January 29, 2026

Dear Parents,

     Happy Thursday! Can you believe it is the end of January? This week has been kinda crazy but fun. Many participated in dress-up days which was super fun. We did a couple different activities this year. One was writing to a Catholic School in another state. I chose my daughter Molly's Catholic School in Illinois. It is called St. Mary's Catholic School in Kickapoo. We also wrote a letter to National Guard Members who are stationed overseas. That was super cool. Today is the Talent Show and tomorrow Grandparents/special guest day. What a great week celebrating a great school!! We love STM!

Language Arts

The story is a sort-of Fairy Tale. It has some similarities to Cinderella. The Module will focus on Heroes. We talked about traits heroes might have. We watched a video clip on heroes from movies to real life heroes. The story is meant to humorous but I feel its a stretch. I am not sure the students found it that funny. It is called Prince Charming Misplaces his Bride. I would be interested to have you ask your child about it and if they found it to be funny. Our grammar for this story is all about Pronouns. I have taught them the pronouns like I was taught in 6th grade. Mrs. Early was my teacher in Cromwell, and we had like a chant to recite the pronouns. We focus on Subject and Object pronouns. We will also focus on the antecedent. Which is what the pronoun is replacing. The spelling list this week is again over r-controlled vowels. The strategies we are using with our story are: theme, text and graphic features, and point of view. The spelling post test and end of the story assessment will be on Wednesday, February 4th.

Math

We are working on a review over Topic 4. We will check it together tomorrow then take the test on Monday. The next thing we will work on will be perimeter and area. We will only spend a couple of days working on these topics. They will learn a formula to follow to find perimeter and area. When we are done with that we will move onto Topic 5 which is over Division. We will also be adding division to our Holy cards next Wednesday. Some are dreading it so I told them they might want to start working on their facts.

Social Studies

Well, they did their first sequence worksheet this week. I taught them a strategy of using post-it notes to help them. Many of them did a great job. I had a few who struggled and needed to correct. Sometimes you can place the post it notes in the wrong place which throws their order off. I still feel it is a great strategy to use. We have moved into talking about many historical events that took place in the Southeast or important people. George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson all were born in the Southeast. The main settlements we skimmed were St. Augustine, Roanoke, and Jamestown. We will also skim the subject of slavery and the Civil War. These are huge topics that one could spend an entire unit teaching but we just skim the surface.

Grandparent Mass

Friday is Dress to Impress Day. We are all to look our best for our special guests. The kids will be dismissed at 1:00 that day. We will start loading kids in cars at that time. The expectation is that their grandparent or guest takes them right over to the church for Mass. We want Mass to begin at 1:30. The kids are dismissed to go home with their special guest/grandparent at the conclusion of Mass.''

Again it has been a great week. We have had some illnesses but for the most part everyone has been here. These dang Viruses that are going around are a pain. I hope you all have a great weekend! The Bookstore in town has their Grand Re-opening this weekend and I am working all day Saturday. Come in and see me and see what fun things are happening!! I think it will be a fun day. I think you can make bookmarks at a charm bar. Hope to see you there.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels