Thursday, March 27, 2014
The following 5th graders will be attending this year's Young Writer's Conference at Graceland in Lamoni: Samantha Dunphy, Jackson Kinsella, and Katelyn Adair. Mrs. Sickels will be taking them this year. I am sure she will be sending you more information soon. They will be gone on Wednesday, April 9 2014. That is an early out for the school, but these kids will be home later that afternoon. They will need a sack lunch and drink that day! It's usually a fun day!
Hello Parents,
I hope everyone had a great time on spring break! I enjoyed my time in Doon with my mom and family. Now we have about 9 weeks of school left! My mom told me, "You have a lot to do in a little amount of time!" YES!!!!!
Language Arts- This week are reading Lewis and Clark. It is a historical nonfiction piece. Their story comes from the journal they wrote during their trip. In the end they traveled 8,000 miles! Amazing! I think we all agreed that we weren't sure if we could've handled those conditions. We are also working on contractions in grammar. The spelling list is about adding suffixes. Next week we will be working on the unit test. I will also discuss the final book report project next week.
Dollars for Scholars- They are being given the opportunity again to write to win the savings bond. They will start this today with me. This is a project I like to have them work on at school. We brainstorm our given topic first looking for possible things to include in the essay.
Math- They will be testing over this chapter on Friday. On Monday, we will do any needed corrections. I believe on Tuesday we will begin the chapter on fractions. If you're helping your child study for the test, they best thing would be to focus on dividing decimals by a two digit number. If they are dividing money, they need to remember to round their answer to the nearest hundredth or penny. The biggest problems I see right now are that they may not copy the problem down correctly, their multiplying is off, or when they subtract they get too big of a remainder and then just keep going. When it comes to the test, I won't be able to tell them where their mistake is, but I will have them walk me through the work to see if they find their own error.
Today and Friday are the first two days of raising money for the seminary in Nigeria. They were given a paper on Wednesday with the items and prices.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! It sounds like Sunday's temperatures are going to be wonderful!!! Next time you stop at school, make sure to check out the new alley street sign. Father Halbur blessed it as mass and it was hung shortly after.
God Bless, Miss Surma
I hope everyone had a great time on spring break! I enjoyed my time in Doon with my mom and family. Now we have about 9 weeks of school left! My mom told me, "You have a lot to do in a little amount of time!" YES!!!!!
Language Arts- This week are reading Lewis and Clark. It is a historical nonfiction piece. Their story comes from the journal they wrote during their trip. In the end they traveled 8,000 miles! Amazing! I think we all agreed that we weren't sure if we could've handled those conditions. We are also working on contractions in grammar. The spelling list is about adding suffixes. Next week we will be working on the unit test. I will also discuss the final book report project next week.
Dollars for Scholars- They are being given the opportunity again to write to win the savings bond. They will start this today with me. This is a project I like to have them work on at school. We brainstorm our given topic first looking for possible things to include in the essay.
Math- They will be testing over this chapter on Friday. On Monday, we will do any needed corrections. I believe on Tuesday we will begin the chapter on fractions. If you're helping your child study for the test, they best thing would be to focus on dividing decimals by a two digit number. If they are dividing money, they need to remember to round their answer to the nearest hundredth or penny. The biggest problems I see right now are that they may not copy the problem down correctly, their multiplying is off, or when they subtract they get too big of a remainder and then just keep going. When it comes to the test, I won't be able to tell them where their mistake is, but I will have them walk me through the work to see if they find their own error.
Today and Friday are the first two days of raising money for the seminary in Nigeria. They were given a paper on Wednesday with the items and prices.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! It sounds like Sunday's temperatures are going to be wonderful!!! Next time you stop at school, make sure to check out the new alley street sign. Father Halbur blessed it as mass and it was hung shortly after.
God Bless, Miss Surma
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Hello Parents! Well, I would say the auction was a success last Saturday! The 5th grade basket was bought 9 times making a total of $4900! It was simply amazing to watch it get bought and sold so many times. I was in complete awe!! I think Mrs. Sickels was too! We both shed some tears that night. It was an emotional, but giving night! Thank you to everyone!
Language Arts- This week we read a story called Vaqueros: America's First Cowboys. It showed us the history of the cowboy. It all stems back to Christopher Columbus! We had to work on pronouncing some Spanish words. Thank goodness for pronunciation keys! We even learned where the term "buckaroo" came from--do you know??? When Americans tried to say "Vaqueros", it came out "bukera". Later it became buckaroo. I didn't know that! In grammar we are working on using commonly confused words such as: can/may, effect/affect, their, there,they're, lie/lay and more! They have been really trying to say, "May I go to the bathroom?" instead of "Can I go to the bathroom?" We also worked on proverbs and adages again. I am afraid this might be a dying concept. Some had never heard the saying: People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I do plan on covering another story next week even though we have only 4 days. That means there will be a spelling test and a test over the story on Thursday before break. I am hoping it will turn out better than our Christmas tests, but I want to keep them focused as much as I can before break.
Mass-- We have our mass next week Wednesday! You are more than welcome to join us!
Math- This week they are working on dividing larger numbers as well as having zeroes in their quotient. Today we are working on dividing decimals. This will add an interesting twist I am sure. The hardest part for them this week seems to be remembering there could be another number they have to bring down before they can call it finished! They also need to pay attention to the number they get after they do their subtraction. Some of the remainders are too big!
Religion- They are testing today over Chapter 6. This chapter focused on the Sacraments of Christian Initiation and their symbols. We will be looking at Lent next!
Make sure you check out your conference schedule so you remember what day and what time you will be visiting with me! There will be a book fair during conferences as well. Don't forget to set your clocks ahead! Have a good weekend!
God Bless, Miss Surma
Language Arts- This week we read a story called Vaqueros: America's First Cowboys. It showed us the history of the cowboy. It all stems back to Christopher Columbus! We had to work on pronouncing some Spanish words. Thank goodness for pronunciation keys! We even learned where the term "buckaroo" came from--do you know??? When Americans tried to say "Vaqueros", it came out "bukera". Later it became buckaroo. I didn't know that! In grammar we are working on using commonly confused words such as: can/may, effect/affect, their, there,they're, lie/lay and more! They have been really trying to say, "May I go to the bathroom?" instead of "Can I go to the bathroom?" We also worked on proverbs and adages again. I am afraid this might be a dying concept. Some had never heard the saying: People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I do plan on covering another story next week even though we have only 4 days. That means there will be a spelling test and a test over the story on Thursday before break. I am hoping it will turn out better than our Christmas tests, but I want to keep them focused as much as I can before break.
Mass-- We have our mass next week Wednesday! You are more than welcome to join us!
Math- This week they are working on dividing larger numbers as well as having zeroes in their quotient. Today we are working on dividing decimals. This will add an interesting twist I am sure. The hardest part for them this week seems to be remembering there could be another number they have to bring down before they can call it finished! They also need to pay attention to the number they get after they do their subtraction. Some of the remainders are too big!
Religion- They are testing today over Chapter 6. This chapter focused on the Sacraments of Christian Initiation and their symbols. We will be looking at Lent next!
Make sure you check out your conference schedule so you remember what day and what time you will be visiting with me! There will be a book fair during conferences as well. Don't forget to set your clocks ahead! Have a good weekend!
God Bless, Miss Surma
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