Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday and welcome back from Christmas break! It was a very good break for all of us and I am happy to be back with the kids. We will be working very hard over the next 2-3 weeks. The goal is to keep the students moving and progressing. We are halfway done with the year and I need to get cracking to get all the things I need to finish by the end of the year. I know that might seem crazy but I begin thinking about the whole picture this time of year. I will speed some subjects up and keep the pace on others. We have Catholic Schools Week, Spring Break and Iowa Assessments as our next big things in our calendar. We have to work hard so we can enjoy CSW and Spring break but yet do well on our Iowa Assessments.
Language Arts - I feel like it has been forever since we have completed a normal week of language arts. It wasn't too much of a struggle getting them back into the routine of it. This week our story was called The Earth Dragon Awakes. It is kind of a scary story. It would tend to bring our a little anxiety in some. A little bit of fear too. It is about a father and son who are in their apartment building and earthquake happens and their apartment falls. They are trapped in the rubble or buried alive. Isn't that a fear for everyone? It talks about what they did during the earthquake and what they did after to be rescued. This story was Historical fiction because it was based on a real event, the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco, California. A lot of the description of the damage that was done, is real but the story of the father and son was fiction. Maybe it happened but they would have changed the names of the people. The students worked on singular and plural possessive nouns in grammar. Using apostrophes to show ownership in nouns. We reviewed synonyms for the vocabulary strategy and we read a story about twisters. This was our short story to go along with the main story. We talked about similarities and differences between the two. We talked about the technology used in both and how people make disaster plans for both. It has been a good lesson this week. Be sure to have your student study their vocabulary packet and spelling words for tomorrow.
Math - We are moving along in Chapter 3! We have completed 2 full lessons all ready. We are using strategies to multiply by tens and estimating products. They all informed me estimating was super easy. They liked that lesson a lot. A few have some corrections to make and I will meet with them to do that. We will be starting the next lesson today. This lesson is on area models, which is my absolute favorite lesson. Some of the students have all ready been using this strategy on Dreambox. I will help it make complete sense today. I like this strategy because of the visual it gives us. We can see exactly what we are doing and how it comes together. This is using or distributive property that we learned in chapter 2 and giving us problems that are easy for us to work. If you are unsure of this strategy look at your child's book and see or ask them to show you. Most 4th graders really do like this one. It's a great strategy to have in their tool belt to use.
Social Studies - We are going to be finishing up the Northeast states. We have all of them in our interactive notebooks. We will be taking our 2nd and final map test for this region. If your child chooses not to study and does poorly, they are way behind. They need to learn each region as we go so they can do all 50 states at the end of the year. I will move into the Southeast region next. We will attempt to move more quickly through these 2 chapters. Getting map tests, map skills, and states in the notebook is a lot of work. We may need to double things up. They are in the 2nd half of the year they can handle it. I try hard to not give them too much and I definitely don't give them more than they can handle.
Server training - We are in need of more servers for church and school. These trainings are for Catholic children and will be held after mass this weekend and next. Please check the bulletin or the St. Malachy website for exact times. We are really wanting the 4th graders who are Catholic to be sure they attend one of the trainings. It is a service for the school and church and it is greatly appreciated. Even if you child is a little timid. Maybe being an altar server can help with that.
Talent Show - This year for Catholic Schools week we will be having a talent show. We have not had one in about 3 years. The kids are asked to share a talent they have, if they choose to. They do NOT have to do anything, they can sit back and enjoy the show. For those who are putting together talents, they will need to try out in front of the committee. This is just to ensure the students actually have a routine or something practiced so they don't get up on stage and just stand there. I all ready have had tears in my room from a student being left out. She asked a group to join and was pretty much told no. I talked to the kids that this was not how this was suppose to be and it is excluding students. I do not like when we make people cry so I said maybe no one needs to participate if we are going to leave people out. The situation has been solved. I hope to not have anymore problems. I am also trying to work on students not being mad and holding grudges. They are too young to start this behavior. I just wanted to make you aware and explain this is meant to be a fun event and to not cause problems with students. It takes the fun out of it when people are hurt.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I will be spending some of my weekend with some classmates from High School. I am so looking forward to it. It's super fun to be nostalgic sometimes! Also be safe in our little snow storm.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, January 9, 2020
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday and Merry Christmas! What a fun week we have had. We have completed some pretty important things this week and also had some fun. I hope all of you have a great Christmas break. I am looking forward to having all of my children under the same roof for a while. Also, I will be attending ISU Graduation ceremonies tomorrow. My daughter Josie will graduate tomorrow with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. She has her application in at two places right now. One being Habitat for Humanity where she did her internship and loved it there. The other is a Learning Consultant with Alpha Gamma Delta. She has made it to the 3rd step in the process (whew). She will be flown to Indianapolis, Indiana for a face to face interview. She all ready passed the Skype interview process. This is super exciting. This job would require her to travel. She will be super happy with either position so of course we have been praying about it. So again I will enjoy having all three in my house at once for a while. Kids really do grow up very quickly. Enjoy these days!!
Language Arts - This week the students got into partners, we rolled dice to pick a character, conflict, and setting. They then had to wright a story using these elements. They had some fun doing this. I hope to get to share those stories at some point today. If not we will definitely share the first of the year when we return. We had Cuddle-Up and Read day also. It was successful. I hope they all remembered to add 60 min to their Book It Calendars for that day. It is always refreshing to see the kids just read a good book. I read with them. My book got so good I read right through my prep period. This is my favorite event of the year and most of the students love this day also.
Math - We finished up chapter 2. We did a dress rehearsal on the test. I gave them back with scores. We then went over each problem on the test and how to work it. I talked to them about the need to show their work. They took the test on Tuesday, corrected on Wednesday and they will see their scores today. I will pass out they dress rehearsal and final test so they can compare their scores and we can talk about what they could do differently. In all honestly the dress rehearsal was very beneficial to all of them. I plan to do this again!! We will begin chapter 3 when we get back from break. This will be over double-digit multiplication.
Social Studies - This week they put Maryland into their notebooks and took their first Map test over the Northeast Region. This test was not very good. There were several students that chose not to study. This is very important that they learn the regions one at a time. At the end of the year we will take a test over the entire 50 states and capitals. I try to get them to learn a region at a time to make this process easier for them. This is a required standard that they will be graded over. We will take another Map test when we return. I will give the kids a week to study for it. There were some students that did very well. You will find the test in their folders today. The students also watched the Geography Bee finals in the gym on Wednesday. This is always a fun event. Denton Lane was our winner this year. He will take a test and see if he makes it to the state competition. We have had student in the past make it to the next level which is very exciting.
Christmas Gifts - I am have been overwhelmed with the generosity of the students. They have gotten me such sweet and thoughtful gifts. I love all of them. I give the students a written thank you but not sure the parents always see those. So, thank you so very much for your thoughtful gifts. The smiles on your children's faces when I open the gifts is my favorite part. I received 3 different Harry Potter items this year. I also can't wait to go book shopping at Barnes and Noble. Shopping for a good book is great fun.
Christmas Break - This break starts tomorrow December 20th and ends January 2nd. The students will resume classes on Thursday, January 2, 2020. I look forward to seeing them after the long break. I will miss each and every one of them.
Happy Thursday and Merry Christmas! What a fun week we have had. We have completed some pretty important things this week and also had some fun. I hope all of you have a great Christmas break. I am looking forward to having all of my children under the same roof for a while. Also, I will be attending ISU Graduation ceremonies tomorrow. My daughter Josie will graduate tomorrow with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. She has her application in at two places right now. One being Habitat for Humanity where she did her internship and loved it there. The other is a Learning Consultant with Alpha Gamma Delta. She has made it to the 3rd step in the process (whew). She will be flown to Indianapolis, Indiana for a face to face interview. She all ready passed the Skype interview process. This is super exciting. This job would require her to travel. She will be super happy with either position so of course we have been praying about it. So again I will enjoy having all three in my house at once for a while. Kids really do grow up very quickly. Enjoy these days!!
Language Arts - This week the students got into partners, we rolled dice to pick a character, conflict, and setting. They then had to wright a story using these elements. They had some fun doing this. I hope to get to share those stories at some point today. If not we will definitely share the first of the year when we return. We had Cuddle-Up and Read day also. It was successful. I hope they all remembered to add 60 min to their Book It Calendars for that day. It is always refreshing to see the kids just read a good book. I read with them. My book got so good I read right through my prep period. This is my favorite event of the year and most of the students love this day also.
Math - We finished up chapter 2. We did a dress rehearsal on the test. I gave them back with scores. We then went over each problem on the test and how to work it. I talked to them about the need to show their work. They took the test on Tuesday, corrected on Wednesday and they will see their scores today. I will pass out they dress rehearsal and final test so they can compare their scores and we can talk about what they could do differently. In all honestly the dress rehearsal was very beneficial to all of them. I plan to do this again!! We will begin chapter 3 when we get back from break. This will be over double-digit multiplication.
Social Studies - This week they put Maryland into their notebooks and took their first Map test over the Northeast Region. This test was not very good. There were several students that chose not to study. This is very important that they learn the regions one at a time. At the end of the year we will take a test over the entire 50 states and capitals. I try to get them to learn a region at a time to make this process easier for them. This is a required standard that they will be graded over. We will take another Map test when we return. I will give the kids a week to study for it. There were some students that did very well. You will find the test in their folders today. The students also watched the Geography Bee finals in the gym on Wednesday. This is always a fun event. Denton Lane was our winner this year. He will take a test and see if he makes it to the state competition. We have had student in the past make it to the next level which is very exciting.
Christmas Gifts - I am have been overwhelmed with the generosity of the students. They have gotten me such sweet and thoughtful gifts. I love all of them. I give the students a written thank you but not sure the parents always see those. So, thank you so very much for your thoughtful gifts. The smiles on your children's faces when I open the gifts is my favorite part. I received 3 different Harry Potter items this year. I also can't wait to go book shopping at Barnes and Noble. Shopping for a good book is great fun.
Christmas Break - This break starts tomorrow December 20th and ends January 2nd. The students will resume classes on Thursday, January 2, 2020. I look forward to seeing them after the long break. I will miss each and every one of them.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! We have been working very hard this week. Monday was not a very good day. Kids were very talkative that day. Tuesday morning before class started we talked about how we have to still work hard all day. I talked about even though we are excited about Christmas coming we still have to do our jobs. Since that conversation the kids have been great!! We have had great lessons and have held some very interesting discussions. This all makes me super proud of the kids. I pointed out to the kids that when they are listening we have great lessons and great conversations. They smile pretty wide when I tell them what a great day we are having. Next week will be harder to reign them in. We have so many little extra things that we are doing! There are a lot of things going on next week. Continue reading to find out about all the happenings here at St. Malachy next week!
Language Arts - You will find the results to the Unit 2 test in the folders today. I would like to share that the scores are not fabulous. This class as a whole does not want to give me much effort in taking these tests. They read the story very quickly and then they do not want to go back in the story and reread to locate answers. I require them to highlight answers in the packet I give them but some just highlight the first thing they come to. We have talked about reading the story slower to soak up the information and rereading from the beginning until we find what we are looking for. The students have an unlimited amount of time to do the test. A lot of them are done so quickly there is no way they could have read to understand. They have not seen their actual scores so you can share with them what how they did.
This week we are reading a non fiction story called Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms. It is interesting to some and not to others. It gets pretty technical about how a hurricane forms. What it needs to strengthen it and when it weakens. It has lots of diagrams for the kids to look at. It is definitely full of information. They enjoyed the short story which focused on Hurricane Katrina. It talked about the destruction that happened and how many people were displaced from their homes. They were very interested and when I talked about the schools and I wondered how they were affected then they were very intrigued. This week in grammar we worked on my favorite homonyms: to, too, two, there, their, they're, its, and it's. These are the words you see on Facebook misused by many people. I love teaching these to help the students understand each and what to look for when deciding which one to use. They have done very well on their homework with these. The vocabulary strategy this week was on suffixes: -ful, -less, -ness, and -ment. We talked about how these suffixes change the meaning of the words. Tomorrow will be our end of the week test and spelling post test. Please be sure your child is looking over their yellow packet and studying their spelling words.
Next week I will not be doing a story with the students. It boils down to really only have 3 teaching days for language arts and I do not want to cover a story in just 3 days and have them take a test. On Monday we are going to do a writing activity in partners. So we are going to have a fun reading day on Tuesday. I call it Cuddle-Up and read. See below...
Cuddle-Up and Read - This is a day that I normally have the Tuesday before Thanksgiving but it didn't really work out this year, so I am having it Tuesday, December 17th. This is where the students may bring to school a blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal. They may bring one items or all three items. There is no rules to what you bring. We will spread out around the room, get comfortable and just read. I plan on the students reading for a solid hour. This is one of the kids favorite days in my room. I will model and read for this hour also. Soooo it is one of my favorite days too. I will tell the kids about it tomorrow so they have no idea yet.
Math - We are finishing up Chapter 2. I did something different with the kids this chapter. I had them do a "Dress Rehearsal" on their test. I learned this at the PLC Conference Ms. Surma and I attended this fall. We both are adding this to our classroom. We all know that a dress rehearsal is a "practice" in costume, make-up, ect. I had them take the test instead of doing a review. They could ask questions while taking it. This is a practice run. I have a few that need to finish up today. Tomorrow I intend on going over all the problems on the test with the class. On Monday they will take the test as a test. If we don't make it through all the problems tomorrow we will finish on Monday and take the test on Tuesday. After they are finished with the test next week, I plan on them doing some fun Christmas Math.
Social Studies - This week I introduced the kids to a map of the Northeast. I gave them 4 copies. They were to make an answer key with one and then they had 3 practice maps. This is to help them learn and study the states and capitals of the Northeast Region. By the end of the year they need to be able to label a map of all 50 states/capitals. I help them get there by learning a region at a time. They will have their first map test on Tuesday. This will be over the same map I just gave them to study. Please be sure they are studying. You can copy that map at home on a copier as many times as you want. I told the kids is they wanted more practice maps to just ask me and I would get more for them I really want them to be successful. We have been singing our song daily so they are memorizing it and can use that to learn those capitals. On Wednesday, the kids will be watching the Geography Bee finals in the gym after Mass. We had 3 kids make it to the tie breaker round and almost get to be in the finals. That is super exciting! Next year maybe they will make it in!
Food Pantry - Again, we have been collecting health and beauty items for the pantry. Tomorrow is our last day of collection. The 4th grade will be going to the pantry to unload and will take all the items to the pantry tomorrow afternoon. If you want to help donate please send with your child tomorrow.
Reconciliation - The students will be given the sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday. Father plans to be with 3-5 students from 9:45 - 11:45. We will most likely be towards the end of that. The 3rd grade is going to start then 5th grade will go so we can still have PE. We may need to finish after lunch.
December 19th - This is our last day before break. I am tentatively planning these things at these times. They will have Science as normal from 8:20-8:50. We will come back and do prayer. I hope to show them a Christmas movie or just an old Disney movie off Disney plus this morning. They will still have PE from 10:10-10:40. We will then come back and finish up the movie. At 11:15 they will go to Religion like normal. At 11:40 the kids will pair up with their Advent Angels and have lunch in the gym together. We will have our sing-a-long from 12:5-12:45. Anyone is welcome to come join our sing-a-long. We will then come back to the room and again finish any of the movie that is left. We may do some Christmas Math for a bit and at 1:30 we will start our Christmas Party! Anyone is welcome to join us for our Christmas Party. We will have a snack and drink and them play board games. I love to enjoy everyone's company just playing games for fun. The kids can bring in their favorite games from home if they would like. We do not always play all of them. This is what we did at my house when I was young and so I like to celebrate Christmas this way with the students. Then I will send them home to you all for Christmas Break!
I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend. I have a family Christmas all ready. We have company coming to stay with us tomorrow night. Same family I was with over Thanksgiving! We are looking forward to our time together. Hope everyone's shopping is done!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! We have been working very hard this week. Monday was not a very good day. Kids were very talkative that day. Tuesday morning before class started we talked about how we have to still work hard all day. I talked about even though we are excited about Christmas coming we still have to do our jobs. Since that conversation the kids have been great!! We have had great lessons and have held some very interesting discussions. This all makes me super proud of the kids. I pointed out to the kids that when they are listening we have great lessons and great conversations. They smile pretty wide when I tell them what a great day we are having. Next week will be harder to reign them in. We have so many little extra things that we are doing! There are a lot of things going on next week. Continue reading to find out about all the happenings here at St. Malachy next week!
Language Arts - You will find the results to the Unit 2 test in the folders today. I would like to share that the scores are not fabulous. This class as a whole does not want to give me much effort in taking these tests. They read the story very quickly and then they do not want to go back in the story and reread to locate answers. I require them to highlight answers in the packet I give them but some just highlight the first thing they come to. We have talked about reading the story slower to soak up the information and rereading from the beginning until we find what we are looking for. The students have an unlimited amount of time to do the test. A lot of them are done so quickly there is no way they could have read to understand. They have not seen their actual scores so you can share with them what how they did.
This week we are reading a non fiction story called Hurricanes: Earth's Mightiest Storms. It is interesting to some and not to others. It gets pretty technical about how a hurricane forms. What it needs to strengthen it and when it weakens. It has lots of diagrams for the kids to look at. It is definitely full of information. They enjoyed the short story which focused on Hurricane Katrina. It talked about the destruction that happened and how many people were displaced from their homes. They were very interested and when I talked about the schools and I wondered how they were affected then they were very intrigued. This week in grammar we worked on my favorite homonyms: to, too, two, there, their, they're, its, and it's. These are the words you see on Facebook misused by many people. I love teaching these to help the students understand each and what to look for when deciding which one to use. They have done very well on their homework with these. The vocabulary strategy this week was on suffixes: -ful, -less, -ness, and -ment. We talked about how these suffixes change the meaning of the words. Tomorrow will be our end of the week test and spelling post test. Please be sure your child is looking over their yellow packet and studying their spelling words.
Next week I will not be doing a story with the students. It boils down to really only have 3 teaching days for language arts and I do not want to cover a story in just 3 days and have them take a test. On Monday we are going to do a writing activity in partners. So we are going to have a fun reading day on Tuesday. I call it Cuddle-Up and read. See below...
Cuddle-Up and Read - This is a day that I normally have the Tuesday before Thanksgiving but it didn't really work out this year, so I am having it Tuesday, December 17th. This is where the students may bring to school a blanket, pillow, and stuffed animal. They may bring one items or all three items. There is no rules to what you bring. We will spread out around the room, get comfortable and just read. I plan on the students reading for a solid hour. This is one of the kids favorite days in my room. I will model and read for this hour also. Soooo it is one of my favorite days too. I will tell the kids about it tomorrow so they have no idea yet.
Math - We are finishing up Chapter 2. I did something different with the kids this chapter. I had them do a "Dress Rehearsal" on their test. I learned this at the PLC Conference Ms. Surma and I attended this fall. We both are adding this to our classroom. We all know that a dress rehearsal is a "practice" in costume, make-up, ect. I had them take the test instead of doing a review. They could ask questions while taking it. This is a practice run. I have a few that need to finish up today. Tomorrow I intend on going over all the problems on the test with the class. On Monday they will take the test as a test. If we don't make it through all the problems tomorrow we will finish on Monday and take the test on Tuesday. After they are finished with the test next week, I plan on them doing some fun Christmas Math.
Social Studies - This week I introduced the kids to a map of the Northeast. I gave them 4 copies. They were to make an answer key with one and then they had 3 practice maps. This is to help them learn and study the states and capitals of the Northeast Region. By the end of the year they need to be able to label a map of all 50 states/capitals. I help them get there by learning a region at a time. They will have their first map test on Tuesday. This will be over the same map I just gave them to study. Please be sure they are studying. You can copy that map at home on a copier as many times as you want. I told the kids is they wanted more practice maps to just ask me and I would get more for them I really want them to be successful. We have been singing our song daily so they are memorizing it and can use that to learn those capitals. On Wednesday, the kids will be watching the Geography Bee finals in the gym after Mass. We had 3 kids make it to the tie breaker round and almost get to be in the finals. That is super exciting! Next year maybe they will make it in!
Food Pantry - Again, we have been collecting health and beauty items for the pantry. Tomorrow is our last day of collection. The 4th grade will be going to the pantry to unload and will take all the items to the pantry tomorrow afternoon. If you want to help donate please send with your child tomorrow.
Reconciliation - The students will be given the sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday. Father plans to be with 3-5 students from 9:45 - 11:45. We will most likely be towards the end of that. The 3rd grade is going to start then 5th grade will go so we can still have PE. We may need to finish after lunch.
December 19th - This is our last day before break. I am tentatively planning these things at these times. They will have Science as normal from 8:20-8:50. We will come back and do prayer. I hope to show them a Christmas movie or just an old Disney movie off Disney plus this morning. They will still have PE from 10:10-10:40. We will then come back and finish up the movie. At 11:15 they will go to Religion like normal. At 11:40 the kids will pair up with their Advent Angels and have lunch in the gym together. We will have our sing-a-long from 12:5-12:45. Anyone is welcome to come join our sing-a-long. We will then come back to the room and again finish any of the movie that is left. We may do some Christmas Math for a bit and at 1:30 we will start our Christmas Party! Anyone is welcome to join us for our Christmas Party. We will have a snack and drink and them play board games. I love to enjoy everyone's company just playing games for fun. The kids can bring in their favorite games from home if they would like. We do not always play all of them. This is what we did at my house when I was young and so I like to celebrate Christmas this way with the students. Then I will send them home to you all for Christmas Break!
Please join us in Dress up days next week!
Monday - Wear Red
Tuesday- Wear Green
Wed. Mass day dress up
Thursday - Ugly Sweater Day
I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend. I have a family Christmas all ready. We have company coming to stay with us tomorrow night. Same family I was with over Thanksgiving! We are looking forward to our time together. Hope everyone's shopping is done!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! We are back in the swing of things after a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Mine was spent with family in Chicago! We had a great time and did some fun shopping. We played a lot of games, mainly Bananagrams. We have been working hard when we can this week. The kids had mass this week, their first Advent Angel activity, and the Christmas Program. I think the rest of the week will be pretty calm now! I am not at school today. I am in Des Moines at the State Drill Team Competition. My daughter Molly is on the Peppers Team and they will compete twice. Both are around the noon hour so I had to take a whole day off! I left them in good hands. The day will go along as if I were there. By the way, our kids did a great job at Mass today. I had to leave the room to take the "Body of Christ" to the tabernacle and the Sanctuary singers took charge and went up and began singing when they were suppose to without being told! It was great!!! To me that was huge and showed great maturity. I was super proud and was sure to let them know.
Language Arts - This week we did not read a story. This was a Unit test week. We have been working on it for 2 days and will finish today. They have the editing and revising section yet to complete. I will get those scores out to you next week. I also have not gotten the last story score to you because I have 2 that were gone and we have yet to have the time to make it up. Once they have taken it, I can pull the scores and get the sheets filled out and to you. Please expect those next week also. If you are curious and can't wait, shoot me an email and I can give you a total score for now. I will be assigning the students their next book report on Friday. Please pay attention to whether the last book was a good choice for you child. Help them to know what they might choose better next time. Let me know if the book was too long or too hard for them. I have heard from a couple parents all ready, so I know to guide them differently this time. This book needs to have a strong character in it. They will be doing a Character Sketch so need to good character to work with. This is one of my favorite book reports and I am the only one that does something like this one. This will cause them to be very artistic. I look forward to these each year. These reports will be due February 3, 2020. Please get the instructions out of their folder and put in a safe place, or leave them in the folders if that is a safe place. I would like them to have a book picked and turned in to me by Christmas break. (which is only like 10 more school days away)! Isn't that crazy.
Math - This week we have finished up learning about the standard algorithm in multiplication. It is called the Regrouping Strategy. The kids can multiply 4 digit number times a single digit and do it well. They will work on flash cards and a basic fact test today. Tomorrow I will begin talking to them about equations. Yes, a little dip into algebra for them. They think they are "big" stuff when I say "Algebra" to them. We will spend a couple days on that and then be ready to review. After we take a test, we will do some fun Christmas math and then begin chapter 3, which is double digit multiplication. Things are going to get a bit harder!! I love teaching multiplication to the students. The strategies are so cool and has helped me to better understand the concept of multiplication. They have several strategies in under their belt to choose from to work problems and not just one like we had.
Social Studies - We have begun the 2nd chapter on the Northeast. We have been singing our States and Capitals song. We will get some map work soon, so they can take their first map test of the Northeast! They worked on putting 2 states into their notebooks today. We will be working very hard to get those finished up and move on out of the Northeast into the Southeast. It is super hard to get everything we want to do done in our short class periods. I could use an hour a day with social studies.
Spirit Day - Friday is a Spirit Day!! Kids can wear sweats for $1.00.
Christmas Program - The kids looked AWESOME! They sang fabulously! It was a great night! Super proud of our school and it's kiddos. Now we can relax until Christmas break! Which is approaching fast I might add! (again)
Prayer - I just wanted to share what we have been doing in 4th grade during prayer. For the month of November the students told one thing each day that they were thankful for. Boy, you would be proud of your kids and the things they are thankful for! I didn't have anyone be thankful for anything materialistic! The month of December I have asked them to think of someone they can pray for everyday. So in are petitions each one tells me someone they want to pray for. They can repeat their choice on a daily basis or pick someone new everyday. This is going very well. It is amazing who they think of besides family. I am super happy I have done this. I found out what amazing caring kids they are. If you question that in your child, don't! They got it right!!
If I have forgotten something, I apologize! It is 9:30 and I am tired. I will send you a message if I have left anything out. If you think of something email and remind me. I can be forgetful. Especially this time of year. Have a great weekend. I will see the kids on Friday.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! We are back in the swing of things after a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Mine was spent with family in Chicago! We had a great time and did some fun shopping. We played a lot of games, mainly Bananagrams. We have been working hard when we can this week. The kids had mass this week, their first Advent Angel activity, and the Christmas Program. I think the rest of the week will be pretty calm now! I am not at school today. I am in Des Moines at the State Drill Team Competition. My daughter Molly is on the Peppers Team and they will compete twice. Both are around the noon hour so I had to take a whole day off! I left them in good hands. The day will go along as if I were there. By the way, our kids did a great job at Mass today. I had to leave the room to take the "Body of Christ" to the tabernacle and the Sanctuary singers took charge and went up and began singing when they were suppose to without being told! It was great!!! To me that was huge and showed great maturity. I was super proud and was sure to let them know.
Language Arts - This week we did not read a story. This was a Unit test week. We have been working on it for 2 days and will finish today. They have the editing and revising section yet to complete. I will get those scores out to you next week. I also have not gotten the last story score to you because I have 2 that were gone and we have yet to have the time to make it up. Once they have taken it, I can pull the scores and get the sheets filled out and to you. Please expect those next week also. If you are curious and can't wait, shoot me an email and I can give you a total score for now. I will be assigning the students their next book report on Friday. Please pay attention to whether the last book was a good choice for you child. Help them to know what they might choose better next time. Let me know if the book was too long or too hard for them. I have heard from a couple parents all ready, so I know to guide them differently this time. This book needs to have a strong character in it. They will be doing a Character Sketch so need to good character to work with. This is one of my favorite book reports and I am the only one that does something like this one. This will cause them to be very artistic. I look forward to these each year. These reports will be due February 3, 2020. Please get the instructions out of their folder and put in a safe place, or leave them in the folders if that is a safe place. I would like them to have a book picked and turned in to me by Christmas break. (which is only like 10 more school days away)! Isn't that crazy.
Math - This week we have finished up learning about the standard algorithm in multiplication. It is called the Regrouping Strategy. The kids can multiply 4 digit number times a single digit and do it well. They will work on flash cards and a basic fact test today. Tomorrow I will begin talking to them about equations. Yes, a little dip into algebra for them. They think they are "big" stuff when I say "Algebra" to them. We will spend a couple days on that and then be ready to review. After we take a test, we will do some fun Christmas math and then begin chapter 3, which is double digit multiplication. Things are going to get a bit harder!! I love teaching multiplication to the students. The strategies are so cool and has helped me to better understand the concept of multiplication. They have several strategies in under their belt to choose from to work problems and not just one like we had.
Social Studies - We have begun the 2nd chapter on the Northeast. We have been singing our States and Capitals song. We will get some map work soon, so they can take their first map test of the Northeast! They worked on putting 2 states into their notebooks today. We will be working very hard to get those finished up and move on out of the Northeast into the Southeast. It is super hard to get everything we want to do done in our short class periods. I could use an hour a day with social studies.
Spirit Day - Friday is a Spirit Day!! Kids can wear sweats for $1.00.
Christmas Program - The kids looked AWESOME! They sang fabulously! It was a great night! Super proud of our school and it's kiddos. Now we can relax until Christmas break! Which is approaching fast I might add! (again)
Prayer - I just wanted to share what we have been doing in 4th grade during prayer. For the month of November the students told one thing each day that they were thankful for. Boy, you would be proud of your kids and the things they are thankful for! I didn't have anyone be thankful for anything materialistic! The month of December I have asked them to think of someone they can pray for everyday. So in are petitions each one tells me someone they want to pray for. They can repeat their choice on a daily basis or pick someone new everyday. This is going very well. It is amazing who they think of besides family. I am super happy I have done this. I found out what amazing caring kids they are. If you question that in your child, don't! They got it right!!
If I have forgotten something, I apologize! It is 9:30 and I am tired. I will send you a message if I have left anything out. If you think of something email and remind me. I can be forgetful. Especially this time of year. Have a great weekend. I will see the kids on Friday.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday! Well we have had a great week so far. The weather is changing today and I have seen it in the kids also. Tomorrow will be very different temps. Please be sure they come prepared to be warm at recess. Sounds like next week we may have a mixed bag of tricks. I am really not liking it! We travel to Chicago every year for Thanksgiving. I do most my Christmas shopping there also. I am praying I can get there. It can snow all it wants after I am there but I just want to get there. If I can't I may be really stressed! I want to wish anyone else who travels a safe trip!
Mass - We have mass the Wednesday we return from Thanksgiving Break, December 4th. I have planned it and the kids know what they are doing. If your child is a reader of any kind they have their parts in their take home folders. Please be sure to practice these over break so we come back and have a great mass. It is the first week of Advent so mass that day is kind of special. We will sing Advent songs and bless the Advent Wreaths we have in our rooms.
Language Arts - This week we read a biography about Jose Limon. He was the pioneer to modern dance. I wanted to show them a clip of him dancing but have not been able to do it. I keep previewing clips but feel like there is always something that might be deemed inappropriate in the dancing. I am not going to share that. If you want to share some with them feel free. I am just not comfortable doing so in the classroom. He had a rough life and he made his dance technique show the trials and tribulations of life. His dancing is very expressive. It reminds me of Lyrical or contemporary dancing today, if you are familiar with these two styles of dance. We have been learning about pronouns this week. I talked about my experience learning these in 6th grade and used the same style as my teacher to teach it. We talked about shades of meaning with words. This is words that are synonyms but yet one has a little bit more meaning than another. Example would be all the synonyms for big: massive, enormous, huge, giant, and large. Each makes you think a little bit differently. Tomorrow will be a normal Friday. We will be taking a spelling test and end of the week test. Please be sure they are studying their vocabulary words in the yellow packets tonight.
Math - We have learned about 3 strategies so far to help us multiply. These strategies show us better, what we are doing when we multiply. We will be learning the standard algorithm or the way you learned after Thanksgiving break. If you compare what we have learned so far to that one. The algorithm does not really show the kids what they are really doing when multiplying. It is just a short cut to multiplying words so we don't have to show very much work. The other strategies require the kids to show every step of their thinking and that is what you have to do in the more advanced classes in high school. You are made to show every bit of your work. The kids, I know, are irritated that they have to show all their work but I keep telling them, they will thank me when they are in middle school and high school.
Social Studies - We are beginning work on a study guide to day. They will check it tomorrow and test on Monday. Due to our crazy music and band schedule from now until the program, our classroom schedule will be a little off but we will get it done. I would like to be sure this test is done by Thanksgiving break so they do not have to worry about it.
Geography Bee- The 4th graders get to participate in the National Geography Bee, along with the 5th-8th graders in our building. The students 4-8 will be split into 3 rooms. Each room will have students from all these grades. The students will be put through 7 rounds of geography related questions. The 10 students who answered the most questions correctly, will move on to the final competition to be held in December. There is usually a tie breaker round to determine our top 10. I have had 4th graders make it to the final round in the past. It is meant to be a fun activity. Some find it stressful because they have to answer questions in front of the bigger kids. Those bigger kids were once in 4th grade and know what it was like. I will run the 4th grade through a "Mock GeoBee" on Monday during our Social Studies time. The actual Preliminary Round will be held on Tuesday. If you have an Echo Dot (Alexa) at home you can say "Alexa play goequiz" and you will answer 6 questions of the day that are the same kinds of questions that will appear in the GeoBee. We have been doing this everyday in my room for about a week. Good luck to all students!!
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is another Spirit Day. You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats tomorrow. It will be the perfect temperature to wear sweats! I wish I could wear them.
Mass Servers - This is the year students are trained to be servers at Mass. They are in need of servers. They are wanting to know who is interested in doing it. Any 4th grade student who is Catholic should be training to be a server. It is one way that the students may serve God. If there is any interest please email myself or Mrs. Simmons and let her know. Students will be used at school mass and weekend masses also. They will ask if you prefer Saturday nights or Sundays. You end up doing it once every 6-8 weeks. I hope some of you will step up and help out.
Christmas Program- Please remember the program is on Wednesday, December 4th at the Creston High School.
Thanksgiving Break - This break begins Wednesday, November 27 through Sunday, December 1st. I will see the kids back in school Monday, December 2nd!
I hope all of you have an enjoyable weekend! Next week is a very short week! Only 2 days of school! I will not have a blog next week. Happy Thanksgiving and I hope all of you enjoy your family and friends of Turkey Day.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday! Well we have had a great week so far. The weather is changing today and I have seen it in the kids also. Tomorrow will be very different temps. Please be sure they come prepared to be warm at recess. Sounds like next week we may have a mixed bag of tricks. I am really not liking it! We travel to Chicago every year for Thanksgiving. I do most my Christmas shopping there also. I am praying I can get there. It can snow all it wants after I am there but I just want to get there. If I can't I may be really stressed! I want to wish anyone else who travels a safe trip!
Mass - We have mass the Wednesday we return from Thanksgiving Break, December 4th. I have planned it and the kids know what they are doing. If your child is a reader of any kind they have their parts in their take home folders. Please be sure to practice these over break so we come back and have a great mass. It is the first week of Advent so mass that day is kind of special. We will sing Advent songs and bless the Advent Wreaths we have in our rooms.
Language Arts - This week we read a biography about Jose Limon. He was the pioneer to modern dance. I wanted to show them a clip of him dancing but have not been able to do it. I keep previewing clips but feel like there is always something that might be deemed inappropriate in the dancing. I am not going to share that. If you want to share some with them feel free. I am just not comfortable doing so in the classroom. He had a rough life and he made his dance technique show the trials and tribulations of life. His dancing is very expressive. It reminds me of Lyrical or contemporary dancing today, if you are familiar with these two styles of dance. We have been learning about pronouns this week. I talked about my experience learning these in 6th grade and used the same style as my teacher to teach it. We talked about shades of meaning with words. This is words that are synonyms but yet one has a little bit more meaning than another. Example would be all the synonyms for big: massive, enormous, huge, giant, and large. Each makes you think a little bit differently. Tomorrow will be a normal Friday. We will be taking a spelling test and end of the week test. Please be sure they are studying their vocabulary words in the yellow packets tonight.
Math - We have learned about 3 strategies so far to help us multiply. These strategies show us better, what we are doing when we multiply. We will be learning the standard algorithm or the way you learned after Thanksgiving break. If you compare what we have learned so far to that one. The algorithm does not really show the kids what they are really doing when multiplying. It is just a short cut to multiplying words so we don't have to show very much work. The other strategies require the kids to show every step of their thinking and that is what you have to do in the more advanced classes in high school. You are made to show every bit of your work. The kids, I know, are irritated that they have to show all their work but I keep telling them, they will thank me when they are in middle school and high school.
Social Studies - We are beginning work on a study guide to day. They will check it tomorrow and test on Monday. Due to our crazy music and band schedule from now until the program, our classroom schedule will be a little off but we will get it done. I would like to be sure this test is done by Thanksgiving break so they do not have to worry about it.
Geography Bee- The 4th graders get to participate in the National Geography Bee, along with the 5th-8th graders in our building. The students 4-8 will be split into 3 rooms. Each room will have students from all these grades. The students will be put through 7 rounds of geography related questions. The 10 students who answered the most questions correctly, will move on to the final competition to be held in December. There is usually a tie breaker round to determine our top 10. I have had 4th graders make it to the final round in the past. It is meant to be a fun activity. Some find it stressful because they have to answer questions in front of the bigger kids. Those bigger kids were once in 4th grade and know what it was like. I will run the 4th grade through a "Mock GeoBee" on Monday during our Social Studies time. The actual Preliminary Round will be held on Tuesday. If you have an Echo Dot (Alexa) at home you can say "Alexa play goequiz" and you will answer 6 questions of the day that are the same kinds of questions that will appear in the GeoBee. We have been doing this everyday in my room for about a week. Good luck to all students!!
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is another Spirit Day. You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats tomorrow. It will be the perfect temperature to wear sweats! I wish I could wear them.
Mass Servers - This is the year students are trained to be servers at Mass. They are in need of servers. They are wanting to know who is interested in doing it. Any 4th grade student who is Catholic should be training to be a server. It is one way that the students may serve God. If there is any interest please email myself or Mrs. Simmons and let her know. Students will be used at school mass and weekend masses also. They will ask if you prefer Saturday nights or Sundays. You end up doing it once every 6-8 weeks. I hope some of you will step up and help out.
Christmas Program- Please remember the program is on Wednesday, December 4th at the Creston High School.
Thanksgiving Break - This break begins Wednesday, November 27 through Sunday, December 1st. I will see the kids back in school Monday, December 2nd!
I hope all of you have an enjoyable weekend! Next week is a very short week! Only 2 days of school! I will not have a blog next week. Happy Thanksgiving and I hope all of you enjoy your family and friends of Turkey Day.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! Thank you all very much for meeting with me last week. I appreciate our "short" time together talking about your child. I am always happy to share the things we are doing. The rest of this year will go quickly from here on out. Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here and then Christmas. I plan to work them very hard over this weeks. I do try to keep the homework down though. My goal is not to overwhelm them. This is also an exciting time of year, and I want to be able to teach yet enjoy our time together. This month is prayer I am having the students say things they are thankful for each day. I told them yesterday I was thankful for them and thankful that I am able to teach them this year. I think some of them were surprised by this statement. I really do enjoy all the kids in this room. I appreciate you sharing them with me.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a really fun story called Dear Mr. Winston. The story is written as a letter. A girl named Cara is suppose to be writing an apology to the public librarian. She took a snake in the library in a box to try and look in a reference book to figure out what kind of a snake it is. The librarian looked in the box and was deathly afraid of snakes. He passed out and was taken away by ambulance. Her apology letter is funny because as she apologizes she also points out why it was not entirely her fault. The kids really like this story. We are working on compound and complex sentences this week in grammar. We also are working on antonyms. The antonyms should just be a review because we use them every week in our vocabulary packet. I again was sure to cover the comprehension questions from the test while we covered the story together. Tomorrow we will have our spelling post test and end of the week test. Make sure your student studies their yellow packet of vocabulary tonight.
Math - We worked on multiplication facts, and I taught them a new strategy for multiplying using expanded form. I really pumped this strategy up to them. I love this one. It is easy and really shows how multiplication works. They seemed excited about it because they thought it was easy. I can't wait to see how they did today on their work. I hope they do well so I can keep the excitement going. It is a fun lesson to teach watching the realization of how easy it is in on their faces. We will be learning a couple more strategies that are pretty easy and fun to use this chapter also.
Social Studies - We are working on the next lesson on resources of the Northeast region. They learned about grapes and cranberries coming from here. They were shocked when they learned there is 1,000 total cranberry bogs in the United States and 500 of them are in Massachusetts! We also talked about why New York was a great place for grapes to grow. I also discussed grapes being grown around here at wineries. They also learned today about maple syrup in Vermont, we talked a little bit about the process it goes through to become the syrup on the store shelves. Also, there are minerals in the region. Quarries are there, granite is one specific quarry. New Hampshire's nickname is the Granite State because they have granite quarries there. We will be doing a study guide and taking a test next week over chapter 4.
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is a Spirit Day! You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats or a hat. Tomorrow we go to the Food Pantry so it might be a good day to wear sweats!!!
The Fourth grade will be with the artist on Wednesday around 11:00. This is going to be so cool!
If you are looking for something to do this weekend. The High School Music Department will be putting on the musical Brigadoon. They will perform Friday and Saturday night at 7:00P.M. and a Sunday matinee at 2:00P.M.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Don't forget the St. Malachy Vendor Fair is going on this weekend. Come find some Christmas gifts or just look at all the fun things people are creating. I love a good craft fair.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! Thank you all very much for meeting with me last week. I appreciate our "short" time together talking about your child. I am always happy to share the things we are doing. The rest of this year will go quickly from here on out. Before we know it Thanksgiving will be here and then Christmas. I plan to work them very hard over this weeks. I do try to keep the homework down though. My goal is not to overwhelm them. This is also an exciting time of year, and I want to be able to teach yet enjoy our time together. This month is prayer I am having the students say things they are thankful for each day. I told them yesterday I was thankful for them and thankful that I am able to teach them this year. I think some of them were surprised by this statement. I really do enjoy all the kids in this room. I appreciate you sharing them with me.
Language Arts - This week we are reading a really fun story called Dear Mr. Winston. The story is written as a letter. A girl named Cara is suppose to be writing an apology to the public librarian. She took a snake in the library in a box to try and look in a reference book to figure out what kind of a snake it is. The librarian looked in the box and was deathly afraid of snakes. He passed out and was taken away by ambulance. Her apology letter is funny because as she apologizes she also points out why it was not entirely her fault. The kids really like this story. We are working on compound and complex sentences this week in grammar. We also are working on antonyms. The antonyms should just be a review because we use them every week in our vocabulary packet. I again was sure to cover the comprehension questions from the test while we covered the story together. Tomorrow we will have our spelling post test and end of the week test. Make sure your student studies their yellow packet of vocabulary tonight.
Math - We worked on multiplication facts, and I taught them a new strategy for multiplying using expanded form. I really pumped this strategy up to them. I love this one. It is easy and really shows how multiplication works. They seemed excited about it because they thought it was easy. I can't wait to see how they did today on their work. I hope they do well so I can keep the excitement going. It is a fun lesson to teach watching the realization of how easy it is in on their faces. We will be learning a couple more strategies that are pretty easy and fun to use this chapter also.
Social Studies - We are working on the next lesson on resources of the Northeast region. They learned about grapes and cranberries coming from here. They were shocked when they learned there is 1,000 total cranberry bogs in the United States and 500 of them are in Massachusetts! We also talked about why New York was a great place for grapes to grow. I also discussed grapes being grown around here at wineries. They also learned today about maple syrup in Vermont, we talked a little bit about the process it goes through to become the syrup on the store shelves. Also, there are minerals in the region. Quarries are there, granite is one specific quarry. New Hampshire's nickname is the Granite State because they have granite quarries there. We will be doing a study guide and taking a test next week over chapter 4.
Spirit Day - Tomorrow is a Spirit Day! You can pay $1.00 to wear sweats or a hat. Tomorrow we go to the Food Pantry so it might be a good day to wear sweats!!!
Resident Artist
St. Malachy School has a resident artist coming the week of November 18th. She and her husband are going to create a 3D art mural for our hallway made from small projects the students create. We need some supplies. Can you help?
*Repurpose your unwanted sewing/craft materials for little weavings, gods eyes, and bead wraps we will create for the collaborative wall mural. We need a variety of materials in a rainbow of colors.
*cloth (that can be cut in at least 12” x 1" strips)
*yarn
*pipe cleaners
*thin colored plastic coated wire
*buttons
*beads
If you are looking for something to do this weekend. The High School Music Department will be putting on the musical Brigadoon. They will perform Friday and Saturday night at 7:00P.M. and a Sunday matinee at 2:00P.M.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Don't forget the St. Malachy Vendor Fair is going on this weekend. Come find some Christmas gifts or just look at all the fun things people are creating. I love a good craft fair.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Dear Parents,
Happy Thursday!! What crazy weather we are having. This does not make for a fun Halloween and Trick or Treating. I remember several Halloweens taking my own kids out and their costumes were covered by winter coats. A lot of the time I would have chili at home in the crockpot waiting for us. If the kids want to find me I will be at my mom's handing out candy. My neighborhood is not popular at all. My mom is in a very heavily trafficked area. The address is 1111 Hillcrest Drive. Once you have seen me you can go up and down the street and around the block and get lots of good candy. I hope to get to see all of you.
Conferences! Let's begin with the most important item at hand. Here is the link to my conference schedule. Please be sure you are signed up to meet with me. I am very anxious to talk to you about your child. I was able to make my conference for my high school daughter on Wednesday night so it didn't take away from my schedule.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544a5a72ca1fe3-fall
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called "Coming Distractions, Questioning Movies". This taught us some of the tricks movies use to keep us entertained. We learned a little about special effects and just some simple tricks to keep us watching. This story is interesting to read and discuss the first time but I think they get bored with it the next couple of times they read it. In grammar we are talking about verb tenses. The three tenses are past, present and future tense. We are also learning about past and present participle. The vocabulary skill this week was on Greek and Latin word parts. We looked at phon (sound), photo ( light), graph (write or recording), auto (self), and tele ( far or distant). Each word is connected with the word in parenthesis. I know this is an item that is tested in the next Unit test. I told the students this as I was teaching it. I think I pulled a lot of their attention with that statement. Remember to have your child study their spelling words and their vocab packet.
Math - We are moving along in our chapter. They have learned this week to estimate products. I will say they did not do a very good job of following directions. Several did not show all their work. In math at our level and because we are just learning, they have to show their work on everything we do. This shows me what they are thinking in their head. I can't just guess that they are doing in correctly. I also assume they may have used a calculator to do the work. If they do work on a separate piece of paper, which is fine, they need to staple that paper onto the back of their worksheet. Then I can look over their work and understand what they were thinking. I stressed they have to show, I even make the work worth points, so if they don't show it they miss points. I warn them about this all the time. We re learning the distributive property now. This is a strategy that you will go, "why are they learning it". They will need to know this strategy for 5th grade and in high school when they hit algebra. We get a jump on it in 4th grade. I would have been a much better math student if I would have learned these things earlier. If your child is having troubles at home please just bring them to school the next day by 7:45 and I can help them. I have talked to the kids about this opportunity. I have all ready had some take advantage of it.
Social Studies- We are working on putting some states into our interactive notebooks this week. They have added Connecticut so far. Today I will have them work on Massachusetts. I am trying to stress to them about neatness. This is a lot of coloring and some just want to color very sloppily. I also have tried to preach about capitalization. It is very important they write things the correct way including capitalizing things that need it. They have to find the 2 letter postal abbreviation and those are 2 capital letters. Some didn't capitalize. I made the erase and redo. I know I have been saying it for week but the song is coming. Believe me, once I introduce that song they will probably drive you crazy with it. I apologize now.
All Saints Day - Tomorrow is All Saints Day, we will be having Mass. The students need to come dressed up for Mass. We did not have mass on Wednesday due to this. All Saints is a day of Holy Obligation that is why we changed mass. That means all Catholics are to attend a service that day.
Book It October Calendars- These calendars with their minutes is due on Monday, November 4th. They must have a parent signature on the calendars also. I will accept calendars after the 4th but they will not be awarded a prize. I would like all calendars handed whether they meant the goal or not. I like to keep track of whatever minutes they read.
Reminder: November 7th is an early out due to Parent-Teacher Conferences. Friday November 8th there will be No School! Enjoy the long weekend.
I can't believe it is time for conferences all ready. The rest of the year will fly by. Conferences lead to Thanksgiving Break then a very short time until Christmas Break. It will all go by very quickly. It just seems crazy that we are almost halfway through the year all ready. I am enjoying working with your children and learning a lot about each one of them. Since I am meeting with you next week to discuss your child, I will not be creating a blog for next week. I may send out some last minute reminders on ClassTag but there will be no blog next week.
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Happy Thursday!! What crazy weather we are having. This does not make for a fun Halloween and Trick or Treating. I remember several Halloweens taking my own kids out and their costumes were covered by winter coats. A lot of the time I would have chili at home in the crockpot waiting for us. If the kids want to find me I will be at my mom's handing out candy. My neighborhood is not popular at all. My mom is in a very heavily trafficked area. The address is 1111 Hillcrest Drive. Once you have seen me you can go up and down the street and around the block and get lots of good candy. I hope to get to see all of you.
Conferences! Let's begin with the most important item at hand. Here is the link to my conference schedule. Please be sure you are signed up to meet with me. I am very anxious to talk to you about your child. I was able to make my conference for my high school daughter on Wednesday night so it didn't take away from my schedule.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544a5a72ca1fe3-fall
Language Arts - This week we are reading a story called "Coming Distractions, Questioning Movies". This taught us some of the tricks movies use to keep us entertained. We learned a little about special effects and just some simple tricks to keep us watching. This story is interesting to read and discuss the first time but I think they get bored with it the next couple of times they read it. In grammar we are talking about verb tenses. The three tenses are past, present and future tense. We are also learning about past and present participle. The vocabulary skill this week was on Greek and Latin word parts. We looked at phon (sound), photo ( light), graph (write or recording), auto (self), and tele ( far or distant). Each word is connected with the word in parenthesis. I know this is an item that is tested in the next Unit test. I told the students this as I was teaching it. I think I pulled a lot of their attention with that statement. Remember to have your child study their spelling words and their vocab packet.
Math - We are moving along in our chapter. They have learned this week to estimate products. I will say they did not do a very good job of following directions. Several did not show all their work. In math at our level and because we are just learning, they have to show their work on everything we do. This shows me what they are thinking in their head. I can't just guess that they are doing in correctly. I also assume they may have used a calculator to do the work. If they do work on a separate piece of paper, which is fine, they need to staple that paper onto the back of their worksheet. Then I can look over their work and understand what they were thinking. I stressed they have to show, I even make the work worth points, so if they don't show it they miss points. I warn them about this all the time. We re learning the distributive property now. This is a strategy that you will go, "why are they learning it". They will need to know this strategy for 5th grade and in high school when they hit algebra. We get a jump on it in 4th grade. I would have been a much better math student if I would have learned these things earlier. If your child is having troubles at home please just bring them to school the next day by 7:45 and I can help them. I have talked to the kids about this opportunity. I have all ready had some take advantage of it.
Social Studies- We are working on putting some states into our interactive notebooks this week. They have added Connecticut so far. Today I will have them work on Massachusetts. I am trying to stress to them about neatness. This is a lot of coloring and some just want to color very sloppily. I also have tried to preach about capitalization. It is very important they write things the correct way including capitalizing things that need it. They have to find the 2 letter postal abbreviation and those are 2 capital letters. Some didn't capitalize. I made the erase and redo. I know I have been saying it for week but the song is coming. Believe me, once I introduce that song they will probably drive you crazy with it. I apologize now.
All Saints Day - Tomorrow is All Saints Day, we will be having Mass. The students need to come dressed up for Mass. We did not have mass on Wednesday due to this. All Saints is a day of Holy Obligation that is why we changed mass. That means all Catholics are to attend a service that day.
Book It October Calendars- These calendars with their minutes is due on Monday, November 4th. They must have a parent signature on the calendars also. I will accept calendars after the 4th but they will not be awarded a prize. I would like all calendars handed whether they meant the goal or not. I like to keep track of whatever minutes they read.
Reminder: November 7th is an early out due to Parent-Teacher Conferences. Friday November 8th there will be No School! Enjoy the long weekend.
I can't believe it is time for conferences all ready. The rest of the year will fly by. Conferences lead to Thanksgiving Break then a very short time until Christmas Break. It will all go by very quickly. It just seems crazy that we are almost halfway through the year all ready. I am enjoying working with your children and learning a lot about each one of them. Since I am meeting with you next week to discuss your child, I will not be creating a blog for next week. I may send out some last minute reminders on ClassTag but there will be no blog next week.
Happy Halloween!
Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)