Happy New Year!
I hope all of you now have electricity and heating and are safely settling into 2026 at home. Unfortunately, we were not able to return to school this week, but I am very much looking forward to welcoming all of your children back to the classroom on Monday morning.
Due to missing this week of instruction, there will be a few changes to assignments and assessments. Please see the subject-specific updates below.
We will still plan to go ice skating on Thursday, January 15th. We will leave school at approximately 9:00 and return by about 13:30. Thank you very much to Amelie and Katharina for joining us on this fun reward trip next week.
Parent Evening for the Class Trip
The informational parent evening for the upcoming class trip has been postponed by one week. We will now meet on Thursday, January 15th from 18:00 to 19:00 online. Updated information about the evening and the link to join have been shared by the parent representatives. I will also share the presentation slides with all parents afterward for your review.
On Monday, January 12th, the trip documents and payment information will be shared with all parents. Please take time to review the materials and come prepared with any questions for the Thursday informational meeting.
English Homeroom
The due date for the newscast final project has been postponed by one week. I do not expect any students to have worked on this project during the power outage, so if your child returns on Monday without having completed any work, that is completely fine. We will resume from where students left off before the break.
Until Winter Break, we will not meet in differentiation groups and will instead remain together as a homeroom during all English instruction hours. This will allow students sufficient time to complete their final article and video presentation. The written article will now be due in Google Classroom on January 16th, and the video presentation will be due on January 23rd.
English Differentiation
The two weekly hours normally dedicated to spelling and vocabulary in leveled differentiation groups will be paused until the second semester after Winter Break. These hours will be used over the next few weeks to support completion of the final newscast project.
Math
The math test originally scheduled for January 8th has been postponed to January 16th. Topics covered before the break, as outlined in the study guide and reteaching sheets, will be reviewed next week leading up to the assessment. Students will also have time to complete remaining assignments in their independent work notebooks so they are ready to turn them in on Friday if they have not already done so.
The test will take place on Friday, January 16th during first and second periods, which are normally English and Social Studies. Students will therefore have the full 90 minutes to complete the assessment.
Social Studies
Students will receive their graded Social Studies quizzes to take home next week. They did an excellent job, and I am very proud of their effort, especially on the extra credit artifacts assignment.
Next week, we will conclude our unit with an episode of Standing Up in the Milky Way from Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. This episode connects early civilizations to astronomy by showing how observing the sky helped societies develop calendars, agriculture, navigation, and shared knowledge. It is a strong and engaging connection to the topics we have discussed and helps students understand how careful observation laid the foundation for civilization.
After completing this unit on early civilizations and settlements, we will begin exploring the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley, Sumerian civilization, early conquests, and empires.
Art
We will unfortunately miss another Art lesson next week due to ice skating. After that, I am excited for us to fully focus on our urban development project and begin creating an imaginative and creative city over the coming weeks. I believe the students are very much looking forward to this project as well.
Thank you, as always, for your flexibility and support. I look forward to seeing all students back at school on Monday.
Wishing you a warm, restful weekend!