Happy Thursday! I hope you're all having a good week. Hopefully everyone will start to feel better soon! 

Calendar Dates:

Jan. 20-30 FBLA Coin Wars

Jan. 23- Spirit Day/ Sack Lunch Day

Jan. 25-30 Catholic Schools Week

Feb. 6- Spirit Day

Enrollment for 2026-2027 school year opens the week of Catholic Schools Week. Please make sure to enroll your child so they have their spot in the 6th grade! It closes on Friday, January 30th. 

Catholic Schools Week:

Sunday, Jan. 25-Mass at Holy Spirit- if you signed your child up to participate, they will have their job assignment in their Take Home Folder.

Monday, Jan.26-Spirit Day- Out of this World! (dress like something from outer space) 

Tuesday, Jan. 27-Spirit Day Dress: Winter Olympics. Gov. Kim Reynolds visiting STM. 

Wednesday, Jan. 28- Spirit Day Dress: Wild West

Thursday, Jan. 29- Sack Lunch Needed. 12 pm Talent Show ( if your child is participating, remind them to bring anything they will need) 1:30 Recess/Intermission 1:45-2:45 Finish Talent Show.   Spirit Day Dress: St. Malachy gear or wear some blue and gold.

Friday, Jan. 30- Spirit Day- Dress Up for Mass. Students dismissed at 1:00. Grandparents and /or special guest will transport them to Holy Spirit Church. Mass is at 1:30 and is required to attend. Students will be dismissed from Holy Spirit after Mass. 

FBLA Coin Wars is happening now until January 30. The money is going towards for blankets for kids. Our bucket is pretty empty right now. I would love to see some donations even if they don't bring in enough to win one of the parties. It is a worthy cause! 

Math- This week they have been learning to divide using partial quotients. I told them this math is only to be done at school. Mom and Dad won't know what you're doing! This is just a great way for them to understand what is really happening  when we divide. It also gives them a better understanding of place value. Not to worry- the next step is the standard algorithm. 

Religion- this week we read the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee, visiting with Jesus to understand him better. Jesus was teaching him about the necessity of baptism. I also showed them the same scene from The Chosen. We also read about two saints: Maximilian Kolbe ( a Polish priest who died at Auschwitz) sacrificing his life for another prisoner. The other saint was Saint Rose Duchesne. She worked for years bringing Jesus to Native Americans . We will be wrapping up this chapter this week and probably testing next week. 

Reading- We are finishing up our story this week on the tsunami in Thailand in 2004. Our grammar this week got us combining sentences using subordinating conjunctions. Their spelling posttest will be on Friday (tomorrow). 

Stephanie Anderson and Rachel Ramaeker have come up with a great auction item from our class. We are going to work on this on February 6. I will post a picture of it when we are done! 

The kids will need a sack lunch on Friday!  Spirit Day on Friday! 

Please make sure to return the form letting me know who your child will be attending next Friday's Grandparent/Special Guest mass. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend! Please be safe and stay warm!  I will see some of you on Sunday at Mass to kick off Catholic Schools Week! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, 

Thank you so much for the emails, cards, texts, and gifts. They mean a lot! It sounded like the 5th graders had a good week while I was gone. I am happy to hear that! It is good to get back to something a little normal.  Mrs. Warner sent me a video of them singing a song that I absolutely love! It brought me to tears! 

Calendar Dates:

Jan. 19- No School/PD Day 

Jan. 23- Spirit Day

Jan. 25-30 Catholic Schools Week

Book Reports- I assigned the next report on Monday. They each chose a Newbery Winner or Newbery Honor book. The project is due Friday, February 20. They have a yellow packet with the information. I told them they can't choose the same project from the last time. So if they tell you they don't have homework...they do have a book to read! 

Reading- I gave them a spelling pretest on Tuesday, so they do have a new list! This list covers compound words. Some have a space and some have a hyphen!The pretest was not pretty simply because of the different ways you can write a compound word.  Our story this week is about tsunamis. This will be another nonfiction story. These are harder for them to test over as you can see from the test they took last week. I will try to stress to them that they read the story more than once before answering questions, but also to think about the questions being asked of them and if they can find those answers within the story.  In grammar we started going over using the conjunctions and , but, and or. 

Math- We started our chapter on division. I worked with them on estimating decimals. I explained they have to find compatible numbers ( numbers that go together easily and wouldn't have a remainder). This takes some practice to fully grasp. Today we started dividing. I am showing the partial quotients method first. I did tell them this is NOT a way to divide at home with Mom and Dad. I told them you will have no clue on what we are doing. So...no worries. I will let you know when they learn the standard algorithm.  I also told them that this is a chapter with lots of frustration. It tends to bring kids to tears. I told them I don't want to hear things like..."This is so easy, why don't you get it?" We all learn differently. They will have to be patient. 

Religion- they started a new chapter this week. They have been working in groups to create a "club". They have to pick a name for their club, a saint to represent it, and then activities for their club to do. I told them they could have 3  fun activities and then they had to have 2 activities that were acts of service. They will share the posters with the entire class tomorrow. It's been fun listening to their discussions and seeing their creativity. 

Wipes~ Thank you so much for the Clorox wipes! I think it is perfect timing with kids being sick with the flu right now! 

Catholic Schools Week- There are forms going home in their folders tomorrow about Catholic Schools Week at the end of the month. Please make sure to look them over and return if needed. One is for the Sunday mass on the 25th. That is the day I am in charge of helping with. 

Enrollment for 2026-2027 school year opens the week of Catholic Schools Week. Please make sure to enroll your child so they have their spot in the 6th grade! 

The past three days have been really good with the kids. It is good to be back with them. I am slowly getting my papers checked. Your child's folder may seem a little full! Sorry about that! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Remember there is no school on Monday! Enjoy the 3 day weekend!

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello All- I hope this week is going well for you! Hard to believe Christmas is next week! 

Calendar Dates: 

Dec. 19- Need Sack Lunch

Dec. 20- Jan. 4- Christmas Break

Jan. 5- Classes Resume

Reading- They will get their score back on Thursday for their module test. We didn't get any perfect scores, but there are quite a few in the 90s!!!!   We started our new unit. This one will bring us back to nonfiction stories. The first story deals with the volcano in the Philippines - Mount Pinatubo. It gives us details about what happened prior to it blowing and a little bit of the aftermath. The grammar for this story is about direct and indirect objects. We will be focusing more on figurative language and sequencing the events. We will continue working on this when they get back from break. 

At some point in January I will assign the next book report.  They got their rough drafts done on The Mysteries of Harris Burdick . I will be editing those during my Christmas break. 

Math- On Thursday- they will be working on a worksheet that covers the kinds of multiplication they worked on this chapter. This will be their "test" for the chapter. I didn't get to division so I guess I know what we are doing in January! 

Religion- We finished our chapter on the Beatitudes. The test scores were GREAT! When we get back we will spend a few days on our Christmas chapter and then move back into the regular chapters. 

Friday, Dec. 19- They will need a sack lunch. They will be eating with their Advent Angel. Milk is provided!  If they are getting a gift for their angel, they will give it at that time.  Remember the gift giving is optional- not required. Make sure it is something they can carry home easily. 

I will be sending home their boots and snow pants tomorrow ( Thursday).  Who knows- maybe it will snow sometime during break. This will also allow Adolfo to do some cleaning. 

Congrats to Caroline for reading the most minutes and raising the most money for our class during the Read-A-Thon!!! 👏👏👏

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Years! Enjoy the family time! Drive safely if you're traveling! I will be in Cedar Falls/Waterloo. My sister Penny has to move into a nursing home. She is requiring more care now. I could be spending some of my time moving her. Not sure how quickly this will happen. I will spend the holiday with her and her daughters. See you in January! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello All- We have 7 days left before break! I can't believe I am noting January calendar dates already! 

Calendar Dates: 

Dec. 11- 5th grade sings at Holy Spirit

Dec. 17- 5th grade mass

Dec. 19- Need Sack Lunch

Dec. 20- Jan. 4- Christmas Break

Jan. 5- Classes Resume

Christmas Dress-up Days

Dec. 15- Dress as a Christmas Character

Dec. 16- Christmas Plaid

Dec. 17- Dress up for mass

Dec. 18- Shining, Bright, Festive

Dec. 19- Christmas Vacation (The Griswalds)  gear, ugly sweaters, and Christmas PJs

These days are optional for them! They don't have to dress up (except on Wednesday)! 

Friday after lunch and caroling in the gym we will go back to my room for a movie. I have a birthday celebration so that will be their treat that afternoon before we leave for break! 

Reading- They are taking their Module Test this week. I have broken it up over 3 days this time. I am hoping that helps with scores. I also read them the story The Mystery of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. He is the author of The Polar Express and Jumangi. Inside are 14 different sketches. Each has a title and a caption. The kids are going to pick one of them and create a story around it. The caption that goes along with it will be in their story somewhere. I want them to have their rough draft done before we gone on break. My hope is that I will be able to edit them over break so they can fix them when we return.  

They also wrote their cinquain poem. This poem is 5 lines and is based on so many words and syllables per line. I want them to read them aloud first and then you will see them. They are written about someone they know. They will be giving them their poem when done. 

Math- We are working on multiplying decimals by decimals this week. The multiplying is fine, but remembering we need to count places to put the decimal in our final answer is the trick! 

Religion- We have been focusing on Mary this week since her holy day of obligation was on Monday. On Tuesday, the kids used their computers to research the different titles the church has given Mary. They found 15, but some found more than that! We will be getting back to our chapter study guide tomorrow ( Thursday) . They will test over the Beatitudes chapter next week on Monday.  I want to finish that chapter before we go on break. 

I gave out the mass parts today to those who will have a job. Many have more than one job. 

Reconciliation is on Friday for the 5th graders. We are going out with the middle school students this time to the chapel. 

Music- Just a reminder that we go to the church tomorrow to sing for the CDA and guests. They will provide us lunch. I told the kids if they were unsure then they should pack a sack lunch. It is usually a wonderful lunch! 

Pre-Christmas behaviors- We have not started off this week very well. Tempers are flaring. I know most of this comes because Christmas break is just around the corner and they are excited. They are ready to be away from each other. We are getting annoyed by things that normally wouldn't bother us.  I did rearrange desks again- hoping to make things a little better in that way. We also just need to remember to look for patience and walk away when things or people start to drive us crazy. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am heading to see my sister Penny. This week hasn't been a good one for her, lots of pain and panic attacks. I am hoping my presence will keep her calm for a couple of days anyway. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 

Hello Everyone- I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know my siblings and I loved spending the time together even though we had to cut it short due to the weather.  My brother got 13 inches of snow! I told him I was happy with our amount! 

Calendar Dates: 

Dec. 5- Spirit Day

Dec. 8- Mass / Holy Day of Obligation

Dec. 10- PE DAY - no mass

Dec. 11- 5th grade sings at Holy Spirit

Dec. 17- 5th grade mass

Dec. 19- Need Sack Lunch

Permission Slip- There is a form in your child's folder for our trip to Holy Spirit Church on the 11th. I have enough drivers. They will sing for the CDA and guests and then we will eat with them. It is a potluck luncheon. If your child doesn't feel comfortable with that- they may still pack a sack lunch! They don't need to dress up on this day.  Please have forms returned to me by the 9th.

Monday, Dec. 8- We have a holy day of obligation. The kids will need to dress for mass on Monday!  We will have our PE Day on Wednesday. They will still get out early on Wednesday. 

Reading- Our final story in this module is really a bunch of different poem styles. The main character is writing poems in school, and he just can't seem to stop writing them! They will take their quiz over this story on Friday. The weekly module test will be on Monday. Since this is our last story in this module- that means we will have a big module test starting on Tuesday.  I think I will break it up this time so that we can start a writing project. They will take a test tomorrow ( Thursday) over their spelling words. 

Religion- We are finishing up our chapter on the Beatitudes. The other day we made a list of hashtags  that would apply to each Beatitude. For example: #praymore  or #acceptapologies   Our next chapter is a short one covering Mary. I wanted to get that covered next week since we are celebrating her on Monday.  After that I will get into our Advent chapter. There seems to be a lot to cover before the Christmas break! 

Math- We started multiplying decimals this week. The first day they used a calculator to multiply by 10, 100, or 1000. We talked about how the decimal moves with each zero.  On Tuesday they multiplied a whole number times a decimal. We talked about money a lot with those problems and how we might be buying multiple items that cost us $0.50.  We also talked about being charged sales tax on items. That led to a whole discussion on why we pay taxes! 

Advent Angels will start next week. I told them who their angel partner was today! It's always exciting! 

I hope you enjoy the music program tonight! The 3-5 graders did an excellent job at practice today. I had a lot of middle school students telling me how great they sounded! Thank you , Mrs. Warner! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay warm! Stay safe! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Families! I cannot believe next week is Thanksgiving already. Where has our month gone?? 

Calendar Dates: 

Nov. 21- Spirit Day

Nov. 26-Nov. 30- No School/ Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 1-19- Can wear sweatpants unless a mass day- if they paid their $20

Dec. 3 - Christmas Concert and Practice Day

Dec. 5- Spirit Day

Dec. 8- Mass / Holy Day of Obligation

Dec. 10- PE DAY - no mass

Dec. 11- 5th grade sings at Holy Spirit

Dec. 17- 5th grade mass

Reading- They finished the story this week and took their weekly module test on Tuesday. I am kicking myself for my lesson plans. Too many tests and projects to grade! The book reports have all been given, but I am grading them as I find the time. Sorry.  My goal is to come in this weekend and finish them up if I need to.  They will start this final story in our module on Thursday with the spelling pretest.  We won't be able to get it all done before Thanksgiving break so we will come back to it. 

We had a couple of book reports that dealt with 9-11. We had a good talk today about what happened that day and what it was really like.  I forget they weren't even born yet. So...if your child is asking to see videos of that day- that is the reason. I won't show those here. That is totally up to you as parents. 

Math- Today (Wednesday) they took their practice test. I need to check them. Once I have done that we will go over them . I am thinking the test will be Friday or Monday. It just depends on me grading them.  Our next chapter is multiplying decimals. I will hit a few areas, but not go heavy into this one so that I can get to our division chapter. 

Religion- We started going over each Beatitude and discussing what it means to live them out. They are harder to understand their meanings compared to the 10 Commandments, but I try to explain that Jesus gave us these to find our true happiness because in 2025, we tend to find happiness in a video game, new phone, new car, my job, money, power, etc. We talked about how none of things go to heaven with us so that happiness is just temporary, but living the Beatitudes will find us our true happiness on earth, but also in heaven some day. 

Sicknesses- Thank you for sending wipes, etc to my room. That will be helpful. If your child needs cough drops for their sore throat, cough, or just a scratchy throat- just make sure they stop in and see Mrs. Levine first. She gives me a note from the office to keep with it. They should have their own water bottles and stay away from the drinking fountain for now. I am going to tell them they should take them home every night and wash them- sick or not sick. I am doing the same with mine. Mass was a little noisy with all the coughing ( I was part of that). LOL  Remember they have to be fever free and vomiting free for 24 hours before they can come back. The same goes for strep - they can't come back until they have been on their meds for 24 hours.  I am hoping that the illnesses don't ruin your Thanksgiving breaks, but the time away from each other will be a good thing. 

Sweatpants Fundraiser- They have until December 2 to turn in their $20 if they want to participate. They won't be able to wear sweats on Dec. 3, 8, and 17.  We will have mass on December 8 due to it being a holy day of obligation. We won't have mass on December 10.  NO pajama pants! 

Winter Reminder- Remember once the snow hits, they should be bringing snow boots, snow pants, coats, mittens, and hats. Recess gets to be really long and boring if you can't play with your friends.

Permission Slip- Remember to return the permission slip for going to the high school to practice on December 3. If you've lost it, let me know. We can get you a new one. Thank you!!! 

I won't be sending out a blog next week. Remember we are only having school on Monday and Tuesday. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we all have many blessings to be thankful for this year. I am heading to Waterloo/Cedar Falls. We are having Thanksgiving at Penny's assisted living facility with my siblings and nieces and nephews. Please travel safely to and from your destinations. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Families, I hope everyone is having a great week! I am enjoying these temps much more than what we had over the weekend. 

Calendar Dates: 

Nov. 14- Biz Town Day

Nov. 21- Spirit Day

Nov. 26-Nov. 30- No School/ Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 3 - Christmas Concert

Dec. 5- Spirit Day

Dec. 17- 5th grade mass

Reading- We are finishing up our story this week. They will test over it next Monday. They will also have their post test in spelling on Monday. On Tuesday, we will do the weekly module test.  The grammar for this story is about writing plural nouns. I gave them a "cheat sheet"  for the different rules in spelling them. Based on homework, I don't think many are taking advantage of that tool. I will tell them again to use it on the test, but will have to see if they choose to do it. 

Book Reports- I forgot what it's like to have a big class! We aren't going to get through them as quickly as I thought. I am hoping to do a few every day! 

Math- We are also wrapping up our chapter on multiplication this week and Monday. We will work on the review and test next week. 

Religion- Our next chapter will be over the Beatitudes. The 5th graders don't memorize them like they had to do with the Ten Commandments. We do go over each one and discuss ways to live them each day.  These are hard to understand, but our book does a good job of simplifying them for us. 

Permission Slip- In your child's folder is the form to fill out so we can practice for the Christmas concert at the high school. Please fill it out and return as soon as possible. 

Outdoor Classroom Fundraiser- make sure to check out the flyer in your child's folder. There are some specific rules to follow so make sure you read it carefully.  This is optional- not a requirement! 

Field Trip- I think we are all set. It would be great for the kids and drivers to be at school on Friday by 7:15. Meet in our hallway. I have name tags for the parents going with us!  The address is 6100 Grand Avenue, Des Moines. We usually end up parking in the back unless we get lucky up front!  The kids need to dress for mass day.  If they are on the Construction Crew they may wear jeans and a nice shirt. They will be on the floor working. I would also suggest for the girls- they might choose pants over a dress because of our town meetings where they have to sit on the floor.  They will need a sack lunch and drink that day. We will be back in time for the bus.  Students are allowed to take electronics for the car ride as long as they stay off any social media platform. This also means no picture taking and no texting to others or you (parents). They also need to keep the volume down so as not to bother the driver or others in the car.   I think they are ready to go! They have filled out all their work in their job folders and their bank tracker is set to go! I will post pictures on Friday after we get back.  Illnesses are starting to go around. If your child wakes that morning with a fever or not feeling well, please don't send them to school just to go to Biz Town. I don't want to have to call you from there to come and get them. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend! I am sticking around here this weekend! I am planning on going to the musical at the high school on Saturday night! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma