Happy Thursday! I hope you're all having a good week. Hopefully everyone will start to feel better soon! 

Calendar Dates:

Jan. 20-30 FBLA Coin Wars

Jan. 23- Spirit Day/ Sack Lunch Day

Jan. 25-30 Catholic Schools Week

Feb. 6- Spirit Day

Enrollment for 2026-2027 school year opens the week of Catholic Schools Week. Please make sure to enroll your child so they have their spot in the 6th grade! It closes on Friday, January 30th. 

Catholic Schools Week:

Sunday, Jan. 25-Mass at Holy Spirit- if you signed your child up to participate, they will have their job assignment in their Take Home Folder.

Monday, Jan.26-Spirit Day- Out of this World! (dress like something from outer space) 

Tuesday, Jan. 27-Spirit Day Dress: Winter Olympics. Gov. Kim Reynolds visiting STM. 

Wednesday, Jan. 28- Spirit Day Dress: Wild West

Thursday, Jan. 29- Sack Lunch Needed. 12 pm Talent Show ( if your child is participating, remind them to bring anything they will need) 1:30 Recess/Intermission 1:45-2:45 Finish Talent Show.   Spirit Day Dress: St. Malachy gear or wear some blue and gold.

Friday, Jan. 30- Spirit Day- Dress Up for Mass. Students dismissed at 1:00. Grandparents and /or special guest will transport them to Holy Spirit Church. Mass is at 1:30 and is required to attend. Students will be dismissed from Holy Spirit after Mass. 

FBLA Coin Wars is happening now until January 30. The money is going towards for blankets for kids. Our bucket is pretty empty right now. I would love to see some donations even if they don't bring in enough to win one of the parties. It is a worthy cause! 

Math- This week they have been learning to divide using partial quotients. I told them this math is only to be done at school. Mom and Dad won't know what you're doing! This is just a great way for them to understand what is really happening  when we divide. It also gives them a better understanding of place value. Not to worry- the next step is the standard algorithm. 

Religion- this week we read the story of Nicodemus, a Pharisee, visiting with Jesus to understand him better. Jesus was teaching him about the necessity of baptism. I also showed them the same scene from The Chosen. We also read about two saints: Maximilian Kolbe ( a Polish priest who died at Auschwitz) sacrificing his life for another prisoner. The other saint was Saint Rose Duchesne. She worked for years bringing Jesus to Native Americans . We will be wrapping up this chapter this week and probably testing next week. 

Reading- We are finishing up our story this week on the tsunami in Thailand in 2004. Our grammar this week got us combining sentences using subordinating conjunctions. Their spelling posttest will be on Friday (tomorrow). 

Stephanie Anderson and Rachel Ramaeker have come up with a great auction item from our class. We are going to work on this on February 6. I will post a picture of it when we are done! 

The kids will need a sack lunch on Friday!  Spirit Day on Friday! 

Please make sure to return the form letting me know who your child will be attending next Friday's Grandparent/Special Guest mass. 

I hope everyone has a good weekend! Please be safe and stay warm!  I will see some of you on Sunday at Mass to kick off Catholic Schools Week! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, 

Thank you so much for the emails, cards, texts, and gifts. They mean a lot! It sounded like the 5th graders had a good week while I was gone. I am happy to hear that! It is good to get back to something a little normal.  Mrs. Warner sent me a video of them singing a song that I absolutely love! It brought me to tears! 

Calendar Dates:

Jan. 19- No School/PD Day 

Jan. 23- Spirit Day

Jan. 25-30 Catholic Schools Week

Book Reports- I assigned the next report on Monday. They each chose a Newbery Winner or Newbery Honor book. The project is due Friday, February 20. They have a yellow packet with the information. I told them they can't choose the same project from the last time. So if they tell you they don't have homework...they do have a book to read! 

Reading- I gave them a spelling pretest on Tuesday, so they do have a new list! This list covers compound words. Some have a space and some have a hyphen!The pretest was not pretty simply because of the different ways you can write a compound word.  Our story this week is about tsunamis. This will be another nonfiction story. These are harder for them to test over as you can see from the test they took last week. I will try to stress to them that they read the story more than once before answering questions, but also to think about the questions being asked of them and if they can find those answers within the story.  In grammar we started going over using the conjunctions and , but, and or. 

Math- We started our chapter on division. I worked with them on estimating decimals. I explained they have to find compatible numbers ( numbers that go together easily and wouldn't have a remainder). This takes some practice to fully grasp. Today we started dividing. I am showing the partial quotients method first. I did tell them this is NOT a way to divide at home with Mom and Dad. I told them you will have no clue on what we are doing. So...no worries. I will let you know when they learn the standard algorithm.  I also told them that this is a chapter with lots of frustration. It tends to bring kids to tears. I told them I don't want to hear things like..."This is so easy, why don't you get it?" We all learn differently. They will have to be patient. 

Religion- they started a new chapter this week. They have been working in groups to create a "club". They have to pick a name for their club, a saint to represent it, and then activities for their club to do. I told them they could have 3  fun activities and then they had to have 2 activities that were acts of service. They will share the posters with the entire class tomorrow. It's been fun listening to their discussions and seeing their creativity. 

Wipes~ Thank you so much for the Clorox wipes! I think it is perfect timing with kids being sick with the flu right now! 

Catholic Schools Week- There are forms going home in their folders tomorrow about Catholic Schools Week at the end of the month. Please make sure to look them over and return if needed. One is for the Sunday mass on the 25th. That is the day I am in charge of helping with. 

Enrollment for 2026-2027 school year opens the week of Catholic Schools Week. Please make sure to enroll your child so they have their spot in the 6th grade! 

The past three days have been really good with the kids. It is good to be back with them. I am slowly getting my papers checked. Your child's folder may seem a little full! Sorry about that! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Remember there is no school on Monday! Enjoy the 3 day weekend!

God Bless,

Miss Surma