March 27, 2025

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!! Here we are back in a routine. I do feel like this has been a long week. Next week is a busy week with the field trip on Thursday. Plus it starts the month of April. Wow, winter seemed so long but then I think where did the time go. We are really working hard. We are pushing through each subject quite well. Only two months left. It will move quicker than we think.

Language Arts

This week we finished up taking the Module 4 test. I have been working on getting it corrected. It will come home in next week's folder. I do have the last story Module 4 Week 3 ready to go home today.

We started the first story in Module 5 today. It is called The Beatles and talks about Beatlemania and some of their popular songs. It talked a little about how they picked their name and who wrote the songs. We watched a few videos of their music and one of when they arrived in the U.S. for the first time. The spelling words for this story deal with adding -ed, and -ing, which is just like the last week's list. The Grammar for this story will focus on modal auxilaries. These are words like may, might, can, could, would, should, and must. We talk about best time to use these words. I think it is sometimes hard to know the difference. In some instances you could interchange words and it still make sense. In decoding we will be revisiting putting -ed and -ing on the end of root words. We focus on what those root words are. It will take us about 8 days to get through this story. So we are looking at Next Friday the 4th for a Spelling post test.

Math

We have finally began working on division again. Monday and Tuesday of this week we had Reconciliation and the author Visit which pushed back Math. We are using a multiplication chart to help us estimate quotients. Some of the students have said "This is so fun!" I think just being able to use the multiplication chart is what makes it fun because it moves faster.

Social Studies

We are making our way through the 2nd chapter on the Midwest. Next Wednesday they will take a map test over Midwest States and Capitals. We have begun lesson 2, which is about the fur trade. When this chapter is done we will move on to the Southwest Region. I am trying to move along at a quicker pace so we ensure time for the Southwest and the West.

Field Trip

Thursday, April 3rd we will be going on a field trip to the Des Moines Art Center and Pappajohn Sculpture Park. We leave at 8:30 AM and will return by 3:00 PM. The students need to dress appropriately and must have on a St Malachy shirt. They will need to bring a sack lunch (no pop).

ISASP

We will be taking Iowa Assessments the week of April 7th. I will throw in some practice tests next week for the kids to prepare for the tests.

I am happy for the warmer weather for sure! I am not looking forward to the severe stuff. I also don't like the possibility of snow on Sunday into Monday! I am praying that changes. I am getting to fulfill my Christmas gift from Josie this weekend. She got us tickets to Dirty Dancing in Concert. It is in Ames and CY Stephens auditorium. I am not sure what it entails for sure. I am assuming just the music from the show. I am very much looking forward to it. Plus it will have me having an overnight with my bestie. That is always good for the soul. Have a great weekend whatever you do.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels