GRAND AVENUE SPECIALS
April 2016
SPECIALS DEPARTMENTS
Music-Katie Lavigne and Glenn Schuster
Physical Education-Jacob Breunig and Eric Scheunemann
Email: contact@saukprairieschools.org
Website: www.saukprairieschools.org
ART
Thank you for helping us celebrate Youth Art Month!
If you were unable to join us for the opening reception of the Youth Art Month art show the artwork will be on display at the River Arts Center through May 3. The gallery is open on school days until 8 pm and on some weekends if there are special events.
WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON:
Fifth Grade: In March, fifth grade artists were creating mugs in the style of the "Face Jugs" that were first made in the early 1800's by slave potters and others in the Edgefield district of South Carolina. The slave potters "turned" jugs and cups on the potter's wheel, and then modeled them into grotesque faces. Fifth grade artists hand built a mug and then attached a face molded out of clay. Many student artists enjoy the freedom to create any type of face; cute, funny, ugly, etc. The mugs will be glazed and can be used to enjoy a cup of tea, or cocoa.
Third Grade: Artists finished their flower weavings in the beginning of March and then spent time working on the backdrop for their spring concert. The backdrop was based on the concert theme, Science Rocks!, and the lyrics from the songs. Each class made a portion of the backdrop and then helped to assemble the pieces into one big landscape mural. We hope that after the concert your student had time to point out what they made! As we transition into fourth quarter students are working on dreamtime paintings based on the artwork of the Aborigines from Australia.
Music
After several weeks of preparation, our 3 graders performed a musical called "Science Rocks."
The fourth graders completed their recorder unit. We have learned some songs that have the notes Low D, E, F, G, A, B, High C and High D.
Our fifth graders also completed their recorder unit. We were able to perform some songs in 4 parts. We also continue learning how to sight sing music. We have just introduced Fa and Sol into our sight-reading exercises.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Jump Rope for Heart Update:
With your help we raised over $4,500 for the American Heart Association. Hopefully students gained a better understanding of the importance of heart health and the risk factors associated with heart disease.
In the far right picture below, Ellie Setterlund is in the center with some of our top fundraisers. She was our heart hero that we jumped in honor of as a school. The other four students all raised $250 or more.
Top Fundraiser
Our top fundraiser Ava Handschke raised $420!
Thank You Again for Your Help Making this a Success!
Heart Hero and $250+ Fundraisers
Pictured from left to right: Ian Frosch, Olivia Lewis, Ellie Setterlund, Paige Kent, and Kennedy Breunig
- Tennis - We will be working on developing our ball control, striking and footwork skills.
- Fitness - We will begin preparing for our second round of fitness assessments. Students will be reminded of their scores from the fall and will be encouraged to try to improve. We have been working on improving our overall fitness throughout the year, now we will assess our progress in these areas. The four components of fitness that we focus on improving are flexibility, muscular endurance, muscular strength, and cardiovascular endurance.
Heart Rate Monitor Reminder:
Recently, a parent contacted us asking about what they should be looking for in the heart rate monitor reports. We look for elevated heart rates at least 50% of time in class. That would mean heart rates are above 120 beats per minute or in the yellow, orange, and red zones. However, there are times we focus on lower or higher heart rates depending upon what we are working on.
The fact that the parent contacted me is very encouraging. What we are doing in class changes each time so our heart rates will be impacted. The goal of sending the heart rate reports home is to encourage communication between teachers and families, families and students, and teachers and students with concrete heart rate data to guide our conversations. Keep encouraging your son or daughter to work hard in Physical Education Class, we appreciate your support.