Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  Today is to be a beautiful day!! I am so happy it is nice.  We have our Sedar Meal at noon then our Cross Walk this afternoon.  I am so glad it will be nice for our walk to the church.  It is a great Holy Thursday celebration for St. Malachy today!

Language Arts -  We did not do a story this week.  There were only 3 full days we could have covered a story then would have had to finish it next Thursday and Friday.  I didn't feel we could do the story justice by doing it that way.  We filled the time with other activities.  One day we played Spill and Spell as a class to practice our spelling and have a little friendly competition.  One day they wrote letters to Editor or a story about something from school to put into the magazine at BizTown.  I also had them type them onto google docs.  They also had a new book report assigned to them that will be due in May. 

Math-We have spent the week working on the standard algorithm or regrouping strategy for Division.  This one always takes me a while because it has so many steps to the process.  Even though I put the process of steps on the board and teach them a little chant, they still lose track of where they are in the process and what to do next.  The more we practice this the better they will get.  Next week we will work more on this strategy.  Any practice at home they can do would be great.  Ask them to show you the chant we have.

Social Studies-  They are completing chapter 6 today by taking a test.  We will be moving quickly through the other regions due to running out of time.  The year is dwindling down quickly.  I will pick items in chapter 7 to cover that I fell need to be and we will work on capitols.  Then we will go to Midwest and so on.  Projects will be coming due in about a week so please check with your children on how they are doing with that.

Biz Town- This week they received their job assignments. Mrs. Surma and I spent a few hours on Sunday night going over their interviews. We decided that we needed to take into account our knowledge of each child's interests and capabilities when choosing their jobs. There we jobs that the no one had applied for, so some may not have gotten a job that was one of their choices. I feel they handled the new well.  I am sure that day they will have so much fun they will forget that they are doing a job they didn't want to do. This week they got together with the people they are going to be working with and had to create a name for their business. They also had to write up ads to be done for the magazine and radio in Biz Town. The CEO/CFOs had to fill out forms for the bank. They will also be writing some short articles that will be included in the Biz Town magazine! 

When we go, they will need a sack lunch and drink. They will also need to wear mass day attire. They are going to work! 

Clean-Up Day- The school will be cleaning up our school property on Friday, April 21. We are asking your kids to bring a rake to school that day if they have one! Make sure your family name is on it somewhere. If they have work gloves, they can bring those too. We will be raking along the fence and by Father Halbur's house. 

Iowa Assessment scores are going home today. Please look in your child's folder for their results.

I hope everyone enjoys their nice Easter Break.  I am looking forward to the teacher's trip to St. Louis!  I hope to learn some new things to bring back with me to try in my room!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels