April 21, 2022

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday and Happy Easter! What a week! I am so over cold temps and the wind. I know the kids are also. We need some sunshine and warm weather. It would help all of us mentally for sure. I am positive you are most likely saying the same thing. The sun tried to shine at recess but it just didn't win. The sad thing is when we do finally get some great temps, it brings in storms. I am tired of that also.

Language Arts

This week we are reading the story called "I Could Do That!" It is the story of Esther Morris. She helped get women's right to vote in the state of Wyoming. Wyoming was the first state in the US to give women the right to vote. That is why Wyoming is the Equality State. Plus they did this 51 years before Women were given the right to vote by the United Stated Government. She also became one of the first women to hold public office by becoming a judge. We worked on the use of negatives in sentences all week. We learned that we can only use one negative in a sentence at a time. It is not grammatically correct to use two. We also worked on the "not" contractions. the vocabulary strategy for this week was on adages and proverbs. We did the worksheet together. Tomorrow will be our normal Friday of a spelling post test and end of the week test.

Math

This week we have learned Partial Quotient in Division. They are learning to take parts out of the division problems. I have shared 3 strategies to find Partial quotient. We have spent the week practicing. this is important for them to understand before we head into long division. Some will want to stick with the Partial Quotient method because it is easier and they understand what they are doing. A lot of 4th graders really struggle with the long division standard algorithm because they don't understand what they are doing and working with multiples of 10 is much easier. If your child is struggling and you can't help them send them into me before school starts and I will be happy to help them through it.

Social Studies

We finished up chapter 8 this week. The tests came home to be signed and bought back to me. We began the next chapter today. It is also on the Midwest. We are talking about the Ojibwa, a native American tribe that settled in the Great Lakes Region. We are going to learn about their culture and way of life. They travel in birch bark canoes, and the hunt, fish, and gather rice and berries to eat. They use a talking stick to conduct their meetings. The only person who can talk is the one holding the talking stick. That sounds like a fabulous Idea but that would never work for my students who blurt out answers.

Elk's Track Meet

YAY!! I am so excited this is back. It is just a super fun night of competition. There is a form coming home in the folder today. In the past St. Malachy had a great turn out and usually won the meet. That has not happened in several years. when I was young it was the best! We couldn't wait for this meet. I am not sure why it is not as popular. Track is a sport that is not as popular but to me running is the bases for all other sports. You need to be able to run well in anything you play. I hope we have some kids sign up and participate for the fun of it.

Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day! The 4th graders are all asked to bring a rake and some gloves to do yard work. We will be raking up leaves from the playground to help clean the school property! The school always looks fabulous when we are done. W e will go outside at the end of the day like 2:00 and rake for the rest of the day. We have decided if it is too wet, we will just keep their rakes over the weekend, and do it on Monday. We do not want them going home a muddy mess nor do we want it in our rooms a mess for Adolpho to clean.

Spirit Day

Tomorrow is also a Spirit Day! You can pay $1.00 to wear sweatpants! what a great day to wear them, when we will be cleaning and working outside. You may also use the $1.00 to wear a hat. I hope to see the dollars roll in tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I pray the weather is decent out maybe to dome outdoor activities. I know I could use a refresher by being outside for a while. I need some good old-fashioned Vitamin D.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels