Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! I hope you are all having a great perfect Fall week. I love this cool weather. It is perfect Fall weather. I am hoping we have a Fall this year. Seems we go from Summer to Winter and skip it completely. Try to pay attention to the weather and send your child with appropriate clothing. I am referring to jackets or sweatshirts. Our room is hard to get at a certain temperature. Sometimes we are chilly and sometimes it seems warm. I try to keep in comfortable but everyone has their own temperature gauge. Sometimes at noon recess it is not heated up enough and some need a light jacket to wear. I keep a fleece at school for this reason. Thank you!
Language Arts - This week we read a story called Stormalong. It is a Tall Tale about a sailor. It is a story that has been passed down for many years about people living a seafaring life. This is not a tale we commonly hear because of where we live. The story is fun to hear the first time but not so much on the 2nd and 3rd. I think the students become a little bored with it. In grammar we are talking about capitalization. We have worked on capitalizing historical events and documents, titles of stories or books, languages, Nationalities, and people's names. This is an easy yet important week of grammar. A lot of the students don't even remember to capitalize the first letter in a sentence so learning all these other rules is hard to remember. Our vocabulary strategy this week was on reference sources. We were reviewing using a dictionary. The students use an online Thesaurus every week when doing their vocabulary packets. It is also considered reference materials. Next week we will take our first Unit test. I break the test into 3 parts. We w) time. I will begin a new read aloud book, one that I have not read before so I can model how I read a book and what goes on in my head as I am reading to help me comprehend. I will also Assign their first book report to them. We will go over the directions thoroughly in class. The students will have until the end of this Trimester to complete the book report. I do have some rules on what kinds of books to read. No graphic novels. Must be a chapter book. It can have pictures but there shouldn't be a ton of pictures in the book. Due to the Unit test there is no spelling test next week! They get a week free of spelling words! I like Unit testing week because we do a lot of free reading.
Math - We are finishing up chapter 1. We have practiced adding large numbers and subtracting larger numbers. We will end the week going over some word problems. Next week we will do the review in the book and take our test. It looks to be Tuesday or Wednesday that we will test over chapter 1. We will then begin chapter 2. The chapter 1 test is done online. I will send a sheet home that will show their scores, how they did on the benchmarks that were covered. We cover about 4 benchmarks in this chapter. Only. 2 of those I am required to report on, which means you will see them on the report card. The other two I don't but I still let you now how they do with them.
Social Studies - We are finishing up our chapter this week. On Friday the students will be completing a study guide. We will check it on Monday and take the Test on Tuesday. We will then begin our journey through the regions of the United States. We start in the Northeast Region. We will focus on the states in that region learning their location, what their flag looks like, and keeping our interactive notebooks. This will be a new experience that will take some time to learn. Once we are through the first couple of states it becomes much easier for them and they do it quickly. We will be using our chromebooks more and doing a lot of cutting and pasting. The students usually end up enjoying their notebooks. They have facts about all 50 states in it by the end of the year. We will also be learning the capitals of each state. I use a States and Capitals song to help us memorize them. It is found on Youtube and can also be downloaded from itunes. It is called States and Capitals song by Macho Nacho. The Youtube version is pretty cool because they pinpoint each state and where it's capital is as the song is being sung. I will give the students a copy of the lyrics so they can sing along.
Book It - Book It starts in October. I will send a calendar home with the kids to keep track of the minutes they read at home. There is a goal at the top of the page. Each month has a different goal. We do this reading challenge through March. I will also keep track of my reading time. I am an avid reader and belong to a book club so I read a lot. I challenge the students each year. If there is anyone that can beat my total number of minutes at the end of the 6 months, I will reward them with a prize. I give prizes and awards to the 3 that have read the most minutes at the end of the 6 months. I ask that all students turn in their calendars even if they do not meet the goal. They still have a chance to win even if they don't meet the goal every time. Our goals are as follows: October 350, November 400, December 450, January 500, February 550, and March 600. This ranges from 12 minutes a day to like 18-20 minutes a day. I feel these are not unreasonable numbers for the students to reach. We start slow and work our way up to more! Because of my love for reading I will talk about this a lot. I have also found a site that gives the kids challenges for the month on what kinds of books to read. I hand those out also. The website is called Brightly. It is a great site for books! It gives great grade appropriate books. I am in love with this site and I have purchased 4 books from it in the first two weeks I found it. I am restraining myself now! It is worth looking at if your child struggles to choose books of interest.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I have nothing planned which is nice, yet it is more fun if I have something to do. I think housecleaning will be one of my activities. That's not a fun one though. Maybe a trip to Ames should be on my agenda! I could do some Christmas shopping. Yes I am thinking of that all ready!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! It is Homecoming week! The kids are excited about the early out and parade on Friday. They are also talking about the game. Please remember your student is to sit with you or in the student section at the game. They are monitoring the kids. They also may ask your child to not return to any future games if they are constantly running around. The student section is on the north end of bleachers. These kids are to sit towards the top. the High School students are along the bottom then the middle school and then elementary students. I would hate to have anyone asked to leave!
Friday, September 21 - We have an early out! It is earlier than normal. We will be putting kids on the buses at 12:30 and getting them moving. So the carline bell will be ringing about 12:35 or 12:40. Please note this change. The Parade starts at 1:30 this year. If your child is riding on the float make sure you have turned the permission form in and make sure they get where they need to be for the float. They will not be getting on at St. Malachy school. If your child is riding they received a paper today explaining where to go. Students must have permission form to ride. Have a fun and safe Homecoming!!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called The Power of W.O.W. This story is actually a drama or play. It is about a bookmobile in Dallas, Texas that lost its funding and cannot continue to bring books to a neighborhood that is too far away from the library. The kids in the neighborhood decide to raise money to help save the bookmobile, which they call Words on Wheels or W.O.W. I teaches the kids that when a community pulls together to help they can get things done. It is a "feel good" or inspirational story really. The kids enjoy it because it is written as a play and has parts for them to read. We are working on sentences in grammar. We are talking about sentence fragments, run-on sentences and complete sentences. The vocabulary strategy we covered was on the prefixes non- and mis-. We will be taking our end of the week test tomorrow and spelling post test. Please check with your student to be sure they are studying their yellow vocabulary packet. Those 5 words are the ones they will be assessed over.
Math - This week in math we finished talking about rounding numbers and began learning about renaming numbers. The renaming of numbers can be difficult. It is like taking the number 1,800 and saying 18 hundreds, or saying that 150 is 15 tens. When you have a number in the hundred thousands you can say it 5 different ways using all levels of place value. We will use this skill later in the year when learning multiplication so it is important to get now. The kids have had a busy week doing work in this subject. We will move next week into adding and subtracting larger whole numbers. These are quick one day lessons because this is review for the students. We end the chapter with problem-solving skills. After that we will be looking at reviewing for our first test. It will not be next week but probably the week after for sure.
Social Studies - This week the students have been working on making posters on the Bill of Rights. We have been learning about government and we will move on to learning what our rights and responsibilities are as citizens and I feel having an idea what the Bill of Rights are and how important they are will help them understand. The posters will be displayed in our hallway. I plan on them sharing their posters tomorrow with the class. They were given partners and an amendment to cover. Some groups had 2 amendments. It is fun to hear them talk about them and ask questions about what they are saying and what they mean. Some are hard to explain what that actually means to them.
We will focus on finishing on sharing posters and completing language arts tomorrow. It will be a very short day due to our 12:30 dismissal. It makes it a crazy day! Tomorrow we will most likely have a pep rally at some time also. It is very busy! Please have your students wear their panther gear tomorrow! Let's show our community pride by wearing read and black!!!
Have a great weekend! I will be busy with homecoming activities! I also have my oldest two coming home to help their sister prepare for the dance. I love having all my kids under one roof! Especially in light of the tragic loss of the student at Iowa State. That hits a little close to home so I will be happy to hug my kids!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! It is Homecoming week! The kids are excited about the early out and parade on Friday. They are also talking about the game. Please remember your student is to sit with you or in the student section at the game. They are monitoring the kids. They also may ask your child to not return to any future games if they are constantly running around. The student section is on the north end of bleachers. These kids are to sit towards the top. the High School students are along the bottom then the middle school and then elementary students. I would hate to have anyone asked to leave!
Friday, September 21 - We have an early out! It is earlier than normal. We will be putting kids on the buses at 12:30 and getting them moving. So the carline bell will be ringing about 12:35 or 12:40. Please note this change. The Parade starts at 1:30 this year. If your child is riding on the float make sure you have turned the permission form in and make sure they get where they need to be for the float. They will not be getting on at St. Malachy school. If your child is riding they received a paper today explaining where to go. Students must have permission form to ride. Have a fun and safe Homecoming!!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called The Power of W.O.W. This story is actually a drama or play. It is about a bookmobile in Dallas, Texas that lost its funding and cannot continue to bring books to a neighborhood that is too far away from the library. The kids in the neighborhood decide to raise money to help save the bookmobile, which they call Words on Wheels or W.O.W. I teaches the kids that when a community pulls together to help they can get things done. It is a "feel good" or inspirational story really. The kids enjoy it because it is written as a play and has parts for them to read. We are working on sentences in grammar. We are talking about sentence fragments, run-on sentences and complete sentences. The vocabulary strategy we covered was on the prefixes non- and mis-. We will be taking our end of the week test tomorrow and spelling post test. Please check with your student to be sure they are studying their yellow vocabulary packet. Those 5 words are the ones they will be assessed over.
Math - This week in math we finished talking about rounding numbers and began learning about renaming numbers. The renaming of numbers can be difficult. It is like taking the number 1,800 and saying 18 hundreds, or saying that 150 is 15 tens. When you have a number in the hundred thousands you can say it 5 different ways using all levels of place value. We will use this skill later in the year when learning multiplication so it is important to get now. The kids have had a busy week doing work in this subject. We will move next week into adding and subtracting larger whole numbers. These are quick one day lessons because this is review for the students. We end the chapter with problem-solving skills. After that we will be looking at reviewing for our first test. It will not be next week but probably the week after for sure.
Social Studies - This week the students have been working on making posters on the Bill of Rights. We have been learning about government and we will move on to learning what our rights and responsibilities are as citizens and I feel having an idea what the Bill of Rights are and how important they are will help them understand. The posters will be displayed in our hallway. I plan on them sharing their posters tomorrow with the class. They were given partners and an amendment to cover. Some groups had 2 amendments. It is fun to hear them talk about them and ask questions about what they are saying and what they mean. Some are hard to explain what that actually means to them.
We will focus on finishing on sharing posters and completing language arts tomorrow. It will be a very short day due to our 12:30 dismissal. It makes it a crazy day! Tomorrow we will most likely have a pep rally at some time also. It is very busy! Please have your students wear their panther gear tomorrow! Let's show our community pride by wearing read and black!!!
Have a great weekend! I will be busy with homecoming activities! I also have my oldest two coming home to help their sister prepare for the dance. I love having all my kids under one roof! Especially in light of the tragic loss of the student at Iowa State. That hits a little close to home so I will be happy to hug my kids!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! I hope all of you are having a great week! Sounds like this could be an exciting Balloon Day weekend! Weather looks to be cooperative for the the balloons to go up and 33 are coming to Creston. I do enjoy this weekend. The parade is always fun and then getting to see balloons in the air is great. The kids drew balloon pictures this week in Art and they will hang in the hall for all to see. It is like we have our own balloon weekend in the hall. Students had a rough couple days Monday and Tuesday. They were full days with learning and work for them to complete. I tried to explain that there will be days periodically that have more homework than normal and days that have barely any. It is just the way things progress. I try very hard to make the plans in each subject work with one another but sometimes it just doesn't work. I have given away some late slips this week. Again, they will settle in and get used to the routine of what is expected and they will get better at using their time wisely in study hall. The hardest part is wanting to visit with friends during study hall when they should be getting their work done so they have no homework. Most of the time students should have no homework because I try to make sure they have just enough to get done in the time they have here. Again, some days it may not work. I am not worried about any of the kids, they will catch on. They may serve a detention or two for late work, but they will catch on. If some are really struggling we will find ways to help make them more successful. I am not here to watch them fail. We will find a way to help them.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called My Librarian is a Camel. Sounds funny, right? Well, it is an informational article about areas in the world where kids do not have access to books. It talks about different countries and how books arrive for kids. Some countries it is via mail, some a camel, some a boat, an elephant, or a bus. The kids only have access at certain times. I tried to show how blessed they are to have a bookshelf full of books in classroom, a school library and a public library to access books anytime. I also talked about accessing books online. It is an interesting story the first time it is read but then they lose interest in it. Which makes it hard to test on Friday. I try to point out how important it is to understand for Friday. But I will not surprised if scores tend to drop a little on Friday. In grammar we are learning about Quotation Marks and how to write sentences with direct quotes in them. We talked about using context when we don't understand a word or phrase. Please remember we have an end of week assessment tomorrow so they should look over their vocabulary words and also spelling for the post test.
Math - We have learned about comparing and ordering numbers this week and are now working on rounding. Rounding is something they all know and when doing it as a class they show me they can do it BUT when I turn them loose on homework it's like they forget how. I have been telling them this and they just laugh at me. We will see how they do. In 4th grade the numbers get bigger and how we ask them to round gets confusing for them. We might have a number in the hundred thousands but you are only asked to round to the nearest ten. There are 4 other numbers in front of the tens so it can get confusing. We will end the week with this.
Social Studies - We are beginning to discuss our government. We are learning there are 3 levels: local, state, national. We are learning it is made up of 3 branches: Legislative, executive, and judicial. We are focusing on what each branches purpose is and I compare that at every level. I try to talk about how it works at each level. This is all the further we go with government. They have learned about being a democracy and a republic. We are talking about how important it is to vote. We will move on to discuss the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen of the US. This is a pretty heavy chapter that is full of important things about our country, yet, I feel only skimming the surface. The information I am giving them seems overwhelming to them!
I hope all of you have had a chance to sign up for our Facebook page. Again it is called St. Malachy Fantastic Fourth Grade. I try to look at least once a week to see if anyone has asked to join. I need to look yet this week. I hope everyone has a great weekend and has a opportunity to go see the balloons fly!
Please know if you have questions or concerns you can contact me at school before or after school and during my prep period which is 8:20-8:50.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! I hope all of you are having a great week! Sounds like this could be an exciting Balloon Day weekend! Weather looks to be cooperative for the the balloons to go up and 33 are coming to Creston. I do enjoy this weekend. The parade is always fun and then getting to see balloons in the air is great. The kids drew balloon pictures this week in Art and they will hang in the hall for all to see. It is like we have our own balloon weekend in the hall. Students had a rough couple days Monday and Tuesday. They were full days with learning and work for them to complete. I tried to explain that there will be days periodically that have more homework than normal and days that have barely any. It is just the way things progress. I try very hard to make the plans in each subject work with one another but sometimes it just doesn't work. I have given away some late slips this week. Again, they will settle in and get used to the routine of what is expected and they will get better at using their time wisely in study hall. The hardest part is wanting to visit with friends during study hall when they should be getting their work done so they have no homework. Most of the time students should have no homework because I try to make sure they have just enough to get done in the time they have here. Again, some days it may not work. I am not worried about any of the kids, they will catch on. They may serve a detention or two for late work, but they will catch on. If some are really struggling we will find ways to help make them more successful. I am not here to watch them fail. We will find a way to help them.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called My Librarian is a Camel. Sounds funny, right? Well, it is an informational article about areas in the world where kids do not have access to books. It talks about different countries and how books arrive for kids. Some countries it is via mail, some a camel, some a boat, an elephant, or a bus. The kids only have access at certain times. I tried to show how blessed they are to have a bookshelf full of books in classroom, a school library and a public library to access books anytime. I also talked about accessing books online. It is an interesting story the first time it is read but then they lose interest in it. Which makes it hard to test on Friday. I try to point out how important it is to understand for Friday. But I will not surprised if scores tend to drop a little on Friday. In grammar we are learning about Quotation Marks and how to write sentences with direct quotes in them. We talked about using context when we don't understand a word or phrase. Please remember we have an end of week assessment tomorrow so they should look over their vocabulary words and also spelling for the post test.
Math - We have learned about comparing and ordering numbers this week and are now working on rounding. Rounding is something they all know and when doing it as a class they show me they can do it BUT when I turn them loose on homework it's like they forget how. I have been telling them this and they just laugh at me. We will see how they do. In 4th grade the numbers get bigger and how we ask them to round gets confusing for them. We might have a number in the hundred thousands but you are only asked to round to the nearest ten. There are 4 other numbers in front of the tens so it can get confusing. We will end the week with this.
Social Studies - We are beginning to discuss our government. We are learning there are 3 levels: local, state, national. We are learning it is made up of 3 branches: Legislative, executive, and judicial. We are focusing on what each branches purpose is and I compare that at every level. I try to talk about how it works at each level. This is all the further we go with government. They have learned about being a democracy and a republic. We are talking about how important it is to vote. We will move on to discuss the rights and responsibilities of being a citizen of the US. This is a pretty heavy chapter that is full of important things about our country, yet, I feel only skimming the surface. The information I am giving them seems overwhelming to them!
I hope all of you have had a chance to sign up for our Facebook page. Again it is called St. Malachy Fantastic Fourth Grade. I try to look at least once a week to see if anyone has asked to join. I need to look yet this week. I hope everyone has a great weekend and has a opportunity to go see the balloons fly!
Please know if you have questions or concerns you can contact me at school before or after school and during my prep period which is 8:20-8:50.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is having a good short week! Short weeks are good and bad for me. Good, because I love the extra day at home, but bad, because it make for more work at school. Again, we are still adjusting to our schedules and routines. The whole month will still be a learning process. Remember we all adjust at a different rate. All the students will get there, I promise. Patience is key. I am very happy at where all of them are right now. Great job 4th graders!!!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a biography on Martin Luther King, Jr called My Brother Martin. It is written by his sister. It shares with us what childhood was like for his family and what events led him to be fight for Civil Rights. The kids seemed to enjoy this story. We have been working on 4 kinds of sentences in grammar. The four are declarative (telling statement), interrogative (asks a question), imperative (a command) and exclamatory ( statement said using strong feeling). They have had this lesson for at least 2 years and I know will have it again next year. I remember learning about this but not till I was a Freshman in High School! I told the kids this to make them feel like they were big stuff! Some of them smiled and sat up a little straighter. The vocabulary strategy we worked on was prefixes ( in, im, il, and ir). We worked with some words that contain these prefixes and discussed how it changes the meaning of the word. The target skill this week is Author's Purpose. We talked a lot about those purposes. Ask your child if they can tell you why author's write things. Remember tomorrow is our spelling post test and end of week test.
Math - This chapter in math is all about place value. This chapter should be a bit of a review. Only thing new is I teach them place value up to the hundred millions. The first two lessons are talking about place value, what a period is in math, the value of digits in a number, reading numbers correctly, and the three ways which we can write numbers. Those three ways are standard form, word form, and expanded form. This is a lot of information in 2 lessons. We will finish the week with three forms of writing numbers. It's a little amazing how much information is in these two lessons and how long it takes us to get through them. I want you to know I am a teacher that won't leave a lesson unless I feel like everyone is really understanding the concept. Sometimes we spend a short time on certain lessons and sometimes we spend a long time. Just depends on the group of kids and how well they learn new concepts. Each thing we learn is important to something else we will learn down the road so we can't skip things or move on because we are frustrated.
Social Studies - We learned how to do vocabulary words this week. I do vocabulary several different ways. We may make flash cards one week. we may just put them in our notebooks with definitions one week or we may work with them in something similar to a Frayer Model. This is where they define the word, put it in a sentence, give me an example and a non-example of the word. This one is harder but you also learn a lot more about the word because you have had to dig deeper with its meaning. This is on strategy I am working on with them for this chapter. We are also working hard on cooperative learning where the students are more engaged with one another then with just me. I am doing this in all classes but this one is the one I do it in the most this time of year. They learn to work together and learn from each other more than just listening to me. It also allows them more time to share out their ideas and thoughts with each other.
I hope all of you are signing up for my Facebook page. Remember it is called St. Malachy Fantastic Fourth Grade. I just accepted some people on there today. Please sign up so you can see any photos I post about things going on in our classroom. I also want to say thank you for sharing your precious child with me this year. I am all ready enjoying all of the students. I appreciate you putting your trust in me to care for them each day. Tomorrow is Spirit day! We combine this with CyHawk Day! Wear your favorite Iowa team tomorrow. Can't wait to take pics of us supporting our favorite team.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! I hope everyone is having a good short week! Short weeks are good and bad for me. Good, because I love the extra day at home, but bad, because it make for more work at school. Again, we are still adjusting to our schedules and routines. The whole month will still be a learning process. Remember we all adjust at a different rate. All the students will get there, I promise. Patience is key. I am very happy at where all of them are right now. Great job 4th graders!!!
Language Arts - This week we are reading a biography on Martin Luther King, Jr called My Brother Martin. It is written by his sister. It shares with us what childhood was like for his family and what events led him to be fight for Civil Rights. The kids seemed to enjoy this story. We have been working on 4 kinds of sentences in grammar. The four are declarative (telling statement), interrogative (asks a question), imperative (a command) and exclamatory ( statement said using strong feeling). They have had this lesson for at least 2 years and I know will have it again next year. I remember learning about this but not till I was a Freshman in High School! I told the kids this to make them feel like they were big stuff! Some of them smiled and sat up a little straighter. The vocabulary strategy we worked on was prefixes ( in, im, il, and ir). We worked with some words that contain these prefixes and discussed how it changes the meaning of the word. The target skill this week is Author's Purpose. We talked a lot about those purposes. Ask your child if they can tell you why author's write things. Remember tomorrow is our spelling post test and end of week test.
Math - This chapter in math is all about place value. This chapter should be a bit of a review. Only thing new is I teach them place value up to the hundred millions. The first two lessons are talking about place value, what a period is in math, the value of digits in a number, reading numbers correctly, and the three ways which we can write numbers. Those three ways are standard form, word form, and expanded form. This is a lot of information in 2 lessons. We will finish the week with three forms of writing numbers. It's a little amazing how much information is in these two lessons and how long it takes us to get through them. I want you to know I am a teacher that won't leave a lesson unless I feel like everyone is really understanding the concept. Sometimes we spend a short time on certain lessons and sometimes we spend a long time. Just depends on the group of kids and how well they learn new concepts. Each thing we learn is important to something else we will learn down the road so we can't skip things or move on because we are frustrated.
Social Studies - We learned how to do vocabulary words this week. I do vocabulary several different ways. We may make flash cards one week. we may just put them in our notebooks with definitions one week or we may work with them in something similar to a Frayer Model. This is where they define the word, put it in a sentence, give me an example and a non-example of the word. This one is harder but you also learn a lot more about the word because you have had to dig deeper with its meaning. This is on strategy I am working on with them for this chapter. We are also working hard on cooperative learning where the students are more engaged with one another then with just me. I am doing this in all classes but this one is the one I do it in the most this time of year. They learn to work together and learn from each other more than just listening to me. It also allows them more time to share out their ideas and thoughts with each other.
I hope all of you are signing up for my Facebook page. Remember it is called St. Malachy Fantastic Fourth Grade. I just accepted some people on there today. Please sign up so you can see any photos I post about things going on in our classroom. I also want to say thank you for sharing your precious child with me this year. I am all ready enjoying all of the students. I appreciate you putting your trust in me to care for them each day. Tomorrow is Spirit day! We combine this with CyHawk Day! Wear your favorite Iowa team tomorrow. Can't wait to take pics of us supporting our favorite team.
GO CYCLONES!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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