Hello Parents! I hope your week is going well. I think the biggest adjustment for the 5th graders is that they have to write in cursive! I am sure some of you are listening to all their woes at home. Believe me they say the same in class. I use this instead of a handwriting book. It is forcing them to write slower. It is making them take their time instead of racing! It is also a great fine motor skill! Believe me, they will get used to it!

Calendar Dates:

Sept. 1- Picture Day

Sept. 2- 3 hour early out

Sept. 5- No School/ Labor Day

Sept. 21- 5th Grade Mass

Sept. 23- 3 Hour Early Out/ homecoming

Reading- This week we read an excerpt from The Wayside School is Falling Down. I love this story! It is funny and teaches them a little bit about irony! Ask them about the teacher's spelling bee and how she taught "gravity" to her class! I think we all got a good giggle from it. They are doing the vocabulary packet like they did last year in Mrs. Sickels' room, but I have them do all 10 words. They will only do this one time every unit. I do other things with vocabulary. In grammar they are working on subjects and predicates and then deciding whether a sentence is complete or a fragment. It really is review, but every year it is like starting over. They have a hard time remembering what part of speech is found in each one...nouns and verbs. They will take a spelling test and test over the story on Friday. I gave each kid a spelling list to study from. Some have only 10 words based on their pretest. I give a list each week unless they ace the pretest. Don't let them tell you any different! 😉 

Math- Our book starts off with learning about exponents! They were amazed on Tuesday at how easy it was! They deal with mostly with 10s. Thursday and Friday we are going to focus on the three different ways to write a number out- number name or word form, expanded form, and standard form. This too should really be review. I think the hardest one is the expanded form. 

Religion- We start our year looking up Bible verses. They have to find the title of the verses...such as The Baptism of Jesus. They are also looking verses to find a missing word, so it is more like fill in the blank. I'm glad we do that since Father Patrick talked about Bibles today at mass and Bible "quotations"/ verses. He had us repeating one from the first reading today! 

Don't forget, Friday is an early out! 3 hours!!!! The kids will not get lunch here. You will need to do that! Please let the school know if pick-up will change due to that early out. You can call Mrs. Sanchez in the office or email me. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the extra time!!! I don't really have any big plans except weeding in my flowerbed and doing homework for my LETRS class that many of us are taking right now. I told the kids we have a quiz every week and they are not easy!  '''

I would say we've had a great couple of weeks of school! I am enjoying your kids! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope you're adjusting to school being back in session. My alarm going off is still a struggle! I think we are having a great week so far, even though its only been two days!  I think you're kids are figuring out how Miss Surma works! 😉

Calendar Dates:

August 31- Mass

Sept. 1- Picture Day

Sept. 2- 3 hour early out

Sept. 5- No School/ Labor Day

Sept. 21- 5th Grade Mass

Sept. 23- 3 Hour Early Out/ homecoming

Picture Day will be next week on September 1st. Return any orders as soon as you can! That is a PE day so if girls are wearing sandals, make sure to pack some shoes for PE. 

DEAR Time- I told the 5th graders that on Wednesdays after library time we are going to have DEAR time. Drop Everything And Read. They will need a chapter book for this! I am going to read too! This time will count towards their Book It Calendars once we start that in October. This will be 15 minutes of reading silently for all of us.  This is good training for middle school! 

Reading- Next week we will start with a story and spelling. Their pretest will be on Monday and the posttest on Friday. This week I gave them a spelling inventory test just to see where they land. I will give bonus word eventually to some but I base that off of their pretest scores. I told them that if they ace the pretest then they won't have to take the posttest. 

Math- This week they will take a readiness test. It just shows me what they can and can't do in math. Next week we will start in chapter one! 

Technology Policy- In your child's Take Home Folder is a Technology Policy. Please read through it and sign it. Please go over the rules with your child as well. They need to sign it too. Return to me as soon as possible! 

Spirit Day- Our first one is this Friday, the 26th! The kids in our wing can wear sweats and/or a hat for $1. I know the temps won't really feel like sweats weather! 

Mass- If the kids didn't tell you about mass, make sure to ask! Father Patrick taught us a song about building our community! It was so fun and wonderful to see everyone participating with the singing and the actions! We are blessed to have him here! 

Sept. 2 is a 3 hour early out! We have PD that afternoon. Enjoy the longer weekend! 

Another item in your folder is a paper titled "Our 9". The 5th graders each month will pick a person they know living or dead, or maybe a Coach, their team, etc. No pets. That person will be who they pray for along with anyone (pets)  or anything else happening in their life for that month. Their hard work is dedicated towards that person! 

I don't have much to tell you this week. Hopefully your kids are adjusting to being back in school. I am trying not to hit them too hard with "school" yet. That will start on Monday for me! Have a great weekend! I am going to a wedding on Saturday afternoon and then the dinner honoring Mrs. Simmons in Indianola that night! 

God Bless, Miss Surma