Wiley Elementary Newsletter
For the Month of March 2025
Principal's Message
Welcome to March! As we transition into spring, I want to take a moment to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of our school community. We are thrilled to announce the success of our recent Penny War fundraiser, which raised enough funds to place turf on a section of our playground. This enhancement will provide our students with a safer and more enjoyable space to play and learn. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this wonderful initiative!
As we look forward to Spring Break, I encourage all of our students and staff to take this time to relax and recharge. It’s important to return refreshed and ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
In April, 3rd-5th grade students will be taking the Colorado Measure of Academic Success (CMAS) Assessment. I want to remind everyone of the importance of attendance during this critical time. Consistent attendance not only helps students perform their best but also instills good habits for future academic endeavors.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the hard work and dedication of our staff and students. Your resilience and commitment to education are truly inspiring. Let’s continue to support one another and strive for excellence in all that we do.
Wishing you all a wonderful Spring Break!
Month at a Glance
March 2025 Monthly Events
March 10th-13th:
* Spring Break- NO SCHOOL
March 17th:
* School Board Meeting @ 7:00 pm- Rock School House
March 18th:
* Good Grief Group
March 20th:
* Annual Lions Club Pancake Supper and Bingo
March 25th:
* Good Grief Group
February Academic Assembly Highlights
A Honor Roll
A-B Honor Roll
Perfect Attendance
Improved Attendance
Attendance Traveling Trophy
Attendance is a priority at Wiley Elementary. We have a school wide challenge going on between each classroom. Our challenge is to see which classroom can have the highest percentage of attendance for the month. The class that has the highest attendance rate for the month gets to display a traveling trophy in their classroom for the month. Congratulations to Mrs. May's 5th Grade class for having the highest attendance rate for the month of February. They had a 75% attendance rate, February was our month for sickness schoolwide.
Past Winners Include:
September: Mrs. Forgey (3rd)
October: Mrs. Fry (2nd)
November: Mrs. Forgey (3rd)
December: Mrs. Compton (Kindergarten)
January: Mrs. Forgey (3rd)
Preschool Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reviewing all that we have learned so far this year! In addition to:
* Learning rhyming words
* Introducing new vocabulary words
* Counting to 50 and writing numbers
* Focusing on letter sounds and writing letter upper and lowercase
* Continue to discuss problem solving by using our words appropriately, as well as learning how to communicate our needs.
At Home Practice
READ! READ! READ!
Reading at home with your child EVERY NIGHT is the best way to help them be successful and inspire a love for reading.
Kindergarten Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reading: Informational Text, Fiction & Fantasy, Reread, Make, Confirm, and Revise Predictions, Compare & Contrast, Problem & Solution, and Cause & Effect, Verbs
Writing: Structuring sentences/letter formation
Math: Counting Numbers to 20
Science: Plants
Social Studies: All about me
At Home Practice
1st Grade Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reading: This month we are focusing on many fun topics in Reading to help enhance our learning.
Our Essential Questions are: What inventions do you know about? What sounds can you hear and how are they made? How do things get built?
We will be focusing on identifying the narrator (the words I, me, my, and we tell us the narrator is inside the story; the words he, she, him, and they or the character’s name tells us the narrator is a speaker outside of the story), asking and answering questions about the story, making and confirming predictions, being able to retell a story in sequential order, automaticity (reading words accurately and at a rate or pace that sounds like speech, not reading too fast or too slow) and expression.
Spelling: R-controlled vowels or, ore, oar. Making the or sound you hear in words like born, core, roar.
Diphthongs ou, ow Making the /ou/ sound you hear in the words like cow and house.Writing: We are learning how to write informational pieces by focusing on true facts about a topic rather than opinions.
Grammar:
Adjectives that compare: -er,-est
We add -er to most adjectives that compare two people, places, or things.
We add -est to compare three or more people, places, or things.
Special Adjectives: a, an and this, that
We use a before a word that begins with a consonant sound. Ex: a hound, a clown
We use an before a word that begins with a vowel sound. Ex: an alligator, an oak tree
We use this when we are talking about a noun that is close. Ex: This pencil is mine.
We use that when talking about a noun that is far away. Ex: Look at that car across the street.
Mechanics:
Capitalize days, months, and holidays.
Capitalize and underline book titles.
Abbreviations: Mister/Mr., Doctor/Dr., Missus/Mrs., Street/St., Avenue/Ave., Road/Rd.
Prefixes: un-, re-
The prefix un- means “not” and re- means “again”
Math: We are working on representing and interpreting data with tally charts and picture graphs. Measuring and comparing lengths of objects using words like longer and longest, shorter and shortest. We will also be working on measuring items with nonstandard units like paperclips or ribbon/string.
Science: We are continuing our learning about plant offspring- seeds, but apply it in engineering. We will look at how seeds falling to the ground from trees is similar to parachutes. We will also be starting a new unit: Space. We will begin this unit by looking at measurement and data to help us understand the size of the moon compared to Earth and learn about objects in space.
Social Studies: We will begin the unit: Culture. We will be exploring various aspects of culture like how people live, what they believe and how they celebrate, as well as cultural differences. We will also be taking a look at folktales and legends passed down from generation to generation in different cultures.
At Home Practice
* Pick a fun topic to research, such as an animal or a vacation destination. Research the topic with your child and write down three true facts you learned in the information. Show your child they are facts by finding the sentences that include the fact.
* Pick three dessert items, or any other category/topic you wish. Have your family vote on which one is their favorite. Make a tally chart to represent the data collected from the vote. Using your tally chart, help your child make a picture graph representing this data.
Find three of the same objects (pencils, books, shoes, cups, etc.) Set the three objects next to one another. Ask your child questions like, which shoe is the longest, which shoe is the shortest?* Pick a nice, clear evening before bed. Go outside and look up at the sky. Talk about what you see in the night sky (stars, constellations, satellites, planes, the moon, etc.) Identify two constellations you know, such as the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, or research two with your child to find in the sky!
Learn the names and fun facts about the planets in our solar system with this video with your child:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbNABFqoDmw
* Talk about your family's culture with your child.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwSYrsjTiW4
Discuss traditions your family has. Discuss celebrations your family participate in and how you celebrate them. Your child will share these traditions and celebrations from your culture with the class.2nd Grade Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reading: We will focus on making and confirming predictions, identifying the character’s point of view, summarizing what we read, and understanding the author’s purpose. We will also work on reading and creating words with the suffixes -ful and -less, as well as defining those words. As a class, we will explore what it means to be a good citizen and why rules are important. Alphabetical order is another skill we’ve introduced this month and will be practicing for the remainder of the year.
Phonics: We are focusing on variant vowels (words that have the aw sound) and short vowel digraphs with our spelling words this month.
Writing: While continuing our learning about the different parts of speech, the 2nd graders will be using the writing process to write realistic narratives this month.
Math: Students will be learning about time and money. They will count money, solve problems involving money, tell time to the nearest five minutes, practice telling time in various ways, and learn when to use AM and PM correctly.
Science: In Life Science, we’ve just wrapped up our plant unit. The 2nd graders did an excellent job caring for and observing their lima bean seeds while learning about the plant life cycle. Now, we’re moving on to studying animal life cycles. Using an incubator, the students will have the opportunity to observe and learn firsthand about a chick’s life cycle. We will also be hatching butterflies and exploring the butterfly life cycle.
Social Studies: The next unit in 2nd Grade Social Studies is Personal Financial Literacy. Students will learn how to make financial decisions, classify financial goals, and solve word problems related to money.
At Home Practice
Practice spelling words
Practice addition and subtraction facts
Talk about money and time
Read daily
3rd Grade Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reading: We will be focusing on prefixes pre- and tele- along with their meaning and deriving definitions for words that have those prefixes. We will continue work on synonyms and antonyms as well as using context clues to figure out unknown words. We will also be working on central ideas with supporting details and identifying a theme.
Writing: We will be developing perspectives and opinions based on text evidence. We will also be working on paragraph writing focusing on sequential order and expanding sentences. We will continue to work on our grammar and convention skills.
Math: We will be continuing our work on our multiplication facts to earn our ice cream sundae. We will be finishing fractions and moving into perimeter and area.
Science: Students will be learning about life cycles of various animals.
Social Studies: Immigration to the United States from Germany, Russia, Ireland and China will be our next topic of learning.
At Home Practice
* Practice multiplication facts * Spelling words * Practice the Shurley Grammar Jingles at home or while riding in vehicles. * Read books out loud.
4th Grade Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reading:
* Tall Tales
* Poetry
* CMAS Prep
Writing:
* Shurley Grammar
* Changing Point of View
* Compare and Contrast
Math:
* Angles
* Using protractors
* Area and Perimeter
* Skill Review
* CMAS Prep
Science:
* Earth Science- rock cycle and weathering and erosion
Social Studies:
* Gold Rush
* American Indians and Settlers
* Sand Creek Massacre
At Home Practice
* Weekly Spelling Words
* Timed Fluency Reading
* Math Facts
5th Grade Updates
Monthly Learning:
Reading: Argumentative Text, author's perspective, ask & answer questions, text features:charts and headings. Novel Study: Mrs. Choat's class: Wedgie and Gizmo. Mrs. May's class: Call It Courage, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Bridge to Terabithia.
Writing: Identifying and creating all 4 types of sentences using the following parts of speech: Nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and interjections. Learn the proper way to plan and write compare and contrast essays using nonfiction text.
Math: Converting Measurements and writing and Interpreting Numerical Expressions.
Science: Earth's orbit and rotation and the orbit of the moon around earth cause observable patterns. CMAS Science prep
Social Studies: Early European exploration
At Home Practice
Take the time to read to or read with your child when you can, practice spelling words and math facts. In addition, making sure students come to school in proper attire for the weather.
Attendance Tracker
Attendance by Month
At Wiley Elementary, we take attendance very serious. In this section, you will see our monthly attendance rates. Students that have perfect attendance and two or fewer unexcused absences each month are recognized at our Monthly Academic Assemblies.
August 2024- 95.7%
September 2024- 95.6%
October 2024- 96.8%
November 2024- 94.9%
December 2024- 96.5 %
January 2025- 94.8%
February 2025- 92.7%