Dear Parents,

     Happy Thursday!  I feel like I just updated this blog!  The week has gone quickly this time.  Our time is dwindling!  I am so grateful that we have been able to be face-to-face all year!  I am also grateful that if kids needed to be home we had the option of being online.  It was so helpful for all of us!  I am happy that we are able to have this option for next year also.  The OWL camera's are amazing and a great purchase for our school.  I am happy I work in a school that gives us the online option whenever a student needs it.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading a story called Owen and Mzee (m-zay).  This is a story that you can look up online.  It is a true story about a hippopotamus and an aldabra tortoise.  The hippo was a victim of a tsunami and lost his family.  He was a baby and not able to live on his own.  An animal rescue took Owen in and he was put in an enclosure with the tortoise (Mzee).  They became fast friends, which is very odd for these two types of animals.  A mammal and reptile usually do not hang out together.  The kids really enjoyed this story.  We are working on commas in sentences this week for grammar.  Most of it is review for them.  The vocabulary strategy is the suffixes -ed, and -ly.  They will learn how they change the meaning of the word  and also the spelling rules that go along with adding them on the end of a word.  Next week is our last week of spelling tests and end of the week tests.  We will have a unit test following it and then we will begin reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl to finish the year.

Math -  This week we have focused on a couple of strategies for division.  Today they are learning the standard algorithm of division which is the strategy you and I learned as kids.  I will tell you this strategy is NOT their favorite.  The strategy we used before which is their favorite.  It is easier and better to understand the "why" this is happening.  The standard algorithm just confuses them.  They get lost in the process so easily.  It is hard to teach, you just have to dive in, teach it then just answer their questions as they work.  Helping them individually is better.  Everyone gets stumped at a different part of the problem.  So, according to one student, they are happy to learn this because now their parents can help with homework! LOL

Social Studies - We have taken our last test for this year.  We will still be covering chapters and doing the worksheets that go along with them, but we need to move along to finish out the year.  They will still do map tests because we need to prepare for the big one at the end of the year.  They will need to know all 50 states and capitals.  We will also still continue to put states in our notebooks so they have all 50 by the time we are done.

Book Reports -  Just a reminder that book reports are due Friday, May 7th.  We will not be sharing that day, but they still have to be turned in.  We will be presenting them the next week!  I look forward to these.  I love seeing what the kids come up with and really listen to them talk about their books.

We are praying that the weather stays as nice as it has been.  It has made for a more pleasant time watching track meets for sure.   I do not like sitting and shivering!  I love sitting and soaking up some warmth.  I am off to Carlisle tonight.  I hope all of you enjoy a lovely  weekend!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels