Parents, IF you would like to place your book order online instead of sending it to school, here is the code you will need for me. 

DVT3G

Use that when ordering online! You pay online as well. I will get an email that you have placed an order and make sure it goes through!

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, Happy Thursday! I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! 

Spirit Day- This Friday is our first one of the year! $1 for sweats. They can also sport their favorite team for Iowa vs ISU or whatever school they choose to cheer on! 

Reading- This week we are reading a story called The Royal Mystery. It is about two girls at camp, but one is definitely used to a certain way of living, so she has to get used to camp life. Plus, she also is kind of secretive about her life and family so there is a great little twist at the end of the story. This story is also written in a play format so we discuss how the style of those are written. We talk about scenes, stage directions, and the clues we are supposed to show when reading (how a character reacts). In grammar we are discussing the four types of sentences and the punctuation they each require. On Wednesday, they were given a sheet of sentences to cut out. The next step was to read them and decide what kind of sentence it was and then glue it on piece of paper in the right column. It seems like the imperative and interrogative ( command and question) sentences get the most confusing.  You will see in their take home folders their score sheets from last Friday's test. 

Math- We are working on place value this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday they were showing how to write a number in standard, word, and expanded form. The most confusing seems to be the difference between showing me the value of a number and the place value.  Value tells me what a number is worth. Place value gives me a name to that number-- hundreds, ten thousands,etc. 

Religion- We always begin with our creation story. The most important thing I try to relate to them is that we are all created in God's image. We are made to be like him. That means our actions and words should also resemble him. We also focus on the mystery of the Holy Trinity. They will be creating pictures to show me how three things can all be in one item. 

Food Pantry- Our first visit will be next Friday, Sept. 15. 

Book Order- In your child's folder is a book order. If you would like to order, please return them by next Friday, Sept. 15. IF you are sending a check, write it to me or Scholastic.  Thank you!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Maybe I will see you at the Food Fair on Sunday! I am working at the dessert booth! 
God Bless, 
Miss Surma

Hello Parents, 
I hope everyone is getting into the groove of school again! Welcome to 5th Grade!!!  So, this blog is my main way of keeping you up to date on what we are doing. I very rarely send home paper stuff. I will post things on our Facebook page as well, but you should always check here for information. 


Reading- This week they are reading an excerpt from Wayside School . This is a humorous fiction story. There are some silly things that happen in the school and with the teacher! We are focusing on creating a story map to identify the problem in the story , the events, and the resolution. We are also talking about irony. In grammar we are working on identifying the simple subject and simple predicate of a sentence. I am trying to get them to focus on finding the noun and the verb!  They took a spelling test on Monday. They will have a posttest on Friday. I don't do bonus right away. I will base that on some pretest scores to see. Once they are doing bonus, they continue to do it. They are learning that in 5th grade everything but math is done in cursive, unless I tell them otherwise. This is great for many of them because it is forcing them to slow down. They will test over this story on Friday. They will take an online test as they did last year in 4th grade. 
We also got them on Quizlet this week. They will be able to work on spelling and vocabulary words there. 



Math- They took a pretest this week. On Wednesday we started our first chapter. It focuses on place value. They will be working with millions and eventually we will be working the place value positions of decimals. 

Religion- We always begin our year discussing the Bible and how to locate readings or passages in the different books. We then move into the story of Creation and the Holy Trinity. 

Spirit Day is next Friday! They can wear sweats for $1! It is also the big CY-Hawk game so they can support their favorite team! I will most likely be supporting the UNI Panthers. I might be "allergic" to those other colors! :)

I am reading the book Wonder to them. This is a fave of mine. I am also working with them on acts of kindness. In the book, August was born with some facial deformities and he is just beginning his 5th grade year. He was home-schooled up until this point. It is a great story on accepting differences and bullying. We will have a REAL-LIFE Auggie as our pen pal. His name is Mason. The kids will be sending him letters so we can get to know him better. He is 11 years old. I'm also trying to get them to catch some acts of kindness so we can fill our jar. It's kind of like the bucket fillers. 

Facebook- If you are on Facebook, make sure to look for my page St. Malachy Fabulous Fifth Grade. Ask to join and I will take care of the rest! 

Chromebooks are up and running! They are already typing letters up for their Iowa History project with Mrs. Sickels. 

Holy Spirit International Food Fair is set for September 10. 

I hope everyone enjoys the three day weekend whether you are staying put or traveling. I am heading to my hometown of Doon. My siblings and I will be putting our childhood home for sale this fall. I am going home to do some more packing, donating, and pitching this weekend. Have a great weekend!!!

God Bless,
Miss Surma

St.Malachy 5^th Grade      “Our 9”

Each of the 9 months of the school year all members of our 5^th grade class are dedicating their prayers/work to various individuals who have made a positive impact on their lives.

August 24- September 1

Student/Teacher:	Praying/ Working for:
Fernando Acuna	My dad
Ava Adamson	Uncle Devin
Spencer Brown	Uncle Tyler
Olivia Burwell	My dad
Vincent Eblen	My brother Joe
Tristan Evans	My grandpa
Jersey Foote	My mom
Ava Ford	My mom
Taryn Fredrickson	Grandma Tracy
Mila Kuhns	Cousin Ellie
Aubrie Mohr	Grandpa Moffitt
Charles Rudolf	Great Grandpa
Josh Schaefer	Grandma
Mattias Schultes	Coach B.
Taylor Smith	Great Grandma
Parker Varner	Grandma
Sasha Wurster	Great Grandma
Carley Zollman	My brother
Miss Surma	Coen Family

Hello Parents ! Welcome to 5th Grade!!! This is your journey as well as your child's! I wanted to invite you to my 5th grade Facebook page, if you are on Facebook. That is where I will post pictures or videos of your kids during our year together. This is a CLOSED group, so you will have to click JOIN and then I will admit you in. I am keeping this just for us. 

The group's name is St. Malachy Fabulous Fifth Grade. That is what you will search! 

I am excited for our year!

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, 
Happy Thursday!  I cannot believe I am writing my last blog to you! Where did our year go??

There isn't much to tell you this week...

Tuesday, May 30 - That morning we will be finishing some things up in our classes and cleaning out desks. They will need their book bag to take home their stuff. They will need to bring a sack lunch that day. Milk will be provided. They should wear tennis shoes for Field Day. 

Wednesday, May 31- We will have mass that morning. After mass we will have a closing of the year instead of later that morning. The remainder of the day we will be in our rooms. Dismissal time is at noon. There will not be lunch for the kids. 

Report Cards will be done and online for you next week. 

Finally, let me say I have enjoyed this class immensely! I know there were 25, but it never felt like that to me. I couldn't imagine this class without one of them! They are all so special and so unique. I was lucky to be their teacher! I thank you for that! I thank you for choosing our school, our family. It was my pleasure to be their 5th grade teacher. I know they are ready to move on to middle school and all that it brings, but it is never easy to say goodbye to my kids. They will always be mine. I hope that all of you have a wonderful summer! Don't forget to have them pick up a book, newspaper, magazine once in awhile. Throw them a math problem to keep them on their toes. Tell them it's homework from Miss Surma! 😊 Enjoy sleeping in, softball and baseball games, camping, fishing, or just taking a vacation! For some of you, I know I am saying goodbye to you because now I have taught your youngest! That makes me a little sad as well! 

I will be here for most of June, but I will spend the majority of my summer back home in Doon. It will be my final summer in my childhood home. I want to be there as much as I can before we sell it this fall. 

Hello Parents, I am so sorry that last week I totally spaced off writing a blog. It was a crazy week! I hope you had a great weekend. I left Thursday afternoon and drove to Davenport where I met up with my sister Penny. We then took off for Butler, PA. We spent the night in Portage, Indiana and then took off again on Friday to finish the drive. We arrived in Butler around 5:15 their time. We went to watch our niece AnnMarie perform in the Youngstown Playhouse production of Hairspray. It was AMAZING! I thought my niece did an amazing job as "Penny" the best friend to the lead Tracy. My niece cried when she saw us after the show...that made the long drive totally worth it! We are heading back there in about 4 weeks to spend a week out there. 

The Baker's Neighbor play is this Friday. We have two shows. Half of the class will do their play at 10:45 and the other group will be at 2:15. The afternoon show may end up in Mrs. Mitchell's room. We have a lot of different activities going on at STM on Friday and the forecast isn't helping. When you arrive for the afternoon play, I will have 5th graders greeting you at the door. They will tell you where to go for sure. They have done a great job of memorizing their lines! It is really coming together!  

Costumes: 
Manuel-- dress clothes you wear to mass

Pablo-- the same thing, but you can add a cap if you want.  Just need to look like an older guy in the village

Carlos and Sisters-- they are kids. They can wear what they wear to school unless they want to do something special

Villagers and Women-- They are too look like older people in the village. If they want to wear dress clothes, be a farmer, wear caps, carry a cane, dress like an old lady or man...all good! 

Judge- Mass clothes- I will supply the black robe

Math-- They are still finishing up the math test over dividing decimals. When we are all done with that, I do plan on starting a new chapter even though I know we won't finish it. I would like to get to some fraction stuff before they go. They have done a lot of that on ST Math, so they will probably catch on quickly.

Religion- We are doing guidance, but this week we have been using that time to practice for the play.

Book Reports- They are due on Wednesday, May 24. They will need to bring it to school along with their costume. They will start to share their reports on that day, but I know we won't be able to get through them all. We will use Thursday and Friday to get them all done. 

Last Days of School- 

Tuesday, May 30-- They can bring a sack lunch that day to school. Milk will be provided. We will have Field Day that afternoon from 1-3. You are welcome to join us for that. I will plan on them cleaning out their desks that morning. They should come with their book bag to take belongings home that day. 

Creston Public School has now stated that we will have a 3 hour early out on May 31. There won't be lunch that day. We will be having mass that morning. They don't have to wear mass attire for this day. 

I hope you have a great weekend! I plan on going to Waterloo. My niece Gracelyn is graduating from Columbus High School. 
God Bless,
Miss Surma