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