Dear Parents,

     Happy Thursday!  WOW! Thursday already!!  This week went super fast.  I guess that is what a major winter storm will do for ya.  This snow day my living room was rearranged.  I am running out of things to rearrange so the snow days can stop.  Tuesday I spent working on my incredibly hard Harry Potter puzzle and reading. Which made for a very enjoyable day for me.

Language Arts -  Well we are on our last story in this unit.  We are doing it very differently thanks to Winter Storm Nathaniel.  We will not have a normal week with a spelling pretest and post test, but we will complete the worksheets that go with the week.  It is covering a pretty important spelling skill.   They are practicing changing the -y to i and then adding -es or -est or -er.  We are working through the grammar pages also this week.  I plan to do the vocab strategy on context clues also.  We read the story today.  They will read with partners tomorrow.  There will be no end of week test this week either. I told the kids this was maybe a blessing for them because the story is okay but not spectacular.  After we read it they agreed.  Next week we will take a Unit test and begin work on a writing activity. Trying to rush things and test them would not be in anyone's best interest so this is where we are at this week.  Also you are going to see the scores of the last two weeks in today's folder.  The grammar section from the last story does not show good scores.  The lesson was not difficult.  You will find written on the score sheet your child's response to the question, "What could you have done to do a better job on this section of the test".  I asked this question after we went over every grammar question on the test.  They had some very honest answers.

Math -  We finished checking the math worksheet we did for practice.  We will go over lesson 3.7. This lesson is on Problem solving.  So we are focusing on word problems.  We will spend Friday working on this.  Next week we will be doing a dress rehearsal and then taking the test.  The next chapter we will cover is Area and Perimeter.  This is a fun chapter.  The kids will actually get to go around the building and do some measuring and figuring of area and perimeter.  Since they get to roam the building they love this chapter.  Plus it is very much real life hands on math.  I talk about different jobs out there that would use these skills everyday.

Social Studies -  They handed in signed test and their vocabulary preview today.  Then we began work on a project for Catholic Schools Week.  Each "wing" is to decorate their hallways with a theme. We are doing "All Around the US"  The kids decorated card board cut-outs of the states today.  We will work on this tomorrow also.  It is a good time to do it since we are just beginning a new chapter.  I may throw in a state for the interactive notebook also.  Next week we will start digging into the chapter.

Book It Calendars -  The end of January is near.  Please be sure to get those calendars signed and turned in next week.  The sooner the better.  I will have a new calendar ready for you on Monday.

Auction -  Thank you so much for the donations I have received so far. Remember you have until Friday, February 5th to make a donation towards our basket and silent auction item.  Dustin and Sam Baird came today and we had a photo shoot for our silent auction item.  We did a group photo, individual photos, and a boys group and girls group.  These pictures will be put on a puzzle.  Such a cool idea.  

Catholic Schools Week - COVID STYLE 

Sunday        January 31           Opening of Catholic Schools Week Mass at Holy Spirit 9:00 AM

Monday        February 1             Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day                         11:45-12:45 Angels will eat sack lunch together   Spirit Day: Google Meet Day (dressed up from the waist up)

Tuesday      February 2            Student Appreciation Day   2:15 - 2:50 Photo Scavenger Hunt with Angels     Spirit Day: State Day (come dressed as a certain state)

Wednesday    February 3           Community Appreciation Day Mass 9:15 - 4th & 5th (5th graders to participate)     2:15 - 2:50 Angels make cards for Nursing Homes        Spirit Day:  Mass Attire : Dress up day

Thursday    February 4             School Appreciation  2:00-2:50 Weather pending - snowman building    Spirit Day:  Tie-Dye Day

Friday        February 5         Grandparents/Special Guest Day   Virtual Grandparents or Special Guest using drone watch for post on Facebook!   Spirit Day:   Camo Day  

Tomorrow is NOT a spirit day, but next week is all a spirit day!  We did the best we could trying to plan things for the kids that were COVID safe.  We are doing a lot with our Advent Angels but it got our group sizes down to smaller numbers.  We have planned some fun things.  

 I hope the weather goes away for the weekend.  I do not want rain or snow.  We hope to Prom dress shop this weekend, weather permitting. Have a fun safe weekend!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels