Dear Parents,
     Happy Friday!  This has been a nonexistent week for school!  That ice is a scary thing for sure but I never thought we would have 3 ice days!  I hope everyone is enjoying their 4 day weekend!   I guess I am!  I will be ready for Monday!   I hope your kids are.  I don't have much to report on the blog, since we didn't have much school.

Language Arts - We started the week reading Harvesting Hope: The story of Cesar Chavez and Migrant Workers Union.  We read the story and worked on vocabulary words. We will pick up where we left off on Monday.  On the late start day, I gave the kids the CRS Test.  This test is Constructed Response Supplement.  The kids read a story and answer 8 questions about the story.  The questions are not multiple choice or true false.  They actually have to write out answers. Sometimes they need to write a sentence or two and sometimes just a couple words will answer the question.  The key is answer the question completely.  We had a full classroom so Wednesday was the best option since I had no idea what the rest of the week would bring.  Thank goodness I did it.  I will be gone on March 5 to go to Des Moines and help score these tests with all other 4th grade teachers in the diocese.  I will not be scoring my own tests.  I will score ones from other schools.

Math -  We only had math once this week due to the late start.  We are trying to finish up combined rectangles and finding area.  I told them I had a worksheet that was a challenging activity that we would be doing next.  Some were looking forward to this and we didn't get to do it, but we will next week for sure.

Social Studies - Please be sure to sign your students test so they can return it.  I plan for them to put one more state in their notebook before we begin the next chapter.  Again, if your student didn't do well on the states and capitals map section please work with them so they can learn them.  It is important cause at the end of the year they take a test over all 50!

Auction Basket -  The auction donations were due today but since we are not in school we will move the deadline to Monday.  They were hoping to do some shopping this weekend.  We have not had a very turn out for donations.  We joined 3-5 together for this reason and have received even less than normal.  Please send what you can, a gardening item or cash donation even if it is $5. We can use all the help we can.  The Silent Auction item is all ready taken care of. All money will go towards the Auction Basket.  Thank you very much to all who have all ready donated it is greatly appreciated and to those who plan to donate.

I hope we have a full week next week.  We do have a guest speaker on Wednesday.  Scott Boyle who was at NCYC this fall will be here to talk to the kids.  He will be at school for a 45 minute session and then at the church that night for another session.

Enjoy your 4 day weekend. I miss all of you!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  What a week!  I feel like it has been a very quick week.  Tuesday full of making donuts and Valentine Party, Wednesday being Ash Wednesday and today I spent my morning at hospital with Molly.  She was getting an MRI on her shoulder.  Love that X-ray staff.  So very nice and explained everything so well to both of us.  She had to have injection into the joint for the scans.  Kinda interesting to watch.   I understood immediately why I teach kids!!  I am back for the afternoon. 

Language Arts - We are reading Hercules Quest this week.  It is the story of Hercules.  I planned to show the movie on Friday but I am not sure I will get to it.  It is a fun story the kids like it.  Lots of hard words to read.  The names of people especially.  We are working on prepositions and prepositional phrases in grammar this week. It's a hard concept to teach and only spend 3 days on!  Our vocabulary strategy was adages and proverbs which help teach figurative language.  We also read a fun story called Zomo's Friends.  I love this little story.  Some of the kids loved it and others didn't at all.  Tomorrow we will have our normal Friday with  the story, spelling post test and end of week test.  Study study!

Math - This week we finished off perimeter and started Area.  These are concepts that are not that hard but hard to keep separate.  We will finish up area either tomorrow or Monday.  We will then move on to a lesson on combined rectangles.  It will be like blue print of a house and they will find area of the rooms.  We do one worksheet that is totally like that.  I find that stuff fun because it challenges me, others do not think that way!  I try to tell the kids that this chapter is meant to be fun and relaxing after all the hard work we did in Chapters 2 and 3.  

Social Studies - Today they tested over chapter 6.  They will make corrections tomorrow.  We will then put another state in their notebooks and then move on into Chapter 7.  I hope to get us through this chapter so that we can start talking about the Midwest states which are the next region of study.  They will like this section because it is more close to home.  

Food Pantry - We did not get to go to Food Pantry last week due to the temperatures. This week we are going to go instead of the 5th graders.  I asked students to wear their boots cause it is a slushy mess.  They are excited to go!  Thank you in advance.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  We are working hard this week.  I feel our room has been pretty lucky.  We were missing 2 kids on Monday but that was really it.  We have not been hit too bad by the flu but I feel it moving in on us.  Please be sure to keep your child home if they had a fever the night before.  If you don't you are just "gifting" the other students with it.  They are saying you are contagious a very long time.  Kids diagnosed with Influenza A are told 7 days contagious and are to stay home from school. I know this can be an inconvenience to a working parent but please listen to the doctors, they are trying to prevent the spread of it.  We are disinfecting our rooms and desks about twice a day.  The kids do it every morning and afternoon and even if someone in area sneezes they clean.  Hand washing is also being pushed, not the use of GermX but actual soap and water on their hands! We want to escape the sickness!!

Language Arts- This week we are reading a story that is interesting the first time but not so interesting the other 2 times we read it.  It is called The Right Dog for the Job and it is about the process a dog takes to become a service dog.  It is interesting to hear some of the things that a dog goes through to become a service dog.  Working in a classroom is one of the interesting things.  We have learned about adverbs and the questions they answer this week.  We also talked about suffixes.  We are sharing book reports slowly this week.  I gave each student a rubric to follow that showed exactly what was expected and how they would be graded.  Some of them followed the rubric and some of them didn't bother to look at it.  Grades will reflect this.  I will put on power school as they present them.

Math -  We have started into some fun items today.  Perimeter is our lesson today.  Yes it is easy to teach that to find perimeter you add all the sides together which is how I introduced it, but you must use the perimeter formulas in this chapter.  P=(2XL) + (2XW) for a rectangle and P= 4 X one side for a square.  This is showing them the algebraic way of finding perimeter. Tomorrow we will work on the same and then Monday I will partner them and send them around the building to find 3-5 things to measure and find perimeter.  This is the fun part, it gets them out of the room and moving around the building.  I talked about people's jobs that require them to use perimeter.  Some of you may talk to your child about it if you use it on a regular basis.  We will then learn Area in the same way.  We will learn it on paper then apply it to real world by measuring things and finding their area.

Social Studies - We are talking about animals and products found in the Southeast Region.   The students will have a map test on Monday.  They will need to be able to label the Southeast map with states and capitals.  Please help your child study.  I gave them last Friday to make an answer key and study on practice maps.  We will also put another state in our notebooks. Tomorrow I plan to give them a state and allow them time to study their maps.  

Food Pantry - We go to the Food Pantry tomorrow if weather permits.  Please be sure your student brings their boots tomorrow for the walk down there.  Some of them chose not to bring boots today. They have to have them tomorrow.  If they don't they may be asked to stay back.  I need them to have hats and mittens also.  The first part of their work is done outside and then they unload things and shelve them inside.  We need to be prepared.  Thank you!

Tuesday, February 13th -  This is "Fat Tuesday"!!  The 4th graders make and plate donuts for the entire school.  We spend a couple hours in the morning doing this.  It is a tradition we have had for many many years.  Well at least 19-20 since I have been here.  It is just a fun treat before Ash Wednesday and fasting begins.  Also we will be celebrating Valentine's Day on this day in the afternoon.  We are doing this due to Ash Wednesday being on Valentine's Day.  Not a big deal we are just going to celebrate a day early.  Our party consists of a snack and a drink and the kids exchanging valentine's at the end of the day.  So we start the day with food and end the day with food.  I will say because we provide a snack I do NOT allow the kids to eat any candy from their valentines at school.  I feel the parent can decide how much candy they eat.

I pray we all continue to stay healthy!!  I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend!  I pray the weather doesn't put a damper on any of our plans.  I am suppose to do dinner and movie with my best friend in Des Moines tomorrow and I am praying the snow quits.  I am looking forward to some time with my friend.  

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!   I don't know about you but I am worn out!  Catholic Schools Week is always so much fun but also so very exhausting.  Today was a big day!  Roller Skating in Des Moines!  It was lots of fun.  Most all 4th graders stayed out on the floor most of the time.  There were a few who tired out or just got bored with it.  I loved it.  I went every Friday night from about 2nd grade through 6th grade!  It was our entertainment.  Henry's Skateland was the place to be on Friday night.  It brought back some fun memories for sure.  Our week is almost over!  Tomorrow is it!  We end the week with Grandparents/special guest day!  Such a wonderful way to end the week, with our loved ones.  Tomorrow we also honor teachers who have put in 5, 10, 15, 20.....years here at St. Malachy. Hang on cause Mrs. Levine is being honored for 40 years of service at St. Malachy.  I will also get my 20 year pin.  Hard to believe that my years are half of what Levine as put in.  She is awesome! Remember tomorrow is dress up day.  We need to look our best!

Language Arts - We did not cover a story this week because 3 days of class is not enough time at all to do that.  We have started a new read aloud book called One Crazy Summer.  It has won a  ton of awards.  There are 4 showing on the cover.  Since February is Black History Month my daughter told me I needed to read it.  Josie just finished a children't literature class in Ames and they talked a lot about this book and that it is a popular read aloud so we are doing it!  So far so good.  We do some predicting after we read each day.  I feel like it is a sad book but I am predicting a happy ending. Not everyone in the class thinks like me.  It's fun reading something new with them.  Plus, I can model my thought process in things first hand.  We got into partners and rolled a die for parts of a story.  They rolled to find their character, setting and conflict.  I had a paper that had them written on it and they rolled the die and matched it to those areas.  Some are creating some fully stories like a zookeeper, who found a magical hat in a Jelly Bean Factory.  I hope to finish the stories on Friday and get them to type them up.  Next week we will get back to week 17 story in the book.

Math-  We have spent the week reviewing when we could. The kids have done a practice test in the book and an extra practice sheet we will go over tomorrow.  They will take their test over chapter 3 on Monday!    After that we will begin chapter 13 on Area and Perimeter.

Social Studies -  This week we have focused on putting states into our interactive notebooks.  They have worked on North Carolina and Kentucky.  Tomorrow we will end the week with some map work.  I want them to start to practice the Southeast States on a map.  Again they will need to locate them and label the capital.  

I hope everyone has had a great week this week.  We are gearing up for Lent to begin.  The 4th graders will be making donuts on Feb. 13th, Fat Tuesday, and we give them out to the entire school.  I have been doing this for many years.  It is a great tradition here. Most kids look forward to the donuts.  I also plan to have our Valentine's Day party on the 13th.  Since the 14th is Ash Wednesday there are Catholic traditions on that day which is fasting and only eating 3 meals that day with no snacking in between.  The whole school is celebrating on Tuesday instead.  It is also bring a friend to school day.  If you are wanting to bring a friend make sure you fill out the form and turn it in to the office please.  It will help us have an idea of how many extras we will have!!

Have a great weekend!!!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels