Wrightsville
Elementary
March 2015
From the Principal’s Desk . . .
Mr. Doug Enders, Principal of Wrightsville Elementary
Are You Ready for the Madness?
Special points of
interest:

This month is Poems Across
America

May Day! - May 9th

Read what your child is
doing.. inside!

Pictures from Dr. Seuss
Week

PTO Officer Nominations are
due to Heather or a PTO
officer by April 30th

PTO officer elections will be
held at the May PTO meeting
My daughter’s soccer practice was finished. It was dark outside. I was
returning home with her to begin our usual routine before getting her and her
two brothers to bed. After parking the car in the driveway and gathering our
stuff, my daughter (Maddy) and I used the side entrance to our garage. I
unlocked the door, reached around the wall, and placed my hand at the exact
location of the light switch. I did this without any hesitation or having to feel
around for the switch. I found my target instantly. Obviously, I had reached for
this switch enough times that I had developed an ability to find it without
having to give it much thought. I was a little disappointed that my daughter
wasn’t impressed with my ability.
In an effort to encourage our children develop math abilities that comes with
ease, Wrightsville will be holding a Math March Madness Tournament at the
end of the month. We hope you are reviewing math facts with your child in an
effort to develop an “automaticity” of their fact knowledge.
Automaticity is the third stage of learning. First, we learn facts to the level of
accuracy – a math fact can be answered correctly if the time is taken to
concentrate. Next, fluency is developed. Students can give an answer quickly
without making mistakes. Finally, with more repetition, automaticity is
developed. Automaticity is when we can go quickly without errors and without
much conscious thought. An example of this was given when I mentioned my
ability to find the light switch in the garage or Ronaldo’s abilities with a soccer
ball.
Automaticity with math facts is important because the purpose of learning these
facts is to use them in the service of higher and more complex math problems.
We want students to be thinking about solving the problem, not having to stop
and think about the answer to a simple math equation (Example: What is the
product of 12 x 7?).
We are looking forward to a great event!
Thursday, March 26th: 4th grade, Kindergarten, 3rd Grade
Friday, March 27th: 2nd grade, 1st Grade, 5th Grade
Wrightsville Elementary
Page 2
Kindergarten
We have made such progress from the beginning of the year! We are proud
of the determination, effort, and “GRIT” each student has shown day after
day. Our classes had so much fun on the 100th Day of School. We took a
look at our classroom learning goals and celebrated our success within the
first 100 days of school. Below you will find the third marking period grade
level expectations for kindergarten. The skills listed have already been introduced during whole-group instruction. Students will practice skills in small
group and partner activities. Please continue to practice at home as well. If
you have any questions about grade level expectations, please contact Miss
Klahold or Mrs. Fisher. The end of the third marking period is March 26 th
and report cards will be sent home on April 7th.
“Our Classes had
so much fun
celebrating the
100th Day of
School!”
Reading
Give 1 sound for each letter of the alphabet
Identifies random capital and lowercase letters
Segment and blend CVC words
Recognize basic sight vocabulary
Comprehend stories read to them
Math
Count, Read, Write numbers to 75
Describe place value in numbers 11-19
Solve addition and word problems up to 10
Identify and describe 3D shapes (cone, cube, cylinder, sphere)
Describe and compare length, weight, capacity, and area of objects
Identify penny, nickel, dime, quarter
Writing
Convey personal experience through writing
Capitalization of first word and I
Uses end punctuation
Handwriting
Print first and last name clearly
Print letters and numbers clearly
Page 3
1st Grade
Happy March! We are working hard in the third marking period. Continue to practice those math facts
for the MATH MADNESS and read for the Wrightsville Reads Program.
Here is a list of websites that your child can play on at home that will strengthen their math and reading skills.
Math:
xtramath.org
abcya.com
roomrecess.com
funbrain.com
mathplayground.com ixl.com/math
coolmath-games.com coolmath4kids.com
Reading:
www.yorklibraries.org
readtomelv.com
starfall.com
storylineonline.net
wegivebooks.org
ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer
2nd Grade
2nd grade Newsletter for March
At the end of March, March 27th to be exact, Wrightsville Elementary will be participating in March Math Madness!!!! Each grade will be put into teams of 3 or 4
and will compete against other teams in the same grade level on basic facts.
Second grade will be competing in addition and subtraction. We have already
started preparing in school by doing extra basic fact practice, having homework in basic facts, playing
games with basic facts and practicing the format of the competition. Below are some ways you can help
your child prepare at home.
flashcards
checking basic fact homework
using computer programs like Xtramath, abcya, roomrecess.com, funbrain.com
give the students basic fact questions while driving in the car, eating breakfast, etc.
There are many upcoming events in the months of April and May where second grade will need volunteers. Please be sure that if you are interested in helping that you have your clearances. If you need a
packet you can contact the office or one of us and we will get one to you!!!
Wrightsville Elementary
Page 4
3rd Grade
March Newsletter - Third Grade
Third grade has begun a math unit on fractions. They will need to
show fractions as part of a whole, on a number line, equivalent
fractions, and compare them using greater than, less than, and
equal to. The students are getting excited about our upcoming
March Math Madness tournament in which they will be competing
with multiplication facts. Please keep studying with your child at
home.
The students should continue to read at home and record their
minutes for Wrightsville Reads. This reading assignment is not optional. Students are required to turn the Wrightsville Reads paper
in at the end of each month.
Our field trip to the Whitaker Center is coming up at the end of
May. Please know that if you want to be considered as a chaperone you must have your clearances filed with the district. There is
still time to get them in before that May deadline if you want to be
in the running to go.
Thank you for all of your help and support. Please know that it is
greatly appreciated.
Mr. Coldiron
Mrs. Metzler
Mr. Schenck
Volume 1, Issue 1
Page 5
4th Grade
Fourth was full of love for animals this February as we studied how animals are
adapted for survival.
In math we have been learning the names of different angles and measuring them
using a half circle protractor. We continue to work with fractions – adding and subtracting
with like denominators, decomposing, and comparing. 4th graders should keep practicing
multiplication and division flash cards each evening to prepare for the upcoming MATH
MADNESS event! Multiplication.com is an excellent site for practicing those facts.
Reading skills for the month included cause and effect; comparing and contrasting
characters, settings and themes; determining the theme of a piece of writing and point of
view. We’ve been working hard on building stamina in the classroom – being able to focus without distraction on a task for a set amount of minutes. Students are slowly but steadily increasing their stamina on the “gritometer”.
Mr. Leanza’s class is working hard on researching their state reports while Mrs.
Stein’s class is working on fiction book reports. The students will either dress up as a main
character or create a puppet to present a summary of the book.
Keep up the grit and brain sweat 4th grade! We are proud of your hard work and effort!
Wrightsville Elementary
Page 6
5th Grade
February was a month of poetry in 5th grade!
The language of poetry, so descriptive, so fun!
We loved every moment, and now cry that it is done. L
“Then we take a
“BRAIN BREAK”,
which may
include a
little Zumba or
an Ice Age
Drift Dance
Off! !”
While learning how to read poetry, the students worked on identifying
and explaining figurative language. We had a great time exploring different
types of figurative language through short funny poems, long complicated poems, music, and movies. The students had a blast rapping, singing, and acting
out their own interpretations of poetry, while also identifying common poetic
elements.
In science we have been continuing out study of how rocks are formed.
Ask your student the 3 types of rock, and how each is formed! Also, we took a
little break from science around President’s Day to participate in a few engaging social studies activities. The students enjoyed completing and I-chart
about different presidents, reading articles about presidents, acting in a presidential reader’s theater, and creating a newsletter about what they would
chance if they were president.
In math, the students are preparing for next month’s PSSA test. They’ll
be completing a math review scavenger hunt around the school and showing
their math talents during our March Madness contest. We’ll be learning how
to plot coordinates on a quadrant and solve patterns. In math intervention, the
students will be finding the volume of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, and cones.
In Writing, we are currently writing personal narratives. Our writings
will contain all the elements of a good story, such as, characters, setting, conflict, plot and theme. We are trying our best to include dialogue as well, and
have been busy learning how to accurately punctuate direct quotations.
We are also working on building up our stamina! What does this
mean? Each day we try an “INTENSE FOCUS” activity. We start with a warmup lesson or area we want to focus our writing on. This week it was story
starters. Then we take a “BRAIN BREAK”, which may include a little Zumba or
an Ice Age Drift Dance Off! This gives us a little break before the BRAIN SWEATIN’ begins. Then we do our best to remain focused on our work for a given
amount of time- no talking, no distractions, nothing can stop us now- work! So
far we have been able to remain on task and working for up to 10 minutes. Our
Page 7
5th Continued
goal, by the end of the month, is to be able to stay on task and give intense focus for up to 20 minutes.
Ask us how we’re doing.
Poem Across America
March 2nd is READ ACROSS AMERICA
Celebrating Theodore Geisel
His books which play on rhyme
Favorites to read anytime
Oh, the Places You”ll Go
At Wrightsville
Allentown, Brooklyn, Charleston, Dallas, Elizabethtown, Fredrick, Georgetown, Harvey’s Lake, Ireland,
Jackson, Kenneth SQ, Lewistown, Madison, Nicholason, O, Pheonix, Q, R, Savannah, Thomasville, U, V, W,
X,Y,Z
Help me finish my poem
Give it a try from home
Where can we go
To find names we know
To finish the alphabet
That I’ve not thought of yet
Ms Coburn
The next challenge is to find the places you’ll go on a map.
Who’s Who in...
Whoville??
Wrightsville Elementary School PTO
President-Crystal Bolton [email protected]
Vice President-Vacant
Secretary-Libby Crespo [email protected]
Treasurer -Ashley Ash
Officer ElectionsWe are in need of PTO officers for next year! We only have
one returning officer, and three vacant positions. You can
run for any position. Please submit your name and interested position to any current PTO officer or Heather Heiland
by April 30, 2015 for your name to be included in the election during the May meeting.
May Day
Saturday, May 9th 2015
Wrightsville Elementary School
Bounce Houses, Photo Booth, Caricature
Artist, Face Painting, Petting Zoo, Games,
Food, Fun, Friends, Great Memories!
We are in need of volunteers for the
event please contact Libby Crespo [email protected] or Crystal Bolton
at [email protected]