Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday and Merry Christmas!   What a fun week we have had.  We have completed some pretty important things this week and also had some fun.  I hope all of you have a great Christmas break.  I am looking forward to having all of my children under the same roof for a while.  Also, I will be attending ISU Graduation ceremonies tomorrow.  My daughter Josie will graduate tomorrow with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences.  She has her application in at two places right now. One being Habitat for Humanity where she did her internship and loved it there.  The other is a Learning Consultant with Alpha Gamma Delta.  She has made it to the 3rd step in the process (whew). She will be flown to Indianapolis, Indiana for a face to face interview.  She all ready passed the Skype interview process.  This is super exciting.  This job would require her to travel.  She will be super happy with either position so of course we have been praying about it.  So again I will enjoy having all three in my house at once for a while.  Kids really do grow up very quickly.  Enjoy these days!!

Language Arts -  This week the students got into partners, we rolled dice to pick a character, conflict, and setting.  They then had to wright a story using these elements.  They had some fun doing this.  I hope to get to share those stories at some point today.  If not we will definitely share the first of the year when we return.  We had Cuddle-Up and Read day also.  It was successful. I hope they all remembered to add 60 min to their Book It Calendars for that day.  It is always refreshing to see the kids just read a good book.  I read with them.  My book got so good I read right through my prep period.  This is my favorite event of the year and most of the students love this day also. 

Math -  We finished up chapter 2.  We did a dress rehearsal on the test. I gave them back with scores.  We then went over each problem on the test and how to work it.  I talked to them about the need to show their work.  They took the test on Tuesday, corrected on Wednesday and they will see their scores today.  I will pass out they dress rehearsal and final test so they can compare their scores and we can talk about what they could do differently.  In all honestly the dress rehearsal was very beneficial to all of them.  I plan to do this again!!  We will begin chapter 3 when we get back from break. This will be over double-digit multiplication.

Social Studies -  This week they put Maryland into their notebooks and took their first Map test over the Northeast Region.  This test was not very good.  There were several students that chose not to study.  This is very important that they learn the regions one at a time.  At the end of the year we will take a test over the entire 50 states and capitals.  I try to get them to learn a region at a time to make this process easier for them.  This is a required standard that they will be graded over.  We will take another Map test when we return. I will give the kids a week to study for it.  There were some students that did very well.  You will find the test in their folders today.  The students also watched the Geography Bee finals in the gym on Wednesday.  This is always a fun event. Denton Lane was our winner this year. He will take a test and see if he makes it to the state competition. We have had student in the past make it to the next level which is very exciting.

Christmas Gifts - I am have been overwhelmed with the generosity of the students.  They have gotten me such sweet and thoughtful gifts.  I love all of them.  I give the students a written thank you but not sure the parents always see those.  So, thank you so very much for your thoughtful gifts.  The smiles on your children's faces when I open the gifts is my favorite part.  I received 3 different Harry Potter items this year.  I also can't wait to go book shopping at Barnes and Noble.  Shopping for a good book is great fun.

Christmas Break -  This break starts tomorrow December 20th and ends January 2nd.  The students will resume classes on Thursday, January 2, 2020.  I look forward to seeing them after the long break.  I will miss each and every one of them. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!! We have been working very hard this week.  Monday was not a very good day.  Kids were very talkative that day.  Tuesday morning before class started we talked about how we have to still work hard all day.  I talked about even though we are excited about Christmas coming we still have to do our jobs.  Since that conversation the kids have been great!!  We have had great lessons and have held some very interesting discussions.  This all makes me super proud of the kids.  I pointed out to the kids that when they are listening we have great lessons and great conversations.  They smile pretty wide when I tell them what a great day we are having.  Next week will be harder to reign them in.  We have so many little extra things that we are doing!  There are a lot of things going on next week.  Continue reading to find out about all the happenings here at St. Malachy next week!

Language Arts -  You will find the results to the Unit 2 test in the folders today.  I would like to share that the scores are not fabulous.  This class as a whole does not want to give me much effort in taking these tests.  They read the story very quickly and then they do not want to go back in the story and reread to locate answers.  I require them to highlight answers in the packet I give them but some just highlight the first thing they come to.  We have talked about reading the story slower to soak up the information and rereading from the beginning until we find what we are looking for.  The students have an unlimited amount of time to do the test.  A lot of them are done so quickly there is no way they could have read to understand.  They have not seen their actual scores so you can share with them what how they did.  
This week we are reading a non fiction story called Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms.  It is interesting to some and not to others. It gets pretty technical about how a hurricane forms.  What it needs to strengthen it and when it weakens.  It has lots of diagrams for the kids to look at.  It is definitely full of information.  They enjoyed the short story which focused on Hurricane Katrina. It talked about the destruction that happened and how many people were displaced from their homes. They were very interested and when I talked about the schools and I wondered how they were affected then they were very intrigued.  This week in grammar we worked on my favorite homonyms: to, too, two, there, their, they're, its, and it's.  These are the words you see on Facebook misused by many people.  I love teaching these to help the students understand each and what to look for when deciding which one to use.  They have done very well on their homework with these.  The vocabulary strategy this week was on suffixes: -ful, -less, -ness, and -ment.  We talked about how these suffixes change the meaning of the words.  Tomorrow will be our end of the week test and spelling post test. Please be sure your child is looking over their yellow packet and studying their spelling words.   
Next week I will not be doing a story with the students.  It boils down to really only have 3 teaching days for language arts and I do not want to cover a story in just 3 days and have them take a test.  On Monday we are going to do a writing activity in partners.  So we are going to have a fun reading day on Tuesday.  I call it Cuddle-Up and read. See below...

Cuddle-Up and Read - This is a day that I normally have the Tuesday before Thanksgiving but it didn't really work out this year, so I am having it Tuesday, December 17th.  This is where the students may bring to school a blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal.  They may bring one items or all three items.  There is no rules to what you bring.  We will spread out around the room, get comfortable and just read. I plan on the students reading for a solid hour.  This is one of the kids favorite days in my room.  I will model and read for this hour also.  Soooo it is one of my favorite days too.  I will tell the kids about it tomorrow so they have no idea yet.

Math -  We are finishing up Chapter 2. I did something different with the kids this chapter.  I had them do a "Dress Rehearsal" on their test.  I learned this at the PLC Conference Ms. Surma and I attended this fall.  We both are adding this to our classroom.  We all know that a dress rehearsal is a "practice" in costume, make-up, ect.  I had them take the test instead of doing a review.  They could ask questions while taking it.  This is a practice run. I have a few that need to finish up today.  Tomorrow I intend on going over all the problems on the test with the class.  On Monday they will take the test as a test. If we don't make it through all the problems tomorrow we will finish on Monday and take the test on Tuesday.  After they are finished with the test next week, I plan on them doing some fun Christmas Math.

Social Studies - This week I introduced the kids to a map of the Northeast. I gave them 4 copies.  They were to make an answer key with one and then they had 3 practice maps.  This is to help them learn and study the states and capitals of the Northeast Region.  By the end of the year they need to be able to label a map of all 50 states/capitals.  I help them get there by learning a region at a time.  They will have their first map test on Tuesday.  This will be over the same map I just gave them to study.  Please be sure they are studying. You can copy that map at home on a copier as many times as you want. I told the kids is they wanted more practice maps to just ask me and I would get more for them  I really want them to be successful.  We have been singing our song daily so they are memorizing it and can use that to learn those capitals.  On Wednesday, the kids will be watching the Geography Bee finals in the gym after Mass.  We had 3 kids make it to the tie breaker round and almost get to be in the finals. That is super exciting!  Next year maybe they will make it in!

Food Pantry - Again, we have been collecting health and beauty items for the pantry.  Tomorrow is our last day of collection.  The 4th grade will be going to the pantry to unload and will take all the items to the pantry tomorrow afternoon.  If you want to help donate please send with your child tomorrow.

Reconciliation -  The students will be given the sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday.  Father plans to be with 3-5 students from 9:45 - 11:45.  We will most likely be towards the end of that.  The 3rd grade is going to start then 5th grade will go so we can still have PE.  We may need to finish after lunch.

December 19th - This is our last day before break. I am tentatively planning these things at these times.  They will have Science as normal from 8:20-8:50.  We will come back and do prayer. I hope to show them a Christmas movie or just an old Disney movie off Disney plus this morning.  They will still have PE from 10:10-10:40.  We will then come back and finish up the movie.  At 11:15 they will go to Religion like normal.  At 11:40 the kids will pair up with their Advent Angels and have lunch in the gym together.  We will have our sing-a-long from 12:5-12:45. Anyone is welcome to come join our sing-a-long.  We will then come back to the room and again finish any of the movie that is left.  We may do some Christmas Math for a bit and at 1:30 we will start our Christmas Party! Anyone is welcome to join us for our Christmas Party.  We will have a snack and drink and them play board games.  I love to enjoy everyone's company just playing games for fun.  The kids can bring in their favorite games from home if they would like.  We do not always play all of them.  This is what we did at my house when I was young and so I like to celebrate Christmas this way with the students.  Then I will send them home to you all for Christmas Break!

Please join us in Dress up days next week!  

Monday -  Wear Red

Tuesday-  Wear Green

Wed. Mass day dress up

Thursday - Ugly Sweater Day

I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend.  I have a family Christmas all ready.  We have company coming to stay with us tomorrow night.  Same family I was with over Thanksgiving! We are looking forward to our time together.  Hope everyone's shopping is done!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  We are back in the swing of things after a wonderful Thanksgiving break.  Mine was spent with family in Chicago!  We had a great time and did some fun shopping.  We played a lot of games, mainly Bananagrams.  We have been working hard when we can this week.  The kids had mass this week, their first Advent Angel activity, and the Christmas Program.  I think the rest of the week will be pretty calm now!  I am not at school today.  I am in Des Moines at the State Drill Team Competition. My daughter Molly is on the Peppers Team and they will compete twice.  Both are around the noon hour so I had to take a whole day off!  I left them in good hands.  The day will go along as if I were there.  By the way, our kids did a great job at Mass today.  I had to leave the room to take the "Body of Christ" to the tabernacle and the Sanctuary singers took charge and went up and began singing when they were suppose to without being told!  It was great!!!  To me that was huge and showed great maturity.  I was super proud and was sure to let them know.

Language Arts - This week we did not read a story.  This was a Unit test week.  We have been working on it for 2 days and will finish today.  They have the editing and revising section yet to complete.  I will get those scores out to you next week.  I also have not gotten the last story score to you  because I have 2 that were gone and we have yet to have the time to make it up. Once they have taken it, I can pull the scores and get the sheets filled out and to you. Please expect those next week also.  If you are curious and can't wait, shoot me an email and I can give you a total score for now.  I will be assigning the students their next book report on Friday.  Please pay attention to whether the last book was a good choice for you child.  Help them to know what they might choose better next time.  Let me know if the book was too long or too hard for them.  I have heard from a couple parents all ready, so I know to guide them differently this time.  This book needs to have a strong character in it.  They will be doing a Character Sketch so need to good character to work with.  This is one of my favorite book reports and I am the only one that does something like this one.  This will cause them to be very artistic.  I look forward to these each year.  These reports will be due February 3, 2020.  Please get the instructions out of their folder and put in a safe place, or leave them in the folders if that is a safe place.  I would like them to have a book picked and turned in to me by Christmas break. (which is only like 10 more school days away)!  Isn't that crazy.

Math - This week we have finished up learning about the standard algorithm in multiplication.  It is called the Regrouping Strategy.  The kids can multiply 4 digit number times a single digit and do it well.  They will work on flash cards and a basic fact test today.  Tomorrow I will begin talking to them about equations.  Yes, a little dip into algebra for them.  They think they are "big" stuff when I say "Algebra" to them.  We will spend a couple days on that and then be ready to review.  After we take a test, we will do some fun Christmas math and then begin chapter 3, which is double digit multiplication.  Things are going to get a bit harder!!  I love teaching multiplication to the students.  The strategies are so cool and has helped me to better understand the concept of multiplication.  They have several strategies in under their belt to choose from to work problems and not just one like we had.

Social Studies -  We have begun the 2nd chapter on the Northeast.  We have been singing our States and Capitals song.  We will get some map work soon, so they can take their first map test of the Northeast!  They worked on putting 2 states into their notebooks today.  We will be working very hard to get those finished up and move on out of the Northeast into the Southeast.  It is super hard to get everything we want to do done in our short class periods.  I could use an hour a day with social studies.  

Spirit Day - Friday is a Spirit Day!!  Kids can wear sweats for $1.00.  

Christmas Program - The kids looked AWESOME!  They sang fabulously!  It was a great night!  Super proud of our school and it's kiddos. Now we can relax until Christmas break! Which is approaching fast I might add! (again)

Prayer - I just wanted to share what we have been doing in 4th grade during prayer.  For the month of November the students told one thing each day that they were thankful for.  Boy, you would be proud of your kids and the things they are thankful for!  I didn't have anyone be thankful for anything materialistic!  The month of December I have asked them to think of someone they can pray for everyday.  So in are petitions each one tells me someone they want to pray for.  They can repeat their choice on a daily basis or pick someone new everyday.  This is going very well.  It is amazing who they think of besides family.  I am super happy I have done this.    I found out what amazing caring kids they are. If you question that in your child, don't!  They got it right!!

If I have forgotten something, I apologize!  It is 9:30 and I am tired.  I will send you a message if I have left anything out.  If you think of something email and remind me. I can be forgetful. Especially this time of year.  Have a great weekend.  I will see the kids on Friday.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  Well we have had a great week so far.  The weather is changing today and I have seen it in the kids also.  Tomorrow will be very different temps.  Please be sure they come prepared to be warm at recess.  Sounds like next week we may have a mixed bag of tricks. I am really not liking it!  We travel to Chicago every year for Thanksgiving.  I do most my Christmas shopping there also.  I am praying I can get there.  It can snow all it wants after I am there but I just want to get there.  If I can't I may be really stressed!  I want to wish anyone else who travels a safe trip!

Mass -  We have mass the Wednesday we return from Thanksgiving Break, December 4th. I have planned it and the kids know what they are doing.  If your child is a reader of any kind they have their parts in their take home folders.  Please be sure to practice these over break so we come back and have a great mass.  It is the first week of Advent so mass that day is kind of special.  We will sing Advent songs and bless the Advent Wreaths we have in our rooms. 

Language Arts -  This week we read a biography about Jose Limon.  He was the pioneer to modern dance.  I wanted to show them a clip of him dancing but have not been able to do it.  I keep previewing clips but feel like there is always something that might be deemed inappropriate in the dancing.  I am not going to share that.  If you want to share some with them feel free.  I am just not comfortable doing so in the classroom.  He had a rough life and he made his dance technique show  the trials and tribulations of life.  His dancing is very expressive.  It reminds me of Lyrical or contemporary dancing today, if you are familiar with these two styles of dance.   We have been learning about pronouns this week.  I talked about my experience learning these in 6th grade and used the same style as my teacher to teach it.  We talked about shades of meaning with words.  This is words that are synonyms but yet one has a little bit more meaning than another. Example would be all the synonyms for  big:  massive, enormous, huge, giant, and large.  Each makes you think a little bit differently.  Tomorrow will be a normal Friday.  We will be taking a spelling test and end of the week test.  Please be sure they are studying their vocabulary words in the yellow packets tonight.

Math -  We have learned about 3 strategies so far to help us multiply.  These strategies show us better, what we are doing when we multiply.  We will be learning the standard algorithm or the way you learned after Thanksgiving break.  If you compare what we have learned so far to that one.  The algorithm does not really show the kids what they are really doing when multiplying. It is just a short cut to multiplying words so we don't have to show very much work.  The other strategies require the kids to show every step of their thinking and that is what you have to do in the more advanced classes in high school.  You are made to show every bit of your work.  The kids, I know, are irritated that they have to show all their work but I keep telling them, they will thank me when they are in middle school and high school.

Social Studies -  We are beginning work on a study guide to day.  They will check it tomorrow and test on Monday.  Due to our crazy music and band schedule from now until the program, our classroom schedule will be a little off but we will get it done. I would like to be sure this test is done by Thanksgiving break so they do not have to worry about it.

Geography Bee- The 4th graders get to participate in the National Geography Bee, along with the 5th-8th graders in our building.  The students 4-8 will be split into 3 rooms.  Each room will have students from all these grades.  The students will be put through 7 rounds of geography related questions.  The 10 students who answered the most questions correctly, will move on to the final competition to be held in December.  There is usually a tie breaker round to determine our top 10.  I have had 4th graders make it to the final round in the past.  It is meant to be a fun activity.  Some find it stressful because they have to answer questions in front of the bigger kids.  Those bigger kids were once in 4th grade and know what it was like.  I will run the 4th grade through a "Mock GeoBee" on Monday during our Social Studies time.  The actual Preliminary Round will be held on Tuesday.  If you have an Echo Dot (Alexa) at home you can say "Alexa play goequiz" and you will answer 6 questions of the day that are the same kinds of questions that will appear in the GeoBee.  We have been doing this everyday in my room for about a week.  Good luck to all students!!

Spirit Day - Tomorrow is another Spirit Day.  You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats tomorrow.  It will be the perfect temperature to wear sweats!  I wish I could wear them. 

Mass Servers -  This is the year students are trained to be servers at Mass.  They are in need of servers.  They are wanting to know who is interested in doing it.  Any 4th grade student who is Catholic should be training to be a server.  It is one way that the students may serve God.  If there is any interest please email myself or Mrs. Simmons and let her know.  Students will be used at school mass and weekend masses also.  They will ask if you prefer Saturday nights or Sundays.  You end up doing it once every 6-8 weeks. I hope some of you will step up and help out.

Christmas Program- Please remember the program is on Wednesday, December 4th at the Creston High School.  

Thanksgiving Break -  This break begins Wednesday, November 27 through Sunday, December 1st. I will see the kids back in school Monday, December 2nd!

I hope all of you have an enjoyable weekend!  Next week is a very short week!  Only 2 days of school!  I will not have a blog next week.  Happy Thanksgiving and I hope all of you enjoy your family and friends of Turkey Day.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  Thank you all very much for meeting with me last week.  I appreciate our "short" time together talking about your child.  I am always happy to share the things we are doing.  The rest of this year will go quickly from here on out.  Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here and then Christmas.  I plan to work them very hard  over this weeks.  I do try to keep the homework down though.  My goal is not to overwhelm them.  This is also an exciting time of year, and I want to be able to teach yet enjoy our time together.  This month is prayer I am having the students say things they are thankful for each day.  I told them yesterday I was thankful for them and thankful that I am able to teach them this year.  I think some of them were surprised by this statement.  I really do enjoy all the kids in this room.   I appreciate you sharing them with me.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a really fun story called Dear Mr. Winston.  The story is written as a letter.  A girl named Cara is suppose to be writing an apology to the public librarian.  She took a snake in the library in a box to try and look in a reference book to figure out what kind of a snake it is.  The librarian looked in the box and was deathly afraid of snakes.  He passed out and was taken away by ambulance.  Her apology letter is funny because as she apologizes she also points out why it was not entirely her fault.  The kids really like this story.  We are working on compound and complex sentences this week in grammar.  We also are working on antonyms.  The antonyms should just be a review because we use them every week in our vocabulary packet.  I again was sure to cover the comprehension questions from the test while we covered the story together.  Tomorrow we will have our spelling post test and end of the week test.  Make sure your student studies their yellow packet of vocabulary tonight.  

Math - We worked on multiplication facts, and I taught them a new strategy for multiplying using expanded form.  I really pumped this strategy up to them.  I love this one.  It is easy and really shows how multiplication works.  They seemed excited about it because they thought it was easy.  I can't wait to see how they did today on their work. I hope they do well so I can keep the excitement going.  It is a fun lesson to teach watching the realization of how easy it is in on their faces.  We will be learning a couple more strategies that  are pretty easy and fun to use this chapter also.

Social Studies -  We are working on the next lesson on resources of the Northeast region.  They learned about grapes and cranberries coming from here.  They were shocked when they learned there is 1,000 total cranberry bogs in the United States and 500 of them are in Massachusetts!  We also talked about why New York was a great place for grapes to grow. I also discussed grapes being grown around here at wineries. They also learned today about maple syrup in Vermont, we talked a little bit about the process it goes through to become the syrup on the store shelves.  Also, there are minerals in the region.  Quarries are there, granite is one specific quarry.  New Hampshire's nickname is the Granite State because they have granite quarries there.  We will be doing a study guide and taking a test next week over chapter 4.

Spirit Day - Tomorrow is a Spirit Day!  You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats or a hat.  Tomorrow we go to the Food Pantry so it might be a good day to wear sweats!!!

Resident Artist

St. Malachy School has a resident artist coming the week of November 18th. She and her husband are going to create a 3D art mural for our hallway made from small projects the students create. We need some supplies. Can you help?

*Repurpose your unwanted sewing/craft materials for little weavings, gods eyes, and bead wraps we will create for the collaborative wall mural. We need a variety of materials in a rainbow of colors.

*cloth (that can be cut in at least 12” x 1" strips)

*yarn

*pipe cleaners

*thin colored plastic coated wire

*buttons

*beads

The Fourth grade will be with the artist on Wednesday around 11:00.  This is going to be so cool!

If you are looking for something to do this weekend.  The High School Music Department will be putting on the musical Brigadoon. They will perform Friday  and Saturday night at 7:00P.M. and a Sunday matinee at 2:00P.M.  

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Don't forget the St. Malachy Vendor Fair is going on this weekend.  Come find some Christmas gifts or just look at all the fun things people are creating.  I love a good craft fair.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
      Happy Thursday!! What crazy weather we are having.  This does not make for a fun Halloween and Trick or Treating.  I remember several Halloweens taking my own kids out and their costumes were covered by winter coats.   A lot of the time I would have chili at home in the crockpot waiting for us.  If the kids want to find me I will be at my mom's handing out candy.  My neighborhood is not popular at all.  My mom is in a very heavily trafficked area.  The address is 1111 Hillcrest Drive.  Once you have seen me you can go up and down the street and around the block and get lots of good candy.   I hope to get to see all of you.

Conferences!  Let's begin with the most important item at hand.  Here is the link to my conference schedule.  Please be sure you are signed up to meet with me.  I am very anxious to talk to you about your child. I was able to make my conference for my high school daughter on Wednesday night so it didn't take away from my schedule.  

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544a5a72ca1fe3-fall

Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called "Coming Distractions, Questioning Movies".  This taught us some of the tricks movies use to keep us entertained.  We learned a little about special effects and just some simple tricks to keep us watching.  This story is interesting to read and discuss the first time but I think they get bored with it the next couple of times they read it.  In grammar we are talking about verb tenses.  The three tenses are past, present and future tense.  We are also learning about past and present participle.  The vocabulary skill this week was on Greek and Latin word parts.  We looked at phon (sound), photo ( light), graph (write or recording), auto (self), and tele ( far or distant).   Each word is connected with the word in parenthesis.  I know this is an item that is tested in the next Unit test.  I told the students this as I was teaching it.  I think I pulled a lot of their attention with that statement. Remember to have your child study their spelling words and their vocab packet.

Math -  We are moving along in our chapter.  They have learned this week to estimate products.  I will say they did not do a very good job of following directions.  Several did not show all their work.  In math at our level and because we are just learning, they have to show their work on everything we do.  This shows me what they are thinking in their head.  I can't just guess that they are doing in correctly.  I also assume they may have used a calculator to do the work.  If they do work on a separate piece of paper, which is fine, they need to staple that paper onto the back of their worksheet.  Then I can look over their work and understand what they were thinking.  I stressed they have to show, I even make the work worth points, so if they don't show it they miss points.  I warn them about this all the time.   We re learning the distributive property now.  This is a strategy that you will go, "why are they learning it".  They will need to know this strategy for 5th grade and in high school when they hit algebra.  We get a jump on it in 4th grade.  I would have been a much better math student if I would have learned these things earlier.  If your child is having troubles at home please just bring them to school the next day by 7:45 and I can help them.  I have talked to the kids about this opportunity.  I have all ready had some take advantage of it.  

Social Studies-  We are working on putting some states into our interactive notebooks this week.  They have added Connecticut so far.  Today I will have them work on Massachusetts.  I am trying to stress to them about neatness. This is a lot of coloring and some just want to color very sloppily.  I also have tried to preach about capitalization.  It is very important they write things the correct way including capitalizing things that need it.  They have to find the 2 letter postal abbreviation and those are 2 capital letters.  Some didn't capitalize. I made the erase and redo. I know I have been saying it for week but the song is coming.  Believe me, once I introduce that song they will probably drive you crazy with it.  I apologize now. 

All Saints Day - Tomorrow is All Saints Day, we will be having Mass.  The students need to come dressed up for Mass. We did not have mass on Wednesday due to this.  All Saints is a day of Holy Obligation that is why we changed mass. That means all Catholics are to attend a service that day.  

Book It October Calendars- These calendars with their minutes is due on Monday, November 4th.  They must have a parent signature on the calendars also.  I will accept calendars after the 4th but they will not be awarded a prize. I would like all calendars handed whether they meant the goal or not.  I like to keep track of whatever minutes they read.

Reminder: November 7th is an early out due to Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Friday November 8th there will be No School!  Enjoy the long weekend.

I can't believe it is time for conferences all ready.  The rest of the year will fly by.  Conferences lead to Thanksgiving Break then a very short time until Christmas Break.  It will all go by very quickly.  It just seems crazy that we are almost halfway through the year all ready.  I am enjoying working with your children and learning a lot about each one of them.  Since I am meeting with you next week to discuss your child, I will not be creating a blog for next week.  I may send out some last minute reminders on ClassTag but there will be no blog next week.  

Happy Halloween!

Have a great weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  This week has been a very short week for me!  I was gone on Monday and Tuesday for a PLC Conference in Des Moines.  What a great conference.  It was very refreshing and inspiring.  I did a lot of thinking about students I have now, students I have had and what practices I used.  It also made me think about what could I do better and how do I make that happen.  There were 1,200 teachers and administrators there from all over the country. We meant a gal from California and a guy from Oregon. There was a group from Mississippi, New York and South Dakota.  I found that very interesting that it was not just for educators in Iowa but all over the country.  I hate being gone and it was great seeing your children's faces, but it was a very beneficial two days.  I am still playing catch-up from being gone. I spent most of Sunday here trying to prepare for 2 days of substitutes, bu I am still trying to catch up on that work I do during those days.  There may not be much in the folders today, sorry.  Next week's will have a ton!  

Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called "Invasion From Mars".  It is a story adapted from the book War of the Worlds. It is an interesting story. This piece was performed on the radio October 30, 1938, people who did not hear the introduction to this play and starting listening in the middle thought it was true.  There was evidently some chaos due to it.  I think I would have been scared too if I didn't know it was just a play for entertainment.  The students learned about verbs this week: action verbs, helping verbs, main verbs, and linking verbs.  This is a lot to learn in one week.  I plan on helping them with the grammar section during the test. Otherwise it is very difficult.  The vocabulary strategy this week was on suffixes, -y, and -ous.  They will have some  questions over these in the vocabulary section.  I think all the students enjoyed this story. I played the radio version for them and we talked about how it would have made them feel if they would have heard this on the radio not knowing it was a play.  It was a fun conversation.  You will find last weeks Unit test scores in the folders.  I am not surprised by the low scores but some scores  were lower than I thought they would be.  They will improve each unit from here. The first one is always low no matter what class.  It has to do with it being a benchmark test.  They always get better as the year goes on.

Math - We have dug into multiplication this week.  They have learned to multiply thousands, hundreds and tens this week.  We will begin work on some word problems today.  It actually goes along with the comparison problems we learned in lesson 1.  We will focus on this for a couple days.  This is the lesson that is taught at the beginning and then the students forget how to do it by the time the test rolls around. We have to review it big time before the test.  We will get into some great multiplication strategies soon.  They are not what we learned but they are great ones that help the students understand the content so much better.  I know you may not be able to help your child with homework which is fine.  If they don't get homework done they need to come in at 7:45 and I will help them. I also give time during class for them to ask for help or clarification.  

Social Studies - We are learning about some of the things the northeast has to offer.  They learned about the different mountain ranges in the northeast, they learned about Niagara Falls.  It talked about how it was formed and why it is important for hydroelectricity and beautiful.  We talked about the Appalachian Trail which is 2,160 miles long and runs through 14 states on the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.  We also talked about the differences in coastline from Main to New Jersey.  Maine has very rocky coastlines and as you move south you get more into the beaches.  We have talked about people living in New York City having second homes on the Jersey shore, or Cape Cod or even in the Catskill Mountains.   We will work on a map skill today.  We will soon be doing our first state in the interactive notebook.  They are excited for this.  They loved putting the beginning pieces in about the United States.  We will also learn our states and capitals song soon.  We have lots to do!

NO SCHOOL - Reminder that there is no school tomorrow.  The teachers will be heading to Des Moines to listen to a speaker on PLC.  (yes I just did this for two day!)  We will also do some collaborating with our school when the session is over to talk about what we need to do and what Miss Surma and I learned at our conference.  

Conferences are just around the corner!  Here is the link to sign up.  I was able to get my conference at the high school on Wednesday night so it does not interfere with any of the conferences I will hold here.  I will be doing some early ones on Tuesday night if anyone is interested in coming after school that night.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0544A5A72CA1FE3-fall

Mass -  Next week Mass will NOT be held on Wednesday.  Friday is All Saints Day so the mass will take place on Friday instead at the same time. 

Halloween Activities - On Thursday afternoon your child will participate in Halloween Activities.  These are in the middle school and are put on by the Civics Club.  I usually have a small quick snack and drink before we head out for the activities.  At the end of the day we hold a parade in the gym. This parade is loved and happens every year. It will begin at 2:30.  Our parade is very well attended also.  Come early to get a seat!  After the parade you are allowed to take your child home with you. If they are going with a grandparent I will need permission from you. A note or email works.

I think I have covered most everything.  Remember to sign up for conferences! I look forward to visiting with you.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday! This means it is almost Friday! YAY!  I want to let you know that I have family back from Florida and Texas so I am planning on taking tomorrow afternoon off to try and get some extra time in.  It has been 2 years since I have seen them.  Also, on Monday and Tuesday next week Miss Surma and I are gone to a PLC conference in Des Moines.  PLC stands for Professional Learning Communities.  We have been learning about them for a year now but this conference is suppose to be one of the best.  It is actually Monday-Wednesday but 3-5 has Mass on Wednesday so we are only attending the first 2 days.  We are both looking forward to it.  I leave very detailed plans for the substitute so she will complete everything I would normally do with them.  Things shouldn't be too different except  a different body in the room.  Please remind your students about respecting the sub.  I will also talk to them.  Thank you

Language Arts-  This week we have been taking a Unit 1 Benchmark test.  This test is very hard.  Their scores are not going to be fabulous.  They never are for any class.  I break it up into 3 parts so they are not bombarded one whole day with 2 hours of testing. I hope that this makes a difference for them.  I required them to go back in the stories and look up their answers and highlight them.  This slowed them down a little bit.  The results for this test will come home next week after I have had the time to gather all the data and fill out the forms for them.  I do want you to know this test does not make me worry about your child academically, if they do not improve their scores on the next Unit test then I might begin to worry.  Most students do much better on the following unit tests.  So take this one with a grain of salt please.  Next week we will be back to a regular week with a spelling test.

Math -  We have begun chapter 2!!!  The first couple of lessons are a little difficult.  I told the students if they didn't pay attention they would be lost.  It was their job to focus and learn.  We are learning about multiplication problems being a comparison.  They learned to convert statements to problems and problems back to statements.  Now they are also learning how to draw a picture to go along with it.  It is important they learn this because lesson 2 is using this skill to work word problems.  I can always have the students understanding this skill and using it but then we have 12 more lessons to do and they forget how to do them when it is time to take the test.   This chapter is about 6 lessons longer than the last one. I spend a lot of time working on this chapter.  Multiplication is very important to learn.  This is the biggest thing I teach until Division in the Spring.  Please help your student by  maybe working on flashcard with them on the basic facts.  The quicker these facts are to them the easier learning the processes will be.

Social Studies -  We learned how to put things in our interactive notebook this week.  If they bring it home to show you they have put in information about the United States.  We will begin putting in actual states soon. They learned how to make a book and another foldable to put in it.  This is exciting.  We will also be learning our states and capitals song soon.  A former student just tagged me in a facebook post about who still sings the states and capitals song from 4th grade.  The number of people that answered was great!  So they will use it forever.  I apologize now because it will drive you crazy.  It can be downloaded and is on youtube.  The song is called "States and Capitals Song" by Macho Nacho.

Spirit Day! Tomorrow is a Spirit Day!  I am having trouble with students wearing sweats and not bringing money on Friday.  Please be sure if your child wears sweats they are bringing a $1.00 with them.  What a great day to wear them.  Tomorrow looks to be a high in the 60"s. Still a good day for sweats!

I hope all you of you have a great weekend.  We have planned a little trip to the Junk Zombie and spending time with family.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Rainy Thursday!!! I guess we can't complain at least it is not the white stuff floating to the ground.  I love snow and am a winter person, but it is too early for that stuff. I hope it stays away until December at least.  This has been a crazy week.  I have not given as many late slips but I feel like we have been very busy. They have been extra talkative this week.  I blame Homecoming for that.  We are not really affected as much here, but they are all excited about Friday. I think with Panther Pancakes, a pep rally, and 3 hour early out is making them a little crazy.  I may go crazy.  I hope to see all of you at Panther Pancakes in the morning.  I will be arriving by 6:45 and my job is cooking the pancakes.  I may smell like a pancake the rest of the day! I think it will be a fun event for the whole family.

Language Arts -  This week we have ready the story Stormalong.  It is a tall tale similar to John Henry, Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan.  It is the story about a sailor.  Tall tales are exaggerated stories that usually have someone that has some sort of super power or something awesome about them.  He is a giant.  He is much bigger and because of his size he feels he does not fit in anywhere. He has no place to call home.  He goes on a quest to find a home.  He thinks the sea is where he belongs.  Ask your student what Stormalong finally figures out.  We have been working on homophones in spelling, capitalization in grammar and reference materials for or vocabulary strategy.  I plan on getting in our normal Friday with post test and end of week test tomorrow.  We are going to have to work hard with many interruptions but I know we can do it.

Next week we will be taking the Unit 1 benchmark test.  It is very hard and the kids scores are not that great but it just shows we have room for improvement and  improve is what they normally do.  It is a long test and I spread it out over 3 days so that they are not sitting and taking a test for 2 hours.  They will have some DEAR time, we will begin working on Handwriting, and a writing activity.  It will still be a busy week, just no spelling words for a week.

Math - We finished up chapter 1 this week. They will be correcting their tests today and finishing up the pretest for chapter 2.  I plan to start chapter 2 on Monday.  It will be a kind of long and drawn out chapter.  There are about 14 lessons which is double what this one has.  We will be lucky if we can finish chapter 2 by Christmas.  It is a very important chapter. This chapter is on Multiplication.  We will learn a couple different strategies for them to use to multiply.  These are strategies that you were not introduced to.  These are great strategies!  I wish I would have learned these in school.  I think I would have been a better math student.  I know you might get frustrated with it, but it truly is good stuff and will make them a better algebra student in High School.  I have had a high school student observe who wished they would have learned these strategies and a grandpa sit through a math class and totally get what we were doing when he saw me teach it. He told me I taught an old dog a new trick.  He thought it made better sense then the standard algorithm we all learned.  So, it really is good stuff. Just be patient and maybe your child will need to come in early on a morning to get extra help.  That is not a big deal. I have done that in the past.

Social Studies - We have finished up chapter 2. We are moving on into chapter 4.  This chapter begins our exploration of the 5 regions of the United States.  I plan to introduce the region. I will introduce the interactive notebook which we will begin next week and talk about map work.  We begin our journey in the Northeast Region of the U.S.  We will spend 2 chapters talking about the Northeast, learning the states and their location on a map, plus their capitals.  It will be a lot of work.  Once we get going they will get the hang of it quickly and we can move smoothly through the process.  We will have map tests over the Northeast to help us get to know the region.  I will cover all of that next week!

Panther Pancakes- Tomorrow is our special family breakfast.  If you are able to have breakfast with your child we will serve pancakes from 7-8:30.  This event is replacing Donuts with Dad and Muffins with Mom.  We are trying something new this year, to get the whole family involved.  We will be serving in the gym and you and your family may eat there or in their classrooms.  We are going to clean desks today so they are ready for anyone who wants to use them.  Enjoy!!!

Homecoming!  The big day is tomorrow.  It begins with Panther Pancakes at 7:00. Then we will have our pep rally with the high school football players, cheerleaders and Peppers at 9:45.  We dismiss at 12:10. Remember we are not feeding lunch.  The parade will take place at 1:30!  The football game is at 7:00 at Panther Field.  Dress warm!! GO PANTHERS

Spirit Day - Tomorrow is is spirit day and will be cold enough students may want to pay$1.00 to wear sweats!  Don't forget your panther gear!

Creston Public School does not have school on Monday the 14th but St. Malachy school WILL BE IN SESSION!

I feel like I am forgetting to tell you something. If I have forgotten anything I will send it out via Class Tag.  I hope you all have a fun and safe Homecoming weekend!  I plan to attend the parade and the game.  

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  What a rainy week!  YUCK! I am ready for it to stop raining for sure.  I had to shut the blinds at school so kids weren't trying to watch it rain, and share how hard it is raining.  Everything is very wet.  Recess outside will not be across the street for a while for sure. If they get to go out it will be on  courtyard only most likely.  I don't mind the Fall temps, just get rid of the damp.  The kids really struggled this week to pay attention and listen to directions. Their work is showing that.  Take a look in the take home folder for papers that will prove this.  

Language Arts -  First of all their test scores from last week will be coming home today,  Most scores were very poor.  The grammar on Quotations is very hard for 4th graders.  I think it is the way they are tested that  makes it hard.  Too much to look at in 4 sentences.  The first 10 questions were over a story that they had to read.  They had the story in a paper copy that they could look up the answers and they chose not to look them up.  They were just guessing.  Next time I will require them to highlight their answers on the story and turn it in when finished with the test.  That should help increase the scores.  The students want to answer quick and not take the time to look anything up.  I told them that was being a lazy student.  The next 10 (11-20) were on vocabulary words and vocabulary strategy.  I expect perfect scores here.  They can study the vocab.  The next 10 (21-30) was over their comprehension of the story they have read 3 different times that week.  The story was kind of dry so I get the low scores but still they could have done better.  The last 10 (31-40) was the grammar questions and it was hard.  I am not stressing about that.  They will understand better as they get older.

The story we read this week was called The Power of W.O.W.  It is a drama(play),  The story has characters and written like a play would be.  We worked with the story all week. We had to pay attention to the theme of the story.  The vocabulary strategy this week was prefixes: non- and mis-.  We went over what it means and how it changes the meaning of words.  The grammar this week is over run-on sentences.  We first worked on whether a group of words was a sentence or a fragment.  They did pretty well on this page.  Then we worked on whether a sentence was a run-on sentence or if it was okay.  This might be harder for them.  Tomorrow is our normal Friday with a spelling post test and end of week test.  Please be sure they are studying their vocab words!  They are in a yellow packet. 

Math -  We are finishing up the chapter this week.  I am teaching the last lesson to them today.  They will begin a review tomorrow, we will check it on Monday and take the Chapter 1 test Tuesday.  This lesson is on word problems.  They are learning a certain strategy to help them figure out the problem.  They are learning to show the work, draw a picture ( bar model this chapter) and write a complete sentence to state the answer.  This is also to help us with writing in math.  I took a class this summer that talked about writing being a part of every subject and how much students should be writing each day.  I needed to make sure I was doing a better job of incorporating it into math class.  We are looking forward to finishing this chapter and moving on to Chapter 2.  This one was a shorter chapter with 8 lessons.  The next one has like 14 lessons so it will take up longer to do.  It is also a little more difficult.  I try to move through it at a good pace, but I also want them to understand what they are learning.  I don't move on until I know they get it.

Social Studies - The students are working on a study guide right now.  They are struggling to understand that they need to actually look up the answers in the book.  They want to just make wild guesses and move on to get it done.  I talked with them yesterday about proving they are correct. I also tried to share about how to work effectively with a partner, and having trust in your partner.  Also, not to argue over an answer.  If they disagree they may each write their own answer down and then when we check it they will find out who was right or who was wrong.  We will check the study guide tomorrow and take a Chapter 2 test on Monday, so they have the weekend to study.  They have vocabulary flash cards we made for them to study their vocab. They will have the study guide to study for the rest.  They must write complete sentences on their essay questions.  If they have a one word answer the question will be marked wrong, even if that one word is correct.  I am stressing the need to put answers in complete sentences, just like in Math.  I have been talking about this with them and will continue to remind them, even the day they take the test, I will remind them!

Next week is Homecoming! We will be getting out 3 hours early on Friday, so 12:10 dismissal.  The parade was moved up to 1:30 due to an earlier start time for football game.

We are beginning to  forget things and lose things. I have been giving late slips out this week like crazy.  They are forgetting books at school and losing homework papers.  I remind them everyday what they will need in order to do the assignment.  Sometimes, I know, we just plain misplace things, but it seems like we are in a rut.  Also, following directions are an issue. I am giving more and more work back to correct due to not following directions.  Worksheets that have a score and then the word "Correct" written on them need corrected and returned the next day.  I will recheck and change the score for more credit.  I am not sure why we are struggling with these things but maybe we can blame the weather?? I don't know.  Hopefully next week is a better week for some.

Have a great weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  A full week!  I am not sure we know how to go to school for a full week!  This is the 2nd full week of the year.  We have gotten a lot done since we have started.  The kids are getting used to a 4th grade routine.  They really are doing a great job settling in and doing what they need to do.  I was worried in the beginning but they just all of a sudden, "Got it".  Things are going much smoother for us now.  There are a few behaviors I am still struggling with, but we are trying to work on them.  Some forget quicker than others that this is their job.  They are here to learn like parents go to work. 
     I sure hope fall is here to stay! I love this cooler weather!  My favorite is shutting the air off and opening the windows.  My allergies may not like it all the time but fresh air is so nice.  I will say I am not fond of the winter weather happening in the Northwest.  Don't get me wrong, you will learn I am a "winter girl".  I love winter, the cold and snow, but I am not ready for it yet.  I can stay away until December.  In December, January, and February bring it on.   I saw a post of Facebook yesterday that Christmas was three months away!  Have you done any shopping?  I did order some things and they arrived on Monday.  This might the earliest I have ever done that. Hard to believe it's that close.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a story called "My Librarian is a Camel".  It is an interesting story about children who don't have access to books and how they get them.  I tried to show how lucky they were to have books at their fingertips. I tried to show how others are very lucky to even see a book, let alone hold and read it.  I feel like they didn't really believe me. (LOL)  They read about books being delivered through the mail, by camel, by elephant, by wagon, by boat and a minibus.  The story as a whole was interesting but then they added in more detailed information about the country which they did not like. I totally understand their feelings.  I do not expect great scores on this week's end of the week test.  The scores tend to drop on this story.  Please know it has to do with their interest in the story.  Also, their grammar will be low. We worked on Quotations this week.  There is no fun way to teach this.  They didn't do very well on Tuesday's worksheet.  I talked a lot about it today and we covered the worksheet together to help them get a better of idea of using them.  Our vocabulary strategy this week was on Context Clues.  I tried to explain to them what I do when I don't know a word. I go back and reread the sentence before, the sentence containing the word, and the sentence behind to try and figure it out. If I am still unsure, I look it up on my phone.  I think they were shocked I actually look it up, but I really do.  I was looking up kinds of flowers the other night because they were in the book I am reading. I am glad I did because then I could see colors and shapes and get an idea of what the garden looked like.  Which I felt was important to understanding my story. I try to share with them my reading experiences daily.  Tomorrow is the spelling post test and end of the week test.  Be sure they are looking at their spelling words and also the yellow vocabulary packet.  That is a given 5 questions if they study those.

Math -  We have done a review this week, and taken a basic fact test.  You will find the math fact test in today's folder.  It was over multiplication.  I gave them 15 minutes to complete the test.  I hope to help them get better at this throughout the year.  We will begin one of the hardest lessons to teach today.  It is on renaming numbers.  If they understand our base ten blocks and how they work, they will do fine.  I use the base ten blocks to teach this lesson.  I tend to spend 2 full days on this lesson so they get it, but it still is difficult for them.  Next week we will work through the rest of the chapter and will be looking at our first test in that following week.  Only 4 lessons to go.  

Social Studies - This week we talked about government.  We discussed the three levels and three branches.  We talked about what each branch's job is and who leads it.   They created a chart in their notebooks that covered the three branches.  We also are working on Time Zone Maps for our map skill.  I gave them a time zone map and they colored in the zones.  Then they are to work on a worksheet which gives them a time in one city and asks them what time it is in another.  I showed them how the map works. When we move from east to west we subtract an hour per time zone and when we move west to east we add an hour per time zone.  They have this for homework tonight. Some came to me and we went over the first one together so they understood.  I am super happy with the kids who are finally coming out of their shell and willing to ask me for help.  Everyday I push for them to ask me.  I want to help them.  

Friday, September 27th!  This is a Spirit Day!  The kids can pay $1.00 to sweats and a hat.  The $1.00 gets you both.  Please remember the dollar you donate is going towards our very own St. Malachy families. So even if they don't want to wear either maybe we could send a $1.00 anyways.  

I wanted to let you know, if you have not seen anything, Sadie Morgan in 5th grade. lost her father on Monday to Cancer.  Please keep her and her family in your prayers.  Also, the celebration of life services are Saturday morning.  They will greet friends from 9:00-10:00 then the memorial service will be at 10:00.

Last weekend was my class reunion.  I was busy with old friends all weekend.  I had a fabulous time.  This weekend I hope to relax and get some things done around the house.  I am reading a good book right now so maybe a little time to finish the book would be great too. I hope all of you enjoy doing what you love this weekend.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  What a short week we are having!  I am looking forward to our McKinley Park day, but it makes for a short week when we have no school on Friday!  In case you forgot we don't have school on Friday due to teacher in-service.  I still have to go to school but the kids don't.  We will be discussing our FAST testing scores with our coordinator that day and doing some Religious professional development.  It is kinda like a book club.  We are reading a book the diocese bought us this year.  We had to read the first two chapters by Friday.  We have had quite a long time to do it.  I am finishing up tonight.

Language Arts -  This week, since it was a short week, we have worked on their writing.  We talked about topic sentences, and position words.  The students were shown how to write a descriptive paragraph. I like the way it progressed showing them what is descriptive.  We focused on using prepositional phrases but it called those words positional words showing where something is in relationship to something else.  I modeled a paragraph for the students that they wrote on their paper.  The first paragraph on Rocky Mountain National Park.  Then they were to come up with their own using the same format.  Today I went over each person's paragraph with them individually. We talked about sentences that did not make sense and how we could make them better.  We also focused on sensory words, for example, what you see, hear, smell, taste or how something feels to the touch or makes us feel.  The students were to type their paragraphs on their computers.  Tomorrow when we return from the park they will have a small amount of time to finish that up.   Showing them how to write in a paragraph is something they are learning also.  I hope to do this kind of thing more often with them.

I also assigned their first book report book to them this week.  They need to find a book that has at least 120 pages.  I told them no graphic novels because I want them to get in the hang of reading chapter books.  They have to check the book in with me before they use it.  I then want them to begin reading a couple chapters to see if they are going to like the book.  They will be creating a cereal box for their report. I have gone over all the directions with them.  When they finish their book they need to come to me to get their supplies.  I have all the paper items they need plus a rubric which shows them exactly how I will grade their project.  They have every opportunity to get 100% if they follow the rubric.  Neatness is huge on this project.  It is usually the thing that gets them.  Be sure to save a cereal box at home!  This is not due until the end of the trimester, Friday, November 15th.  They have plenty of time to read their book in entirety and do the project well.

Math- We just spent this week talking about rounding numbers.  This can be difficult for  some students because they have a very large number in the hundred thousands but they may only be rounding to the nearest ten.  They have a worksheet that is due on Monday. Please be sure they are getting it completed. I suggested they go home and get it done tonight so they wouldn't forget it or worry about doing it over the weekend.  Next week will begin the week with a Mid Chapter Checkpoint.  We will spend a day completing that in their books but I will also be working with people who are still struggling with certain areas we have covered.

Social Studies -  This week we started talking about our Government.  We will talk about the three branches and also the 3 levels of Government.  We will talk about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  The kids will be doing a project on the Bill of Rights.  Some of your students may have a worksheet that they need to correct.  They are finding out, you can't just guess answers and put it down.  You actually have to use your book and look up answers.  If it is not done well, I return it and make them do it again.  Sure seems easier to me to do it right the first time then have to do it twice.  I am not sure I am getting through to some of them.  They are allowed to bring their books home any day of the week. I keep telling them that.  I have had them make flash cards for their vocabulary words.  You can find those flash cards in their expanded file in the social studies pocket.  They should be paper clipped together.  You can have them study those any time to make sure they know them for the test.  It is better if we don't wait til the night before to learn our words.  Working with them a little every day can improve their scores a lot!

Mass-  Our  Mass is next week!!  I am working on planning it.  I will give the kids their part on Monday to practice for Wednesday.  Father Adam is in Europe so the start time for Mass is 9:30.  I will plan on breaking the kids into groups of 10.  Ten will participate in this first mass and then the next ten will do the next one.  We will practice their parts at school once and then another time just before mass with the microphone.   Here are the first ten that will participate on Wednesday the 25th: Charlie, Halle, Shaylee, Mark, Whisper, Janessa, Claire, Will, Zoey, and Izzy.  Again I will give them what part they are doing on Monday.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!  It is Balloon Days Weekend.  My class reunion is happening this weekend on Friday and Saturday.  I plan on attending the Football game for a while then going to my reunion.  Fat Moses is playing since one of the singers graduated with me.  Saturday night we are having a dinner catered by Spencer's.  We have 46 classmates coming.  Might be the biggest one we have had in the last 20 years.  I guess I will tell it is my 30th class reunion.  Yep I am getting old.  Hope to see everyone out and about.  

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  I feel like we have come a long ways in a week!  I am super happy proud of the 4th graders today.  They really have come a long ways in a week.  They had all homework complete today and when given some time to work on homework they all went right to work.  They didn't stop until I made them and a lot of students finished.  I told them how proud I am.  I knew they had it in them!! I am hoping the positive feedback I gave them will help them to keep going! I love giving praise! All of you should be excited for them.  This is such a hard year to adjust to and some really struggle.  They are doing great!

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a story called "My Brother Martin".  It is a story written by Martin Luther King,Jr.'s sister Christine.  It tells about his life growing up and what events happened to him to make him grow up and fight for equal rights.  It is  a neat story the kids can understand.  We have worked on the four kinds of sentences in the English language.  Those sentences are declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.  Ask your student they should be able to tell you what they mean.  We worked on more prefixes for the vocabulary strategy and Author's purpose was our main skill.  Remember tomorrow is a Friday so it is end of the week testing.  They will need to study their spelling words and vocabulary words tonight.
We have extra help this year in language arts. On Tuesday and Thursday I have Mrs. Sorden coming in to lend an extra hand to class.  I split the kids up into 10 and 10. I am splitting them up randomly.  She takes 10 and I keep 10.  On Tuesday we are reading the story with our groups and focusing on the strategy.  On Thursday we are reading the short story that goes along with the main story and focusing on how they are connected and the skill it provides. My main purpose in doing this is so the class is smaller and more students have the opportunity to share and participate in a smaller group.  In the afternoon I have Mrs. Clayton.  This is same thing. We are splitting them into smaller groups and focusing on a skill in language arts. I choose the students at random.  I may pay attention to who works well together but otherwise it is just random.  I am not sending your student cause they need extra help.  The intent is the smaller groups will give all students what they need to help them grow within a smaller setting. So far the couple of days we have done it, I feel it has been quite successful.

Math -  We just learned the 3 ways to write a number.  These forms are standard, word, and expanded form.  Standard is just the regular number like 258,492.  The word form of that would be: two hundred fifty-eight thousand, four hundred ninety-two.  The expanded form shows the value of every digit: 200,000 + 50,000 + 8,000 + 400 + 90 + 2.  The students were asked to take a number and be able to do all three forms.  Today we will start talking about comparing and ordering numbers.  We use place value to do that.  I will walk them through how that works.  This is an easy lesson for the students.  On Dreambox I learned how to assign certain lessons in our training last night. I assigned these types of lessons to hopefully reinforce what I am teaching.  We are getting close to a mid chapter checkpoint where they will review what they have learned so far.  I will pull students in groups to try and work with them on things they are struggling with on that day.

Social Studies - We are moving along nicely in this subject. Once we have a better handle on the idea of doing worksheet on our own, I plan to pick up the pace a little bit.  The beginning of the year is such a learning process that it takes a while to truly get going at the pace I would like.  They all seem to be trying hard to get there now.  Today we learned what our Nation's motto is and what it means.  E Pluribus, unum, Out of many, one.  This means our of many states, one nation.  Out of many backgrounds, one people.  We spend some time talking about this.  I am sure they will be looking at their quarters today to find the motto. I looked at all the coins but a nickel and found it on the quarter and penny.  The dime might be too small for my eyes to read it but I didn't see anything close. So if they are staring at money at home you will know why.

Food Pantry -  We walk to the Food Pantry and help them unload the truck of food on Fridays.  We rotate days with the 3rd and 5th grade.  Sometimes we go with the 3rd grade because they only have 6 kids.  On the other days 5th grade will go with 3rd grade.  You will find a permission form in the take home folder for these days.  Our first day is tomorrow.  We will walk down and help.  Keep in mind this is weather permitting.  If it is raining we don't go and if the temperature is below zero we don't go.  

Week of Sept 16th!  We have a lot going on this week.  We technically only have 3 days of school. Well three days in the classroom. Monday - Wednesday we will be working hard in class. On Thursday we will celebrate that hard work with a day in McKinley Park.  This is a whole day of being active, getting outside and building relationships. It is a day for us to just have fun and run and play.  Your student needs to bring a sack lunch on this day.  We will be eating lunch in the park. You will find a permission form to fill out in the take home folder. Please sign and return and there is a $2.00 fee. Please send that money with the permission form.  We will be eating in the park.  Please be sure they bring it with them in the morning.  On Friday the 20th we have NO SCHOOL.  It is a professional development day for the teachers.  We get to go to school that day but not the students.  

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels