Dear Parents, I hope you are having a great week! I can't believe we only have a couple of days next week and are celebrating Thanksgiving next week! 

Important Dates: 

Nov. 18- PTO Meeting

Nov. 19- Spirit Day/ Sweats for $1

Nov. 24-26 Thanksgiving Break/ No School

Nov. 28- First Sunday of Advent

Nov. 29- No School/ PD Day

Dec. 15-Lunch/Singing at church

Reading- This week they are reading an informational article called Cougars.  We learned about the different names of them and the different places they live. They got their rulers out to figure out the length of the tail. In grammar they are working on quotation marks. This is the last story in our unit. When we get back from Thanksgiving, they will take the Unit 2 test. I don't want to try and get it done in two days next week. I also have a feeling they will be a little too excited for their break and maybe not focused the best. The next unit is all about people from the Revolutionary War. This is when I will introduce them to the Hamilton music as well!! 

Math- They are getting closer to finishing up this chapter on multiplication. They won't test until after Thanksgiving.  They know the process, but some are making errors in their adding and some aren't copying problems down correctly when showing their work on other paper. 

College Project- Payton Burg ( Mrs. Burg's daughter)  is creating a video for one of her college classes at IOWA. She is going to film the 5th graders next week in a play. She has created a permission slip for you to sign. It is in your child's take home folder. Please fill it out and return by Monday!  I don't know the amount of time it will take, but I decided not to do a story or testing in reading due to this project.  I have made copies of the script for the kids. Most of them don't really have lines, but they will appear in the scenes. They should look those over this weekend. 

Coin Wars- We are participating in Coin Wars with the high school FBLA. The kids can start bringing in any money they'd like to donate on Tuesday, November 30th. The class with the highest total will win prizes. I believe they told us a Pizza Party- 1st place, Cupcake or Cookie Party- 2nd place, and a Sucker party for 3rd place. This will run to December 3. 

Christmas Concert- Mark your calendar for December 8! They will have a concert at the high school that evening! 

Advent begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The kids will be doing activities with Advent Angels. I know there will be a couple of Noisy Change Collections at mass for the Adopted Family. 

Just a reminder, we only have school next Monday and Tuesday. Then you have Thanksgiving break which will include the Monday after! We will have a PD Day that day. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving next week! Enjoy your family time and all the yummy fixings! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, I hope you are having a super week! You realize that next week is our last full week of school for November?? Time is flying by so quickly! 

Important Dates: 

Nov. 11- Veteran's Day Program 2 pm

Nov. 12-14 Big Fish Musical at the high school (Ryder is in it! ) 

Nov.17- 5th and 4th grade mass

Nov. 18- PTO Meeting

Nov. 19- Spirit Day/ Sweats for $1

Nov. 24-26 Thanksgiving Break/ No School

Nov. 29- No School/ PD Day

Mass- It is our mass next Wednesday! You are always invited to come join us! They will get their mass part on Friday. 

Reading- This week they are reading a story called Storm Warriors. This story takes place in the 1800s. This is about a young boy named Nathan who wants to join this group of men who rescue people from the ocean. We have the Coast Guard now. At the beginning of the story he doesn't think he can do the job after watching men walk into the stormy seas to rescue others, but later proves his ability. Nathan helps the people who were injured. In grammar we are working on subordinating conjunctions in sentences to create a complex sentence. One part of the complex sentence cannot stand alone that is why it is dependent on the other sentence. The spelling list this week was confusing again because it is compound words, but there are different kinds! Their words are like: up-to-date, wildlife, and light bulb. 

Religion- We are back in the book and are discussing the 7 sacraments. 

Math-- This week they are multiplying by single and double digits. This is pretty much review for them from 4th grade!  They have the option of choosing which strategy they like better to use to solve the problems. They choose between the standard algorithm and partial products. So far most of them are choosing the standard algorithm. 

The new trimester will begin on Monday. That means the lateslip board will be wiped clean! They will start again with 0!!! I will be working on progress reports this weekend! 

Temperature changes- Friday is supposed to be colder! Make sure your kids have winter coats, hats, gloves for recess! 

Veteran's Day Progam is at 2:00 on Thursday! All are welcome to attend! I know this is a late reminder, but your kids can wear red, white, and blue! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, I hope everyone had a great long weekend! I enjoyed it! I went home on Friday to Doon to take care of the cemetery where my parents are buried. I also did a little shopping while I was there. It sounded like Halloween was a success for your kids!

Important Dates: 

Nov. 5- Spirit Day - Sweats for $1

Nov. 11- Veteran's Day Program 2 pm

Nov. 12-14 Big Fish Musical at the high school (Ryder is in it! ) 

Nov. 24-26 Thanksgiving Break/ No School

Nov. 29- No School/ PD Day

Reading- This week they are reading a nonfiction story about the Everglades. They learn about the different animals and plants that live there and what you can do to help that area stay alive and growing. In grammar this week they are learning about adding the conjunctions and, but , or or in a sentence to join two complete sentences. Their spelling list is homophones this week! That was a fun pretest to give! Wring and ring, lessen and lesson, aloud and allowed. I will mix them up on Friday so they have to listen to how they are being used in the sentence! 

Book Reports are due on Friday! Most are done already! There next one won't be for awhile! 

Math- This week they are multiplying with 10s, 100s, 1000s mentally. They did great with that one! They picked it up really quickly. On Wednesday, we went to rounding the numbers and then multiplying them. Again they caught on quickly and most of them know their basic facts! The trick is adding those zeros. Next week we will begin multiplication. I will show them two strategies and they can pick which ever way works best for them. We will start out with multiplying by one digit and then we move into double digits.  Both strategies are ones they learned in 4th grade...so it really should be review! 

Religion- They finished their posters for the Sorrowful Mysteries and so they will finish up with the Glorious Mysteries. I would think next week we should be back in the book. 

Social Studies projects- These are due on Friday. The kids can bring them in the building when they arrive. Mrs. Sickels will have an Iowa History Fair on Wednesday, Nov. 10 in the afternoon. I don't have the exact time. Look for a flyer from your child. You are welcome to come that day and look at all the different projects. 

Spirit Day on Friday- Wear sweats for $1!

I feel like this is the shortest letter! I just talked to you so I can't think of anything new!

Have a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma