Related Arts Newsletter
January 2015
Healthy New Year!
The New Year is the perfect time to start or renew your commitment to a healthy lifestyle! Here are a few tips to help kick start the New Year:
1. Move everyday!
2. Try new fruits and veggies!
3. Drink lots of water!
Make healthy living a family goal for 2015 and have fun together having a happy, healthy year! Remember, children that learn healthy habits in childhood are more likely to have healthy habits as adults. For more activities and ideas please visit www.letsmove.org.
~Mrs. Martin
Guidance News
This month our student ambassadors have been planning fun events for the school. Wednesday, January 28th, students had “Back to the Future” Day. The ambassadors decided to have this event based on our group discussions on having a personal mission statement and thinking about where they want to be later in life. They encouraged the student body to dress up for the future career they hope to have. Next month the ambassadors are planning “Wacky Wednesday” to have a fun day of dressing silly in valentine colors. The ambassadors decided their goal for each of these events is to bring more fun into the school day without interrupting learning. They have been learning the importance of working as a team and what it means to be proactive when planning events.
~Ms. Metge
P. E. News
The next 2 - 3 weeks Kindergarten through Second grade curriculum activities:
A. Scooters
B. Fleeing and tag games
C. Ball Skills
The next 2 – 3 weeks 3rd grade through 5th grade:
A. Softee Hockey
B. Lead up activities
The elementary students are hoping for some snow so they can go sledding sometime during the month of February.
~Mr. Shedenhelm
Art
We have been busy getting back into our routine in the art room after the holiday break. K-1 has been learning about different types of lines, ask your student about the "'line dance" that we learned to tell the difference between diagonal, vertical, and horizontal lines. It is pretty entertaining! 2nd and 3rd grades have been learning about street art that graffiti artists make and how they are inspired by hip hop music. The kids have really loved painting in more non-objective ways and LOVE the work of Keith Haring. Check out his website www.haringkids.com at home, there are tons of fun games and resources for your students to explore at home. 4th and 5th grades are learning about non-objective and abstract art by creating sculptures, collographs or monochromatic map paintings. They are creating some beautiful, colorful creations.
Please check out our website to see pictures of the students creating and having fun in the art room
http://abigailfliehler.wix.com/fliehler-classroom
and check out Artsonia so you can take advantage of the products you can purchase of your student's artwork. This website helps raise money for our art programs and is a great way to support your student's art!
~Ms. Fliehler
Band
In the 5th grade band we are improving steadily. The band is preparing for their next performance on March 9th where they will play with the high school band.
By this time the newness of learning an instrument may have worn off. Don’t forget learning an instrument is a very long process. Here are a few tips to help you and your child’s musical journey.
Help your child understand that playing only familiar songs will not help her improve.
Explain to your child that learning happens in stages. Sometimes a student will work on something for a long time with no apparent improvement, and then discover a sudden leap in ability. Other times, learning happens very quickly. The important thing to stress is that consistent practice will yield results.
Expect to have times of discouragement or disinterest. Learning music takes time and work. You should expect your child to go through highs and lows when learning their instrument. Consistent practice expectations and positive support will get you through the lows!
Help your young musician set practice goals. Keeping a journal, not just a practice chart, helps track the peaks and valleys of learning a new piece or improving fundamental skills.
As a parent, don't make judgments about the musical quality of your child's practicing. Learning an instrument requires lots of squeaks, scratches, and wrong notes.
~Mr. Cooper
Technology News
In kindergarten, we are still practicing using the mouse, typing CVC words, and dragging pictures into documents. They are improving everyday!
First graders are practicing typing, doing math with online games, and becoming familiar with maneuvering the Wonders website on their iPads.
Since Presidents' Day is approaching, the second graders have been reading about Lincoln, finding pictures about his life on iClipart, and are planning on making a slideshow about his life. Be on the lookout for an email from your child's Denver account, so you can look at their project.
Third graders have been accessing Google Docs and practicing inserting pictures. We will continue to work on Docs and explore our online databases.
If your fourth grader hasn't told you about Scratch, go to scratch.mit.edu and have them show you their coding projects.
The fifth grade students have been practicing their research skills. They have been collaborating with a partner through Google Docs and using our online databases to gather information about explorers.
If you are looking for something technology related to do with your student, be sure to check out my Symbaloo page at symbaloo.com/mix/technology79
~Mrs. Corbin
January Music News
I would like to give another congratulations to the students in grades K-2 for a fantastic job with their Christmas Concert in December! I would like to thank all of you for your support of our music students by attending the concert, and I certainly hope that you enjoyed the performance.
The Kindergarten classes have been continuing to review and build upon the music elements and concepts that we were working on before Christmas; steady beat, loud/soft (dynamics), tempo, and form, and are now learning about rests and rhythm patterns.
The First grade classes continue to learn about rhythm and rhythm reading, melody and solfeg, melodic and rhythmic phrases, and instruments. Each class period involves many activities that introduce, reinforce, and assess these concepts and elements.
The Second grade classes are also engaging in many activities that introduce, reinforce, and assess music concepts and elements such as melody, rhythm, form, instruments, phrases (melodic and rhythmic), and movements.
Students in 3rd grade are continuing to learn about solfeg and reading pentatonic melodies, different pulse values, playing Orff instruments and other classroom instruments, reading rhythms, learning about different forms such as rondo and canon/round, and reading sixteenth notes and patterns.
Students in 4th grade are continuing to improve their skills on the recorder, they have also been playing Orff instruments and other classroom instruments to accompany learning/activity songs, reading rhythms, learning about instruments in the woodwind family, exploring pulse, singing and signing solfeg, and learning about form.
Students in 5th grade have also continued to build skill on their recorders, exploring movements to demonstrate steady pulse while clapping an ostinato, singing in rounds, learning new time signatures with five beats per measure, reviewing orchestral families and their members, and learning to play syncopated rhythms.
This year the Spring Concert will feature students in grades 3-5. Please watch for more information…….. : )
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT OF THE MUSIC PROGRAMS HERE AT DENVER!
Janeece M. Downs