Thursday, September 8, 2016
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Hello Parents, Happy Thursday! I hope you had a great long weekend! I was able to get ALL of my papers checked in Doon--so it was very productive for me. I do want to explain something about my trips to Doon. Most of you might remember that my mom passed away this past April. My siblings and I haven't sold my parents' home yet and we don't plan to until next fall...unless something changes. Anyway, I do go home to check on the house, keep it clean, do yard work, and just spend time there. It was a great home for six kids to get brought up in, and I plan to enjoy it while we still have it. :)
Reading- This week we read a mystery based on the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. It was also written as a play. So the 5th graders had a little opportunity to read the play and some great acting skills! We also discussed the makeup of a play. It is divided into scenes. Those scenes are numbered in Roman numerals. They know those! There is also a little mystery about one of the main characters-- Rena. We also discussed the possible themes-- that you can't judge a book by its cover and that while you may seem really different from someone at first, you may find that you have a lot in common. Rena and Althea did just that in the story! In grammar this week we are discussing the four kinds of sentences: declarative, exclamatory, imperative, and interrogative. We focus on the job of each and how we punctuate each one. They will have their spelling test on Friday. In your child's take home folder you will find their scores from last week's test over the story. I will send home a copy of the score sheet each Thursday. I don't need those back.
Math- This week we have spent time on the properties of addition and multiplication. Commutative, Associative, and Identity Property. We also are spending a greater amount of time learning the Distributive Property. In my room, if I feel that the topic is a difficult one, we may do a lot together in class to practice the procedure. We have been doing that a lot this week. Now they know this may not be the fastest way to add or multiply, but it does allow them to do it mentally versus having to work out a big problem. What I love about it is your children's faces from beginning to end!!! At first, I can see the confusion, but as we practice and discuss more...that look begins to go away until I see the "I GOT THIS"!!! That is just the best sight to see! I know that feeling of being overwhelmed with math and believing I am not good at it! I hated feeling like that! Believe me, I will do what I can to appease your child feeling like that in my room!
Religion- On Tuesday, I showed them a short little biography video on the life of Saint Teresa. We talked about how she was named a saint this last weekend. In mass, the 6th graders and Father also talked about her. She was a remarkable woman. She is definitely someone we could all strive to be more like. In class we will be focusing on the Holy Trinity.
Our first mass will be on September 21. I will do as other teachers have done in the past and only use half of the class for this mass. Today, we made a list on the chalkboard of all the jobs they do during mass. They were each given a recipe card and wrote their top 4 choices of jobs they would like to have in our masses. I will do as best I can with those! After our mass, is our 5th grade reception for you the parents and grandparents. You can stay after mass to have coffee or juice and donuts with your child and visit with us!
Food Fair is this Sunday if you can't decide what to make for dinner! Come to St. Malachy!!!
The Creston Color Run is set for September 25. If you haven't signed up, please do so! There are forms in the office or you can enter online! There is also a route for the kids! The PTO is doing this as their fall fundraiser. The kids won't be selling cookie dough or wrapping paper this year. I will be participating, but I will be walking! :)
Book Orders are due Friday!
Friday is our first Spirit Day! The kids can wear sweatpants for $1. It is also our ISU/IOWA game day-- kids can wear their favorite team jersey or t-shirt !!!! I will be in purple and gold! GO UNI!!!!
Have a great weekend! God Bless, Miss Surma
Reading- This week we read a mystery based on the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. It was also written as a play. So the 5th graders had a little opportunity to read the play and some great acting skills! We also discussed the makeup of a play. It is divided into scenes. Those scenes are numbered in Roman numerals. They know those! There is also a little mystery about one of the main characters-- Rena. We also discussed the possible themes-- that you can't judge a book by its cover and that while you may seem really different from someone at first, you may find that you have a lot in common. Rena and Althea did just that in the story! In grammar this week we are discussing the four kinds of sentences: declarative, exclamatory, imperative, and interrogative. We focus on the job of each and how we punctuate each one. They will have their spelling test on Friday. In your child's take home folder you will find their scores from last week's test over the story. I will send home a copy of the score sheet each Thursday. I don't need those back.
Math- This week we have spent time on the properties of addition and multiplication. Commutative, Associative, and Identity Property. We also are spending a greater amount of time learning the Distributive Property. In my room, if I feel that the topic is a difficult one, we may do a lot together in class to practice the procedure. We have been doing that a lot this week. Now they know this may not be the fastest way to add or multiply, but it does allow them to do it mentally versus having to work out a big problem. What I love about it is your children's faces from beginning to end!!! At first, I can see the confusion, but as we practice and discuss more...that look begins to go away until I see the "I GOT THIS"!!! That is just the best sight to see! I know that feeling of being overwhelmed with math and believing I am not good at it! I hated feeling like that! Believe me, I will do what I can to appease your child feeling like that in my room!
Religion- On Tuesday, I showed them a short little biography video on the life of Saint Teresa. We talked about how she was named a saint this last weekend. In mass, the 6th graders and Father also talked about her. She was a remarkable woman. She is definitely someone we could all strive to be more like. In class we will be focusing on the Holy Trinity.
Our first mass will be on September 21. I will do as other teachers have done in the past and only use half of the class for this mass. Today, we made a list on the chalkboard of all the jobs they do during mass. They were each given a recipe card and wrote their top 4 choices of jobs they would like to have in our masses. I will do as best I can with those! After our mass, is our 5th grade reception for you the parents and grandparents. You can stay after mass to have coffee or juice and donuts with your child and visit with us!
Food Fair is this Sunday if you can't decide what to make for dinner! Come to St. Malachy!!!
The Creston Color Run is set for September 25. If you haven't signed up, please do so! There are forms in the office or you can enter online! There is also a route for the kids! The PTO is doing this as their fall fundraiser. The kids won't be selling cookie dough or wrapping paper this year. I will be participating, but I will be walking! :)
Book Orders are due Friday!
Friday is our first Spirit Day! The kids can wear sweatpants for $1. It is also our ISU/IOWA game day-- kids can wear their favorite team jersey or t-shirt !!!! I will be in purple and gold! GO UNI!!!!
Have a great weekend! God Bless, Miss Surma
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Hello Parents- We are in with a week down! I think it is going well. We are very busy! Last week they took some pretests in reading, spelling, and math. This week we are going at it!
Reading- We read a short part from The Wayside School book. We had to discuss what was Louis' problem in the story and then how it was resolved. We will do more of that on Thursday. This is a funny story with an ending that isn't really expected (unless you've read the book). We will take a test over this on Friday. They will also have their spelling posttest on Friday. Since we don't have school on Monday, they will have their pretest on Tuesday. In grammar we are working on what makes up a complete sentence and a fragment. We also identify the two parts of a sentence: subject and predicate. I did talk to them about picking out the who or what (noun) and the action or linking verbs. This is usually a difficult task. We will get more specific with those parts of speech as we go on.
Mrs. Mitchell is doing the BRI tests right now. Once she is done, we will have small group time with her.
Vocabulary- I want to give you a heads-up on this! We are doing the Frayer Model with our definitions in reading. They did this last year in social studies, but I am tweaking it for reading. We did it this week together in class so I could show them how it would look. They will have a big box for each word. They will write the word, a short definition, use the word in a sentence, and then they need to find two antonyms and two synonyms. Now, if you have a thesaurus at home they can certainly use that, but some words are located in there. We used the internet. I went to www.thesaurus.com and was able to type in their vocabulary word and a list came up! It does take some time. They can do most everything here, but they may need the internet at home to do that research. We will do what we can in class, but I can't promise this won't be homework. They will have most of the week to do it. I would like them to have it done on Thursdays so we can go over the words.
Math- We are starting with place value positions of numbers and learning how to write a number in word, standard, and expanded form. For example: If the number is 1,234. That is standard form. Word form- one thousand,two hundred thirty-four. Expanded form- (1 x 1.000) + (2 x 100) + (3 x 10)+ (4 x 1). This is a little new compared to how I taught it before, but it makes much more sense to them when I ask--how many 100s does it take to equal 200? We started this today (Wednesday). We will do more together tomorrow. One thing I have noticed is that some need to refresh themselves on their multiplication facts. They can use the chart in their assignment book, but those basic facts should be a little quicker. Maybe quiz them in the car when you drive to practice, a game, or Des Moines.
Religion- They have been working with the Bible this week. I always start the year by reviewing how we look up verses in the Bible. This coming Sunday Mother Teresa will be canonized (named a saint). We will celebrate this at mass next week. I also have some information on her that I will share with them in class next week.
We don't have really any study halls except on band days and that is first thing in the morning. Right now they have some extra time with our mornings because we haven't been on the computers yet, but we will be. I have been trying to stress that if they have homework they need to make use of any free chance they get to work on it, especially if they have signed up for other things outside of school. I can tell you this... I don't give homework for major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break. I can't guarantee that your child won't have something to do on Halloween. I also remind them their job right now is school. So that has to come first. I am not going to work around their extra activities outside of school. If they use their time, they really shouldn't have much to do, but with a lot of the core classes in the afternoon, they will have to be smart about not wasting time. They can do this!
Any questions or concerns please email me or call the school!
I hope everyone has a great long weekend. Please be safe! I am planning on heading home to Doon. Take Care!!!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Reading- We read a short part from The Wayside School book. We had to discuss what was Louis' problem in the story and then how it was resolved. We will do more of that on Thursday. This is a funny story with an ending that isn't really expected (unless you've read the book). We will take a test over this on Friday. They will also have their spelling posttest on Friday. Since we don't have school on Monday, they will have their pretest on Tuesday. In grammar we are working on what makes up a complete sentence and a fragment. We also identify the two parts of a sentence: subject and predicate. I did talk to them about picking out the who or what (noun) and the action or linking verbs. This is usually a difficult task. We will get more specific with those parts of speech as we go on.
Mrs. Mitchell is doing the BRI tests right now. Once she is done, we will have small group time with her.
Vocabulary- I want to give you a heads-up on this! We are doing the Frayer Model with our definitions in reading. They did this last year in social studies, but I am tweaking it for reading. We did it this week together in class so I could show them how it would look. They will have a big box for each word. They will write the word, a short definition, use the word in a sentence, and then they need to find two antonyms and two synonyms. Now, if you have a thesaurus at home they can certainly use that, but some words are located in there. We used the internet. I went to www.thesaurus.com and was able to type in their vocabulary word and a list came up! It does take some time. They can do most everything here, but they may need the internet at home to do that research. We will do what we can in class, but I can't promise this won't be homework. They will have most of the week to do it. I would like them to have it done on Thursdays so we can go over the words.
Math- We are starting with place value positions of numbers and learning how to write a number in word, standard, and expanded form. For example: If the number is 1,234. That is standard form. Word form- one thousand,two hundred thirty-four. Expanded form- (1 x 1.000) + (2 x 100) + (3 x 10)+ (4 x 1). This is a little new compared to how I taught it before, but it makes much more sense to them when I ask--how many 100s does it take to equal 200? We started this today (Wednesday). We will do more together tomorrow. One thing I have noticed is that some need to refresh themselves on their multiplication facts. They can use the chart in their assignment book, but those basic facts should be a little quicker. Maybe quiz them in the car when you drive to practice, a game, or Des Moines.
Religion- They have been working with the Bible this week. I always start the year by reviewing how we look up verses in the Bible. This coming Sunday Mother Teresa will be canonized (named a saint). We will celebrate this at mass next week. I also have some information on her that I will share with them in class next week.
We don't have really any study halls except on band days and that is first thing in the morning. Right now they have some extra time with our mornings because we haven't been on the computers yet, but we will be. I have been trying to stress that if they have homework they need to make use of any free chance they get to work on it, especially if they have signed up for other things outside of school. I can tell you this... I don't give homework for major holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break. I can't guarantee that your child won't have something to do on Halloween. I also remind them their job right now is school. So that has to come first. I am not going to work around their extra activities outside of school. If they use their time, they really shouldn't have much to do, but with a lot of the core classes in the afternoon, they will have to be smart about not wasting time. They can do this!
Any questions or concerns please email me or call the school!
I hope everyone has a great long weekend. Please be safe! I am planning on heading home to Doon. Take Care!!!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Friday, August 26, 2016
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Hello Parents! We are on Day 2 and everyone returned! Woo hoo!!!
In your child's folder is a letter from me that describes a little bit more about 5th grade and the subjects. From this point on I will put things on my blog unless it is a last minute thing I need you to know about. You can get to my blog through our new school website. Just visit www.stmalachy.org!
As of right now we are at 25 in my room. Aydan White didn't return. I will have a para with us during some points in our day. We will most of the time have Mrs. Kendrick, but Miss Ashton may see us too.
Please feel free to email me if you have questions or concerns.
This week we aren't doing much in the textbooks. There is some pretesting going on in math, reading, and spelling, but they won't have real homework this week.
Next week we will start with the signing of assignment books.
Have a great weekend! I plan to head to Waverly for my great-niece's birthday party!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
In your child's folder is a letter from me that describes a little bit more about 5th grade and the subjects. From this point on I will put things on my blog unless it is a last minute thing I need you to know about. You can get to my blog through our new school website. Just visit www.stmalachy.org!
As of right now we are at 25 in my room. Aydan White didn't return. I will have a para with us during some points in our day. We will most of the time have Mrs. Kendrick, but Miss Ashton may see us too.
Please feel free to email me if you have questions or concerns.
This week we aren't doing much in the textbooks. There is some pretesting going on in math, reading, and spelling, but they won't have real homework this week.
Next week we will start with the signing of assignment books.
Have a great weekend! I plan to head to Waverly for my great-niece's birthday party!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
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