Dear Parents, Happy Catholic Schools Week! It's been busy, but so much fun to celebrate our school! 

Feb. 4- Book Reports Due

Feb. 11-  Spirit Day

Feb. 14- Valentine's Day celebration

Feb, 16- 4th grade mass

Feb. 21- No School/ PD Day

Feb. 25- Spirit Day

Mar. 4- Spirit Day

Mar. 5- Auction and Dinner

Thursday- They will need a sack lunch and drink for when we return from the YMCA. We won't be swimming now because their pool is broken and won't be fixed until March 1. They can wear sweats that day! I don't care if they wear shorts as long as they have sweats to wear over them for the ride to and from the YMCA. 

Friday- I have everyone's slips for Grandparents' Mass. They will be picked up here at 1:00 and then they will leave with their guest after mass is over. Please make sure you have talked to them about how to pick up your child from school. Mrs. Simmons has sent home directions I believe earlier this week by email.  We aren't doing a reception in the basement this year. They need to dress up in mass day attire. 

Math- They have been working on division with either the standard algorithm or dividing by partial quotients. I let them choose their way. You know the standard way. Not to worry, I try not to let them have math as homework with this because I don't want you frustrated with partial quotients if you've never done it! In reality, it's a lot easier mentally! Next week we will be back in the book and start dividing with double digit divisors. 

Reading- This week is the unit 3 test. They will begin a new unit on Monday which will mean the spelling test will be back on Monday! Their book reports are due on Friday! 

Auction- The St. Malachy Foundation Auction/ Dinner is set for March 5. This year it is in person at Crestmoor as well as online!  Please send in your donations for the auction basket ASAP. Our wing is putting this together. So far we have 6 donations. Please do what you can to help! We will take care of the silent auction item at school. 

Valentines- We will celebrate on Valentine's Day. The students may bring in treats/candy for their classmates that day. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

Dear Parents, Sunday is our kickoff for Catholic Schools Week. If you can join us at mass on Sunday at church that would be great to see you! There is a breakfast afterwards in the basement provided by the Knights. Next week will be crazy busy, but one of my favorite things to do with all the activities! 

  Important Dates:

January 28- Spirit Day/Sweats for $1

Jan. 30-Feb. 4- Catholic Schools Week 

Feb. 4- Book Reports Due

February 14- Valentine's Day celebration

Catholic Schools Week- 

Monday- Dress in STM colors. Need a sack lunch/ no drink.

Tuesday- Dress up as a grown up! ( I can't wait to see them)  

Wednesday- Dress as a letter of your name ( first or last). This one should be fun! 

Thursday- Dress in sweats. ( pack a swimsuit and towel ) Need a sack lunch and drink.

Friday- Dress up day- Mass at Holy Spirit at 1:30 pm with grandparent or special guest

Reading- This week they are reading another biography. This one is about two different people that were involved in the Revolutionary War. James Plumb was 14 when he signed up for the war. He was sent to battle in New York. He was given a silver dollar for signing up. Sybil Ludington was a teenager who rode like Paul Revere one night to gather men up to fight in a battle. She rode 40 miles in one night, Paul Revere road 14 miles. Amazing lives these teenagers led during the 1700s. In grammar this week we are focusing on transitions in writing. We will do this together in class each time. They will have their test on Friday and spelling test. Next week is a unit test week, that means there won't be any spelling! I don't really want to test during CSW, but I also don't want to put it off for another week. 

Book Reports due on February 4, 2022

Math- We are starting division this week, but I am not in the book. I am just doing some review to remind them of the steps of division. Our book jumps right into dividing by double digit divisors. I need to make sure they remember the process first. 

Religion- On Thursday the kids are going to start researching a saint and find facts about their  life. They will be sharing their information with the class next week. 

Auction- Please send any donations for the auction basket in with your child! For the silent auction they will be painting coasters! 

I hope everyone has a nice weekend! Hopefully our temps will be nice enough for you to get outside! I hope to see you at mass on Sunday! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, I hope everyone enjoyed their snowy weekend! I know I was able to get a few things done that I had been putting off! 

 Important Dates:

January 26- 5th grade mass

January 28- Spirit Day

Jan. 30-Feb. 4- Catholic Schools Week 

Feb. 4- Book Reports Due

Please return the blue sheets that went home last week to let us know who will be going to the Grandparent/ Special Guest mass with your child(ren) during Catholic Schools Week. 

Reading- This week we read a biography on James Forten. His father Thomas was a freed slave who worked as a sail maker. Thomas earned enough money to free his wife from slavery.  James grew up with some schooling and then wanted to join the Revolutionary War as a soldier. He was on a privateer ship and his job was to bring up the gun powder from below deck. After the war, he ended up buying the ship business from the man he worked for as a child. He was also an abolitionist and worked for women to get the right to vote. In grammar, we are using commas and semicolons. 

Next week will be our last story in this unit. That means they will be taking the unit test during Catholic Schools Week. 

Book Reports are due in TWO weeks, Friday, February 4!!!!

Math- They are testing over chapter 4 on Thursday and possibly Friday. It just depends on how long it takes them. Next week we will begin our division chapter! 

Catholic Schools Week - Sunday is the kick off day with mass at Holy Spirit. Come celebrate with us and stay for breakfast with the Knights of Columbus!  Below is the link so that you know each dress up day and the activities planned for that day. 

https://www.crestonstmalachy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Catholic-Schools-Week-2022.pdf

They will need sack lunch on Monday (milk will be provided)  and Thursday(they will need to supply their own drink- no pop)

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay warm! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Dear Parents, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas break! It was so nice to spend Christmas with family in person versus virtually. 

 Important Dates: 

January 14- Spirit Day

January 26- 5th grade mass

January 28- Spirit Day

Jan. 30-Feb. 4- Catholic Schools Week 

Feb. 4- Book Reports Due

CSW- If your child is telling you about needing an outfit for their name, let me explain! One of the dress up days is for the kids and teachers to dress up as something with the first letter of their name- it can be their first name or last name. So for example-- A is for apple, B- for bat. I am excited to see what the kids come up with. I told them I am dressing up as an alien! There will be more information coming soon for the events that week! 

Reading- This week they are reading a story called They Called Her Molly Pitcher. It is the story of how Molly Pitcher helped on the battlefield during the Revolutionary War. At first she was running water to the soldiers,but after her husband was injured, she took over the cannon. She was even named a sergeant by General Washington. In grammar they are working on verbs - regular and irregular. Regular would be  when we add an -ed to the ending. Irregular is when we change the word entirely-- was/were, buy/bought.  Spelling this week has the pattern of VCCCV- vowel, consonant, consonant, consonant, vowel. I know they were paying attention to that during the pretest. 

Math- they are finishing up their chapter this week with a review and then the dress rehearsal. They will test over this chapter on Monday or Tuesday. I am not really sure of the timing yet. I did tell them to expect more problems on the test. I believe there are around 20 this time. Our next chapter will be division,but I am going to some review with them first. They need to remember the process because we jump into double digit divisors-- which will be new for them. 

Religion- They finished up their chapter on the Beatitudes! They worked on the review on Tuesday. They will finish the week with the study guide. The test will be on Monday.  Last Friday, I showed them an episode of The Chosen. It's a free app you can get on your phone.I have it on mine and my iPAD. The show is about Jesus and his life. There are only 2 seasons at the moment. I showed them the episode about Jesus and the little children. Most of the episodes are showing him picking his disciples and their journey of following him. The show shows Jesus with a sense of humor which I like to think he probably had! They loved it! We had such a great discussion as we went along! Now that I figured out how to show them, I will share more when they fit. 

Spirit Day- This Friday! They can wear sweats for $1. I am told snow is in the forecast! That might be a great day for sweats! 

Catholic Schools Week Kick-Off Mass- If you are signing up your child for this mass on January 30, please return the form or just email me! I could use some older kids for reading parts!!! 

Tuesday, January 18- I will be leaving for the afternoon that day. There will be a substitute. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Looks like we are getting more snow on Friday! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Dear Parents, I hope this week has been running smoothly for you! Hold on...just a few more days until Christmas break! That's what I keep telling myself! They did a great job singing at the church! Steve was there filming so keep an out for the video! 

 Important Dates: 

Dec. 17- Spirit Day

Dec. 21- Wear your Ugly Christmas Sweater

Dec. 22- Mass with Bishop Joensen/ Sack Lunch Day

Dec. 23- Jan. 4. Christmas Break

Jan. 5- Classes Resume

Dress Up Days-

Tuesday- Ugly Christmas Sweater

Wednesday- Dress up for Mass with the bishop and wear red or green if you can! 

Reading- This week we read the story called Can't You Make Them Behave, King George? If you have watched Hamilton, you've seen King George sing. His lyrics kind of portray a man that sounded a little crazy. In fact, when he was 50 he had a horrible illness that affected his brain. Back then they thought he was crazy. He wasn't. It was due to his illness. He thought he was making great decisions for his country and that the American colonists were just being stubborn kids. In grammar we are working on the proper tenses of verbs- present, past, and future.  They will have their reading and spelling test this Friday. 

With only three days next week, I don't plan on doing another story. We will work on writing our Harris Burdick stories.  I will also be assigning the next book report. I will go over that with them and have them choose their book. I am doing this before break, in case they want to start reading it! The project will be due on February 4.

Math- They are beginning to multiply whole numbers and decimals. They are also multiplying by 10s, 100s, and 1000 to see how the decimal moves each time.  The process is the same, this time it is all about dropping the decimal in the answer. 

Religion- On Monday, I stopped our religion work and we prayed the rosary for the people suffering from the tornadoes last weekend. I told them this was something we could do for them from Iowa.  We are finishing up our Advent chapter. Our next chapter will be covering the Beatitudes. They don't have to memorize them, but we do get into an indepth conversation about how we should be living them every day.  We talk about how finding true happiness is by living these- happiness in money, things, power, etc. is only short term because we usually want the "next best thing". 

Spirit Day this Friday, December 17- sweats for $1!

They will need a sack lunch on Wednesday, December 22. They will be eating with their Advent Angel and then we will sing Christmas carols in the gym.  If they are buying their angel a gift, that is usually when they give them. 

We will have some fun in the afternoon on the 22nd in our room. I haven't got it fully planned yet, but we may watch a movie or play some games or maybe both! 

Thank you for the gifts for the nursing homes! Our tables are getting fuller every day! Thank you for the help with noisy change collection as well! 

I won't write a blog next week so I am going to wish you a very Merry Christmas now! I hope your holidays are packed with family and fun and are as stress-free as possible! May 2022 bring all of you joy and happiness!  I will be traveling to Waterloo for Christmas with my brother Joe and his family. I am sure my sister Penny will be there as well. Penny and I maybe traveling to Arkansas during Christmas break to see her mother-in-law. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

Dear Parents, Well, the temperatures this week definitely remind us that we are in the month of December! I hope everyone is having a great week! 

 Important Dates: 

Dec. 15-Lunch/Singing at church

Dec. 19- Spirit Day

Dec. 21- Wear your Ugly Christmas Sweater

Dec. 22- 4th/5th Mass with Bishop Joensen, wear mass clothes and Red or Green if you have it! 

Dec. 23- Jan. 4. Christmas Break

Jan. 5- Classes Resume

Reading- This week they are reading a story called Dangerous Crossing. It is a historical fiction story about John Adams traveling by ship to France three years into the Revolutionary War.  We hear about the adventure from him and his young son Johnny. While the story is fiction, John did travel to France to try and get help for the Americans during the war.  The spelling this week has a VCCV pattern. Have your kids explain that one! It was funny on Monday, they were actually trying to make sure they saw the pattern in each word during their pretest. I think that was a first!  In grammar we are working on replacing nouns with pronouns! 

Unit test scores are in their folders. They are much better than Unit 1, but I am not surprised! Benchmark test scores are typically lower. They did a great job! 

Math- Test scores were really good! I was wrong. Our next chapter is multiplying decimals! Division gets to be put off a little longer! 

Religion- They went to confession on Monday. One of them said, "Well, that was refreshing!" That's exactly how they should feel afterwards! We are in our Advent chapter now. We also have discussed the church calendar and gone over the seasons of the church. We also went over the holy days of obligation. 

Dress Up Days for Christmas-

Tuesday, Dec. 21- Wear your Ugly Christmas Sweater Day! 🎄

Wednesday, Dec. 22-Dress up in your Sunday Best while showing off your Christmas spirit by wearing Red/ Green ! Bishop Joensen will be at this mass! ❤

Donations for the Nursing Home- Please send your donations in ASAP. I think all items need to be in by the 14th.  If you haven't signed up yet, there are still women to buy for! 

Just a reminder that on the 15th, the 5th graders will go to the church and sing for the ladies and have lunch with them! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I heard snow is in the forecast for my hometown of Doon! (I'm okay if they keep it)

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

Dear Parents, I hope everyone had a great holiday! I spent it in Waverly with my sister Penny. We went to her daughter's house for dinner! I got to play with my great nieces!  December is going to be packed with activities and I know it will fly! 

Important Dates: 

Dec. 3- Spirit Day

Dec.8- Noisy Change Collection at mass/ Christmas Concert 5:30 pm at high school

Dec. 15-Lunch/Singing at church

Dec. 19- Spirit Day

Dec. 21- Wear your Ugly Christmas Sweater

Dec. 22- 4th/5th Mass with Bishop Joensen, wear mass clothes and Red or Green if you have it! 

Dec. 23- Jan. 4. Christmas Break

Jan. 5- Classes Resume

Reading- This week they are taking their Unit 2 test. I will send home scores next week in their Take Home Folders. We will also start Unit 3- my favorite! We will be reading stories about people who were involved in some way with the Revolutionary War. The first story is about John Adams and his son. This is also the time I will be breaking out the music to Hamilton. The spelling tests will return next week! 

Math- We are finishing up our chapter on multiplication this week! They will test over it next week! 

Religion- The test is on Thursday. I will move into Advent next!  Please check your folders for the flyer about the Christmas party at church on December 19. The hope is to get more families and kids to return to church. It sounds like a great time for you and your kids! 

Reconciliation- Father Adam will be listening to confessions on Monday for kids in grades 3-8. 

Christmas Concert- The concert is Wednesday, December 8 at 5:30 at the high school.  The kids should wear mass attire. There is a permission form in your child's folder  for us to take them to the high school to practice. Please sign and return ASAP. 

By the way, next Wednesday is also the holy day the Immaculate Conception. Mass will be at church at 7pm. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I really wish these warmer temperatures would stick around, but I also like a white Christmas! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma