August 24, 2023

Dear Parents,

Welcome to 4th grade!! I am excited to get our new year started. We have had a good two days so far. We have done some activities and tried to organize everything. We have gone over contracts and the schedule. Your children have copies of the schedule for the week.

Language Arts

We will begin taking a readiness test tomorrow. This is a new series this year, so I will be learning as the students are learning. It is all new so knowing how to navigate and pace the process will be something I need to get used to, but I am excited about it. We use our computers more which will be the challenge because we love technology but it does not do what we want all the time. Next week I will begin to navigate through the first story.

Math

We took half of the readiness test today and will finish it tomorrow. Then we will dig into the book next week and get going.

Social Studies

We are going to dig into this topic tomorrow. They seem excited to start something so this is it. In the first Chapter I skip around. We will not do the whole chapter, I will only do what is necessary and we will not take a chapter test over CH 1.

Facebook

I have a Facebook page for 4th grade. This page is for parents and grandparents. I try to post important information here and things we are doing in class. The page is called St. Malachy Fantastic 4th grade. Please find it and request to friend it. I have to approve anyone on it so we don't get any "trolls" on there. I will accept requests when I see them. If I don't recognize the name I may take me a bit to approve. I need to find out who the person belongs to or what child they are related to.

School Pictures

School pictures are scheduled for Thursday, August 31st. They try to get all photos taken by noon. The picture forms are coming home today in the Take Home Folder. Please return the envelope with payment (unless you pay online) by Wednesday, Aug. 30th.

We are spending a lot of time working on the do's and don't's of 4th grade. It's so much information! They will adjust. I told them the best way to learn is to just do, and then we will learn from mistakes. Our first few weeks are truly about getting the hang of things.

My blog will always be posted by 4:30 on Thursdays. Sometimes it is earlier if I know I have other things to complete. I will send it via email and I will also have the link on the Facebook page.

Again, Welcome to 4th grade. I look forward to working with your child and you!

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels