Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Dear Parents, I hope this week is going well for you! I feel like it is flying by quickly and we only have 4 days! Has everyone finished their Christmas shopping?? Sadly, I am not. 😀

Reading- This week we are reading a story about King George. He was a king who thought what he was doing was just fine and the colonists should be okay with his decisions. He couldn't understand why they were upset about paying taxes on tea and other things. After the Boston Tea Party occurred he decided he would just be more strict thinking that would make them change their minds. Did you know that he really suffered from a disease that caused mental illness? People back then didn't realize it and just thought he'd gone mad. In our grammar lessons we are working on the tenses of verbs-- present, past, and future. On Monday, they made two big lists of present and past tense verbs on the chalkboard... while doing that they hopefully noticed that most of the past tense verbs ended in -ed. Tomorrow morning (Thursday) they will test over their spelling words and a test over the story. When we return from break for those two days, we will do other things. I won't start a new story until the first full week in January. 

Math- They have been working on rounding decimals to the nearest whole number, tenth, and hundredth. The hardest concept for them to understand is that when the directions say round to the nearest tenth or hundredth...the whole number doesn't disappear, Many kids do this....8.718 rounded to the nearest hundredth is 0.02. They also have a hard time remembering that when we say the whole number that means the number in the ones column. I am not sure they totally understand that the decimal part is only part of a whole. 

Religion- This week they went to reconciliation with Father Adam. This was our first experience with him and this sacrament. Congrats to Jace on receiving the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation for the first time! In class we are doing activities around Advent. Yesterday they worked with a partner on writing an Advent Acrostic poem. They also had to compare the season of Advent to some other celebration of their choosing.

Thursday-- Christmas Caroling from 12:15-12:45 in the gym. 
They will need a sack lunch tomorrow. No drink. 
Wear your Ugly Christmas Sweater or Christmas Festive clothing and/or accessories
After the caroling, we will go back to our room to play games. I told the kids they can bring their favorite board game or card game from home. We will have a treat from Melanie for her birthday. 
I also told them the games along with their boots and snow pants would go home over break. It doesn't look like we will be having a white Christmas. 

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! I will be spending it in Waterloo at my brother's house. My sister Eva and her kids will join us from Pennsylvania and my sister and her girls from Waverly. It will be a full house! Merry Christmas!!!! 
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Hello Parents! I hope all is well with you! We are trying to hold on with some normalcy before Christmas break kicks in!

Reconciliation- The 5th graders will have the opportunity to go to confession on Monday with Father Adam. As always the non-Catholics can receive a blessing from him.

Reading - Last Friday we started our new unit. This one is all about the Revolutionary War. The story we are reading is called Dangerous Crossings. It is historical fiction. The main characters are John Adams and his son Johnny. It is about their trip aboard The Boston on their journey to France where John Adams is supposed to meet with King George and discuss getting the French's help with the war. Even though it is fiction, they do include some writings from his personal diary. Their trip is not without some problems: stormy seas, three British ships following them, and a merchant ship which they take over. We also discuss how long it took them to get to France. There was no GPS.  In grammar we are discussing pronouns and the different kinds. They made a notebook page with key information in it that they can use on Thursday for the test. We will be testing on Thursday for the story and the spelling words.

Religion-they finished their Beatitudes chapter. Our next one is learning about the Church calendar which I go over every year with 3-5th. We will then get into an Advent chapter.

Math- we are digging into our decimals chapter. The first lesson was for them to be able to get used to the place value names, especially thousandths. They have also learned to write the value of a digit in a decimal-- telling me what it is worth. This week they learned to write the decimals in expanded form and written form. For example: 2.345 in expanded form looks like (2x1)+(3x1/10)+(4x1/100)+(5x1/1000). In written form it is is two and three hundred forty-five thousandths.  We are also going to be working on comparing and ordering decimals. This is usually a confusing area for some kids. They tend to think that since the decimal has more numbers in it... it must be bigger. 0.3 and 0.003. I do a lot of comparisons with money because it is easy for them to picture that in their heads.

Thursday, December 19- the kids will need a sack lunch for that day. Milk will be provided. If they want to dress up in their ugly Christmas sweater or wear their Christmas accessories-- they are more than welcome to do so! Christmas caroling will begin around 12:15 and go to 12:45. You are welcome to join us. I don't have our afternoon fully planned out, but I know that I am going to give us time to play board games and card games. If they have a favorite game at home and want to bring it to school that day that would be great. They will bring it home that day.  I will also make sure they take home their boots and snow pants for the break. It gives me a chance to clean out the closet. 😉

Advent Angels- During the season of Advent, our students spend quality time with their angels and build great relationships.  Over the years students like to purchase their angel a gift for Christmas. We appreciate the kindness and generosity students show to one another.  We encourage students to keep their gifts small (under $5) and easy for students to take on the bus.  Thank you for your consideration. If you've already purchased gift that is fine, but consider this for the future. 

Christmas Dress Up Days-- Kids can participate if they want to! Monday- Wear Red
Tuesday- Wear Green  Wednesday- Dress Up for mass  Thursday- Ugly Christmas Sweater or Christmas Accessories! 

I feel like I am forgetting something...if I remember what that is, I will send out another blog! Have a great weekend! 
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Monday, December 9, 2019

Happy Monday!!! A few reminders: 1.)Tomorrow students can vote on the decorated doors. Each vote is $1. The civics club is giving the money to a charity they have chosen. 2.) They need to make sure they have their WINTER clothes for recess this week! Tomorrow is going to be COLD!!!! Please bundle up! 3.) This is the last week for bringing in donations for the Food Pantry. Please help out if possible! 

Thanks so much!!! 
Miss Surma 

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I enjoyed my time in Waterloo with my brother and sister-in-law and their kids!

Reading- This week they are taking the unit test. I will send scores home next week. Typically they score higher on this one than the first one. They have the same number of questions but fewer stories to read. We are also starting our new unit on Friday. This way I can get two stories in before we go on Christmas break. Our next unit is a favorite of mine. Every story deals with someone from the Revolutionary War time. If you haven't heard from your child or others, they will also be listening to the songs from the musical Hamilton. The songs are a great of way of telling the story of Alexander Hamilton. If you're ever given the chance, I would go to the musical. It is amazing! One man created the story and wrote the songs. Many are raps. I think that is part of the attraction for the kids. I know some of the boys already know the songs because of their older brothers. :)

Math- They did GREAT on their chapter tests. I wanted to let you know that before Thanksgiving I gave them the exact same test ...as a practice test. We did that on a Friday. On the next Monday we went over every problem and discussed common errors made. I showed them what their grade would be,but it was not something I put in the grade book. Then on Tuesday, they took the exact same test. Everyone's scores improved! Some made huge leaps! Normally, the kids do the chapter review and we go over that, but the conference I attended in Des Moines in September told us that we should have a "dress rehearsal". We shouldn't set the kids up for failure and we should try to address the issues before the test. I didn't let them go home with the test as a study guide though. I don't think they could've memorized answers because they had to show all their work to get the credit. I just found that to be such an A-HA moment! I really think it worked too based on the scores. The kids were shocked to see that it was the same test, even though I had told them it would be. I think there was some relief too. We started our new chapter on decimals on Tuesday! They first learn about the place value names and the value of each one.

Book Reports- I assigned their next report. They should all have a book picked out. This time they had to choose a book that was either a Newbery Winner or a Newbery Honor book. They have the same list of projects to choose from, but this time they must choose another activity. These are not due until January 29, 2020, so they have some time!!!

Writing- This week I assigned their next creative writing assignment. I read the story The Mysteries of Harris Burdick to them by Chris Van Allsburg. They are doing their rough drafts on their chromes this time. To explain it here would be too difficult, but your child can certainly tell you! Their rough draft will be shared to me by Dec. 19. They are to have at least one full page typed. From what they are telling me, these will be great stories! There is a lot of creativity here!

Religion- We are finishing up our chapter this week on the Beatitudes. They will test over it early next week! My plan is to go into a discussion about our church calendar and Advent next.

Spirit Day is Friday! We are also working at the Food Pantry then! 

Advent Angels started on Wednesday! 

Food Pantry Donations- We are collecting personal hygiene products to take to the Food Pantry. If you are able to help out, please send them to school by Friday, Dec. 13. Thanks!!! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know the kids are on the countdown to Christmas break! We wish Sadie and Ethel a safe trip to London and we hope they have a wonderful time!

God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you are having a good week! The temps are certainly much nicer!

Reading- The book reports are done! They did a great job on their projects! This week we are reading our last story in this unit. It is called Cougars. This is a nonfiction informational story. They are learning all kinds of facts about cougars! We are also working on main idea and supporting details. On Tuesday, they worked with a partner to find three details from the story that would support that the mothers care for their young. They also had to prove that cougars have good eyesight. Since this is our last story in the unit, they will do a unit test next. I don't like the idea of doing it next week when we only have two days, but we start it and then finish after break. I will think about this a little more. In grammar we are working on adding quotation marks and commas. I told the kids that the company doesn't make it hard because they leave these gaping holes on their worksheets making it very obvious. It won't be like that on the test. They will need to look to find the one that is written correctly.

Math- This week they are continuing their work with division, but on Monday we had to decide how to use the remainder. Did it become a fraction? Do we just drop it or do we need to bump up the answer by one. On Tuesday, we had to adjust the quotient. They gave them a number to start with in their answer. They had to decide if it would work or not. If it didn't, they had to adjust their answer. This lesson brings out the frustration and I warned them about that possibility. They did pretty well with the 6 problems in their assignment. Wednesday's worksheet maybe more of a challenge. I have also seen some do some of the work and then just give up and fill in an answer when it is multiple choice. We don't want that come test time, or they will have a greater chance of having to correct it with me. They just need to slow down, erase, and try again. I think it will be difficult for some on the test because they don't like having to find where they messed up on homework. They come to me. During the test, I won't do that for them. They will need to figure out where the mistake is in their work. I am planning on testing over this chapter before we leave for break unless something happens that I cannot.

Religion- We are working on our chapter on the Beatitudes now. We focused on getting ready for mass on Monday and Tuesday! They did an awesome job by the way! We also enjoyed a visit from Father Phillip, the new priest in Greenfield. Today we read about a saint named Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. He is known as a "man of the beatitudes". He helped many people. He even accepted money as his graduation gift from his dad instead of a car. That money he gave to other people to help them. He is definitely a good role model.

Spirit Day-- This Friday! 

Geography Bee- The first round will be on Tuesday for the 4-8th graders. The top 10 kids will then move on to round 2, which we usually do in December. If your child makes it to the second round, you are welcome to come and watch. Most times we have it after a mass in the gym.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I won't post a blog next week due to Thanksgiving break. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. There is much to be thankful for in our lives. My plan is to head to Waterloo and spend it with my brother and his family. I probably should do some baking this weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving!
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you are enjoying your January weather in November! Me? Not so much! I am not ready for these temps!

Math- This week they are learning the standard algorithm for division. We started on Tuesday with doing some division one problem at a time. So far they are doing well. They remember the steps of division, but I am trying to teach them some easier tricks to estimating to start the problem out. So far the problems haven't been too big so they are able to easily get an estimate. They are also doing well at explaining to me why a larger number wouldn't work.

Reading- This week we read a historical fiction  story called Storm Warriors. It takes place in the 1800s. It is about a group of men whose job it was to rescue people from their ships during storms. I am guessing kind of like the Coast Guard does now. They didn't have the equipment we do today. In this story the ship was 30 yards off the coast and they had to swim out to them to save them. The main character Nathan wants to be a surfman, but thinks he isn't courageous enough to do the job. Through the story he is saving people by helping them once they reach the beach. He has read many medical books, so he knows first aid. He soon realizes he does having the makings for being a surfman. We all enjoyed this story!  In grammar, we are continuing with subordinating conjunctions and complex sentences. I gave them a list of words that can be used as subordinating conjunctions. They can use this list on homework and the test on Friday.  Our spelling list is interesting this week because it is all compound words. Did you know that it can be a compound word even if there is a space between them?  Light bulb is one example. Some of the words have hyphens too.

Religion- We are just starting our new chapter. We are covering the Beatitudes. This will be pretty detailed because they have to come up with ways to live them. The won't have to memorize them.

Spirit Day- We have three spirit days this month! This Friday is one! They can wear sweats for $1!

Artist in Residence- Next week each grade will be helping to create our art project. It will be displayed outside Mrs. Stoner's room. I will be excited to see what they come up with!

This week in our class meeting time I gave each kid a sheet of paper with everyone's name on it, They  had to come up with a positive word to describe each person. Then they cut them into slips and put them in the envelope with the person's name on it. I am taking them and creating a poster of them. I will hang them up in our room once all of them are done. They will get the envelope back to see all the descriptions as well! They were so excited to see what people said about them. I need to get to work on it ,or they will be after me for sure!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am helping with the high school's musical so I will be there all weekend! I hope some of you can come! I have yet to see the entire play, but I will!
God Bless,
Miss Surma


Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Dear Parents, I hope this week finds you well! Happy Halloween! I hope the week is going well. It feels like a busy one that's for sure!

Reading- This week we read a section from the book Old Yeller. I told them they can read it for our next book report, but that isn't for awhile so I wouldn't start it today! The section we read deals with Travis and his mom attempting to rescue his younger brother from a bear. Arlis is holding onto the paw of a bear cub and won't let go even though he is scared. We talked a lot about dialect in this story and I tried to explain that it isn't their "accent", it is how they say a word or phrase something. It can be regional. I told them when I moved to Creston I noticed quite a few people saying "warsh" instead of "wash".  We also talked about how Travis changed his feelings for his brother and the dog by the end of our story.

In grammar we are working on direct and indirect objects. They are taking notes in a notebook. I told them they can use the notes during the test on Friday because they will have to be able to pick them out from the sentence and it does get confusing on remembering which is which.

Book Report- Their first project is due on November 14.


Math- On Monday and Tuesday, I taught them a new strategy to divide with double digit divisors by using partial quotients. They are basically dividing by 10 until they can't any longer. I would say the majority thinks it is super easy and likes this method. I did tell them this work is to be done at school, not at home. I didn't want to freak any parents out! 😉Although, your kids might try to teach you. As I told them, I will teach them the standard algorithm, but for the test...they can use either one. Both ways will come up with the same answer, but this new strategy does take more paper. I won't be surprised if they change their minds once they do the standard way.  For those kids who struggle with basic facts and estimating, this is really a great strategy!

Religion- They are now finished with the Glorious Mysteries and will be working on the Joyful Mysteries. Their posters are very cool. They are being hung up outside my room.
Don't forget- mass is on Friday this week for All Saint's Day! Dress Up on Friday! 

Social Studies- Mark your calendar! The projects are due on Monday! Just bring them in that morning. We usually put them in Mrs. Mitchell's room. There will be an Iowa History Fair on Wednesday from 2:00-2:45

Cell Phones- Just a reminder that if the kids bring a cell phone to school, it is to stay in their bag and off once they get on school property. This hasn't been an issue for my kids, but we are all putting the reminder out there. 

Halloween Parade is at 2:30 in the gym! All are welcome! 

Thanks to Heidi Rohrig for supplying the kids with pumpkins to paint in art! They will bring them home on Thursday! They had a fabulous time! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I have no real plans which is really nice actually! Next week is conference week. Make sure you have picked your time and day to come and visit with me! 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Hello Parents! I hope all of you are doing well! Mrs. Sickels and I really enjoyed our conference in Des Moines this week. We learned so so much! We will be passing it on to the rest of the staff.

Reading- This week we are reading a story about tree kangaroos. This story is nonfiction. It was about a group of scientists trying to track them. Once they were able to capture two of them, they put radio transmitters on a collar that went around their neck. This way they could gather information about them. The tree 'roos live in Papua New Guinea. Our skill this week was on cause and effect. On Wednesday, I gave them a situation and they had to come up with the cause of that and the effect from it. Their focus in grammar is verbs. They are working on verb tenses, helping verbs, and main verbs. They will test over this tomorrow since we don't have school on Friday. Next week will be a normal week in reading.

Math- Since I was gone I had them just keep practicing division with a single digit divisor. Tomorrow they will be doing a division scavenger hunt! I will take pictures and post on Facebook. Next week we will move on in the chapter. Our next lesson will be another strategy for division, but they will only do  it at school! This one will be on partial quotients. I will have them work on it in the classroom with me because I don't want to freak you guys out! 🤣🤣 I am sure you could get it, but it is something new and you most likely were never taught this way. I am not dissing your math skills! If you want to learn this way, I will gladly teach you! I really like it! Most times they learn it and go back to the standard algorithm.

Religion- This week they worked in small groups to draw and color a picture to represent each of the Sorrowful Mysteries. They are going to share them on Thursday and then will be given a new one to do. The posters will be on display in the hallway. You can check them out during conferences.

Halloween- Next Thursday we will celebrate Halloween in the afternoon. They will run through the Civics Club activities. The parade will be at 2:30 in the gym. They should bring their costumes to school that day. They should be easy enough that they can handle getting into them unless you are coming to help.

Mass- There is no mass next Wednesday at school. We will have it instead on Friday, November 1st for All Saints Day. They will have to dress up on Friday. Thank you to all that were able to make it to our mass and join us for the reception today! 

Social Studies- Mrs. Sickels has read all of their rough drafts for their Iowa history papers. They are now working on fixing errors. The final paper needs to be printed. The paper and the 3D project are due at school on Monday, November 4. Mrs. Sickels will have the Iowa History Fair in the gym on Wednesday, November 6 from 2:00-2:45 for you to come and check them all out! They can invite their grandparents or special guests as well! If you miss that day, they will also be on display during conferences. They will start sharing their projects in class the next week. 

Prayers are going to my uncle and his kids this week. They put him in hospice care on Monday.

I hope everyone has a great 3 day weekend! After our PD in Des Moines, I am heading back home. There is a craft show on Saturday in my hometown, plus my siblings and I are going to surprise our oldest brother Carl with a dinner for his 60th birthday! Shhhh.... don't tell. It will be fun to be together again!
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544a5aa23a2ff2-5thgrade2
 Please take a minute to sign up for your child's conference!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0544a5aa23a2ff2-5thgrade2

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you had a great weekend! I was able to catch my nieces from Waterloo play some soccer on Sunday in Des Moines.  I always enjoy watching, but am not a fan of the colder temps while watching!

Math-  I wanted to explain that I attempted our first online test in math. I can't say I was much of a fan. The harder part for me is the going back to score their work online. It would have been easier if I had just chosen a test that is 25 multiple choice questions, but I am not a huge fan of those. I like the ones where they have that and fill in the blank. The kids have to show their work no matter what test I give them. I just had to keep going back and scoring. Then I had to look back again. It was just more of a hassle. I will need to think about this. It does give great information after their tests are completely scored.  There was one problem everyone missed when it came to writing the expression. They needed to include brackets and parentheses in order to get the correct answer. If they only do the parentheses then it messes up with using the rules for solving expressions and their answers were much lower. Our next chapter starts right off with division with a single digit divisor. In chapter one they learned two new strategies for division problems. This will be the standard algorithm-- the way you and I learned it. Now, they may ask for help and tell you ,"That's not how Miss Surma does it." It probably is the same, but our vocabulary could be different. I usually hit a little wall in this chapter. They forget from last year how to divide, so we have to start from scratch it seems. I always have one or two that think they will never get division. They will. It just takes time and practice. Knowing their math facts is a big help so that is something they could practice at home with you or even in the car.

Veteran's Day- On Tuesday, they worked with the 4 year olds in Mrs. Dinham's room to create a paper chain flag. I posted pictures on my Facebook page. It looks really cute! They did a great job together! The 5th graders are also making cards for the veterans that show up to our program.

Reading- This week they are taking their unit test. This is a benchmark test and typically is pretty hard. I won't be shocked if scores aren't great.  I decided that on Friday we would start our next unit. That means they will have a spelling pretest and read a new story. Next week we don't have school on Friday, so that means the test will be moved to Thursday. Starting on Friday means I won't have to cram it in 4 days. We also started sharing our Halloween stories. They are being posted outside my room. If you are coming to the Spaghetti Supper on Saturday-- take a look!

Religion- This week we are focused on learning our prayers. We also have mass next week with the 3rd and 4th graders. Not everyone will get a part. Ask your child, they will know! We are having a doughnut and coffee reception for grades 3-5 and their parents/guests after mass next week. If you can join us, that would be great! 

Paint Shirt- The 5th graders will need to have a paint shirt on October 30th. I believe that is a mass day as well. They will be painting pumpkins in art class that day! I don't want them to get paint on their mass clothes. 

Spaghetti Supper is on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 5-7 pm. I believe they are still looking for workers. Sign up with the PTO if you can help out! I will see you at the dessert table! I am working the first shift! 🍝🍝🍝

No School on Friday, October 25. We have professional development that day! 

There will be substitute on Monday and Tuesday of next week. Mrs. Sickels and I will be in Des Moines attending a conference. I will be back on Wednesday. 

Our prayers go out to Taylor and her family with the loss of her great grandpa. This class has experienced a lot of loss in the last couple of months. I pray for some peace and a break for awhile. 🙏

Spirit Day on Friday! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend. My oldest sister Mary is coming down on Friday for the weekend. She lives in Sioux Falls, SD. My sister Penny is from Waverly. She is a "maybe" at this point. It will be some good sister time no matter what! ❤
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Dear Parents, I hope you are having a good week! Please make sure your kids have a jacket or coat for Friday. Those temps will be cold for the parade!

Spirit Day- This Friday is Spirit Day. They can wear hats and/or sweats for $1. They can also wear their black and red if they'd like to for homecoming. 

Fire Safety- The fire station will be here on Thursday to give a presentation to the 3-5th graders in the afternoon.  They will also be participating in the Fire Poster Contest later. 

Reading- This week they read the story called Elisa's Diary. Elisa has moved to the USA from Puerto Rico. She has trouble speaking English. She is afraid of being embarrassed. She meets Diego who came from Guatemala. He can speak the English language, but struggles writing it. The two of them help each other learn the area that is difficult for them. Elisa grows up to become a teacher. She teaches her students about working together to succeed. Last week they worked on common and proper nouns. It proved to be difficult for some of them. There were a lot of corrections and some of them didn't do that well on Friday's test with them. This week we continue working on nouns. This time they are writing plural nouns. I am stressing that spelling matters this week because we have different rules for different words. We can't just add -s to all the words to make them plural.

This is our last story in this unit. That means next week they won't have a spelling test. They will have a Unit 1 test. I spread this out over the 4 or 5 days. The first one is usually pretty challenging for them. They need to take their time and not rush. I don't have a set time limit so there is no reason to rush.

Math-They will test over Chapter 1 on Monday. Our book  has an Extra Practice page for them. I will strongly recommend they work on that this weekend just to remind themselves of everything this chapter covers. There is a lot. I will also give them a "cheat sheet" to remind them of everything. They can look at it while taking the test. We will see how they do on Monday. They may need to finish it on Tuesday.

Religion- They finished Chapter 2. We will start our work on the Rosary next. They will be given a paper with two prayers on it. One is the Apostle's Creed and the other is Hail Holy Queen. We say this at the beginning and end of the Rosary. They will need to memorize them and recite them to me. I have a feeling many of them already have them memorized so this could go faster than I think. Once the prayers are done, they will work on knowing the mysteries of the Rosary.

Halloween Stories- I have edited all of them. They have them back and are typing up their final drafts. I  gave them their due dates. Many have already finished typing them up and shared them with me. We will be sharing these next week. They will be reading them aloud. I plan on hanging them in the hallway so you can read them at the Spaghetti Supper on the 19th!

Book Reports- All of them have chosen their books. Their report is due on November 14. Some of them need to do some reading. I know I have some who are choosing to work on Dreambox rather than read their books. I am going to be putting my thumb down a little more as we work through October so they aren't scrambling on November 13.

Homework- I have been talking to your kids. I have a few kids who keep turning in their work with maybe one or two problems not done. I haven't been giving late slips for that, but I do count them wrong. I talked to them about needing to care about their work and making sure everything is answered because while it may only be a point or two now, in middle school and high school that will add up and work against them for their grade. I have been having the same issue with homework that needs to be corrected. Some of them correct one or two of things they missed,but not all. So I have been giving it back a second time, but that is all I am going to do. They won't get a third chance. They need to put some effort in to it and not be more concerned with... I don't want homework.

Friday is a 3 hour early out! We are not serving lunch. 

Panther Pancakes on Friday from 7-8:30 am at STM! Come join us! 

We finished our 2nd Mr. Terupt book on Wednesday during art. We have one more to go in the series. This one is called Saving Mr. Terupt. The 5th graders are already trying to predict what the plot will be for this book! 😊 I better start thinking of the next read aloud! I hope it will compete with these!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Enjoy the parade on Friday! I won't be watching... I scheduled a haircut for the same time. 😒 Stay warm!!!!
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you are having a good week. I would like to send our condolences to Kennedy's family with the loss of her Great Grandmother Martha.  The kids have been great again with the support for Kennedy and the continued support for Sadie. I am very proud of them!

Reading- So our week started off wonky because I didn't assign the test on Friday correctly. So, on Monday they had to redo it! Scores were better than I had expected overall. The third week there is always a cold read test. They get a new story to read to themselves and then answer the questions. The nice part with this one is they can always go back to the story and look up answers. The story they are reading this week is called Double Dutch. This was our first nonfiction story. It is about a group of girls who create a Double Dutch team  at their school and then take part in some competitions. The grammar this week has been focusing on common and proper nouns. They are having to pick them out of sentences and tell me whether they are common or proper. They are also having to write sentences and capitalize the proper nouns in them. This can be a little tricky at times. They will also be working with titles and abbreviations.

Math- This week we took on orders of operations. It seemed pretty simple for them as they worked with on problems on Tuesday, but they were having issues with remembering they need to work from left to right. We are working on it some more on Thursday. I didn't feel comfortable leaving it to Mrs. Struble on Wednesday when I was gone because I wanted to be there to answer any of the questions. When it comes to math...I'd rather they ask me for help so I know what is confusing them. They will be adding braces and brackets to it on Friday. We are nearing the end of this first chapter. It is so packed with all kinds of different things. I will give them a  "cheat sheet" for the test. It is just a guide to remind them of all the different things we did in this chapter. I know it is a lot to remember.  They could end up testing next week, but I will see how these orders of operation lessons continue.

Religion- They worked on posters to represent each of the seven sacraments. They are going to share those on Thursday. We will be finishing up the chapter and then testing over it too. During the month of October we close the book and focus on the Rosary. They need to memorize two prayers-- which I think they already know. They also need to know all the mysteries. We work on this  in class with different things. Plus we will go to the chapel to pray the Rosary. I usually do that on Fridays.

Food Pantry- We are working this Friday with the 3rd graders. It will be their first or second time I believe.

Homecoming- Next Friday, Oct. 11 is a 3 hour early out. There won't be lunch served that day. The kids can wear their Panther gear!

Panther Pancakes- We are doing this in place of Donuts and Muffins! So, next Friday, come to eat pancakes with your kids before school and celebrate homecoming!!! Breakfast will be served from 7-8:30. 

Veteran's Day- We will be having a Veteran's Day program. The 5th graders will be making thank you cards. They are also going to do an activity with Mrs. Dinham's 4 year old preschoolers. I haven't told the kids yet, but I know they will be so excited!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! The temps will feel like fall, I think! I need to check the "lake" in my backyard! All this rain is making my sump pumps work overtime!

God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope everyone enjoyed Balloon Days even though it rained! I had a great time with all my nieces! I got some great snuggles from my great niece Rosie who is only 4 months!

Mass-  Next week, we are doing the rosary at 8:50 and then having a prayer service at 9:15. Father Adam will be back the following week!

Spirit Day- This Friday is a spirit day. They can wear sweats and or a hat for $1! The weather might be perfect for that! 

Color Run is this coming Sunday at McKinley Park at 2 pm.

The memorial service for Travis Morgan is set for Saturday at 10 am at Powers Funeral Home. Visitation is from 9-10 am. 

Reading- This week they read a story about two 5th graders running for class president. They each have to give a speech before the voting. We discussed how Miata uses formal language and really wants to do good things for the school. Rudy uses informal language, doesn't really follow school rules, and he wants to do things that are more fun for the school, but realistically won't happen. We also picked a part the author's word usage and found examples of similes throughout as well as idioms. I created sheets with idioms on them and they had to draw and color a picture to match what it says...not the literal meaning of those. They were giggling over their choices. They will share those on Thursday. In grammar this week they are focusing on finding the complete subject and complete predicate in a sentence. They will test over the story and spelling words on Friday. 

Math- Tuesday was a more challenging lesson. They are solving division problems using multiplication and the distributive property. They discovered there are lots of steps that have to written down, but I also told them, "Now you can't say to me, I forgot how to divide because now they have another strategy to use! " I am not really sure if that made them happy or sad. 


Book It- This will start next Tuesday. They will get their calendar on that day. The goal for October is 600 minutes. That is about 20 minutes per day. They will have to decide between Pizza Hut and Pizza Ranch when they meet the goal at the end of the month.

Sub- I am gone on Friday to attend the bishop's ordination mass in Des Moines. Linda Taylor will be here.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! It's been a tough couple of weeks. Hopefully we will see some brighter days in the future. Our continued prayers for Ethel and Sadie. 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you are having a good week. I am so ready for fall temps.


McKinley Park Day- Just a reminder your kids will need a sack lunch on Thursday for our field trip. They will also need a drink. We also want the kids to each have an extra water bottle with them for the day. Please pack that with their name on it.  They should wear tennis shoes because they will be doing a lot of walking. We will be touring the historical complex first. Later they will be playing disc golf. We are planning on being back between 1-2 pm.

Reading- Due to our short week, I decided to assign them their first book report. They were given a packet with 8 different options for their project. It is not due until November 14...so they have awhile. They don't have to start immediately. They get to choose their book.  It can't be something they've read before or heard before. It has to be a chapter book. They should show it to me to make sure it is okay.  IF we don't go to the park on Thursday due to weather, I will probably start the next story.

I also assigned them to write their rough draft for their Halloween story. We are just getting a big start on projects this week. Their rough draft will be due next Thursday, Sept. 26. I turned on some kids' Halloween music to inspire them, but they ended up singing along! 😄😄

Religion- They had their test this week. We aren't really starting a new chapter yet because I am having them practice for mass on Wednesday. Just a reminder that mass is at 9:30 instead of 9:15. 

Math- This week they are working on multiplication by single digit numbers. They are also working on multiplying double digit numbers. I am thinking most of this should really be review. I believe they did that last year. They are also working on estimating their products.

Substitute- I will be gone on Friday, Sept. 27. Each parish was given 16 tickets to the Bishop's ordination mass. Father Adam told us we could enter our name into the drawing. I was a lucky winner! I get to go to attend the mass for the new bishop of our diocese. I am pretty excited since I teach about Holy Orders in religion class, but don't really know what that mass entails for them. I am excited to be able to come back and tell the kids all about it! The mass is at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Des Moines.

No school on Friday! PD Day for teachers! Enjoy your day!

Our continued prayers go out to Travis, Ethel, and Sadie Morgan. ❤🙏🙏🙏

I am heading to Waterloo this weekend. My niece Emily has her senior homecoming and she made the homecoming court. I am also going to see her sister Grace who plays soccer for Loras College. Pretty sure I get to babysit my great nieces Gracie and Rosie too! Enjoy Balloon Days! I hope the weather cooperates!
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Hello Parents, Happy Thursday! I hope you're having a good week!

Religion- The 5th graders will have a test on their first chapter on Monday, Sept. 16. They will have a study guide to look over to prepare for it. It is also their mass week. They have been given their parts. IF they have a reading part, they should be practicing at home with you. Our mass will be at 9:30 due to having a substitute priest since Father Adam will be gone.

McKinley Park Day- Next Thursday, Sept. 19 the entire school  K-8 will be going to the park for a day of learning and activities. Jan Lesan is in charge of the day. Your kids will need a sack lunch that day. They should also wear tennis shoes because they will be doing some walking while there! There is a letter coming home in their folders. Please check it out! Thanks!!!


No school on Friday, Sept. 20. The teachers have professional development that day! 

Spirit Day this Friday! They can wear sweats or a hat or both for $1! They can also show their team support. I know it is the big Cy-Hawk Game this weekend. I will be supporting the purple and gold! :)

Math- This week they are working on the properties in addition and multiplication. We do a lot with the Distributive Property. I told them this gives them a taste of algebra. They are also getting some experience with exponents and the powers of 10. They liked that lesson. Thought it was pretty easy! By the end of the week we will be half way through our first chapter!

Band- Band lesson times have now been set. Some are on Monday and others on Thursday.  5th graders have group band on Mondays and Thursdays. The 5th graders will not have lessons this week Thursday because Mrs. Stoner is trying to see all the new 4th graders.

Reading- This week they read a story called The Royal Mystery. It was about 2 girls who were tentmates at a summer camp. Rena is pretty quiet and doesn't share a lot about herself. Althea is very outgoing and determined to figure Rena out! It is much like the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.  It is written like a play with different scenes. The 5th graders really got into the roles! It was fun listening to them read it aloud. They can share the mystery with you! In grammar we are discussing the different kinds of sentences and the correct punctuation to use with them. I have a book called Yo! Yes? that I make them read to me aloud. Each page has one word with punctuation. So we make sure they say the word with the appropriate inflection. It's a fun little picture book to read.  They will have a spelling test on Friday as well as the test over the story.


I feel like I am forgetting something, but cannot think of it! Oh well! Have a great weekend!
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! I did!  I was able to get some work done at school and home. I spent a day shopping in Des Moines with Mrs. Levine. We always have a good time!

Safety- On Tuesday afternoon I took the 5th graders on a walk to our safety location at the O'Riley Center. I explained to them we would do this if for some reason we had to evacuate the building. We did talk a little about intruders in the building, but we also talked about if there was an accident with the train. They already know two ways to get there due to working at the Food Pantry. I took them on another route by the post office. I told them that we now have 3 ways to get there. They were really good about it. They did come up with their own ways of handling a school shooter, but I told them we are going to pray that that never has to happen! I told them I didn't want them scared, but we also know this is becoming a part of life, sadly.

Math- On Tuesday we learned to take a number and multiply it by 10 but also to divide it by 10. They figured out that by multiplying they were adding another 0 on to the number. We we divide a number loses a 0. My examples were like this... "Rhett, you go the bank with $200 and they tell you they will multiply your money by 10! How much do you walk out with? $2000.  Donald, you walked in with $200 too. They told you they had to divide it by 10. How much do you walk out with ? $20.

Reading- We read the story last Friday and again on Tuesday. This story cracks me up! It made them laugh too. Ask them to tell you about it. We talked about irony and how sometimes there are really two meanings. They have a vocabulary packet that is due on Thursday. Their spelling test and the test over the story will be on Friday. In grammar they are writing complete sentence with a subject and a predicate ( a noun and a verb) .

FAST testing begins next week. This week they are doing a practice run each day with a partner to see how many words they can read correctly in one minute. The Fall goal for 5th graders is 133 words. Many of them were over that on the first run! That is a great sign! This information we use to see if kids need any reading interventions done during the week with me.

Religion- we start our year going over the Bible and finding passages in it just to remind ourselves how we locate readings.  Our first chapter deals with the story of creation, but also the Holy Trinity. There will be pictures displayed on the wall to show this next week. Check them out if you are in the school. Our first mass is on the 18th. I will give them their parts next week so they know what they are doing and can practice any reading parts

Travis Morgan benefit- There is a letter going home in folders on Thursday. Check it out. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Sorry it isn't three days this time! I hope to see some of you at the benefit on Saturday. 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Thursday, August 29, 2019

In your child's take home is a book order form. If you want to order something, return to school by next Friday, Sept. 6. You can also order online through my classroom. You will need a code. That is DVT3G. I will receive an email that you placed one online.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Dear Parents, Hello and welcome to 5th grade! I hope this week has been going well and everyone is getting into the routine of school life again! I am glad to be back with the kids. I had a great summer, but am ready for a routine.  I do my blog on Wednesdays and will post it to Facebook as well. The blog you receive will come to your email on Thursday mornings. I think it shows up really early. On here, I will keep you informed of things we are doing in our subject areas and I will let you know of upcoming events whether they are happening in our room or in the school.

Reading- This week they started with a pretest. This just gives me an idea of their basic skills. We will start our first story on Thursday. We have a weird schedule since we started on a Friday and next week is only 4 days. Normally, we do a story a week. So...this week they will have their spelling pretest on Thursday, and I will give them their post test in spelling next Thursday. I am spreading the work out for the next week. We will continue to take the weekly tests online. That will happen next Friday. They will do vocabulary words each week. I tend to change how they do those each week. They won't start with bonus words in spelling. I base that off their first few weeks of their pretest scores. I will let your child know if they will be getting them. I will also shorten the lists for the post tests for those I see who really struggle.

Handwriting-- we don't have a handwriting book. In my room they write in cursive for all subjects except math. There will be times I tell them to write in print. This cursive writing is their handwriting book in a way. They will do it everyday!

Technology- On Monday I got them on their chrome books and we bookmarked Google Classroom and Quizlet.  I can use Google Classroom when I have a class wide assignment that I want them to do or if there is a link I want all of them to go to online. I believe they will use it with Mrs. Sickels as well because their Iowa history class is online now, it is no longer in print.  Quizlet I use in reading. I post their vocabulary and spelling words there. They can get on it during their free time to practice knowing both!

Spirit Day- The first one is this Friday! The students can pay $1 for wearing sweats or a hat or both! The cost is only $1 even if they do both! 😁 The money we raise will be helping to STM families. 💙💛

Substitute- I will be gone next Wednesday afternoon. I will be going to a PLC meeting in Des Moines for the religion teachers. Mrs.  Cline will also be going. This is our face to face meeting, but every month I will attend the meeting online. This will only be once a month that we do this and only in the afternoons. 

Back to School Picnic- Next Wednesday, Sept. 4 from 6-7. There will be a flyer going home in folders with more information on it! I believe each family brings a dish! Look at the flyer for the details!

DEAR Time- I am currently reading the book called Because of Mr. Terupt. I read it last year for the first time. It is a wonderful book. I told your kids they would love it! Today I think they finally caught the hook! It is a 5th grade classroom and there are about 5-7 kids. They tell the story from their own point of view. Today my kids figured out that all of these kids come from backgrounds that aren't all happy. That life can be tough for different reasons. Right now they all dislike/ hate Alexia. She is pretty much a bully. There are three books in the series. I will read them all to them! They will watch the class grow. Your kids are very involved in the book and making their own predictions and judgments about it. I LOVE IT!!!  This is probably my favorite part of the day! 

Preschool lunch- Lesha showed them what they would do every day. There will be two people who go every day for a week. The next week its two more. They have two carts they will take down and bring back. We did tell them this was my idea...that I thought they could handle the task. We did also tell them that there be no messing around or they are off the list to help out. I have badges they will wear on the job. There is a schedule made out for the entire year. If they don't like doing it, they can let me know and I will readjust it. I think they are pretty excited. 

Mass- Just so you know now, Father Adam is going to Europe in September. He has a sub priest coming in on the 18th and 25th. Those mass times we are going to move to 9:30 so that priest can get here. The 5th grade mass is on Sept. 18. 

It has been a good week! I think we are establishing some routines to our day! I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the 3 days off. I plan on sticking around and doing some work here at school, but also head to Des Moines for some shopping!  I know it's the big ISU vs UNI game and with that I will say.... GO PANTHERS!!!! 💜💛💜

God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Hello Parents, Well, it is my final letter of the year. There isn't much to tell you so it will be short.

Math- We did some more work adding and subtracting mixed numbers. They still need the practice. Some of them aren't understanding simplifying fractions. I know they will get more practice with fractions next year in Mrs. Cline's math class, but if there is ever a reason to add or subtract fractions or mixed numbers this summer....have them solve it for you! The extra practice can't hurt.

Reading- We did a quick writing activity this week. I usually do this in January, but our winter was not cooperative! I read them the the book The Mysteries of Harris Burrdick by Chris Van Allsburg. Inside are 14 pictures along with a title and caption for each. They had to create a story based on that title and include the caption somewhere in their story. They wrote them on their chrome books on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they had to pair up and edit them. Then they sent them to me. I did a quick edit of them so they could read them aloud on Thursday.  (They don't know this yet, but when they share them, we are also having a popcorn buffet).  Mrs. Sickels and I are getting popcorn for our kids. I am offering toppings to the 5th graders to go with their popcorn. Shhh....it's a surprise. 😉😉 This is one of my favorite activities to do with them. I am sorry it had to be rushed, but they did a great job of getting to work and creating their story. I will send home their story in their folders.

We will be cleaning out their desks on Thursday before they go home. They should have an empty book bag when they come to school so they can take their stuff from their desks and lockers home with them. 

Friday- We will have mass at 9:15 as usual. This is Father's last mass. We will also be celebrating Kay Boden's retirement.  After mass, Mrs. Simmons will recognize the middle school students and their participation in activities. After that there will be a cookie reception.  The students will have lunch at their normal times. The Glynn family is providing the main part of our meal by grilling out! We love this tradition, but it is probably the last time since Reese graduated! In the afternoon, we will do our Field Day activities. The 5th graders should make sure to wear tennis shoes, no sandals.  We will have a Clap-Out for the 8th graders at 3:00. After that the kids will go home as usual.

I  am working on progress reports. They will be done by June 3.

I hope everyone has a great summer! If you are traveling, have fun, but be safe! Enjoy the weather, sleeping in, spending time with family and friends. I will say...read a book once in awhile! Go to church. Visit the library.  Do some math problems! 
I leave on Tuesday to fly out to my sister in PA. My nephew graduates from high school next Thursday. I will be there for 11 days! I can't wait!!!  I plan on reading books too! I will most definitely spend time with my family. I will be taking a writing class in August. 
Thank you for choosing St. Malachy. Thank you for allowing me to spend a year with your kids. I think they did some growing up and learned some new things. This is a class full of talent! I am excited to see what they do next in middle school. I wish them all the best! 😊😊
Happy Summer Vacation!
God Bless,
Miss Surma


Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope you are having a good week. We won't even discuss the weather. :)


Reading- This week our reading and religion time has been used for play practice.  The play is this Friday at 2:15 in the gym. 

Costumes:
 Judge- mass clothes, a hat is optional, I have the robe
Manuel- mass clothes, I supply the rest
Pablo- Mass clothes, hat is optional
Carlos and Sisters-- they are to dress in their regular clothes...look like kids. No hoodies for the play. The girls can wear dresses if they like. 
Villagers and Woman-- look like older people. Can wear mass clothes, overalls, caps, carry canes, walkers, etc. The woman-- can wear a dress, carry a purse. No hoodies for the villagers. 


They DO NOT have to come to school in their costume. They will change before the play begins. They will probably do a dress rehearsal in the morning. 

After they play, they will come back for cake and juice in the room, but if they choose to go home with you instead, that is fine, just let me know. 

Math- This week I taught them to convert mixed numbers into improper fractions and vice versa.  They also learned to add and subtract fractions. On Tuesday, they learned to add and subtract mixed numbers. The biggest hill for them is to remember to simplify their final answer.  We will also be learning two other ways to subtract mixed numbers this week. This is in case you have to do some borrowing. I show them two ways to get the answer. They have to decide which way they like best. Both have some work involved. 

Next week-- we will only have 3 full days really. I will keep them busy every day, but it doesn't look like they will do another reading or math test before the end of the year. They will clean out their desks at the end of the day on Thursday. 

Many of them are starting to check out. I get it, but we still have work to do. I want them to try and stay focused as best they can. 

Wednesday, May 29- They need to bring a sack lunch to school that day. Milk will be provided. No drinks necessary. 

Friday, May 31- The Glynn family will be providing their annual lunch for the kids. 

Mass will be at 9:15. It may last longer due to it being Father's last mass with us. We will be celebrating him and Kay Boden after mass.

Field Day will be around 12:45 or so. The 5th graders should make sure they have the right shoes. No sandals that day. They may wear shorts that last day of school as well.

We will do a Clap-Out for the 8th graders at dismissal time. Another great tradition we have started here!

Congrats to Caden Simmons on winning the essay contest for Dollars for Scholars for the 5th graders! 
Congrats to Kaycie Britten-- she is going to compete in Worlds' Archery in June in the 3-D Category! 

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend! Hopefully the weather will cooperate with your plans! I believe I will be at work some of the time, getting things done for the end of the year. 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Hello Parents, I am so loving this weather more than last weekend's weather. I sat at my niece's soccer tournament in Waverly in the rain and cold all day on Saturday. I think I jinx that tournament! That's two times, we sit and freeze! I also got to meet my great niece Rosalina. I am pretty sure she told me I am her favorite great aunt! :) 

Reading- This week they are taking their unit 5 tests. On Friday they will be trying out for a part in our Baker's Neighbor Play.  They will use their scripts for the tryouts but once I give them their part, they need to start memorizing it! We will use reading time next week to practice the play. They will perform it for you on Friday, May 24 at 2:15 in the gym. It is only about 10 minutes. After the play, they come back to my room to celebrate and eat the pink frosted cake. If they would rather skip that and just go home with you, that is fine too. Just make sure you let me know before you leave.  I will let you know about costumes once I have assigned the roles.  The first graders will also be there to watch. If your 5th grader was here in 1st grade- they did the same thing!  They won't have homework in reading next week--only to memorize their lines.  I put a play announcement in your child's Thursday folder. If you can't make it, feel free to send a grandparent! 

I am getting their book reports graded, slowly. I tend to go back and look through their book to make sure things were correct or if they couldn't find it and  I do. I was really pleased with all of them. The costumes were great! 

Math- This week they are comparing fractions to find if they are greater, less than, or equal to. They are also learning to write them in order from least to greatest. 

Spring Concert- Don't forget the Spring Concert is next Wednesday, May 22 at the high school!  There will be a special reception to follow for Father Halbur. 

Reading Scores- In your child's folder are their reading fluency scores for the spring. I made notes on some of them. They will do these again in 6th grade with Miss Steinkamp.

Growth Talk- I have 3 kids who still need to turn in their permission form for the growth talk video. That is going to happen next Friday. 

Spirit Day- This Friday they can wear sweats and/or a hat for $1! 

Have a great weekend! Hopefully the weather stays as nice as it is this week! I know there are many sports and graduation parties going on. 
God Bless,
Miss Surma

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Elks Track Meet
For any 4th, 5th, & 6th Grade student interested in participating in the Elks Track meet
Monday, May 13th
Miss Lesan will be at the high school track Saturday, May 11tg from 10-11am to practice the high jump, long jump, and running events

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Dear Parents, I hope you are having a great week! It's hard to believe we are nearing the end! 

Growth Talk- There is a permission slip in your child's folder from the school nurses. They will be giving the 5th graders a Growth Talk/Video on May 24. Please return the permission slip by May 17. This works perfectly with the chapter we read this week in Guidance. 


Reading- This week they read a story called Lewis and Clark. This was about their expedition across America looking for a waterway that would get them from one side of the United States to the other. They never found such a waterway. They did have Sacagawea as their guide on this journey. They also had many obstacles along the way.  Their grammar this week is creating contractions like we'd, wouldn't,  and he's. Their spelling list is base words and and the suffix -ion.  Elect and election. They will test on Friday. 

Next week is their Unit 5 test week. They will not have spelling. 

Book Reports- Their project is due on Monday! They should bring that along with their costume  on that day.  We will start sharing on Monday, but I doubt we get through all of them. The costumes will go home as soon as they are done sharing. 

Spirit Day- There is another Spirit Day on Friday. They may wear hats and/or sweats for $1!!! 

Math- They have been working on simplifying fractions, making equivalent fractions, and finding the common denominator in a pair of fractions. This week they will also be comparing fractions.  It has been a little tricky keeping it all straight for some of them. When do we divide? When do we multiply? d

Substitute- I am gone on Friday.   Mr. Bergstrom will be my sub. They are also going to the Food Pantry on Friday afternoon. 

Elk's Track Meet is on Monday, May 13. Field Events begin at 5:30 and Running Events begin at 6:30. This takes place at the high school. I am not sure if any of the 5th graders plan on participating. 

We wish Kaycie Britten the best of luck this week with going to nationals for Archery in Kentucky! 

Have a GREAT weekend! Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! I hope your family does something extra special for you or with you! 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma


Monday, May 6, 2019

The final book report is due on Monday, May 13. The kids have one week left. They should bring in their project and costume that day. It will probably take us a couple of days to get through all of them. 

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Hello Parents, I hope everyone had a great week last week and enjoyed the weekend! I had a great time at our conference in Chicago! Mass was amazing! I wish you all could have heard that children's choir! OH MY! I went to some really great sessions too. Plus, it was just fun being with my co-workers/friends in Chicago!


Dollars for Scholars- The essays were written. They had to choose one of the 6 character traits and then tell how that is important to their education. They wrote and rewrote them. I had 3 other teachers read and choose their top 3 choices. The ones going on are Caden Simmons, Kaycie Britten, and Kadley Bailey. Of those three, the committee will choose  one winner. They are usually announced at the end of the year after mass.

Reading- This week we are reading the story called Rachel's Journal. It is the journal of a pioneer girl traveling west with her family in the 1800s . She keeps a journal of all the experiences along the way...the dust and heat, meeting an Indian, a buffalo stampede, the flooding of the Platte River and then trying to cross it with a wagon and cattle. This week we will be focusing on cause and effect in this story.  Their spelling words are all words that begin with a prefix:-un, -dis,-mis, and -in. They will have a spelling test on Friday as well as the test over the story. Next week will be our 5th story in our unit. That means they will have a unit test the week of May 13.

Book Reports and Costumes -- May 13

Math- This week we started on our chapter of fractions. I usually start with the 4th grade material because it is something they don't usually get to. On Monday we used fraction strips to begin finding equivalent fractions. They are also learning how to make equivalent fractions with multiplication.


May 8, 2019- Middle School Information Night!  6 pm. This is for you guys !!!! This is a great night to learn about the expectations for your kids as a 6th grader!  All incoming 6th graders and their parents are encouraged to attend! Pizza will be provided! 

FAST Testing- We are now doing the Spring testing round for our reading fluency. The goal is 163. I have only been able to get about 5 kids done so far. When we are done, I will send home scores. 

Mass- The 5th graders did a great job today! Special shoutout to Matthew who had to step in and do the first reading because a student was sick!  Just letting you know that we will have mass on the last day of school. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am going to a wedding on Saturday afternoon and then driving to Waterloo to catch my niece Emily in her high school's musical of The Little Mermaid on Sunday!

God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Tomorrow is Clean Up Day! The kids may wear sweats and a hat for $1 for Spirit Day!!! They should also bring work gloves and a rake if possible! Make sure your name is on the rake. Leave it by the office! Thanks so much! 

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Hi Parents,  I hope you are having a good week. Boy, this has been a busy one for sure! I wasn't here for the Cross Walk, but I heard good things! Tomorrow is the Seder Meal.


Reading- We finished our day on Wednesday with reading. I am not sure if that was such a great idea, but I have no other choice with the Seder Meal set up tomorrow. They had a hard time focusing and paying attention this afternoon. I will check tests tonight. I may have them make corrections on the test tomorrow afternoon if scores are really low. 

Math- They did the chapter review today. We go over that tomorrow. Next week, we will use Thursday as a refresher day for the test. I will give them the test on Friday morning. 


Friday, April 26, is Clean Up Day- The 5th graders will be raking and picking up leaves. If they have work gloves at home, bring them! If they have a rake, bring it. Make sure your name is on it. Leave it by the office. Thank you! Many hands or rakes make light work! 

Spirit Day, April 26- They can wear sweats and a hat for $1 or just one of those for $1. 

Book Report- Just a reminder it is due on Monday, May 13. I have had quite a few type up the report and are done already. They will need their costume that day. 

Religion- They are still watching The Ten Commandments. Hopefully we can finish it tomorrow. 

I hope everyone has a GREAT Easter and enjoys the next few days off. I am heading to my sister in Sioux Falls for Easter.  The teachers leave on Monday morning for our NCEA trip to Chicago. That will be fun too! Hopefully the weather is somewhat nice! 

God Bless,
Miss Surma

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Hello Parents, 
Well, I think your kids are surviving Iowa Assessments. Thank you to the PTO for the snacks! I really think those help the kids out. It fills their stomach and is a good brain break.  We will wrap up our testing on Thursday. 

Reading- We didn't do a story this week due to testing, but I am going to start a new one on Friday. Next week is a short week because we don't have school, but the 5th graders also lose some of their normal reading time on Thursday. They will help me set the tables for our Seder Meal. So right now, the plan is to start on Friday and be done on Wednesday of next week. That means their spelling test and end of the week test will be on Wednesday. 

Math- This week we have been able to do math in our afternoons. On Monday I showed them how to divide decimals into decimals. Do you remember moving the decimal in both places??? That is the trick for them. 

Food Pantry- We will be working at the Food Pantry on Friday. We will also be carrying all the donations that we have received during Lent. Thanks so much for those! I know Mark and Mary will appreciate them! Friday is supposed to be much colder than these first days this week. I am reminding the kids to have a jacket or coat for our walk down there. It is also a Spirit Day-- so they can wear sweats! That might be a great thing with the cooler temperatures! 


Spirit Day on Friday! 

Seder Meal- Next Thursday we will have the Seder Meal with the entire school. The 5th graders typically help me out. We set up the tables for the meal.  

Cross Walk- We will also do the Cross Walk  afterwards. That is something you are welcome to join us for if you are free and interested. We will meet in the courtyard by 12:30 to start our journey. Your children should wear a plain white shirt or t-shirt for the walk because they will take another picture at the church before we leave. 

Substitute- I will be gone on Tuesday, April 16 for my Tier 2 class that I am taking with Mrs. Sickels. I believe Mrs. Weight will be here as my sub. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am heading back to Waterloo for my niece Emily's prom. 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

There will be a Noisy Change Collection at mass tomorrow, April 10. The money raised is going to help the Nigerian Seminary. Please remember your coins! PAPER is acceptable too! :)

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Hi Parents, I forgot to mention in my blog that next week we will be taking the Iowa Assessments. We should be done by Friday, but if anyone is sick next week, they will need to make those up.  The testing will happen in the mornings. PTO is providing snacks for our test days. The only other thing I can suggest is that the 5th graders get plenty of sleep next week. If they are breakfast eaters, make sure to eat! The biggest thing  I push is just to do your very best and try not to stress about them. I know they do, I was the same way. We won't be having a reading story for the week, but I might start a new one on Friday. I will play that by ear. 

Miss Surma 

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Hi Parents! I hope this has been a good week for you! We have been busy that is for sure. 


Religion- The past few days we have spent working on the Rosary. They did it so smoothly! We also wrapped up our work on our posters to represent the important days during Easter. They are posted outside our room if you want to take a look. We are still in the Lent chapter in our book. Next week I plan on showing them the movie The Ten Commandments. It is the old one with Charlton Heston. I like to show this to the 5th graders every year, one because it is a classic and two because it also focuses on the Seder Meal that we will do on Holy Thursday at school. 

Math- This week we are beginning that division of decimals. They worked on Monday and Tuesday by using Base 10 Blocks to do the division. The trick is knowing that you may need to trade for tenths or hundredths. That part was tricky for some of the kids. I took pictures and posted them on our Facebook group page. We are also going to be doing some estimating. They will again hear those wonderful words, "Find a compatible number!" 

Reading- Last week Friday's test scores were AWESOME! Boy, I hope that continues! This week they are reading a story called The Birchbark House.  It is about a Native American who is walking home and encounters two cubs and their mother. Our main character is pretty calm. She knows what she is supposed to do if the mother attacks. Thankfully it never comes to that. We also know the main girl is trying to impress her sister and make her envious. She has the idea to get the cubs to follow her home. Mama bear's presence ruins that idea for her. 
In grammar we are working on past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect tense verbs. All of these use certain linking verbs before the action verbs. LV- has, have, had, and will. 

Noisy Change Collection- During the K-2 mass on April 10, they will be collecting money for the Nigerian Seminary. 

Food Pantry- All donations are due by April 12. The 5th graders work that day and will carry the items down to Mark. 

Reconciliation- They will be going tomorrow (Thursday) to see Father.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! The temps look amazing! Don't forget the Fish Fry is Friday night! I might see you there! I will be serving desserts! 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma