Bulldog Bark
January/February 2024
A WORD FROM OUR PRINCIPAL...
Dear Families,
Winter is here and the snow is flying, but that won’t slow us down. We have lots going on here at the Elementary School which includes the 4th Grade Spelling Bee, Popcorn Day, Buddy Families, 4k Music Concert, Student Council Dress Up Days, and the PTO Movie Night, just to name a few.
Thank you all for your continued support!!
Enjoy the snow!!
Yours in Education,
Andy Kohn
Go Bulldogs!!!
Snow, snow, and more SNOW!!
❄️As the temps drop, please remember to send warm clothes with your child!❄️
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
1/26 PTO Movie Night - More info to come
2/6 & 2/8 Parent Teacher Conferences
2/8 The 100th day of school!
2/9 No School
2/14 No 4k Class
2/16 PTO Winter/Valentine's Day Dance - More info to come
2/28 4K Registration - 8:30-11 a.m. and 12:30-3 p.m.
3/2 PTO - Art & Science Fair 9-10:30 a.m. - More info at a later date
3/4-3/8 Book Fair
3/6 End of Trimester 2
3/7-3/8 No School- Inservice
3/13 No 4K class
3/14 Spring Family Night - More info at a later date
3/25-3/29 No School - Spring Break
🍕 WEEKLY LUNCH MENU
STUDENT COUNCIL WINTER DRESS UP DAYS!!!
A WORD FROM OUR COUNSELOR...
Kindness and Empathy
They can be shown in so many different ways. The students are learning about kind and unkind actions. They are also practicing looking at situations through other people’s eyes. By practicing kind actions they see what a powerful, positive impact they can have. Help your child spread kindness and talk about how that makes everyone feel!
A WORD FROM OUR PHY.ED TEACHER...
During the month of January students will be learning basic and fundamental skills used in the game of basketball. Students in primary grades will demonstrate the basics related to safety, ball handling, dribbling, passing to a partner and shooting basketballs. These skills will be taught during fun activities that allow students to be successful and safe. Toward the end of the month students in primary grades will learn how to manipulate scooters during their scooter play unit.
Students in intermediate grades will learn fundamental skills related to basketball game play. These skills include basketball rules, court lines, ball handling, dribbling, stationary and dynamic passing, shooting jump shots, layups, rebounds, and small sided game play. The emphasis at these grade levels is for students to learn skills that are more dynamic. Skills learned during this unit will allow all students an opportunity to play fun lead-up games at home, during recess, and even join their friends in basketball clubs.
Mr. Carpenter
A WORD FROM OUR MUSIC TEACHER...
Hi Everyone!
Now that winter break is over, school is back in full swing, and we have hit the ground running!
Fourth grade students have gotten their recorders, and they are all working to earn their karate belts in Recorder Karate. The after school Orff club picks back up on Thursday, January 18th, and it looks like I’ll have a much bigger group than I had anticipated! I love the excitement Orff brings!
Third graders will continue on their ukulele unit, with a sprinkling of Orff instruments. This group loves any and all instruments, and it’s fun to watch them learn and grow. I expect some wonderful future Orff group participants from this group next year!
The 2nd grade students are starting a unit on the music staff and the treble clef. Last spring I ordered a large treble clef music staff carpet, and the student use this as a learning tool to build melodies with some manipulatives that I’ve made. I now have an entire grade level of composers!
First graders are learning the instruments of the orchestra. We’re doing a unit on Peter and the Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev. Peter is our young intrepid hunter who bravely captures the mean old wolf with the help of some of his animal friends. All the characters of the story are played by different instruments, and each instrument has a very distinctive musical theme.
Kindergarten students are continuing to develop their skills of keeping a steady beat. I have a very slow instrumental piece called “Winter” by Vivaldi, that is a real challenge for the students. They use body percussion to maintain that slow, steady beat, which is always hard for younger students.
The 4K students are busy preparing for their winter program. We only have a few weeks before their concert, and I am very pleased with how quickly these students have learned their songs. The concerts take place in my room on Thursday, January 25th. The concert for the morning group begins at 10:00 AM, and parents can begin to enter my room at 9:30 AM. The afternoon group performs at 2:00 PM, and parents can begin to enter my room at 1:30 PM. I look forward to seeing all you 4K parents at the concerts!
Mr. McConnell
A WORD FROM OUR ART TEACHER...
Kindergarten
Kindergarten students are learning how to draw various expressions of emojis to represent different emotions. We will use color to help support each emotion with crayon, and paint the background with watercolor to create a crayon resist. Next up, we will be discussing winter birds and migration. Students will create a winter cardinal painting using basic shapes to create their bird, then add realistic snow on the branches with a toothbrush!
First Grade
First graders are working on their “Roller Coasters” where we used parallel lines to create our own roller coasters, picked a theme for the coaster, and gave it a name to fit our ride. We also discussed showing space by using overlapping elements. Color was added by putting down washable markers then painting over it with a wet paintbrush to turn it into watercolor.
Second Grade
Second grade students are learning about Kimmy Cantrell this month, an artist from Georgia who creates Cubist-like faces out of clay. They are creating their own masks in his style out of cardboard that pops out from the paper (called relief). We will color our masks asymmetrically using oil pastels, utilizing blending and contrast when choosing our colors.
Third Grade
Third grade students are working on relief sculpture robots this month. Students researched and designed a robot that they are building out of pieces of cardboard, wire, metallic paints and other materials. They will use these materials to build it up off the page. Each one will be unique to the student who creates them!
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders are learning about Radial Symmetry which is where similar parts are arranged around a center point. Students traced their name around a square eight times, and then colored them in a symmetrical way to create these unique designs! Later this month we will be starting our “Winter Birches” watercolor paintings which are inspired by “The Magpie” by Claude Monet.