Hi Parents, Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a great week! The kids and teachers are enjoying the new building this week that is for sure! I also have my room pretty much back in shape since all the water issues. I am just waiting on a new cupboard. Feels so good to be complete again.
Reading- This week we read a story about a group of girls in New York who are on a double Dutch jump rope team. They had a teacher who created the group and then took them to different competitions. The story is our first one in this unit that is nonfiction, which means you read it differently. We are looking for information and facts. We also talked about dialogue and that in stories that means--people talking. The clue would be the use of quotation marks around the things that are being said. We talked about how the coach is talking in this to give us the best idea of how things went when the girls started. That firsthand knowledge is BEST! We also focused on the skill of sequencing events. Our grammar this week was working on picking out nouns in sentences. They also had to clarify whether they were common or proper nouns. If they were proper, they had to be capitalized. A new one for them is acronyms: letters that stand for something. I gave them the example of our DEAR time. It means "Drop Everything And Read".
FAST Testing- We started this week on these reading tests. We should be done by Monday. Just a reminder this a test on their fluency. The aReading test they do is a test on comprehension. We use this information to figure out which of my kiddos I need to work with in small group time on their reading skills.
Religion- This week we really focused on practicing for mass. I have to say they did an AWESOME job too!!! I was so proud of them. They will be working on a chapter review and taking a test over their first chapter next week.
Math- We are halfway through our chapter. We just worked on using multiplication and exponents. They will be working on multiplication now. They will start by multiplying by a single digit, but we will move into bigger numbers.
Homecoming- They can wear sweatpants on Friday for $1. They can also wear their red and black to support the Panthers. We will have a Pep Rally sometime that morning. Remember they are getting dismissed at 12:40 on Friday. Please let me know if there are special or different pick up plans for your child that day. Thank you!
Food Pantry- Mark contacted Mrs. Sickels because he needs help on Thursday (tomorrow). I said the 5th could go help out. That is our plan for tomorrow as long as it isn't raining.
Art- We had our first 4th/5th art class today in the ART ROOM!!!! WOW! After 22 years of doing it in my own room, that was a big event. I know so many past teachers who are probably so excited for us and that room! Today we talked about Andy Warhol with the kids and his creation of POP art. We did our own little spin on it with fall. They will continue to work on it next week.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy the homecoming festivities too! I am heading to Des Moines on Saturday to watch my niece Olivia play some soccer at the James Cownie Field. Maybe I will see you on Sunday at the Color Run! I will be that person walking!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Book Order- I forgot to add this in my blog. I am sending home a book order form if you would like to purchase any books for your child. Any orders are due back by Sept. 21. Write checks to Scholastic or me. I also have had parents order them online. You can use my code to do that. The code is DVT3G. You will pay them online. It's pretty easy!
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Dear Parents,
I hope you are enjoying the sunny and dry weather for a change!!! I know I love having a dry room again!
Reading- This week we read a story called Off and Running. This is a story about two kids who are running for class president. The hold a debate with the entire grade listening. We discussed in class that Miata uses more formal language with her speech and really wants to improve the looks of the school. Rudy uses more informal language and wants things like longer recesses and ice cream every day. They filled out a Venn diagram on the characters in pairs on Tuesday. We were looking for more than Miata is a girl, Rudy is a boy kind of information. In grammar they are working on the subject and predicate parts of sentences. On Wednesday, they worked in pairs using Scrabble tiles to find out which of their spelling words was worth the most in points. They are also breaking up words based on the VCCV pattern.
This is week 3 in our unit. That means that on Friday they will have an extra story to read and 10 comprehension questions to answer based on that story. They will still be asked the questions from our regular story as well. This test will be worth 50 points.
Math- This week they are working on the properties of addition and multiplication. The focus is really on Distributive property, but they also work on commutative and associative. I am not sure they have a handle on it yet, so we may work some more before moving on. If you want to help out at home...work on their multiplication facts. I have noticed many of them don't have them down very well and spend time thinking. It wouldn't hurt them to work on those a little more.
Religion- They performed their commercials on Tuesday. I hope you watched them on our Facebook page. They had a lot of fun doing those. We are also working on the Blessed Trinity. They will be drawing a picture of that for me. I will explain more later!
On Tuesday, during our class meeting, I presented to them a Mindset activity. Mindset means getting them to change the idea of , "This is too hard or I can't do this to I can't do this...yet." YET is a big statement. Many of them I have noticed shut down or get really negative when things get hard for them.
So I made them work alone to draw a sketch and then they worked in groups. They were given 12 recipe cards, 20 dot stickers and a scissors. They were to create the tallest tower they could using those items. I took pictures and will post on Facebook. Sorry, but a couple of them collapsed BEFORE I got a picture. Next week they will get back with their groups and try to rebuild, but make the changes they think will help them create their tower. This also turned out to be frustrating for some because theirs didn't work and they kept saying... I don't know what to do differently. We talked as a class about how that happens sometimes in real life, but you can't walk away. You have to try again. I was really pleased with them. There wasn't a lot of negativity throughout the entire thing.I know it isn't easy, but there is no reward in the end for the tallest one. It is just to see how tall you can get it to be for YOUR group. It also forces them to think outside the box a little which can be difficult.
Mass- They will get their mass parts on Friday. You are welcome to join us for mass next Wednesday.
Homecoming Dismissal- Just making sure you understand we are having an earlier out than usual. The kids will be dismissed at 12:40 next Friday.
Volunteers needed this Friday at 4pm. We will be moving the classrooms into the new building! So exciting! Mrs. Simmons gave the teachers a sneak peek tour the other day after school. It is so nice! I can't wait to use that hallway to get to the other building! It is still hard to believe that I was parking back there a year ago! :)
Have a great Balloon Days weekend! Hopefully the balloons will lift off many times!
God Bless, Miss Surma
I hope you are enjoying the sunny and dry weather for a change!!! I know I love having a dry room again!
Reading- This week we read a story called Off and Running. This is a story about two kids who are running for class president. The hold a debate with the entire grade listening. We discussed in class that Miata uses more formal language with her speech and really wants to improve the looks of the school. Rudy uses more informal language and wants things like longer recesses and ice cream every day. They filled out a Venn diagram on the characters in pairs on Tuesday. We were looking for more than Miata is a girl, Rudy is a boy kind of information. In grammar they are working on the subject and predicate parts of sentences. On Wednesday, they worked in pairs using Scrabble tiles to find out which of their spelling words was worth the most in points. They are also breaking up words based on the VCCV pattern.
This is week 3 in our unit. That means that on Friday they will have an extra story to read and 10 comprehension questions to answer based on that story. They will still be asked the questions from our regular story as well. This test will be worth 50 points.
Math- This week they are working on the properties of addition and multiplication. The focus is really on Distributive property, but they also work on commutative and associative. I am not sure they have a handle on it yet, so we may work some more before moving on. If you want to help out at home...work on their multiplication facts. I have noticed many of them don't have them down very well and spend time thinking. It wouldn't hurt them to work on those a little more.
Religion- They performed their commercials on Tuesday. I hope you watched them on our Facebook page. They had a lot of fun doing those. We are also working on the Blessed Trinity. They will be drawing a picture of that for me. I will explain more later!
On Tuesday, during our class meeting, I presented to them a Mindset activity. Mindset means getting them to change the idea of , "This is too hard or I can't do this to I can't do this...yet." YET is a big statement. Many of them I have noticed shut down or get really negative when things get hard for them.
So I made them work alone to draw a sketch and then they worked in groups. They were given 12 recipe cards, 20 dot stickers and a scissors. They were to create the tallest tower they could using those items. I took pictures and will post on Facebook. Sorry, but a couple of them collapsed BEFORE I got a picture. Next week they will get back with their groups and try to rebuild, but make the changes they think will help them create their tower. This also turned out to be frustrating for some because theirs didn't work and they kept saying... I don't know what to do differently. We talked as a class about how that happens sometimes in real life, but you can't walk away. You have to try again. I was really pleased with them. There wasn't a lot of negativity throughout the entire thing.I know it isn't easy, but there is no reward in the end for the tallest one. It is just to see how tall you can get it to be for YOUR group. It also forces them to think outside the box a little which can be difficult.
Mass- They will get their mass parts on Friday. You are welcome to join us for mass next Wednesday.
Homecoming Dismissal- Just making sure you understand we are having an earlier out than usual. The kids will be dismissed at 12:40 next Friday.
Volunteers needed this Friday at 4pm. We will be moving the classrooms into the new building! So exciting! Mrs. Simmons gave the teachers a sneak peek tour the other day after school. It is so nice! I can't wait to use that hallway to get to the other building! It is still hard to believe that I was parking back there a year ago! :)
Have a great Balloon Days weekend! Hopefully the balloons will lift off many times!
God Bless, Miss Surma
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Hello Parents, I hope you enjoyed your long weekend! I had a really nice visit in Arkansas. I much prefer our hilly drives compared to their winding roads! Due to the amount of rain we've been getting, my classroom received a lot of water over the weekend at different times. The 5th graders have been really good about being flexible on having to move to the gym on Wednesday. They have helped me move stuff out of the way of the water as well! Right now there is a temporary wall outside my window. They will be putting in gutters when the rain ends! That will divert the water.
Reading- Even though this is a short week, we are still reading a story. They read a play this week that is a modernized version of The Princess and the Pea . This story has a bit of a mystery to it and as they read the ending... Owen's face was fantastic! That Home Alone moment of shock! In grammar we are focusing on the four kinds of sentences. I have them using their composition notebook to take notes in to remember things as we go along. They will have a posttest on Friday of their spelling words. I have started to enter scores on Powerschool, but in your child's folder you will find their reading scores from last week.
Math- We are going slowly on our 2nd lesson. They are writing large numbers in standard, word, and expanded form. The expanded form has changed, but this one has always been hardest for the kids to understand. For example: 1,235 (standard form) , one thousand two hundred thirty-five (word form),
(1x1,000)+ (2x100) + (3x10)+ (5x1) (expanded form). We are dealing with numbers in the millions and billions.
Religion- We are focusing our first chapter on God's creation. They are also going to be talking about being a good steward. I am going to have them work in groups to create an ad that would show up in a magazine or a TV commercial to show being a good steward and how we need to be responsible for taking care of God's creation.
Your kids are learning how things are different in 5th grade and my expectations. We have had to go over bathroom behavior a couple of times now. They are also finding that they are so busy talking to their neighbors that they are missing out on directions or how to do the assignment. I have found myself repeating myself a lot. Some of them just can't stop the visiting. They are also realizing that STOP means STOP when doing their work. They like to keep working when they are supposed to be transitioning to the next thing. We are working on that. I know they will get there, but the beginning is always a time of learning that Miss Surma may do things a little differently from Mrs. Sickels. Some need to work on using their free time to do their work. Many should go home without anything in their bag...if they are using their time. That doesn't mean there won't be days that we just couldn't do all of it at school. We are all learning. Please don't feel like you need to email me to find out if I am talking about your child. If I am ... I would email you first! :) We are just beginning to learn-- it is normal.
Art- If you're in the building next week, make sure to walk down the hall once I have the posters up in the hallway. They are drawing pictures of themselves. Will you be able to pick out your child??? That's the fun part!
I hope you have a great weekend! I hope to see you at the Food Fair here on Sunday! I will be working the dessert booth! I am heading to Waterloo on Friday to see my niece. It is her school's homecoming.
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Reading- Even though this is a short week, we are still reading a story. They read a play this week that is a modernized version of The Princess and the Pea . This story has a bit of a mystery to it and as they read the ending... Owen's face was fantastic! That Home Alone moment of shock! In grammar we are focusing on the four kinds of sentences. I have them using their composition notebook to take notes in to remember things as we go along. They will have a posttest on Friday of their spelling words. I have started to enter scores on Powerschool, but in your child's folder you will find their reading scores from last week.
Math- We are going slowly on our 2nd lesson. They are writing large numbers in standard, word, and expanded form. The expanded form has changed, but this one has always been hardest for the kids to understand. For example: 1,235 (standard form) , one thousand two hundred thirty-five (word form),
(1x1,000)+ (2x100) + (3x10)+ (5x1) (expanded form). We are dealing with numbers in the millions and billions.
Religion- We are focusing our first chapter on God's creation. They are also going to be talking about being a good steward. I am going to have them work in groups to create an ad that would show up in a magazine or a TV commercial to show being a good steward and how we need to be responsible for taking care of God's creation.
Your kids are learning how things are different in 5th grade and my expectations. We have had to go over bathroom behavior a couple of times now. They are also finding that they are so busy talking to their neighbors that they are missing out on directions or how to do the assignment. I have found myself repeating myself a lot. Some of them just can't stop the visiting. They are also realizing that STOP means STOP when doing their work. They like to keep working when they are supposed to be transitioning to the next thing. We are working on that. I know they will get there, but the beginning is always a time of learning that Miss Surma may do things a little differently from Mrs. Sickels. Some need to work on using their free time to do their work. Many should go home without anything in their bag...if they are using their time. That doesn't mean there won't be days that we just couldn't do all of it at school. We are all learning. Please don't feel like you need to email me to find out if I am talking about your child. If I am ... I would email you first! :) We are just beginning to learn-- it is normal.
Art- If you're in the building next week, make sure to walk down the hall once I have the posters up in the hallway. They are drawing pictures of themselves. Will you be able to pick out your child??? That's the fun part!
I hope you have a great weekend! I hope to see you at the Food Fair here on Sunday! I will be working the dessert booth! I am heading to Waterloo on Friday to see my niece. It is her school's homecoming.
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Hello Parents,
I hope you are having a good week! Welcome to 5th grade. I hope you have signed up to receive these blogs or are finding them on my Facebook page for our class.
The 5th graders are learning our new routine this week. I am too. I'm not used to having most of their core classes in the morning! Those hours fly by so quickly!
Reading- Last week they took a pretest for me in reading and in spelling. It's purpose is to give me an idea of what kind of readers they are.
This week they read a story called " A Package for Mrs. Jewls". It is from the book Wayside School.
The purpose of this story is to entertain. The kids enjoy the fact that the school is 30 stories tall, but there is no 19th floor. Louis is a maintenance man and he has to deliver a package to Mrs. Jewls. When he arrives, she decides to hold a spelling bee to decide who will open the door. One of the words is package, but the child spells B-O-X. This happens a few times. Again we laugh at these parts. In grammar they are learning the basics again. We are talking about writing sentences and that a complete sentence needs a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate (verb). They are also determining if sentences are complete or fragments.
Their spelling words this week have short vowel sounds. They will take their posttest on Friday. I told them that if they ACE their pretests, they don't take the posttest. No one aced it this week. They also have a list of spelling words that they can study with you. I send those home each week. I will give bonus words eventually, but I look at pretest scores to determine who will get the extra 5. I also lessen the load for kids who struggle with their spelling-- again this is based on how they do each week on their pretest.
I also told them they have to have a chapter book with them at all times. We will do 3 book reports this year, but I haven't assigned the first one yet. I want them to get used to the work.
Math- They have taken a pretest in math. It was 50 problems. It does have problems they may not know how to do yet. That has taken 3 days to get it done by everyone. Our first chapter will start on Thursday. We cover decimals first with the focus being place value names. We will be adding and subtracting them eventually.
Religion- We start our year learning how to find chapter and verses in the Bible. They are working on that now. We will move into our first chapter on creation when we are done with the Bible activity. Bishop Pates will be with us for mass next week!
Pictures- Pictures are tomorrow! If you haven't sent it in yet, please do! Some parents pack an extra shirt if they don't want them to wear that one all day. It is up to you!
GROUP BAND TOMORROW!!!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! It is a 3 day weekend! I am heading to Arkansas with my sister. She is going to visit her mother-in-law and I'm just going for the fun! Whatever you are doing, have a great time. Be safe. See your kids on Tuesday! If you need to reach me, my email is asurma@crestonstmalachy.org.
God Bless,
Miss Surma
I hope you are having a good week! Welcome to 5th grade. I hope you have signed up to receive these blogs or are finding them on my Facebook page for our class.
The 5th graders are learning our new routine this week. I am too. I'm not used to having most of their core classes in the morning! Those hours fly by so quickly!
Reading- Last week they took a pretest for me in reading and in spelling. It's purpose is to give me an idea of what kind of readers they are.
This week they read a story called " A Package for Mrs. Jewls". It is from the book Wayside School.
The purpose of this story is to entertain. The kids enjoy the fact that the school is 30 stories tall, but there is no 19th floor. Louis is a maintenance man and he has to deliver a package to Mrs. Jewls. When he arrives, she decides to hold a spelling bee to decide who will open the door. One of the words is package, but the child spells B-O-X. This happens a few times. Again we laugh at these parts. In grammar they are learning the basics again. We are talking about writing sentences and that a complete sentence needs a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate (verb). They are also determining if sentences are complete or fragments.
Their spelling words this week have short vowel sounds. They will take their posttest on Friday. I told them that if they ACE their pretests, they don't take the posttest. No one aced it this week. They also have a list of spelling words that they can study with you. I send those home each week. I will give bonus words eventually, but I look at pretest scores to determine who will get the extra 5. I also lessen the load for kids who struggle with their spelling-- again this is based on how they do each week on their pretest.
I also told them they have to have a chapter book with them at all times. We will do 3 book reports this year, but I haven't assigned the first one yet. I want them to get used to the work.
Math- They have taken a pretest in math. It was 50 problems. It does have problems they may not know how to do yet. That has taken 3 days to get it done by everyone. Our first chapter will start on Thursday. We cover decimals first with the focus being place value names. We will be adding and subtracting them eventually.
Religion- We start our year learning how to find chapter and verses in the Bible. They are working on that now. We will move into our first chapter on creation when we are done with the Bible activity. Bishop Pates will be with us for mass next week!
Pictures- Pictures are tomorrow! If you haven't sent it in yet, please do! Some parents pack an extra shirt if they don't want them to wear that one all day. It is up to you!
GROUP BAND TOMORROW!!!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! It is a 3 day weekend! I am heading to Arkansas with my sister. She is going to visit her mother-in-law and I'm just going for the fun! Whatever you are doing, have a great time. Be safe. See your kids on Tuesday! If you need to reach me, my email is asurma@crestonstmalachy.org.
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Monday, August 20, 2018
Hi Parents,
Please make sure you sign up on the bottom of the Blog to receive these as an email each week!
I will also post it to our private 5th grade Facebook page. You will need to ask to join that ! Please search for:
St. Malachy Fabulous Fifth Grade on Facebook and ask to join.
Open House is set for Wednesday, August 22 from 4-6pm! Can't wait to see you and your kids! I will be making introductions this year as this is the first time I have had your children!
See you soon!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
Please make sure you sign up on the bottom of the Blog to receive these as an email each week!
I will also post it to our private 5th grade Facebook page. You will need to ask to join that ! Please search for:
St. Malachy Fabulous Fifth Grade on Facebook and ask to join.
Open House is set for Wednesday, August 22 from 4-6pm! Can't wait to see you and your kids! I will be making introductions this year as this is the first time I have had your children!
See you soon!
God Bless,
Miss Surma
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