April 13, 2023

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!! What a week. This week makes me tired all week. I think it is because the routine is a little different and testing can be so boring for a teacher. We just sit and monitor the kids. I have to admit I have read a book while they are testing. They have got to witness the many faces of Mrs. Sickels as I read. The students have to read if they finish early so I guess I am modeling the behavior. I also think the silence in my room has been deafening. HAHA We are not used to it being completely silent but they know it is important to keep quiet during testing time because no one wants a distraction. Today is the last test! They are excited and so am I. Wednesday and Friday have been the only normal days this week. The worst part about these tests being in April is all the Spring activities and dance recitals things are taking away the kids evenings. They have also been tired.

Language Arts

This week we have read one of my favorite stories in the book. I have quite a few. This one is called " I Coud Do That". It is a biography about Esther Morris. You can google her and read all about her. Wyoming's nickname is the Equality State. Do you know why? It is because that state gave women the right to vote way before the US made it an amendment to the Constitution. Wyoming decided in December of 1869 women could vote. That is 50 years before the US. Esther Morris was the women who began the process to make that happen. She also was the first woman to hold public office as a Judge for South Pass City, Wyoming.

The grammar this week has been on negative words. Not, no one, nothing, none, nowhere, nobody, and never. We have talked about positive sentences and negative sentences. The students took positive sentences and made them negative. We also discussed how you can not have 2 negative words in one sentence. The use of a double negative is not grammatically correct. (even though today's slang sometimes has you using 2 negatives). The vocabulary strategy was over adages and proverbs. Tomorrow will be a normal Friday and we will take a spelling post test and end of the week test.

Math

We have begun reviewing division in math. They have only had math a couple times this week. In those days they have done some review sections. Next week we will work on the practice test and take the test on Thursday and Friday. YAY! Then we will move on to Topic 7 on multiples and factors. After that Fractions here we come.

Social Studies

This week we have read about the fur trade and it's importance. We also discussed the beginnings of the city of Chicago as a trading post. I pointed out other cities that are large today and began as a trading post. Our next lesson is about building farms and they learn what a land rush is. This next lesson is set in Wapello, County, Iowa. They will find this very interesting just because of the setting. This is our last chapter over the Midwest then we will quickly cover the Southwest States. With this one I pick and choose what we read and the only thing we will test over is the locations of states on the map.

Spirit Day

Tomorrow Friday, the 14th is a Spirit day. Due to the nice weather the students may pay $1.00 to wear sweats or a hat. We know they are wanting to wear shorts so we added the hat back in as a choice.

Field Trip

We will be going on an all-school field trip to the Civic Center on Thursday, April 27th. The permission form is in the folder. Please sign it and return it. Thank you. They will need a sack lunch that day.

Can you believe it is already the middle of April! We have 6 weeks left! Only 6 weeks. This puts me into a little bit of a panic! I am not worried about getting things done. But I might be panicking because I am losing them!! They really have been a joy to have this year. I will admit with this great weather I have been sitting outside after school and reading and it makes me want summer so I can do that everyday. I have a bridal shower for Jami this weekend. I look forward to helping her unpack all her new items in her house! It is so fun. It makes me wish I could have a shower to get all new things.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels