Happy Wednesday Parents! This week seems to be flying by so quickly! I had a great weekend in Sioux Falls with my sisters. Mary is doing so well after her surgery, but we just sat around and visited all day! My brother-in-law grilled dinner for us that night! 

 Calendar Dates:

Oct. 13- No School/ PD Day for Teachers

Oct. 20- Spirit Day

Oct. 25- Book Reports Due

Oct. 30- Parent Teacher Conference Week

Oct. 31- Celebrating Halloween at school

Nov. 2 - No School/Conferences

Nov. 3- No School/ Comp Day

Spirit Day this Friday! $1 for hats and/or sweats! 

Book Report Projects due on Wednesday, Oct. 25! We will start sharing that day!

Religion- This week they are finishing up their posters of the Mysteries of the Rosary.  On Fridays, I take them to the chapel so we can pray the Rosary. Last week we took time to dedicate each decade to someone or some group of people- they came up with the people. It was so sweet. We will be starting back in the book with our next chapter tomorrow. In the next chapter we learn a little bit about all 7 sacraments. 

Father Patrick left today for his trip home to see his mom and family. We pray for safe travels and a wonderful visit! I cannot imagine not seeing my family for 4 years.

Math- they finished the chapter and you have seen the test scores. Instead of moving on we are starting to work on our trip to BIzTown in November! This is a field trip for 4-5th graders. We are working on information for you so that will be coming home soon. BizTown is put on by Junior Achievement. The kids will be working in this "town" with jobs and they will have to write checks and balance their checkbooks. There is more to it, but that gives you an idea! It is a GREAT learning experience and the kids have so much fun. So, in math class I am teaching them  about opening bank accounts and writing checks, etc. They have a workbook that we will be going through in preparation for that day! 

They are still taking their timed tests each week. We are making progress there too! 

Reading- This week we read a poem called "The Poem that Would Not End". It is about a boy who spends his entire day writing poems. He writes on the walls, napkins, paper, a soccer ball,  a skateboard, in the dirt, and other places. The poem contains about 19 different poem styles! Haiku, Cinquains, Free Verse, and Concrete are just a few. This is new teaching for me as well! So, we are taking this slow, but I decided the Friday test will be something we do together rather than alone because this is all new. In grammar they are working on action, helping, and linking verbs. They WILL have a spelling test on Friday as usual.  Next week is our unit test. We are going to try those and see how it goes! 

Halloween- We will celebrate Halloween at school on the 31st. Your child should pack their costume that day for our parade at the end of the day. The parade is usually around 2:30 in the gym.  You are welcome to come and watch. I am sure more information will be coming soon. I just wanted to give you a heads up! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am so excited because I am NOT going anywhere! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma