Hello Parents, I hope you are having a good week! I believe we are seeing the signs of winter approaching! I know I felt it during recess duty on Wednesday! Brrrrr!

Food Pantry- There was a mix up in the scheduling. They are getting their shipment on Thursday instead of Friday. So the 5th graders won't be helping this week. Thank you to those who have donated shampoo and conditioner! If you can help us out, please do! Donations need to be brought to the school by December 16. 

Reading- So last week they took their first weekly test on their Chromebooks. After a few glitches it went smoothly! They seemed to like it a lot too! The first I've ever heard about test taking!  Even though their tests are on paper, I will continue to fill out the forms I send to you. You will find them in your Take Home Folder. I did talk to them again this week about the difficult topic with this unit. Every story deals with the Revolutionary War and that isn't always the easiest of topics. I talked to them about how we all need to make sure we stay focused. This week's story is about King George. He just couldn't seem to understand why the American Colonists wouldn't pay his taxes. He thought since he was a good king, he should be treated as such. This is the story of the Boston Tea Party as well. King George has all the perks, but can't make any real rules because it is the monarchy that does that, the king no longer holds that power. He seems kind of like he is a little crazy which is what they thought back in that time period. Today he would be diagnosed with porphyria. We also read a short nonfiction piece on the events of the Boston Tea Party. We read of two accounts of men that actually took part in the event. We did talk about how this really was a quieter version of a protest versus some of those we see today. They will test over this on Friday. In grammar we are working on present, past, and future tense verbs. There is some figurative language in our story this week. We focused on idioms on Wednesday. They each chose one and then had to draw the literal version of what it said. We discussed what each one really means. For example: It's raining cats and dogs. They will share their pictures on Friday. You will be able to see them outside our room. 

Math- We are continuing our division work. This week we worked on story problems together and then had to figure out how we can use that remainder. For example: if the problem dealt with food we took that remainder and made a fraction out of it. If it was something like kids going on a camping trip and splitting up into cabins..sometimes you have to get another cabin to take care of the leftover kids. Some of the questions just asked them what was the remainder or those left out. Some asked how many were full. They had to really pay attention to what the question is asking. We might be nearing a test next week!

Religion- They made an 8-page booklet this week. In it we listed ways we could live out the Beatitudes. We had some really GREAT discussions! It also led us into talking about our Bully program. We discussed the bucket fillers and how they should be looking out for kind acts within our room and our school. I told them to keep this booklet. They will be able to use it when we test over this chapter. 

Dec. 16- It is an optional sack lunch day! 

Have a great weekend! Stay warm! 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma