, Callie!  Thank you!

Language Arts 

 This week we had cuddle up and read day, and I assigned the students a new book report.  The report is not due until February 5th so they have plenty of time to work on it.  This one is a Character Sketch book.  They can work on these pages at school.  I require them to read the entire book first then they can come to me for a rubric to help them put their project together.  When we return from Christmas break we will spend Wednesday through Friday getting geared back up for routine!  We will do a writing project that will deal with Christmas break.  Then the following week will do the week 15 story, and the following week will be Unit 3 test week.  What a way to begin the new year!  I hope everyone gets to read a good book over break!  I will be reading The Lilac Girls for book club.  

Math

 We will come back and dig right into chapter 3 in Math.  This chapter is on double-digit multiplication.  We are taking some of the same strategies from chapter 2 and applying them to double digits.  We will work hard on this chapter since it is a shorter chapter for us.  

Social Studies 

 We have one more lesson in this chapter then we will have a chapter test.  This will be in the first two weeks of our return from break.  We are going to have quite a busy time when we get back.  

I hope everyone enjoys their break!  Read a good book and get some rest.  I am very excited to spend the time with all my girls!  We end up staying up late and sleeping in every day.  Not a good routine but it is fun!  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!! Boy, can you tell it is close to Christmas because I sure can!!  This class is just very chatty and sometimes can't stay in their seats.  We are working on it.  I am keeping them busy.  I have even told them I could give them more to keep them busy.  Tomorrow is the last day to bring items for the Food Pantry.  When I look at it we don't have too much down there.  We could use some toilet paper and toothpaste and I know toothpaste an item they really wanted.  They have trouble keeping it in stock.  Thank again for any donation you are able to give.

Language Arts -  This week they are reading a story called The Life and Times of the Ant.  It is an informational piece about ants and how they live.  It gives lots of information about the ants working together, their jobs, the chambers in an ant hill, and food.  I find it interesting .  Some of the students found it more interesting than others.  This week in grammar we have talked about present and past participles and participle phrases.  These are adjectives ending in -ing and -ed.  Great lesson to follow two weeks worth of spelling lists on words ending in -ing and -ed.  I have put this week's words on Quizlet so they can study them on computer.  Tomorrow will be the regular end of the week testing.

Language Arts Next Week -  I am not going on to do a story next week.  I plan to have some other activities.  One of the activities will take place Monday.  I usually do it during the week of Thanksgiving but it didn't work this year.  Monday will be cuddle up and read day.  The students are allowed to bring a blanket, pillow and a stuffed animal to school that day.  They can bring one thing or all three whatever they want.  We will spend out language arts times cuddled up on the floor reading the whole time.  We will read from 9:00 - 10:15.  It is an easy 75 minutes for book it this month. Plus I like to celebrate the joy of reading.  Tuesday they will be assigned their next book report.  This report will appeal to the artists in the room.  I will go over all the directions on Tuesday and they will then need to begin picking a book for the project.  I will stress a book with a strong character.  We will also do a writing project here at school that week.  This gets them out of the book and doing some other fun educational activities.  It is best to do this on this week because they are all so excited for Christmas break!

Math - The students finished chapter 2 this week.  They took a test made corrections and we have begun work in chapter 3.  We will do the introductory pages and the firs lesson.  Then depending on the students I will take the time to teach them to play Suduko.  I love to do Suduko puzzles.  I have an app on my phone that I do a daily challenge and then there are just other puzzles to do.  Some may all ready know but to some it may be new.  I also have some Christmas Math pictures they will do next week.  I deals with chart and graph skills or plotting points.  They will get specific instructions on how to color in some boxes.  If they don't locate the correct boxes their picture will be wrong.  It is just a fun Christmas item to do.  If they can't handle the fun activities then we will go back and work hard on the chapter.  This chapter will flow pretty easily because it is stuff they all ready know it is just applying it to double-digit multiplication.

Social Studies -  This week we have focused on timelines.  We learned what a vertical timeline was and created a vertical timeline on their lives.  They could pick 10 important events in their lives to place on their timeline.  One day we worked on a list of events and the students were to go home and ask about dates, then the next day I showed them how to create it and they worked on it  in class.  Today they shared their timelines with the whole class by presenting them.  There is a specific standard on reading and creating timelines.  I feel they all understood and mastered it.  We will have another map test tomorrow on the Northeast Region.  Please be sure your children are studying the maps so they can do well.  They also are working on their last state of the Northeast for their interactive notebooks.    We will be getting back into the book to finish the 2nd chapter on the Northeast.  We will finish up and test after Christmas.  Then we move on to the Southeast Region and do all the same activities.

December 21, 2017 - We will have a very busy day celebrating Christmas this day.  I plan to finish anything that needs finishing in the morning in case their is a subject that I need to kind of put an end to before break.  Then we will begin our Christmas Party.  I ask that the kids bring a board game from home that they love to play.  I don't have a ton of games in my room so if they want to bring something that I do not have they can.  We will spend some time game playing games with each other and enjoying a snack provided by our homeroom mom.  They eat lunch with their advent angels that day so they need a sack lunch.  We will have caroling in the gym right after that.  Then the afternoon will be spent watching a fun movie with 3rd and 5th graders.   You are welcome to join your child for any part of this day.  You can join in when we play games or sing carols or the movie i the afternoon.  I feel that we need a day to celebrate Christmas as a class and have some fun.  I may even ask the students to come dressed in the Christmas Spirit. I will have a Christmas sweater on that day for sure!

Important Items to remember:

Monday, December 18 -  Cuddle up and Read and Mrs. Sickels gone in the afternoon
Thursday, December 21 -  Bring a sack lunch, dress for Christmas, and board game.
Friday, December 22- January 3rd -  Christmas Break

I will be gone the afternoon of Monday the 18th.  I will be at the doctor with one of my kids.  I love this time of year but have to pray for patience often.  The kids are all excited and so am I.  My kids are all home and under one roof which makes my heart full during this time of the year.  Only problem is we stay up late enjoying each other's company and then I am tired the next day. I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe Christmas Break.  I have family coming today and we have our first family Christmas this weekend all weekend.  I also am having a baking day with friends on Sunday to make all sorts of Christmas goodies!! I love this time of year.

Merry Christmas!!
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  I hope you are all having a great week!   The Christmas Program was fabulous last night.  Hopefully the little snow fall and Christmas Music put everyone in the Christmas Spirit!  I was struggling to get there with 60 degree temperatures!  That is not Christmas!  The kids love having Mrs. Stoner as their music teacher and seem to have a lot of fun with her while they are learning.  We are very grateful to have her at our school.  I am asking for you help.  Please, please, check with your child and see if they need red checking pens or pencils or new colored pencils for the classroom.  Some of them I am constantly loaning them these items.  With half a year down some of these items need replaced for sure.  I keep telling the students to ask for more.  Thank you in advance.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a very interesting narrative nonfiction story about Antarctica.  It is called Antarctic Journal, about the author who went and lived there for 4 months.  She then created this story from her journal entries.  I think we all found it interesting.  Do they love it, probably not but they did find some of it interesting because it is not a place we would visit on vacation.  Plus they all like to talk about penguins.  In grammar we were talking about the proper use of words like may, can, might, could, should,  would, and must.  These words can easily be used incorrectly.  The students were learning what each expresses and trying to use them properly.  This is difficult because they read a sentence  and if a word fits an it makes sense they write it down, but with these you have to figure out what the sentence is expressing and which word is more appropriate there.  They had a difficult time. Tomorrow is there end of the week test.  I did not get the words on quizlet this week, I am falling behind.  I will get them on today because I know some use this as their study aid.

Math - We are finally at the end of our chapter.  Today we are working on the review. Tomorrow we will check that together and Monday they will take the test.  I am excited to be finishing up.  We can then move on to chapter 3.  It is over double-digit multiplication.  I have some "fun" math we will do the week before Christmas which involves plotting points and coloring a Christmas picture.  It gives them a little break from the regular grind of math.  Also, if make mistake your picture doesn't turn out correctly. They are doing a great job of working hard on their math.  

Social Studies -  We have our first Map test our of the way.  Some did awesome, some still have some work to do.  Please be sure your child is studying up on those Northeast states and capitals.  We will have another map test next week probably towards the end of the week.  We will see if those who aced it can do it again and it's a chance for some to redeem themselves!   We are also working on putting more states in our interactive notebooks.  They are working on Maryland today and I think we are doing New York tomorrow.  

Absent -  I will be absent on Monday.  I am taking my mother-in-law to her eye doctor in the morning and moving my college kids home for Christmas Break in the afternoon.  They live in sororities and you switch rooms every semester so they have to basically move out. Which is not convenient but not my rules!

We only have 4 ornaments on our tree!  Hopefully more of you will be getting out your decorations over the weekend so your child can add one to our tree.  Just a reminder that we get out for Christmas Break on Thursday the 21st.  That day we will have a small celebration in the morning with our class, we will have our Christmas Caroling at noon and them a movie in the afternoon.  I will give you more details about the day next week.  Have a great weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!   I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I know we did.  We traveled to Chicago to my sister-in-law's house.  We had a great meal and then did some Black Friday shopping!  I got a few really good deals.  In Chicago, Black Friday is not as big a deal as it is here.  No lines waiting to get into stores or for certain items.  We always come home with a very full car.  Report cards are finished and will be available online to you soon. You will need to watch for information to come.

Language Arts -  We are reading a story called The Earth Dragon Awakes this week.  It is a historical fiction piece written about the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.  It really is a very detailed story of what happens to a father and son.  I explained it is not true but all other things discussed about the actual earthquake is true.  I also told them they could look up the topic and read more about it or at lease figure out what was truth.  The story kind of scares me talking about buildings burying people alive.  In the end they are rescued but it is pretty nerve wracking.  In grammar this week we have talked about possessive nouns.  We focused on Singular possessives and  plural possessives. Some nouns have to have the spelling changed in order to make them plural like child/children or words that don't change like moose/moose.  We talked about how to make them possessive also!  Remember tomorrow is a spelling post test and end of the week test!  We are back into a full routine!  So happy to have a full week of school and the fact that I am done traveling!  

Math - This week we reviewed partial product and then moved on to the standard algorithm of Multiplication.  Which is the way you learned to do it growing up.  The kids caught on pretty quickly, which could be that they have learned it at home.  We have only worked on 2 digits times a single digit right now.  We will move on to 3 digits times a single digit next week.  We are getting ready to end a chapter which means a test will be coming soon.  I doubt it will be next week.  But it will be the next for sure then I have some fun Christmas math activities the students will do before we start the next chapter.  I will say chapter 3 will go quickly because we are taking strategies we all ready know but applying it to double digit multiplication.

Social Studies -  This week we are working on our interactive notebook and getting some more states in there.  We also started on maps.  The students were given 4 blank maps of the Northeast Region.  They are to make an answer key map where they label each area with correct state and capital.  Then they have 3 practice maps to practice labeling.  We will have a map test next week.   It will be the exact same map that they must label with states and capitals.  I try to get them to memorize a region at a time so at the end of the year the entire 50 states and capitals are not so overwhelming.  Please be sure your child is studying these!

Food Pantry -  From November 30 - December 15th we will be collecting items for the food pantry to help boost their inventory.  The items asked for are toothpaste, toilet paper, kleenex, and Food.  The Food needs to be non-perishable canned fruits and veggies or boxed meals like Hamburger Helper, tuna helper, suddenly salad,ect.  Monetary donations are also accepted.  Please send an item or more than one with your child to help the food pantry provide for our community.  Thank you very much.

Christmas Program - Our Christmas Program is fast approaching!  It is Wednesday, December 6th at 6:30 pm.  This event is being held at the Creston High School.  I love our program, it definitely gets me in the spirit of the season.  I have heard the 4th graders singing and they are fabulous.  I am very proud of them and know they will do a great job!

Class Tree -  I have a classroom tree which is just a tree on a bulletin board but I would like the students to bring in a Christmas ornament and I will hang it on our tree.  Yes, real ornaments but you might send one that is not breakable or totally special to them.  Lots of things can happen in their bags on way to school and if it would fall off the tree it would break.  I have never had any fall of the tree only students dropping them and breaking them.  They will bring the ornament back home with them at Christmas Break.  Thank you!

I hope everyone is getting their shopping done and decorations put up.  Molly and I went and purchased our tree Tuesday night.  It is in a bucket in my garage right now but we hope to get it up tonight or tomorrow.  The decorating of the tree will take place Saturday.  I have a lot of my shopping done.  Have a great weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!!  Remember I am gone today and tomorrow.  I am attending NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) in Indianapolis, Indiana.  I left on a bus at 5:30 this morning.  I am going with 10 Creston youths and another chaperone.  We will spend tonight at a concert by TobyMac who is a christian Hip Hop singer.  We will then spend Friday and Saturday with some keynote speakers, at mass, in small group sessions of the student's choice, and in fellowship with other students from around our Diocese.  One night we will have a pizza dinner with Bishop Pates.  I look forward to attending some of the sessions and hope I learn some things that I can apply to my classroom and youth group on Wednesday nights.  Some of the sessions sound very interesting and very in tune to what goes on in today's world.  Mainly with the phones!  I know one was about taking selfies.  Pray for all of us while we are away.  I know I will be praying for all my students while I am gone.  I absolutely hate being away from the classroom.  I know me being gone really throws a wrench into their routine and I hate to do that to the students too.  This class has come such a long way from 3rd grade!  They have matured and are learning to be very good students.  I will honestly miss them all while I am away.  I gave them half hugs today before they left for the day.

Geography Bee-  The 4th graders get the opportunity to participate this year in our annual Geography Bee.  What happens is the 4th-8th grade students are split up between 3 rooms and put through 7 rounds of geography questions.  The top 10 scorers of the preliminary rounds will move on to the  Finals.  The Finals will be held on a Wednesday after Mass in December.  The official date will come later.  I have had 4th graders make it to the finals in the past.  It is the luck of the questions.  This is not something the kids can opt out of.  They will all participate.  This will happen Tuesday morning of next week.  I will run the 4th graders through a  practice couple of rounds in our own room Monday, so they know exactly what to expect.  

Language Arts-   We took a Unit 2 Test this week.  We completed it on Wednesday.  Your child knows how they did.  Sounds like some are very proud of their score.  I will try and look at those while I am gone but will definitely dig into them on Monday.  Since I will be gone for two days we are starting the next story Thursday and will cover it until Tuesday.  They will have a spelling pretest today and the post test will be on Tuesday.  Due to the nature of the week, meaning the story is split by a weekend and Tuesday we really don't have enough time, we will not be taking an end of the week test over this story.  This story is a nonfiction or informational text on Hurricanes.   The students will be interested in some of the content but not a lot and I feel like the cover a lot in a short amount of pages, which makes it difficult to understand it completely.  It will try to teach them how a hurricane is formed and what it needs to increase in intensity and what causes it to decrease.  The terminology is very high tech.   We will just enjoy this one as best we can!

Math -  We are halfway through chapter 2!!  Today they will take the Mid-Chapter Checkpoint which is a review over what we have learned so far.  They will work on it today in class then check it on Friday.  My intent is to see how they did and if not too well, I will do some reviewing of the material before Thanksgiving Break so we start the second half of the chapter when we return.  If they do well, then by all means, we will move on.  My goal is to definitely have chapter 2 complete before Christmas and be into Chapter 3 before we go on Christmas Break.  Let's hope it all works out like that!  Friday I plan to have them do some flash card work with multiplication.  This helps them to memorize their facts so when we are learning these strategies and processes they are not stressing about basic facts.  Playing with these basic facts at home would also be a plus for them.

Social Studies -  We are working on putting the Northeast Region in our interactive notebooks.  The students are finally getting the hang of how to do it.  I am finding small errors like not capitalizing a city name or the 2 letter postal abbreviation, or sometimes they put periods in the postal abbreviation.  I make them fix those errors.  We have talked about when to use capital letters and when not to.  They know the difference they are just being forgetful or lazy.  We will be starting Chapter 5 this week.  They will begin to do vocabulary and learning about the Narragansett Native Americans that were in the Northeast Region. They lived in present day Rhode Island.  They will learn how they used cooperation to survive.  They will learn what they lived in and what food they ate.  I plan on giving them the lyrics to the States and Capitals song when we return from Thanksgiving Break.  We will also begin practicing for our first map test.  It will only cover the Northeast Region.  Monday will be a practice run through of the geography bee and  Tuesday will be the real thing.  

Monday Nov. 20th Lunch -  This day is a special day and will most likely be our last lunch to celebrate the lives of Nate and T.J. Frey.  The boys untimely passing happened on November 30th and we are going to have a pizza lunch on the 20th to remember the boys and eat one of their favorite meals.  TJ would have graduated from 8th grade last year and Nate would be an 8th grader this year.  So hard to believe!  We are glad to help Corey and his family celebrate  their lives.  So hear is a pizza toast to Nathan and TJ Frey!  Love you boys!

Reminder that we have school Monday and Tuesday of next week but the kids are off on Wednesday!  I hope everyone enjoys their break.  My girls and I travel to Chicago every year for Thanksgiving.  It is our favorite time of the year.  We do our black Friday shopping in Chicago and believe it or not, it is not half as crowded as it is in Iowa!  The girls also get to do some sort of craft while at their aunt's house.  We are always excited for what the craft will be.  One year they made stand up mirrors for their dorm rooms.  Who knows what this year will bring.  I know I heard "sewing" mentioned.  If you are traveling, I hope all of you have a safe trip!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  I hope you are all having a great week!  The weather has turned chilly and looks to remain that way.  It is November so we should expect it.  I hope everyone has dug out their winter coats, hats and mittens.  Looks to be a cold one tomorrow at recess.  Please be sure your child brings their coats so they can enjoy recess.  It's not much fun when you are freezing.  Also remember, if your child is not feeling well, and running a low fever, please keep them at home until they are fever free for 24 hours!  If we send your child home at 10:00 in the morning with a fever, we should not see your child back at school until after 10:00 the next day.  We are trying to help prevent the spread of illness.  We won't be able to do that but we try to take precaution.  I will also really start pushing for the hand washing and use of germ-x!  I am trying to watch out for all of you!  We have had great attendance so far.  Today, we have a student gone due to illness but we haven't had very many at all.  That is a good thing!

Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Jose`! Born to Dance.  This is a biography about a famous dancer Jose` Limon.  No, the students are not very interested in this story.  I like the way it reads but it is considered nonfiction so the kids are not responding well.  It tells some of the struggles his family faced as he was a child and how he overcame and went on to dance.  We have talked about Author's purpose this week and why Author's write stories and also that they may have more than one reason to write something.  Pronouns have been our focus in grammar.  They learned there are 5 different groups of pronouns: subject, object, possessive, reflexive, and demonstrative.  I only had to cover 3 groups but we did talk about all five.  We also learned about an antecedent, which is what the pronoun is replacing or what noun the pronoun stands for.  Remember that all vocabulary for this week are on Quizlet.  Our spelling post test and end of week test are tomorrow as normal.

Math -  This week we have started working our way into some new strategies for multiplying.  These strategies work very well and the students understand what they are doing.  They are realizing that they are learning to multiply very slowly.  Some are struggling with basic facts but understanding the processes that I am teaching them.  We focused on using expanded form, which we learned in chapter 1, to multiply.  It makes it pretty easy.  The amount of writing they do is more than what they want but it really gives them the beginning foundation of how multiplication really works.  Keep in mind we are only working on single digit multiplication.  But I also know they pick up on double-digit quicker due to what we are learning now!  I hope they keep up the good work.

Social Studies - Yes, we have a test tomorrow.  We have worked on the study guide and corrected it.  Their vocabulary words are in their packets and also on Quizlet so they can study.  Some of them have been working on them on Quizlet for a while.  This test is mainly matching, multiple choice and 2 quick essay questions.  I hope to give them a few minutes to study with a partner today in class.  Chapter 5 also focuses on the Northeast Region.  We have a lot to finish.  We have states to put into the interactive notebook and start working on our states and capitals.  I have a song we will use to help them with that.  It is called States and Capitals song by Macho Nacho.  It is on itunes and last I knew it was free.  I will give them a copy of the lyrics and we will start singing almost every day in class.  We will also work on locating all states on a map of the Northeast.  Lots of work to finish off this region before we move on to the Southeast.

STEM NIGHT!  Remember that STEM night is tonight from 5:30-7:30 in the gym.  It is a great time, hope to see you all there.

Appreciation Dinner -  The Food Pantry is putting on a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner this Saturday night 5-7 in the O'Riley Center.  You received an invitation last week in the folder for this event.  All our students 3-5 and their families are invited since we go down and help unload the truck on Fridays.  It sounds like it will be an excellent meal.  I hope some of you can attend.

November 16 - 17 - I am just letting you know that I will be gone next Thursday and Friday.  I am attending NCYC (National Catholic Youth Council) in Indianapolis with the High School Youth Group.  It is a great opportunity for me to be with the students as they attend sessions to better their knowledge and relationship with God.  I am looking forward to the trip and all that I will see.  Please pray for us on our travels.  I will be back the next Monday.  Mrs. Bearden will be in the room with them.  

The High School is putting on the musical The Wedding Singer this weekend.  This is the first time I have had a child participate in a musical and I am excited about it.  I had to dress her in 80's costumes and do her hair in 80's style.  I am a pro at that since I lived that era!  I almost forgot how to use a curling iron! I did have to go buy one that was more like what I used to use.  They will perform the show Friday at 7:00, Saturday at 7:00 and Sunday at 2:00.  This is where I will be all weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  We actually have a full week this week!  Remember next week is conference week.  If you have not signed up for a conference please be sure to do so.  I will put the link to the sign up page following this paragraph.  I have to do my own conference for my daughter Molly at the High School at 9:00 so I have signed myself up for the 8:40 and 9:00 time slots.  I need to be able to drive there.  I apologize if that is a time you would want.  I look forward to talking to you about your student and how they are doing.  Here is the link: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544a5a72ca1fe3-mrs

Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called Me and Uncle Romie.  This is a fun loving fictional story.  The kids should be enjoying this story this week.  It is an easy read that is very realistic.  It's a story about love and family and also fine arts.  It discusses collage art, which is a form of art that I compare to scrapbooking.  You use paint and other items like paper, cloth, tickets, feathers, flowers, anything you want to put with it.  Collage art is to tell a story.  There were a few examples in the story also.  We were talking about present progressive and past progressive verbs this week and our vocabulary strategy was on proverbs and adages,which are figures of speech like an idiom.  Saying things like, he was as good as gold, I am head over heals for him, and hang in there.  This week I have put their vocabulary words on Quizlet which is a website that helps them to study their words in many different ways.  They get to choose how they study or what game they will play to help them better know their words. I hope to see some improvement in vocabulary scores this week due to this new study tool.  Tomorrow is post test in spelling and also end of the week assessment.  

Math - We have been studying comparison word problems this week in math.  The next lesson will be over multiplying tens, hundreds and thousands.  This is an easy lesson for them.  It teach them the strategies in the book but also the short version of looking at the basic fact and counting the zeros.  They will find this lesson fun because they will pick up on it very quickly.  Most students love when the get something very quickly and are more eager to work with it.  This might be the easiest lesson in this chapter so we better enjoy it.  I feel like they are doing a great job listening and paying attention in Math class.  I tell them every day how important it is to follow what I am doing. I move from the front of the room to the back of the room a lot during math to keep their eyes moving with me. I don't think they realize what I am doing but it seems to work!!

Social Studies - We have now put two states in our interactive notebook.  The students should be getting better at understanding what they are to do with the pages and how to cut and paste them in the notebook.  Which means we will move a little faster with this.  They will get a state assigned to them and be expected to find the information, color what needs colored and also cut and paste on their own.  We are talking about the resources that are found in the Northeast Region.  We will learn about a few important items that come from these states. Items that we use here and most likely get from the Northeast states.

Halloween!  Next Tuesday is Halloween.  We will celebrate here at St. Malachy.  The students are to bring their costumes and we will have our annual parade at 2:30.  We also have Halloween activities that we go the Middle School and participate in.  The homeroom teacher is going to supply us with treats and juice boxes while we wait our turn for activities.  What an exciting day!

It is Homecoming for Iowa State!  I am headed up to tailgate the game.  I bought an alumni shirt for the weekend and probably will be covering with a coat, hat and mittens.  They look to have a little snow on the ground.  Another reason I will be in Ames to see SNOW.  You will quickly learn I love snow and want to have some this year.  I grew up playing in the snow and snowmobiling every weekend. I loved being outside then coming inside to hot chocolate and the furnace in our house.  Now that was winter!  I feel if it has to be cold then we should have snow.  I hope everyone has a great weekend and stops in to the Vendor Fair!  I bet you can find some great Christmas Gifts!  I am sorry I am missing it.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  What a week of nice weather! I think the kids have enjoyed the time outside.  I know I have walked every day enjoying the last of the warm days.  Sounds like temperature is due to drop,  Please get out the kid's coats.  Some of them, during the last cold spell, only showed up in a sweatshirt.  That is not enough when the high is only in the 40's.  I watch the weather and remind the kids when they need to bring in heavy coats.   I don't want anyone outside shivering.  That is no fun for them.  It is hard to enjoy recess when you are freezing.  The rest of this week looks to be great but next week is a different story.  

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a story called Coming Distractions: Questioning Movies.  This is an informational story about what we see in movies is not always reality.  It points out movies like Charlie's Angels where Cameron Diaz is fighting bad guys in high heels and doing a fabulous job at it.  It also points out that when a family has something bad happen like a mother or father loses a job, they do not make any adjustments to their lifestyle in a movie and in real life, life styles have to change.  Grammar lesson are based on verbs again.  We are looking at the verb tenses (past, present, and future).  We talked about latin words parts found in our language, those parts are phon, photo, auto, tele, graph, and their meanings or words they are linked to.  It may help them to better understand the words these parts are found in.  Tomorrow will be a normal Friday.  They will take a spelling post test and end of the week assessment.

Math-  This week in Math we have learned multiplication comparisons and will move on to relate that to comparison problems.  We will now move onto word problems that use multiplication comparisons to find an answer.  We spent several days understanding this topic to hopefully make the word problems easier for us.  We will begin the lesson today and hopefully get more into it or finish tomorrow. Again this chapter is pretty heavy and I want everyone to understand exactly what we are doing in each lesson before moving on, which is why this chapter takes so long. Multiplication is one of the main content areas at the 4th grade level that they need to learn and will make them feel like a "big" kid.  It is amazing the number of times I hear the students say, " I feel like a real big kid learning multiplication."  It makes it fun for me to hear them say it.  I am so glad they realize they really are learning things!  

Social Studies-  We are working on covering lesson 1 which discusses Niagara Falls and its importance to the state of New York. It looks at all the important mountain ranges that are a part of the Appalachian Mountains in the Northeast.  It also talks about the coastline and how it looks different from Maine to New Jersey.  This week the students started their interactive notebooks.  These are notebooks that will be full of information about the 50 states.  We are walking through how to look up the information and what is expected on their fact sheets.  They will learn how to put these items in their notebooks tomorrow.  Once they get used to it, the process won't take them very long at all.  We are studying the Northeast Region so those are the first states they put in the notebook and I have them put them in order of statehood.  The first one they did was Connecticut.  Yes Delaware is the very first state but it is not part of the New England States and that is where we started.  I love it when the kids are researching and asking each other questions about the states.  The other item they have to do is color in the state flag.  This allows them to see how certain regions have similar flags.  A lot of them have them same colors in them.  Again, I love this notebook cause it's so full of great information.

Spaghetti Supper - Don't forget the Spaghetti Supper is Saturday night.  If you signed up to help or bring an item remember to do it.  Also remember all families are asked to bring in a dessert for the supper or something for the cake walk!    Hope to see you there!

Conferences:  I have sent out a Sign up to your emails for conferences. Please take a minute to sign up for a time that works for you.  I have given all the times I am available including some time on Tuesday and Wednesday, if Thursday just doesn't work for you.  People were signing up as soon as I sent it out so hurry and get there or your time time you are wanting may be taken.Thank you in advance for signing up, I look forward to meeting with you.  In case you didn't see the email here is the sign up link.

                    https://mrssickelsstmalachy.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I am very happy that next week is back to a normal week.  But then the next is a short week again!  It seems we are not in session a lot recently.   The rest of the year will move very quickly.  Once conferences are over than it is Thanksgiving Break, then we move to Christmas Break and then BOOM! A whole new year!  I am really enjoying your children.  I thank you for sharing them with me this year.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  I hope all of you are enjoying the week.  Today is our last day of the week!  Two short weeks in a row!  I know the kids will enjoy their long 4 day weekend!  I told them to think of me when I was still here working.  Friday we will be here in our building working on literacy professional development and Monday we go to Des Moines to work with all the other Catholic School Teachers in the Diocese.  I hope they all come back rested and ready to go on Tuesday!  

Language Arts - This week we read a very interesting story.  It is called Invasion From Mars.  It is an excerpt from War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.  On October 30, 1938, they broadcast this portion of the book as a radio play.  Many Americans did not turn on their radios to hear the introduction of the radio show and if you turned on in the middle of the show you thought that aliens had landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey.  It cause a little bit of panic in America.  You can listen to the actual broadcast on youtube.  Google War of the Worlds October 30, 1938.  The piece we read happens at about 10:12.  We listened to it once at school.  It is an interesting story for the kids to hear.  I think some of them were very intrigued about it really being on the radio and scaring some people.  In grammar we learned about action verbs, helping verbs, and linking verbs.  Today is our post test and end of week assessment since we do not have school tomorrow.

Math -  We have taken our chapter 2 pretest this week.  We have went over the beginning pages to review and also preview the next chapter.  Today I plan on starting the first lesson in chapter 2.  It is covering comparison problems.  They will be given a comparison statement and from that they will draw a picture to match the statement.  It is a very good lesson that is like a skill needed before we are able to do certain word problems.  This multiplication chapter is 14 lessons long.  Some lessons will only take us a day and some will take 2-3 days.  I am very picky about moving on.  I want all the kids to master the lesson before I move forward because in this chapter all the lessons build up from one another.  I have to teach one thing because you will use it to do the next.  I hope and pray we can complete this chapter in good time to get in 3 before Christmas.  We start messing with the schedule soon though.  Once we hit conferences then we hit Thanksgiving Break and in no time it is Christmas break.  When you are planning lesson it all seems very quick.

Social Studies -  We have completed our first test.  I am happy with all the scores.  Some maybe could have spent more time on their vocabulary words but overall it was pretty good.  We have begun talking about the Northeast Region.  We have listed the  11 states that make up the region in our notebooks.  We also put them into New England States and Middle Atlantic State.  We have begun talking about Niagara Falls and that it is not just beautiful but also very helpful to the state of New York for providing electricity.  We also are talking about the Appalachain Mountains being the oldest mountain range in the U.S.  I am also pointing out it is not the highest because that is the Rocky Mountains.  We will talk about the different mountain ranges found in the Northeast Region and where they are.  We will work on locating these states on a map.  I will have them practice and even do a practice test over this region before the first real test.  They will work on labeling the map with states and capitals.  We will also begin putting together our interactive notebook.  This notebook will have all 50  states in it and some facts about each one that the student will look up on their own.  We end up doing a lot of cutting and pasting!  The best part is they will walk away with a book full of information that they may keep.

I hope all of you enjoy your weekend and the kids take advantage of their long weekend to rest up and be ready for next week!  We are picking up the twins and heading to Iowa City this weekend to see family. My sister-in-law from Chicago is coming and my nephew lives in Iowa City.  I get to spend some time with my wild and crazy great niece.  


God Bless, 
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  Sounds like we are going to start getting a little wet!  We need the rain for sure but not sure we want as much as we are suppose to get.  I am suppose to be traveling to Sidney, Iowa tomorrow for a workshop, and I am not too thrilled about going anymore.  Two reasons: 1) We have had a big week of testing this week and some unfinished business I hate leaving for a substitute, 2) Sidney is in the area that there will be flooding.  Not sure I want to go and then be stuck.  I counted and there are 6 rivers to cross between here and there.  Ms. Surma is going to workshop also.  We are making a decision today whether we are going to attend or not.  I told the kids you may or may not know what teacher will be in here when you get here tomorrow.  

Language Arts- We have spent the week testing on the Unit 1 Benchmark test.  It is a very long test that I break up into 3 parts.  We take a section a day for 3 days.  I feel the students do a better job this way.  I will have results of this testing to you next week.  I apologize I didn't send home scores last week for week 4.  I totally forgot!  This week in the folder you will find week 4 and 5 results.  I feel like our Friday testing is not where it should be.  I have had a couple of kids improve and some fall backwards.  I don't think they take them very seriously.  I am trying to talk to them about the importance of these tests.  I am also discussing that we use this data for a lot of decision making.  These tests help us to decide how they are doing with comprehension and whether they need extra help in these areas. We also started a writing project this week.  They will be writing a Halloween story based off a fairy tale or children's story.   I shared with them the book Goldilocks and the Three Bears and then shared a former student's story that she created from it.  I will also share some other stories that are easy to convert to Halloween stories.  This is meant to be a fun writing activity.  The stories will be on display in our room!

Book Report- I also assigned them a book report that will be due November 7th.  These book reports are cereal box reports.  I explained the assignment to the students.  They are to read the book in it's entirety first, then come to me for the rest of the items.  I have pieces they are to fill out and put onto their cereal box, plus I have a grading rubric they can follow to put it together to make sure they are getting the score they want. Please be sure to save a cereal box that is in good shape and nice sized for this project.

Book It! -  We are participating in this program this year.  I love this program.  It is a good way to get kids to read.  One way I challenge the kids is, I tell them to beat me!  I read a lot, not as much as I did in the summer but still a lot.  I will give a prize to any kid that can beat me in the amount of minutes I read.  There is a goal every month on minutes to be read.  They all have their own calendar to keep track of their minutes on.  Goals for each month will go each month.  The Goal for October is 350 minutes, November will be 400, December will be 450, January 500, February 550 and March will end with 600 minutes.  I figured it our, we start reading 12 minutes a day and by March they should be reading 20 minutes per day.  I have already read 603 minutes this month.  That will slow down though.  I will begin to get busier so it will slow down.

Math-  This week we have focused on testing over chapter 1.  We took the test Wednesday, and we hope to make some corrections on Thursday.  I will be sure to share the students pretest and post test scores with them so they may see if they improved or not.  There was a lot of room for improvement by all.  It is always fun to see their faces when they see how much they learned.  We will begin chapter 2 next week.  This chapter covers multiplication.  It is a very long chapter and a very deep one.  There is a lot of strategies and new concepts that the students will learn in this chapter.  It usually takes a very long time to get through.  It is made up of about 14 lessons and a lot of those take us a couple of days to get through if I want full understanding.  So we are in it for the long haul.  I will talk to the students about it being a long process but also talk about all the things they are learning and how each one is important.  I will say this is definitely where we will see struggles.  Please work flash cards at home if you have any.  This will help them with the process.  At least it will make it easier on them.

Social Studies -  We just finished chapter 2.  We will be taking a test over it tomorrow.  They students had a study guide to work on and that study guide is just like last year and will cover everything they will see on the test.  We will correct that today so the students have the correct answers to study.  These tests are just like last year's tests.  The students should know exactly what to expect.  We will begin the Northeast Region next week!!

WOW!  What a week!  I can tell it is a full moon!  It didn't help that this was a testing week in many things.  We did a lot of reading which is great because it adds to our Book It minutes!  Have a great weekend!  I have one kid coming home to watch her sister in a volleyball tournament.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
    Happy Thursday!   I hope you are enjoying the cooler weather.  I know I am.  I love walking in the evening on sweats and being comfortable!  Hate to say it but we are getting into my favorite time of the year.  I like Fall but love winter.  I like the cold and snow.  It's Iowa, it's one of our four seasons, I like it.  So far we have had a good week in 4th grade.  Yes, I have given out some late slips this week, but we are learning from them.  Overall, I am very impressed, I thought I would be giving out a lot more late slips to this class then I am.  That is a very good thing!!  They are all almost used to my routine and schedule.  

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a story called Stormalong.  This is a tall tale like Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and John Henry.  Tall tales usually have to do with some sort of job, Paul Bunyan (Lumberjack), John Henry(building railroad), Stormalong has to do with sailors and fishermen. He is a giant of a man that they build a huge boat for.  He sails all over delivering cargo.  His real name is Alfred Bulltop Stormalong or A.B.S.  behind a sailor's name in the military you will find A.B.S. which means able bodied seaman but the tall tale states it stands for Alfred Bulltop Stormalong.  This week in grammar we are focusing on capitalization.  We talk about capitalizing historical documents, and events in history, proper nouns, titles, languages, and Nationalities.  Spelling this week was a list of homophones.  Words that sound the exact same but are spelled differently due to meaning.  The students have to listen carefully to how the words are used in a sentence to decide which spelling to use.  Some of the words were pretty easy and some were difficult.  Next week will be our first Unit test.  We will not have spelling next week or be reading a story, we will focus on the Unit test.  I will also have a writing activity we will start and assign the first book report.  We will have a busy week even though it is different from a normal week.

Math - This week has been kind of an easy week for us in the Math department.  Two lessons we have covered have been review.  They were about adding and subtracting whole numbers.  The only added item is the estimation part.  Students are taught to estimate their answers first so they can decide whether their actual answer is reasonable or not.  All students thing it means find the real answer and estimate that answer.  I show them to find the estimated answer first by rounding the two addends and then finding estimate.  This will help them decide if their answer is reasonable or not.  Is the answer anywhere in the ballpark of their estimate.  If it is not then they need to check over their work and be sure they have not made an addition or subtraction error. This is highly likely when it comes to subtraction because they forget to regroup and make mistakes. We are ending the week discussing Problem-Solving and focusing on the Bar Model for our strategy.  They are taught how to use a picture to show their understanding of word problems involving addition and subtraction  This is their least favorite thing to do for sure.  I know they want to just work the problem and be done but we are learning strategies to help them.  They also are learning that when they are given a word problem the answer needs to have a label on it.  If the question asks how many apples then the answer should have apples following it to show that is how many apples they have which also helps me to know they understood what was being asked of them.

Social Studies-  We have been slowly talking about government.  We have covered the Bill of Rights, and we have discussed a citizen's rights and responsibilities.  I talked about the difference between a right and responsibility and we discussed that voting falls under both categories.  It is our right to vote at the age of 18 but it is also our responsibility to vote to help put leaders in charge that we feel will do the best job they can.  This will actually end our chapter and we will begin a study guide tomorrow.  Next week the students are looking at their first test.  They have a blue vocabulary packet that they will study words from and a study guide to help them.  Tests this year are very similar to the social studies tests they took last year. 

Well, it's Homecoming weekend!  I think having a high schooler in the house makes it a lot more exciting.  We are gearing up for Molly's first Homecoming dance.  My older two are coming home to help get her ready and approve of her choices in dress, hair, makeup and accessories.  I am looking forward to having them home! Let the fun begin!!  I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Remember since it is Homecoming we will dismiss school at 1:10 Friday the 29th!  Wear your Panther gear to school to celebrate school spirit!!  GO PANTHERS!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  It has been a short week and definitely feels like it.  The students came back Tuesday and actually did a very good job returning.  They were not as chatty as they normally are coming off of a weekend and especially a long one.  They are really getting the hang of using their time wisely.  I am super proud of them.  They really work hard to be sure to limit the amount of homework they have.  That is exactly what I want them to do because the amount of work may pick up a little bit and I want them to be used to working hard at completing it.  Your kids are growing up!!  

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a play called The Power of W.O.W.  It is a story that kind of is a spin off of last week's story.  In Dallas, Texas there is a neighborhood that is too far from the library so a bookmobile comes to the neighborhood each week.  It was a trial program and the funds ran out.   The kids who utilize and benefit from the bookmobile decide they want to do something to help.  They organize a car wash to raise money.  A TV crew shows up and airs the story, and the car wash becomes very busy plus some very generous donors step in a donate and save the bookmobile.  It is a great story with a good lesson for the students.  It is written as a screen play so there are parts to be read.  We read it as whole class on Tuesday and discussed some.  They will read in small groups and then again in large group before Friday's test.  In grammar we are talking about sentences, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences.  The spelling list this week was short o and long o words.  The end of the week assessment will be tomorrow!

Math -  We have been working on rounding numbers.  This skill can be very difficult for 4th graders when you look at what we are doing.  We are rounding very large numbers.  These numbers are larger than what they have seen or worked with before.  It can get confusing for them. The rest of this week will focus on renaming numbers.  looking at the number 60 as 6 tens and the number 1,500 and 15 hundreds.  After this lesson the rest of the chapter is review.  It will cover addition and subtraction which we will cover rather quickly  because it is review for them.  Then we can finish chapter 1 and move on to chapter 2.  Our biggest chapters will be those on multiplication and division.  These are the two content areas we will spend the most time on.  

Social Studies -  This week we have been working on the Bill of Rights.  The students were grouped and given some amendments to make posters about.  They then shared the posters with the class so all could hear about the first 10 amendments to our Constitution.  I will hang these posters in the hall for all to see. We tried to make them kid friendly.  I challenge all of you to look up the Bill of Rights.  There are a few that are difficult to understand the way they written let alone try to get the kids to understand them.  Anything dealing with court cases was hard.  I feel like the ones we are all familiar with the students are now familiar with and will remember.  Amendment 1 &2 for sure, jury trial, and the one on search warrants they may remember.  I have always talked briefly about the Bill of Rights but this year I wanted to try this activity to dig deeper.  We have one more lesson in this chapter then we will take our first test!  

We are working hard every day.  I just want to point our again how proud I am of these kids. They are adjusting to the new environment pretty well.  I am very routine with some of the things I do in my classroom, which helps.  Learning to use time wisely is one of the hardest things to get them used to.  We are getting there!  Once we get the routine down, I will add a little more to their plate, NOT much but I will begin to need to keep them busy.  Once they figure out how to get work done then it gives them a little more free time which they don't know how to handle yet.  I am  very big on reading a book and not drawing or making items out of paper.  Some of you have seen the paper items come home, because I have made them take them home.  I will begin pressuring for more reading. 

Have a great weekend!   I have a volleyball tournament, run to Des Moines to finish Homecoming shopping and the St. Malachy Color Run!  It is a busy weekend for me!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels 

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  I hope your week is going well.  We have had a pretty good full week.  Of course next week we go back to a short week with no school on Monday. I have found that this class struggles on the day we come back from a weekend.  Whether it be a Monday or a Tuesday we are very talkative and less attentive, but then the next day and the rest of the week are okay. Hopefully this is just a beginning of the year thing and it will wear off.  

Language Arts -  This week we are reading My Camel is a Librarian. This is informational text which I think is interesting but the students not so much.  It talks about some remote and isolated places in the world that do not have access to internet or books.  This story tells about the creative ways people have figured out to get the books to the.  One is by camel, elephant, boat, wagon pulled by donkey, and through the mail.  I try to tell the students how lucky they are to have a school with a classroom bookshelf, a library and also a public library. I also point out the electronic devices they can read books on.  We talked about them having access to books pretty much 24/7.  Of course they are not too impressed with this.  They did feel bad for the kids who didn't have books though.  On spelling this week their list was on short i and long i words.  In grammar they reviewed quotation marks.  

Math - We have talked about comparing numbers this week.  They are using the symbols <,> and =.  They have also learned how to put numbers in correct order.  The only struggle they have is paying attention to which order to put them: greatest to least or least to greatest.  We have done some activities this week using dice and a deck of cards to show place value and comparing numbers.  I think I have made it fun for them.  We will move on today with a new lesson.  I do have some kids who need to make corrections on some homework.  I think they are just going through the homework too quickly to get it done and not focusing on doing it well.  They will always get it back to correct with me, so maybe they will learn to take their time.

Social Studies- This week we have talked about the 3 levels of government.  The students were divided into groups.  Each group was assigned a branch of government to read about.  The group was to take some notes over important information about that branch.  The next day they were grouped again but in different groups.  One member from each branch was matched with a member from the other two and they had to teach each other about the branches. This puts the students accountable for their learning and not just the teacher teaching in the front of the room.  I did put photos on the Facebook page to show them working in.  They worked hard on taking notes from each other. Tomorrow we are going to learn about Time Zones.

I am trying very hard to pay attention to how much homework I am giving the students.  I do not want them to be bombarded with it at home.  But I also need them to show me they can work independently and show the knowledge they are gaining.  There are things we do in class as a class and things I expect them to be able to do on their own.  This is when I figure out if a student is struggling.  I hope everyone has a great Balloon Days Weekend!  Hopefully everyone gets to see the balloons go up at least once. Art this week was the students creating a picture with hot air balloons.  My kids are coming home so I am happy to have a full house again!

Remember NO SCHOOL MONDAY, September 18th!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  It's a short week this week!  I hope everyone had a great long weekend!  My older girls and I went to Chicago for the weekend!  We had a very nice time.  Always enjoy the long weekend!!  The kids were a little crazy on Tuesday.  I think excited to be back in the room together, but very talkative!!  I spent a lot of time trying to quiet them.  I asked them to go home have a good night but come back tomorrow with a better "school" attitude.  They did just that!  Wednesday was definitely a better day. 

Language Arts - This week we read My Brother Martin.  This is a biography about Martin Luther King, Jr written by his sister.  She tells the story of their childhood and what events led Martin to be the leader he became.  Some students already knew the reason behind him becoming a Civil Rights leader, some did not.  We are working on the 4 kinds of sentences in grammar. Your students have practiced declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory statements.  Spelling list this week is over short e and long e.  I know this has been a short week but they will be taking a spelling post test and end of week assessment on Friday like normal.

Math - We have been working on Place Value this week.  We have talked about the correct way to say numbers, place value positions, values of numbers using place value and the base 10 system as a whole.  The students are doing well so far.  We will see for sure after I get their first assignment.  This entire first chapter is focusing on place value.  It will get a little rough when we begin estimation and rounding.  Students understand how to round a number but when rounding very large numbers it gets difficult.  

Social Studies - This week we are learning about the Native Americans that were here in North America before Columbus arrived.  We have talked about the 2 major theories of how those Native Americas got here. We talked about them using the Bering Strait, which was a land bridge that connected Russia with Alaska.  We also talked about the fact that they may have just used a boat to get here.  I introduced some explorers to them.  These men were exploring the new land to see what they could find.  Most all explorers were looking riches. They also wanted to find to claim for their home country.  Next week we will be moving on to talk about government.  We just talk about the 3 branches of government and what they do for us.  We do not go to deep.

Tomorrow the kids are encouraged to support "Iowa" by wearing their favorite Iowa team.  The big Cy-Hawk game is on Saturday.  You can also represent UNI if you like.  It is a "Spirit" day tomorrow.

I hope all of you have a great weekend.  Have a safe trip if you are headed up to the big game.  It's an early one!  I am going up to spend the day with my kids.  Also, I hope all of you are enjoying this wonderful weather.  Temperatures have been pretty perfect.  It can't last forever.  It will either get extremely hot or cold one or the other.  We won't be spoiled long.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     HELLO, HELLO, HELLO!!  Welcome to 4th grade!!!!  I am very excited about working with your kids this year!  I have already seen some changes in some of the kids this year!  Some very positive changes.  I have lots of ideas and new things to bring to the classroom!  Let's keep communication open.  If you need anything you can email me at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org.  I will get back to you.  There is not a ton of time in the day but I will respond quickly if necessary, but if not then at the end of the day.   You can call the school, I available 7:45 - 8:10 in morning, 10:15-10:45 is my prep period, 11:55-12:40 all days but Tuesday and Wednesday.  I have lunch and recess responsibilities those days.  Please reach out for any reason.  I want this to be a positive year for your child, you and myself.  I feel that will happen when we communicate.  Remember everything we do at St. Malachy is in the best interest of your child.  I have started a Facebook group called St. Malachy Fantastic 4th graders.  Please go find it and ask to be in the group.  I will accept you.  You may tell grandparents also.  I hope to put pictures of things we are doing in the classroom and also post messages to the parents here.  

Language Arts-  We have begun our first story this week in Language Arts.  We are reading Because of Winn-Dixie.  This is a real  book of fiction by Kate DiCamillo.  We are reading just a small section of the book.  Usually it triggers students to want to read the whole book, which I thought I had on my shelf, but I have not been able to locate it yet.   In grammar, we are talking about complete and simple subjects and predicates.  I know this topic is a tough one for this age.  The students also have spelling words.  I know the manner in which I cover spelling words is very different from last year.  We take a spelling pretest on Monday, we practice any misspelled words on Wednesday, and take a post test on Friday.  On Tuesday and Thursday they students will have a homework sheet that deals with the spelling list for that week.  You will find the  list of 20 words on those worksheets.  I do NOT send home a list of spelling words.  The students have access to their list in their spelling notebook and there is a place in their assignment book that they can write them and have them for all week.  If students get a perfect paper on Monday they will still take the Friday post test.  If they really know how to spell the words they will do it again on Friday.  I am very picky about handwriting and the correct formation of letters.  Some of your kids are finding out they need to exhibit their best handwriting skills.  Also, we don't capitalize words unless they are proper nouns and need to be capitalized.  My classroom assessments are all digital.  This means the kids take all their tests online.  In doing them online, the students receive immediate feedback.  They have their score in a click of a button and they go back over the questions they miss and look at what they should have picked.  Instant feedback and the fact that it automatically links everything to the standards and benchmarks they are assessed over are the two main reasons I use the online format.  If I were to check the tests, they wouldn't get them back until Monday and then we would have to use up more instructional time to go over the tests.  You will find all results to spelling tests, all Friday assessments and homework/classroom work on Power teacher.  If you are not familiar with Power teacher please get into the office and get comfortable with it.  I will post all scores on there, so you will always know what work your child is doing, how well they are doing it and if they are missing any assignments.  We will take our first Friday assessment this week!  Your student should be studying vocabulary words and spelling words,

Math -  We took a chapter 1 pretest this week.  This will help me decide what lessons I need to cover in a whole group setting and maybe what ones I need to cover in a small group.  The students will feel a great sense of accomplishment when they can compare their pretest score with their post test score.  Usually they display tons of improvement after we have covered the chapter.   This really helps to build their confidence.  The first chapter is over Place Value.  This really is the basis of all Math.  We will move pretty quickly through this first chapter.  Students will begin to see more homework when we start adding Math assignments into the mix.  

Social Studies -  We begin the year talking about the United States as a whole.  We have discussed that the U.S. is broken down into 5 regions.  We will cover our government and how if functions.  Then we will dig right into the regions by studying them a region at a time.  We will talk about Native Americans, climate, and resources from each region.  We will keep an interactive notebook over the 50 states as we cover the regions.  They will color the state flag, look at it's population, state motto, the abbreviation for the State, state flower and state nickname.  They will walk away at the end of the year with a book of all 50 states, made by themselves.

Homework -  Please be sure to check with your student and see if they have homework.  So far this week there has been a couple days they have been assigned work.  A few people have had to take some home to do.  I will push for them to use their time wisely at school, so they don't have to take any or much home with them.  I prefer they do it at school in case they need help and then I am there to help them.    I try not to go overboard on homework, and if I do I make sure they have ample time at school to get the majority done.  Your child really should not bring home more than 30 minutes of work.  If they are bringing home more than  that on several days, let me know so that I can be sure I am helping them to keep organized and also get the work done at school.

Again I look forward to our year together.  I will be leaving Friday at noon.  My family and I are taking advantage of the long weekend and going to Chicago.  We have family there and usually go twice a year.  We were unable to make it this summer due to work schedules for my college kids, so we are going now.  The other time we go is for Thanksgiving every year.  Kids will have a sub for the afternoon.  Enjoy your long weekend together!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Happy Thursday!!  It is a happy one!  This is the last Thursday your kiddos will be with me!  The sad thing is.... I am not even there!  My daughter Jami is having a cyst removed from her wrist today.  It has been a problem for a while now and is limiting the amount of movement and use of her wrist.  Since she is a waitress that is very restrictive.  I will return on Friday!  This my last blog for the year, still seems very weird to say that!  I have loved teaching your kids this year!  I know we had lots of ups and downs but that is part of it!  It is a huge part of their growth as students. It is always so hard for me to see them move on!  Parents you all do a wonderful job with your kids, keep it up!  But now I do pass the torch to you for the summer months, until they join Ms. Surma next year!

Language Arts - We have finished the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book!  Today while I am gone they are watching the movie.  I see the movie every year but LOVE it and I am sad that I am missing.  I love watching the kids watch the movie.  I like watching their faces.  Tomorrow I have an activity to  compare and contrast the book and the movie.  We do a crossword over the whole book and Tuesday morning the will take a Unit test over the entire book.  Yes, I have a unit test.  It's amazing what you can find out there!  I think they have enjoyed a more relaxed atmosphere and reading a fun book with different people these last couple of weeks.  I hope they will pick up a book and read at least one over the summer.  I all ready have 8 on my shelf and 3 on my kindle ready for my summer reading!

Math -  We are finishing the year working on fractions.  We have learned equivalent fractions, putting fractions into simplest form and today they will learn common denominators.  This will be very helpful for Ms. Surma next year. They have done a great job with Math this year.  My advice is keep working on division problems over the year.  They all caught on to multiplication quite well but division was a struggle and some are still not confident. 

Social Studies -  Tomorrow is the big map test.  They will be labeling a map with the state and it's capital.  Some of your students have not done a very good job of studying the regions.  We have taken map tests over each region to get them ready.   Some didn't try very hard!  Please be sure they are studying.  You can see your kids scores on Power School for these map test.  The final grade for this benchmark will be based off this test.  We have quickly discussed the last three regions in the book.  Focusing on climates, landforms, and resources in the regions.  We will be completing the last two states in our interactive notebook tomorrow.  We have been very busy!  Next year in social studies they will have 9-10 weeks of Iowa History, then we move into learning about the founding of the 13 Colonies and up to the Revolutionary War.  

Tuesday, May 30 -  You will need to bring a sack lunch on this day!  NO Drinks, we will provide milk for them.  There will be Preschool graduation in the chapel form 12:15 - 1:00.  And then from 1:00 - 3:00 we have FIELD DAY!  Everyone loves field day! Great way to celebrate the end of the year, having FUN!

Wednesday, May 31 -  This is the LAST DAY!  There will be no lunch served today because we dismiss at noon.  We will have end of the year Mass at 9:15.  Today is a free day so no Mass attire is needed!!  Mass will include: Sports recognition, commissioning of 7th and 8th grade students, recognizing teachers, and a summer blessing from Father Halbur.  We will then spend the rest of morning turning in books and cleaning up the room for the summer.  

I have truly enjoyed having your kids in my room.  I hope your summer is very enjoyable!  Have some great family time.  

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels