Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  We are here in school!!  I apologize that I don't have much to say today.  These snow/ice/cold days are killing me!!!  When we return and it's a two hour delay I pick and choose what classes we will do.  Mainly to be sure we are finishing up important things that we don't want to linger.  So here goes:

Language Arts : Tuesday we finished the Unit 3 Test.  Today we went over the Unit Test together to discuss questions students missed.  I also finished our fluency testing this week.  We are ready to begin a new story for week 16 next week!  Finally.  We should have been dong that story this week!  

Math:  The next strategy I have to teach will be the standard algorithm. I need two solid days in a row to make sure I get that done.  We have not had that.  Thank goodness I haven't done it!  We have worked on Math facts.  Last week we took a multiplication fact test and did some work with flash cards and around the world.  I will do that same kind of thing this week it there is time.  Next Monday I intend on starting that new strategy!

Social Studies :  The best part about this subject is I have all the states interactive notebook pieces copied and I can use it to fill in at any time.  We has class Tuesday and today.  Today I did a doubly whammy of social studies.  They are working on North Carolina and they have a wkst to do.  Tomorrow we will move on with Social Studies and talk about elevation Maps and they will have homework.

Book It Calendars :  January Calendars are due Tuesday, February 5th!  They can turn them in after this date but will not be rewarded.  I have spent my snow days reading so they will be shocked when they see my minutes!

Grandparent/Special Guest Day:  The students are asked to dress their BEST tomorrow.  We will get on a bus around 1:00 and bus over to Holy Spirit.  You can meet your student there.  There will be a reception of cookies and juice in the basement of the church following Mass.  You are free to take your student with you as long as you let Mrs. Sickels know before you leave.  Bus and Trolley pick up will take place at the church at the normal times.

Happy Catholic Schools Week!  It's always crazy!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday! Or maybe NOT! Old Mother Nature must be mad at someone! This is definitely not what I expected this week! I am praying I see your kids tomorrow. I wanted to get out to you the Catholic Schools week Schedule. So here it is. On Wednesday it is class theme day. We have not been together to pick a theme! I plan on doing that tomorrow. I also will not be there on Wednesday due to a class I have to attend so Mrs. Weight will be my sub. I will make her aware of whatever we choose for our theme.

Please take note you need to send a sack lunch with your child on Monday. Thursday the sack lunch will be provided by the school but you do have the option of bringing your own from home.

Language Arts - We will spend out time finishing up the Unit Test. I do not plan to rush the kids all because of snow days. Next week we will continue the testing. We will also free read, for those not finished with their book reports, work on handwriting and a writing activity.

Math- We accomplished a Math fact test this week. This is a topic we have decided is important to help the students with. We have been working on Reading fluency so now we feel the need to focus on Math fluency with our emphasis on multiplication facts. This class did pretty well but we hope to improve their scores no matter what those scores. For those who are getting it we may put them to a times test. Knowing these facts are important in all aspects of math throughout their life. The students will be charting their progress. I hope to do that with them tomorrow.

I am sorry the formatting isn't perfect on this but I copy and pasted from another source.

Sunday January 27th Opening of Catholic Schools Week

Eucharistic Celebration 9am at Holy Spirit Church

Breakfast Pizza in Parish Hall following Mass
provided by our PTO

Monday January 28th Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day
11:30-1pm Lunch for faculty and staff
provided by PTO
Parent Volunteers please arrive by 11:15
Students bring sack lunch (milk is provided) and
eat with Advent Angel
Spirit Week Dress: Blue and Gold Day

Tuesday January 29th Student Appreciation Day  

2:00 - 2:45 pm Students vs. Teachers

Spirit Week Dress: Twins or Famous Duos

Wednesday January 30th Community Appreciation Day  

Chamber of Commerce Coffee 9am in gym

1st Grade Presentations

8th Grade Presentations  
Advent Angels -Make Valentine cards for
Servicemen and women
Spirit Week Dress: Class Theme Day

Thursday January 31st School Appreciation Day  

LUNCH - SACK LUNCH provided by school
milk provided

1:00pm Movie in the Gym  -
-students may bring blankets and pillows

Spirit Week Dress: PJ Day

Friday February 1st Grandparents/Special Guest Day

Mass begins at 1:30 pm at Holy Spirit Parish

Cookie and Punch Reception following Mass

Spirit Day Dress: Dress Up Day

I hope everyone has enjoyed their snow days. The first one I liked the 2nd was okay but today ugh!! I am done with snow days. I like them scattered through winter not all in one week! Let's hope Mother Nature has it out of her system!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!!  Well, winter is definitely here!  It gave us a nice teaser then BOOM it's back.  It started as a big storm and now it is down to minor snow amounts but bitter cold.  I am looking forward to a blanket, coffee, finishing a puzzle then moving on to finishing a book and starting another!  Yesterday I had to go to Des Moines for an appointment for Molly and I got us both book journals.  We are going to start keeping track of the books we read this year.  We went to Barnes and Noble and I found a book but she did not.  I spent a gift card I received at Christmas which was fun!!  Thank you!

Language Arts- This week is week 15 for stories. The story this week was called Ecology for Kids.  This is a pretty dry story.  It is all informational text.  The kids are not overly excited about this one.  It does talk about things we can do to save the Earth or to be better to the Earth.  In grammar we talked about irregular verbs, the "be" verb, and helping verbs.  The vocabulary strategy was on context clues and focused on multiple meaning words.  We also talked about 3 syllable words and how to decode them or break them apart into syllables.  Students should study their yellow packets of vocab words tonight and spelling words.  Next week will be a Unit Test.  This is a benchmark test so there are several stories to read but same amount of questions.  I will visit with the students about taking their time and finding the answers and highlighting them.  This will force them to look back into the stories.  I will also look at questions and see if there are any that I can remove because they don't really fit with what we have learned.  We will have a lot of reading to ourselves time next week. We will also do a lot of handwriting practice and hopefully some journal writing.  

Math -  We have learned 2 strategies to multiply double-digits.  We will do a Mid Chapter Check point today and check it tomorrow. This just makes sure they are understanding all the concepts in the first half of the lesson before we move on. Next week we will focus on the regrouping strategy which is the standard algorithm that you learned as a kid.  We will spend as much time needed on this strategy.  We will be finishing this chapter up in the next couple of weeks.

Social Studies - We took a test this week on Chapter 5 and are no beginning chapter 6 The Southeast.  We will be learning some of the same things about this region as we did the last.  Products that come from there, natural resources found there, Native Americans that lived there, what the land is like and climate of that area.  We will put the states in Interactive Notebooks, have map tests over states and capitals and continue our map skills activities.  It will be a very busy Unit.   They seem to really be enjoying learning about the country they live in.  They say it is fun.

Biz Town - In our child's folder is a letter about attending BizTown.  This will be the Field Trip for the 4th and 5th graders this year. Please read the letter. The work for this day will begin soon in the classrooms. It is a great way for them to learn financial literacy skills and then put them into use.

Spirit Day -  Remember tomorrow is a spirit day!  What a great snowy day to wear sweatpants for $1.  This money goes to our Pay it Forward fund.  We use this fun to buy food when a teacher loses a grandparent or parent, and also we send snack baskets to other schools in the event of a tragedy.  It is a great cause please join in and help raise money.

I hope all of you have a warm and safe weekend!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

  

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  Welcome back from a wonderful Christmas Season.  I really enjoyed my break.  It was a long one yet when it's over it never feels long enough!  I missed all the students and am happy to be back in the classroom with them.  They have come back refreshed and ready to work.  They seemed to have missed each other's company also.   Sounds like they all had a very enjoyable Christmas!  Time spent with family is always great!  My kids are still home but leaving this weekend.  That time seemed to go very fast but I work most of the time they are home.  We are now on the downhill side of the 4th grade year.  I feel like it has gone very fast.  We have a lot of work to do before May. 

Language Arts - This week's story is called The Life and Times of the Ant.  I am sure you get from the title that this is nonfiction or informational text. The students found it interesting the first time we read it.  They learned a few things from it.  The illustrations are very enjoyable throughout the story.  This is a plus because the focus this week in graphic and text features, which is the photos, illustrations, graphs, charts or diagrams that go along with a story. We are learning how these things  enhance our comprehension of the story.  In grammar we are talking about present and past participles and how to properly spell them. We also will discuss participle phrases.  The vocabulary strategy this week was on the suffixes -able and -ible.  Be sure to have your student look over their vocabulary words tonight.  The first 5 questions on the test are the vocab words they have in their yellow packets.  The next 5 cover the vocab strategy which will be words with -able or -ible in them.  These first 10 should be easy and they should get them correct.  The spelling post test and end of week assessment will be tomorrow.

