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.
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.
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.
MondayTuesdayOur final class count on Wednesday.The Geer Park count. Wow! 3,383 items.
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.
All Green and Purple People! Great job!Our two November Purple People. Congratulations!
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.
I hope everyone had a nice time off with your family. For those who celebrated, I hope it was a lovely Thanksgiving. I was extremely happy to have all of my children under one roof. I was heartbroken to have two of them leave on Sunday. We will be together again in 3 weeks.
This week, half of our class will have the honor of presenting the Pledge of Allegiance and the Geer Park Pledge to the school via the school intercom system. The other half of our class will present in a few months.
Monday, November 28 – Pizza Monday – I collected last week and still have everyone’s order already.
Wednesday, November 30 -Parent Education meeting CANCELLED – No meeting this month.
Thursday, December 1 – PICTURE RETAKES
Friday, December 2 – Popcorn Friday
Thank you to all of the families who donated last week. We will continue to take donations through Wednesday.
ELA
Spelling – S blends at the beginning of the words
skin
skip
skill
smell
smug
smock
swell
swim
was
there
then
out
Writing – We are finishing our Responsible story.
Reading – We meet on a daily basis, but I meet with certain groups every day and other groups every other day. I am constantly monitoring progress. I will be giving a Developmental Reading Assessment to every child before the winter break.
Math
We finished our Module 1 last week and are starting Module 2 this week. We will start to add numbers larger than ten. We will look at numbers in tens and ones. We are looking at making a ten.
Science
We are taking a small break from Science after Monday and shifting out attention to Social Studies.
Social Studies
We will be focusing on our family, needs and wants.
Thank you for your constant support. Have a lovely week.
Thank you to all of the families who attended Parent Teacher conferences. If you ever have a question for me, please send me a note in your child’s folder or email me. I will write you an email or call you as soon as possible. If you missed your conference, I will schedule a time to chat.
We have two more days for our food drive. Our class is in second place with 191 items. Please consider donating on Monday and Tuesday. Thank you to all of the families who have donated so far. Here are our pictures from last week.
Wednesday, November 23 – No School
Thursday, November 24 – Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 25 – No School
With such a short week, we will be catching up on things here and there. We will also have a bit of fun. We do not have a new spelling this week.
Thank you for all of your support. Have a lovely Thanksgiving with your family and friends.
Thank you to all of the parents who attended Parent Teacher Conferences this week. We have one more day of conferences on Wednesday, November 16.
Monday – Send in your child’s library book. We get new ones today.
Wednesday – Last night of parent-teacher conferences. I will be seeing:
4:20 Gelan
4:40 Banks
5:00 Brambila
5:20 Nash
6:00 Mays
6:20 Maweri
6:40 Katip
Thursday – Pasta Night in the Geer Park Cafeteria from 5:30-7:30
We need your help. Please consider sending in some nonperishable items for our food drive. We only have 7 days left. So far we have 53 items. Thank you to the families who have donated so far.
Please buy your tickets in the office for the Geer Park Pasta Night on Thursday, November 17 from 5:30-7:30. They are $10 for an adult and $8 for children 3 and older. I hope to see you there. I bought my ticket on Friday. Yay!
Geer Park started their first math-a-thon in October. These are our first, second, and third place winners.
Congratulations guys! Everyone should start practicing their FAST addition and subtraction math facts now. Our next math-a-thon is in January.
Spelling
These words have blends at the end of the word. At the end, there will be mp, nd, and st.
jump
clamp
mist
west
trust
bland
send
wind
good
by
them
who
Reading
We read together every day in our Benchmark Unit booklet. However, we are expected to get to our individual groups too. This has been a bit of a struggle lately due to behavior. We feel that we should be running around and at other students’ desks instead of following directions. Misdirection eats up time. Due to that, I have had to flip-flop math and reading.
I will be having small reading instructional groups every day, next week.
Writing
We will have our next writing “A Time When I Was Responsible” finished on Friday.
Math
We are in the last part of Module 1. It is fluency with subtraction. This was a bit tricky today. I understand the first graders might know they fast math facts, but they are required to show a math picture to get the full points on the quizzes and final assessment. Oh my goodness, about 15 out of the 20 would not or could not draw the math picture. We worked and worked. Here is an example of what I need from your child.
It is to show your child’s thinking. It is to help your child check for their own errors too. These math drawings will be required on our assessments. Please practice.
Science
We will learn about reptiles, fish, insects, and amphibians. Then we will be assessing.
Thank you so much for your support. Have a great weekend. We will see everyone on Monday. Mrs. Korte
I’m sending this early, because you can get a jump start on those spelling words. Also, it is a busy week with Parent-Teacher conferences and no school on Tuesday. Please vote!
ELA
We are starting Unit 3 in our Benchmark. It includes cross-curricular social studies and learning about how we can be good citizens. I will send home your child’s Unit 2 booklet. It is at the correct first grade reading level. Use it to have your child read to you. If it is easy, then your child is above what is expected at this time of the year. If your child can read it with a little help, then your child is right where they need to be. If your child struggles reading the passages, then your child is working to get to a first grade reading level, but is not there yet.
Reading
I only sent book bags for the students who did not read last night. Please let your child read to you and sign their literacy log so that I know. The students who do this reading make the best progress.
Spelling
These are tricky. They are r blends at the beginning of the words. No rhymes. Please start practicing now.
dress
drip
drill
grim
grab
grass
truck
trim
now
do
went
which
Writing
We are finishing up our stories about being brave. Hopefully they will be in the hallway by the time you attend the parent-teacher conference.
Math
We are almost finished with module 1. We are still looking at fact families. That is both the addition and subtraction sentences you can write with the numbers in a number bond. We are also using the picture to help us with number stories. When I was little, the teacher called them story problems.
Science
We learned about the needs of animals. We also about mammals this week. The kids were shocked to learn that they are a mammal too. We will learn about birds, reptiles, and fish this week. Their body coverings are very important features.
Social Studies
We are taking a break for a bit and finishing up Science. We will start learning about our families soon.
Report cards, NWEA scores, and WIDA scores will be given at the conference.
Monday, November 7 – Parent-Teacher conferences after school. – I am meeting with Madi, Harris, El-Kadri, Jadallah, El-Khali, and Mallah
Tuesday, November 8 – No School – Vote
Thursday, November 10 – Parent-Teacher conferences after school. – I am meeting with Saeed, Saif, Lahbib, Yazbeck, Reddick, and Algaradi
The following Wednesday, November 16 – Parent-Teacher conferences after school. – I am meeting with Gelan, Banks, Brambila, Nash, Mays, Maweri, and Katip.
Geer Park is conducting a Canned Food Drive beginning Monday, November 7th -Tuesday, November 22nd. Non-perishable food items are accepted. The classroom with the most donations (cans) will receive a gingerbread house decorating party in December.
I’m going to start this newsletter with our learning content for the week, because spelling this week is TRICKY.
ELA
The first-grade team plans lessons with learning goals and rigor each week. It is paced with the Dearborn Education Curriculum. We are off just a bit in our Unit 2 Benchmark. We had lots of festivities and events planned last week. These are the things your child will remember about first grade. Please know that I always catch up with the curriculum though.
SPELLING
As I wrote at the beginning of the newsletter this week is TRICKY. Please start practicing asap. We learned all of the short vowels. We learned how you can change the beginning letter (onset) and put a new letter on the ending (rhyme) to make new words. This week is completely different. This week the list will be focusing on the beginning (onset) and the kids will learn how to blend 2 letters together.
class
clip
clock
flat
flag
flick
block
black
put
what
want
this
saw
WRITING
We have our: A Time When I was Brave blueprint ready for edits and revisions. Your child will be meeting with me at a writing conference. We will edit any misspelled words, add capital letters at the beginning of a sentence, and add punctuation at the end of a sentence. We will revise the writing by changing some words or sentences to make it better. Then your child will be ready to write their final copy. We will hang the final copies in the hallway for visitors to read. Please remember, Writer’s Workshop is highly guided by me, the teacher. The report card will be mostly marked 3 (progressing) for everyone. We are progressing and learning the process writing.
READING
We read EVERY day. I am working to get to your child’s small reading group more often. Please make sure to allow your child to read their books to you each night they bring their book bag. Then sign their card.
MATH
Last week, we learned to use a number line. The math series calls it a number path. This was tricky for quite a few kids. They want to start counting the number they are already on. Please practice count on a number line. One of the best games to do this with is Chutes and Ladders. We will continue with subtraction
SCIENCE
We are going to finish up life science. We started it with the Unit 1 Benchmark, in ELA. This week, we will learn about mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. We will specifically look at their body coverings and body parts. What do they all need to survive, will be a driving question.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We took our Civics Social Studies assessment on Thursday. If your child was absent, they will have a blank grade for Social Studies this quarter. They will take the assessment this week, and their grade will show up in the second quarter.
We have a full week of school. Election Day is the following week.
Friday was the official end of our first quarter. I submitted all of the grades. We have lots of progressing grades due to the nature of the lessons being very guided. If your child is missing any grade, it is due to absences. Also, I noted that we do much better on the tasks, quizzes, and formative and summative assessments when we are all in class. Absences are impacting the understanding of the content.
Report cards will be distributed at the parent-teacher conference. Reminders were sent home last week.
Thursday was so much fun! Thank you to Mrs. Faraj, all of the Geer Park staff, and the fantastic Geer Park PTA for the wonderful experience. Here are some photos from the day.
