April 20, 2023

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!! We are dwindling down. I will only be writing 4 more of these letters after today. I can't believe it! I am kind of in panic mode. I spend my nights in bed wondering what I need to make sure I get taught to them before they leave me. It keeps me awake at night. Especially when we have a field trip, Earth Day Clean-up, and Lap-a-Thon. I have to stop thinking about it. LOL! Spring is definitely here. The students have started different activities which make them tired. I am noticing for sure. Some are even a little grouchy. I know I can be sometimes also. They have worked hard this year. I am proud of all of them. I have seen much growth and maturity out of them. They definitely deserve their summer break.

Language Arts

This week in language arts we are reading a story called the Ever-Living Tree. It is about the Coastal Redwoods or Sequoia trees. It focuses on the length of a tree's life. It shows what is happeing in civilization as the tree is growing and thriving. It talks about Augustus Ceasar, the Great Wall of China, Marco Polo, Gold being discovered and a man walking on the moon. While all these things were happening the tree was alive and growing. We looked at some images of these trees. In the short story it shows and talks about the Pioneer Tree which was one you could drive through. It collapsed in 2017 due to a storm that went through and dumped tons of rain. You can look up pictures of that one also. In grammar we have talked about ending punctuation and quotation. We will also introduce punctuation that is rarely used and only used for effect. The dash,and the elipse ( which we use a lot ). The vocabulary strategy this week was on the prefixes pre-, inter-, and ex-. We learned the meaning and how they change the meaning of root words or base words. Tomorrow will be a normal Friday with a spelling Post test and end of the week test. Please remember to study their vocabulary words which are in their notebooks. They only need to study the highlighted words.

Math

Today they began the Topic 5 Assessment. It is over division. It tests their ability to use the partial quotient strategy and the standard algorithm. We will skip topic 6 and move into topic 7. We will focus on multiples and factors only then move on into the topic on fractions. We will spend the rest of the year working on fraction. Some of them have been exposed to a lot of fractions on their Successmaker work. For some this may be the first time they are seeing some fraction work.

Social Studies

This week we are getting into lesson 4 in our chapter. It is the last lesson of the chapter which means we will be looking at a test the end of next week. This will be the last test in Social Studies for this year. It takes a total of 4 class periods when testing. One to do the study guide, one to check it, one to take the test, and one to correct the tests. This is one of the things I lay in bed and think about at night. So, we will not take another test after this so we can get through all the regions. We will not cover every single solitary lesson either. I will focus on climate, resources, products, and people in the region. The only testing we will do will be on Wednesdays over the map. We will still learn where the states are located and their capitals. The Southwest will be easy because it is 4 states! They are already excited about that.

Earth Day

Tomorrow was to be our Earth Day Spring Clean-Up. We are postponing the clean-up due to the amount of rain we got last night and today. So we will NOT be doing it Friday the 21st we are moving it to Friday the 28th. So next week the 4th graders will need to bring rakes and gloves to work outside that afternoon. Also the students have been asked to contribute $1.00 to our Earth Day fund. This money purchases flowers to put out front to make our school look more welcoming. The students were complaining about this $1.00. I explained they were a part of this communityschool and we need to take pride in it and this $1.00 will help to make them happen along with the hard work they do.

Field Trip

Next Thursday we will be out of school all day. We will be on a field trip to a show at the Civic Center. The students will need to bring a sack lunch that day. We will leave about 9:00 in the morning at return to the school by 2:45 pm. Each grade was allowed one chaperone, Jake Williamson will be attending with the 4th grade. I have all the permission forms and only one that still needs to pay the $5.00. You guys rock. Kids may bring electronics but they either have to have headphones or the ability or to turn off the volume. We do not allow any phones to have conversations with others on the bus through their phones or their gaming devices.

"Lockdown" Drill

This morning we held a drill practicing a "Secure" and a "lockdown". In a secure drill, we lock our classroom doors, we are to up our awareness of things in the hall, and we make sure no kids leave our rooms. This procedure is used if there was a bank robbery or gas station robbery and the police were chasing or looking for the suspect. We would carry on class as normal but would not switch rooms, we would stay put. In a lockdown drill, the door is locked all blinds are pulled, I secure the door handle with a chair, we barricade the door, and hide in the closet in silence. This would happen in the event of an active shooter or dangerous person in the building. In my room certain desk areas had certain jobs. Some removed items from closet so we could get all students into the closet, some would be helping me to barricade the door and window. We did not practice barricading today. We got into the closet and sat in silence. I talked about the importance of these drills. They sadly are going to become just as common as a tornado drill or fire drill. When we practice we at least know what we need to do and will automatically do those things. It is definitely a scary thing to think about but I am more convinced now that these drills are necessary. I hate that we have to do them and have discussions with the kids, I know it is upsetting but it is the world we live in. We always think, "Oh this won't happen here or to me" I don't think we can say that anymore. I had some students talking about how they would be the "hero" of the day and alll things they would do. I shut that down pretty quickly. When I told them that I would honestly be scared too, that mellowed them out. Please be sure to have conversations with your child about following teacher instructions and being quiet. It is sooo important.

Dollars for Scholars Essays

I forgot to announce the 3 students whose essays were chosen by teachers in the building to move forward in the Dollars for Scholars Essay Contest. After the students finished their essays I had Mrs. Levine, Mrs. Chesling, and Ms. Steinkamp read them and choose their favorite three. By the way their names were not on the papers. I put a number at the top. I put them in the order in which they turend them in. Our three winners were Rebecca Levine, Harper Wilson, and Londyn Wulf. They have been turned over to the committee and they will choose a winner from those three. Congratulations and Good Luck.

Lap-a-Thon

This event is coming up. It will take place on May 1st. This year they are making it a Glow Run in the gym. This will help to not have any weather related problems for sure. Seeing the photos of what this will look like is awesome. It will be so much more fun. Information for this event is in the take home folders today.

Well, again hard to believe only 4 more of these. I will not write one the day before the last day of school. Next week due to field trip on Thursday, I will not guarantee when my blog will be completed and published. I will try for Wednesday but I have Confirmation Mass that night. Thursday maybe after school I could work on it and get it sent or it will come out on Friday. I will see how my week goes and how bad my headache is after getting off the bus! I usually have one. It is a long tiring day cause we are out of our normal routine. The kids usually feel it also. It is super fun to get away with them though and enjoy a show. The Civic Center is one of my favorite places to go. Last year I saw three shows: Tootsie, My Fair Lady and To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't pick a favorite they were all excellent shows. Have a great weekend. I hope it is warmer than what is predicted.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels