Dear Parents,
Hello and Happy Thursday!! We are working very hard in 4th grade!! We are adjusting to using our time wisely at school, and I am learning more about your students. I know it seems like some days there is more homework than others, but I will tell you that as we really get going this will slow down. The subjects start spreading themselves out and it doesn't seem like so much. It is always a struggle at the beginning of the year. The hardest part for me is making sure every student is working diligently during study hall times. There are a lot of distractions with 25 kids. We will continue to work on this. Hopefully you will see the amount of homework changing.
Language Arts - This week was a short week which puts a damper on getting everything we normally do completed. We are reading a story called My Brother Martin. This is a story about Martin Luther King, Jr. written by his sister. She is informing us about what childhood was like for M.L.K. and his siblings and how that inspired him to be so passionate about the Civil Rights Movement. It is quite interesting. I think students forget that these famous people were also children. Our spelling list this week was on Long e and short e words. We looked at the four kinds of sentences for grammar: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. They know what the ending punctuation for each would be and should be able to tell you what each sentence is doing. This week our focus was on Author's Purpose. We talked about the main 3 reasons that an author writes a story. They are: to entertain, to inform, and to persuade. I had different activities for groups to do with this. One group read a story, looked for details that led them decide what the purpose of the story was. The other group was given book titles and had to put them in a category of entertain, inform, or persuade. This is a skill we work on off and on all year. We will be able to pick these out easily by the end of the year.
Math - We have been working on 3 forms of writing a number this week. Standard form is the way we see numbers all the time, word form is when we write the number out in words only, and expanded form is when we write the number using the value of each digit. This lesson is time consuming due to all the writing that we do. I feel that I had people still not catching onto the expanded form and how to find the value of a digit using place value. Yesterday we played around with a place value chart and numbers. We made words we discussed their value and then ended with game. The game was, I roll a die and give them a number. They had to place it somewhere on the chart then I would give another number. The goal was to make the biggest number you could BUT you couldn't change a number from a place once it was there. They had a lot of fun with this. I plan to continue working with place value.
Social Studies - Wow!! These first 3 lessons have a ton of vocab words to work with. Once we get into the regions there is only 5-6 per lesson which is much better. We have been talknig about climate and weather. Today we discussed inset maps. We talked about what they are and why we use them. They did some discussion in their groups then as a whole group. I used both large maps in the room to show inset maps and we discussed why they were there. All the ones I had were there for different reasons, which was great. I then had them flip through their books and show me a set of maps with insets maps on them. It is funny, giving 25 kids permission to flip through their book, was a crazy time!! I walked around and looked at everyone's pages. They can easily pick them out but discussing the purpose was little more challenging.
I hope all of you have a great weekend. Do something fun and exciting. If you consider a volleyball tournament and then softball tournament fun then I am having a blast!! I do love watching my kids!! Jami does volleyball on Saturday and Josie softball on Sunday. Don't forget the Food Fair on Sunday also!! I look forward to this day always.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! I hope your student is enjoying 4th grade so far. I am definitely enjoying the students. It is quite an adjustment for some, and I have given out some late slips all ready. The students will get used to having homework and knowing they need to do it. Parents may need to push them along. I usually dread the first full week of school but I have really enjoyed this one. I was ready to come back and get into a routine. I like to have fun when I teach, and I think the kids are finding that enjoyable. I hope they enjoy my crazy ways!!!
Language Arts - We are finishing up our week on the story Because of Winn-Dixie. We have spent time this week focusing on the vocabulary words form the story, decoding words, and picking out subjects and predicates of a sentence. These are all things that they will be assessed on tomorrow. It will also assess their comprehension of the story. Remember there is a spelling post test tomorrow! I have instructed the students to be sure and study for spelling and also study their vocabulary words in their notebooks. These are items tested over every Friday. I request they bring their vocabulary notebooks home to study every Thursday night.
Math - We have had one full lesson in Math this week. It focused on the base ten system and understanding that each place value is 10 times the previous place value. We looked at base ten blocks up to 1,000 then discussed what they would look like if we had physical example past 1,000. We will move on to 3 ways to read and write numbers: standard form, word form, expanded form, and comparing numbers next week. It is always a slow start getting used to my teaching style and how we use our textbooks. We will move a little faster and we go along.
Social Studies - We are discussing the 5 regions of the United States. These regions are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. We begin by talking about the United States as a whole and our government system. Then we will move on and study the states by their region. All 4th graders love social studies because of the content we study and the projects they will complete. This week we have focused on the Regions, their landforms, and the climate of the United States. The students have had to do a lot of vocabulary words and we do a worksheet at the end of each lesson. The worksheets help to summarize what they have learned and what is important.
I really hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. I know there are lots of fun things that happen this weekend. I plan to spend some time with family. I have a cousin who has been training for a triathlon, she had something come up and can't run in the real one, so her husband made one for her around Creston. Family is gathering to watch her and show support, then having a meal together. I admire her spirit. I plan to be there.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! I hope your student is enjoying 4th grade so far. I am definitely enjoying the students. It is quite an adjustment for some, and I have given out some late slips all ready. The students will get used to having homework and knowing they need to do it. Parents may need to push them along. I usually dread the first full week of school but I have really enjoyed this one. I was ready to come back and get into a routine. I like to have fun when I teach, and I think the kids are finding that enjoyable. I hope they enjoy my crazy ways!!!
Language Arts - We are finishing up our week on the story Because of Winn-Dixie. We have spent time this week focusing on the vocabulary words form the story, decoding words, and picking out subjects and predicates of a sentence. These are all things that they will be assessed on tomorrow. It will also assess their comprehension of the story. Remember there is a spelling post test tomorrow! I have instructed the students to be sure and study for spelling and also study their vocabulary words in their notebooks. These are items tested over every Friday. I request they bring their vocabulary notebooks home to study every Thursday night.
Math - We have had one full lesson in Math this week. It focused on the base ten system and understanding that each place value is 10 times the previous place value. We looked at base ten blocks up to 1,000 then discussed what they would look like if we had physical example past 1,000. We will move on to 3 ways to read and write numbers: standard form, word form, expanded form, and comparing numbers next week. It is always a slow start getting used to my teaching style and how we use our textbooks. We will move a little faster and we go along.
Social Studies - We are discussing the 5 regions of the United States. These regions are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. We begin by talking about the United States as a whole and our government system. Then we will move on and study the states by their region. All 4th graders love social studies because of the content we study and the projects they will complete. This week we have focused on the Regions, their landforms, and the climate of the United States. The students have had to do a lot of vocabulary words and we do a worksheet at the end of each lesson. The worksheets help to summarize what they have learned and what is important.
I really hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. I know there are lots of fun things that happen this weekend. I plan to spend some time with family. I have a cousin who has been training for a triathlon, she had something come up and can't run in the real one, so her husband made one for her around Creston. Family is gathering to watch her and show support, then having a meal together. I admire her spirit. I plan to be there.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Hello!! Welcome to 4th grade!!!
I am very excited to be teaching your children this year. Thank you for sharing your precious gem with me! We have had a good first two days, I think..... I feel they have gone very well. Your kids may say differently. We are learning the basics. They have to get used to me and how I run my classroom. They have to get familiar with all my expectations and how work is done. Everything is new to them. I am sure it has been overwhelming for them. I feel overwhelmed sometimes also. We will get the bugs worked out then the day will run like a well-oiled machine! (we hope) My classroom is very routine. We will stick to the schedule. Only time we venture off schedule is when extra fun activities are planned: Advent Angels, Lenten Angels, Bullying days, Catholic Schools Week, or snow days.
I hope this blog is helpful in keeping you posted on things we are doing in the classroom and fun things we may do throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns for me shoot me an email at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org or call the school 641-782-7125. I am available most mornings 7:45- 8:10 then again 9:30-10:00. Also at the end of the day 3:15-3:45. Also, brand new this year, I have a voicemail box You can call the school and leave a message on my voicemail. The BEST way to reach me and get a response is via email.
Language Arts - The first few days I am assessing the kids on what they retained from last year and areas that need some work, so I know where to begin with each one. We took a spelling inventory today, which is like a pretest. It just gives me an idea of what kind of a speller they are. Tomorrow we will take the diagnostic test. On Monday, I will begin the first story of Unit 1 with them, which is called Because of Winn Dixie. It is a story from a book right off my shelf written by Kate DiCamillo. They will enjoy it. You will begin to see homework in this subject on Monday.
Math - I am also assessing the students this week in the area. I am seeing what they retained over the summer or for some what they learned. It will help me see the areas they do well in and which ones I will need to slow down and spend some extra time on. We took part of this test today and will finish it tomorrow. I will spend weekend going over it and making some teaching decisions. Our series is called Go Math and follows the Iowa Core. After teaching it last year, I am in love with it. Kids have a much better understanding of Math then before. We really get in depth. Things are really broken down so kids have a better answer to "why" we do the things we do in Math.
Social Studies - We will be studying the United States this whole year. The first three chapters focus on "Living in the United States". We will learn that the U.S. can be split into 5 different regions. We will also talk about our Government and how it is set up. We will then study the states a region at a time. Kids will be able to label on a map the states of each region and by the end of the year they will label all 50 States on a map. We have projects we complete during each region. The projects usually start after conferences so we will discuss them more then. I hope your kids love this subject as much as I do.
Science and Religion- Just a reminder that our child will go to Ms. Surma for Religion class and Mrs. Burg for Science. I am in charge of 3-5 Social Studies. This is the same as last year. You should check out their blogs to see if there is anything about 4th grade on them. If you have questions or concerns about these two classes you will need to make contact with these two teacher.
I am looking forward to a great year full of fun and LOTS of learning. Have a great weekend!! Happy Birthday to me Saturday, August 29!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
I am very excited to be teaching your children this year. Thank you for sharing your precious gem with me! We have had a good first two days, I think..... I feel they have gone very well. Your kids may say differently. We are learning the basics. They have to get used to me and how I run my classroom. They have to get familiar with all my expectations and how work is done. Everything is new to them. I am sure it has been overwhelming for them. I feel overwhelmed sometimes also. We will get the bugs worked out then the day will run like a well-oiled machine! (we hope) My classroom is very routine. We will stick to the schedule. Only time we venture off schedule is when extra fun activities are planned: Advent Angels, Lenten Angels, Bullying days, Catholic Schools Week, or snow days.
I hope this blog is helpful in keeping you posted on things we are doing in the classroom and fun things we may do throughout the year. If you have any questions or concerns for me shoot me an email at msickels@crestonstmalachy.org or call the school 641-782-7125. I am available most mornings 7:45- 8:10 then again 9:30-10:00. Also at the end of the day 3:15-3:45. Also, brand new this year, I have a voicemail box You can call the school and leave a message on my voicemail. The BEST way to reach me and get a response is via email.
Language Arts - The first few days I am assessing the kids on what they retained from last year and areas that need some work, so I know where to begin with each one. We took a spelling inventory today, which is like a pretest. It just gives me an idea of what kind of a speller they are. Tomorrow we will take the diagnostic test. On Monday, I will begin the first story of Unit 1 with them, which is called Because of Winn Dixie. It is a story from a book right off my shelf written by Kate DiCamillo. They will enjoy it. You will begin to see homework in this subject on Monday.
Math - I am also assessing the students this week in the area. I am seeing what they retained over the summer or for some what they learned. It will help me see the areas they do well in and which ones I will need to slow down and spend some extra time on. We took part of this test today and will finish it tomorrow. I will spend weekend going over it and making some teaching decisions. Our series is called Go Math and follows the Iowa Core. After teaching it last year, I am in love with it. Kids have a much better understanding of Math then before. We really get in depth. Things are really broken down so kids have a better answer to "why" we do the things we do in Math.
Social Studies - We will be studying the United States this whole year. The first three chapters focus on "Living in the United States". We will learn that the U.S. can be split into 5 different regions. We will also talk about our Government and how it is set up. We will then study the states a region at a time. Kids will be able to label on a map the states of each region and by the end of the year they will label all 50 States on a map. We have projects we complete during each region. The projects usually start after conferences so we will discuss them more then. I hope your kids love this subject as much as I do.
Science and Religion- Just a reminder that our child will go to Ms. Surma for Religion class and Mrs. Burg for Science. I am in charge of 3-5 Social Studies. This is the same as last year. You should check out their blogs to see if there is anything about 4th grade on them. If you have questions or concerns about these two classes you will need to make contact with these two teacher.
I am looking forward to a great year full of fun and LOTS of learning. Have a great weekend!! Happy Birthday to me Saturday, August 29!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Dear Parents,
Happy Last Thursday!!! Yes, this is the last Blog I will be writing for these students!! This is crazy!! This is the first year I am not ready to end the year!! We have lots of things we are doing over the next 2 days! I am trying to make Tuesday as fun as I can without any work. You will find your student's Iowa Assessment results in their folders today. It is the envelope made out to the parents.
I would like to wish everyone a great summer vacation. I hope everyone finds the time to go somewhere as a family. You have a 4th grader that I am sure has suggestions of where they would like to go. Keep in mind there are some great things to see close to home. Be safe!!
Language Arts - Students have been working hard on their book projects here at school. Some of them have a little bit of stuff to finish up for tomorrow. Remember they are all due tomorrow. They will share all of them tomorrow with the class. We have taken the Unit test over Charlie and Chocolate Factory all ready and it is today's folder. I was very happy at how all of them did. I also gave out awards today for their Journals. I gave an award for best pictures. Reese Glynn won this award. His pictures were always very neat, covered the whole page, and colorful. I appreciate his work. All students had pictures but some of them were not colored every time. I also gave an award for the journal entries. I gave it to the person whose entries were very consistent in quantity. Patrick Varner won this prize. He always wrote from 3-8 sentences on each entry. He really told me what he knew. Some kids began to get skimpy with entries. Both winners received a box of Gobstoppers to take home. Might as well give Wonka candy for the prize! This has been a fun unit for the kids. I am so glad we were able to do it.
Math - We are still working in Math. We completed lesson 6.2 today and will do 6.3 tomorrow. We have at least learned what equivalent fractions are and how to find them. We used models to see what they looked, now we can find equivalent fractions without models. Tomorrow we will work on fractions in simplest form! Ms. Surma is very happy we are getting this in by the end of the year!!
Social Studies - We are finishing up chapter 10 with a test today. We will take the end-of-the-year map test tomorrow. Students need to be able to locate all 50 states on a map and name the capital of the state. I also plan on reading some interesting facts about the West Region in our book since we are not getting to it. Projects were fun this last time. Students will be bringing them home today and tomorrow.
Last Day of School, Tuesday, May 26th - This next Tuesday is our last day of school. I plan on cleaning most items out of our desks on Friday, but if we don't get it all done then we will finish on Tuesday. We will have field day starting at 10:00 A.M. We will be eating lunch 3-4-5 together and watching a Disney movie the rest of afternoon. We haven't decided what yet but are looking at movies like The Apple Dumpling Game, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks. Your student needs to come to school with a lunch which includes a drink. If you know pop has an effect on your student I ask that you not send it. Send something else to drink. It's the last day and we are all excited all ready without enhancing that. We will end the day in the gym at 2:40 with prayer and saying good-bye. You are welcome to attend any of these events throughout the day if you want. Please feel welcome to join us.
I would just like to say, I have had a great year with your child. I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of them. Thank you for sharing them with me. I hope all of you will have a great summer. You will find me at the ballpark. I will spend all of June at a ballpark somewhere watching my oldest two play. I love it. It's my favorite summer activity. Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of every week in the month of June I will be watching softball!! Yes it's busy!
God Bless and Have a Great Summer,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Last Thursday!!! Yes, this is the last Blog I will be writing for these students!! This is crazy!! This is the first year I am not ready to end the year!! We have lots of things we are doing over the next 2 days! I am trying to make Tuesday as fun as I can without any work. You will find your student's Iowa Assessment results in their folders today. It is the envelope made out to the parents.
I would like to wish everyone a great summer vacation. I hope everyone finds the time to go somewhere as a family. You have a 4th grader that I am sure has suggestions of where they would like to go. Keep in mind there are some great things to see close to home. Be safe!!
Language Arts - Students have been working hard on their book projects here at school. Some of them have a little bit of stuff to finish up for tomorrow. Remember they are all due tomorrow. They will share all of them tomorrow with the class. We have taken the Unit test over Charlie and Chocolate Factory all ready and it is today's folder. I was very happy at how all of them did. I also gave out awards today for their Journals. I gave an award for best pictures. Reese Glynn won this award. His pictures were always very neat, covered the whole page, and colorful. I appreciate his work. All students had pictures but some of them were not colored every time. I also gave an award for the journal entries. I gave it to the person whose entries were very consistent in quantity. Patrick Varner won this prize. He always wrote from 3-8 sentences on each entry. He really told me what he knew. Some kids began to get skimpy with entries. Both winners received a box of Gobstoppers to take home. Might as well give Wonka candy for the prize! This has been a fun unit for the kids. I am so glad we were able to do it.
Math - We are still working in Math. We completed lesson 6.2 today and will do 6.3 tomorrow. We have at least learned what equivalent fractions are and how to find them. We used models to see what they looked, now we can find equivalent fractions without models. Tomorrow we will work on fractions in simplest form! Ms. Surma is very happy we are getting this in by the end of the year!!
Social Studies - We are finishing up chapter 10 with a test today. We will take the end-of-the-year map test tomorrow. Students need to be able to locate all 50 states on a map and name the capital of the state. I also plan on reading some interesting facts about the West Region in our book since we are not getting to it. Projects were fun this last time. Students will be bringing them home today and tomorrow.
Last Day of School, Tuesday, May 26th - This next Tuesday is our last day of school. I plan on cleaning most items out of our desks on Friday, but if we don't get it all done then we will finish on Tuesday. We will have field day starting at 10:00 A.M. We will be eating lunch 3-4-5 together and watching a Disney movie the rest of afternoon. We haven't decided what yet but are looking at movies like The Apple Dumpling Game, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks. Your student needs to come to school with a lunch which includes a drink. If you know pop has an effect on your student I ask that you not send it. Send something else to drink. It's the last day and we are all excited all ready without enhancing that. We will end the day in the gym at 2:40 with prayer and saying good-bye. You are welcome to attend any of these events throughout the day if you want. Please feel welcome to join us.
I would just like to say, I have had a great year with your child. I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of them. Thank you for sharing them with me. I hope all of you will have a great summer. You will find me at the ballpark. I will spend all of June at a ballpark somewhere watching my oldest two play. I love it. It's my favorite summer activity. Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of every week in the month of June I will be watching softball!! Yes it's busy!
God Bless and Have a Great Summer,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Maybe I should say Happy Soggy Thursday. I am enjoying every minute of school today because I will probably sit at a very wet track meet all night! We are watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today! Kids are excited! It is a great movie. They have really enjoyed the book. This is crazy to think, but next Thursday is my last Thursday blog. I can't believe it! I am going to miss these kids.
Language Arts - We finished the book Charlie and Chocolate Factory yesterday! Today we are watching the movie and tomorrow we will discuss book projects. I know you are all thinking "WHAT, another project!?" Well, never fear, I am going to introduce it to them tomorrow and then I expect them to do all the work in class next week. I will want them to bring any boxes they need on Monday, and they will be given class time to create their projects. I will be able to provide all the other stuff, paper, a paper cutter, pens, markers ect. I want to see this projects being created. If they choose the candy package project, they will also be making a completely made up candy, and that will need to be done at home. Same as Social Studies, if you wish they wouldn't do that project then just let your child know. There are plenty of projects to choose from. Next Friday they will present their book projects to the class. This one should be a fun one for them
Math - We finished chapter 5 this week. This is the last math test we will take this year. I plan to dig into chapter 6 and teach it clear up to the last day! I will get through as much as a can as long as everyone is understanding. We will be working on Fractions the whole time. I hope to make these lessons more hands on using tiles and cubes to help understand fractions. They really can be fun in the beginning. Being able to see the difference in fractions helps to make a lot of sense too.
Social Studies - We started hearing out last projects today. We will have projects due all next week also. I am anxious to see what we have from each student. We will take a States and Capitals practice test this afternoon. We will do one today and one next week. Next Friday we will do the real test. They will need to label a map, locating all 50 States and naming their capitals. I have a map they can use for practice. I will send that home today. We will finish chapter 10 today and take one more test next week. We will then begin reading chapter 12. We will not test over it but we will do vocabulary and worksheets like normal. We will do this until the end of the year. I can't believe I have to keep thinking about the end being so close.
Field Trip - We had a great time on our field trip. I would like to thank Katie Turner, and Rachel Glynn, and Dennis Kinsella for driving. We also want to thank Dennis for treating the kids to an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen! It was a great end to our day. The train ride was fun. They loved the High Bridge, and going over the Des Moines River. There was a lot of debris at the river. Full trees that have floated down the river and I assume got stuck in ice jams over the winter and shoved up on shore. They also saw the YMCA camp. They thought it looked like a lot of fun! We ate at Ledges State Park in a shelter house. We didn't have time to go for a hike, but it would have been a little muddy. They then drove through the spillways at ledges. There are 5 of them. It was fun. Kids were trying to take photos of everything. Some of you even probably saw videos. It was a great day! Here are some photos I took.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! One more full week of school!! Summer is near!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Maybe I should say Happy Soggy Thursday. I am enjoying every minute of school today because I will probably sit at a very wet track meet all night! We are watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory today! Kids are excited! It is a great movie. They have really enjoyed the book. This is crazy to think, but next Thursday is my last Thursday blog. I can't believe it! I am going to miss these kids.
Language Arts - We finished the book Charlie and Chocolate Factory yesterday! Today we are watching the movie and tomorrow we will discuss book projects. I know you are all thinking "WHAT, another project!?" Well, never fear, I am going to introduce it to them tomorrow and then I expect them to do all the work in class next week. I will want them to bring any boxes they need on Monday, and they will be given class time to create their projects. I will be able to provide all the other stuff, paper, a paper cutter, pens, markers ect. I want to see this projects being created. If they choose the candy package project, they will also be making a completely made up candy, and that will need to be done at home. Same as Social Studies, if you wish they wouldn't do that project then just let your child know. There are plenty of projects to choose from. Next Friday they will present their book projects to the class. This one should be a fun one for them
Math - We finished chapter 5 this week. This is the last math test we will take this year. I plan to dig into chapter 6 and teach it clear up to the last day! I will get through as much as a can as long as everyone is understanding. We will be working on Fractions the whole time. I hope to make these lessons more hands on using tiles and cubes to help understand fractions. They really can be fun in the beginning. Being able to see the difference in fractions helps to make a lot of sense too.
Social Studies - We started hearing out last projects today. We will have projects due all next week also. I am anxious to see what we have from each student. We will take a States and Capitals practice test this afternoon. We will do one today and one next week. Next Friday we will do the real test. They will need to label a map, locating all 50 States and naming their capitals. I have a map they can use for practice. I will send that home today. We will finish chapter 10 today and take one more test next week. We will then begin reading chapter 12. We will not test over it but we will do vocabulary and worksheets like normal. We will do this until the end of the year. I can't believe I have to keep thinking about the end being so close.
Field Trip - We had a great time on our field trip. I would like to thank Katie Turner, and Rachel Glynn, and Dennis Kinsella for driving. We also want to thank Dennis for treating the kids to an ice cream cone from Dairy Queen! It was a great end to our day. The train ride was fun. They loved the High Bridge, and going over the Des Moines River. There was a lot of debris at the river. Full trees that have floated down the river and I assume got stuck in ice jams over the winter and shoved up on shore. They also saw the YMCA camp. They thought it looked like a lot of fun! We ate at Ledges State Park in a shelter house. We didn't have time to go for a hike, but it would have been a little muddy. They then drove through the spillways at ledges. There are 5 of them. It was fun. Kids were trying to take photos of everything. Some of you even probably saw videos. It was a great day! Here are some photos I took.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! One more full week of school!! Summer is near!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!!! What a soggy week!!! I want the sun to come back. Cloudy skies causes drowsy kids!!! Also a drowsy teacher! At least recesses have been outside all week. We are happy about that. We have our field trip tomorrow. Next week we are looking at a Math test and hopefully watching a movie! The end is getting closer and closer. The students are still maintaining and working very hard. I appreciate that.
Field Trip - Tomorrow is the day!! Please remember to bring a sack lunch with you. Also watch the weather and dress accordingly. Again we will ride rain or shine. There is no heat or air on the train. Also no flip-flops, comfortable shoes for walking. If you are driving please be here early to fill out the driver's form in the office. You will need your driver's license and I think license plate number. I plan to load the kids up and leave at 8:15 so your child needs to be in my room by 8:00. Also we will not be back in time for kids to ride the bus so they will need to be picked up. We will be back by 3:30. My phone number is 641-202-1580 if you want to text me and ask if our arrival will be on time. I will keep Sarah informed if we are running late. I hope the weather holds up for us.
Language Arts - We have covered several chapters this week. We have worked on our fantasy story. They have a setting worked out, and now they have characters for their story. On Monday, we will work more with that. We have read up to chapter 23 so far. I hope that we finish the book next week. We will watch the movie when we are completely done. I do have a Unit test over the book to take. It has multiple choice, matching and true and false on it. It also has some questions that require written answers. I think it will easy after all we have done throughout the book.
Math - We finished chapter 5 today. Students are working on their chapter review. We will check that on Monday and then they will take a test on Tuesday. This has been a short chapter. We will move right into chapter 6 on Fractions as soon as we are done. It will be fun! I have lots of manipulatives to use for fractions.
Social Studies - We are studying the Southwest Region which is made up of 4 states: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. We will finish this chapter and move onto the first chapter of the West. Projects are due quickly. Students should be doing their research. Monday I will get their posters, cake tracers, and person to them. So far in this chapter we have read about the Grand Canyon and watched a movie over it. Today we will move onto the next lesson over climates. They have a varied climate in this region. We will end the chapter discussing the discovery of oil in Beaumont, Texas. Then we will test! I hope to be close by the end of next week!
A note from the Music Room: The music program is Tuesday, May 12th, at 6:00 in the High School Auditorium. Students are to arrive and be in their seats by 5:50. Students can dress nice yet casual. Nice shorts are allowed with a colored shirt. Girls are welcome to wear skirts and colored shirts if they choose. Shoes need to allow them to move around. I would steer clear of high heels. They need to be able to dance around. We are planning a dress rehearsal that afternoon at the High school. Please fill out permission form and return tomorrow! Thank you.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! It is recital weekend!! Enjoy it! We have family back for it and will be relieved when it is all over!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!!! What a soggy week!!! I want the sun to come back. Cloudy skies causes drowsy kids!!! Also a drowsy teacher! At least recesses have been outside all week. We are happy about that. We have our field trip tomorrow. Next week we are looking at a Math test and hopefully watching a movie! The end is getting closer and closer. The students are still maintaining and working very hard. I appreciate that.
Field Trip - Tomorrow is the day!! Please remember to bring a sack lunch with you. Also watch the weather and dress accordingly. Again we will ride rain or shine. There is no heat or air on the train. Also no flip-flops, comfortable shoes for walking. If you are driving please be here early to fill out the driver's form in the office. You will need your driver's license and I think license plate number. I plan to load the kids up and leave at 8:15 so your child needs to be in my room by 8:00. Also we will not be back in time for kids to ride the bus so they will need to be picked up. We will be back by 3:30. My phone number is 641-202-1580 if you want to text me and ask if our arrival will be on time. I will keep Sarah informed if we are running late. I hope the weather holds up for us.
Language Arts - We have covered several chapters this week. We have worked on our fantasy story. They have a setting worked out, and now they have characters for their story. On Monday, we will work more with that. We have read up to chapter 23 so far. I hope that we finish the book next week. We will watch the movie when we are completely done. I do have a Unit test over the book to take. It has multiple choice, matching and true and false on it. It also has some questions that require written answers. I think it will easy after all we have done throughout the book.
Math - We finished chapter 5 today. Students are working on their chapter review. We will check that on Monday and then they will take a test on Tuesday. This has been a short chapter. We will move right into chapter 6 on Fractions as soon as we are done. It will be fun! I have lots of manipulatives to use for fractions.
Social Studies - We are studying the Southwest Region which is made up of 4 states: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. We will finish this chapter and move onto the first chapter of the West. Projects are due quickly. Students should be doing their research. Monday I will get their posters, cake tracers, and person to them. So far in this chapter we have read about the Grand Canyon and watched a movie over it. Today we will move onto the next lesson over climates. They have a varied climate in this region. We will end the chapter discussing the discovery of oil in Beaumont, Texas. Then we will test! I hope to be close by the end of next week!
A note from the Music Room: The music program is Tuesday, May 12th, at 6:00 in the High School Auditorium. Students are to arrive and be in their seats by 5:50. Students can dress nice yet casual. Nice shorts are allowed with a colored shirt. Girls are welcome to wear skirts and colored shirts if they choose. Shoes need to allow them to move around. I would steer clear of high heels. They need to be able to dance around. We are planning a dress rehearsal that afternoon at the High school. Please fill out permission form and return tomorrow! Thank you.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!! It is recital weekend!! Enjoy it! We have family back for it and will be relieved when it is all over!!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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| This is the 911 Memorial Building. This is taken from the base of it looking up. Pretty cool. Looks like it continues on forever! |
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| This is the South Tower Reflection Pool. It is the footprint of where the actual building stood. Names of those who died from this building are listed around the edge. There is a North Tower Pool also. |
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| Another view of the South Tower Pool. The center drops down. It is suppose to represent the tower going down instead of up. It's reversed. Water falls down all sides then down into the center. |
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| This is Ladder 54 that was on scene when the towers fell. It was heavily damaged |
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Here we are again. I feel like these weeks are moving by very quickly. Today is the last day of April!! WOW!! First of May tomorrow and only 26 days left and not all of those are spent in school! I am looking forward to summer but not ready to be done yet. This has been a fun year. You have great kids! Thank you for sharing them with me. This nice weather is making our days even better.
Language Arts - We are enjoying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We have read 15 chapters as of today. We read together and they read in partners. We have talked about Roald Dahl's overuse of adjectives and we have picked out some sentences that are a list of things that seems to go on an on forever!! We discussed it being a run-on sentence, but also discussed why it is not. We have been comparing characters, and talking a lot about our own feelings on things happening in the book. I have some very level-headed kids in this class. They definitely think of others. They are working on a interview right now. One student is the reporter and the other is role-playing Charlie Bucket. He was the only winner of a golden ticket that we didn't get to read about his interview with newspaper, so the students are creating their own version of that interview. They worked on it today, I will give them time tomorrow and then they are to present or act it out in front of the class on Monday. This is always a fun one. They have continued to work on their journals. They have an entry for every chapter. Some of their journals are GREAT!! You may want to hang on to these. Their pictures are very detailed and colorful. Some of them have great written entries. They answer the questions in full and explain themselves very well. This is a fun unit. I think everyone is enjoying it. We will watch the 60"s movie with Gene Wilder in it. I am not a fan of the new movie. It is entertaining but a little too dark to show kids. I am not a fan of the flashbacks and making Willy Wonka out to have a mental problem. I can't wait until movie day!
Math- We have been working on finding the factors of numbers. They all understand how to find the factors, it's the word problems that they struggle with. They are not very confident in reading the word problems and knowing what they are to do. These word problems are very long. It also seems they have many "conditions" they need in the answer. I have tried to talk them through them and explain why the "conditions" lead to you finding the factors or common factors. They did the Mid-Chapter Checkpoint today. I feel like they are at a good place in the chapter so far. We only have 2 more lessons until the end of chapter 5. It is about factors still but also brings in multiples. We have to work on keeping these two items straight. That will be the tough part. Fractions are next!!
Social Studies - I have assigned their last project to them. They know their states and they also know what project they are doing. They need to start gathering their information now, because they will only have a couple weeks to complete this project. Keep in mind it is the last one! We are testing today over Chapter 9 and will begin chapter 10 tomorrow. We will do chapter 10 over the Southwest then go to chapter 12 over the West. I want to get at least two more chapters in before they end of the year. We will also start practice testing for the states and capitals test. They need to be able to put the them together. On the practice tests they are not locating them on a map they are just putting the capital with the state or state with the capital. They will have to locate and put the two together on the end of year test. I have a full page map of the whole U.S. that they can practice on. I will give that out to them shortly. Their are lots of apps for ipods or ipads that are games dealing with locating the states. You can get them on a regular computer too, I just tried one out yesterday. I put in United States quiz. It will pop up several options. They are kind of fun!
I hope everyone enjoys the weekend. Hopefully we have great weather.
Field Trip! Well, it is that time of year to go on a field trip!! Our trip is linked to social studies. One thing I teach in social studies is about transportation and all the ways in which people traveled. We talk about what came first it's effect on the country and them the next one. Railroads were a very important invention. When the steam locomotive was invented the only form of transportation besides our feet, or horses was the steamboat. It was good but couldn't get us places if they didn't have a waterway. Train tracks could be built anywhere. I also like our trip because Creston is a community built on the railroad and grew because of the railroad. We travel to Boone, Iowa, and we ride the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad. We are on the train about an hour and 45 minutes total. We cross 2 bridges on our route. One over the Des Moines River and one called the "High Bridge". It is like 166 feet high and quite long. Well, I think it's long. I am sending home a paper today about the trip. It will take place Friday, May 8th. I am in need of drivers. I have one driver right now that can hold 5 kids. It is a first come first serve basis. I only have so many seats reserved on the train so I can't take extras. Email me or text me. My email and number is on the sheet your child is bringing home.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Here we are again. I feel like these weeks are moving by very quickly. Today is the last day of April!! WOW!! First of May tomorrow and only 26 days left and not all of those are spent in school! I am looking forward to summer but not ready to be done yet. This has been a fun year. You have great kids! Thank you for sharing them with me. This nice weather is making our days even better.
Language Arts - We are enjoying Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We have read 15 chapters as of today. We read together and they read in partners. We have talked about Roald Dahl's overuse of adjectives and we have picked out some sentences that are a list of things that seems to go on an on forever!! We discussed it being a run-on sentence, but also discussed why it is not. We have been comparing characters, and talking a lot about our own feelings on things happening in the book. I have some very level-headed kids in this class. They definitely think of others. They are working on a interview right now. One student is the reporter and the other is role-playing Charlie Bucket. He was the only winner of a golden ticket that we didn't get to read about his interview with newspaper, so the students are creating their own version of that interview. They worked on it today, I will give them time tomorrow and then they are to present or act it out in front of the class on Monday. This is always a fun one. They have continued to work on their journals. They have an entry for every chapter. Some of their journals are GREAT!! You may want to hang on to these. Their pictures are very detailed and colorful. Some of them have great written entries. They answer the questions in full and explain themselves very well. This is a fun unit. I think everyone is enjoying it. We will watch the 60"s movie with Gene Wilder in it. I am not a fan of the new movie. It is entertaining but a little too dark to show kids. I am not a fan of the flashbacks and making Willy Wonka out to have a mental problem. I can't wait until movie day!
Math- We have been working on finding the factors of numbers. They all understand how to find the factors, it's the word problems that they struggle with. They are not very confident in reading the word problems and knowing what they are to do. These word problems are very long. It also seems they have many "conditions" they need in the answer. I have tried to talk them through them and explain why the "conditions" lead to you finding the factors or common factors. They did the Mid-Chapter Checkpoint today. I feel like they are at a good place in the chapter so far. We only have 2 more lessons until the end of chapter 5. It is about factors still but also brings in multiples. We have to work on keeping these two items straight. That will be the tough part. Fractions are next!!
Social Studies - I have assigned their last project to them. They know their states and they also know what project they are doing. They need to start gathering their information now, because they will only have a couple weeks to complete this project. Keep in mind it is the last one! We are testing today over Chapter 9 and will begin chapter 10 tomorrow. We will do chapter 10 over the Southwest then go to chapter 12 over the West. I want to get at least two more chapters in before they end of the year. We will also start practice testing for the states and capitals test. They need to be able to put the them together. On the practice tests they are not locating them on a map they are just putting the capital with the state or state with the capital. They will have to locate and put the two together on the end of year test. I have a full page map of the whole U.S. that they can practice on. I will give that out to them shortly. Their are lots of apps for ipods or ipads that are games dealing with locating the states. You can get them on a regular computer too, I just tried one out yesterday. I put in United States quiz. It will pop up several options. They are kind of fun!
I hope everyone enjoys the weekend. Hopefully we have great weather.
Field Trip! Well, it is that time of year to go on a field trip!! Our trip is linked to social studies. One thing I teach in social studies is about transportation and all the ways in which people traveled. We talk about what came first it's effect on the country and them the next one. Railroads were a very important invention. When the steam locomotive was invented the only form of transportation besides our feet, or horses was the steamboat. It was good but couldn't get us places if they didn't have a waterway. Train tracks could be built anywhere. I also like our trip because Creston is a community built on the railroad and grew because of the railroad. We travel to Boone, Iowa, and we ride the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad. We are on the train about an hour and 45 minutes total. We cross 2 bridges on our route. One over the Des Moines River and one called the "High Bridge". It is like 166 feet high and quite long. Well, I think it's long. I am sending home a paper today about the trip. It will take place Friday, May 8th. I am in need of drivers. I have one driver right now that can hold 5 kids. It is a first come first serve basis. I only have so many seats reserved on the train so I can't take extras. Email me or text me. My email and number is on the sheet your child is bringing home.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
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| This is in Central Park. You may recognize from movie Home Alone 2 Lost in New York. |
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| This is the "Big Piano" from the Tom Hanks movie Big. It is in F.A.O. Schwartz. I was pleasantly surprised, the price of one is only $49.99. It was too big to bring home to Molly but I sure wanted too. I figured it was cost that much to ship it! |
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| This is a photo of the 911 Memorial Building taken from our ferry headed to the Statue of Liberty. I braved the cold to take this picture. The wind was terrible! |
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| This is Ellis Island. I was so excited to see this, but was very disappointed. There was no tour guide to talk to us about it. Plus, Hurricane Sandy did some damage, and they have just reopened and none of their artifacts were back in the display cases. BUMMER |
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