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

 Hello Parents, Hopefully everyone is having a good week this week! 

Book Report- Just a reminder their slides are due two weeks... Friday, May 14. Many have already turned them into me. They will need to bring their costume of their person on May 14. The costume will most likely just stay at school (unless they need it at home) . I know they all won't be able to share on the 14th so I plan on just spreading them out the next week. 

Lap-A-Thon- The forms and envelopes went home last week in Take Home Folders. The PTO says to bring them back on May 6, the day of the lap-a-thon. There are some fun incentives for raising money this year! 

Math- We are wrapping up our chapter this week in math. On Tuesday, I showed them a quicker way of multiplying decimals that have zeros in the problem. I wished I had taught me that method when I was a kid. I showed them that they didn't need to multiply and show all the 0's. We could a  couple if we needed to for our decimal point.  They will take the test on Monday. Our next chapter will be on dividing decimals. 

Reading- This week we read a story called Rachel's Journal. This is a young pioneer girl that is on the Oregon Trail with her family in the 1850s. They had to cross the flooded Platte River in the story. The story also talked briefly about the Donner Party...so I shared a little background on who they were and what happened to them. Rachel also talks about the song Turkey in the Straw. I shared a video of that song as well. It's one of those that you don't want stuck in your head. In grammar they are working on comparative and superlative adjectives-- big, bigger, biggest, etc. On Wednesday, we covered good, better, best and bad, worse, worst. I tried to emphasize that funner , bestest, worser are not words.  Some adjectives need the words more or most in front of them-- more beautiful, most beautiful.

Religion- They shared their posters this week of the Easter traditions in other countries. We are finishing our our chapter and then moving on to the Guidance book. 

By the way--- they all survived the Growth Talk video and did really well! 

I did send you all an email for any student interested in trying out for Color Guard or Winter Guard next year. Their dates are coming up in May! It would be great to see some STM kids out there! 

Middle School- In the past we have gone out to the middle school wing to spend some time with the students to see what it is like. Due to Covid restrictions...we aren't doing that this year. Miss Steinkamp and an 8th grader will be coming to talk to the 5th graders on Friday to give them some ideas about middle school next year. Seriously??? I can't believe we are already having these end of the year conversations! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the warm temps! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

 Hi Parents, I hope you are having a good week besides these crazy temperatures! It was so great to see some of my siblings again last weekend and spend time with them. 

Reading- This week they are reading a story called Vaqueros. It is a story about the history of the cowboys. It talks about the history of them arriving in the US, the clothing they wore, the conditions they had to deal with, and the changes it has seen over the years. Our grammar this week is commonly confused verbs such as: lay and lie, rise and raise, can and may. I gave them a "cheat sheet" to use on the test on Friday so that they can remember when you use each word. 

Math- We started some story problems on Friday and it lead into Monday and Tuesday. Some caught on really quickly, others...not so much. They have to read the problems and pick up on the clues, but some aren't doing that. They have to do a couple of steps in order to get to the final answer. 

Religion- This week they are working in pairs to do some research on how Easter is celebrated in other countries. They are finding some really interesting things! For example, in Russia they dye eggs as well, but they use red onion skin to do it.  In Mexico they burn "fake Judases". In Australia, they don't have Easter bunnies, they have an Easter Bilby! 

Clean- Up Day- On Friday we will be cleaning the school grounds as long as the weather cooperates. As many kids that can bring a rake and work gloves ....please do. They usually ending up picking up some garbage, the dead leaves,and sticks while they are raking! Make sure you have your name on the rake. They will be by the office. 

Spirit Day on Friday- sweats or a hat for $1! The temps are only supposed to be in the 50s so that is good weather for sweats! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Sounds like our warmer temps will be back. I have Confirmation on Saturday. I am a sponsor for Keely Coen. On Sunday, I get to watch my nieces play soccer for Loras at Simpson. This will be Grace's final soccer game! She has been at it since she was 4 years old! 

God Bless,

Miss Surma

Hello Parents! I hope you  are doing well ! Testing week has been going pretty good. The 5th graders are taking their time which is a good thing. I do like that they aren't timed anymore. That was always my biggest hurdle. Thank you to the PTO for providing snacks! Those were a big hit! I just realized this week that we have only 6 weeks of school left! 6!!! Wow, this pandemic school year is flying by! 

Reading- We will get back into a story next week! They will have a spelling pretest on Monday!  Many are working on their book report slides. I have told them that they will have to turn in their notes as well. 

Math- We have started our new chapter on multiplying decimals. On Monday and Tuesday, I had them use a calculator for our problems. I want them to just see how the decimal moves to the right or to the left, depending on what they are multiplying by- they were using 10, 100, and 1000 as well as 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001. We also had to do a bit of refresh on exponents. I am taking out some extra lessons and getting to the route of strategies with the hope that we can get further along. 

Religion- we finished our movie on Monday of the Ten Commandments. They had great questions throughout. We are going to cover a chapter on Easter in our book before moving on to something else. 

Clean Up Day- April 23-- We will be raking school grounds that afternoon. The kids should bring a rake and work gloves if they have them! Make sure your family name is on the rake. Typically we do the fence line in the alley and behind the building up to Father's yard. It is a good day's work! 

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I am heading to Waterloo and Waverly. On Saturday we are helping my sister Penny move into her new house. I get to see my sister Eva from PA as well! I haven't seen her in over a year! On Sunday, Eva is hosting a wedding shower for her son Vinny and fiancee Katerina. They both live in Waterloo. 

God Bless, 

Miss Surma