artspeak
Art, Music, & Spanish - Fort Thomas Independent Schools
Edition 2.6 - May 2016
Changes Next Year...
We are excited to announce that our Board of Education is adding an art teacher, music teacher, and a Spanish teacher to our district team. This will allow each of our elementary schools to have specials teachers present each and every day of the week. It is certainly bittersweet, for as we each say hello to a school full-time, we must say goodbye to the other two schools. We will soon be welcoming three amazing teachers to our team, as we provide continually improving arts and culture experiences in our district!
Our music, art, and world language teachers have thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and faculty at Johnson, Moyer, and Woodfill. Thanks for all the wonderful memories! We look forward to what the future will bring to these incredible programs across the district.
Sincerely,
Julie Dashley (Spanish - JES), Silvia McClamrock (Spanish - MES), David Rockel (Music - WES), Mary Scaggs (Music - MES), Jennifer Flynn (Art - JES), and Nikki Everett (Art - MES)
3rd-5th Grade Art with Mrs. Flynn
Spring is such a busy time at school! Students were in the midst of their creativity unit, completing their last major artwork of the year, but we have had many special events and experiences we'd like to share.
Jennifer Flynn
3-5 Visual Art Educator FTIS
5th Grade Art Exchange with Dunya School in Azerbaijan
3rd Grade Visiting Artists
4th Grade Ceramics
5th Grade Fused Glass Art
Woodfill Art Show
District Art Show
1st Grade Music with Mrs. Scaggs and NKU Student Teacher Mr. Heinrich
Greetings, Fort Thomas! My name is Kyle Heinrich, and I am a Music Education major from Northern Kentucky University. I am spending my final weeks from college as a student teacher for the K-2 music teacher of Fort Thomas, Mrs. Mary Scaggs.
For the past 15 weeks, the first graders of both Woodfill and Moyer Elementary Schools were working on a very fun musical called Bugz. As to what can be inferred by the title, there were a lot of bugs crawling around Woodfill's stage on April 18th & 19th! Bugz is all about a wide variety of insects coming together to eat food that people have left at a picnic. The musical showcased many different speaking/singing roles for the enthusiastic first graders.
The students were about five weeks out from their show when I first came to Mrs. Scaggs' classroom. I have never been so involved with an elementary show before, but the students were very welcoming toward me when I came to help.
The show was a huge success, with a packed auditorium each night. I watched the students grow as they memorized their lines, practiced their dances, and sang their songs. Many of the students showed significant signs of improvement in their ability to act and say their lines with emotion. I am so proud of these students, and I am proud of myself for being able to be a leader for these students. Thank you to Mrs. Scaggs and all of the faculty members of the Fort Thomas Independent Elementary Schools for welcoming me into your wonderful district!
Kyle Heinrich - Student Teacher, NKU Music Education
Mary Scaggs - K-2 Music Educator FTIS
Johnson had a brass trio come from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. This was part of the district-wide cultural enrichment program.
The Cincinnati Opera has chosen the two children who will be cast in Die Fledermaus in June – and they are Moyer Mustangs! Henry Weghorst is returning for his second summer opera performance and Charlotte Weghorst will be making her opera debut. They will also both be part of the cast of Fidelio in July.
We are thrilled and hope some of our Fort Thomas families have a chance to attend!
Kindergarten Spanish with Señora Dashley
In Kindergarten Spanish, we have been practicing shape words. In the activity pictured, we cut out shapes to make anythings we wanted - animals, robots, houses, etc. Then we gave it a name and counted the shapes used and presented it to the class. They turned out great!
Julie Dashley
K-2 Spanish Educator FTIS
2nd Grade Art and Spanish Field Trip
You can continue to visit Butterfly Show at the Krohn Conservatory through June 19th!
2nd Grade Art with Mrs. Everett
Our tour guides, or docents, took us around the Cincinnati Art Museum to study artists connected with African heritage, slavery and the Underground Railroad, the history of Cincinnati and even a few contemporary works. All of my students did a great job at the museum and the museum workers had so many compliments about our Fort Thomas students. I am one proud art teacher of some amazing students!
Nikki Everett
K-2 Visual Art Educator FTIS
4th Grade Music with Mr. Rockel
This month, the fourth grade is working on Recorder Karate. This unit allows students to work at their own pace in achieving “Belts.” They proudly display their belts on the end of their recorder. They receive a belt when they individually take a performance test for the teacher. This allows me to work one on one with every student so everyone grows!
I have included a video of what a normal music class sounds like while I test individual students. FYI, you think one recorder sounds beautiful?
David Rockel
3-5 Music Educator FTIS
3rd, 4th, & 5th Grade Spanish with Señora McClamrock
In the 3rd grade, we have wrapped up by writing stories about farm animals in Spanish on StoryBird and reading them to each other in the class. In the 4th grade, we are finishing up our study of food by learning about table settings and trying out the app Near Pod on the iPads. In the 5th grade, we wrote Pen Pal letters to our peers within the district, writing back and forth to 5th graders at Johnson, Moyer, and Woodfill.
Silvia McClamrock
3-5 Spanish Educator FTIS
Engineering Club 2016
Online Art Exhibits
Don't forget to visit our ever-expanding online exhibits!
ART ROOM Donations
Cleaning out some areas in your house this spring?
We appreciate your donation of any of the materials below.
- Paper towel rolls
- Silk Flowers
- Art Books/Drawing Books
- Egg cartons
- Wood Blocks
- Small sheets of cardboard
- Miscellaneous Craft Supplies
Thank you for supporting our student art studios!
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
Cincinnati Art Museum - REC
Rosenthal Education Center: Open Tues – Sun, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The Rosenthal Education Center (REC) is the new art education space inside the museum. Through dedicated interactive exhibition and studio space the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum is brought to life for children of all ages. The REC encourages families to discover the Art Museum’s collection in a fun, immersive, hands-on and safe manner through a variety of experiences.
Read blog posts, see pictures, and view resource information for every grade!