Dear Parents, I hope you are doing well. I am putting in a reminder about our plans for conferences. Make sure you look them over. 

Conferences   Tuesday, Oct. 27 3:30-6:00 pm

Thursday, October 29th 1-5pm & 6-9:30pm

• Conferences will last 12 minutes - this allows for time to clean between each visit.

• 1 Parent/guardian may attend (we recommend the other parents/guardians attend via facetime or speaker phone call)

• Teachers will take the temperature of the parent/guardian in attendance

• Masks are required

• To reduce exposure we ask that parents/guardians use the door nearest your child’s classroom door

• We ask that children to not attend

• We will have the Book Fair in the gym on Thursday from 1-9:30.  We ask parents to social distance and sanitize their hands before shopping.

Google Meet Conference - If you would like to attend virtually. Please let the teacher know when you sign up for your conference.

Please contact Mrs. Stoner/Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Lesan by email if you would like to meet with them separately about music or PE.  They can set up a time to chat with you.

Math- We finished the lessons this week. Today and tomorrow they are doing their "dress rehearsal". I am giving them the test to do and they can use their book to help them. We will go over it on Monday and then they will take the exact same test on Tuesday. As I told them, there should be a better score on their Tuesday test. IF they should get everything correct on their dress rehearsal test- they won't take the real one. The goal is to see improvement. I won't kid you though, some of them aren't using their book or their cards I made them on this first run, even though I suggested it. I keep telling them they have access to that tool right now. They should be using it.

Reading- I decided that I would extend this week's story into next week instead of cramming it all into 4 days. I don't know if that was a good decision or not. This means they will test over the story and the spelling words on Monday. They will reread the story again on Monday in class before the test. They are also typing up their Halloween stories. We will share those next week as well. Those will be in the hallway for you to check out at conferences.

Halloween Fun- We won't have the parent parade as usual. The kids should still bring a costume if they can! We are going to dress us. Our parade will be virtual and online! I don't have all the details yet, but I know our 7th and 8th grade filming crew will be putting on the virtual parade. There will be a link for you to watch if you are able ! That will be after 2:00 sometime. We will celebrate in our room with a little party and I have a game planned.

Lunch- today at lunch the kids got to try the new bar code scanner! I think they enjoyed the task of scanning their number into the computer! One of mine said, "It's like we're at Wal-Mart!" 😂

Conferences- Remember it is a 3 hour early out. Lunch will not be served that day.

Mass- I hope you got to see their mass today. They did a great job!

I know tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s, but back to the 40s on Friday. Enjoy your long weekend. Mrs. Sickels had to show me the forecast for Sunday. I don't want to say what she was showing me. I'm not ready to shovel! 😐

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope you are having a great week! 

Conferences   Thursday, October 29th 1-5pm & 6-9:30pm

• Conferences will last 12 minutes - this allows for time to clean between each visit.

• 1 Parent/guardian may attend (we recommend the other parents/guardians attend via facetime or speaker phone call)

• Teachers will take the temperature of the parent/guardian in attendance

• Masks are required

• To reduce exposure we ask that parents/guardians use the door nearest your child’s classroom door

• We ask that children to not attend

• We will have the Book Fair in the gym on Thursday from 1-9:30.  We ask parents to social distance and sanitize their hands before shopping.

Google Meet Conference - If you would like to attend virtually. Please let the teacher know when you sign up for your conference.

Please contact Mrs. Stoner/Mrs. Taylor and Ms. Lesan by email if you would like to meet with them separately about music or PE.  They can set up a time to chat with you.

I have shared out the Signup genius with you. I am doing them on Tuesday from 3:30-6 and then again on Thursday. Make sure to let me know if you are in person or virtual. I will send you an email link if you want to do it over Google Meet. The conferences will only last about 12 minutes due to Covid and we need to clean between parents. Look over your schedule.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0544A5AA23A2FF2-5thgrade3

Reading- In your child's folder are their scores from out unit test last week. Some were not very good. That isn't a total shock to me. They typically aren't. This is a harder test. They have more stories to read and fewer questions per story to answer. I did warn them before the test to read the story more than once, but as I watched them take the test, I know many did not. We talked about it on Tuesday. I showed them their scores. Some of them were not happy. I told them that was okay. We talked about the amount of effort being put into them, which I think for some of them...wasn't a lot. We will talk at conferences about the tests. I am trying to get them to show more effort into their homework and that grades will matter in middle school and high school.

This week we are reading a story about Kangaroo monkeys. They call them tree 'roos. It is a nonfiction story with a lot of specific vocabulary to the story. No, it's not the most exciting story to read unless you have a love for animals. It is good practice to read though because it reads more like a textbook in social studies or science. The comprehension is different. We are also working on cause and effect situations in the story. On Tuesday, I gave them pretend situations and they had to come up with the different causes and effects of that situation. In grammar we are working on verbs. On Tuesday we focused on action verbs. We will also be talking about helping and linking verbs.

Their rough draft for their Halloween story is due this Friday. I will edit the stories and give them back so they can type up their final draft.

Social Studies- They have been working with Mrs. Sickels daily on writing their rough drafts for their Iowa history town. Wednesday was the last day of working in class. The rough draft is due on Monday. IF they didn't finish in class, they will have to find time to finish it. It's a Google document, so they should be able to access that at home. The final project is due November 2.

Math- We are getting closer to the end of our chapter. This week they learned to write expressions and the word problems for them. They are going to also be learning the order of operations! This is easy for some, but difficult for others. Remember I said this chapter is packed! I give them little cue cards to remind them of the steps.

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

Wipes- I am almost out of the wipes you guys gave me plus the ones I still had from last year. I am going to use a spray with paper towels, but if you by chance come across any containers of wipers, could you donate some or let me know where they are so I can buy some?

Art- On Thursday, your kids are going to be painting rocks in the art room. This was an activity we planned last year, but never got to do it because of Covid. I read a couple of books to them about being unique and being your own person rather than being like everyone else. It talked about how it's okay to be unique. The rocks will be painted by all the kids in the school eventually. Once they are done, you will see them outside in the flowerbeds by the steps. I need to take a before and after picture! If they want to pack a paint shirt in their bag-- that is fine with me!

Religion- Their mysteries of the rosary are due on Friday. They will share those in class. I will get them hung up and take a picture for you guys to see too!

Fire Posters- They started working on these in art. Boy, the room was so quiet after they started those! This year they have to focus on the kitchen. They will work on these at school. We will eventually pick the top 3 from grades 3-5. The first place posters will be sent on to the state. We have the kids in 6-8 pick our top 3.

Have a great weekend! Sounds like our weather will be changing. Mrs. Sickels even said something about snow! I am going to pretend I didn't hear that!

God Bless,

Miss Surma ❤

Hello Parents! Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week! 

Reading- This week they are doing their unit test. I will send scores home next week. I am also having them write a Halloween story. On Friday, I will read some of my favorite ones that my 5th grade teacher read to my class. They will then write me a rough draft. I will have that written on paper. Once I edit them, the final copy will be typed. I hope to have them up in the hallway. I will post pictures. You will probably get a sneak peek at conferences. Next week, we will start unit 2. That means they will be having a spelling test, etc.  

Religion- At this point I only have 4 kids left who have to pass the Hail Holy Queen prayer. After they have passed we will move on to learning the different mysteries. 

Math- This week we moved on to using the Distributive Property to solve a division problem. I told them they can no longer say... I don't know how to divide. It isn't the standard way, but using multiplication, they are able to solve the problem. It does take a lot to remember the different steps. 

Spirit Day- They have Spirit Days this Friday and next Friday! Sweats and/or hat for $1.

COVID- There were changes made to quarantine last week by Governor Reynolds. Please make sure you looked at last week's S'more from Mrs. Simmons for details. My face shield didn't count as protection, so I have switched to a mask. I did tell the kids we were going to try and wear our masks more in the classroom to protect ourselves because we like being here!  We will take mask breaks throughout the day. 

 I have to be able to tell Mrs. Simmons who is wearing a mask 90% of the time if I had a case in my room for contact tracing purposes. It will be easier if we are all wearing them. Creston is getting more cases. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I want to keep them as safe as I can so that we don't have to go home. It changes every day it seems. This is definitely something I didn't learn at UNI. Thank you for your understanding and support and flexibility with the changes! 

Book IT- Don't forget to record your child's Book It minutes on the calendars I gave your kids.

Conferences- We will be sending out sign ups for conferences on Oct. 29. You will need to let me know if you are in-person or virtual. We will have some rules to follow. That will be put out next week. 

I hope you have a great weekend! Sounds like great weather for October! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma