7 September - 17 September
Art/Library/STEM/Music/PE @ CONWAY
Newsletter Every 2 WEEKS
ART
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH:
Please see the attached flyer for an art contest about Hispanic heritage month. If your student has Hispanic heritage, we'd love for you to enter! Please contact me about it :)
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH ART CONTEST FLYER
CONCURSO DE ARTE DE HERENCIA HISPANICA
What we're doing in art:
No matter what the grade level your student(s) is in, it would be a huge help if you could practice using lighter pressure on their pencil when drawing. Young students tend to press really hard on their pencil which makes their drawings have harsh outlines and makes it hard to erase. It also makes the pencil dull. We are working on it in class, but the more reinforcement, the better!
In fifth grade, we're finishing clay projects. We are painting them and wrapping them up to take them home (thank you for all of your plastic bag donations!) Their creations are NOT food safe. Please do not eat or drink out of them. Ceramic dishes are treated with a special paint and coating to make them food safe, and we don't use it in elementary art.
In fourth and third grade we finishing our flipbooks and moving on to making animation on the computer. We will be using piskelapp.com. We are not creating accounts on this website in school, but that is an option for you at home if your student wants to use this website in their free time.
In second grade we are finishing our personal landscapes and moving on to starting clay projects now that fifth grade is finishing theirs. Something you could reinforce at home: the sky touches the ground! When your student draws a landscape please encourage them to not just color in a blue stripe at the top of the paper. The blue should come allllllll the way down to the ground!
In first grade, we are finishing our big self portraits. Students made creative choices with their colors, meaning they used all kinds of colors, patterns, and shapes to color their portraits.
In kindergarten, we did our best to color ourselves realistically. Something you can reinforce at home: Most students at this age have a hard time understanding skin and hair color. Many students, regardless of the color of their skin, will color themselves as yellow or orange, and sometimes peach even when their skin is brown or tan. Also, many students with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes will say their hair and eyes are black rather than brown. At home you can help them notice the different skin colors you have in your family, in your picture books, cartoons, toys, games, etc, to help their observation skills.
Our next project will be about different types of lines!
Some housekeeping:
Most of you have heard at this point that I have an amazing opportunity to move to a position in the Office of Equity and Accountability. The work SCPS is doing in this area is something I am incredibly passionate about, so this opportunity was something I just could not pass up, as hard as that decision was. Please know I was not actively looking to leave Conway, and it is really difficult to leave all of your wonderful budding artists, especially in the middle of the year. I love it here. I love your students, your families, my coworkers, and the work I get to do here, and you have 110% from me until my last day.
That being said, I want you to know the plan for now. I will remain Conway's art teacher until we have a replacement. It looks like it will be a while until we find one. (So if you know anyone, please reach out!). Because it looks like this will take quite a bit of time, I have not announced anything to our classes yet. If you want to take this time to start preparing your students, that would be very helpful. However, if you could also tell your students not to ask about it in front of the class, I would greatly appreciate it. Some families have not told their students, so when a student asks about it in front of their peers, that is a really hard way for other students to find out. I want to set up every student and my future replacement for success when this transition happens, so I am waiting until I have more answers before telling classes as a whole. I understand it's difficult and students want to process this information with me, and I've had some wonderful conversations one on one with students. They are welcome to talk to me about it. I just ask you encourage them to ask privately rather than in front of the class. Thank you so much for your support!
LIBRARY
What's happening in the library?
MUSIC
By special request, all 1st-5th grade students played "Apple Tree"! Ask your student to sing this song for you:) We play a special circle game for this folk song, and it's always a favorite no matter the grade!
3rd-5th grades are reviewing their "solfege street" story, which means they are reviewing the relationships of pitches for singing purposes. Ask your 5th graders what "extended pentatonic" means, and ask your 3rd and 4th graders "who the rule-followers and rule-breakers are".
2nd grade was introduced to our pitched percussion instruments for the first time (xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels). Ask your 2nd graders what all of those names mean...they should know! We had a "petting zoo", playing all instruments with mallets and learning the rules.
1st grade has been decoding word sounds using the book "Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear", and writing those sounds in relation to beat. We are starting to write with all parts of a music note (notehead, stem and beam). We are also moving to "Rig A Jig Jig" (something we missed last year in Kindergarten)...we gallop to triple meter and we march to duple meter.
Kindergarten:
Baa Baa Black Sheep & Jack and Jill, Queen Queen Caroline (comparatives), Rig a Jig Jig, , Queen Queen Caroline (Pointing Papers), Ring Around the Rosie (Circle Game INSTEAD/Sing vs. Chant), See Saw (Partner Game), Popcorn, Under the Sea, Colored Shapes
I have created a wish list on Amazon for our Conway music classroom. If you would like to donate an item, you can view the list here: Music Wish List Thank you!
Music Ensembles are on hold right now. Recorder playing is on hold right now. We continue to wear masks during our whole class, minimize contact during games and sanitize frequently.
P.E.
S.T.E.M.
Specials Team
Bonnie Johnson, Music Teacher
Martha Clark, P.E. Teacher
- clarkma@staffordschools.net
- Twitter @ConwayESPE
Don Black, P.E. Teacher
Daniella Ruzzier, STEM Teacher
Phone: 540 361 1455