Words from Walsh January, 2020
Staying connected with Walsh School
Greetings from Principal Martin.
Dear Parents/Guardians: As we begin the New Year, let us take the opportunity to reflect on the past year with all of its blessings, as well as all of the challenges that faced us. I am always overwhelmed and touched by the generosity that our families extend to others during the holiday season. This past year was no exception. The PFA “Giving Tree” helped make the holidays a little brighter for some of our families, and we thank everyone who made a donation. I also want to recognize and thank all of our staff, teachers, and volunteers who continually give their all in their commitment and dedication to our students and to this district.
This month we will be getting back to business, working hard to move our students forward in their educational journeys. Please keep the lines of communication open with your teacher, and discuss any concerns you may have. If you have any questions that I can help answer, please do not hesitate to contact me. I wish all our families a healthy, happy and prosperous new year! ~ Mrs. Teresa Martin
Important Dates in January
Mark Your Calendars
6 - Teacher Institute (No School)
7 – School Resumes
10 - Spirit Day - Pirate Day (Arrr you ready to show your school spirit?)
13 - D92 Clubs Session II Starts
17 – School Improvement Day - 11:55 Dismissal - No EC/PK Classes
20 - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King’s Birthday
21 - Board of Education Meeting - 7:00pm/District
24 - Western Day (Yee Ha! Learning is fun!)
Drop off times: no earlier than 8:40 a.m.
Please be prompt for pick-up at 3:30 p.m.
Remember to call the office by 9:00 a.m. if your child will be absent.
Office hours are 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. ~ 815-838-7858 www.d92.org
A Note from the Nurse
Remember to dress your child appropriately with a coat, hat, scarf, mittens, and boots. Students may be outside on days where the wind chill is above 10 degrees. All students may be going out for gym, unless they have a doctor’s note to keep them inside for medical reasons.
Please keep your child home if they have a temperature above 100 degrees, are vomiting, coughing uncontrollably or have yellow or green drainage from their nose, or are showing any symptoms of Covid. We are trying to keep all of the children here healthy and
appreciate your cooperation.
P.E. News by Mr. Wallace
Kindergarten News.
Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that it is 2020 and we are in a new decade! January will be a busy month for kindergarten. In Schoolwide, we will begin our Non-Fiction Unit. We will be learning about the structure of non-fiction books, as well as learning about different types of non-fiction books. We will be exploring Table of Contents, Captions, Glossaries, and Indexes. In math, we will continue Unit 4 in the Bridges curriculum. Unit 4 focuses on paths to adding, subtracting and measuring. As you can see, it is back to business after our holiday break!
First Grade News.
Welcome back and hello 2020! The first-grade teachers hope you had a safe and wonderful winter break. The new year brings us a fresh start with many exciting learning opportunities.
We will begin the year with a new writing unit on artic animals. We will spend the month of January researching and exploring the writing process. Students will be introduced to many nonfiction reference books and literary nonfiction books. Students will then make a decision on whether they want to write a reference or literary nonfiction book. By the end of the unit, children will have published their own books on arctic animals. We are so excited to see their final published pieces!
We will continue to work on reading with accuracy and fluency. The children will be taking the FastBridges test in January. Please continue to have your child read and review comprehension of text with you during baggie book time at home. The only way to increase fluency is through practice.
Fundations will progressively become more challenging as students learn:
~Closed syllable concept with short vowels
~Closed syllable vs. open syllable
~Vowel team sounds for: ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi, oy
~Narrative fiction vs. informational books
~Reading with accuracy and prosody
We will continue Unit 4 in our Bridges in Mathematics (which revolves around the number line, an essential mathematical model) for the month of January. We are also looking forward to spending some time learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy this month. What a great and busy start to the new year!
Early Childhood and Community Preschool News
The early childhood classes are off to a great 2021. We will work on a winter unit, and our “Read It Once Again” selection this month will be “The Mitten”. Our letters for this month will be J, K, L and M. In our Bridges math program we will be counting, comparing, sorting, and patterning this month. We are counting to 25 and beyond, and working on naming number and letter symbols presented in random order. In addition, we will learn about staying healthy during these cold winter months. Stay warm and read lots of books!
Music News by Joanne Moan.
What a month of music-making in the Walsh music room!
Happy New Year to my Walsh Family!
Early Childhood: In December, the preschoolers identified when music was going up or down and practiced a song about a baby bird. We used a step bell to play UP and DOWN. We also learned a banana dance and went on a Bear Hunt. We practiced a new warmup, with a magical hoop. When a friend is inside the hoop, we must copy their movements. Everyone wants a turn! ☺ We had fun with the Gingerbread story and sang the Gingerbread Man’s favorite song: Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man! In January, the students will be using movement scarves and beanbags.
Kindergarten: The students were challenged to use their body in a different way in the song, “Touch the Ground." When I showed them a number, they could only touch the ground with that many parts of their body. 2! (2 feet …or… 1 hand and 1 foot… or…1 knee and 1 head!) We practiced a new musical opposite: smooth (legato) and detached (staccato). We had a great time learning about different holidays in December, including Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. We lit the menorah with finger cymbals and triangles and danced a rhythmic Kwanzaa routine. We finished out the month with Jingle Bells and Up on the Housetop, and learned about the story of “The Nutcracker”, a famous ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. We were very excited to welcome the Oak Prairie Bands to Walsh on Thursday, December 19, for a Nutcracker music assembly! In January, kindergarteners will be playing several classroom instruments, including the woodblock and tambourine.
1st Grade: The students practiced identifying musical symbols and rhythms in our game unit at the beginning of December. We played musical variations of Go Fish, Memory, and Musical Alphabet. We sang Jingle Bells and Jingle Bell Rock and tried a new movement activity called Jack-in-the-Box. We were able to pretend that we were the Jack-in-the-box and POP out of our box! We also added some instruments including the ratchet and drum. The students also practiced a beautiful Hanukkah song, called “Hanukkah is Here”, and added a steady beat on our barred instruments. We learned several dances this month, including a Dance for Hanukkah, and the Arabian Dance and Russian Trepak from “The Nutcracker” ballet. We just finished the “March of the Wooden Soldiers” from the ballet. We used red and silver plates to create different patterns to represent different parts of the song. We also had fun with “Time for Toys” a rhythmic song that included drums, tambourines, triangles, and woodblocks. We even added an Xbox to our song as a popular toy! The students enjoyed learning about the dreidel game and had a chance to spin their own dreidel. In January, the first graders will be practicing melodic direction, especially using two notes, so and mi.
Art News by Mrs. Deckinga.
The kindergarten students will begin the month by finishing their winter bird collages. Later we'll be learning about the "heart art" of artist Jim Dine. We'll look at Dine's heart paintings and sculptures, and then make some heart art of our own. We'll be using bleeding tissue paper and tempera to create these colorful heart paintings.
The first-grade students will begin another winter project. They'll be drawing "close-ups" of snowmen using a variety of media. We'll be using analogous colors of watercolor and a salt-resist technique to create a frosty background. Next, we'll add pastel chalk shadows to give our snowmen form and then color our details with oil pastels.