Dear Parents,
     I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!!  Safe travels to all of you who are traveling to be with family.  I am not going to complete a formal letter, but just want to make you aware of some things before the break!!

Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving break is here!!! We get out at 2:10 on Wednesday, and have no school Thursday or Friday.  Enjoy the break and the time with family!

Advent - Remember Advent starts on Monday.  We will be lighting an Advent wreath here at school during prayer.  The student will also have advent angels and do activities together with their partner throughout Advent.

Dress Rehearsal for Christmas Concert: The Christmas concert dress rehearsal is on Friday, December 6th. Please check the take home folder for the permission form.  We will be going to the YMCA for practice.

Lighted Christmas Parade: The Civics Club is helping put together a float for the Lighted Christmas Parade. The parade is on Thursday, December 5th at 7:00 pm. We will be in need of students to walk along with the float and hand out "testamints" and holy cards. 

Art- I am looking at trying to get in an art project in the month of December.  This project requires the student to have a milk jug.  It doesn't matter what size, it can be gallon or half gallon, but MUST be plastic.  No cardboard.  Have your child bring one in whenever you can in the first couple weeks of December.  Please be sure to rinse them out thoroughly so there will be no curdled milk smell.  If you are on Pinterest you can go to my "education" board and see the project I plan to do.  When the students bring it home they are going to want a small strand  of white Christmas lights.  I was hoping to get done and send home and people could find lights on clearance after Christmas to put in it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,

     Happy Thursday!! I feel like Thursdays are coming around very quickly.  We are nearing the end of the year.  The end of the year from conferences/Halloween to Christmas break always seems to fly by.  We are coming up to Thanksgiving all ready.  We have really had a great month.  I feel the students have really enjoyed a lot of the things we have been doing in class.  Even though I had an extra month of summer vacation, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.  We are traveling to Chicago, with my two 16 year old girls sharing in the driving!!  It will be great experience for them.  Honestly, there is no traffic at the time, except on I-80, but once we are off that right inside Illinois, it's smooth sailing.  I hope all of you who may be traveling have a safe trip and a great Thanksgiving.

Math - We only have about one more lesson in Math that is required in the Iowa Core.  I will preparing them for a test.  We will take it before Thanksgiving, so we are able to start something new when we return.  We will move into reading and interpreting graphs and data.  It will be a chapter that the kids will enjoy.  After that we will really hit the hard stuff, meaning multiplication.  We will learn to multiply double digits.  I really enjoy teaching this section because it is a "new" topic and the kids really feel "big" when they learn it.  I see the smiles, and I see them working hard to understand because they want to be like the big kids.  You can help by starting to work on their multiplication facts at home.

Language Arts - We finished up the Unit 2 test last week.  We are in the 2nd story in Unit 3 now.  Last week we read a story on hurricanes, this week it is on Earthquakes.  The difference in the stories is that last week was informational text or a non-fiction selection that was chock full of information.  This story on earthquakes is historical fiction, so while trying to give us information on earthquakes it is also telling a story.  It is an interesting story line about a father and son in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  They were in a tenement building at the time and end of trapped.  It brings up fears of natural disasters with kids.  We have talked about our fears in class.  This is also a story that makes us look a little deeper into the thoughts of the characters.

Social Studies - I hope everyone is working on their projects for the Northeast.  Some students need to bring in their poster board so I can get it ready for them.  I want to remind you these are meant to be fun and only a few require adult supervision.  These are not meant to be stressful.  I know students are very busy outside of school, which is why I try to give them an ample amount of time to work on them.  Please check out the dates they are due.  I wrote down some wrong dates.  The day is correct but the date is wrong. If I said the 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th, the dates are a day off.  Not sure what I did wrong but maybe was looking at wrong calendar.  We are moving through this chapter quite quickly.  We just finished a lesson on the Narragansett Tribe of Rhode Island.  We learned how they lived, what they lived in, how society worked, and what they used for government.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels

 

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday!!  I was out of the classroom for a test that was run in Des Moines.  I really hate being out of the classroom and away from the kids.  My time off at the beginning was more than enough for me.  I am hoping that was the last of my appointments until next fall.  We all need to put that in our prayers.

Language Arts -  We have accomplished a lot this week.  We have taken the Unit 2 test this week and covered a story!!  This has made it busy but it does work.  I usually begin the class with one section of the test, then finish out with the activities we do over the story.  This story this week is very hard.  It is an informative piece on Hurricanes.  It is interesting yet very descriptive and I am finding it challenging to follow.  I will do my best to help the students understand, but I am going to insist the students bring their book home today and read the story to / with a parent.  I am hoping this will help you see how much this series steps it up and makes the students accountable for some challenging reading and show you that we are trying to get students to do some deeper thinking when reading different genres.  I will share results of the  Unit test with students next week, and send a copy of results home to you in next weeks folder.

Math - I am finding this chapter fun to teach.  We have tons of vocabulary words we are learning about.  I am finding it successful to have them put vocab into their notebooks before we begin going over the lesson.  This makes the lesson very easy to teach or help them to understand.  I feel they are showing a little more enthusiasm about this content also.  I do know Mrs. Burg covered this stuff last year quite well.  We are taking this chapter slowly.  I will pick up the pace when I am not trying to teach too much in one day, or the vocabulary amount slows down.  I am sure we will be testing over this chapter in December.

Social Studies - We took a test this week.  Students did pretty well over all.  There were a lot of vocabulary on this test.  Some really struggled in this area.  I hope to send the test home today or tomorrow for you to look at and sign.  We will begin moving onto the next chapter today.  We are still covering the Northeast region.  I will be working with them now on locating or labeling a map with those states.  I will give them a blank sheet with just that region on it, and have them practice labeling the states.  On the next test they will be expected to label all 11 correctly.  This is a difficult region because there are so many small states that are easily confused.  This is something that you could help them work on at home.  They can bring a blank sheet to have at home also.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
       Happy Thursday!!  I hope everyone is having a great week! We are doing well here in 4th grade.  This is like the 2nd full week of school since my return on September 30th.  We have either had no school or early outs every week but 2!! I actually can't count it a full week though because I am leaving at 11:30 today for a doctor's appointment.  This appointment is with a neurologist.  He will watch me for a while to make decisions about the seizure I had and when to take me off the medicine for them.  He will not release me to drive. That doesn't happen until January 21st of 2014, so next year!!  In case you didn't know it is a state law that  if you have a seizure you can't drive for 6 months.  I have to admit it is a long time, but I believe it is a good law to protect myself, my kids and others on the road.

Math - We started geometry this week.  We have spend three days talking about shapes and all their features.  The students actually created solid figures with a partner and used them to make a chart listing number of faces, number of edges, and number of vertices each shape has.  This one lesson, which is to be taught in one day had 15 vocabulary words!!!  That was insane.  We will spend the next 2-3 weeks dealing with different kinds of shapes.  We also have another lesson with 13 vocabulary words dealing with lines, line segments, and angles.  Lots of work for us in the future!!  I admit this can be a fun chapter too!!

Language Arts- I would like to point out that the student scores on last weeks story were FABULOUS!!   The decoding is getting better! I had lots of 10/10 scores.  I am getting more comfortable with the subject matter and trying to make the learning process more inviting.  This week is lesson 10 which is the last one is Unit 2.  That means next week will be a test week over unit 2. If you remember from conferences I discussed how long these tests were.  We will take it over 3 days next week.  

Social Studies - I will send home the student's project due dates tomorrow.  The dates will range from Dec. 8 - 20!!  They still have lots of time to work on the project.  Please any questions make sure you ask.  We have talked this week about the resourced of the Northeast, focusing on grapes, cranberries, maple syrup, marble and granite.  

As seasons are definitely changing and colder weather is approaching there is a rule on the dress code I need to put out to you.  This was a new addition to the dress code for this year.  I have had to review it myself so wanted to make the parents aware also.  I know there have been a couple of students who have broken it all ready and I have missed it.  This rule is found in Everyday, all-year-long expectations (letter D) and in Mass expectations (letter D). 

Here it is:  Leggings may be worn as long as the bottom of the dress, skirt, or shirt extends to at least mid- thigh.  The mass expectation is the same but only applies to dress or skirt.  Shirts not allowed on mass days.

The problem we have been seeing is that the sweater is not reaching mid-thigh, yes it is covering the child up, but needs to come to mid-thigh so when they bend over or reach up high they still remain covered appropriately.  You can refer to the dress code on the St. Malachy website. Thank you for all your cooperation.

Have a great weekend!!
God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Happy Thursday and Happy Halloween!!!   It gets a little crazy on these days because kids are so pumped up for the afternoon activities.  I am trying to force some actual learning in this morning.  Our parade is always the favorite of the day along with scary stories, haunted houses, and eating cookies.  Please be safe tonight on your trick or treating adventures.  I would like to point out that I will not be home for the kids to come to my house.  I will be in Lewis Central watching the girls volleyball team on their second round in the regional tournament.  If they would win tonight it will be the first time since 1987 that Creston Volleyball has made it to substate, which was when the team made it all the way to state.  I am proud to say I was member of that team!!  Go Panthers!!!

Language Arts- We read a story last week called "Invasion of Mars" it was a story based on the Orson Welle's War of the Worlds.  It was a radio broadcast of that event meant to entertain people.  The problem with it was if people didn't hear the introduction, they thought the broadcast was live and true.  They assumed we were really being attacked by aliens.  It was total chaos.  Yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of this broadcast.  I found it on internet and we listened to it.  We decided it did sound real and would be very scary.  This week we are reading about a young girl who is writing an apology to the librarian for something she did.  It is a funny story about how we do things cause we are told to but never fully take responsibility for our own behavior.  We have laughed about it but also talked about how we each do this in some way.  We have worked on compound and complex sentences this week, which has not been an easy task.  Also in decoding we practiced recognizing common beginning syllables like: a, be, de, con, com, and pre.  The students worked in partners to divided words into syllables.   Remember to study vocabulary tonight, we will take the end of the week assessment tomorrow.

Math - Today we took a test over Chapter 3.  I am excited to see how the students did. This is the first assessment I have given the kids in this subject where I have taught all the material.  I hope to see some great scores!!  I feel they did a great job learning the skills taught this chapter.  We focused on multiplication and division and also had a little bit of algebra in there working with variables.  Next we will move into a chapter on Geometry.  We will probably spend the rest of this year discussing Geometry.  Towards December we may work on charts, graphs and data.  

Social Studies- We picked our states this week!  They also chose the project they will do.  I will send home due dates next week. They are all very excited about doing this.  We have begun talking about the Northeast Region.  It is made up of 11 states:  Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.  We have talked about Niagara Falls and the power plants there.  We have talked about the Appalachian Mountains, and a few other significant mountain ranges.  We have also discussed that two states out of the 11 do not have a border with the Atlantic Ocean and that the region has both rocky shores and sandy beaches on their coastline.

Happy Halloween!!  Have a great night trick or treating, but remember the Language arts end of the week test!!!

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels

Dear Parents,
     Tomorrow ( Oct. 30). is red and black day in honor of football playoffs.  I realize it is a mass day.  Students who choose to wear red and black may also wear jeans.  If they choose to not wear red and black they are expected to wear regular mass clothing.

We also have mass on Friday, because it is All Saints Day and a holy day of obligation for all Catholics.  We expect regular mass attire on this day.

Have a great week!!

Dear Parents,
 Happy Thursday!!  Next week we have conferences!! I only have one family not signed up.  Please be sure to sign up and double check your times.  I apologize that my schedule has changed a couple of times.  I have been trying to set up my own at the High School and that takes some work.  I look forward to seeing all of you and discussing how your children are doing.  See you all next week.

Math - We have been discussing division in math.  We have used manipulatives to show what division looks like, we talked about multiplication and division being related using fact families,  we have also spent some time writing multiplication and division story problems.  We will be working our way towards a test very soon.

Language Arts -  This week we read a story called Me and Uncle Romie, it was a good story.  The story was around centered on art and so the vocabulary words were also related to the artist world.  We discussed syllables in words and how some sounds are stressed and others are not.  We have been working on the sounds /ou/ and /o^/ in spelling.  We talked today about figurative language.  This is one of my favorites.  We compared if you took the words literally what they would look like and what they look like as figurative language.  Some of the phrases used were familiar and some were not.  Tomorrow we will read the story the last time, hold discussion then take the end of the week test.  I think I am seeing these scores get better.  I will share them at conferences.

Social Studies - In social studies we are finishing up the chapter on economy.  The students will be testing tomorrow.  We went over the study guide today and they have the answers they need to study for tomorrow.  Next week we begin Unit 2 which starts talking about one specific region which is the Northeast.  We will also begin practicing our states and capitals song.  This is one way to learn all the states and their capitals. It is a fun song. You can find it on youtube.  It is sung by Macho Nacho and is called the States and Capitals song.  Please get it so they can practice at home.  Projects for social studies will also begin soon.  I will hand out a packet and discuss at conferences.

Thank you for all you do for your kids at home to help them be better students.  I am seeing some improvements in their use of study hall and working hard to get things done.  I am also seeing some getting into a routine and being organized.  Those who are still struggling, we will get there.  I have no doubt about that.  Have a great weekend.

God Bless,
Mrs. Sickels