November 16, 2023

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday! I feel like this week has gone pretty quickly. We are at Thursday already! We have worked hard this week in all subjects. Today was not the best day. I gave like 10 late slips in a 90 minute period. I am not sure what last night was but lots of people forgot things or didn't complete things. I hope tomorrow is a better day. I received a Thanksgiving certificate from Mrs. Simmons that I can wear comfy clothes tomorrow so I will have a great day! It is the little things that make me so happy. This is one of them. I live in sweatpants!

Language Arts

This week we have been working on a story called Prince Charming Loses His Princess. It is written just like a fairy tale. We have talked about point of view, visualizing and text and graphic features this week. In grammar we are working on the different gorups of pronouns and their antecedents (what they stand for). We talked about the prefixes fore- ( meaning before) and sub- (meaning under, below, beneath) which are pretty high lever prefixes. We talked about them but they were harder ones to understand but we looked at some examples. I had to look some up in dictionary to help me. Again they were difficult. The only one I was confident about was Foreward. That is what is in some books before you begin reading the book.(haha) The decoding and spelling words this week have been about r-controlled vowels again. This time focusing on /ur/ and /or/. We did plenty of work this week on it. Tomorrow we will reread the story, discuss the story grammar, and take the selection test and end of the week test.

Math

We have been working on Biztown during math. We have been writing checks, filling our deposit tickets, and keeping a check register. This week I am finishing up getting them ready for Tuesday. After Thanksgiving we will dig right into topic 3 in our book which is over Multiplication, which means I will add that to the basic fact tests we have been doing. We spend a lot of time mastering multiplication. It will take us through December and January.

Social Studies

We are working our way through the Northeast. We were behind where I was last year but we have caught up. We are right on target. I hope we can continue that. We are learning about some pretty big topics that we could spend weeks on. American Revolution, slavery and the Civil War to name a few. We are just learning what these things are and that is it. Fifth grade Social Studies will be all about the American Revolution. We have added the capitals to our answer key for the Northeast States. They will take their next Map Test Wednesday, November 29th. This will have them name the capital also this time.

Cuddle-Up and Read Day

This is my favorite day of the year. I love to have this activity. I have been to Mrs. Simmons and she has given the okay for my reading day ( more like Morning) It will start about 9:00am and end at 11:00am. It will be 2 hours of reading that they may add to their Book It calendars and to their read-a-thon minutes. They will not read a solid 2 hours but I will let them know how many minutes they can count. I will have a restroom break in that time also.

Here is all the fun part. They are able to wear sweats that day (for free). They may bring a pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal. They can bring one or all three as long as it is not a problem for them to get them here and home. They need to have a chapter book they are reading. They will cuddle up on the floor and read for that time. Of course I love it because I will also sit and read! I will have a book club book I am finishing and if I get that done I will start a new book. It is a good time for them to see me modeling my reading. I hope I am finishing one and moving into a new one. Again this is meant to be fun and enjoyable. Don't allow them to bring all the things if it will cause a problem. I will have extra blankets here that are huge.

BizTown

The 4th and 5th graders got together this week and finished up work in their businesses for Tuesday. We have spent math time getting their checkbook, deposit tickets and checks all filled out and in order to take with us. We have entered some items into their check register to get them started. That will be one less thing they need to do on that day. We need to leave the school at 8:00 am so make sure your child is here early that day. I would like them in the room by 7:50 so I can tell them what car they are riding in and get them all situated. The students will need to dress in Mass clothes that day. They are working a job so they need to be dressed for work. We are with other schools who will be in uniforms. I have talked to them about lunch. It is a working lunch so they will not have time to eat a ton of stuff. I would pack the easiest items that will fill them up. Also no sodas. This will be a super fun yet busy day!

Wednesday, November 22nd NO SCHOOL! Even the teachers get this day off!

Monday, November 27th NO SCHOOL! I have to be in class that day! (BOO HOO)

I will not have a blog next week since it is a short week. Any questions or concerns please email me. Monday will be a sorta normal day. We will just have cuddle-Up and read during reading and Math. But the rest of the day will be normal. Tuesday we will spend the day in Des Moines at Biztown. I am so happy I get to enjoy having Wednesday off. Sadly I don;t get the 27th off like the kids. Personally I would rather be back in school with kids. I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving! I will talk to you in a couple of weeks.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels