Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday and welcome back!!! I had a great time in Chicago! I attended some great sessions! I am very thankful we have the privilege to attend. We were able to eat Chicago Style deep dish pizza and visit Lake Michigan. Some of our best Professional development might have been in the car on the way home sharing things that we got out of our sessions. It was great therapy, my stomach still hurts from laughing! I am very happy and exhausted to be back in the classroom today.
Language Arts this week will focus on reading time for our book report books, some practice in handwriting and read aloud. I am trying to finish one book to start another. I don't find time to read to the students as often as I would like or even they would like. Next week we will be back to a regular week. We only have a couple more weeks left in our books. I hope to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the kids this year. We do some fun projects with this book and most classes enjoy it. That is the plan for the rest of the year. We will also spend today and tomorrow practicing for our FAST (Fluency) testing that we will be doing in next couple of week!
Math - We will be starting division! Chapter 4. It is a rough chapter and very long. My intention is to sit with Ms. Surma and figure out the lessons she would like me to hit that will help her next year and kind of shorten the chapter up a bit. One of the classes I attended in Chicago was on 3-5 Math. It was good. I have ordered a new set of manipulatives to help me teach division and they should be here Friday. I am kind of excited about that. They will be easier to use then base ten blocks. So I really did learn something to bring home and try.
Friday, April 26th Earth Day - Tomorrow is our annual Spring cleaning day! The kids are asked to bring a rake with them to school and a pair of gloves. They are to dress according to weather and work outside. They can pay $1.00 to wear a hat. We also ask that they bring $1.00 to donate to our Earth Day Fund to buy flower pots, soil and flowers to put in front of the school to make it look more welcoming to visitors. Thank you in advance for all your support!
April is quickly coming to an end! I can't believe it! I am shocked at how quickly the year has gone by! I appreciate you sharing your child with me. I have enjoyed all of them every day! They are sweet and hard workers for sure! Be proud of them and what they have accomplished this year. They have really grown and are learning to be good students.
Have a great weekend! It is confirmation weekend and Molly will be confirmed on Sunday. It will be a nice celebration at our house.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Holy Thursday! This has been a short week for me! Not only do we have tomorrow off, but I was out of the building Tuesday in Red Oak for a class, then Wednesday morning I was in Des Moines for Molly's last shoulder appointment! Yes!! It was the last unless she begins having issues again. Surgery last July was a complete success and he is very happy with where she is and how she is doing. That was a relief! But I felt like I wasn't here. You kids are great! They told me they missed me when I returned Wednesday afternoon! That made my day!
Language Arts - We read a story this week about the Coastal Redwood trees in California. We know them as the Sequoia trees. The story was called The Ever-Living Tree. It is a cool story to show the lifespan of the trees. It relates it to the human world and what was happening while the tree was growing. It talked about dinosaurs, Augustus Ceasar, the great wall of China and more. It is cool to see how old the trees can be. In grammar they reviewed ending punctuation and capital letters in sentences and quotations. The vocabulary strategy was about the prefixes pre-, inter-, and ex-. We will be taking our end of week test today since we have no school tomorrow.
Math - We took a Re-do of the chapter 13 test. Scores were not what I had hoped. I allowed them a chance to increase their scores, which most of them accomplished! I wrote the formulas on the board this time to help them keep them straight. I was hoping a test in math was not a good idea after Iowa Assessments all week. For some it worked and they improved to a more proficient score. Some didn't give much effort this time either. I was disappointed and visited with them about a missed opportunity. Today we are going to work on basic multiplication facts, take a fact test and practice facts. When we return next week we will begin the chapter on Division. Yesterday they took the Chapter 4 pretest. I have a few that need to make that up today also.
Social Studies - We are moving right along. Today they had a map skill on map scale. They worked in partners and then I gave them 4 states to work on putting in their interactive notebook. One was for today and the other 3 are to be done over their break. It gets a great jump on the notebook so we will have all 50 by the end of the year. This should not take them more than an hour if they sit down and focus. I give them some of the information up front. They will need scissors and glue to make this happen. I will remind them all to take their notebook home. That would also be a problem.
April 22-24- School will not be in session these dates. The teachers are attending NCEA in Chicago. I am looking forward to learning some new things and coming back and giving them a try. I hope the kids have nice 3 days.
Earth Day - Please remember that Friday, April 26th is Earth Day and we are holding our annual Spring Clean up. The students get to wear comfortable work clothes this day for free. Fourth graders need to bring a rake and gloves that day. Also, we are asking each student to bring a $1.00 to donate towards flower pots, flowers, and soil to put out front of the school.
Spirit Day - April 26th is also Spirit Day. The students may pay $1.00 to wear a hat. This is separate from the $1.00 they donate for Earth Day.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Holy Thursday! This has been a short week for me! Not only do we have tomorrow off, but I was out of the building Tuesday in Red Oak for a class, then Wednesday morning I was in Des Moines for Molly's last shoulder appointment! Yes!! It was the last unless she begins having issues again. Surgery last July was a complete success and he is very happy with where she is and how she is doing. That was a relief! But I felt like I wasn't here. You kids are great! They told me they missed me when I returned Wednesday afternoon! That made my day!
Language Arts - We read a story this week about the Coastal Redwood trees in California. We know them as the Sequoia trees. The story was called The Ever-Living Tree. It is a cool story to show the lifespan of the trees. It relates it to the human world and what was happening while the tree was growing. It talked about dinosaurs, Augustus Ceasar, the great wall of China and more. It is cool to see how old the trees can be. In grammar they reviewed ending punctuation and capital letters in sentences and quotations. The vocabulary strategy was about the prefixes pre-, inter-, and ex-. We will be taking our end of week test today since we have no school tomorrow.
Math - We took a Re-do of the chapter 13 test. Scores were not what I had hoped. I allowed them a chance to increase their scores, which most of them accomplished! I wrote the formulas on the board this time to help them keep them straight. I was hoping a test in math was not a good idea after Iowa Assessments all week. For some it worked and they improved to a more proficient score. Some didn't give much effort this time either. I was disappointed and visited with them about a missed opportunity. Today we are going to work on basic multiplication facts, take a fact test and practice facts. When we return next week we will begin the chapter on Division. Yesterday they took the Chapter 4 pretest. I have a few that need to make that up today also.
Social Studies - We are moving right along. Today they had a map skill on map scale. They worked in partners and then I gave them 4 states to work on putting in their interactive notebook. One was for today and the other 3 are to be done over their break. It gets a great jump on the notebook so we will have all 50 by the end of the year. This should not take them more than an hour if they sit down and focus. I give them some of the information up front. They will need scissors and glue to make this happen. I will remind them all to take their notebook home. That would also be a problem.
April 22-24- School will not be in session these dates. The teachers are attending NCEA in Chicago. I am looking forward to learning some new things and coming back and giving them a try. I hope the kids have nice 3 days.
Earth Day - Please remember that Friday, April 26th is Earth Day and we are holding our annual Spring Clean up. The students get to wear comfortable work clothes this day for free. Fourth graders need to bring a rake and gloves that day. Also, we are asking each student to bring a $1.00 to donate towards flower pots, flowers, and soil to put out front of the school.
Spirit Day - April 26th is also Spirit Day. The students may pay $1.00 to wear a hat. This is separate from the $1.00 they donate for Earth Day.
I hope all of you have a Wonderful Easter with your family!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Iowa Assessment Week! We are finishing up our testing today. The students will be done by the time they go to lunch today. They have done a really good job of being quiet and working on the assessments. I sure hope their scores reflect them doing their best work. We would like to thank the PTO for providing us with snacks this week. Monday we had muffins, Tuesday was cookies, and today is pretzels. It gives them a nice brain boost to get out of room, have a snack and move around. We want to get that blood flowing! I have to admit I came to school in a fowl mood, not because of the students and testing but because I was dreading going to a track meet in Lewis Central and freezing! I even said a prayer during prayer about it not being too cold or if so it cancelling. My prayer was answered! It was cancelled! I think it is just too hard on kids to run in such cold conditions and that wind wasn't going to allow anyone to break any records for sure! My day is made! The kids and I celebrated with a happy dance!
Book Report - I have assigned the last and final book report for 4th grade. ( I can't believe I am saying that "Last and final"!) It will book a diorama or book box. The students will read a book then create their favorite scene or a prominent scene from the book inside the box. The students all have a packet on it. It gives directions and also has the rubric I will use to score the project. Please be sure the student covers the entire box inside and out so I don't see any of the shoe box. I showed the students an example that I have in the classroom and talked about all the directions. They should know what they are doing. They may have questions once they finish the book and are ready to begin work. This project is due Monday, May 13th. The students are encouraged to begin reading their book because this time once they tell me a book they cannot change it. They have until Monday to get this done. Also the book must be over 180 pages this time. I am requiring them to challenge themselves.
Language Arts- We have not done anything in the book this week. I assigned a book report. They have been working on Handwriting and a Dollars for Scholars Essay Contest. They have been asked to write an essay about "What Education Means to Me". Some of them are all ready finished. I will be looking them over and having them clean them up. Teachers from the building will vote on them and the top 3 essays will be submitted into the contest. The winner will win $50. One person from this class is guaranteed to win! Good Luck 4th graders!
Math - We have been working on reviewing for Math this week. We will finish today and take a test tomorrow over Perimeter and Area. They have been doing a nice job and I plan to see great things on the test. I hate that we are taking a test during the test week but I can't put it off. I want to get moving. We need to work on division for the rest of the year.
Social Studies - We began the Midwest yesterday. We will be moving a little bit faster through this chapter than the others. I am trying to keep things moving so we get where we need to be. We do A LOT in social studies in the year! Lots of information is thrown at the kiddos. They seem to love it! Start learning the Midwest states and where they are on the map.
Dreambox - I just wanted to give a report on Dreambox since we talked about it at conferences! The students have been doing a great job meeting the goal of 7-8 lessons a week! They are all growing and improving! I am proud of the work they have done and appreciate anything you have said to them at home to help motivate them! More of the students seem excited about getting on and working in their free time. Thank you.
Earth Day Clean-Up - We will be holding our Spring Cleaning Day on Friday, April 26th. The 4th grade students are asked to bring a rake and gloves that day. They will spend about an hour raking and cleaning up around the school and the rerun. I love the way the school looks after clean up day. I hope the weather cooperates for us to do this. We also ask each student to donate $1 to the school. This dollar will be used to purchase flower pots, soil and flowers for the front entrance of the school. It helps to make a welcoming to those as they enter our building. Thank you in advance for this donation. We appreciate it!
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is a spirit day! According to Weather Bug on my phone the high tomorrow will be 41 degrees so I great day to wear sweats for $1.00! Hopefully it is one of the last days it is that chilly.
I hope all of you have a great weekend! I will be attending Molly's ten year dance recital! I am excited! I love watching her and all the St. Malachy kids shine on the stage! Plus we have all our family back to attend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Iowa Assessment Week! We are finishing up our testing today. The students will be done by the time they go to lunch today. They have done a really good job of being quiet and working on the assessments. I sure hope their scores reflect them doing their best work. We would like to thank the PTO for providing us with snacks this week. Monday we had muffins, Tuesday was cookies, and today is pretzels. It gives them a nice brain boost to get out of room, have a snack and move around. We want to get that blood flowing! I have to admit I came to school in a fowl mood, not because of the students and testing but because I was dreading going to a track meet in Lewis Central and freezing! I even said a prayer during prayer about it not being too cold or if so it cancelling. My prayer was answered! It was cancelled! I think it is just too hard on kids to run in such cold conditions and that wind wasn't going to allow anyone to break any records for sure! My day is made! The kids and I celebrated with a happy dance!
Book Report - I have assigned the last and final book report for 4th grade. ( I can't believe I am saying that "Last and final"!) It will book a diorama or book box. The students will read a book then create their favorite scene or a prominent scene from the book inside the box. The students all have a packet on it. It gives directions and also has the rubric I will use to score the project. Please be sure the student covers the entire box inside and out so I don't see any of the shoe box. I showed the students an example that I have in the classroom and talked about all the directions. They should know what they are doing. They may have questions once they finish the book and are ready to begin work. This project is due Monday, May 13th. The students are encouraged to begin reading their book because this time once they tell me a book they cannot change it. They have until Monday to get this done. Also the book must be over 180 pages this time. I am requiring them to challenge themselves.
Language Arts- We have not done anything in the book this week. I assigned a book report. They have been working on Handwriting and a Dollars for Scholars Essay Contest. They have been asked to write an essay about "What Education Means to Me". Some of them are all ready finished. I will be looking them over and having them clean them up. Teachers from the building will vote on them and the top 3 essays will be submitted into the contest. The winner will win $50. One person from this class is guaranteed to win! Good Luck 4th graders!
Math - We have been working on reviewing for Math this week. We will finish today and take a test tomorrow over Perimeter and Area. They have been doing a nice job and I plan to see great things on the test. I hate that we are taking a test during the test week but I can't put it off. I want to get moving. We need to work on division for the rest of the year.
Social Studies - We began the Midwest yesterday. We will be moving a little bit faster through this chapter than the others. I am trying to keep things moving so we get where we need to be. We do A LOT in social studies in the year! Lots of information is thrown at the kiddos. They seem to love it! Start learning the Midwest states and where they are on the map.
Dreambox - I just wanted to give a report on Dreambox since we talked about it at conferences! The students have been doing a great job meeting the goal of 7-8 lessons a week! They are all growing and improving! I am proud of the work they have done and appreciate anything you have said to them at home to help motivate them! More of the students seem excited about getting on and working in their free time. Thank you.
Earth Day Clean-Up - We will be holding our Spring Cleaning Day on Friday, April 26th. The 4th grade students are asked to bring a rake and gloves that day. They will spend about an hour raking and cleaning up around the school and the rerun. I love the way the school looks after clean up day. I hope the weather cooperates for us to do this. We also ask each student to donate $1 to the school. This dollar will be used to purchase flower pots, soil and flowers for the front entrance of the school. It helps to make a welcoming to those as they enter our building. Thank you in advance for this donation. We appreciate it!
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is a spirit day! According to Weather Bug on my phone the high tomorrow will be 41 degrees so I great day to wear sweats for $1.00! Hopefully it is one of the last days it is that chilly.
I hope all of you have a great weekend! I will be attending Molly's ten year dance recital! I am excited! I love watching her and all the St. Malachy kids shine on the stage! Plus we have all our family back to attend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Friday, April 5, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! It would be better if the sun was shining for sure!!! We have been working hard in 4th grade since Spring Break. The students are doing a great job of using their time wisely and getting their work done. When all their homework is complete they have to split their study hall time for Dreambox and free reading. They do a good job of timing themselves. They are all showing great responsibility with Dreambox since conferences also. We are completing large amounts of lessons each week which is what we want. They are putting forth a lot more effort. I am very happy with all of them!
Language Arts - This week the story is called "I Do That!". It is a biography about Esther Morris who was instrumental in getting women the right to vote in Wyoming in the 1800's. Wyoming allowed women to vote about 40 years before the United States passed an amendment in 1920 to give women the right to vote. This is why the Wyoming state nickname is called the Equality State. Esther Morris knew that she could do what men were doing. She was a very successful women, owning and operating a millinery shop when women were not to do such things, was her fist accomplishment. She also became a judge in Wyoming. You can google here and find information. The kids enjoyed this story. In grammar we are talking about negative words. We practiced contractions using not. There are other words that are considered negatives: no, no one, not, nobody, nothing, nowhere, and none are examples. They worked on changing positive sentences to negative sentences. Today we will discuss using double negatives. The vocab strategy this week was on Adages and Proverbs which we have done a couple times this year. These can get very tricky for kids to understand. They are just little sayings that you can't take literally but have a life lesson in them. Examples would be, Hang in there, it's never too late, there's a will there's a way, actions speak louder than words, and don't rock the boat. Tomorrow is our normal Friday. We will take our post test and end of week test tomorrow. Please be sure your student studies the yellow vocab packet tonight.
Math - We are working on the last lesson in chapter 13 that we will be doing. We will finish it up today and begin the worksheet. Tomorrow we will then begin to review and will test sometime next week. Next week is Iowa Assessment week but we will be fine. This test will not be too hard for them. I will put the formulas on the board to help them. They will just need to show me their work to get the answer using the formula. It is also only a 15 point test.
Social Studies - We are taking a test over chapter 7 today. We will then move into the Midwest states. We have all ready begun putting states in our notebooks. I wanted to get a jump on it. We will push through the Midwest a little fast then we did the other regions. I will get maps to the kids to practice labeling the states. Keep singing the song an getting those capitals down.
Iowa Assessments - Next week is the week!!! We will take tests on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and only in the morning. The students will still go to their special at the normal time. LEAP will not happen for the Language arts students but it will for the Math kids. Sorry it just worked out that way due to tests. Please be sure your child gets a good amount of sleep and a breakfast filled with protein! I will give them a pep talk about doing their best work on these tests. I can't wait to see how they do.
Reminder: St. Malachy School will not have school on April 22-24! The teachers will be traveling to Chicago to the NCEA( National Catholic Education Association) conference. I look forward to this trip. We get to hold mass with thousands of other Catholic teachers and attend classes that may help us bring back ideas for our own classrooms. You know me, I try to find classes that deal with kids and books! Last time I attended a class on volunteering and then the Food Pantry volunteering was born! I also try to hit any class that might deal with technology. I also enjoy my time with co-workers wandering the city and seeing the sights. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! It would be better if the sun was shining for sure!!! We have been working hard in 4th grade since Spring Break. The students are doing a great job of using their time wisely and getting their work done. When all their homework is complete they have to split their study hall time for Dreambox and free reading. They do a good job of timing themselves. They are all showing great responsibility with Dreambox since conferences also. We are completing large amounts of lessons each week which is what we want. They are putting forth a lot more effort. I am very happy with all of them!
Language Arts - This week the story is called "I Do That!". It is a biography about Esther Morris who was instrumental in getting women the right to vote in Wyoming in the 1800's. Wyoming allowed women to vote about 40 years before the United States passed an amendment in 1920 to give women the right to vote. This is why the Wyoming state nickname is called the Equality State. Esther Morris knew that she could do what men were doing. She was a very successful women, owning and operating a millinery shop when women were not to do such things, was her fist accomplishment. She also became a judge in Wyoming. You can google here and find information. The kids enjoyed this story. In grammar we are talking about negative words. We practiced contractions using not. There are other words that are considered negatives: no, no one, not, nobody, nothing, nowhere, and none are examples. They worked on changing positive sentences to negative sentences. Today we will discuss using double negatives. The vocab strategy this week was on Adages and Proverbs which we have done a couple times this year. These can get very tricky for kids to understand. They are just little sayings that you can't take literally but have a life lesson in them. Examples would be, Hang in there, it's never too late, there's a will there's a way, actions speak louder than words, and don't rock the boat. Tomorrow is our normal Friday. We will take our post test and end of week test tomorrow. Please be sure your student studies the yellow vocab packet tonight.
Math - We are working on the last lesson in chapter 13 that we will be doing. We will finish it up today and begin the worksheet. Tomorrow we will then begin to review and will test sometime next week. Next week is Iowa Assessment week but we will be fine. This test will not be too hard for them. I will put the formulas on the board to help them. They will just need to show me their work to get the answer using the formula. It is also only a 15 point test.
Social Studies - We are taking a test over chapter 7 today. We will then move into the Midwest states. We have all ready begun putting states in our notebooks. I wanted to get a jump on it. We will push through the Midwest a little fast then we did the other regions. I will get maps to the kids to practice labeling the states. Keep singing the song an getting those capitals down.
Iowa Assessments - Next week is the week!!! We will take tests on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and only in the morning. The students will still go to their special at the normal time. LEAP will not happen for the Language arts students but it will for the Math kids. Sorry it just worked out that way due to tests. Please be sure your child gets a good amount of sleep and a breakfast filled with protein! I will give them a pep talk about doing their best work on these tests. I can't wait to see how they do.
Reminder: St. Malachy School will not have school on April 22-24! The teachers will be traveling to Chicago to the NCEA( National Catholic Education Association) conference. I look forward to this trip. We get to hold mass with thousands of other Catholic teachers and attend classes that may help us bring back ideas for our own classrooms. You know me, I try to find classes that deal with kids and books! Last time I attended a class on volunteering and then the Food Pantry volunteering was born! I also try to hit any class that might deal with technology. I also enjoy my time with co-workers wandering the city and seeing the sights. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for me.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Prom and spring softball events have begun. Enjoy whatever you are doing.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)