September 29, 2022

Dear Parents,

Happy Thursday!!! What a wonderful week! The weather has been wonderful. The kids might be whining about it in the morning because it's cold but I like it! We have had a good week. Everyone is really settling in to the routine. Monday was a very big homework day and boy some of them were really stressed out abut it. They were so stressed they were complaining instead of working. I finally pointed out that if they would work and not sit and worry, things would get done! It's amazing what got down when they did that. They are definitely learning! YAY!

Language Arts

This week we are reading our last story for Unit 1. Which means next week will be their first benchmark test! They will take this test over 3 days. I separate it into 3 sections to not overwhelm them. This test is much harder than the weekly tests they take. I am telling you now scores will be low. It is to test them over the things we learned in Unit 1 but to me it tests them differently. They will struggle! I try to make it easier for them but this test is hard to do that. I will also assign to them a book report. I will put information about that in next weeks blog, after I talk to the students about it.

This week we are reading the story "Stormalong". It is a Tall Tale about a seafaring man. He is a giant and does not fit in anywhere because he is so big. He feels like he does not have a place to call home and so he tries to find a place that fits him best. The grammar we have talked about this week has been about capitalization. We have learned about capitalizing Historical Events and Documents, Titles of books and stories, Languages, Nationalities and People's names. Some of these capitalization rules are new to them but they caught on quickly. The vocabulary strategy this week was on reference materials. We talked about how when I was their age I was learning to use a dictionary in book form and they are learning to use online dictionaries. I also talked about encyclopedias and a thesaurus all being a book. I explained they were learning everything online with Powerthesaurus. It is a one stop shop for them. Tomorrow is a normal Friday. They will need to study for spelling post test tonight and their vocabulary packet.

Book It

We start Book It Saturday. This is where the students will keep track of the minutes they free read. I will give them calendars tomorrow to keep track of their minutes. There is a goal for each month. If the students reach the goal they will get a free buffet at Pizza Ranch. I also request that they turn in their calendars signed by a parent every month even if they did not meet the goal so that I can add up their minutes at the end. I will give prizes at the end of 6 months for those who turned in a calendar each month. I will give a prize to those who meet the goal all 6 months. Then I give a prize to the top 3 readers. I also keep track of my minutes. I will give a prize to anyone who reads more minutes than I do over 6 months. I read a lot but in December I do not read as much. Here are the goals for each of the 6 months.

October 350 min 12 min/day

November 400 min 14 min/day

December 450 min 15 min/day

January 500 min 17 min/dqy

February 550 min 20 min/day

March 600 min 20 min/day

Math

We started Topic 2 this week. It is on Fluently Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers. Honestly, this should be review for them. I agree they have not worked on numbers this big but the process they should know. We have had to review regrouping with subtraction. We started with lesson two yesterday on estimation. We spent yesterday and today estimating sums and differences. Tomorrow they will work on another fluency page to practice adding and subtracting. Some of them did worse on the 2nd page. I hope the third one is a charm.

Social Studies

They took their first test today. I will check them tonight and they will make corrections on them tomorrow. Next week we will start chapter 4 on the Northeast Region. We will begin learning a States and Capitals Song. I apologize now because they will sing it at home all the time. It is a catchy tune. If they an sing that song then they can name all the states and their capitals. We will also begin spending our Wednesday Map Sill time on getting to know the location of all the states in Northeast. We learn them a region at a time. This Wednesday Map Skill time is helping tremendously with having the time to learn our map skills and not taking away from class time. I have never done that on a Wednesday before. We usually just have Social Studies 4 days a week.

Tomorrow is NOT a spirit day. (darn) It is suppose to be a little warmer tomorrow. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I am headed to Adel tomorrow for the football game. My new Son-in-law is a coach for Adel , and my Best friend's son is a Senior for Adel, AND they play Creston. Both teams are coming to this game 5-0. Someone has to lose. It will be a good game! Molly and I are getting our nails done Saturday morning then we will be back home after some lunch.

God Bless,

Mrs. Sickels