https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0544A5AA23A2FF2-5thgrade4

Please sign up for a conference on Tuesday, March 9 or Thursday, March 11

 Hello Parents!  Well, at this time, I am sitting at my house on our 2nd cold day! I really was shocked by Day 2. Hopefully, you are staying warm and doing some fun stuff in the house! I have a peach crisp in the oven. 

Reading-So with our shortened week, I decided that we'd still read this week's story and do the spelling and grammar worksheets, but no testing. I am sure the kids will be so disappointed. 😉 This week's story is such a good one too! I can't wait for us to read it! It is called LAFFF and it's a little time travel and science fiction. There is a twist at the end that is so fun when the kids figure it out!  This week we will also be moving onto adverbs in grammar. I may change a little bit of that since we aren't having a full week. 

Ash Wednesday- We are distributing ashes at mass as always, but it will be a little different this year due to Covid. If you watch mass online, you will see us sprinkling a little bit of the ashes in their hair instead of making the Sign of the Cross on their forehead. It will be different, but I am glad we can still do it!  

The kids will make their Lenten promises as well. We are doing Fat Tuesday, but its been moved to Thursday. We can't make the donuts like usual due to Covid, but we are having some donated to us from some StM parents. Casey's is making them for us! 4th graders will pass those out to each classroom. I am glad we can still figure out how to do this! Thank you to the parents donating the money for these! 

Religion- The 5th graders will have a test coming up. That has to be moved now due to our snow days. It  will be Monday or Tuesday of next week. After that we will start our chapter on Lent. 

Math- We are still working on decimals... just the beginning stages! They are learning to write them in standard, expanded, and written form. That written form will come in handy for writing a check someday. 

Auction- Don't forget you get a Watch Party Dinner , but you need to place your order by Friday. The auction will open up on the 19th for bidding. It will close the night of the 27th. Hopefully next year we can do it in person again! 

Hope you have a great weekend! It sounds like we will be able to go outside and enjoy the temps! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! Don't you just looooove this weather? NOT ME! I am so ready for spring. Actually as I put the calendar up on my blog, I couldn't believe I was already mentioning Spring Break. Where is this year going? I also thought about last year... we said good-bye at conferences and then didn't return! 

Reading- This week they are reading a realistic fiction story called Lunch Money.  Andrew Clements is the the author. This story is about a 6th grader named Greg who has created his own comic book that he is selling to his classmates for $0.25. He calls it Chunky Comics. He has created three characters to represent the past, present, and future.  His goal is to sell 100 of them. He does all work for them. He does the drawing, writing, printing, and binding of them. We talked about the setting of the story and I got distracted I think. I ended up telling them about the book I am reading. It takes place during the depression and the dust bowl. I was trying to tell them about the dust bowl. I found pictures online, I will have to show them. The stock market crashing is a bit difficult to explain and understand. 

In grammar we are working on adjectives. They answer the questions, what kind, which one, how many, and origin. We had to talk about origin being places in the world and that they would be capitalized so that makes them easier to pick out. These would be words like: American, Japanese, Asian, etc. The hard part for them is finding the noun first to figure out what word might be describing it. 

Their spelling this week are words that end in -ed or -ing. The trick there is that some of the consonants in the sentence have to be doubled...(beginning, grabbed)

Unit 3 test scores are in their folders this week. I can definitely tell some don't look back in the stories to find the answers. There is one in particular that sticks out. It asked them the background of the illustration. The picture is showing "It's raining cats and dogs". Many chose "fashion" as their answer. The answer was "weather". 

FAST Testing- This week we have been testing in reading and math. Mrs. Struble is here today for me so I can do the reading tests with them. They worked on the math and the other reading test on Monday and Tuesday.

Religion- They shared their saint reports. We also focused on the symbols used in baptism and confirmation. They will probably test early next week. Then we will get into Lent. I will have them make their Lenten promises on Tuesday. That might be a good conversation to have at home first just so you are aware of what their plan is. I know many take into account spring break. I always tell them that if they are giving up something, they shouldn't pick something that the family will wish they hadn't. Father Halbur always told about his friend who gave up coffee and then life was miserable for his wife. 😉

Auction- Thank you for the donations! We have the items ordered from Pampered Chef. I will share a picture when it is done! Tiffany Ossian is going to come in on Tuesday to work on the silent auction item with the kids. 

Valentines- Friday afternoon around 2 pm we will celebrate Valentines. If your child is passing them out, have them bring them on Friday. Thanks! 

Spirit Day- Friday is Spirit Day! Sweats for $1

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay warm and stay healthy! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, I hope you are enjoying the photos of CSW I am posting on Facebook. Friday will be our virtual parade with Father filming the kids. Look for that on Facebook. 

Book It- If your child made the goal for January, calendars are due by Friday! The February goal went up to 800 minutes. That is about 30 minutes a day since there are fewer days this month! 

Reading- This week they took Unit 3 test. This is a benchmark test and tends to be more difficult. Next we will begin our next unit. They will have a spelling test and test on Friday again. I will send home Unit 3 scores next week in the folders. 

Math- We started our chapter on decimals on Monday, but due to our CSW activities, our math class takes a hit almost every day so we probably get into it more next week! 

Religion- Since we are learning about the sacrament of confirmation , the kids picked out a saint and did some research on it. They are sharing their information with the class. They picked some saints I have never heard of so I am excited to learn more about them! 

Auction donations- Thank you so much to those who have helped! If you are still planning on donating, they are due on Friday! 

Thursday is Tie Dye day! IF they have tie dye sweats they can wear those too, hats, vests, headbands, etc. They have to be tie dye though. They also HAVE TO HAVE mittens and/or gloves for our snowman building tomorrow! They will most likely being doing the work. (Charlie will watch from the sidewalk).

Friday is CAMO day! I told them if they have any hunting clothing to wear that! 

Valentine's Day- We will celebrate this day next Friday, February 12. I have a parent donating drinks and a treat for the class. Thank you, Alisha!  IF your child would like to bring in Valentines to share with the class, they certainly may do that! If you need a class list, email me and I will get you one. I remember my mom always handing me the class picture as my "list". I had to write them out to 4-6th graders because we shared rooms and teachers. I thought it was the coolest thing. 😊 It is voluntary. They aren't required. 

I hope you have a great weekend! Stay warm. I am NOT excited about those temps they are giving us for this weekend and next week! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents. I hope you enjoyed the extended weekend and snow! I am good now...we don't need anymore. 😁

Reading- Due to the snow days, I am changing what we're doing. We won't have a spelling test or a test over the story. We will read the story and work on grammar and spelling, but I am not going to test over any of it. Our story this week is another nonfiction piece. We learn about two people who took part in the Revolutionary War. One of them happens to be a girl who does a run on horseback similar to Paul Revere. This is the last story in our unit, which means next week will be a unit test week. 

Math- We will start the math test on Wednesday or Thursday. I have to see how the schedule plays out on Wednesday.

Auction- I received a couple of donations for the basket last week. Thank you! I will still need more since some of this will go towards our silent auction item. Please do what you can to help out. Donations due by Friday, February 5.

Dress Up Days for CSW-

Monday- Google Meet Day- They need to dress up on top and sweats or pjs on the bottom. I told them they can wear slippers too. They will need to be ready for PE so they might want snowpants and boots! They will need a sack lunch and drink on this day! 

Tuesday- Dress up like a State Day. Hawaiian shirt for Hawaii? Farmer for Iowa or Nebaska? Cowboy for Texas? Cheesehead for Wisconsin? 

Wednesday- Mass attire. This is a 4th and 5th grade mass. It's at 9:15 and will be online.

Thursday-Dress up in Tie Dye. We hope to building snowmen that afternoon. They will need mittens and/or gloves! Many of the 5th graders don't wear them at recess. They HAVE to have them that day! 

Friday- Dress in CAMO day! We plan to do a drone parade for the grandparents and special guests. Look for it on Facebook. 

If your child doesn't have any of the above to wear- please ask friends or visit the Rerun. They aren't required to participate in the dress up days- except for mass day. If they don't want to dress up, I told them to dress like they normally would for a school day. They need to remember that they will still have PE outside and recess...so have the snow pants to keep them warm. 

Religion- we are discussing the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. The plan is for the kids to do some research on a saint of their choosing. In the Catholic church, confirmation students pick a saint to have as their own patron saint...one they can look to for guidance and someone to look up to as a role model. 

Sunday Mass- Mass at Holy Spirit is at 9 am. Bishop Joensen will be presiding this weekend at both masses. I am excited that he will finally be able to visit our church since his ordination last year. 

 T-shirts- Next week we are decorating our hallway to represent the 50 states. If you have traveled anywhere in the state and got a T-shirt from that state, could they bring it to school on Monday? We'd like to use them as part of our decorating. They could have the name of the state on it or somewhere they visited like the Colorado Rockies, Disneyland, etc.  We just want to hang them, so they won't be cut or written on. You will get them back. 

SOS- I have a student of service this semester. Molly Sickels (Mrs. Sickels' daughter) is coming in the room to help out every other day for about an hour or so. 

I hope you have a good weekend! I can't believe I'm already saying that! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, Happy Wednesday! I hope you are having a good week. I was just outside and I wish that temperature was going to stick around! I am ready for spring!

January Blues- I am not sure but in the last 3 days, I have handed out 6 late slips and given 2 detentions due to not getting those kinds of things done. I don't know if we are just in a funk, or if the extra day off just made kids forget that they had work to do. I have talked to them about this. I just don't want this to be the  start of a pattern. They have been doing so well! 

Reading- This week we are doing the story in 4 days due to our snow day last week. They will have a test on Friday. This week we read a story called James Forten. He was an African American who did his part for the Revolutionary War. He worked on a ship during some of the battles. For him there was the danger of their ship being taken over because he could have easily been taken captive and sent back to be a slave, even though he was actually a free man. In grammar we are working on commas and semicolons. The commas usually aren't too difficult for them. The semicolons are the difficult part. Today we focused on putting semicolons where there are already commas. For example, if there are already commas in the sentences separating cites and states, then we add the semicolons to really separate them out. 

Book Reports- I had planned for the kids to share their reports last Friday because I had a good chunk of time to do so. Well, now I am just getting them in when we have the time. I'm hoping by the end of the day on Friday, they will have all shared! They really did some great work on their projects! 

Math- We are doing the "dress rehearsal" for the test. I have a feeling they won't actually do the test until Monday. It is taking longer than I had planned, but I'd rather they take their time and do well! I did change it so that their test is not going to be 25 word problems. I am using the chapter review/test in their book as the test because it is a nice combination of problems with some word problems. The funny part I have noticed is that when they get to the word problems... I lost count on how many came up to ask me if all the word problems were division. I told them I wouldn't tell them because I figured out they were just looking at the numbers and not the situation being given. Some of those questions are looking for something more specific than the quotient. 

Religion- They did well on their tests! Right now we are working on Valentines cards. I am sending them to my friend back home. She will include them in the care packages she is mailing out to the soldiers working overseas. 

Spirit Day on Friday! Sweats for $1!!!

In your take home folder, you will find two letters from Mrs. Sickels and myself. One is about our basket for the auction. The other is for our kick off mass for Catholic Schools Week. Please take some time to read both and do what you can to help us out! Thanks so much!

I am still looking for a parent to take over the Silent Auction item! Please shoot me an email if you can take charge of this one! 

Have a great weekend! I am seeing more weather in forecast. I really hope not! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year's! I enjoyed a ZOOM call with my siblings.  I am gone on Thursday for a doctor appointment. Mrs. Struble will be my sub. If there is something you need, email Mrs. Lane or Mrs. Sickels or Burg. 

Reading- This week we are reading a story about Molly Pitcher. Her real name is Mary Hays, but people called her Molly as a nickname. She fought alongside her husband  in the Revolutionary War. First, she was running to a stream to get water in a pitcher. She would run that to the men on the battlefield, it was a very humid day in June.  When her husband was injured, she took over shooting the cannon for him! George Washington named her a Sergeant because of her actions.

In grammar we are working on regular and irregular verbs. We are dealing with past and present tense. For example-- walk/walked, cry/cried, jump/jumped, carry/carried- these would be regular verbs

go/went, think/thought, forget/forgot- these would be considered irregular verbs

They will test on Friday on their spelling words. We will also test on the story. This is our 3rd story in the unit which means they will also get a cold read story to be tested on. 

Book Reports due on Friday! 📚📚📚

Math- Well, my plan for this week went out the window. I forget how this last worksheet stumps them.  We spent 3 days on this one. The issue with this one is that many times, their first number in the quotient is often wrong and they have to adjust. That is the whole point of this assignment. They don't like it. They want to get it done, understandably. This one really forces them to slow down, which isn't a bad thing. Many also were getting frustrated because they had to check by multiplying and that didn't always work out. Common errors I found were they multiplied wrong when dividing, they subtracted wrong, they forgot to add the remainder, they didn't drop a 0, or they multiplied wrong when checking. On Friday, we are going to start our  "dress rehearsal" for the test. I am doing a different test with fewer word problems. We will see how far we get on Friday. They will have a test next week over this chapter. The next chapter will be working with decimals. They will enjoy the break! So will I! 😊

Seeking Donations for Newspaper Insert and Radio Commercials:

Our 8th-grade class is writing articles for a large insert in the Creston News Advertiser and our 6th-grade class is preparing 15-second commercials to be broadcast 5 times each on KSIB radio. The insert will be distributed and the ads broadcast during Catholic Schools Week. The cost for the insert and ads will be approximately $1700. We need your help to fund these great pieces about our school.  If you are interested in helping, please click the link here: https://hsse.churchcenter.com/giving/to/school-marketing

 If you plan to help please let Mrs. Lane know by January 19th so we can place your name on our donor list. Thank you! slane@crestonstmalachy.org

Religion- They will have a test on Friday! 

Auction Basket- The auction is happening, but it will be online! We are doing baskets. This year it will be a 4th and 5th grade basket. Mrs. Sickels and I decided that we will take care of putting it together. The value of the basket cannot be any more than $300. We decided we'd like to do a Pampered Chef basket. If you are able to help with the cost, please send your donation to school with your child. We'd like donations to be in by February 5 so we can get our order in to PC. 

We will also do a silent auction item from our 5th grade class. I am looking for parent volunteer or volunteers to help get this done!  Please let me know if you can help out with this! Part of your donation for the basket would also go towards this item. Thank you so much!!!! 

Catholic Schools Week is coming up at the end of the month! Keep an eye out for details! We definitely made some changes, but I think it will be fun! 

Sounds like we are going to feel more like winter on Thursday and Friday! Is it to early to countdown the days until spring?

Have a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma