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