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  We talk about capitalizing historical documents, and events in history, proper nouns, titles, languages, and Nationalities.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