Hello Parents! I hope you had a great weekend and were able to enjoy the parade last Friday. I had a great time in Waterloo. I loved watching the soccer game at Loras even though my niece never saw any play time. We had fun celebrating her birthday! 

Calendar Dates: 

Oct. 14- No School/ PD Day

Oct. 16- Noisy Change Collection at Mass

Oct. 18- Spirit Day

Oct. 28-31 Parent Teacher Conferences

Oct. 31- No School/PTC

Nov. 1- No School

Noisy Change Collection- The 3rd graders are having a Noisy change collection at their mass on the 16th. They are donating their money to two organizations. There is a flyer in your child's take home folder explaining all the details. 

Math- We completed the first test. Our next chapter is on adding and subtracting decimals. I am not going to do every lesson in the chapter. We will hit on doing those two things as well as estimating decimals because that is just a harder concept for some kids to do. 

They are working on their X-tra math too! You will see certificates in their folders as they pass each one. 

Reading- This unit is about different genres in reading. Our first story is called Airborn. It is a longer story than we have had in the past. I have learned we cannot read it all in one day.  This story is fantasy. It is about a boy reading the journal of someone who took a ride in a hot air balloon and discovered a new animal. The animal flies in the air like a bird, but it looks like a bat and a panther mixed together! 

Grammar- We are working on identifying common and proper nouns. This is harder than you think. Sometimes proper nouns can really be used as an adjective. In the sentence- The American soldier returned home. American is an adjective describing the soldier.  Even some common nouns are so simple that we overthink it and miss it. For example: boys, girls, triangles steps. 

Spelling- The list this week has words sounding like oo or yoo. 

Book Reports- A number of them are finishing their books and working on their reports! Some of the projects can be done here at school. Some of the kids are using their free time to work on them. 

Religion- Most of the kids have passed their prayer tests. I have a few that only have one more to pass. I keep telling them they need to practice at home too, not just wait until religion class. On Friday, I will take them to the chapel and we will say a rosary there. 

Current Events- your kids have really been paying attention to the news and Hurricane Milton! Lots of prayers are being said each day for the people in Florida and surrounding areas.  Keep it up! 

They started working on their fire posters for the contest again. This is something they will work on at school. Lots of great ideas are happening! I am excited to see the posters! 

No school on Monday! PD day for the teachers! Enjoy your long weekend! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am heading to Sioux Falls to have a sisters weekend. My oldest sister had back surgery in August. My sister Penny and I are going to see her and hang out! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents. 

 I hope you're having a great week! Lots of information in my blog today! 

Calendar Dates: 

Oct. 4- Homecoming/3 hour early out/Spirit Day

Oct. 14- No School/ PD Day

Oct. 18- Spirit Day

Oct. 28-31 Parent Teacher Conferences

Reading- They are taking their spelling posttest on Thursday. They will also take their weekly computer test then too. On Friday, they will take their first Module test. It's like a  unit test. I do let them use any notes they've taken through this unit . They have them in their composition notebook. Scores on weekly tests haven't been great, but I want to see how they do with the fiction stories in the next module. I still think some of them aren't going back to the story to look up the possible answers. Next week we will start our next unit. It has some fiction stories, which can be easier to read. 

Book Reports-Some have already finished their book report books and are starting to work on their projects. Some of those can be done at school. I have a few that I'm not sure they are really reading much of their book yet. They tell me their page numbers. They should be further along by now. They have had their books for a couple of weeks now. 

Book It- They have their Book It calendar for October. The goal is 600 minutes. That comes to about 20 minutes a day. I told them that if they read in their free time at school, they can keep track of those minutes and count them. 

Math- We are at the end of our chapter. They will most likely have a math test on Tuesday of next week. The next chapter is on adding and subtracting decimals. I think they will like this one a lot better. I don't know that I will test them in that chapter. I want to give them the practice of doing those things,  but we also need to be moving into multiplication and division. 

X-tra Math- This week we also started working on X-tra math to work on our basic facts. The time tests are good, but I think they need more daily practice with these skills.  Many of them did this in 3rd grade and at their old schools so it really isn't anything new. 

On Wednesday, we had extra time due to the rosary. I had them work in groups to play Kaboom. It is working on their multiplication facts. Ask them about the game! I think they had some fun! 

