March 30, 2023

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday! I hope this finds all of you well. We have been back into a normal routine this week. The students are working hard to get their work completed. We have picked up a little and are having a little more homework. They are proving they can handle it, even though they may not like it. If they continue this they are showing they will definitely be ready for 5th grade. I hate to say those words. I am not ready to let them go. Good thing I have 8 weeks left!

Language Arts

This week we read a fun fictional fantasy story called "The World According to Humphrey". It is fantasy because it is a hamster as the main character and he talks. We just read a section or chapter from a book. This part that we read teaches us a lesson about too much TV. Humphrey the hamster, plays a very important role in it. They seem to really enjoy this story and did a good job reading it in partners and having discussions about it. The vocabulary strategy was about using context clues. We looked at words that have multiple meanings and talked about using the sentence to decide which definition was being used. I also talked about how some test questions have context clues in them that will lead them to correct answers. We talked about importance of reading and maybe rereading text questions. Grammar this week was about comparative and superlative adjectives. These are adjectives that we add -er, or -est to the end of the word or if that doesn't work we add more or most before the adjective. We talked about the difference and when to use them. Tomorrow will be a normal Friday. They will take a post test in spelling and their end of the week test. You will find their results to the Unit 4 test in their folders today.

Math

Well, I have been telling you that I would not be teaching your studnets the standard algorithm of division, the strategy that you learned. I changed my mind. This class has been moving through math so well this year and it will only help Ms. Surma next year if we go ahead and learn it, so we are! We started yesterday! Some of them seemed to grasp it but others were a little slower about it. I tried to show both strategies and how they were related. We will do some more practice again today. Friday will be "Fact Friday". This is the day that we take our basic fact tests. I am very happy with the progress I am seeing on these tests. YAY! The kids are enjoying seeing their progress also. That may be the biggest motivating factor. If they are working on flash cards at home keep it up!

Social Studies

We are checking a study guide today which means there will be a test tomorrow! This is our first test over the Midwest Region. The next chapter will go by quickly also. We will also add capitals to our states and capitals test for the Midwest. In the next chapter we will talk about the Ojibwa in Michigan, the fur trade and the settling of Chicago, and lastly "land rushes" that took place and this setting is in Wapello County, Iowa. They will find this very interesting.

Friday, March 31

I will be absent on Friday. An Uncle of mine LeRoy Wood from Mt. Ayr passed away I will be at the funeral and spending the day with family. Mrs. Brown will be in the classroom. She did an excellent job last time and I am sure will do great this time also. She complimented the class on well they behaved. I was very happy to hear this. I will pick up work over the weekend and be ready to go for Monday.

Holy Week

Next week is Holy Week! It begins Sunday with Palm Sunday. On Thursday (Holy Thursday), we will have our annual Seder Meal and Cross Walk. The Cross Walk will begin about 12:45 ish in the courtyard. All our welcome to join us. We ask the students to wear a plain white shirt that day so we can take our annual "cross" photo in the church. The green permission form for the walk is in today's folder. Please fill this out and return it tomorrow. Friday is Good Friday and we will not be in school that day. Enjoy! Happy Easter! I will be happy to drink a Dr. Pepper!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am attending the Seder Meal at the church Saturday night with Ms. Surma and Mrs. Simmons. I can't wait to see how it compares to what we do at school with the kids. The money raised at the Seder Meal goes to a fund to bring Father Patrick's mother to Creston for a visit. What a great thing for our church to do! I cannot wait to meet her. I know we are having real lamb which will be an experience. I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels