October 23, 2025

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!!! Here we are again. I do not plan on writing a blog next week since I will be meeting with each of you throughout the week. I will say everything that needs to be said, in 20 minutes. Time always flies. We have had a great week in 4th grade. They have been very busy and seem to use their time wisely. I feel like they have had quite a bit of homework this week and they are getting things done. Sometimes we misplace things but that's hard for us not to do sometimes.

Language Arts

We are finishing up a story. Tomorrow will be the spelling post test and end of the story test. You will find in today's folder the end of the story test they took last week. Some of them dropped on their scores. I feel this happens when we move into more nonfiction/informational stories vs. fiction. I totally enjoy fiction over nonfiction but there are some that are the opposite. Grammar this week has focused on Capitalization and decoding was over finding syllables of words with a VCCV, VCV, and VV pattern. Next week we will not start a new story, we will spend the 3 days working on a writing project. They will learn to write an opinion paper using OREO = Opinion, reason, example, opinion. We will learn to double stuff it. Meaning ours will be set up with Opinion, reason, example, reason example,and opinion. I hope to try and share these at conferences. It will just depend on how much time we need to complete it.

Math

We have worked on hard on our Multiplication chapter. We have covered multiplying with multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000. We have learned about estimating to get our answers. Lastly we learned about Partial Product today. It is a new strategy of multiplication for them. You were not taught this when you were a kid, but I have been teaching this strategy for more than 20 years so it is not "new" math. We will focus on Partial Product for a few days. When we return from our little break after conferences we will start doing Biztown Math. This is where they learn to run a bank account. They will write checks and keep a check register. They will also learn how to fill out a deposit slip. We will do this for about 8-10 days up until we head to Biztown on November 14th.

Social Studies

We have begun chapter 4. We are talking about the Northeast Region. We have started by looking at Niagara Falls and the resources of the Northeast. We discussed grapes and cranberries. We watched some short video clips on how to harvest cranberries form a cranberry bog. We learned about making maple syrup from sap from sugar maple trees. This product comes primarily from Vermont. We also learned about New Hampshire being the Granite State and having granite quarries. They will have their first Map test next week on Wednesday. They have a map answer key and access to practice maps to help them study.

Book Fair

There will be a book Fair during conferences. We have a new company this year. It has lots of religion based books. The students filled out wish lists on Wednesday, so hopefully those made it home. There are even some adult books to look at. You will find a flyer in the take home folder today.

Mass Wednesday, October 29th

Due to it being the day we are celebrating Halloween the students are not expected to wear Mass attire that day. They can wear normal clothes that day. Just be sure to wear whatever you need for under your costume or something easy to make changing into your costumed go smoothly.

Halloween Activities and Parade

Next Wednesday will be our Halloween day. In the afternoon we will have activities in the Middle school for the students. The parade will be in the gym at 2:15. Students may bring their costumes with them to school to change into before the parade. Students may also leave with parents after the parade. I just ask that you come to the room to pick them up after I have taken them all back.

Biz Town

In today's folder you will find an information sheet on our field trip to Biz Town on November 14th. We are going to need parents to drive and to help in businesses that day. This will be on a first come first serve basis. We have to have 16 total parents to go. We go with 5th grade so we have a total of 35 students attending. It is a wonderful day that the kids really enjoy. I feel like some great life skills are learned on this trip. A permission is attached to the letter. Just to let you know if you want to attend there will be paperwork to fill out and a training to do the day of the event.

I look forward to meeting with you next week for conferences. It will be a long week for me working 7:45 to 7:00 at night for 2 nights and then until 5 on one night. I hope my voice holds out. I am excited for the week to be over because on Thursday at 11 and I am going to head to Peoria and spend the weekend with Molly and Jake. I am very excited. I have not seen her since September. I get to be a guest reader in her classroom and a preschool classroom on Friday. The Principal thought maybe I should just sub that day so I had to be there all day instead of having a day off.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels