Dear Parents, 

     Happy Thursday!   I am very glad it is Thursday.  I am ready for Friday.  Yesterday I must have got out of my chair at school wrong or something. I am very down in the back.  I saw my chiropractor yesterday and go again today.  I don't normally have back problems and this one is painful.  As long as I don't sit too long and walk around a bit to loosen things up, I am good.  The kids are all aware and I being so kind and helpful.  This makes me smile.  It shows how much they care.  I hope we have a warm-up in the weather.  I don't like these borderline temperatures.  I want it to be warm not chilly.  I know the kids would rather it be warm also.  This time last year they were able to play outside a lot more often then now.  What a different world we were in a year ago.  

Language Arts -  We did not read a story this week. We used this time to complete the ISASP testing.   I am also meeting with the students one-on-one to discuss their Opinion papers they wrote a couple weeks ago. We are editing and revising together. It is amazing the mistakes they find on their own when I just read their paragraphs aloud to them.  This is the fun part of writing for me. I love watching them realize the changes they need to make.   I hope to have everyone done by the end of the day tomorrow.  Next week we will be back on schedule for spelling tests and end of the week tests.

Math - We have not done anything new in the chapter this week due to ISASP testing.  We have used this time to be sure to complete them.  We did check our Mid-Chapter Checkpoint today.  Then I had them do Dreambox for the remainder of the time. I had a couple students who needed to finish the Math ISASP so they did that.  Next week we will be back on track and learning more about division.

ISASP -  I am so happy everyone was here this week.  We have completed all our testing and are done!  YAY!  Everyone cooperated very well!  I will be anxious to see our scores because I thought the tests were very challenging.  I feel like these took less time to get through and each student could take whatever time they needed.  There was no time limit.  This removes half the stress right there.

Spirit Day - Tomorrow is NOT a spirit day.  We have pretty much had them all week so tomorrow is just a normal day.  I appreciate those who participated this week. I even had a comfy pants day today.  Which was great with my back bothering me. 

Clean-Up Day - Next Friday the 23rd is our annual clean-up day.  Your kids need to bring a rake.  The flyer for this day went home last week.  If your child doesn't know how to rake they are going to learn.  We will be outside raking weather permitting, from 1:30 - 2:15 that day.  Make sure to send gloves with them also. We don't want blisters.

Resident Artist- We will have the resident artists here on Monday and Tuesday.  The 4th graders will be going  Tuesday at 9:00 to work with them.  This year they are making clay tiles that will be made into 3 crosses to hang in the hallway by middle school.   I can't wait to see what they do.  So exciting to create a piece of art that will hang in the building for years to some.

Good News, I made it the full day and my back feels better now than it did this morning.  I am so happy.  Boy did it hurt.  I am praying for a warm-up in the weather for all of us. Have a great weekend.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels