Dear Parents,

     Happy Thursday!!  It's a short week!  This is our Friday!  I hope everyone enjoys their 3 day weekend!  I will be sitting in the High School auditorium in a class learning about PLC's (Professional Learning Communities).  We have been working on this for a couple years now.  Learning how to make ours better and be sure we are always doing what is in the best interest of our students and curriculum is a long process and hard work.  We are at what some would consider a disadvantage because we do not have other 4th grade teachers to help collaborate and make decisions. Yet, it can be an advantage for that same reason.  We work in grade bands and are able to make sure we are following decisions throughout 3-5th grade.  I sure wish I could do something fun and relaxing outside on Friday but I will be doing something very beneficial for my job and your children!   I will enjoy the other two days of the weekend for sure.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a play which everyone loves.  They like to be given parts and actually read through the play.  This drama also teaches us a valuable lesson about how kids can help to make a difference.  Their neighborhood has a traveling library because they live in large city (Dallas, Texas) and the real library is just too far away.  The "Bookmobile" comes to their neighborhood and they get to use computers and check out books.  It was a pilot program and they have run out of funds.  The kids find a way to make money to keep it going.  They have a car wash and make flyers.  They are very successful and save the Bookmobile.  It is a great story.  The spelling list this week was on short o and long 0.  The grammar lessons this week were on sentences and whether they were fragments, or run-on sentences.  The vocabulary strategy was on the prefixes non-, and mis-.  We also read a short story on money management for kids.  It walked them through a budget.  I talked to them about the difference between needs and wants.  They had it figured out already which was great!  The discussion went very well. The kids were very serious about it. I love the life lessons.

Math - This week we have worked on a Mid-Chapter review to make sure we are all doing okay before I move on.  The next lesson will be a hard one.  It is on renaming numbers.  Like when we say that 1,800 can also be 18 hundreds, or 180 tens.  It is looking at all the possibilities of saying one number.  The students will struggle with this.  I plan to check the review tomorrow then play a math game of some kind.  I won't begin the lesson until next week so we can get a full two days in a row in to learn it.  They are doing a great job at working hard in Math class.

Social Studies -  We have finished up chapter 2. They have begun their first study guide for chapter 2!  They have worked in partners  for 2 days on it.  They will need to have it complete by Monday.  We will check it together on Monday and them take the test on Tuesday!  Most finished their study guide today. Please be sure they study their vocabulary flash cards over the weekend.  Let's not wait until the last minute.

Free Reading -  I just wanted to talk about free time and reading in my room.  Some students can get finished with items before others and have a few minutes to themselves.  In 4th grade the first thing you should do is read a book.  The students must be reading a chapter book in my room.  I do not count graphic novels as chapter books.  If they are given free reading during language arts time you HAVE to read a chapter book.  If you get your homework done early during study hall you may read whatever you want which would then include graphic novels.  Reading is a priority in my room.  I will sometimes allow them to draw and I will specify those days or times to the students.  I really push the students to challenge themselves and read books that contain more than 100 pages.   I share my love for reading and any reading experiences with the students all the time.  I will talk about how I become the characters, how books make me feel, and whether I enjoyed the ending. Some days I come and talk about how my characters made me mad and I had to put the book down, sometimes I will talk about how it made me sad and I cried.  I hope to help them find the joy in reading. I hope to help them find a series that interests them or a genre that interests them.  One of my goals is always getting kids to read more than they used to and finding books that they love.  I am normally pretty successful but it can be a challenge.  I hope you start to see a difference in their wanting to read.

I hope the kids enjoy their 3 day weekend!  I do wish I had one!  I hope they all get outside and enjoy the weather!  I have kids coming home for the weekend which makes my heart very happy. 

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,

    Happy Thursday!  I hope you are all enjoying your week. Check the folders today for test results from weeks 1 & 2 of language arts testing.  I am still trying to get into a routine myself.  Honestly, March was a long time ago!    I send the Friday tests home the next Thursday in the folders to be sure you see them.  I keep the original in the student's binder, and send a copy to you.  Then at conferences we can look at all the results.  Please watch the folder weekly for their math worksheets that they complete also.  This will show you how they are doing with the daily lessons.  We will begin the FAST testing soon.  Like as soon as next week.  We will be doing the normal testing in Language arts plus an extra test.  We will also now do some FAST testing in Math.  This is new to us, so we will take our time getting the testing in and analyzing the results.  It will help us get an even better understanding of where the kids are in Math.  I am again so grateful we are in school and able to hold class normally.  There are extra cleaning measures we have to do, plus the mask wearing but still just small prices to pay for us to be together. Thank you for sharing your child with me!  I am truly enjoying all of them.

Language Arts- This week we are reading a story called My Librarian is a Camel.  This is a non fiction story that talks about remote nomadic places in the world that do not have libraries or access to internet.   The story is about how they solve the problem of getting books to those children so they can learn to read or enjoy reading.  I talk to the kids about how they have access to books all the time and that there are children in the world that do not.  I talked about how we take books for granted and some people are starving for books.  They could not imagine not having access to books.  Many books in the remote areas are delivered by camel, elephant, minibus, through the mail and on a boat.  This story is interesting the first time you hear it but after that the kids are not interested.  Even I know this.  Their test scores this week will most likely show that they did not enjoy this read.  In spelling their words involved short i and long i words.  The vocabulary strategy focused on using context.  We talked about context clues.  The grammar is also very hard.  It is on using quotation marks.  We have done all the worksheets together because I am constantly pointing out all the things they need to look for.  Tomorrow when they test I plan to read the grammar section out loud to them and instead of giving them 4 different options I plan to narrow it down to 2 options.  This will make it easier for them.  The 4 options even confuses me.  I hope to try and make it successful for them.  I am trying to build knowledge and confidence. My goal is not for them to fail.  Again do not be surprised by lower test scores.

Math -  This week we have covered a lot in math.  We have covered 2 lessons.  We have talked about lesson 2 which was on the three forms of reading and writing numbers.  We have reviewed how to compare numbers.  This is when we look at numbers and decide what number is larger.  We use the symbols > (greater than). < (less than) and = (equal).  We also learned to look at numbers and list them greatest to least or least to greatest.  Today we began lesson 3 which is on rounding.  This is  a skill I usually have to start small and review then work our way up to larger numbers.  We got a little further today than I expected.  This can be very hard and confusing.  They have to take large numbers like 458,982 and round to the nearest thousand or maybe even nearest hundred.  They can easily round the the nearest hundred thousand because it is the largest place value but when rounding to lower place values they struggle.  The struggle is remembering that the numbers in front need to go along with it.  If rounding to  the nearest thousand they want to choose between 8,000 and 9,000 when in reality you are really choosing between 458,000 and 459,000.  You have to include the numbers in front of the thousands place.  I spent today trying to train them to remember that.  Next week we will have a Mid-chapter checkpoint to see how they are doing with the first 4 lessons.  Then we will move onto to more content.

Social Studies -  We have learned about our government and the three branches of government.  The student should be able to tell you the "who" of each branch and what their purpose is.  They read a couple pages to find these answers and wrote them in their notebooks. We have spent the last couple of days discussing Time Zones.  They have colored in a Time Zone map, the coloring helps them quickly decipher between time zones.  Today we talked about how it can be one time in New York City and a different time here in Creston.  We talked about why time zones were needed and set up.  They are working on a worksheet on finding the times in different cities based on time zones.  The next topic we cover is rights and responsibilities of a U.S. citizen.  I try to relate things to them as children and what their rights and responsibilities are at a young age.

Corrections -  I want to explain about how corrections work in 4th grade.  When the students turn in a homework assignment, I will check it that day.  If the student misses several problems on the test which would result in a percentage of less that 70%, I return the assignment to them to make corrections.  I will either return it that day or first thing in the morning the following day.  The student will then need to make the corrections and return it immediately if time allows or the next morning.   I do not ask the student for the corrections.  It is up to them to make the changes and turn the paper in.  I will then recheck the paper and change the student's score accordingly in my grade book.  If the student does not return the paper in the time it is allowed, I will still check their corrections I just won't make any changes in the grade book.  This is just another way for the students to learn responsibility and turning returning things in a timely manner.  Some kids will accumulate a folder full of papers to correct.  I find them months later.  But then it is just too late to accept any papers.  

Forgotten Items -  Sometimes students forget to take home a book that is needed for homework or they might forget their expand-a-file.  I know this will happen this year.  It already has for some.  This is not anything to stress about.  Number 1) I am usually at school until 4:15 or 4:30 unless Molly has a sporting event for me to attend.  Number 2)  I am always in the building by 7:45 every morning.  You are welcome to bring your child early and they may use the time from 7:45-8:10 to finish up anything they have forgotten.  This also shows responsibility because they are coming in to complete their work before school begins.  Some kids think this is not a possibility but it is.  I tell them I am not that mean. I am trying to teach them ways to be successful and sometimes you have to come in early or stay later to get the job done.  If your child is a breakfast eater, that is not big deal, we will go down and get their breakfast tray and bring it back to my room so they can eat and finish what is needed.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  The weather is cooling off to give us a nice one to get things done. I am literally done watering flowers.  I may clean some up and throw some out.  It is not something I think about anymore in the evenings.  I have one daughter coming home for the weekend so that will put an extra in my house. I am very excited about that.  Stay healthy and safe.

God Bless,

Mrs Sickels

Dear Parents,

    Happy Thursday!   It's a short week but a busy one!  The students are learning when it is a short week we have to work a little harder.  I know the farmers really needed this rain but several days with indoor recess is definitely a bummer!  These cool temps have been quite the change also but thank you for sending your child prepared. Most students had jackets and were prepared.  Our classroom is still a little chilly.  I do not want to turn the heat on yet.  Now, at home I did.  I needed to take the chill out of the air.  Please make sure your child is bringing sweatshirts so if they are chilly they may put them on or take them off as they wish.  I had one wear their jacket all day yesterday.  The whole class was sneezing yesterday too, me included but I blame allergies and the change in weather for that.  We would joke or laugh every time someone did it.  Let's hope this weather is not a sign that winter is coming early.  But it's 2020 so it won't surprise me at all.

Language Arts - This week we have read the story My Brother Martin.  It is a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.  His sister Christine is the author.  Many were very interested in this story.  It shares what life was like growing up for Martin Luther King, Jr.  It also shows you what he experienced to make him want to fight for Civil Rights.  In spelling their spelling list was over short e and long e words.  The grammar this week is an easy one.  It was reviewing the four kinds of sentences.  The kinds of sentences are Declarative(telling statement), Interrogative ( a question), Imperative ( a command) and exclamatory ( strong feeling).  They had to read sentences and decide what kind they were, add the appropriate ending punctuation and tell what kind of a sentence it was.  It was not very difficult for them.  The vocabulary strategy was talking again about prefixes. This week they learned in-, im-, il-, and ir-.  These will show up on the end of the week test tomorrow.  We also read a short story about Langston Hughes who was an African American poet who lived in Harlem. His poetry focused on the feelings of those African Americans living in Harlem.  There will be a spelling post test tomorrow so be sure to study your words.  Also we will be taking the end of the week test.  Students need to be sure to study their vocabulary words.  They are the first 5 questions on the test and I do expect him to get those correct.  The students are doing a great job adjusting to our schedule and routine of Language arts.  This short week threw them off but next week we will be back to the way it should be.

Math -  We have finally finished lesson 1 in math.  I take a long time because I don't feel like you can rush place value.  It is very important we understand our number system before we move on to bigger and better things.  Number sense is the basis of math.  I do not plan on spending so much time on the rest of the lessons in this chapter.  I will if I feel they need more time but otherwise we will keep moving.  We have focused on the place value chart, finding values of numbers and comparing numbers.  The next lesson is on reading and writing numbers.  We will learn 3 ways to write numbers: standard form, expanded form and word form.  The hardest one is probably word form just because they have to write the words.  It can take up a little bit of time and 4th graders want to do things a quickly as they can.  It is very typical of 4th graders to want to rush on everything they do.  We really need to work on slowing them down and taking their time.  Doing things correctly is more important than being the first one done.  This is a very hard lesson for them.  Lesson 3 will be on comparing and ordering numbers.  This lesson will be fun for them because it is not a hard one.  We can usually do this one pretty quickly.    That will come close to covering next week's math.  

Social Studies - We will be moving into talking about our 3 branches of government.  I plan to just get the students familiar with what those branches are, what their purpose is, and who is a part of each branch.  These are just the basics but the they are important to understand.    We will then move onto to Time Zones.  They will color a time zone map, they will do a worksheet comparing times in certain cities, to show how they are different.  Then we end the chapter with the rights and responsibilities of being an American citizen.  It is good for the students to see what those are for all of us and how they as children fall into some of those.  I am sure with these kids there will be some interesting discussions.

Spirit Day - Tomorrow is a Spirit day.  The students may pay a $1.00 to wear sweats or a hat.  Also we are calling tomorrow Cy-Hawk day.  If the game were being played it would normally be around this weekend. So wear your favorite team tomorrow.  The kids know what I will be wearing!  I graduated ISU along with 2 out of my 3 kids and my 3rd one will be going there next year.  So I will forever celebrate the Clones. 

Expand-a-files:  I just wanted to talk a minute about their expand-a files.  It is very important that you not try to clean the files out for them. You may throw something away that should not be thrown away.  This has happened in the past. If you think their file is too heavy or has too much in it, please have them ask me to help them clear it out.  That way nothing gets thrown away that should not be.  Sometimes there are things they can get rid of and they forget or don't do it and so the file becomes messy and heavy.  I will gladly help them clean it out.  I have talked to the students about this also.  I am just trying to save them some tears and a late slip.

It was wonderful to have a long weekend to spend with family.  I had all my kids under one roof for at least two nights.  Friday we celebrated Molly and her Senior Night for cross country and her first appearance as a Senior Pepper.  What a year this will be.  Monday was a lazy day of TV, reading and laundry.  Just what I needed before heading back to school.  This weekend the goal is getting a Homecoming dress.  I hope all of you have another great weekend.  Get out and enjoy the weather since we have had such a yucky week or rain and cold. It reminded me what I wimp I am about the cold.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,

     Happy Thursday!  Our 2nd week is almost complete!  This week we are learning routines's in the subjects.  They are learning how things work and getting used to transitions.  It is frustrating that we are trying to get them used to routines and then they throw Labor Day at us.  This messes our routines up a little early. I am doing a lot of their homework on Google Classroom.  This is easiest if we have to transition online for a period of time for any reason.  Your child is doing a fabulous job wearing their masks.  I have them 6 feet apart at their desks so they can remove their masks at their desks.  Anytime they get up and move around they need to wear their masks.  They do a better job of remembering than I do.  They have to all remind me to put it back on.  Thank goodness it is hanging from my neck on a lanyard.

Language Arts - We are working on the week one story in our books.  The story is called Because of Winn-Dixie.  This story is realistic fiction.  It is just an excerpt from the book.  The section we read is a silly one about a bear entering a library.  In grammar we are talking about subjects and predicates.  We have learned how to find the simple subject and simple predicate and also complete subject and predicates.  Today we will focus on Compound subjects and predicates.  Our vocabulary strategy this week had us working with the prefixes re-, un-, and dis-.  The spelling list was on the short a and long a vowel sounds.  I do not give the students a list to study for the week.  They take the pretest on Mondays, at this time they may write down their spelling list in their assignment books in the spot provided.  On Tuesdays the students will have a worksheet to complete over the words and the worksheet will have the spelling list on it.  On Wednesdays the students will be practicing their missed words in their notebooks.  These notebooks can come home but they need to be returned the next day.  On Thursday they will have another worksheet to do and the list will be on that sheet also.  Friday is Post test day.  If the students miss more than 10 on the pretest I will give them a list of 10 words to study for Friday.  Spelling is a subject you are either good at or your not.  I do not want to stress those that do not find spelling easy.  Each week is a different list so the students may do well one week and then not so well the next week.  That is why I use the pretest each week to decide whether to shorten the list for a student.   Tomorrow the students will take their spelling post test and their end of the week test.  On the end of  the week test they are tested over the 5 vocabulary you did this week, 5 vocab strategy questions, 10 comprehension questions over the story and 10 grammar questions over subjects and predicates.  This test is completed online.  The routine is the same for  each week. 

Math - We have started to talk about chapter 1.  We have not covered too much so far.  We have had some need for flexibility in our schedule yet this week.  In the beginning getting used to routines can be lengthy to learn.  So I will say I have not had a full 45 minutes of Math  some days so I do not do much.  Next week we will for sure be able to focus on getting Math completed.  The first chapter is over Place Value.  We will be focusing on place value positions up through the millions.  We will work on knowing the value of each digit in a number.  We will learn to write numbers in standard, expanded and written form.  It is important for us to start with place value before we get into anything else.  

Social Studies-  We only covered lesson 1 in chapter 1.  This was to review the 5 regions of the United States.  We are now moving on to Chapter 2.  We will be doing all of chapter 2.  This chapter is all about living in the United States.  The students have worked on a vocabulary preview worksheet.  This is to make them familiar with the words they will be seeing throughout the chapter.  As we go through the chapter we will focus on certain vocabulary words.  The chapter is made up of 3 lesson.  After each lesson we will complete a worksheet that summarizing the important facts from the lesson.  This subject is routine but not based on days of the week like language arts.  We just work through the lessons.  Some lessons are longer than others.  

Online learning -  I just want to let all of you know about online learning.  In the world we live in right now, I know it is hard to even want to send your child to school if they are sniffling, coughing or sneezing at all, even if it is due to allergies.  When you decide to keep your child home sick, you have the online option.  Your child will get online when we have specific classes and will not be counted absent from school.  Now if your child is so sick they need to just sleep, we get it.  They will not want to be online.  I just want you to know that if you are uncomfortable due to a cough then keep them home and have them get online. They will not be missing a thing.  So far two students have used this  option.  It went very well.  This is why most of my things have been online.  I can't give out paper copies to people when they are not here so I am getting into the habit of doing most of homework online.  If you know the night before that you may go with the online option the next day due to sniffles or allergies, shoot me a test so that I can be better prepared that day.  Again, if your child so really very sick do NOT think they have to be online.  

REMINDER:  NO SCHOOL MONDAY, SEPT. 7th   LABOR DAY

I have really enjoyed getting to know your students this last two weeks!  I look forward to a great year with them.  I feel like sometimes we never know what the next day will bring in this world.  I think as adults we know that but the kids just love being here and don't have a worry in the world.  They are still living life to the fullest with a little adjustment of a mask on their face.   I really do feel they are doing better with this than the adults.  I have to keep telling myself it is a small price to pay to get to see these kids everyday.  I will happily wear my mask/shield to get to do that.  

I hope all of you have a great extended weekend! My kids are coming home. I will have a full house again which makes my heart so happy.  We have a wedding to attend in Clarinda on Saturday then Sunday will be spent outside with my family.  I look forward to it.  I may have to fit some laundry and work in there at some point also.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels