Hello Parents, I hope you've been able to drive by the school and see all the snowmen! It was such a great afternoon and the kids seemed to really enjoy it! 

STM Biz Town- Typically this year would have been a field trip for 4-5 graders to go to Biz Town in Des Moines. They would have worked at their job there and gotten paid. Mrs. Sickels and I are doing a simulation of what that day would've been like in a much smaller form. So...it starts this week! The kids are taking turns each day for the next two weeks cleaning tables after their 3-5 lunch and picking up garbage at the end of the day. They get "paid" $9.00 an hour.  (your kids already asked for a raise! 🤣) Next week in math, I am going to teach them how to fill out a deposit slip and a bank register as well as write out a check.  On March 10 from 1-2 pm, they will be in 3 groups. They will go in rotations. One group will go to the office to pay Mrs. Lane  for their school lunches for a week.  One group will go to the kitchen and visit Ethan and Lesha. They will buy a bag of popcorn from them. The third group will go to see the 7th graders in the science room to do some shopping! Each group will have 20 minutes in their room and then move to the next station! It isn't quite the same, but they will still learn a lot and have some fun along the way! 

Math- We are moving along with decimals. Last Friday, they learned to compare decimals and then write them in order from least to greatest. We still have to figure out that in a race the fastest time...means the smallest number. This week we are learning to round them and estimate the sums. Next week we will learn about the checkbook so they will begin their adding and subtracting of decimals! 

Religion- This week we started our Lenten chapter. On Tuesday, I gave them a sealed envelope at the beginning of our class. I told them that they couldn't do anything with it, but if they did...they wouldn't get what was inside. Then we read the story about Jesus being tempted in the desert by the devil. We talked about temptations he faced and that we do similar thing to him...we are fasting and praying during Lent. We are doing this for 40 days just like he did. 

Reading- This week we read a story called The Dog Newspaper by Peg Kehret. This is an autobiography. We get to see how she started her writing career. She had a dog named BJ when she was a little girl. BJ came from Germany. Peg's uncle found the puppy when he was there during WWII. He and his buddies took care of BJ. He sent BJ to America to Peg's house. Peg wrote a newspaper for her block about her dog and other neighborhood dogs, but the paper wasn't a success. She would end up only putting out a few issues. There just wasn't exciting stuff to write about in a dog's day to day life. In grammar we are talking prepositions,prepositional phrases, and object of the preposition.

Spirit Day is this Friday! Sweats for $1! 

Don't forget the auction is this Saturday, but you can already get on to place your bids! I put the link on our FB page and Mrs. Simmons has been sharing it. 

Conferences- I have sent out the link. Make sure you have signed up. My Tuesday is full, but the Thursday still has openings. IF you are going to do it virtually, email me so I can send you a link. 

Have a great weekend! Hopefully more of this snow will melt! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0544A5AA23A2FF2-5thgrade4

Please sign up for a conference on Tuesday, March 9 or Thursday, March 11

 Hello Parents!  Well, at this time, I am sitting at my house on our 2nd cold day! I really was shocked by Day 2. Hopefully, you are staying warm and doing some fun stuff in the house! I have a peach crisp in the oven. 

Reading-So with our shortened week, I decided that we'd still read this week's story and do the spelling and grammar worksheets, but no testing. I am sure the kids will be so disappointed. 😉 This week's story is such a good one too! I can't wait for us to read it! It is called LAFFF and it's a little time travel and science fiction. There is a twist at the end that is so fun when the kids figure it out!  This week we will also be moving onto adverbs in grammar. I may change a little bit of that since we aren't having a full week. 

Ash Wednesday- We are distributing ashes at mass as always, but it will be a little different this year due to Covid. If you watch mass online, you will see us sprinkling a little bit of the ashes in their hair instead of making the Sign of the Cross on their forehead. It will be different, but I am glad we can still do it!  

The kids will make their Lenten promises as well. We are doing Fat Tuesday, but its been moved to Thursday. We can't make the donuts like usual due to Covid, but we are having some donated to us from some StM parents. Casey's is making them for us! 4th graders will pass those out to each classroom. I am glad we can still figure out how to do this! Thank you to the parents donating the money for these! 

Religion- The 5th graders will have a test coming up. That has to be moved now due to our snow days. It  will be Monday or Tuesday of next week. After that we will start our chapter on Lent. 

Math- We are still working on decimals... just the beginning stages! They are learning to write them in standard, expanded, and written form. That written form will come in handy for writing a check someday. 

Auction- Don't forget you get a Watch Party Dinner , but you need to place your order by Friday. The auction will open up on the 19th for bidding. It will close the night of the 27th. Hopefully next year we can do it in person again! 

Hope you have a great weekend! It sounds like we will be able to go outside and enjoy the temps! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! Don't you just looooove this weather? NOT ME! I am so ready for spring. Actually as I put the calendar up on my blog, I couldn't believe I was already mentioning Spring Break. Where is this year going? I also thought about last year... we said good-bye at conferences and then didn't return! 

Reading- This week they are reading a realistic fiction story called Lunch Money.  Andrew Clements is the the author. This story is about a 6th grader named Greg who has created his own comic book that he is selling to his classmates for $0.25. He calls it Chunky Comics. He has created three characters to represent the past, present, and future.  His goal is to sell 100 of them. He does all work for them. He does the drawing, writing, printing, and binding of them. We talked about the setting of the story and I got distracted I think. I ended up telling them about the book I am reading. It takes place during the depression and the dust bowl. I was trying to tell them about the dust bowl. I found pictures online, I will have to show them. The stock market crashing is a bit difficult to explain and understand. 

In grammar we are working on adjectives. They answer the questions, what kind, which one, how many, and origin. We had to talk about origin being places in the world and that they would be capitalized so that makes them easier to pick out. These would be words like: American, Japanese, Asian, etc. The hard part for them is finding the noun first to figure out what word might be describing it. 

Their spelling this week are words that end in -ed or -ing. The trick there is that some of the consonants in the sentence have to be doubled...(beginning, grabbed)

Unit 3 test scores are in their folders this week. I can definitely tell some don't look back in the stories to find the answers. There is one in particular that sticks out. It asked them the background of the illustration. The picture is showing "It's raining cats and dogs". Many chose "fashion" as their answer. The answer was "weather". 

FAST Testing- This week we have been testing in reading and math. Mrs. Struble is here today for me so I can do the reading tests with them. They worked on the math and the other reading test on Monday and Tuesday.

Religion- They shared their saint reports. We also focused on the symbols used in baptism and confirmation. They will probably test early next week. Then we will get into Lent. I will have them make their Lenten promises on Tuesday. That might be a good conversation to have at home first just so you are aware of what their plan is. I know many take into account spring break. I always tell them that if they are giving up something, they shouldn't pick something that the family will wish they hadn't. Father Halbur always told about his friend who gave up coffee and then life was miserable for his wife. 😉

Auction- Thank you for the donations! We have the items ordered from Pampered Chef. I will share a picture when it is done! Tiffany Ossian is going to come in on Tuesday to work on the silent auction item with the kids. 

Valentines- Friday afternoon around 2 pm we will celebrate Valentines. If your child is passing them out, have them bring them on Friday. Thanks! 

Spirit Day- Friday is Spirit Day! Sweats for $1

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay warm and stay healthy! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, I hope you are enjoying the photos of CSW I am posting on Facebook. Friday will be our virtual parade with Father filming the kids. Look for that on Facebook. 

Book It- If your child made the goal for January, calendars are due by Friday! The February goal went up to 800 minutes. That is about 30 minutes a day since there are fewer days this month! 

Reading- This week they took Unit 3 test. This is a benchmark test and tends to be more difficult. Next we will begin our next unit. They will have a spelling test and test on Friday again. I will send home Unit 3 scores next week in the folders. 

Math- We started our chapter on decimals on Monday, but due to our CSW activities, our math class takes a hit almost every day so we probably get into it more next week! 

Religion- Since we are learning about the sacrament of confirmation , the kids picked out a saint and did some research on it. They are sharing their information with the class. They picked some saints I have never heard of so I am excited to learn more about them! 

Auction donations- Thank you so much to those who have helped! If you are still planning on donating, they are due on Friday! 

Thursday is Tie Dye day! IF they have tie dye sweats they can wear those too, hats, vests, headbands, etc. They have to be tie dye though. They also HAVE TO HAVE mittens and/or gloves for our snowman building tomorrow! They will most likely being doing the work. (Charlie will watch from the sidewalk).

Friday is CAMO day! I told them if they have any hunting clothing to wear that! 

Valentine's Day- We will celebrate this day next Friday, February 12. I have a parent donating drinks and a treat for the class. Thank you, Alisha!  IF your child would like to bring in Valentines to share with the class, they certainly may do that! If you need a class list, email me and I will get you one. I remember my mom always handing me the class picture as my "list". I had to write them out to 4-6th graders because we shared rooms and teachers. I thought it was the coolest thing. 😊 It is voluntary. They aren't required. 

I hope you have a great weekend! Stay warm. I am NOT excited about those temps they are giving us for this weekend and next week! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma