WOW! I LOVE your kids!!! This morning, our math is difficult with Algebra. I was moving around the room to get to helping all of them. When students finished, they helped me out!!!! They went around and helped others!!! Then I had a pile of math corrections, so they stepped in and helped kids with those too while I was working with kids myself! Thank you, 5th graders!!!!! You filled my bucket for sure as well as your own and others!

Happy Thursday!!! I hope you are having a good week!

Dress Code- As we are now changing seasons, remember no shorts are to be worn. I would suggest the kids come with a sweatshirt or winter coat, the mornings and recesses are getting colder. I would also like to remind everyone that in the dress code policy it states that leggings may be worn as long as the bottom of the dress, skirt or short extends to at least mid-thigh. This has been an issue on mass days mostly.

Math- They have been working on multiplying decimals this week. The trick seems to be counting how many places to the left we place that decimal in the answer. Most of the mistakes I am seeing are due to that fact. The other errors are not dropping zeros or it is in the multiplication and addition. They need to take time and slow down. Some of the errors could be easily fixed if they just slowed down. I talked to them this week about taking time with our work. The goal should be to do it well, not to do it quickly so that I don't have homework to do at night. We are also working on algebra!!! It is very basic. For example: If n=4, then what is n+5=?  They learned the different ways of writing an algebraic expression on Wednesday. n+4, b-4, 4b or 4x n, n/4. We are getting close to the end of our chapter. I would expect a test next week.

Language Arts- This week they read a nonfiction story on cougars. I learned a lot about that animal! They also learned about replacing a vocabulary word with a synonym. They had to determine whether that word had a stronger, weaker, or similar meaning to the sentence. In our grammar, we are focusing on quotation marks, quoting texts, using interjections with our quotations. They also read a few short poems. We focused on alliteration. That is when there is a particular consonant sound being used throughout the poem. They each created their own poem on a made-up Superhero! They will be sharing these with the class. Reminder: Book Reports are due on November 15. 

Art/Class Meeting- During art on Wednesday, each child was given a list with their classmates' names on it. They had to cut them out and then beside their name write at least one positive thing about them. They put them in envelopes. I will use them and create posters out of them for each of them. These posters will hang from our ceiling during the month of November. I think this is just a great way to recognize how well they know their classmates or that maybe they need to get to know them better.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am going to see Keith Urban in concert on Saturday! I am looking forward to that one!!  God Bless, Miss Surma

Happy Halloween!!! I hope you are having a great week! My mom did come back with me on Sunday, so I have enjoyed having her at my house!

Mass- Tomorrow is Holy Day of Obligation. The 5th graders are doing mass. Please join us if you are available. They do need to dress up as usual for mass day.

November 1st-- No more shorts being worn.

Language Arts-- This week we are working on compound words in spelling and in our decoding. Our story this week was historical fiction. It was about a young man who wanted to become a surfman and rescue people from storms at sea. He realizes in his first real experience that he doesn't have the courage to go through with it, but he has enough skills to care for their injuries. We find that those critical skills are just as important! We also discussed characterization and what we can infer from our characters by their words, actions, and thoughts. We are working on subordinating conjunctions this week and dependent & independent clauses. With the the use of the subordinating conjunction in a dependent clause combined with an independent clause, they now have a complex sentence. 

Math- We have started multiplying decimals and whole numbers. The trick is remembering to put the decimal in your answer and putting it in the correct place. 

Halloween Stories-- These have been shared! The kids are really enjoying listening to what their classmates have created!

Spaghetti Supper on November 2nd. The Civics Club will be providing a haunted house and games for the kids!!! 

Have a good weekend. I am heading back to Doon with my mom. Our visit went by too quickly!  God Bless, Miss Surma

Hi Parents, I wanted to just do a few reminders for next week.

Oct. 30- This is a mass day. We also have an early out.

Oct. 31- We will have Halloween festivities that day at school. They can also bring their costume to school. We will have the annual Halloween parade at 2:30 in the gym. You are welcome to come!!!

Nov. 1- This is All Saints Day in the church. This is a holy day. We will have mass at school. This is the 5th grade mass. You are welcome to join us. I will assign parts on Friday. I am working with the other half of the class.

Nov. 2- This is the Spaghetti Supper! Come one, Come All!!!!


PTO is selling STM gear during the conferences and again at the Spaghetti Supper. They are selling it CHEAP! If you need a Christmas gift or something for your child to wear during Catholic Schools Week...now would be a GREAT time to shop!

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the 3 days! I am heading to Doon to see my mom. I am hoping she will come back to Creston with me and spend a week here!!! God Bless, Miss Surma

Great job with all the Iowa History Projects!!!!
I was very impressed!!! They will start to present during
class next week!

Hello Parents, I hope you are having a good week. Our weather is much more like fall. I have tried to remind your kids that they will want jackets for recess this week due to the colder temperatures. I did see some brought out their winter coats and gloves! That isn't a bad idea!!

Math- This week we are working on the standard algorithm for multiplication.  They are multiplying 3 digit and 2 digit numbers by 1 or 2 digit numbers. I see two common errors for some kids.  Some are forgetting to drop that 0 down in the second row when they start multiplying by the tens.  Other kids are skipping either the number in the tens or hundreds place when they multiply.  (That is really hard to describe here...I can explain better during conferences).  Some are really using their fingers to figure out their facts instead of the table. I am trying to break them of that habit, because it does take them longer.  Last week we worked on estimating to find a product. They seemed to like doing that. This week we used that estimation to help us answer the question, "Is this product reasonable?" I am trying to get them to explain why or why not without doing all the work of multiplication. 

Language Arts-  This week they read an excerpt from Old Yeller.  It made me think I may have to read that entire story aloud to them at some point. We are also working on direct and indirect objects in our grammar. I told them that this is new for me!!! I haven't ever taught this in 5th grade. The Iowa Core is pushing us all! We really broke sentences down on Wednesday to pick those out.  We also worked on Adages and Proverbs! YIKES! We created some standard ones together on  a worksheet and then we figured out what they meant. Some are common ones, but there were some I had never heard before.  "Misery loves company" and "A penny saved is a penny earned" were a couple of the ones I grew up hearing. This will most likely be on their test on Friday.
I have edited some Halloween stories. I attach a sticky note to their paper with the next step and a due date. The due dates won't be the same for everyone. I base it on when I give them back. They should get about a week to type it up, and they can return the finished product as soon as they are done. They don't need to wait. 

Social Studies- Projects due Monday. You can drop them off that morning in Mrs. Sickels room. 

The Truth about Truman School-  We started reading this last Friday. I think we got through about 12 pages of reading and discussion. I think they are already hooked by the way they were upset when I had to stop. I think we are having good discussion. When we finish the book, they will be able to keep it. I really recommend you taking some time to read it.  

I won't blog next week due to conferences. There will be a book fair during those nights. I don't plan on sending home a book order form this month due to the book fair.

Have a great weekend!!! God Bless, Miss Surma

Hello Parents,  I hope this week has been going smoothly. We have made some small changes to the schedule to meet the state requirements. The kids in 4-5th grades have to have 30 minutes of physical activity daily. On our non-PE days we aren't meeting that requirement. Mrs. Sickels and I have put in a 10 minute "recess" in the afternoon. They won't do much, but we just want them moving. This winter, we may do that in our rooms or take them to the gym. I am sure you could hear the CHEER from the classroom when they found out! :)

Math- We took the math test on Tuesday and some finished it up on Wednesday. Our next chapter covers multiplication. They will be multiplying large numbers. Their assignment books have a multiplication table in them. I allow them to use them whenever they need to. I don't want most of their time being spent on trying to figure out what 9x8 =, especially when they will be multiplying numbers in the hundreds and thousands.

Halloween Stories-- They turned in their rough drafts on Wednesday. I will give them back as soon as I am done editing. I usually attach a sticky note with the due date and typing requirements on them. If you don't have a working computer or access to one, let me know. They can work before and after school in the library to type up the final copy.

Religion- October is the month of the rosary. We are trying to say a couple of decades a day, but we will do the entire rosary on Friday in the chapel. In 5th grade they are to memorize 2 of the bigger prayers said during the rosary. Right now, I have them working on Hail Holy Queen. They each have a paper copy, but it is also in their book. They will keep working at it until they pass. Once they pass it, they have to learn the Apostle's Creed. We do quite a bit with the rosary in 5th grade, so there won't be much book work for awhile.

Language Arts- This week they read a nonfiction story about a tree kangaroo.We also focused on the skill of cause and effect while reading.  We also read a myth on why koala bears have no tail. We will also be focusing on synonyms and antonyms. This will show up on their vocabulary section of Friday's test.

Conferences---Please make sure you sign up for a time. If you need to be early, let me know. I am sure we can work something out. 

Have a good weekend! I am off to Cedar Falls/Waterloo for UNI Homecoming! Go Panthers!!!
God Bless, Miss Surma

Blogger is not letting me change my dates on the side so I am posting them here.

Oct. 4- No School
Oct. 8- Math test
Oct. 16- Early Out
Oct. 22 & 24 Parent Teacher Conferences
Oct. 25- No School

Please take time to go to www.crestonstmalachy.org  and sign up for conference times. If you need to meet with me earlier than those days, send me an email. We can make some arrangements. Thanks!!!