Peter Noyes Specialist Newsletter
Fall Edition
Physical Education Newsletter....... Brian Grigsby
K-1: It was so wonderful seeing so many new faces entering the gym along with our more experienced first graders to start the school year off. I found that a great way to get our younger friends moving through the first few weeks of school was through the use of manipulative equipment. For example, throughout the first few months of school, students used equipment such as hula hoops, bean bags, and deck rings to work on skills such as manipulation, cooperation, spatial awareness, balancing and coordination to name a few. I also weaved in a few “gym goodies” that most students truly enjoy such as variations of tag, station play and, of course, the rope swing.
2-3: The second and third graders have already completed a couple of major units. They kicked the school year off with a soccer unit. It included games such as soccer maniacs (2nd grade) and soccer bandits (3rd grade) that concentrated on the skills of dribbling and playing defense. These games were nice lead-up activities into modified games of soccer such as end line and four-goal soccer. These games are not your ordinary games of soccer as they include equipment such as gym mats, bowling pins, and 3-4 soccer balls at a time. Lots of excitement and opportunity to improve on those soccer skills.
The next major unit that second and third graders completed was a frisbee unit. Students were taught the basic throw and catch, then given plenty of opportunity to practice. They began the unit with some station play which included frisbee golf, partner passing, target practice, and my own version of can jam. To conclude the unit, students enjoyed a variety of lead up games such as perfect pass and endzone frisbee. Throughout it all, I saw many smiles as a result of improved throws or unexpected catches.
4-5: Fourth and fifth graders also completed soccer and frisbee units. In soccer, students participated in a variety of lead up games such as soccer bandits and four-corner soccer. Fourth and fifth graders then finished the unit with some “full court” games such as pin ball soccer and 5 on 5 soccer.
Throughout the frisbee unit, students practiced their throwing and catching skills as they participated in activities such as perfect pass and 3 catches. For 3 catches, students played 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 games where the goal for each team was to complete three passes in a row while the other team defended. Very similar to ultimate frisbee with the exception that to score a point teams had to make three passes instead of making a pass into the endzone. Fourth and fifth graders concluded the unit with a game of ultimate frisbee and/or end zone frisbee.
Visual Art......... Colby Caravaggio, Art Teacher
Kindergarten students have been gaining some foundation experience with numerous art materials. They have used a variety of crayons, markers and colored pencils in multiple two dimensional artworks. Our young artists have also been introduced to some Color Theory by discovering that red and yellow will create orange, and that blue and yellow will create green.
The most exciting news for our kindergarteners, and all parents, is that they received their sketchbooks! Periodically throughout the year we will work on small drawing assignments to document the present (self portrait, members of your family, your teacher, a recent memory, etc.). These mini assignments will continue until the end of fifth grade, at which point the sketchbooks will be sent home (and cherished!).
First Graders started their year with an inspiring book called Ish! by Peter H. Reynolds, a story of a young artist discovering that Art cannot be summed up by one aesthetic or one right answer. Our first grade students also completed a tempera painting based on simple shapes. This colorful project enabled the students to practice making controlled brushstrokes, and introduced them to the concept of craftsmanship and “touch up.”
More recently, they have begun making animal/habitat collages. These little 2D environments will be coming home soon!
Second Graders began the year by exploring various watercolor techniques in two different watercolor paintings. One painting showed four large fall leaves and the other was a painting of a pumpkin patch. Students added plastic wrap and salt to create texture in the wet watercolor. Some of the other techniques used were wet on wet, wet on dry, and crayon resist.
Recently, students began a basic color block yarn weaving, and the upcoming project will be clay seed pots.
Third Graders had two lessons in portraiture. They learned that when drawing the human head it is important to place the eyes halfway between the top of the head and the bottom of the chin. Many beginning artists (adults included) mistakenly place the eyes higher on the forehead. Also, rather than putting a small bit of manicured lawn on the top of the head, students learned to draw the hair as a shape. Students used this knowledge to create a portrait collage with colored construction paper.
Fourth Graders became young designers while learning to use a compass to create artworks that exhibit radial symmetry. They then created circular designs onto thin styrofoam which was then printed on colored paper using black ink.
Students can now look forward to one of the most exciting fourth grade projects. Students will be using clay to create unique coil pots. Students will be asked to try to create a coil pot that is not just one coil upon the next, upon the next. Rather, students will consider incorporating some vertical, textured, or spiraled coils or small slabs of clay into the wall of the pot.
After the pots are fired, students will have a few surface design options to complete their pot.
Fifth Graders spent the beginning of the year looking into a mirror to study proportion in portraiture. We started with a pre-instruction self portrait in their sketchbook. We then began another self portrait over the period of four classes noting and drawing proper placement of facial features (always amusing to watch elementary students confronted with a mirror).
Recently, they have begun a printmaking unit making winter cards that can be personalized and mailed.
After the Winter Break, we will begin designing our squares for the annual Square One Art fundraiser! This project is always a big hit with our young artists while also generating funds for our PTO.
Also, check out “Mr. C.’s Artroom” blog (https://mrcsartroom.blogspot.com/). You will find highlights from the Noyes Visual Art curriculum and lots of student work on display!
Gr.3 Eyes Halfway Collage
Gr. 4 radial symmetry printing
Gr. 5 winter card printing
Peter Noyes Library Barbara Gogan, Librarian
Lessons in the Peter Noyes Elementary Library have many goals, including:
Developing a love of reading
Learning proper digital behavior
Using media to learn how others live and feel
How to find useful and reliable information
ALL GRADES
The theme of the library is Mirrors, Windows & Sliding Glass Doors
Mirror Book:
A text in which you can see a reflection of your identity and experiences.
Window Book:
A text where readers may meet people who are not like themselves, who offer alternative worldviews.
Sliding Glass Doors:
Books can act as sliding glass doors that let the reader walk through into a different world.
The fall is a busy time in the library. Some of the topics we cover and events that occur are:
Reviewing Summer Reading
Book care
Each grade has an overall theme for learning (written in all caps) describing the main learning goal of that year.
Kindergarten-
FICTION vs NON-FICTION
Introduction to real and imaginary text (fiction and non-fiction)
Series books
Authors and illustrators
Wordless books
First Grade
ENGAGEMENT
Review the difference between fiction and non-fiction
What does it mean to be engaged in a book and how can you become more engaged in reading
Genres
How are books created
Second Grade
ORGANIZATION
Library rules with the Library Lion
Book care with The Library Pages
Different ways libraries can be organized by looking at cat books
Understanding what it can be like to have a parent in the military by reading Year of the Jungle by Suzanne Collins
Recognizing the “Mirror” events in a Thanksgiving book (even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving)
Third Grade
LOCATION
Proper book care
How to use the computer catalog
Recognizing the “Mirror” events in a Diwali book (even if you don’t celebrate Diwali)
How Thanksgiving became a holiday, thanks to Sarah Josepha Hale.
Fourth Grade
CITATION
How the Macy’s Day parade was created including videos of highlights of the parade
Fourth & Fifth Grades
Massachusetts Children’s Book Award (MCBA)
The MCBA is an award voted on only by 4th, 5th, & 6th graders in Massachusetts. If students read at least 5 of the books, they may vote on their favorite. The winner is revealed in April and the library hosts a small get-together for the voters to celebrate.
Fifth Grade
RELIABILITY
Thanksgiving from Squanto’s point of view
How to evaluate reliability of books
Music Curriculum......Mr. Michael Gorgone, Music Teacher
Kindergarteners have been learning to properly play rhythm sticks, shakers, and recently have begun to use the hand drums! We have learned to make high and low pitched sounds with our voices through various songs and games like “Charlie Over the Ocean,” “Purple Stew,” “Johnny Works With One Hammer,” and “Five Fat Turkeys.” We have been focusing on melodic direction by creating “Rollercoasters” on the Activboard and singing the shapes we draw. Students have also been focusing on keeping a steady beat with instruments and their bodies by creating “parades” around the room.
First Graders have composed their first piece of music in class using high, medium, and low pitched sounds on the keyboards. We have learned about two dynamic symbols p for piano (soft) and f for forte (loud). Students have been practicing singing and playing instruments using these dynamic symbols through songs and games like “Button You Must Wander,” “Closet Key” and “Hot Potato.” We are also learning about two rhythm symbols - quarter notes and eighth notes. Students have been working on identifying and composing some simple four beat rhythms using these symbols.
Second Graders have been reviewing concepts learned in 1st grade and have expanded our knowledge of dynamic symbols from p and f to very soft-very loud (pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff) through games like “Rhythm Canyon,” “Rhythm Telephone,” and “Amasee.” Second graders have been using Native American songs and games like “Dance of the Turkeys,” and “The Corn Grinding Game” to study half notes. We will begin to study whole notes this month, and play games like “Frog in the Meadow” to work on identifying pitches like Do, Re, and Mi.
Third Graders have been hard at work learning all about the music staff! We have been studying the lines and spaces of the staff, identifying the letter names of each line and space, learning to draw treble clefs, and even writing mystery words using only whole notes on the music staff. Students have learned how to properly put together their recorder, hold the recorder, make a pleasant sound, and finger the notes B, A, and G on the recorder. This week students will be going for their first Recorder Karate belt by showing they have learned the necessary skills to play “Hot Cross Buns.”
Fourth Graders have been reviewing how to read music on the staff, and all the symbols we learned while reading recorder music. Students have recently completed writing a melody on the keyboard using all previously studied music symbols and using a C-5 finger scale (Do,Re,Mi,Fa,Sol). Students are making the connection between these pitches, notes on the treble staff, and how to play these pitches on a keyboard using the rhythms they write. We have also been preparing our fastest rhythm symbol we will learn at Peter Noyes, sixteenth notes. Students will begin to work on Chromebooks to compose music using an online program called Soundtrap this month (www.soundtrap.com).
Fifth Graders have completed a thorough review of notes on the staff, rhythm symbols and names, notes on the keyboard, and are ready to expand their musical knowledge! We have been using instruments called Boomwhackers to work on our solfeggi, and play songs like “In The Hall Of The Mountain King,” “Ghostbusters” and “Let It Snow.” Like the fourth graders, fifth grade students composed a short 16 beat melody. Students wrote rhythms, chose pitches, and decoded this information by notating music on the treble staff. Students have performed their original compositions in class and everyone wrote a fantastic melody! Students have also begun to learn sixteenth note combinations and are also working with the online music program, Soundtrap.
https://sites.google.com/sudbury.k12.ma.us/make-some-noyes
World Language......Julianne Herz
First graders are learning how to count to twenty, the colors (azul, blanco, rojo, morado, amarillo, anaranjado, verde, rosa, negro, blanco, gris, marrón), and family members (la mamá, el papá, el hermano, la hermana, el bebé, la abuela, el abuelo and la familia). Students are also learning how to answer: ¿Cómo estás?, ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cuánto años tienes? and ¿Cuál es tu color favorito?
Second graders reviewed numbers, colors, the days of the week and the months of the year. They are adding to family member vocabulary with tío/tía (uncle/aunt) and primos/ primas (cousins). They are learning various ways to describe the weather such as hace sol (it’s sunny), hace buen tiempo (it’s nice outside), hace mal tiempo (it’s bad outside) and hace viento (it’s windy). Students can then answer the question: ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy?
Third graders are reviewed 2nd grade topics including the months and days of the week, weather and seasons, numbers to 31, colors, animals, clothing, rooms of the house and body parts. They are learning numbers to 59, how to tell time in Spanish with y, the alphabet and sports including el fútbol (soccer), el fútbol americano (football), el baloncesto (basketball), el béisbol (baseball), el esquí (skiing), la gimnasia (gymnastics) la natación (swimming) and la equitación (horseback riding). Students can then answer the question: ¿Cuál es tu deporte favorito? Students are also focusing on conversation practice.
Fourth graders reviewed 3rd grade topics including the months and days of the week, weather and seasons, numbers to 100, colors, animals, clothing, rooms of the house, body parts, alphabet and sports. They are adding menos when telling time and have been introduced to classroom objects including la escuela (school), la mesa (table), el lápiz (pencil), el libro (book), las tijeras (scissors), el maestra/la maestra (teacher) and el/la estudiante (student). Students are also focusing on conversation practice.
Fifth graders reviewed 4th-grade topics including the months and days of the week, weather and seasons, numbers to 100, colors, animals, clothing, rooms of the house, body parts, alphabet, sports and classroom objects. They have added la goma (eraser), el papel (paper) and el cuaderno (notebook) to classroom object vocabulary as well as the use of cuarto, media and en punto when telling time. Students are also focusing on conversation practice.