Hello Parents! Happy Advent Season!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did! I think the prayer service and pizza party we had in memory of TJ and Nate on Monday went very well. It was good to sit and share some happy memories, but they are always in our thoughts and prayers. We will never forget. 

St. Nicholas Project- Once again we are donating items for this project from the Des Moines Diocese. Students in 5th grade are asked to donate bars of soap or diapers. Please help out if you are able to!

Mass- Next week we are having masses on Monday and Friday. Monday is a holy day of obligation  with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. On Friday we are celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The students are expected to dress up on both days. There will be no mass on Wednesday.

Christmas Program- This year's Christmas Program is Sunday, December 21 at the YMCA at 2:00 p.m. We realize the lateness of this year's program, so if you are going to be celebrating a family Christmas that day and unable to attend, please have your child let Mrs. Mullin know as soon as possible. Thank you!

December 23- Students will need a sack lunch. Milk will be provided. 

Reading- This week's story deals with King George during the Revolutionary War. He thought since he was king and told people he was making decisions that he thought were good for everyone, they would all just agree with him. He couldn't understand why the Americans were unhappy with being taxed. Go figure! We are also talking about figurative language. Today we discussed similes, metaphors, and idioms.  Similes and metaphors are 2 things being compared, but a simile will use the words  like or as. Metaphors use words to say one thing "is" another. Idioms were fun! We discussed ,"It's raining cats and dogs!" I told them that in Africa they have a similar one. They say," It's raining old women and clubs!" We all thought that was pretty funny. Idioms are sentences that cannot be taken literally. Another example would be telling an actor or singer to "break a leg". 

Math- They were busy this week with estimating decimals by rounding and using benchmark numbers such as: 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1. Of course that could go on to 1.25, 1.50,etc. They also worked on adding and subtracting decimals. We should be finishing up this chapter next week. As of right now, they will be having a test on Monday, Dec. 15, but we will see if things change next week. 

Religion- They did fantastic on their last test. We are now discussing the liturgical calendar and the Advent Season. 

I have a book order in your child's folder. Please make sure your order is in by next Friday. That way you should be able to get them before Christmas break. If your order is a surprise for Christmas, let me know. That way I will email you instead of giving them the book! 

Have a great weekend! God Bless, Miss Surma