Due to the weather predictions, we will have our spelling test tomorrow. I do not want to wait until January, if we have an issue with weather on Friday.
Also, it will be holiday wear tomorrow instead of fuzzy socks.

Tomorrow is “wear all white” day.

Spelling Booklets

Yes, I know the spelling booklets did not come home last Friday. I have lots of kids who still need to make up their Friday assessment. I am going to give the assessment this week and send them the Monday, after the winter break. Less for both of us to remember over the break.

Winter Celebration

I am planning our small Winter Celebration for Thursday afternoon. We will have a couple of crafts and I will be ordering some pizza for a snack.

This is the last week before winter break.

Monday – Holiday Headwear

Wear a headband or necklace for the holidays!

Tuesday – Perfectly Plaid

Wear your favorite plaid or checkered clothing!

Wednesday – White Out!

Wear ALL white from head to toe!

Thursday – Cozy Socks

Wear your favorite pair of cozy or fuzzy socks!

Friday – Ugly Holiday Sweater or Shirt

Wear your favorite ugly winter or Christmas sweater or shirt.

Today will also be our sing-a-long in the gymnasium.

ELA

Reading – I started our Developmental Reading Assessments. They take a really long time to complete. I’m holding off on reading groups until they are completed. Remember, we are constantly reading and writing with our Benchmark learning. This reading is right on grade level too.

Writing – We are writing about jobs during the writer’s workshop. This is cross-curricular learning with social studies. This is informational writing.

Spelling – Yes, we will have spelling this week. This week we will work on three letter blends at the beginning of words.

• splash
• split
• strap
• stretch
• squid
• squint
• sprint
• spring
• when
• because
• from
• their

Math

We will take our Mid module assessment. On this summative assessment, we will be making a ten with the addends 7, 8, and 9. A 9 needs a 1 to make a ten. An 8 needs 2 to make a ten. 7 needs 3 to make a ten.

Social Studies

We are learning about jobs. A job is work that people do. People get paid money for the work that they do. We use the money to purchase what we need and want. We need: food and water, shelter (a house), and clothing. We also need love, but that is free. Some jobs provide a service. Some jobs make or grow goods for us to buy.

Have a wonderful last week before our winter break. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support to start our school year. I look forward to starting 2023 as your teaching partner.

Mrs. Korte

Two weeks to go before Winter Break. There will be lots of special activities over the next two weeks. Please watch the blog for any “middle of the week” updates.

The PTA needs your help. They are hosting a Holiday Shop for the kids to purchase small gifts for their families. The students LOVE this event. To make this a successful event, the PTA NEEDS VOLUNTEERS TO WORK AT THE HOLIDAY SHOP. Please consider volunteering for a few hours. “Many hands make light work” is the saying. Please watch for a link in your email to sign up.

• Monday, December 12
  • Pizza Monday $1
  • We preview the Holiday Shop. The information about the Holiday Shop and paper for a list went home on Friday.
  • This is our library day, please have your child return their Geer Park Library book so that they can check out a new one.
• Wednesday, December 14 – Donuts with Dads in the Media Center from 8:15-9:15 am.
• Thursday, December 15 – Core Value Program
• Friday, December 16 – Popcorn Day! $1

Student Access at HOME to my Schoology Page and Blog Class Links

Most of the students have their login codes and passwords memorized. I am not sure who has a Chromebook or tablet at home, but if you do, here is the information to get on my Schoology page.

You will want to have a bookmark for the Dearbornschools.org webpage. https://dearbornschools.org

• Dearbornschools.org
  • Student Portal
    • Schoology
      • Your child will be taken to my Schoology page.
        • Click on COURSES
          • Click on Little Mrs. Korte (The kids know what that means.

The only thing that is not available at night or on the weekend is EPIC books. It is available to us, for free, during the school day only.

There is a black folder with parent resources and my blog available. They must click on the square with the arrow to have access to my blog and the quick links. The photos show exactly what your child will need to click on to have access to my Schoology and to the blog. The blog Class Links are right below the calendar. We have been practicing in the classroom, so it should be fairly easy for your first grader to navigate.

Mrs. Garcia, our school interventionist, is working to get a grade level subscription to IXL. It is a pay website, but it is excellent for NWEA ELA and Math practice. Crossing our fingers to get this for our first graders.

The next two weeks will be mixed with academics and fun for before the winter break.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell your first grader to get their reading bag. They need to read everyday. NOTE: if their card is in their bag, there is a new book. If their card is NOT in their bag, they NEED to read for fluency practice.

ELA

I will be starting the Developmental Reading Assessments this week. This is a one to one assessment for reading. Each assessment takes LOTS of time. I will do my best to have reading groups while assessing. I appreciate your patience during this time.

Spelling – the digraphs ch, wh, and tch. Yes, I know…I know…whim and clutch are strange words for a first grader to learn. It is in our spelling program. I will do my best to make them relevant.

• chop
• check
• chill
• which
• whim
• match
• clutch
• pitch
• once
• upon
• hurt
• that

Writer’s Workshop

We finished our narrative common assessment. This week we will start informational writing. This is just facts about a topic. We will write about jobs. This links nicely with our Social Studies.

Math

We are making a ten with the addend 8. An 8 needs to borrow 2 from the other addend to make a 10. I believe that we will be practicing this with a 7 as an addend too.

Social Studies

We learned about needs and wants. Our needs are food and water, shelter (a home), clothing, and love. Thank you for being the most amazing parents. Families provide for their children’s needs everyday. Wants are the things your child wants but doesn’t need to live. We will learn about jobs this week. Some jobs provide goods (something you can hold) and some provide a service.

Have a wonderful weekend and week. Thank you for your support. You are all terrific teaching partners.

Tomorrow is pajama day! The kids insisted I get myself some new winter pajamas too. It is a school fundraiser so we can host family and student events. If you can donate a dollar for wearing the pj, that would be great. Thank you in advance.

These new next few weeks are going to fly by. I want to thank you for all of your support. I don’t know how to express the importance of us working together and your child’s academic progress and success.

• Pizza Monday
• Wednesday, December 7
  • Late Start – School begins at 10
  • Bingo for Books – The cost is $3 per child. Parents must accompany children.
    • 4:15 pm-5:15 pm in the Geer Park Cafeteria. The PTA will be selling snacks.
• I will keep you posted if we are having popcorn Friday or not.

Thank You and Feeling Appreciated

Thank you for all of your donations during November. As a class, we worked really hard to make it better for others. To show appreciation to the students in our class we had a bit of fun on Thursday. We decorated our bulletin board with paper poinsettias. They did a great job making them. We also made snowman stockings for fun. I love these kids.

Positive Behavior and Incentives

As you all know from conferences, I do not use Dojo. Instead, we use 3-1 positive reinforcement to one correction and a color self monitoring system. I collected all of the November behavior charts. We took a group photo of all of my kids who were “on green or purple” for all of November. Then I took a photo of the girl and the boy who had the most purple. (If there is ever a tie, I will make it more like a raffle.) Congratulations to all of these kids. We have started over for December. We will have a most improved student next month. Again, this is just a classroom positive behavior goal.

Pledge Leaders Last Week

These were our pledge leaders last week. They lead the entire school in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Geer Park pledge. The other half of the class will have the opportunity to in April.

ELA

Spelling – These are our new words. We are starting with three digraph patterns. A digraph is two letters that take on one new sound.

Digraph patterns

• sing
• bring
• thing
• shop
• ship
• shut
• this
• than

High Frequency words

• our
• these
• were
• could

Writer’s Workshop – We are finishing up our narrative writing assessment about a special day. Our next type of writing will be informational writing. We will write about different types of jobs.

Reading – Please, please check your child’s backpack everyday for their book bag. I meet with almost every group, almost every day. Also, I will start our Developmental Reading Assessments for our next report card.

Math

We are making a ten to make adding easier. 9 needs to borrow 1 to make a ten. 8 needs to borrow 2. 7 needs to borrow 3. Thank you for practicing this with your first grader on their homework.

Social Studies

We are making family trees to learn that our mom and dad are 1 generation back. Our grandparents are 2 generations back. We will start talking about our needs and wants this week. Our families provide our needs and wants.

Thank you for all your support! Have a great week.

Mrs. Korte