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
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