Religion- We are going to step away from the book for a bit. A couple of the standards they have to know in 5th grade deal with the Rosary. The first part will be memorizing two prayers we say in it. They have a purple sheet with those on it. Starting on Thursday they will work with a partner to practice memorizing it. They choose one prayer to focus on at a time. They have to say it to me in order to pass. They should also be taking that prayer home at night and practicing with you. The first chance to pass a prayer will be on Monday! They keep practicing and testing with me until they have it passed! 

The second thing they will be working on are the Mysteries of the Rosary. They don't memorize those, but there will be some posters being created on them. We also talk about what was happening at the time of each mystery with Jesus and Mary.

They did a FABULOUS job with the Rosary today!!! 

Spirit Day on Friday- wear your red and black to support the Panthers!  It is also a 3 hour early out! No lunch that day. 

The Parent Teacher Conference Sign-up will be happening soon. Don't forget to pick your day and time .

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the parade if you're going. I am heading to Waterloo and Dubuque. My niece Olivia has a birthday on Friday and a soccer game at Loras on Saturday. I want to see her play. Most likely she won't see any playing time- she is a freshman, but I will get to see her with her team! Plus, I love the Loras campus. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, 

I hope everyone is having a great week! I am loving these fall temps! Did you enjoy Balloon Days? I am glad the rain held off for a little while! 

Calendar Dates: 

Oct. 2- Rosary led by 5th grade

Oct. 4- Homecoming/3 hour early out/Spirit Day

Oct. 14- No School/ PD Day]

Oct. 18- Spirit Day

Mass- 5th graders did a GREAT job at mass today! I was so proud. Next week they will be doing the Rosary. You're welcome to join us then too. We will be working on the rosary during  class in religion too. 

Rosary parts were handed out on Thursday! They should be practicing at home with you!!!! Not everyone has a part. 

Math- We have been working on rounding decimals this week. They are also problem solving with decimals. We are at the end of our chapter. They will most likely be taking a test  over this chapter sometime next week. 

We do time tests on Wednesdays- I am starting to see some scores going home each week, but I think some of them need to work on them at home too. If you have flashcards or just want to ask them facts for multiplication or division up to 10...that would be good too. Math is a lot easier for them when they know their facts quickly. 

Reading -This week we read a fantasy story called Captain Arsenio. He had many jobs, but wasn't able to really do any of them well. He decided he was going  to create a way to fly. We read three of his attempts. He tried really hard, but none of them worked. It was kind of funny to read and then look at the pictures of his journeys into the sky. I told the kids that reading a fantasy is different than reading a nonfiction story like the past two were. We are going to talk about the problems he faced each time and how he attempted to solve them with the next try. 

Grammar- This week is about finding the complete subject and the complete predicate in a sentence. 

Spelling- the list has words with a long I or a long O sound. They do have lists so you quiz them at home if you'd like. 

October 1 - Pep Rally in the gym for homecoming! Kids can wear their Black and Red or Panther gear that day if they want to. 

October 4 is a 3 hour early out for the Homecoming parade. No lunch that day at school. Kids can dress up in their Panther gear or their black and red to support the Panthers! It is also a Spirit Day! They can wear sweats and/or hats for $1. 

Have a great weekend! I am going to the Christ Your Life Convention at Wells Fargo on Sunday. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, I hope you're having a good week! Monday was weird with K-4 gone to Green Valley, but we enjoyed the day! 

Calendar Dates: 

Sept. 20- Spirit Day

Sept. 20-22 Balloon Days

Sept. 25- 5th grade mass

Oct. 2- Rosary led by 5th grade

Oct. 4- Homecoming/3 hour early out/Spirit Day

Religion- They have a test on Thursday. I have given out mass parts for next week. The people with reading parts should practice at home. I hope you can join us next week at mass.

Father will be gone on October 2 so we are doing a rosary instead of mass. I am having some of the 5th graders lead it. Not everyone will have a part. This leads us into our next part in religion class rather well. October is the month of the Rosary. In 5th grade they have to memorize 2 of the prayers of  the rosary. I will give them a paper with both prayers on it. They should work on this at home as well as at school. They also work on learning more about each mystery of the Rosary. 

Reading- They will take their next reading test on Friday. On that day I am also going to assign their first book report. They will have 6 weeks to complete the book and project. I give them a packet with a bunch of ideas for what kind of project they want to create. They can only choose one. They will keep that packet in their homework folder to look back at it when they need more information. You can find it there if you want to check it out. 

In our story this week they learned about a young girl who was paralyzed in a hang gliding accident. She hated her wheelchair because it was big and ugly. She talked to her friends who built hang gliders. They used their materials to build a better wheelchair. These wheelchairs can be seen being used by Paralympians! That's so cool that she made that happen! 

Math- This week we have been working on writing decimals in expanded and standard form. This has been harder because they have to figure out the decimal value.  Today (Wednesday) they had to read the decimals to me how you say them. I have taught them to say "and" in place of the word  "point".  For example, the decimal might be 12.345. They have to say it to me as twelve and three hundred forty-five thousandths.  We worked on comparing decimals and writing them from least to greatest. They thought today's lesson was  easy! 

Computers- This week I did have an incident where two of the 5th graders were trying to use the camera on their Chromebook to take pictures of themselves when they were supposed to be working on Successmaker. I told them they signed a technology contract on the appropriate way to handle them  and this wasn't part of that. I also warned them that if they continue to sneak to do things on their Chromes... I can and will take them away. I am just letting you all know this so you are aware. 

Spirit Day is this Friday, September 20. Hats and or sweats for $1.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy Balloon Days! I hope the rain doesn't stop activities! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, I hope you're having a good week! We sure had a great time at Green Valley State Park! It was such a beautiful day! I hope grades K-4 have a great time on Monday!

Calendar Dates: 

Sept. 20- Spirit Day

Sept. 20-22 Balloon Days

Sept. 25- 5th grade mass

Oct. 4- Rosary led by 5th grade

Reading- They took their first test this week. Scores were not that good. First, I am not surprised. They need to get back into these and remember how they work. Second, they need to take more time. I am stressing that they read or listen and read the stories more than one time before they answer questions. Third, they need to remember to go back and look up things in the story or ask me questions if they don't understand what it being asked. I can sometimes reword it in a way that makes sense. 

Spelling- they took their next pretest on Wednesday.  We will start our new story this week. Week 2 is always two short stories. We will read both of them, but I will focus more on one than the other.  The grammar this week will focus more on identifying the four kinds of sentences.  They do DOL every week to work on fixing sentences, so my hope is that this will help with the grammar lessons too. 

Math- We are working on decimals and their place values now. This gets a little bit trickier for them to understand. Tenths and Hundredths are easier to relate to because I can talk about money -- dimes and pennies. Thousandths is harder to understand. They are learning how to write it as a decimal and as a fraction. 0.25 = 25/100   0.6= 6/10   0.874= 874/1000.

I see scores rising for the most part on our weekly time tests. If there is something you want to do to help- quiz your child on their facts when you're riding in the car, hanging out, doing chores, etc. I think some of them need some more regular practice. 

Religion- We have been talking about the Incarnation - God being made flesh by sending us Jesus.  We also talked about the Blessed Trinity. They had to draw a picture of one thing and then label the parts Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Once I have them all, I will post a picture on my Facebook page. (If you're on Facebook, remember to sign up for my page so you can see the pictures I post of different things they do. St. Malachy Fabulous Fifth Grade is what you want to search up!  This week they learned about Saint Damien. He was missionary priest who volunteered to go to Molokai, Hawaii to teach and help the lepers that were forced to move there so they wouldn't spread the disease. He is one of my favorites. We are nearing the end of our chapter. They will be getting a study guide soon! 

Next week I will hand out their mass parts for September 25. I was able to give everyone a job! They will also be leading the Rosary for the school on October 4. We don't have mass that day because Father will be gone.  Not everyone will have a part for that service. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I plan on cleaning my house! I know...so exciting! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Families! I hope everyone had a great weekend! My sister and I made it to 12 different book stores in eastern Iowa. I really loved seeing towns like Bellevue and Fort Madison. They are right on the Mississippi River! So so pretty. 

Calendar Dates

Sept. 6- Spirit Day Hats and/or Sweats for $1

Sept. 9-FAST Testing begins /Field Trip to Green Valley

Sept. 25- 5th grade mass

Field Trip- Please make sure you return the green and white permission slips for the field trip to Green Valley by Friday. If you haven't paid the $5, please do so. Thank you!   Don't forget they will need a sack lunch that day with a drink. They also need to wear clothes and shoes they can get dirty. I am saying no sandals. I think tennis shoes will be easier for them to get around and safer. 

Reading- We have read the story about Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. It is a narrative nonfiction story about Henry and Thomas' inventions, but also the things that didn't work! The lesson Henry learns from Thomas is to never give up on his ideas! Due to our field trip on Monday, they will test over this story on Tuesday. They will also have their spelling post test on Tuesday. 

Grammar- this week they are learning about writing complete sentences.  On Tuesday, we picked apart sentences to figure out if they were complete, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and comma splice sentences. 

Math- we are working on writing numbers in standard, written, and expanded form through the millions.  Standard- 8,879   Written- eight thousand, eight hundred seventy-eight  Expanded- (8 x 1,000) + (8 x 100) + (7 x 10) + (9 x 1). I find that the kids can say the number or read it to me, but when they have to break down the number by place value that is where they stumble. We will get there! 

Religion- They are working on the first story in the Bible. Genesis tells us the story of Creation. We work on learning about that and what God truly wanted for us. He created all things and thought of them as  "good". 

Spirit Day- Tomorrow is our celebration of the Cy-Hawk Game this weekend! They can wear their gear and a hat and or sweatpants for $1. They don't have to wear Cy-Hawk gear.  I won't be wearing that! I'm a UNI girl.  If they want to wear their Creston Panther gear- they can ! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! My sister and I are meeting in Des Moines  on Friday night to meet the author Jodi Picoult! I am so excited! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! We are into our first week! Things are going pretty well, I think! The kids are slowly learning how things might be a little different in my room. I think we will all be tired by Friday from our busy week and this heat! 

Calendar Dates

Sept.2- No School/ Labor Day

Sept. 4- Back to School Picnic 5:30 pm

Sept. 6- Spirit Day Hats and/or Sweats for $1

Sept. 9-FAST Testing begins 

Sept. 25- 5th grade mass

Car-line Pick up- I know this is a slower process this year. That is due to two things. We don't have the trolley in town right now. We also have new sod that has been put down so the kids have been instructed they cannot walk or stand on it.  Please remember that if you're picking up your child or a grandparent is that you cannot leave the car line until all the cars in front of you move. Once your child is in the car, you wait for the cars ahead of you to get theirs. Once the first car starts to move away and back on to the road, the cars behind it can follow suit. It is for the safety of the other cars and the children still loading into other cars . Please be patient. In a few weeks it will run more smoothly. 

Reading- We started our first story this week. We haven't really gotten our routine down yet because some days I am still teaching something new to them and the process takes longer than I remember! Once we get our groove going, things will flow more smoothly. 

They had their first spelling test on Tuesday. I gave them a copy of their words to study for the post test. I don't know exactly when that will be yet because we are out of sink. Some kids got a shortened list- I highlighted their words. Those are the ones they need to study. I really suggest having them practice with you at home and writing them in cursive. Writing in cursive is what takes them the most time because they aren't used to it. The list is in print, but I rewrite their words in cursive on the pretest if they want to see how to connect letters. I also explained I get picky. N's should have 2 humps, M's have 3. T's should be crossed. Your E's and L's shouldn't be the same size. All words are written in lowercase. 

Math- our first chapter is working with decimals and learning the place value names of those. We work with tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. We also learn how to say those fun words! One of the first lessons I let them use calculators... so there will be a little instruction on that too if needed. 

We will do time tests. I do those on Wednesdays because then I don't have to worry about switching classes or specials.  You will see their tests in their folders. They will color in a bar graph for me so they can see their progress. 

Assignment Books- I told the kids we aren't going to worry and stress about NOT having one just yet. For now those who don't , can write on scratch paper. I will still sign it. I told them they don't need to worry about returning that to me unless we have a lot of homework one day. I just want you to see it, so you know what they did. I do really work to give them time to work in class so they don't have much to take home. If they are choosing to do other things like look around the room or visit or go to the bathroom during that work time...they might have stuff to take home at night. 

Religion- Mrs. Ramsey and I met with the Catholic kids in grades 4-8 to train them to be servers at our school masses. Father Patrick also allows non-Catholics to do this job! We had a full chapel! I was excited to see so many kids. I am proud of the non-Catholics who want to help out! We are just in our books. The beginning of the year is all about locating Bible verses in the Bible. That will be their first activity. 

Welcome Back Picnic is set for Wednesday, September 4 at 5:30. Even Classrooms bring a cold dish. Odd Classrooms bring a hot dish. If you have one of each- choose one! 

I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend! Enjoy the extra day! I am planning on going to my sister's house in Waverly. We are  trying to collect our stickers for the Iowa Independent Book Store tour. We plan on hitting the ones on the Eastern side of Iowa. Safe travels to any of you who are traveling this weekend! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma