Dear Parents, I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend! The kids sounded like they did! I had a great time at my great niece's first birthday party! Her mom told me she is expecting #4 in March! Wow! She will have 3 under 3 years old. My niece Olivia looked beautiful for her homecoming dance! 

 Upcoming Important Dates:

• Friday, Sept. 24- No School/ PD Day
• Oct. 6- Field Trip to KC for Auschwitz Exhibit/ Need a sack lunch
• Oct. 8- Homecoming/3 hour early out/ Spirit Day
• Oct. 22- Spirit Day

Reading- This we we have our first nonfiction story. It is called Double Dutch.  This is a story about a group of girls in NY who compete in double Dutch contests. It took them 5 years to win a championship. The kids were busy jumping rope at recess on Monday.  In grammar this week they are working on nouns- common an proper. We made lists of each on Tuesday. They had to also identify nouns in sentences and then label them either common or proper. We then worked on identifying proper nouns in sentences that need to be capitalized. That also includes initials, abbreviations, and acronyms. We also talked about capitalizing nouns that represent a certain language- Russian, Chinese, American,etc. 

Math- We are ending our first chapter! On Tuesday, they worked in groups  and were given clues that they had to match to a certain math problem. For example, which problem has a sum that is between 19,000 and 20,000. It was great estimation work. Some were looking for an exact sum or difference. The remainder of the week will be working on the math review and then a dress rehearsal. The actual test won't be until next week. 

FAST Testing- In your child's folder are their scores for our Fall Fast Reading. They did really well. If they have to work with me during intervention time, I made a note of it on their sheet. They will test again in the winter. 

Religion- This week we focused mostly on practicing our parts for mass. We will be starting our second chapter !  October will be the month of the Rosary. We will be going back to the chapel for this. There will be two prayers that the kids will be memorizing for this, but I will wait until we get there to talk to them about it. 

Friday, September 24- This is a NO SCHOOL day! Teachers have professional development. I will be with the Lead Team going to the public school to work with our PLC instructor. I hope you enjoy your 3 days!!! 

Field Trip to KC- more information will be coming, but it is just around the corner!  It will be  long day! We leave EARLY and get back later! They will need a sack lunch that day! We will be eating our lunch at Union Station. I would say they should wear good walking shoes that day! In the exhibit, there are really only a few spots to sit down...and they are small benches so only a few can sit at a time. There is a lot of standing! I am excited for the kids to get this opportunity! This is something that means a great deal to me and my siblings. Our dad came to America from Poland at the end of WWII. He was 21. He had $2 in his pocket and couldn't speak English.  He was on the run from the age of 12 when his village was taken over. He didn't end up in a concentration camp, but was in a labor camp. We just found out last year that his dad spent a couple of years in Auschwitz, but survived. 

October 8 Homecoming- The public school has notified us that this will be  a 3 hour early out. We will not be serving lunch on that day. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I have no major plans except cleaning my house! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, I hope everyone is having a great week! 

Reading- This week they are reading a story called Off and Running. It is about two 5th graders who are running for class president. Miata takes the role very seriously and speaks formally to her class. Rudy is kind of a jokester. He wants to get things like ice cream every day and extra recess minutes. He also speaks using slang terms when giving his speech. This is our third story in the unit which means on Friday they will have questions over the story, but also they will do a cold read. They will have to read a story to themselves and then answer questions about it. In grammar they are focusing on identifying parts of the sentence- subject and predicate as well as making sure their verbs work with their nouns. 

Math- They are learning compare decimals and then write them in order from least to greatest and greatest to least. They are also working on rounding decimals to a certain place value like tenths, hundredths and ones. Rounding is always a bit tricky! We are spending a couple of days on it! 

Religion- They will have their first test on Thursday. They have a study guide to use to study from! I will give them their reading parts for mass on Friday. Please take some time to have them practice with you! 

 Upcoming important dates:

• Thursday, Sept. 16- PTO Meeting 6pm
• Saturday, Sept. 18- Holy Spirit Block Party 3-8pm
• Wednesday, Sept. 22- 5th and 4th grade mass @ 9:15
• Friday, Sept. 24- No School/ PD Day

Block Party- This Saturday during Balloon Days, come by the school for your dinner! This Block Party is in place of the Food Fair. 

Have a great weekend! If you are here for Balloon Days have a great time! I am planning on going to Waterloo for my niece's homecoming and a great niece's first birthday party! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

Dear Parents, I apologize for changing formats again! The Smore I sent last week was great, but I am using the free version and they don't give me enough to use in a month's time and I don't really want to pay the $70 for an upgrade! So... I am going to use this until Blogger decides to be no more! 

 Upcoming important dates:

• 🏈Friday, Sept. 10- Spirit Day! Hawkeye/ Cyclone Day ( or any other team you cheer for!) 
• Thursday, Sept. 16- PTO Meeting 6pm
• Saturday, Sept. 18- Holy Spirit Block Party 3-8pm
• Wednesday, Sept. 22- 5th and 4th grade mass @ 9:15
• Friday, Sept. 24- No School/ PD Day

Reading- This week we have to kind of crunch things together since we are only doing 4 days. This week our story is rather long. It is also a play called A Royal Mystery. It is a different take on The Princess and the Pea. It also reminds me of the movie The Parent Trap. There is a fun little twist at the end! In grammar we are working on recognizing the 4 kinds of sentences...declarative, imperative, exclamatory, and interrogative. They will have a spelling test on Friday as well as the test over the story. 

Math- We are continuing our work on place value. Last Friday they worked on writing decimals. They also wrote those decimals as fractions. For example: they wrote 0.32 and then 32/100. They only go to the thousandths. I try to get them to think of decimals in monetary form, but that doesn't work with thousandths.  It is difficult to wrap their head around the fact that hundredths can mean pennies and tenths as dimes. They are doing great! They will also be working on writing decimals in word, expanded form, and standard form. 

They have also been taking a placement test on Successmaker. This coincides with our new math series. It is a different form of Dreambox. So far, I like this much better and I think they do too! So far I don't see as much frustration on the students' part. If they get it wrong, they give them a clue to help try once more. Once they complete the placement test it will align them with problems and activities to do based on their score. This is not something they will do at home. 

Spirit Day - This Friday they can wear sweats or a hat for $1. It is also Cy/Hawk game weekend so if they want to support their favorite team they can! Sorry, I'm allergic to those colors!😉 I will be in purple and gold! 💜💛

Religion- This week they are learning about Saint Damian of Molokai. He worked as a priest in Hawaii to care for the lepers. He was very young and eventually he contracted the disease and passed away. He dedicated his life to teaching the sick about Jesus. 

FAST Testing- Next week I will conducting the FAST tests in reading and math with the 5th graders. I  will send home reading scores as soon as I can.  Emily, our AEA consultant will be here the week after to go over the scores with me to see if there are any interventions I need to do with your kids. 

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend! I didn't do much,but I did get a book read in a day so that was fun! This weekend I will be in Des Moines again to watch my niece play soccer. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, Welcome to 5th grade! I hope you are having a great week! I hope your child is too! We are just doing a little each day to break them back into the routine of school! They did a great job at mass on Monday when I volunteered them to sing Sanctuary! 

Math- We have a new series this year! We are all going to be learning. The philosophy is a little different so there will be days when they work together to solve the math problems, rather than me just "teach" and they "do". IT is new for me as well, so we will take this one day at a time! 

Homework policy- They have returned their policies! Thank you! Just a reminder...they get three late slips in 5th grade and the 4th is automatic detention. I keep track, so I will let you know each time where they are in their count. That will go for Mrs. Burg and Mrs. Sickels as well. 

Reading- we won't start our series until Monday. They took a spelling inventory test on Tuesday. That just gives me an idea of where your child is when it comes to spelling. They will have a pretest on Monday and their posttest will be on Friday. I will give them a list of words that they can take home and practice with you! You can stick it on the fridge or whatever works for you! Their reading tests will be online again just like last year. They will have 3 book report projects, one each trimester. I will let you know when I assign that.  They will need a chapter book at their desk for free time. They go to the library on Wednesdays, but they can also look through my books or bring one from home! 

Religion- We started in the books on Tuesday. We begin our year identifying certain Bible passages just so they know how to look them up when needed.  This is a year they have to learn a couple of prayers we use in the Rosary. They also learn learn all the mysteries of the rosary. 

Cleaning - the 5th graders clean their desks about 3-4 times a day. We are having the kids switch rooms this year so they have to clean their desks and chairs before they leave. We are going to go through wipes like crazy! If you're at the store and see a bottle, feel free to grab it! I am going to do the same! The wipes work better than the sprays! The spray leaves a weird residue. 

Spirit Day- Friday is our first one! Due to the temps, I would imagine they won't want to wear sweatpants, but if they want to wear a hat for $1, that would work! 

Social Studies- they started on Tuesday, but just to let you know, the first trimester is focused on Iowa History.  They don't really have tests with this part. Mrs. Sickels has a project for them and your child will receive information on that at some point. 

Picture Day!!! 📸 The form is in your child's folder. Please return ASAP. Picture day is set for Thursday, Sept. 2. It is PE day and we usually get them done before their PE time. IF they need to change clothes, that shouldn't be a problem. 

I have really enjoyed getting to know the 5th graders more this week! Next week the real fun begins! Homework!  They will have to get their assignment books signed starting on Monday. IF it isn't signed 3 days in a row, that will result in a late slip. 

Car Line- Just some safety reminders for parents: Do not get out of car to buckle your child. You must wait and then pull up to Father's house to buckle them. 

Pull all the way up in the line, don't stop your car when you see your child.

Don't back up and pull away. Wait for the cars in front of you to move ahead. 

Lunch- if your child has a sack lunch they cannot pack any carbonated beverages as their drink. If they want milk, they must have the 50 cents. 

Have a great weekend! Hopefully our temps will cool down a little bit! I am going to watch my niece play soccer with her club team in Des Moines on Saturday. She is a sophmore at Columbus High School in Waterloo. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, We are getting down the wire here! WOW!  Where did this year go? 

Slushy Party- We moved this to Monday. Thank you PTO! 

Pizza Party- They will get this on Friday from Lesha and Ethan!  It is also a Spirit Day! 

Book Reports- The kids did a great job.  I was excited to learn about some new people this year! I have gone over all their slides and graded them. Now, many of them aren't very happy. I gave them a rubric to follow when I gave the assignment. I am not sure how many looked at it. There is one item that looks at the number of events they include. Over 7 is the highest score. I had heard some kids say, "Why would you do more than 7?" I reminded them that doing more than 7 got you more points. If they chose to do less than 7 their score went down. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization took the biggest hit. Commas between cities and states, commas for dates and years. Periods at the end of sentences. Capitalizing names of people or places. Some of the kids didn't really cover the information very well for their person.  

Reading- We started the book Freak the Mighty this week. They are really enjoying the story. Mrs. Hensel does this book with the 6th graders. I know we won't finish it this year, so I am giving the books to Mrs. Hensel next week with a note to let her know where we finished. She will do the rest of the book with them in 6th grade.

Math- We are dividing decimals by whole numbers. On Monday, they did fine remembering how to divide, but were making little mistakes along the way like trying to subtract 6 from 5 and not catching their errors. 

The next step is dividing decimals by decimals! Moooove over decimal!!!! 

Field Day - this will begin at 12:45 on Thursday, May 27. The kids will need a sack lunch and drink  that day. 

FAST Testing- Their scores are in their folders. They did really well. Next year in 6th grade they won't do this testing. They do MAP testing in reading and math. All 6-8th graders take this test. They take it 3 times a year just like FAST testing. 

They will be cleaning out their desks and lockers on Wednesday afternoon before they go home. They should make sure they take an empty book bag to school that day or pack another one just in case. 

I don't plan on writing a blog again next week. I am pretty sure any announcements I have will come by email or on Facebook. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and you are able to get away for a little bit at least. I plan on reading books, going on walks, and seeing my family! I am hoping I can make a trip to Ohio to watch my niece perform in a Shakespeare play. I know the kids are so ready for summer and I won't lie...I am too! We did it! We did in-person learning all year long with some virtual along the way! What a year!!!!  Thank you for your support as the changes seemed never ending down to our last week of school. I pray you all have a safe, happy, and healthy summer! You deserve it and your kids do too! Welcome to 6th grade!!! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, I think we are down to me writing two more Blogs after this! I can't believe how quickly our year together has gone!  I hope all the moms had a great Mother's Day! I had a great time in Waterloo. My brother took Friday off as well, so we hung out together! My niece did awesome at her soccer game! They won 5-0! She also played in the JV game and scored the two points there! 

Reading- This week they are taking the Unit 5 test. I will get the scores to you next week. On Friday, they need to come to school with their costume in their bag. We will do as many as we can on Friday and then we will finish up next week. 

Next up??? I have a book given to them by the First National Bank in Creston. I chose the chapter book, Freak the Mighty.  We are going to focus on reading this and doing activities before the end of the year. I thought this would be good practice for next year in middle school. I might still do spelling, but not sure at this point. 

On Wednesday, I am doing the FAST testing in reading. Mrs. Struble will be in the room with them while I am testing them.  On Monday, they all took the a-Reading portion of the test. The majority of the class went up in their scores!! I think there were only 3 who dropped a little. 

Math- So first they divided decimals using a calculator. Now they are using Base 10 blocks to show how to divide! 

Religion- We are working through our Guidance book. On Tuesday we read and talked about the kinds of imaging that social media puts out for us to see, plus the kinds of things we post on social media and the images that we may be showing. 

Congrats to the 5th graders for getting the most laps ! They won the Slushy Party!!! It will be next Thursday in the afternoon. 

Spring Concert- This is being held in McKinley Park on May 26 at 6pm. Bring your lawn chairs! Students should dress up as always- mass day attire! They will sit with their family instead of sitting as classes. The band students will also be playing! It will be great to see everyone together for the first time!

Pizza Party- Lesha and Ethan in the kitchen are throwing a pizza and juice party for the 5th graders on May 21st at lunch! They wanted to do something for them since they are leaving elementary school and heading into middle school next year! We will eat lunch in our room that day. 

Last day of School- This has been moved to May 27. It will be a full day....no early out. We will do Field Day in the afternoon if you'd like to come and watch! There will be a Clap-Out for the 8th graders. The kids will need a sack lunch that day with a drink. 

This is the last week to check out books from the library. If the kids have any returns, they need to start doing that. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the warmer temps. I hope they stick around! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! Happy Wednesday!I hope you're having a good week! 

PTO- Thank you for the gifts this week! They have been fun little surprises each day! Thank you to all of you for your support this year! I am so happy we were in person! Your patience and support has helped so much as we learned to teach in a Pandemic! 

Lap-A-Thon- The kids are going to run on Thursday, May 6. They should bring their envelopes back to school that day with their donations. Even if they didn't raise any money, return the envelope if you still have it. That makes it easier for the PTO to count and know they don't have to wait on returning envelopes. If they like to listen to music while they run, they certainly can bring their devices for that time. I told them they need to make sure they have tennis shoes for that day... shoes with good support. That grassy area can be a pain to run on. 

Substitute- I am gone on Friday. I am heading to Waterloo so that I can watch my niece Olivia play soccer for her high school team. I never can make it to her games and her team is doing really well! 

Reading- They are reading their final story in this unit. It is called Lewis and Clark.  It is about their expedition to the west looking for a waterway that would connect them directly to the Pacific Ocean. Sadly, they didn't find one. We did a little geography test on where the Missouri River was located and the Mississippi! The spelling list is a bit tricky this week. They have the base word elect and then the suffix-ion is added to create election. Contribute- contribution.  The grammar this week is not too hard-- contractions! The trick there is the spelling and getting that part correct. 

Next week will be a unit test week. On that Friday, we will start sharing the book reports! I can't wait to see them in their costumes! 

Math- we are done with chapter 4! They did pretty great on their tests! Now we move on to dividing decimals. This week they are going to do some of that hands-on with Base 10 blocks so it won't be about showing the work on paper. It is a fun activity! I don't know if we will make it through the end of the chapter by the end of the year, but I will work towards that! 

Mass- Today was their last time doing mass for the year. The next time they are in charge of mass...they will be 6th graders! 

Religion- We have moved on to our guidance books. On Monday I took them outside and they had to create a skit to show a certain word: respect, loyalty, communication, companionship,  and responsibility. We hadn't done skits this year, but going outside helped for space with a big group. They had fun and want to do it again! 

PE- Next week their PE times will move to the afternoon. They are going to be instructed in archery by Levi Evans. They will be with the 4th graders for this. I will make sure to get some pictures posted to Facebook! 

Have a great weekend! 3 more weeks...the countdown is on. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma