October 3, 2024

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!! Here we are again. I will say I truly enjoyed last Thursday with my Granddaughter. I got a lot of snuggles, and smiles which warms the heart. The kids did a pretty good job with the substitute. The report she gave was not horrible so that also made me happy. Again, I have been giving out late slips in the last week for forgotten homework, lost homework, or forgot to finish homework. They will eventually learn and get better at it. It takes some longer and a couple detentions to get it figured out. Again my goal is that they have it all down by Christmas. This is not uncommon at all. I know this is a bigger group but that really has nothing to do with it. They just need to focus more on their own things and get better organized.

Language Arts

We are finishing up our story called "Kitoto the Mighty". We read it for the 3rd time today and they took their selection test over the story. Tomorrow is the Spelling Post Test and the end of the week test. You would have received results in the folder from week 1. I have week 2 and just forgot to send it today. (my bad) These tests are based on the skills and strategies we talk about with the story but they are based on a cold read which is a story that they have not read before. It can be frustrating because I feel like they understand and do well with them but when given a new story it all goes away. I also feel that 4th graders do not understand the importance of taking a test. They just want to hurry and get it done and I feel like they are not reading each question or all the answers given.

Next week is a Module test week. We have finished Module 1. This would be equivalent to a Unit test. They will read a cold read and now apply what they know from all 3 weeks of strategies and skills we worked on. I will also be assigning their first book report and we will begin writing a Halloween Story with partners.

Math

We have officially finished up with Topic 1. They have torn it out of their books and it is in their take home folders today. We began Topic 2 today with Estimation of addition and subtraction problems. They are large problems. They are to use rounding to estimate each number then add or subtract. This entire Topic is a review of addition and subtraction but with larger numbers. We will practice regrouping for both. This topic will move a long quicker than the last one. This is mainly because of it being a review for the students. The expectation is that they can do this by 4th grade so I don't spend a lot of time on it. We have to move onto Multiplication.

Social Studies

The class is finishing up a study guide for tomorrow. We will check it together tomorrow and the test will be on Monday. I had to play around with my plans this week due to the pep rally on Tuesday. I feel this worked out better anyway because now they will have the weekend to study.

Homecoming Dismissal

Tomorrow school will dismiss 3 hours early due to the Homecoming parade. If your child is doing something different at the end of the day please let us know in the morning. You can email or send a note to school with your child. We do not want to worry about dismissal at 12:00. We want to be sure we know in the morning so we can all get it correct when noon gets here. We don't want missing kids cause they did the wrong thing or the teacher told them the wrong thing. It can be chaotic.

Spirit Day

Tomorrow is a Spirit day they can pay $1.00 to wear sweats/hat. It is also Panther Gear day. Please wear your red and black with pride tomorrow The PTO purchased tattoos for all the students. Each student will receive one tomorrow morning. This is the first time this has happened so it is very exciting.

This week has gone quickly for me. I think our schedule of core classes all morning and a light afternoon keep me really busy. Trying to keep 23 kids engaged all morning during lessons can wear on a person. I am truly exhausted each night. I will say I consider it a good tired. I am going to Ames on Saturday to tailgate with Molly. I was hoping to go to the game. I really want to get to one this fall because it's Molly's Senior year. We attended a game last year and had a blast. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend whatever you do.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels