St. Joseph the Worker School
January News
December Artists of the Month
Standing: Gavin Connors, Olivia Martin, Sawyer Scully, and Morgan Conner
Kneeling: Reese Lobert, Dylan Elias, and Molly Trommater
Thank You Teachers and staff members appreciate your generosity and say THANK YOU for Pick A
Scrip and tasty treats! May God bless you with peace and happiness during this New
Year.
Catholic Schools Week is January 31 – February 5. Details coming soon.
Christmas Angels We are praying for our Christmas Angels who gave our school a total of $8,713.00.
Thank you! $7,080.00 is designated for Reading Textbooks and Instructional resources and $1,633.00 for the
Endowment Fund.
Book Sale Our used book sale raised $100 for Heifer International! The students purchased chickens to help
those in need in Third World Countries.
Dress Code Just a reminder that only dress code sweatshirts are allowed to be worn in school. Boys and Girls
may also wear navy, light blue, or white crewneck knit sweaters or sweater vests. Girls may wear a traditional
navy, light blue, or white button down cardigan (no hoods or zippers) to stay warm. Please make clothing is
labeled. We have many items in lost and found with no names.
Supplies Just a reminder that this is the time of year to restock your child’s school supplies: glue,
Kleenex, pencils, papers, rulers, scissors, etc. Thank you!
Testing Students will begin NWEA testing this month. Testing dates are from January 11 – February 19.
Tuition We appreciate your promptness!
Those using the Semester Plan now owe their final $750 payment.
Monthly Payments should now total $1000.
Quarterly Payments should now total $1125.
Those with the Quarterly Plan will be making their final $375 payment in March.
November You Nailed It!
Standing: Olivia Martin, Lucas Martin, Carter Fussman, Oliver Zeien, Avery Wilson, Kadin Straus, Jenna
Faber, Hannah Benaske, Anna Rau, Breanna Onstott, and Zeta Zeneberg. Kneeling: Gavin Connors, Drew
Gross, Owen McKenny, Drew Block, James Grey, Hayden Doyle, and Allison Pasch. Sitting: Blake Sanders,
Eric Elias, Wyatt Wilson, Reese Lobert, Brynn Block, and Rheid Schumacher.
CLASSROOM HAPPENINGS
Kindergarten
The Kindergartners have been busy work bees this month! In Language Arts they have learned all the letters in
the alphabet! We will put our finishing touches on our ABC Books after Christmas Break! In Readers
Workshop we are learning about Pattern Books. We will also be writing our own Pattern Book in Writer's
Workshop. In Math the Kindergartners have been learning about numbers 0 to 20.
Mrs. Gus and Mrs. Hauck are super proud of the Kindergartners on the Christmas Play they performed for our
Christmas Prayer Service! Great Job Kindergartners!
First Grade
The first graders will be beginning a Science unit called Sorting Things Out. They will be taking part in
experiments to classify items into groups, learning how magnets attract items, and learning about the forms of
water (gas, liquid, and solid).
In Math, the first graders will be beginning a unit on length and measurement. They will be comparing lengths
and using standard and non-standard units of measure.
The first graders are beginning a unit on opinion writing. They will be learning how to write a letter to express
their thoughts and opinion on issues and learning how to come up with solutions to problems. This unit is part
of the MAISA writing units that have been implemented in our school.
Second Grade
Second graders just finished up a reading unit that focused on the character. This study really helped us dig
deeply into the stories and better figure out the meaning of the story.
In our next reading unit we will be reading informational books. I expect we will learn a lot of new things as
well as figure out how to use headings, graphs, maps and diagrams to better understand the content.
In Science we will be doing our unit called Measurement Matters. Second graders will learn how to use rulers,
tape measures, balancing scales and other measuring tools. We have some fun along the way as we make paper
airplanes, run things down a ramp and make slime.
In Math we’ve just finish up an introduction to multiplication and division. For the next few weeks we will
focus on multiplication tables 2, 5, 10 & 0. We will also do some of the measuring pages in math that will
coincide with our science.
Third Grade
Science: We are off and running with our unit on rocks, minerals, and Earth materials. We have done some
very interesting investigations and experiments thus far and we look forward to making and exploding our
volcanoes at the end of the unit.
Social Studies: In the very near future we will be switching our books and our focus and will be studying
Michigan's History. Our state's history is very intriguing and we have many interesting facts that we will be
learning.
Math: Our next few chapters focus on division. Please continue working on your child's multiplication facts
each and every day!
Language: We will be working on many different aspects of grammar. Please go over the Daily Oral Language
papers that are sent home each week and go through them with your third grader to find grammatical and
punctuation errors. We still struggle with capitalization! Please go through that with them as well.
Reading: We have completed the book Because of Winn-Dixie and we enjoyed Dump Punch as well as Litmus
lozenges while reading the book. We also watched the movie so that we could make comparisons to the book.
What a great story of love and acceptance! During the New Year we will start the book The Boxcar Children.
Fourth Grade
Social Studies – Fourth graders are studying the climate, land, resources and products of the Southeast Region.
Fifth Grade
Math- We will be multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers. Students are going to be applying
their knowledge of fractions in real world problems.
Social Studies- Fifth graders will learn about the 13 British Colonies. They were divided into 3 categories: the
New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies and Southern Colonies. Each region has its own products that they
produced.
Science- We will be learning about electricity and magnetism. Students will be using the terms non-contact
force, contact force, attract, repel, motion and magnetic force.
Sixth Grade
In math the students are finishing a chapter on percent. The upcoming chapters are on algebraic expressions
and algebraic equations.
The students are close to finishing Unit 3 for social studies. They will take their unit test and then begin their
country reports!
The students are almost finished with the second unit for science - Earth: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
The students will take their unit test and then begin the third unit on energy.
The students are working on their persuasive arguments for ELA. They are learning how to find credible
sources, research information, and to create a sound argument. The students are also learning how to properly
use in-text citations and to correctly create a works cited page. The students will soon begin their next book Bridge to Terabithia.
Music
Wonderful job to all grades for their performance at the Advent Program!
Calendar
January
4
7
8
13
14
20
21
22
Monday
Thursday
Friday
Wednesday
Thursday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
26
31
Tuesday
Sunday
February
5
Friday
Classes Resume
Mass, 8 AM
Color Day
Auction Committee Meeting, 7 PM
Mass, 8 AM
Finance Strategic Plan Town Hall Meeting, 7 PM
Mass, 8 AM
End of Second Quarter
Half Day, 11:35 Dismissal
School Commission Meeting, 6 PM
Catholic Schools Week begins
Catholic Schools Week Mass, 10:30 AM
Open House following Mass
Color Day