Dear Parents, I hope everyone had a great weekend! I know many of you were rained on on Saturday during your football games! I went to Des Moines on Sunday to watch my niece play in her soccer game. The weather was just perfect for that one! 

 Calendar Dates:

Sept. 15- PTO Meeting

Sept. 16-17- Balloon Days Weekend

Sept. 21- 5th Grade Mass

Sept. 23- 3 Hour Early Out/ homecoming

Reading- This week they are reading a story called Off and Running. This is about a couple of 5th graders who are running for office in their class. Miata gives a formal speech and offers to do things that will clean up the school grounds. Rudy is very informal. He offers to get them more recess time and ice cream every day at lunch! Sadly, the story leaves us hanging and we never find out who wins. In grammar they are looking at the parts of a sentence as well as verbs that fit with the subjects. They will have a spelling test on Friday as well as a test over the story. 

Math- We are breaking down the place value of decimals from tenths to thousandths. They are learning how to read them to me and write them. They are also learning to write them as fractions. For example: 0.765 would be said as seven hundred sixty-five thousandths. As a fraction it would be 765/1000.  I keep telling them to think of money as they look at the value. Tenths are our dimes and hundredths are our pennies. 

Religion- We learned this week about Saint Damien of Molokai. He worked as a missionary in Hawaii taking care of the people who had been sent there to live and die from leprosy. He worked for a long time before getting leprosy himself. I showed them a quick video on his life there. We are nearing the end of the chapter, so there will be a test soon. 

Homecoming- Next Friday we have a 3 hour early out because of homecoming and the parade. No lunch that day. They can wear their Panther gear if they have any to support the Panthers! 

Mass- It is our mass on Sept. 21. I have given each child a part. I will send home their reading parts. Please practice with them over the weekend! Father has really done some changes to our servers. The kids having been soaking it up! They look really professional! 

I hope you have a great weekend! Enjoy Balloon Days. I am heading to Waterloo to watch my great niece Gracie play soccer and go to her sister's 2nd birthday party! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend! I spent a day in Des Moines with Mrs. Levine. We had a nice little shopping day! I didn't get to my flowerbed, but I did get a lot done...so that felt good! 

 Calendar Dates:

Sept. 15- PTO Meeting

Sept. 21- 5th Grade Mass

Sept. 23- 3 Hour Early Out/ homecoming

Reading- This week was a little shorter so I make some changes on how we cover the material. This week we read a play called The Royal Mystery, They did a great job of taking on the characters even though most of them were girls! It is about Rena and Althea. They go spend their summer at a camp. Althea is all about winning the competition at the end of the summer and figuring out the mystery behind her roommate Rena. This is Rena's first time at camp. Ask your kids about how she talks and behaves! Althea believes Rena is royalty because of Rena's behaviors plus she read a fairy tale book. The mystery was solved by the end! Ask your kids to reveal that to you. In grammar we are focusing on the 4 kinds of sentences. There is lots of sentence writing happening! They will take their post test on Friday and the test over the story. You will find last week's scores in their folders on Thursday. They did really well! I also had them do it by themselves because I want to see what they can do without me reading it to them. 

Math- We are stepping into the world of place value and decimals! This part usually throws them for a loop. They "think" they know decimals, but now they need to know the different names and their values. We also practice how to read decimals correctly.  We make small steps here at first to get everyone on board! 

Religion- This week we started our chapter on God's creation. We usually start with all the things that God has provided us with and that we can be thankful for in our lives. We do give him the credit for giving us the brains for all the things that people have invented over the years! If you haven't been able to join us for a school mass, I hope you can sometime this year! We are really enjoying Father Patrick's sermons. He is also making some changes for the servers so I keep telling the kids to watch and learn! He held a practice this week and will again next Wednesday. 

Cy-Hawk Game- In honor of the "big game" this weekend...if your kids are fans, they can dress up in their gear! I will be in my UNI colors! I tell the kids every year I am allergic to the others!🤣🤣  IT is also a Spirit Day! They can wear sweats and/or a hat if they want to pay $1. 

I will be planning our mass next week. I will send home parts towards the end of the week. I don't know if I will have a job for everyone so I may divide the class into two. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope your week is going well. I think the biggest adjustment for the 5th graders is that they have to write in cursive! I am sure some of you are listening to all their woes at home. Believe me they say the same in class. I use this instead of a handwriting book. It is forcing them to write slower. It is making them take their time instead of racing! It is also a great fine motor skill! Believe me, they will get used to it!

Calendar Dates:

Sept. 1- Picture Day

Sept. 2- 3 hour early out

Sept. 5- No School/ Labor Day

Sept. 21- 5th Grade Mass

Sept. 23- 3 Hour Early Out/ homecoming

Reading- This week we read an excerpt from The Wayside School is Falling Down. I love this story! It is funny and teaches them a little bit about irony! Ask them about the teacher's spelling bee and how she taught "gravity" to her class! I think we all got a good giggle from it. They are doing the vocabulary packet like they did last year in Mrs. Sickels' room, but I have them do all 10 words. They will only do this one time every unit. I do other things with vocabulary. In grammar they are working on subjects and predicates and then deciding whether a sentence is complete or a fragment. It really is review, but every year it is like starting over. They have a hard time remembering what part of speech is found in each one...nouns and verbs. They will take a spelling test and test over the story on Friday. I gave each kid a spelling list to study from. Some have only 10 words based on their pretest. I give a list each week unless they ace the pretest. Don't let them tell you any different! 😉 

Math- Our book starts off with learning about exponents! They were amazed on Tuesday at how easy it was! They deal with mostly with 10s. Thursday and Friday we are going to focus on the three different ways to write a number out- number name or word form, expanded form, and standard form. This too should really be review. I think the hardest one is the expanded form. 

Religion- We start our year looking up Bible verses. They have to find the title of the verses...such as The Baptism of Jesus. They are also looking verses to find a missing word, so it is more like fill in the blank. I'm glad we do that since Father Patrick talked about Bibles today at mass and Bible "quotations"/ verses. He had us repeating one from the first reading today! 

Don't forget, Friday is an early out! 3 hours!!!! The kids will not get lunch here. You will need to do that! Please let the school know if pick-up will change due to that early out. You can call Mrs. Sanchez in the office or email me. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the extra time!!! I don't really have any big plans except weeding in my flowerbed and doing homework for my LETRS class that many of us are taking right now. I told the kids we have a quiz every week and they are not easy!  '''

I would say we've had a great couple of weeks of school! I am enjoying your kids! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope you're adjusting to school being back in session. My alarm going off is still a struggle! I think we are having a great week so far, even though its only been two days!  I think you're kids are figuring out how Miss Surma works! 😉

Calendar Dates:

August 31- Mass

Sept. 1- Picture Day

Sept. 2- 3 hour early out

Sept. 5- No School/ Labor Day

Sept. 21- 5th Grade Mass

Sept. 23- 3 Hour Early Out/ homecoming

Picture Day will be next week on September 1st. Return any orders as soon as you can! That is a PE day so if girls are wearing sandals, make sure to pack some shoes for PE. 

DEAR Time- I told the 5th graders that on Wednesdays after library time we are going to have DEAR time. Drop Everything And Read. They will need a chapter book for this! I am going to read too! This time will count towards their Book It Calendars once we start that in October. This will be 15 minutes of reading silently for all of us.  This is good training for middle school! 

Reading- Next week we will start with a story and spelling. Their pretest will be on Monday and the posttest on Friday. This week I gave them a spelling inventory test just to see where they land. I will give bonus word eventually to some but I base that off of their pretest scores. I told them that if they ace the pretest then they won't have to take the posttest. 

Math- This week they will take a readiness test. It just shows me what they can and can't do in math. Next week we will start in chapter one! 

Technology Policy- In your child's Take Home Folder is a Technology Policy. Please read through it and sign it. Please go over the rules with your child as well. They need to sign it too. Return to me as soon as possible! 

Spirit Day- Our first one is this Friday, the 26th! The kids in our wing can wear sweats and/or a hat for $1. I know the temps won't really feel like sweats weather! 

Mass- If the kids didn't tell you about mass, make sure to ask! Father Patrick taught us a song about building our community! It was so fun and wonderful to see everyone participating with the singing and the actions! We are blessed to have him here! 

Sept. 2 is a 3 hour early out! We have PD that afternoon. Enjoy the longer weekend! 

Another item in your folder is a paper titled "Our 9". The 5th graders each month will pick a person they know living or dead, or maybe a Coach, their team, etc. No pets. That person will be who they pray for along with anyone (pets)  or anything else happening in their life for that month. Their hard work is dedicated towards that person! 

I don't have much to tell you this week. Hopefully your kids are adjusting to being back in school. I am trying not to hit them too hard with "school" yet. That will start on Monday for me! Have a great weekend! I am going to a wedding on Saturday afternoon and then the dinner honoring Mrs. Simmons in Indianola that night! 

God Bless, Miss Surma

 

Dear Parents, I hope everyone had a great weekend! I can't believe we are at the end of our year together! Time has just flown by so quickly! I will miss these kids next year that is for sure!  I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

May 20- 8th grade graduation/ Spirit Day

May 25- Spring Concert 6 pm

May 26- Last Day of School/ Early Out/ No lunch

Spirit Day this Friday! Kids can wear sweats/hat for $1!!

May 25- We are going to have the kids clean out their desks and lockers on Wednesday. They need to make sure they have an empty bag or bags to take their stuff home. The only thing they will need on Thursday is a water bottle and tennis shoes! 

May 25 Mass- Everyone can wear their favorite "Kick off to Summer shirt" and they can wear shorts and capris if they would like to! We are going to give our awards after mass. Following that will be the "Spray Mr. McCabe festivities"! 

Concert at the high school gym at 6 pm! Students should follow dress code and wear mass day attire. Please fill out the permission slip that is in your child's folder this week and return ASAP. 

May 26- This is a 3 hour early out! There won't be lunch served that day. Field Day starts at 9:45 if you want to come and watch! 

Social Studies - Make sure your child returns the extra book we gave them to take home before the end of the year! Thank you! 

Book Reports- They did a great job on Wednesday. I will get the grading done over the weekend! They will bring their posters and papers home next week when I am done. I hope you saw their pictures on Facebook. 

Father Patrick stopped in to meet the 5th graders on Wednesday afternoon. He was super nice! We are excited for next year with him. 

I hope you have a great weekend! I won't be writing a blog next week. If there is anything I need to let you know, I will send out an email. Again, it has been a wonderful year with your kids!!! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents, I hope everyone had a great weekend and all the moms loved their gifts! We are winding down! It is amazing how quickly this year went by! 

May 18- Book Report Due

May 20- 8th grade graduation

May 25- Spring Concert

May 26- Last Day of School/ Early Out/ No lunch

Book Reports- They are due next WEDNESDAY!!! They should come to school that day with their project and their costumes. Please make sure they practice at home--maybe in front of you so they know how to pronounce their names and any other "hard" word. I also want them to practice so they aren't strictly reading off their boards or paper- they should look up at their audience once in awhile! I don't know that we will get through all of them on Wednesday,but we shall try! 

Reading- We are in our final story for the unit. Lewis and Clark is the story. It is the true story of their expedition that took them 2 years! Their spelling list this week is the suffix -ion. They are given their base word- elect and then election. In grammar they are working on contractions- this should be review. The spelling in their contractions might be the hardest! Next week will be a unit test week! No spelling next week! 

Substitute- I will be gone on Friday. There will be a substitute that day. IF anything comes up- please notify the office. 

Spring Concert- May 25 at 6pm in the Creston High School Gym (new location)

Congratulations 5th graders on winning the Dilly Bar Party for the most laps with the Lap-A-Thon! 

Mass- May 25th- This will be our final mass. We will do awards after mass for the middle school kids and then Mr. McCabe will get his Silly String Spray!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! My sister Penny is coming down and we are going to see Steve Martin and Martin Short at the Civic Center! I can't wait!

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, 

I hope you are having a good week! The weather this week is depressing, but I see 70s in the forecast for next week! 

May 8- Mother's Day

May 9- Lap-A-Thon

May 18- Book Report Due

May 20- 8th grade graduation

May 25- Spring Concert

May 26- Last Day of School/ Early Out/ No lunch

Reading-This week they are reading a story called Rachel's Journal. It is about a young girl who is traveling with her family in a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. She details some of her adventures in her journal. They meet a Native American who is very kind. They get lost when she and her friends walk away from the train. Their family also has to ford the river in their wagon after a lot of rain which also happens during a thunderstorm. Their spelling this week deals with prefixes. In grammar we are working on adjectives in the comparative (-er or more) and superlative (-est or most) forms. Spelling is counting on their assignments because sometimes they have to drop a -y or add a double consonant. 

Book Report Projects Due May 18

Math- On Tuesday, they had to estimate sums and differences. I went away from the book. They were using a number line. I ended up drawing pictures on the board for them to visualize it easier! That worked! This week they are also learning how to take an improper fraction and turn it into a mixed number and vice versa. This is a little bit a of challenge. They are also going to start adding mixed numbers with unlike denominators. They are going to be pros at renaming fractions! 

Religion- We are ending our chapter on the Spiritual Works of Mercy. This week they learned about Saint Maria Goretti who was 11 years old when a neighbor boy/man stabbed her 14 times. She died the following day. She forgave him for his act and hoped she would see him in heaven one day. He had a dream of her while in prison and she handed him 14 flowers. He saw that as a sign of forgiveness and after that he changed his ways. They will have a religion test next week. 

Lap-A-Thon- It is now moved to Monday!  Kids can run in shorts or sweats! They can have devices if they want to listen to music. I might suggest packing another pair of shoes and socks for the afterwards. IF they do run, I imagine their shoes and socks are going to be muddy. They can have clean ones for the rest of the day. 

NEW STUDENT!!!! Please welcome Amelia Kendrick! We are so excited she is joining our small group! She is the daughter of Justin Kendrick and Sarah Fry (our PK para)! She is fitting right in!!! I just need to remember the number 7 now when making copies! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! To all the moms- Happy Mother's Day! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma