Friday, April 25, 2014
Hello Parents! I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter! I had a great time in Waterloo with my family!
Math- This week they have done quite a bit with fractions. They learned about recognizing equivalent fractions in pictures. They also learned how to create equivalent fractions using multiplication and division. This led them to work on finding the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) with 2 numbers. This will lead them to work on simplifying fractions soon.
Language Arts- The story this week was about a boy named Ruben and his family on a trip to the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Ruben likes to solve mysteries. He figured his goal was to find out why the Puebloan people left this area. He also had a couple of other mysteries to solve that revolved around his sister, a pen, and his notebook. We also read a short story called
"Cave of the Crystals". This cave is in Mexico and has crystals that have are 36-foot and took hundreds of thousands of years to get that big. Both stories were pretty interesting to me. The spelling list is more challenging this week. Many will need to study for Friday's test. This week they focused on suffixes, but the words are more difficult.
Religion- They finished the movie on Wednesday. We will get back to our chapter now. I probably won't test them over this chapter because of the break we took to watch the movie.
Have a great weekend! I am off to Waterloo again for my niece's First Communion.
God Bless, Miss Surma
Math- This week they have done quite a bit with fractions. They learned about recognizing equivalent fractions in pictures. They also learned how to create equivalent fractions using multiplication and division. This led them to work on finding the Greatest Common Factor (GCF) with 2 numbers. This will lead them to work on simplifying fractions soon.
Language Arts- The story this week was about a boy named Ruben and his family on a trip to the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde, Colorado. Ruben likes to solve mysteries. He figured his goal was to find out why the Puebloan people left this area. He also had a couple of other mysteries to solve that revolved around his sister, a pen, and his notebook. We also read a short story called
"Cave of the Crystals". This cave is in Mexico and has crystals that have are 36-foot and took hundreds of thousands of years to get that big. Both stories were pretty interesting to me. The spelling list is more challenging this week. Many will need to study for Friday's test. This week they focused on suffixes, but the words are more difficult.
Religion- They finished the movie on Wednesday. We will get back to our chapter now. I probably won't test them over this chapter because of the break we took to watch the movie.
Have a great weekend! I am off to Waterloo again for my niece's First Communion.
God Bless, Miss Surma
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Dear Parents, Happy Thursday! I hope you are having a great week!
Clean-Up Day- Tomorrow (Friday) we will be taking the kids outside to clean the school grounds. They can wear sweatpants if they wish. We'd like them to bring rakes and work gloves if they have them. Please make sure your family's name is on the rake.
Lap-A-Thon- is set for April 24. I put the fundraising envelope in your child's folder a couple of weeks ago. Those need to be returned by Friday, April 24. Please return them even if your child didn't raise any money. They should wear shorts or sweatpants that day for the run. I told them they can have their headphones that time to listen to music while they run or walk. They should also have a water bottle. I do sometimes suggest a second pair of shoes because sometimes the ones they run/walk in get muddy.
Math- This week they learned to plot fractions on a number line that they had to create. They also worked on identifying whether a story problem had extra or missing information before they solved it. We are going to begin working on equivalent fractions on Friday.
Language Arts- This week's story was a nonfiction piece about how animals travel. We learned that bats work off of echoes. They can tell how fat or juicy an insect is based on the echo! Their spelling words have to deal with the prefixes -con, -com, pre, and -pro.
Religion- We will be celebrating the Seder Meal today with the school.The 5th graders help set that up every year! This is one of my favorite activities that we do in our school. I love all of us getting together to share this meal and remembering what the Jews went through and what Jesus did for us. On Friday, we will do the Stations of the Cross in the chapel. There will also be a short prayer service at the end of the day.
I hope everyone has a BLESSED Easter! My mom and I are heading to Waterloo to celebrate it with my brother and sister and their families. Another sister of mine is driving in from PA to be there too. It should be a busy, but fun weekend!
God Bless, Miss Surma
Clean-Up Day- Tomorrow (Friday) we will be taking the kids outside to clean the school grounds. They can wear sweatpants if they wish. We'd like them to bring rakes and work gloves if they have them. Please make sure your family's name is on the rake.
Lap-A-Thon- is set for April 24. I put the fundraising envelope in your child's folder a couple of weeks ago. Those need to be returned by Friday, April 24. Please return them even if your child didn't raise any money. They should wear shorts or sweatpants that day for the run. I told them they can have their headphones that time to listen to music while they run or walk. They should also have a water bottle. I do sometimes suggest a second pair of shoes because sometimes the ones they run/walk in get muddy.
Math- This week they learned to plot fractions on a number line that they had to create. They also worked on identifying whether a story problem had extra or missing information before they solved it. We are going to begin working on equivalent fractions on Friday.
Language Arts- This week's story was a nonfiction piece about how animals travel. We learned that bats work off of echoes. They can tell how fat or juicy an insect is based on the echo! Their spelling words have to deal with the prefixes -con, -com, pre, and -pro.
Religion- We will be celebrating the Seder Meal today with the school.The 5th graders help set that up every year! This is one of my favorite activities that we do in our school. I love all of us getting together to share this meal and remembering what the Jews went through and what Jesus did for us. On Friday, we will do the Stations of the Cross in the chapel. There will also be a short prayer service at the end of the day.
I hope everyone has a BLESSED Easter! My mom and I are heading to Waterloo to celebrate it with my brother and sister and their families. Another sister of mine is driving in from PA to be there too. It should be a busy, but fun weekend!
God Bless, Miss Surma
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Hello Parents,
I hope you are all having a great week! I like the weather much better this week! We should be finishing up with Iowa Assessments today! The kids did a great job of staying focused during the testing. We should get results back in May. I will let you know.
Emails-- I know the school has been having issues and I thought I was exempt. I am not. I know I have sent out some emails--to family and they haven't received them. If you are emailing me and I am not responding, please let me know!!! Write a note in your child's assignment book. I will look into it!
"The Video" will be watched this Friday!!!!! Some of them are nervous about it. I keep telling them that they will be fine and it will be painless. :)
Religion-They were able to go to reconciliation on Tuesday. Next week during religion I try to focus on it being Holy Week. We will go to the chapel on Good Friday and pray the Stations of the Cross...to remind them of the long walk he took that day and what how he sacrificed his life for us. As a school we will be taking part in the Seder Meal on Thursday. I will be showing the 5th graders the movie The Ten Commandments. This also shows them how the Jews were freed and celebrated with the Seder Meal before their journey in the desert.
Math-- We are working on fractions. This week we spent time changing improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa. They also used Benchmark fractions to estimate about how much of a shape was colored in. We used common fractions like 1/4, 1/2,1/3, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 whole.
Language Arts- Next week we will be back to a normal routine. They will have a spelling test on Monday and again on Friday. They will still have vocabulary words. Their book will be more like a magazine. It has a lot of pictures with short stories or articles. It just depends on the topic. This week they are working in groups writing a story about how their character(s) came to school to discover their teacher is missing! The ones I have read are very cute.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am going to go home to Doon to pick up my mom. She is going to stay with me for the next 3 weeks so that she can go to Waterloo for Easter and a First Communion later this month! Enjoy the nice weather!
God Bless, Miss Surma
I hope you are all having a great week! I like the weather much better this week! We should be finishing up with Iowa Assessments today! The kids did a great job of staying focused during the testing. We should get results back in May. I will let you know.
Emails-- I know the school has been having issues and I thought I was exempt. I am not. I know I have sent out some emails--to family and they haven't received them. If you are emailing me and I am not responding, please let me know!!! Write a note in your child's assignment book. I will look into it!
"The Video" will be watched this Friday!!!!! Some of them are nervous about it. I keep telling them that they will be fine and it will be painless. :)
Religion-They were able to go to reconciliation on Tuesday. Next week during religion I try to focus on it being Holy Week. We will go to the chapel on Good Friday and pray the Stations of the Cross...to remind them of the long walk he took that day and what how he sacrificed his life for us. As a school we will be taking part in the Seder Meal on Thursday. I will be showing the 5th graders the movie The Ten Commandments. This also shows them how the Jews were freed and celebrated with the Seder Meal before their journey in the desert.
Math-- We are working on fractions. This week we spent time changing improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa. They also used Benchmark fractions to estimate about how much of a shape was colored in. We used common fractions like 1/4, 1/2,1/3, 2/3, 3/4 and 1 whole.
Language Arts- Next week we will be back to a normal routine. They will have a spelling test on Monday and again on Friday. They will still have vocabulary words. Their book will be more like a magazine. It has a lot of pictures with short stories or articles. It just depends on the topic. This week they are working in groups writing a story about how their character(s) came to school to discover their teacher is missing! The ones I have read are very cute.
I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am going to go home to Doon to pick up my mom. She is going to stay with me for the next 3 weeks so that she can go to Waterloo for Easter and a First Communion later this month! Enjoy the nice weather!
God Bless, Miss Surma
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Hello Parents,
I hope you are having a nice week! Hopefully those warm temperatures will make a return!
Math- I was pretty pleased with the test scores overall. I promised them at the beginning of chapter 3 that by the time we were done, they would all know how to divide! I think they proved that. Some areas are still tricky, but I think part of that is making sure we are really paying attention to our work and knowing our facts. During their free time, some are using a deck of cards and playing Multiplication War--just like the War card game, but they have to multiply the two cards correctly before getting to keep them. We also started our fractions chapter with a bag of Skittles on Tuesday. They were writing fractions based on the number in their bag and the colors. I think the first thing is to remember the difference between your numerator and denominator.
Language Arts- They are taking their unit test this week. I did assign their next book report. Some are still looking for books to read. They don't seem to like what the library has to offer, so they will need to look elsewhere. They NEED a book by next Wednesday. I just want to make sure they have plenty of time to read the book and take notes before they create their project. I gave them a handout with their 3 choices. These are due May 9, 2014.
Religion- We are focusing on the sacrament of reconciliation right now. This is actually perfect timing because next week they will get the chance to go to reconciliation with Fr. Halbur.
Iowa Assessments starts on Monday. Some suggestions to make it easier on your child...get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast, and breathe! :) They will take some breaks throughout the morning. They won't miss their specials. We will only test in the mornings. Our afternoon schedules will be mixed up, so they will have to be flexible. I am still going to try and get some math and religion in. We will also do some switching so they can still get in science and social studies too, but it won't be every day.
Young Writer's Conference- Wednesday, April 9, 2014. We won't be testing at all on Wednesday. It is also an early out. Those 3 students attending the conference will need to get their homework on Tuesday. They will need a sack lunch and drink on Wednesday as well. Mrs. Sickels will be sending a letter and permission slip.
I hope you are having a nice week! Hopefully those warm temperatures will make a return!
Math- I was pretty pleased with the test scores overall. I promised them at the beginning of chapter 3 that by the time we were done, they would all know how to divide! I think they proved that. Some areas are still tricky, but I think part of that is making sure we are really paying attention to our work and knowing our facts. During their free time, some are using a deck of cards and playing Multiplication War--just like the War card game, but they have to multiply the two cards correctly before getting to keep them. We also started our fractions chapter with a bag of Skittles on Tuesday. They were writing fractions based on the number in their bag and the colors. I think the first thing is to remember the difference between your numerator and denominator.
Language Arts- They are taking their unit test this week. I did assign their next book report. Some are still looking for books to read. They don't seem to like what the library has to offer, so they will need to look elsewhere. They NEED a book by next Wednesday. I just want to make sure they have plenty of time to read the book and take notes before they create their project. I gave them a handout with their 3 choices. These are due May 9, 2014.
Religion- We are focusing on the sacrament of reconciliation right now. This is actually perfect timing because next week they will get the chance to go to reconciliation with Fr. Halbur.
Iowa Assessments starts on Monday. Some suggestions to make it easier on your child...get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast, and breathe! :) They will take some breaks throughout the morning. They won't miss their specials. We will only test in the mornings. Our afternoon schedules will be mixed up, so they will have to be flexible. I am still going to try and get some math and religion in. We will also do some switching so they can still get in science and social studies too, but it won't be every day.
Young Writer's Conference- Wednesday, April 9, 2014. We won't be testing at all on Wednesday. It is also an early out. Those 3 students attending the conference will need to get their homework on Tuesday. They will need a sack lunch and drink on Wednesday as well. Mrs. Sickels will be sending a letter and permission slip.
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