Dear Parents, 
I am writing this on Tuesday because I will be heading to Doon on Wednesday night. My siblings and I will signing the final sale papers for our house in Doon. I am not excited about this at all, but I know it has to be done . Anyway, Mrs. Bearden will be here with the 5th graders on Thursday. 

Reading- This week we started our new unit. This unit focuses on the Revolutionary War. I believe every story will be about a person who played some role in the war. Our story this was called Dangerous Crossing. It is a historical fiction story about John Adams and his son Johnny Quincy Adams and their voyage to France. The war isn't going well for the Americas, so John Adams goes to France to get more help in their fight against England. We also talked a lot about life on a boat when you are at sea for over a month. No plumbing, no showers, etc. Not such a great time.  In grammar we are talking about subject and object pronouns and their antecedents. They will test on Friday over the story and the spelling words. This week in spelling they are looking for the VCCV pattern. Ask your kids what that means! 

Math- We are finishing up our chapter on division. They will do a review on Wednesday. The test will be on Friday. I am telling Mrs. Bearden to make sure they all do the extra practice on Thursday. One thing they need to remember is that any question that starts with the word "about" is asking them to estimate. In division that means using compatible numbers. For example if it is 846➗ 23.  You would round 23 to the nearest 10, making it 20.  Then look at the first digit in the dividend. Can 2 go into 8? Yes, so now you are going to divide 800 by 20 or you could divide 840 by 20. Both 800 and 840 are compatible with 20. There will be no remainder. 

Religion- They will have their religion test over the Beatitudes on Thursday when I am gone. Our next topic will be Advent.

Advent Angels will start on Wednesday. Keep a lookout in your child's folder for information on what we are donating to the Food Pantry this year. Please do what you can to help out. 

Lighted Christmas Parade is on Thursday night. If your child wants to ride our float, let Sarah know in the office. I'm afraid I won't be back in time to watch the parade. 

I hope your week is going well. Have a great weekend! 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma