March 26, 2026

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday! Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great Spring Break. It was a wild one for sure. It began with a blizzard and ended with a 90 degree day! Mother Nature is losing her mind right now. I am ready for her to make up her mind and stay warm.

Language Arts

We are reading an informational story called Let's Dance Around the World. This is a story that teaches us the many reasons people choose to dance and the many different ways in which people dance all over the world. As we read the story I pulled up the dances on youtube so we could actually see the dances being danced. We learned about a famous tap dancer Savion Glover, plus just many other dances. Some of them were silly. Ask your student about the Los Viejitos. Some of them got a kick out of it. This is not a very long story but they do enjoy it. While reading it we talked about text and graphic features plus text structure. Grammar this week is on present participle and past participles. The spelling list was over the final /e/ sound. We learned it can be spelled 3 different ways; with a -y, -ey, and -ie. We will take the Post test next Tuesday.

Math

We have started a review for our Division Chapter today. We will finish it up tomorrow. I plan on checking or starting to check it together on Monday. We will take the test whenever we finish going over the review. It could be Tuesday, could be Wednesday, or even Thursday. We have to see how the week flows. Since it is Holy Week we have a lot going on.

Social Studies

They took a test over Chapter 8 today. Tomorrow we will correct those tests and Introduce Chapter 9. This is also over the Midwest. At some point we will add the capitals to our Midwest Maps and then have a test over states and capitals. So far they have enjoyed learning about the area the live in.

ISASP Testing

We will have our Annual ISASP Testing the week of April 6th. Next week I will be giving the students practice tests so they are not going into the testing blind not knowing what to expect. We will do it on and off next week. We will be practicing Math and Language Arts.

Spirit Day

Tomorrow is a Spirit Day! The weather is suppose to be chillier tomorrow so wearing sweats would be perfect! Just to let you know this money will go towards showing our support to St. Luke's in Ankeny with all they have been through this week.

Pen Pal Letters

During Catholic Schools Week our class wrote to the 3rd/4th graders at St. Mary's Catholic School in Kickapoo, Illinois. All classes in the building wrote letters to a school in another state. I chose this one because this is where my daughter Molly works. We received letters back from them. Next week I plan to have the students write another letter back to those students. We will do this during Language Arts time. During Spring Break I visited Molly and went to her school and meant with the 3rd/4th grade class. I took a photo with them and was able to show the class who they are writing to. I answered many questions about our school to that class. It was fun.

Book Reports

Just a heads up, next week I will be assigning the final book report to the students. It is a diorama so they will need a shoe box. The biggest hurdle with this class is picking out books to read for the reports. I warned them today it was coming and for them to start looking. More information will come next week.

Good Friday

Reminder: There will be no school on Good Friday, April 3rd. There are a couple church services that will be held that day. Hopefully you are able to attend one.

We have a lot going on this week and next. We have the Sedar Meal and Stations of the Cross next Thursday. The stations of the cross are being put on by the 6-8th graders. We are trying something new this year, and I am excited about it. Sunday starts Holy Week with Palm Sunday.

I had a great Spring Break. I finished a book and started another one. I also listened to a whole book and 3/4 of another one while I was driving to and from Peoria. I hope all of you have a great weekend.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels