Spotlight on Specials
First Grade -First Quarter 2016-2017
Exploratory Team
Library
I truly enjoy being the Library Media Specialist here at Riverview Elementary! We have an amazing school filled with eager-to-learn, wonderful students and dedicated, caring staff! It is so much fun getting to work with former students again and getting acquainted with all the fantastic kindergarten through fifth graders here at Riverview. I love getting kids excited about reading, introducing them to new books and authors they may not have read before, and researching with them! My goal is to develop lifelong readers!
This year is my 26th year of teaching. I taught second grade a total of 12 years, first grade for 2 years, and Tutorial Math Grades 3-6 for 1 year. I also was a substitute teacher for 5 years after taking time off to raise my own children. This will be my eleventh year as the Library Media Specialist at Riverview.
In our library classes we talked about our five rules: Take Care of Books and Use Shelf Markers, Use Quiet Voices, Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak, Make Smart Choices and Do Your Best, and Line Up Quietly. We also discussed our safety procedures at RE, where we would go, and what our jobs are. We identified the book’s spine label, what it means, and the different sections of the library. We are practicing using shelf markers correctly in the Everyone section and are looking forward to looking for books in the other sections of the library next quarter. We talked about how best to take care of our books. We discussed the acronym “I PICK” when choosing a good fit book to check out. We identified the author, illustrator, and publisher and discussed their roles. We watched a preview of some of the books coming to our Scholastic Book Fair which will be in the library on October 27th and 28th.
Art
I'm very excited to be teaching art at Riverview Elementary and I'm proud to say I work for the DeSoto School District. I have my BA in Studio Art and my MA in Curriculum and Instruction. I most recently taught middle school art for 11 years in Lawrence, KS. My family and I live in Lenexa, so I'm happy to be teaching very close to home now.
It is my philosophy that all Riverview students are artists. I teach art so my students can experience the art process of creating, using critical thinking, and developing problem-solving skills.
1st grade has created painted paper Monster collages in the style of the author and artist Eric Carle. Students are finishing a night scene painting with crayon resist technique that depicts a night-time animal of their choice.
Music
I’m so excited to be teaching Music at Riverview! This is my 23rd year in education, my 18th as a music teacher, and my 9th here as a Falcon! I received a Bachelor of Music Education from Louisiana State University, and Level 1 Certification for Orff-Schulwerk Music Education from Baker University.
Students have covered a lot in our first quarter in Music. We have been working with long and short sounds with quarter notes (“beat”), eighth notes (“beat-and”) and quarter rests, reviewing classroom instruments (drum, woodblock, tambourine, rhythm sticks, triangle, guiro, maracas), high and low sounds, music moving up and down, and moving to the steady beat using locomotor and non-locomotor movements. We have also been talking about the science of sound with vibrations. Students were able to see some of the vibrations and understand that the slower the vibrations are, the lower the sound. I also try to incorporate different musicians or styles of music in our lessons. This year we started with Frank Sinatra! Students listened to some of his music, like “Fly Me to the Moon,” and had a chance to share their ideas of what they’d like to do if they flew to the moon! These pictures were on display outside the music classroom for all students and visitors to see. There were some really creative ideas! Whew - It’s been a busy and fun time in the music classroom! Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!
P.E.
I am so thankful I get to be the P.E. teacher at Riverview Elementary! This is my 2nd year in education, and I am so glad I was able to begin my career at Riverview. I absolutely love it! I received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from the University of Kansas -- Rock Chalk! I love teaching the students the importance of physical activity, as well as how to live a healthy lifestyle, all while having tons of fun in the process!
It was a great first quarter with 1st grade! They learned a lot about what P.E. is all about, why it is important, and our rules and expectations. It is my goal to help students learn why physical activity is so important, and how to live a healthy lifestyle outside of school. And of course we get to have fun in the process! We spent a lot of time doing many different cooperative activities, where students were able to learn more about teamwork and sportsmanship. After all, teamwork makes the dream work! The students also spent some time reviewing locomotor movements (movements that help us get from one place to another, such as skipping, hopping, galloping, jumping, leaping, etc.). We began a throwing and catching unit, which we will continue on into second quarter. So far, I am seeing such great talent and understanding and growing from all the students. We will learn a new “Word of the Week” each week. So far the words we have learned about are: sportsmanship, cooperation, responsibility, encourage, self-control, and compromise. It has already been a great year, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the school year brings!
Technology
In First Grade, we began the year learning about the rules in our districts Acceptable Use Policy. Our next project was creating a pumpkin in MS Paint and then starting with some basic skills in MS Word as we type a pumpkin poem to go with our picture. Students are learning how to format text, add the picture they created and finish it off with a lovely border. Be on the look out for our finished project!