January is going to be crazy. We are trying to get back into the swing of things by practicing routines, rules, and expectations. Several parents expressed concern that I didn’t send home the spelling words or homework last week. Again, per the newsletter, from last week, we are going slow to go fast. That includes me asking you for help.

As a parent, I know it is exhausting to get back into the school routine after a long break. So…last week, I only sent home the math homework. We did all of the spelling practice and homework in class to practice what I expect. The kids did really well on their spelling test too.

This week, I will send home the math and spelling homework. Finally, during our last full week of January, I will send home math, spelling, and reading homework.

I didn’t want to overwhelm you. We are in this together and I don’t want to lose you as my teaching partner. Thank you for your constant support and patience.

• Monday, January 16 – NO SCHOOL The observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr’s birthday. We learned about him and some of his teachings on Friday. I will continue this lesson on Tuesday.
• Thursday, January 19 – POPCORN SALE $1 per bag.
• Friday, January 20 – HALF DAY OF SCHOOL – morning only The afternoon I will be finishing and submitting all grades into the District Gradebook for the second report card. (This is the last day of the second quarter.)

ELA

• Reading – I will be finishing the Developmental Reading Assessment this week. Small group reading will resume next week.
• Writer’s Workshop – We are writing an informational piece about a specific job. Your child is learning to write facts about a topic. In this situation, we picked one job to teach our audience.
• Spelling
  • hope
  • rope
  • nope
  • noes
  • those
  • chose
  • spoke
  • joke
  • find
  • how
  • over
  • under

MATH

We are using a group of ten to help make subtraction easier. This week we will take 8 and 7 away from ten.

SCIENCE

During our ELA benchmark lessons, we are learning about technology and how it helps make our life easier.

SOCIAL STUDIES

We are finishing our unit on economics. So far, we have learned about:

• Families – A family can be different shapes and sizes.
• Needs and Wants – We NEED food, water, shelter, clothing, and love to survive. We want other things like special shoes, toys, cars, vacations, etc.
• Jobs – A job is work people do to earn money.
• Money – Money is used to get what we need and want.
• Goods – Goods are things certain jobs make or grow for people to buy.
• Service – Some jobs provide a service. A service is something that is done for you.
• Producer – Jobs that grow or make goods for you to buy or provide a service to you are called a producer.
• Consumer – A consumer is a person buying goods or paying for a service, like a haircut.

This week we will learn about trading. Trading can be used to consume goods and services too. For example, your first grader could mow the lawn to get you to buy them a toy. That is a trade. We will review that money is just a simple trade. You trade the store money for the toy.

My goal is to take the Unit 2 social studies test before Friday morning.

Thank you for your support. Have a great weekend.

Mrs. Korte