Good evening Geer Park Families!

This is a reminder that we will be holding our next Parent Education Meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, March 22nd @ 9:30 am in the Gym.  Our topic will be the Mental/Social Emotional Health of students.  

As always, we will have fresh coffee, snacks, and raffles.

We look forward to seeing you there.

One last week before spring break. Let’s work to make this a strong learning week with good attendance. The start of Ramadan is this week. I hope that the families observing have a blessed Ramadan.

Penny War fundraiser starts on Monday.

This is always a very exciting event and really generates fun rivalry and competition between the classes. All of the proceeds from our Penny Wars fundraiser will go to the Amity Foundation for their efforts in supporting the victims of Turkey and Syrian Earthquakes. Penny Wars will take place in the morning from 8:40am until 8:55am. Our fundraising committee and PTA will be counting money daily to keep us informed as to standings. Every teacher will have a tin can. Students are encouraged to drop pennies into THEIR class’ cans and nickels, dimes, or quarters into OTHER class’ cans. Pennies are added to the class total, nickels, dimes, and quarters are deducted from the total. The class with the highest amount, in the end, will win a Game and Ice Cream Party. The teacher also wins a free 45-minute prep. Let the Penny Wars begin!

Literacy Night is on Monday, March 20 from 4:30 – 5:30. Students must be with their parent to attend and participate, because we want this to be a family event. I will be in the bingo room.

Check the March is Reading Month calendar for the last week of activities. The kids really embraced spirit week last week.

• Monday – Penny War fundraiser begins. Literacy Night is from 4:30 – 5:30. (Children must be with their parents.)
• Wednesday – Parent Education Meeting at 9:30 – Please consider attending.
• Friday – I will submit the final grades for the 3 quarter report card.
• Saturday, March 25 – Sunday, April 2 is Spring Break
• Monday, April 3 – The start of our final quarter of the 22/23 school year.

Looking ahead…

• Thursday, April 6 at 7:45pm – The Geer Park Ramadan Iftar – The Ramadan Iftar tickets are $10 per person. Our Iftar Dinner will likely sell out and we hope that as many as possible will join us for a very special evening! Families may purchase tickets from the main office before or after school. 

Grades are submitted Friday. Absences this week may result in lower grades in Math and ELA on the report card. Your child will not have enough time to make up assessments and I will not have time to grade the work.

ELA BLOCK – We have switched our literacy block to the afternoon to match the other first grades. It is our largest chunk of time in the learning day. I will still give spelling tests on Friday in the morning though. That is when we are most alert.

• Reading – I am no longer sending the literacy log cards. I will be sending the book bags every night. If there is a new book, please sit with your first grader and listen/practice it. On all other days, they need to read their books for fluency. Fluency is reading smoothly like talking without sounding out words or errors. I’m going to start having a word list in each bag too. Your child should practice the yellow highlighted words. (It will take me a bit of time to get a list to everyone. If I have a parent willing to come and help, please email me.)
• Writer’s Workshop – We are finishing writing our opinion paper on our favorite candy at school. These are all guided and scaffolded pieces. We will have an assessment in about 5 weeks. Your child is expected to independently apply what I am teaching during these lessons.
• Spelling
  • corn
  • born
  • horn
  • core – the central part of something, for example your stomach area are your core muscles of the body
  • more
  • chore
  • boar – a male pig
  • roar
  • away
  • move
  • laugh
  • change

MATH – We will finish learning about data with some number stories. We will have our formative assessment for data this week on Wednesday and our Summative assessment for Module 3 on Thursday. If your child is absent, unfortunately, I must enter a zero in the grade book. A zero will drop their math grade on the report card. I will not have time to make up assessments.

SOCIAL STUDIES – We will be finishing up Geography by making a map of our classroom and practicing Right, Left, In front, and Behind. Our assessment will be on Thursday. Again, if your child is absent, he/she will have a 4 in Geography. They will not have time on Friday to make this assessment up.

Thank you for your support. Please work to have your child at school every day and on time.

Your partner in teaching.

Mrs. Korte

Well, Friday was a surprise. Believe it or not…I’m a bit behind because of it.

• Monday – Pizza Monday
• Wednesday – PTA/Parent Ed Meeting at 9:30 in the Media Center.
• Thursday – Parent-Teacher Conference (If you did not receive a slip, you do not have a conference.)
• Friday – 1/2 day of school

This is Spirit Week for our March is Reading Month

• Monday – Wear your clothing backward today.
• Tuesday – Dress like your favorite Wishtree character.
• Wednesday – Wear Plaid because we are mad about plaid
• Thursday – Wacky Hair Day
• Friday – Wear Green

ELA – We are starting our 8th unit booklet in our benchmark series.

SPELLING – The words this week have the -ar spelling pattern.

• car
• far
• star
• chart
• smart
• part
• yar
• hard
• four
• great
• boy
• city

WRITING – We are writing our opinion about a candy. We are using a bubble map and a flow map to help us complete our blueprint.

READING – I went to a special class with Mrs. Faraj and several teachers, two weeks ago. It was about the importance of choice in learning for deeper understanding. Other than one group who is reading a chapter book, I am allowing the students to pick their reading group book based on their interests. I am no longer sending home the cards to sign. I am hoping you will read with your first grader.

MATH – We will take a quiz tomorrow about non-standard units of measurement. Then we will finish up Module 3 with data collection.

SOCIAL STUDIES – We are working on human and physical characteristics in geography. Then we will learn about how the land is changed or modified.

Have a great week.

Mrs. Korte

Tomorrow is pajamas for March is Reading Month. I will be reading my FAVORITE bedtime story to the first graders.

There are activities on your GREEN READING MONTH calendar. For example, here is our beach towel Read in Day. All of the first graders had a blast spreading out and reading with all their friends.

• Pizza Monday
• Wednesday, March 8 – Late Start
• Thursday, March 9 – Pajama Day
• Friday, March 10 – Geer Park Shirt Day

I must apologize for being out twice this week, but we were in good hands with Ms. MacDonald. We taught together, in first grade at Howard, for about 15 years. I have some new strategies for teaching and learning to try to implement.

BEHAVIOR CHART – I made an error in the days on the March behavior chart. I will swap them out on Monday. I’m sorry.

SPELLING – These are going to be tricky…start practicing. Remember, they are all from our Benchmark series.

• find
• kind
• mind
• fly
• shy
• right
• night
• light
• again
• round
• they
• country

MATH

We measured with centimeter cubes, but we need to practice with rulers. We will have a bit of practice before looking at non-standard units of measurement. No homework for right now because I do not have the math supplies to send home.

SOCIAL STUDIES

I am hoping to make homemade playdoh with the kids and have them make models of landforms and bodies of water. My fingers are crossed.

Short newsletter for this week. Thank you for your patience with the new dismissal procedure. Bad weather aside, I think it went well.

Mrs. Korte

PLEASE READ

Geer Park Families, 

Due to the unfortunate events that occurred at Michigan State this past week and with this violence being the second event in Michigan over the past 14 months, we want to revisit our safety and security measures in the building.

Starting on Monday, February 27th, ALL students will be dismissed on the blacktop next to the playground at the end of the day. At 3:50pm, teachers will begin walking students out to their numbered cones on the blacktop (same cones in the morning). We are asking ALL parents to remain BEHIND the gate in the parking lot area. Teachers will send students to parents once they see them. PLEASE do not approach your child’s cone. Your child will walk to you. 

Additionally, we are asking parents not to stand beyond the gates in the morning during arrival. Establishing consistency will ensure that safety measures go into effect smoothly. If you prefer to stand with your child, keep them with you beyond the gate and allow them to go to their line when you see their teacher arrive to pick them up. 

We are making this change to eliminate the congestion of traffic at the front of the building. You will need to park your car either on Prospect or one of the side streets: Woodworth, Lapham, or Charles. Do NOT leave your car running in the middle of the street or double parked, we have been forwarding pictures of license plates to Dearborn Police and will continue to do so to ensure none of our families are hurt during this high traffic period. We are asking that you exit your vehicle and walk up to the gate to pick up your child(ren). 

Older siblings who are Geer Park students will not be permitted to pick up younger siblings without an adult present. Older students cannot be responsible for the handling of multiple younger students. 

Preschool Parents: We ask that you do not wait inside the building if you have older children who dismiss at a later time. Please do not allow the preschoolers to play on the playground between 3:30pm-3:55pm. You may wait outside of the gated area in the parking lot or in your vehicle until it is 3:55pm. 

For the safety of all, no one will be permitted to enter the building without calling the office first and making arrangements. Please do not ring the bell without calling the office first. If you need to notify us of any changes to your child’s transportation, please call ahead. You should inform whomever is picking up your child of these safety measures: older siblings, neighbors, grandparents, etc. Older siblings who are not Geer Park students will NOT be allowed in the building for any reason. We care about the safety of our students and staff and know that you will continue to respect the security measures that will keep everyone safe. We can remain a welcoming, collaborative, school community when we ALL work together to honor safety procedures for the sake of our children and teachers. When parents or guardians decide they may adjust and bend security measures to suit their individual needs, it places the entire school community at risk. Traffic safety improved when we all did our part. Please know how important your role is in all of this. We appreciate your support!

Finally, this plan will not work if we do not drop off students before 8:55am and pick up by 3:55pm. Teaching our children punctuality and time management is a life skill! We will be calling home to families who are chronically late for arrival or to pick up students.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call the office at (313) 827-2300. 

Mrs. Faraj, Principal

Geer Park Elementary