Math -  We have come back and learned 2 of my favorite strategies in multiplication.  One is using Area boxes to multiply double-digit numbers.  It gives them a great visual to see exactly what they are doing.  They understand what numbers they need to multiply together.  They see where the "partial products" are coming from.  They seemed to really like this strategy also.  Then we moved to the partial product strategy which is the same thing you just remove the area box or the visual.  Some really like this strategy too.  This is nothing new in math because I have been teaching this strategy for like 18 years.  I really like the partial product strategy.  I understand multiplication better because of this strategy.  I took a class long ago on this and have been teaching it ever since.  The kids really seem to like this strategy and do very well with it.  We will move on next week to the standard algorithm or the regrouping strategy which we all learned as kids.  This one never really made any sense to me, I just worked the process but never truly understood. When I learned the partial product strategy I understood so much better.  I am pretty positive this strategy and learning it first benefits your students.  They will be so much more prepared for  math classes in the future.

Social Studies -  We have finished up our next chapter on the Northeast states.  They are working on a study guide and will be taking a test next Tuesday.  When this is done we will move on into the Southeast region.  We will be back to putting states in the interactive notebooks and studying the location of the  states and memorizing the capitals.  The students who did not master the Northeast states will now really be behind because we are moving on.  The next map tests will consist of the Southeast only.  We will learn about the natural resources, Native Americans and the important events that took place in the Southeast in the next two chapters.  We will move through these chapters a little more quickly then the others.  Mainly because they are used to the expectations and so it allows for us to do more in a class period.  We need to keep moving because we have 3 more regions to go and as hard as we work time seems to slip away from us.  They will be very busy children when it comes to Social Studies. But I know they like it!  At least most of them do.

Thank you -  To all those students who brought me gifts in December for Christmas, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity.  I loved all the things that I received.  They were all so special and thoughtful.  

The next big thing that is coming up on our calendars would be Catholic Schools Week!  It is everyone's favorite week of school.  We do lots of activities and dress up days to celebrate our being a Catholic School.  The teachers have started planning! It begins January 27th.  Please be sure to sign up for Mass that Sunday.   You will find a letter in the folder today asking for volunteers to help out in the ministries at church.  There will also be a breakfast put on by the PTO to follow mass.  Come join us.

Have a great end of the week and weekend!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday and Merry Christmas!!!  I hope you all are ready for Christmas Break because it is almost here!   Only a day and half until they are all yours for a couple of weeks!!  We have had a pretty good week, considering it is the last week.  I appreciate their behavior! I have kept them pretty busy this week.  I was gone on Monday, twin #2 had her wisdom teeth out so I had to be "Mom" duties all day. All went well that day and we have had a normal week since then.  

Language Arts -  Their story this week is called Antarctic Journal.  It is about a women who writes nonfiction books and she researches everything she writes.  She went  to Antarctica and stayed for some time.  She kept a journal while she was there and ended up publishing her journal.  It is really an interesting story but not sure a full week of it hold their interest.  We will see tomorrow how well they do on their test.  In grammar we have been talking about Modal Auxiliaries which are words like: can, may, would, should, might could and must.  There is a reason we use each one. They are learning when appropriate to use can or may, which is a fun one.  We also learned some Greek and Latin word parts that we use in our language and what they mean.  Those parts are spect, struct, tele, and vis.  They like seeing the connections.  We will still have a post test and end of week test tomorrow morning like normal.  The kids should be studying their vocab words and spelling words tonight.

Math-  This week we had one lesson on multiplying using 10.  We spent one day talking about it and then a worksheet.  On Wednesday and Thursday we did what I call "Fun Math".  We use a coordinate grid to color a picture.  The students were given a blank grid and then a sheet of instructions.  They are to follow the instructions and will end up with a Christmas picture if they do not make a mistake.  They are to have one picture complete but can pick another one to do if they get finished.  It is kind of like a battleship grid.  Funny how we wonder how that relates to math but it does.  In High School they will get into graphing and coordinate pairs.  This is just a simple beginning to that.  The students enjoyed it.  Some are also wanting to do Suduko.  We will see if I can get that done.

Social Studies-  We have put our last state for the Northeast into our notebooks!  Yay!!  The students took a 2nd map test over the Northeast States.  You will find the results to both in today's folder.  It is on an orange sheet.  We will pick up back in the chapter when we return from Christmas Break.  I hope to finish the chapter up and then start a new region.  We also completed a map skill on Map Keys, you will find that in the folder also on pink paper.  The students are doing a great job in Social Studies.  I keep them going and they just keep working hard.

GeoBee -  The Geography Bee finals were held yesterday.  Our winner was Spencer Brown in 6th grade.  Second place went to Daniel Buls 7th grade and 3rd was Rosie Leonard 8th grade.  Congratulations to our winners.  Spencer will be taking an online quiz in January to try and qualify for competition at the State Level.  Good luck to Spencer!!  I am very proud of the 3 4th graders who made it to the finals.  They should be proud. Usually I am lucky to have just one, but three!  WOW!!  They all got their first question right also.  That was awesome.  

 Friday - Tomorrow is the day!! Our last day together before break.  We will start the day in Music, then we will have language arts. When we have completed all academics we will then have some fun!   The students are all allowed to bring in board games that we can play.  I will let them enjoy each others company and celebrate together.  There will be treats and drinks and lots of fun.  I have a couple parents coming in to help and enjoy the day.  At 11:40 the students will go to lunch with their Advent Angels and at 12:15 we will begin our annual caroling in the gym.  You are invited to attend any part of the day with us that you want.  The caroling is always my favorite part.  It just melts my heart to see them singing songs together and having fun

I would like to say Thank you to all those who have given me such wonderful gifts.  I really enjoy the kids faces when I open them and they get so excited to see my reaction and they are so proud.  I have gotten some truly sweet thoughtful things.  Thank you very much!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas Season.  My girls are home which is my favorite part.  Having all my children under one roof is the best.  I know my days are numbered for this to happen.  They will be having their own houses one day and won't need to stay with me.  I am taking a nice little trip to Branson with Ms. Surma, my daughter Molly and a friend over break.  We are looking forward to exploring some fun places while we are gone.  I hope things that I can use in Social Studies.  Have a safe Holiday!!

God Bless and Merry Christmas,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  It is the 2nd week of Advent!!  We are down to 12 days before Christmas. The kids have been really good.  I am very happy with their behavior and hard work this week.  I know this time of year can be very exciting for them and they are going about the days normally.  I have my first family Christmas this weekend.  One night I host everyone at my house and I feel like I have been a little crazy but not sure the students have noticed, yet!  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Language Arts -  We are reading a story called The Earth Dragon Awakes.  It is a story about a father and son living in Chinatown in San Francisco and they experience the 1906 earthquake that took place there. They live in a tenement building and it collapses with them in it.  They are buried in the rubble.  It is kind of a scary story.  It may bring fear in some of the kids.  I know I was fearful reading it.  They are rescued in the end so it was a happy ending.  We are talking about Possessive nouns this week.  They are learning proper rules to adding 's or just the ' if it has the "s" all  ready.  The vocabulary strategy this week was on synonyms.  This is just a review for them because i have them find synonyms for their  vocabulary words each week.  We will have our end of week test tomorrow and post test for spelling.  You will find the results for the last couple of weeks assessments in today's folder. 

Math -  This week we have been busy.  We have taken chapter 2 test.  We have begun the pretest for chapter 3.  The students will make corrections on their tests today.  I will give final score and I will send them home next week to be signed and returned.  Chapter 3 is over double digit multiplication.  This chapter will take the strategies they learned in chapter 2 and apply them to 2-digits.  They will pick it up rather quickly.  We will put in some "fun Christmas" math next week to lighten the load a little bit.  We are progressing very nicely through our studies.  Keep up the good work.

Social Studies -  We are working through chapter 5.  We took our first Map Test this week.  It is very important the students do well on these so they prepare themselves for the end of year test over all 50 states and capitals.  Some did not do so well. I hope to send those results today but not sure that will happen.  I like to keep the test in their binders so I can refer back to them but I will report results to you in some way.  I hope to finish putting states of the Northeast in the interactive notebooks by Christmas.  I also hope to have another map test next week before break.

Friday, December 21 -  Next Friday is our last day before Christmas break.  I just want you to know what that day will look like.  Students will start their day in music like normal.  When they return at 8:50 we will do Language Arts to finish up our story for the week.  When that is finished we will have a small Christmas party.  It is Melanie's birthday so she is providing us with a treat that day.  I haven't decided which we will do but normally I have the students bring in their favorite board games and we play games and enjoy each other's company.  We could also show a movie.  I think I will talk to the kids and see what they want to do to celebrate.  I love playing games.  It is nice to show them that you can still have a good time playing board games instead of playing video games.  I may start with BINGO and give prizes!  At 11:30 they will meet their Advent Angel and eat lunch, following will be Christmas Caroling in the gym at 12:15-12:45.  Students are dismissed at 1:10 that day.  You are very welcome to come to the classroom around 10:30 and join us for our fun activities and also caroling.  If a grandparent wants to come in and spend the morning that is fine too.  I just want to make the sense of "family" known with the students.  I want them to enjoy each other family style before the holiday. Students will need to bring a sack lunch but milk will be provided. Also students are encouraged to wear festive clothes for Christmas.  It is also a spirit day that day!

Geography Bee -  The finals for the Geography Bee will be held next Wednesday the 19th after mass.  It will begin at 10:15.  Baret, Rhett and Jace from 4th grade all made it into the finals.  We wish them luck.  Anyone is welcome to attend the finals to support.  This will be held in the gym.

I hope you are all getting your shopping done!  Mine is finished. I  get to wrap now.  Safe travels to anyone doing any traveling over the this month.  

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!  Welcome to Advent Season!  This is my favorite season on the Liturgical calendar.  We have great activities planned for the kids during Advent Angels.  We started this activity yesterday.  Yesterday seemed to be a very busy day for 4th graders.  It was our mass so we started our day in the gym practicing.  After Mass we had Advent Angels and Language Arts.  After Lunch/recess we went to the High School to practice for our Christmas Program!  It's a good thing we do that because our program last night was great!   It is so fun to hear the kids sing.  I am a little biased but thought that  the 4th and 5th sounded fabulous!!  I am so proud of them.  Whew!  That is one thing checked off on our calendars!  Hope you enjoy the rest of the Advent Season with your kids.  I know I plan to enjoy them these nest couple weeks!   They are all very special and I appreciate you sharing them with me.

Language Arts -  This week we are reading the story Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms.  It is a non-fiction informational story.  Some of it is interesting with facts kids want to hear but the majority is pretty detailed about how they form and the kids don't find these facts very interesting and fun.  They probably need to go over the story at home again tonight for sure. We have worked on homophones this week.  These are my favorite lessons in the book.  We learn how to use to, too, two, its, it's,  there, their , and they're properly.  So many struggle with this, adults included.  This is one that I catch on Facebook all the time.  The vocabulary strategy this week was on suffixes -ful, - ness,       -less, and -ment.  We discussed their meanings and how when added to a word they change the meaning of the base word.  We will read a short story today about Hurricane Katrina and the damage she caused.  They may or may not have heard of this storm before.  I try to talk about ones they are more familiar with.  We will have our spelling post test tomorrow and end of week assessment.  Please remember to have your child study the yellow packet of vocab words.

Math -  We have completed the last lesson in chapter 2 this week.  We will begin work reviewing for the chapter 2 assessment.  We look to begin to take this assessment on Monday or Tuesday of next week.  It will depend on how tomorrow goes because we are going to the Food Pantry in the afternoon to help unload the truck.  this takes our math time.  Sometimes when we return we may fill our time with Math.  It just depends on how the day goes. The students have learned some great strategies this chapter on how to multiply.  They have several ways to choose from.  They all like the regrouping strategy once they caught on.  The kids will do the test on computer but will have a paper copy also that they need to show their work on.  It is important that I see all work so I can see why they are missing things.  I look at multiplication strategy used, did they make a simple error or is it something bigger that I need to address.  Proving their knowledge is key.  By the way the last lesson on Order of Operations was Algebra. Some of them caught on better than others.  Showing each step is what threw them off.  They just wanted to work the problems and move on.  I made them show each step because that is what is expected in Algebra.  Hopefully all kids will do well.  Remember I forgot to have them take a pretest so I have nothing to compare their scores with this time.  I am anticipating great scores though.

Social Studies -  We have begun practicing the Northeast states locations on maps.  They have an answer key they may and some practice maps so they can practice placing the states and capitals on their maps.  You can copy more maps at home if you have the capabilities to do that.  It is very important for them to learn these states because we will move on to the Southeast soon and won't practice this region much after that.  At the end of the year they are expected to label all 50 states with their capitals.  This is to lead us up to that.  Next week I plan to give them their first map test which will cover just the Northeast states.  Make sure your child is practicing.  We are still moving through chapter 5 on people of the Northeast.  We will also work on finishing up the states in their interactive notebooks. We do a lot of work in social studies.  Oh yes, and singing the states and capitals song.  Is it driving you crazy yet??

Reconciliation -  Next Friday the 14th we will hold reconciliation for the students.  This is a time for them to spend with Father one on one to either be blessed or confess sins for forgiveness.  All students will be given a blessing.  It is a nice fresh , weight off the shoulders feeling for most.  It prepares us for Christmas also.

Our last day before break is Friday, December 21st.  We have a two hour dismissal that day.  We will some fun activities going on in our classroom that day.  All are welcome to come join us.  At noon the kids will eat lunch with their advent angels and the we have our annual sing-a-long in the gym.  I will give more details next week in Blog on what will happen on the 21st.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels