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