GRAND AVENUE SPECIALS
December 2017
SPECIALS DEPARTMENTS
Music-Katie Lavigne and Glenn Schuster
Physical Education-Jacob Breunig and Eric Scheunemann
Email: contact@saukprairieschools.org
Website: www.saukprairieschools.org
ART
WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON:
Fifth Grade: During November, artists created a clay container out of bits-n-pieces of clay. Students used skills that they learned in previous clay projects to design and build clay vessels. These decorative containers will be glazed bright colors before going home.
Music
The Third graders in Mr. Schuster's class have been singing songs about Thanksgiving this past month. We also sang music from the musical, Aladdinand saw a video on what happens backstage during a performance, learned some music form the Philippines and listened to a little Mozart.
In Mrs. LaVigne's music classes this month we've been doing a number of things! We learned some patriotic songs in celebration of Veteran's Day, researched "Behind the Scenes of Broadway" job opportunities, and even took a stab at the music and dance traditions of the Philippines. This last week we began a new unit, "Instrument Families." We will be learning about all the different kinds of instruments, and where they come from. We also took apart the piano to see how it works!
This last month the fifth graders in Mr. Schuster's class have prepared and presented a sing-along for part of the Veteran’s Assembly on November 10th. We have started to prepare for our December concert over the past few weeks.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Highlights:
- Other than a few students/classes who missed a test or two we have officially Finished our First Round of Fitness Testing!
- We combined our fitness testing with some fun activities. Ask your child about Battleship, Scooter Scatter, or Temple of Doom. We also did some fun Thanksgiving activities called Turkeys in the Haystack or Winner Winner Turkey Dinner!
What We've Been Working On:
- We have been focusing on our assessing our overall fitness. Our goal is for students to recognize their areas of strength and weakness and know how to work to improve their fitness. The areas of fitness we focus on are listed below with the assessment we use to monitor that area.
- Cardiovascular Endurance - Pacer Test
- Flexibility - Sit and Reach Test
- Muscular Strength - Push-up Test
- Muscular Endurance - Curl-up Test
- Recovery Heart Rate - Heart Rate Monitor Reports
- Pre-Exercise Heart Rate - Heart Rate Monitor Reports
Below is included, with permission, a picture of a student's heart rate during the Pacer Test. You can see how we started class with an instant activity and then had the students lay down and get their heart rate as low as possible. Then this student counted for their partner as they did the Pacer Test and then you can see their heart rate increase as they started the Pacer. Once they stopped you can see how their heart rate recovered quickly. Healthy hearts recover quickly and have low pre-exercise heart rates.
What's Coming Up:
- We are starting to work on our Jump Rope skills. We include this unit because it works on improving our footwork, is a good cardiovascular endurance activity, and it builds bone density. Students work individually during this unit through a progression of jumping skills.
- The week before winter break we will have the annual Winter Wonderland Stations set up in the gym!