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