Johnson Jungle
Art, Guidance, Library, Music, P.E., and Spanish
Edition 4.7- April 2018
Kindergarten
Kindergarten- Music
Alyssa Vanderpool
Music Teacher
Kindergarten- Library
First Author/Illustrator Visit
Students met Lucy May and Kevin Necessary on April 19. Students learned how the author and illustrator created My Best Friend Fiona. Hopefully they were able to see Fiona on their zoo field trip the next day.
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist
Kindergarten- Spanish
In kindergarten, we are learning shape words in Spanish! As shown in the photos, we created shape robots and wrote how many of each shape we used. The robots turned out really well and we got to practice our Spanish!
Julie Dashley
Spanish Teacher
1st Grade
1st grade- Music
Alyssa Vanderpool
Music Teacher
1st grade- Library
First grade students have been working on their Biomimicry PBL in the library. They are exploring unique plant features and discussing how humans utilize some similar features. Students are using Pebble Go, Brain Pop, Britannica Encyclopedia, and National Geographic for research.
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist
2nd grade
2nd grade- Music
Second Grade is in full rehearsal mode for the upcoming production of HATS! The show is Thursday, April 26 at 6:30 in the gym.
Alyssa Vanderpool
Music Teacher
2nd grade- Library
Second grade students are writing a continuation to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane using themselves as a character. We will be sharing our stories and cartoons (designed in art) with Illustrator Kim Smith who will be visiting on May 8th.
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist
3rd grade
3rd grade- Music
Third Grade has started playing recorders to practice their music reading skills. We have started recorder karate where the students earn belts for each song that they master. Their goal is to earn 3 belts before the end of the school year. All students have been provided a school recorder that will stay with them until 5th grade. The recorders stay at school but many have asked to practice at home. I encourage you to purchase a recorder for home practice. They are very cheap ($10 or less) and can be found at any music store. If you want to order online be careful and make sure you aren’t purchasing a “toy” recorder. There is a big difference. Here is a link to a reputable recorder if you would like to purchase one to keep at home . https://amzn.to/2F1ewAf
Alyssa Vanderpool
Music Teacher
3rd grade- Library
Third grade students just finished learning about bias in their media literacy unit. Next they will be creating book trailers and planning our summer reading program.
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist
3rd and 4th grade- Art and Guidance
4th grade
4th grade- Music
Alyssa Vanderpool
Music Teacher
4th grade- Library
Fourth grade students finished their fake news unit and are moving onto choice projects. Students have chosen to learn about 3D printing, circuits, and others S.T.E.A.M related topics.
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist
5th grade
5th grade- Music
Alyssa Vanderpool
Music Teacher
5th grade- Library
Fifth grade students are sharing their Genius Hour Projects!
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist
Family Information
Resiliency Poll
Dear Parents,
On Friday April 20, 2018, students in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades took a survey assessing their resiliency. This poll assessed students in the following areas:
*Global Life Satisfaction (overall assessment of feelings and attitudes about one’s life at a particular point in time ranging from positive to negative)
*Positive School Experiences (assessment of a student’s experiences with their learning, as well as their overall interactions with school personnel)
*Peer Bullying Scale (assesses whether or not a student has been victimized and/or a victim)
*Social Ostracism Scale (assesses degree of perceived social isolation)
*Children’s Hope Scale (assesses goal-directed thinking)
I will be pulling students from now until the end of the year to go over their results with them. I will not meet with every child in the third, fourth and fifth grades…however, I will be casting a wide net to be sure that we have a solid plan in place for next year. I will also be contacting parents about these results as needed.
If you have questions about this poll, I encourage you to contact me.
All the best,
Whitney McKay
Library Books
Please remind students to turn in books on time. Of course, books can be renewed. If a book is lost, the student will have to pay the replacement costs. If your child has an overdue item, you will receive an automated message from our library management system, Destiny. All library books are due back to the library during the week of May 8th for inventory purposes. Any lost books will need to be paid before the end of the school year. Students may still read digital books!
eBooks
Students can use their Epic! app while at school to access a complete digital library for free.
OverDrive QuickStart is our newest digital platform. Students have access to 200 books that can be read by multiple users at home and school. There are even several read aloud options for our beginning readers. Students can access these books by signing into their FTLearn app and then clicking the OverDrive icon. Or they can sign in using the following information: Website: http://johnsones.lib.overdrive.com Login code: Johnson.
We also have almost 300 eBooks available through the Destiny Discover app. Students just need to sign in through google with their Fort Thomas email and FT password.
Marie Zimmerman
Library Media Specialist