Nixon Specialist Newsletter
Summer Edition
Music Curriculum Ms. Leslie Dooley, Music Teacher
We have had another good year in the music room. There is always too much to do in too little time but we fit in as much as possible! If your child wishes to take part in music activities after school or in the summer, I suggest private lessons, a music camp, or a choir program; specific programs can be found on the Nixon Music site under the “Enrichment” tab. Please let me know if there is information you would like to see there.
K
In Kindergarten this spring we have been singing and listening to a lot of chicken music, such as “Ballet of Chicks in their Shells,” from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” We have also learned some singing games such as “Oats and Beans and Barley,” and “Savez vous planter les choux,” which we performed at School Meeting in May. Ask your child to sing “The Oviparous Song.” We have been working on pitch patterns and resting tone and will be playing various percussion instruments between now and the end of the school year.
Grade 1
First graders have been working hard on categorizing rhythm patterns from our songs and chants, leading to the introduction of symbolic notation with quarter notes and eighth notes (“du” and “du de”). We learned some some songs and games from Japan from Ghana, including a rock-passing song (we used bean bags). Ask your child to sing “Obwa si mi sa nana.”
Grade 2
Second graders learned about and listened to “Peter and the Wolf” by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. Here is a good site for learning more about this piece. We have been learning some circle dances and working on using safe and controlled movement in this formation. We have also been working on creating and playing rhythms using all of the note values we know: eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, and quarter rests.
Grade 3
The third grade students did a great job on their May concert; one highlight for them was improvising to the 12-bar blues progression. For fun and some practice over the summer, students can check out the play-along tracks and 12-bar blues charts at the recorder tab of the Nixon Music site. We are finishing up the year by composing and notating our own major or minor four-measure recorder pieces using the notes we know: B, A, G, and E. Students will continue playing recorder in fourth grade, so please try to keep track of the instruments! 4th grade also brings the opportunity to begin a string instrument (violin, viola, cello, or double bass). Click on the name of the instrument to watch a video (please note that these videos are not in Safeshare mode). The summer is a good time to give this some thought! Here is a nice video showing examples of many different string instruments.
Grade 4
Fourth grade students prepared quite a lot of recorder music for their May concert and performed beautifully. They are able to sing both major and minor songs in solfege (do re mi etc.) and can play seven notes on the recorder now. Those who have sought an extra challenge have learned F#. We also learned about the 12-bar blues pattern. For fun and some practice over the summer, students can check out the play-along tracks and 12-bar blues charts at the recorder tab of the Nixon Music site. Our recorder capstone project has been writing and notating eight-measure compositions for the “black belt.” Looking ahead to 5th grade, students will have the opportunity to begin a band instrument (flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, and trombone). Click on the name of the instrument to watch a video (please note that these videos are not in Safeshare mode). Mr. Donegan, our band teacher, also has a fabulous band instrument playlist which you can check out. Playing in the band or orchestra is a great opportunity for the students to deepen their musicianship and to be part of an ensemble. Please encourage your child to give this some thought.
Grade 5
This spring fifth grade students have been sampling many musical traditions: an African-American song called “Hambone;” an Israeli circle dance called “Zemir Atik;” a fun line dance from Bolivia called Chilili; and a cool song from Egypt. We have learned about harmony and have sung and played a few songs using different tonic/dominant progressions. I hope that students will want to continue participating in music at Curtis Middle School or wherever they will be for 6th grade. It’s never too late to sign up for chorus and students who play a band or orchestra instrument can still sign up for those groups. Students are always welcome to come back to Nixon and say hi!
Physical Education Newsletter....... Martine Cummings
PHYSICAL EDUCATION June 2019
In grades K-2, the classes spent the spring months continuing to build on basic skills. They played some favorite games (such as Pirate tag) and we discussed their improvements in skills/strategies/teamwork. New games were also introduced to provide different ways to practice. One game was “Cage ball”: A very large (48”) beach ball style ball is in the middle and teams on either sides try to make it move throwing small foam balls at it. The game requires teamwork, throwing with force and accuracy.
The classes in these grades also worked on skills such a throwing a frisbee and using a “Spikeball” net to bounce/catch a ball.
Spring and the nicer weather usually permits us to have some classes outside. When we do, we use the field next to the parking lot on the North side of the building. Although this year’s weather hasn’t been very pleasant, we were able to go out and play catch with “Fling Socks”, a bean bag with a colorful long tail. A circular motion can toss it very high and far. The Fling Sock can be caught by the tail or like a regular ball. A fun alternative to playing catch.
In grades 3-5, among the many activities that we did, the classes learned/played a simplified version of baseball called “tennis-baseball”. A tennis racquet is used to hit a tennis or other soft ball so the game can be played bearhanded. Players run the bases and play with most of baseball’s rules. Because the weather was poor, we played in the gym where the walls created interesting bounces, and funny situations. I purposely use a ball with a lot of bounce to make catching more challenging.
Students in those grades were also introduced to the game of “Spikeball”. Although the official game requires the ball to only be hit or spiked, the students played with catching/throwing, and worked their way up to adding more hitting/spiking. It’s a great backyard or beach game for families. For more info on the game, check out this link: Spikeball rules
Grades 3-5 also did a mile run/walk assessment in late April. This was NOT a race, but an individual assessment of the student’s cardiorespiratory fitness level. The students were given a sheet to take home with their time, a chart representing the “Healthy Fitness Zone” by age and gender, and a description of how the assessment was measured (If you haven’t seen it, you may want to check the bottom of your child’s backpack. I distributed to the classrooms on May 30th). The long term goal is to support learning which enables the students to make decisions that promote good health and a satisfactory level of fitness.
Lastly, after 30 years working as a Physical Education Teacher, I am retiring at the end of the present school year. I have so many great memories that I will carry with me as I move on.
Have a great summer,
Martine Cummings
Visual Art......... Kelly Garabadian, Art Teacher
Hello Nixon family! The art room has been busy, busy, busy these last few weeks!
In Kindergarten, we worked with clay, learned what happens when we add water to Crayola marker drawings, and read a book about what would happen if the dinosaurs came back. This is one of my favorite projects of the year since the kiddos really love making up their own dinosaurs and building busy worlds for them to live in. Keep your eyes out for lots of work coming home next week!
First and second graders have been working on creating city-scape reflections. We started by drawing buildings in sharpie, then coloring with Crayola markers so that when we spray them with water they create a reflection below. We also worked with clay and the first graders made tea cups for their Japan Day tea ceremony, while second graders created Native American seed pots.
Third graders created the most amazing pinch pot monsters, which will be coming home in the next couple of days. They also worked hard on their portraits for their living museum, and I was so proud of their efforts to capture the spirit of their historical figures.
Fourth graders made clay boxes, and also took our perspective discussions to the next level and created one point perspective drawings. They are still working on these, and some of them have created really interesting little worlds. I am so impressed with their ability to create interesting and colorful work these last few weeks.
Fifth graders made hollow clay heads for their clay project. We discussed the importance of their projects being hollow, and having a hole for air and steam to escape while in the kiln. They were very interested in understanding what would happen, so I explained that their projects could explode in the kiln, and potentially destroy their project as well as other students’. I made a promise to destroy a piece of my own artwork in slow motion video if everyone followed the rules and made their work hollow, with a hole. Guess I’ll be destroying some artwork next week!
It’s been a really fun year, and I wish you all a wonderful summer. If you’re looking for some art-related fun over the summer, the Blick Art Supplies website has a ton of resources for project ideas, including supply lists and detailed instructions. They have great prices, often cheaper than Michael’s, and offer free shipping on orders over $35 (sometimes this changes but you can usually get free shipping). https://www.dickblick.com/project-ideas/
Another way to get creative over the summer is with drawing prompts. You can make your own sketchbooks, or get inexpensive ones almost anywhere (Target, Michael’s, Amazon of course). Each day, give your student a prompt to draw - you can get some ideas here or come up with your own! https://kidssteamlab.com/drawing-ideas-for-kids/
Have a wonderful, and artful summer! See you all in September!
Nixon Library Carrie Lucchese, Librarian
Library Newsletter
It is hard to believe that the year is coming to an end! It has been a fun and productive year here in the Nixon Library. We have enjoyed working with students and are so proud of the readers they are becoming. Here is a little snapshot of what we have been working on this Spring. Have a wonderful summer!
Kindergarten and First Grade- We have spent quite a bit of time discussing how illustrations can enhance a story. We read several books where the illustrations challenge the reader to expand their thinking of the text and can also provide “hints” or “clues” that relate to the story. We loved how students were able to make predictions and connections based on the illustrations.
Second Grade- In Second Grade we have been working on Non-fiction stories, specifically animal stories. Students have chosen non-fiction books and have been working on Animal Projects in their classroom. It has provided an excellent way to encourage students to explore the non-fiction section of our library
Third Grade-Third grade has worked very hard on their Biography projects here in the Library. We were so impressed by the hard work and research that the students did. It was an excellent introduction to using our Chromebooks to take notes and organize information. We loved seeing the final results at the Living Museum.
Fourth and Fifth Grade- Fourth and fifth graders who participated in the MCBA challenge came to the library to celebrate their accomplishment. We were able to play a game based on the books they read and have a small treat. We were so happy to see the amount of students who participated in this challenge and are looking forward to nexts years MCBA titles.
World Language with Ms. Campbell
¡ESPAÑOL!
It is hard to believe that my first year with your fabulous Nixon estudiantes is coming to a close! Fittingly, we used our last term to look back on months, seasons and weather. I love seeing grades 1,3,4 and 5 at recess each day. Here are some images of mis amigos playing outside throughout the seasons!
el otoño - 1st grade el invierno - 3rd grade
la primavera - 4th grade el verano - 5th grade
Grades 1-2
Our younger Nixon Owls mastered all 12 months of the year in part by singing, Los meses del año, The Twelve Months of the Year. Then, our learners illustrated each month via a pictograph with symbols that were personally relevant to each student.
Pictograph of Los 12 meses
Also during class, our amigos categorized each month by season and weather using manipulatives and games. We further reinforced these topics by singing and acting out the lyrics, the Las estaciones, The Seasons Song.
The Weather Freeze Dance was another favorite language reinforcement game that the kids really enjoyed! To play, students danced to Latin American songs, and when the music paused a weather expression was called out such as, hace frío (it is cold); students would have to stop and strike a pose to represent that weather description.
Second graders dancing in a conga line while playing Weather Freeze Dance
Finally, we went on a weather scavenger hunt to locate and tally weather phrase images. We later shared how many of each symbol we found, which required counting in español!
Grades 3-5
The upper grades also learned and reviewed the months of the year, seasons, and weather phrases. Students conducted interviews with their classmates to find out the month and season of each classmate’s birthday. We then shared our findings as a class.
In addition to learning songs, grades 3-5 wrote and illustrated lovely Cinquain poems to capture what they love best about their favorite month of the year as seen here.
Cinquain poems created by two fifth graders
Third graders enhanced their social studies curriculum, Goodnight, Massachusetts in Spanish class by researching what percentage of their assigned town or city speaks Spanish. Did you know that nearly half of the city population of Holyoke speaks Spanish and has the largest percentage of Puerto Rican citizens per capita than any other city in the USA? Over 627,000 people speak Spanish in our state! The third grade class then collaborated on a state map of Massachusetts to illustrate their findings.
3rd Grade Map of Massachusetts´Spanish Speakers
Similarly, fourth graders expanded the social studies curriculum by researching what percentage of their assigned US state speak Spanish. They too collaborated as a grade on a map of the United States to illustrate the percentage of Spanish speakers in each of the 50 states. Did you know that over 41,000,000 people speak Spanish in the United States?
4th Grade Map of Spanish Speakers in the USA
Both fourth and fifth grades expanded their knowledge of immigration after viewing a true story of a boy named, Candelario who traveled from Honduras to the USA by himself at the age of 9 in search of his mother. After viewing the story, students shared their knowledge from their Social Studies curriculum by explaining that there is usually a “push or a pull” that causes people to immigrate. In Candelario’s case, Hurricane Mitch had destroyed much of Honduras, and the pain of separation from his mother had pushed him to immigrate to the USA.
Candelario
Your children then shared with the class their own family’s immigration stories which were beautiful to hear! Nixon has such a diverse group of learners from all over the world!
The fifth grade has wrapped up their year by playing an “epic” review game of Kahoot!. I was impressed by how much information and vocabulary they retained on subjects such as: Mexico, Spain, Frida Kahlo,the concept of being Mestizo, the arrival of the Spanish to the Americas, El día de la raza, Day of the Dead, the rise and fall of Aztec and Mayan cultures, and conversation topics. I will miss the fifth graders! I hope they will all continue learning a second, third or even a fourth language in middle school and will come back often to visit!
Thank you all for a terrific first year at Nixon! I have loved getting to know your children and families. Your kids have the best community at Nixon School that I have ever had the pleasure of working in!
¡VIVA NIXON!