The Monthly Mustang
The Official Newsletter for Wedgwood School Families
February 2017 - First Grade Update
⇦ Back to February's Monthly Mustang
We have been very busy in first grade. The children worked diligently on Holidays Around The World and learned about the customs and traditions of many other cultures from all over the planet. We culminated the unit by making our own gingerbread houses to take home. We enjoyed lounging in our pajamas and reading or watching a movie on our last day before holiday break. We also had a surprise visitor who gave a game and a Wedgwood t-shirts to all of our students! Thank you to our wonderful PTO.
During the month of January, we learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his important contributions to our world. We studied his life and the value of making changes in peaceful ways. We used various activities, songs and poems to help reinforce this knowledge. We also learned about New Year’s resolutions and how to work hard to set and achieve goals.
The children are also becoming amazing readers! They are learning so many strategies and reading daily is the best way to reinforce these skills. Please be sure to ask questions after your child has read to you, as the ultimate goal is to comprehend what has been read. You can ask questions such as: Who are the main characters? What is the problem? How is it solved? What is the main idea? Also, have your child re-tell the story using beginning, middle and end. If your child is reading a non-fiction book, check his/her understanding by asking what he/she learned and also discussing the non- fiction text features used in the book. The children have learned “fix up” strategies for when they come to an unknown word. They are being taught to: get their mouth ready, tap it out, use picture clues, break it into parts (chunks), re-read and read on and then go back. Thank you to our families for all your help reading and returning books daily! In Fundations, the children are being taught to tap out words with suffix -s and soon the glued sounds- ang, ing, ong, ung and ank, ink, onk and unk, will be introduced. Your child should then be able to spell words like: sang, think, long and even nonsense words like: mank, yink or pung!
In math, we have been working on measurement using non-standard tools such as paper clips, cubes and pencils. We also learned about collecting data by using tally marks and then representing the data in bar graph form. We were then able to interpret the data to learn Our next chapter has us learning all about place value and identifying tens (longs) and ones (cubes). Finally, it is so important to be working on fact power. Please help your child increase his/her recall of basic facts for addition and subtraction. If your child is not already a “member” of the “Friends of Ten” club, remind him/her to practice those important facts. Encourage him/her to practice the doubles facts so he/she can also become a member of the “Doubles Club”! We are required to administer timed addition and subtraction speed drills each marking period. For the second marking period, the children are working on facts through 10 with completion of as many facts as they can in one minute, so please practice these facts for speed and accuracy. We have noticed that subtraction is often more difficult, so any extra practice with flashcards or on Xtra Math will really help.
We look forward to the months ahead as the children make such remarkable progress. They are truly “sponges” that make our jobs incredibly rewarding. Thank you for all of your help in our amazing journey through first grade.
Wedgwood Elementary School
Email: czimmerman@wtps.org
Website: wtps.org/wedgwood
Location: 236 Hurffville Road, Sewell, NJ 08080
Phone: (856) 227-8110
Twitter: @wedgwoodwtps