Hello Parents! I hope everyone is having a good week! I think spring is coming on... I hope so anyway. 

Calendar Dates:

Apr. 2- Palm Sunday

Apr. 6- Seder Meal/ Cross Walk

Apr. 7- Good Friday/ No School

Apr. 9- Easter

Apr. 10- ISASP Testing Begins

Apr. 12- 5th grade mass with Kindergarten

Apr. 14- Spirit Day

1st Grade Buddies- This Thursday the 1st graders are coming down to our room to share their 8 page booklets. They read a story about amazing animals and then made a book about those animals. Mrs. Levine and I are going to partner them up so the 1st graders can read their book to a 5th grader!  I have no doubt the 5th graders will love this! 

Math- We are finished with our chapter! My plan is to test them on Friday or Monday! 

Thank you so much for the wipes!!! 

Cross Walk on April 6- Students need to wear a white shirt that day for the big picture we take at the church! You are welcome to join us for the walk! In your folder is a permission slip! Please fill out and return before Thursday! 

 Reading- This week they are reading a story called Birchbark House. It is about a little girl who is part of the Ojibwe tribe. While walking back to her village, she comes across two little bear cubs. She wants to take them back to her tribe to impress her sister.  In grammar they are working on present perfect and past perfect tense verbs. They are using the helping verbs has, have, or had in front of their verbs. 

Religion- We are wrapping our chapter soon on Lent. My plan for next week is showing them the movie The Ten Commandments. I usually show it before the Seder Meal since we are taking time to remember the meal that Moses had before leaving Egypt. 

Have a great weekend! I plan on going to the Seder Meal at church on Saturday night! I  am excited to see if it is somewhat the same as we do here at school. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing spring break! I went o Galena, Illinois for a couple of days with my sister Penny. We went last year and had such a good time, we had to go back. It was nice to get away for a few days!   

Calendar Dates:

Mar. 24- Spirit Day/ Fish Fry

Mar. 27- ACRE Testing

Apr. 2- Palm Sunday

Apr. 6- Seder Meal/ Cross Walk

Apr. 7- Good Friday/ No School

Apr. 9- Easter

Apr. 10- ISASP Testing Begins

Reading- This week they are reading a historical fiction story called Tucket's Travels by Gary Paulsen. This is set in the 1800s. Three kids are on their own after parents dying on the Oregon Trail due to Cholera as well as being taken by the Pawnees. They are struggling because another group called the Comancheros are after them. They are also in a desert area with no water or shade. It is a little survival story. They will test on Friday over the story and their spelling words. 

Dollars for Scholars- Next week they will be writing an essay for this contest. Each year they write an essay with a different topic. They will be doing this at school. The winners are usually announced after mass in May. 

Religion- We started a Lent chapter when we got back from break. Next Monday they will be taking the ACRE test. This is a standardized religion test given to the 5th and 8th graders every year. This is to see what they have learned from their religion classes over the years. It is done online. Typically, I read this test to them because there are some hard words in the questions and to force them to slow down when they answer. 

Math- We are still in our division chapter,but nearing the end where we need to review before the test. 

Spirit Day- Friday  they can wear sweat for $1!!! 

Seder Meal/ Cross Walk is set for Thursday, April 6. The students need to wear a white shirt that day for the big picture we take at church. If they don't have a plain white shirt, they can wear a white t-shirt and we will just flip it inside out.  You are welcome to join us for the Cross Walk. 

Thank you for all the birthday fun ! I felt so much love!!! The kids enjoyed the special treats as well.  I attended a ZOOM call to listen to 3 of my favorite authors discuss their books and how they were turned into movies or a series! 

Have a great weekend! I told the kids Lent is half over! Easter will be here before we know it! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, I hope everyone is having a good week. 

Calendar Dates: 

Mar. 3 - Book Report Due/ Fish Fry

Mar. 4- STM Foundation Dinner and Auction

Mar.6- 9- Parent Teacher Conferences

Mar. 10-19 Spring Break

Mar. 20 - Classes Resume

Math- Okay, I have taught them two ways to do long division. The standard algorithm has really thrown a number of them. I am now leaving it up to them. They can choose that method or they can do partial quotients. The bottom line is they know how to divide! When we get back from vacation we will get back into it. They will be dividing into larger numbers. 

Reading- This week they read the last story The Black Stallion. We only read a little bit of the actual story so we still don't know if Alec is rescued off the island! In grammar this week they are learning how to correctly write titles. Some things like books, movies, CDs get underlined or italicized when you write the title. Some things like song titles or short stories use quotation marks.  In spelling they are writing words that are derived from other languages. They will take a post test on Friday. They will also take a test over the story.  Next week they will take their unit test before going on spring break. 

Book Reports due Friday!!! They will actually start sharing them on Monday. 

Religion- They will test over this chapter on Thursday! On Friday we are going to the chapel to say the Rosary as part of the Lenten promise we made this year.  Next week we will start our Lenten chapter. 

Conferences- Make sure you have your date and time down for next week! See you then! There will be a Book Fair going on during conferences. The 5th graders will be able to do some shopping of their own during their library time next Wednesday! 

The Knights are having a Fish Fry 🐟🐟 this Friday at St. Malachy if you don't have any dinner plans! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope you enjoyed your longer weekend! I got some work done and was able to finish a couple of books I was reading! Our LETRs training on Monday was good! 

Calendar Dates: 

Feb. 24- Spirit Day

Mar. 3 - Book Report Due/ Fish Fry

Mar. 4- STM Foundation Dinner and Auction

Mar.6- 9- Parent Teacher Conferences

Mar. 10-19 Spring Break

Math- Okay, we did division with partial quotients for a couple of days. Now we begin the process of learning to divide using the standard algorithm. I go pretty slow at the beginning. Some catch on quickly, others will not. I already told the 5th graders that I won't be surprised if we have some tears being shed over this. That's okay!!! It is difficult, but I promise they will learn to divide. Now, if they ask for your help at home, you can! This is stuff you learned, but if they say, "That's not how Miss Surma does it!" just know that I probably do it similar to you, but I might just phrase it differently.  I know there are going to be days ahead of us that we all get frustrated! That is normal! It happens every year! 

Reading- Due to our snow day last week and our day off on Monday, I readjusted the reading schedule a bit. They just took their test on Tuesday from last week. I am not going to have them take a spelling and reading test this Friday. We will read another story and do grammar and spelling lessons, but I am not going to test them on it. 

Book Reports are due on Friday, March 3!!! That is next Friday!!!📚📚📚

Religion- We are still in our chapter on the sacraments of healing. We filled out our Lenten promises on Tuesday. You might have a conversation with your child on what they decided to do this Lent. They don't have to give up something. They can do something instead. We are working on the GIVE part during our noisy change collections that we will hold in March. The PRAYER part will happen each week in religion. I decided I am going to take each grade to the chapel once a week during religion class and we will say the rosary together. 

Just a reminder that on Fridays, we don't eat meat. If they bring a sack lunch that day..it needs to be meatless. PB &J sandwiches, a cheese sandwich, salad with a dressing, cheese pizza meals, etc. will all work. 

Spirit Day on Friday, February 24- sweats for $1

Make sure you have signed up for a conference time! 

Have a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents! I hope you have been enjoying your week! Valentine's Day was a hit! They had donuts in the morning from Landen and the rest of the treats in the afternoon!  I apologize for the sugar overload! 🤣

Calendar Dates: 

Feb 20- No School/ PD Day

Feb. 22- Ash Wednesday/ 5th Grade mass

Feb. 24- Spirit Day

Mar. 3 - Book Report Due

Silent Auction- Stephanie Anderson and Jenny Studer came in to take a picture for our item! Thank you both so much for taking care of it! 

Math- We started last week and this week we are focusing on estimation using compatible numbers when dividing. They aren't rounding- they are finding the closest fact family and then dividing mentally! They are also dividing using partial quotients. That means they are dividing by groups of 10 until they can't any longer. Don't worry! That won't come home to you!!! We do that at school. It is new and I wish I had learned it when I was in 5th grade! They will be learning the standard algorithm as well.

Reading- We read a story called The Dog Newspaper this week. It is an autobiography by Peg Kehret. I suggested the kids look for her books if they like mystery and suspense! This is how she got her start in writing. She wrote about her dog who came to the US from Germany during WWII. In grammar they are working on prepositions. They have a list of common ones that I let them look at while doing their homework. This week's test on Friday will also have the cold read story and 10 more questions. This one will be worth 50 points. 

Book Reports are due in a little over 2 weeks - Friday, March 3!!!

Religion- We are focusing on the sacraments of healing: Penance and Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick.  Due to my surgery this year they were able to take part in the latter one. We focus  a lot on how Jesus healed people during his time on earth. 

I saw my niece Emily last weekend so I got to show them the rosary she got me while in Italy. She also had it blessed by Pope Francis. I showed them a few pictures from her trip too! She went to the location where John the Baptist's right arm is buried. It's behind doors so she didn't get to actually see anything! 

Ash Wednesday is next week! 5th graders are doing mass! That is also when Lent begins so they will have to think about what they are doing for the Lenten season! 

 I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Well, we survived CSW and now we are back into our normal routine. While I love the fun, it is nice to be back in to something more normal! This won't last for long, Lent is just around the corner! 

Calendar Dates: 

Feb. 10- Spirit Day/ Super Bowl Dress Up! 

Feb. 14- Valentine's Day

Feb 20- No School/ PD Day

Feb. 22- Ash Wednesday/ 5th Grade mass

Feb. 24- Spirit Day

Mar. 3 - Book Report Due

Friday is a Spirit Day, but if you'd like to dress up in your favorite colors or team jersey for the Super Bowl this weekend, go ahead! 

Math- they took the test and many of them needed to correct so we are doing a lot of that this week. I am going to ease them into division by the end of the week. Hold on, this is a chapter where I usually have to slow down for all to grasp the process. 

Reading- This week they are reading a story called LAFFF. It is a science fiction story with a fun twist at the end. It is about a girl using a time machine. You will have to ask your kid about what happens when she does! In grammar they are working with adverbs- words that describe adjectives or verbs. Their spelling list this week are words ending in -ed or -ing. 

Religion- They just started their chapter on the sacraments of healing. Lent is around the corner! They will have to think about what they are doing for Lent. They will be meeting with their Lenten Angels soon! 

Tomorrow is Spirit Day! Sweats for $1. They can also wear their favorite team shirt/sweatshirt in honor of the Super Bowl on Sunday! 

The parent teacher conference sign up will be happening soon! Keep an eye out! 

Have a great weekend! I am heading to Waterloo for my niece Olivia's confirmation. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma

 Hello Parents, What's that saying, "God laughs when you're busy making plans."  I feel like that is a true representation of my plans during Catholic Schools Week! 🤣🤣🤣  We are having a fun week, that's what counts!!!

Calendar Dates: 

Feb, 3- Mass @ Holy Spirit 1:30

Feb. 10- Spirit Day

Feb. 14- Valentine's Day

Feb 20- No School/ PD Day

Feb. 22- Ash Wednesday/ 5th Grade mass

Feb. 24- Spirit Day

Mar. 3 - Book Report Due

Math- so the test is taking us a couple of days to finish due to our CSW activities! I'm okay with that because I'm not sure CSW is when I want to introduce division!  Not sure there would be a lot of "soaking in" of that information! 

Reading- This week they are reading a portion of Lunch Money. It is about a boy who creates his own comic book and sells them at school for a quarter! The comic book is the size of a credit card and about 16 pages long. In grammar we are working on identifying adjectives. This can be a challenge! On Monday they had to find the adjective and then decide what it answers: how many? what kind? or origin? For example: how many- words like two, twenty-five, few, some, many. For what kind- adventure, pretty, straight, lumpy.  For origin- Chinese, American, Russian, Spanish.  On Tuesday they had to find the linking verb and then the adjective . We did that one together. The next one will be deciding where to use the articles  a, an, and the.  Those are adjectives that give you information about a noun as well! Their spelling list this week are words that end in-ed or -ing. They also noticed during the pretest that many of the words have consonants that need to be doubled! 

Their unit scores are in their folders. This was a benchmark test..which means more stories to read. The scores weren't so pretty. I can tell in some of them that they didn't look back to find the information. 

Book It Calendars- I will accept the January calendars until Friday. It's a crazy week!

Religion- They are finishing up their chapter. We are going over their study guide on Thursday, but they won't test until Monday. I am mixing up the schedule with CSW activities so that I pushed until next week. 

I hope the kids are enjoying this week as much as the teachers do! It's a crazy week, but always so worth it to celebrate our faith and our school and our STM family! Have a great weekend! It looks like we are going to have some great temps compared to what we've been dealing with lately. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma