Happy Holy Week! I feel like the Lenten season flew by!!! I can't believe we are in April already!!! Do you realize we only have 7 Mondays left of our year?? 

Calendar Dates:

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

Apr. 21- Clean Up Day! Need rakes and gloves! 

Reading- This week we did our practice tests for ISASPS. Just letting you know that next week I will be assigning the 3rd book report. This one is different. They are to be taking notes as they read about their person. I have the questions they need to answer. Now, once they are done reading, they can always look up their person online to fill in any missing blanks. I will tell them not to use Wikipedia. It isn't reliable. A lot of these people have their own websites they can check out.  They will be turning in their notes page to me on the day of the report. 

I also will be giving them a rubric so they know how I will be grading them. This is NOT a book you wait until the end to read and do. There is too much work.   I have LOTS of books they can choose from and so does Mrs. Sorden in the library. There won't be any repeats so two people can't do the same person.  If they don't like what we have, they can find their own and get it approved by me. It has to be an autobiography or a biography. 

WEAR A WHITE SHIRT ON THURSDAY and good walking shoes! Pay attention to weather for coats or sweatshirts, etc. 

Seder Meal is on Thursday. No sack lunches that day unless they have a medical reason.  We will start the Cross Walk in the courtyard around 12:45. You are welcome to join us! 

Math- They finally got their test over this last chapter!  The next step will be finding time to make corrections! 

Religion- We are wrapping up our Lenten chapter. The 5th graders will be helping kindergarten next week with their mass. I am handing out their parts this week. Some of them have reading parts to practice! 

ISASPS- I told the kids this week that next week they should make sure they get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast (if they eat breakfast), and just remember to take their time and do their best. They will take one test a day. In 5th grade we have 4 tests. They do a science test that grades 3-4 do not. Most of the testing will take place in the mornings. On Wednesday, it will take place in the afternoon just because of mass and library time.  If they are sick that week, they may end up taking 2 tests a day or they will have to stay after school to complete them. 

No School on Friday, April 7! The teachers are going to the church to do some cleaning before the Easter services. 

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter! I am heading to Waterloo to see my brother and sister and their families. Last year we started a new tradition of an Adult Egg Hunt! Happy Easter!! Enjoy your family time. 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 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