March 23, 2023

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!! I hope all of you had a great Spring Break. I know I did. I did not go anywhere but Des Moines and I totally enjoyed it. I finished one puzzle and started another. I hung out with friends and played cards and dominoes. I definitely returned refreshed and ready to go. I told the kids this really is the "beginning of the end" The next break they have is summer break and moving into 5th grade. They all talked about how fast this year has gone by. I totally agree. I told them time flies when you are having fun. Some agreed and of course some did not.

Language Arts

This week has been a Unit 4 test week. During this week I divide the test into 3 sections and spread it out over 3 days. We do a lot of silent reading and read a loud time. We are about to finish Harry Potter #1. I will be assigning the next and last book report to the kids this week also. They are excited to get it assigned and get started. Some of them are a little too eager (LOL). I also plan to give the students a spelling test. This spelling test is called a "screener". I am learning about this in my Letrs class I have been taking all year. I just learned about it this week and want to practice writing the results and see how helpful it is compared to the one I give at the beginning of the year. The scoring of each paper will take a bit to get used to and will be time consuming. I will eventually get them back to the students but I am doing this as practice for my class and diagnostic reasons. I will not be grading it and putting it in the gradebook. Next week we will begin Unit 5. It is the last unit in the textbook. Everything we study is review. They will have been taught everything already this year. This makes this unit a little more fun because it is easier on them. The stories are all fun too.

Book Report #3

I will be assigning the last book report to the students tomorrow. This report will be due Monday, May 7th. This gives them a little over 6 weeks to complete. I try to preach to them to work on finishing the book in 4 weeks to give themselves 2 weeks to complete the project. This project is a "Diorama" or "Book Box". They will be creating a scene from their book in a shoe box. I have given them detailed instructions. I have also shared an example of one with them. I have given them many ideas to help them. They need to be able to explain their scene. Why they chose it and why it might have been important to the book. They can type the information for the top and the summary on their computers at school and we will print them. This project is fun to see how creative people can be and what scenes are important to them.l

Math

This week we have been working on the Partial Quotient strategy for division. We have started out slow. We started with little numbers. Today we are going to go to larger numbers but using the same strategy. We will again take this one as slow as we need to so that they master this skill. Just a reminder, we will not learn the standard algorithm that you and I learned this year. They will learn it next year with Ms. Surma.

Social Studies

We are working through the Midwest Region. I told the students I will pick up the pace a little bit after Spring Break. We need to ensure that we get though the regions. I also feel like they are more mature to handle more work. Many of them get their work done pretty quickly and do not do a very good job of using their free time wisely so a little bit more work can help fill up this time also. They took their first Map Test on the Midwest states. They all did a very good job! Next chapter we will add the capitals. Also, just to let you know, the meteorologist that visited the school on Tuesday told us one of the things he had to work on for his job is Maps. One would need to have great map skills in order to do his job. They made me very excited to reiterate how important it is to teach students map skills.

Spirit Day

Tomorrow is a spirit day. Pay $1.00 to wear sweat pants. It is a perfect day for it. Our money remember goes towards helping other. We created a sunshine basket for PK Para Sarah Fry who had to have hip surgery. We also sent some treats to the East Union ECC for their loss of a co-worker Donna Allen. I like to share where our money goes so you know it is worth paying that $1.00.

I feel like I do not have much to share this week. We will be working harder next week as we add Language Arts homework back into the week. I am sure they will not be happy about that. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend. I am headed to Ames for Mom's Day at Molly's sorority. The theme is Missy's and Mocktails. I keep telling Molly they named their event after me, I am very special. I plan to spend the entire day in Ames then spend the night in Adel at my bestie's house for some girl time.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels