PRE Specials Newsletter
February 11, 2019
News from the Library
We had a great second quarter in the library! Below are a few of the things we are working on throughout third quarter!
Kindergarten: Kindergarten began checking out from the shelves during 2nd quarter and have now gotten a chance to checkout from all sections of the library for primary! We will learn about fiction and non-fiction books this quarter, as well as nonfiction text features. The students will get a chance to visit our next Scholastic Bookfair in February and we will end the quarter with Dr. Seuss activities and they will get to visit the Seuss Café in the library!
First Grade: We have just wrapped up our author study of Jan Brett. Some of the titles she is best known for are The Mitten, The Hat, and The 3 Snow Bears. We are beginning the quarter with lots of snow activities! Snow books, games, and more. First graders also will be able to checkout 1 chapter book each week if they choose. They will select it from a designated 1st/2nd grade chapter book shelf. Students will get to visit the February Scholastic Bookfair coming soon. We will end the quarter with Dr. Seuss activities and they will get to visit the Seuss Café in the library!
Second Grade: We began the quarter with a research project on an invention and inventor! They will be using their research to create a presentation in Tech Time. Second grade is also learning about the Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book award, which is a Kansas book award. We will read the current winner and some past winners as well. In February students will get the chance to visit the new Scholastic Book Fair. We will end the quarter with Dr. Seuss activities to celebrate Read Across America Week!
Third Grade: We began 3rd quarter with a preview of a new series we have added to the library, called The Treehouse series. We will be doing book talks and short read alouds to introduce them to great books in the PRE library! Students will learn about some different reference materials including dictionary skills and using a thesaurus. In February students will get the chance to visit the new Scholastic Book Fair. We will end the quarter with Dr. Seuss activities to celebrate Read Across America Week!
Fourth Grade: We are almost done reading the William Allen White Award nominee book, Full of Beans. The students are really enjoying it! To prepare for the wax museum coming up in their classroom, 4th graders started the quarter with a mini research project on a famous Kansan. We worked on taking notes from multiple sources and citing those sources. We will also be reviewing and practicing using a dictionary. In February students will get the chance to visit the new Scholastic Book Fair. We will end the quarter with Dr. Seuss activities to celebrate Read Across America Week!
Fifth Grade: We are almost done reading the William Allen White Award nominee book, Save Me a Seat. The students are really enjoying it! This quarter is a fun one for 5th graders...they get to put on the Seuss Café for Kindergarten and First grade! It will take a lot of preparation but the students take a lot of pride in putting on a fun event for these young students. In February, students will get the chance to visit the new Scholastic Book Fair. We will end the quarter with Dr. Seuss activities to celebrate Read Across America Week!
We are really working on responsibility with ALL the grades to get books turned in on time! You should have seen a half sheet of paper come home with all your child’s check out dates for the quarter. Thank you for helping your student with this!
The school wide reading program will be ending 3rd quarter. The last day to turn in forms is March 1st. Students who participated will get to come to a celebration party before Spring Break. We hope you will get the chance to check out the Scholastic Book Fair that will be set up during conferences. (February 8th - 13th) Thank you for supporting our school! Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns!
Kerri Ptacek- kptacek@usd232.org Lindsey Sudac- lsudac@usd232.org
Music News
I can’t believe it is 2019 and we are already in our 3rd nine weeks! This year is flying by! Here are what your students are doing in music!
Kindergarten: The weather has really worked out for me with our snow themed music lessons! We are learning high/low sounds through books about snowmen and playing glockenspiels to up and down. We are also going to be focusing more on steady beat and iconic rhythms through games, poems, and songs. I am also very excited to teach Kindergarten their first folk dance very soon! I just adore working with your special students!
First Grade: It has been a busy time reviewing iconic rhythm chains, perfecting our steady beat, and singing in high voices... but, it’s about to get even busier! It is officially program prep time! In the next few weeks you will be receiving important information regarding our program coming up on Thursday, April 11th. Mark your calendars now – you won’t want to miss it. I will be introducing the program in the coming weeks and I could not be more excited!
Second Grade: We have been and are currently living and breathing our program in second grade music class! All of our hard work and mighty efforts are about to pay off – it is almost program week! These second graders are some awesome singers and their efforts throughout our program prep have been incredible. We can’t wait to share our program, “Inventions Rock”, on Thursday, January 31st with you!
Third Grade: These last two weeks your students have been mastering all kinds of rhythms. We just finished taking a test and I was so pleased with how well they did. Expect to see those coming home soon! Something else exciting we have started is prepping for our 3rd grade program! It is seriously going to be the best day full of songs, learning about new cultures, and lots of food. Expect important information soon regarding our program coming up on Thursday, March 7th! Something else to keep on your radar: 3rd grade recorder time! After spring break it is time to teach your students the recorder. Ordering information will be sent in February – be on the lookout. 3rd grade music is busy!
Fourth Grade: Your students have been playing all sorts of stuff with boom whackers the past two weeks! It is one of my favorite things to do in 4th grade. We have videos that we follow the music with and create awesome sounds. Your students are gearing up to review old rhythms, learn new rhythms, and learn the line and space notes on the treble clef! Something to keep on your radar: 4th grade recorder! After spring break, we will break out our recorders we got last year and start learning more. Take time to find that recorder and give it a nice bath in hot water & soap.
Fifth Grade: Each year, students have a new musical they watch in music class. This year, the 5th grade musical we watch is “The Music Man”. After their program, the students have spent some time watching the first half of this musical and will pick back up and finish it at the end of the year. We have officially begun ukulele season in 5th grade! This is one of my most favorite units I get to teach. Your students will be learning how to play the ukulele with open strings, read and play TABS, and learn chords for songs. I am so excited to teach them, and I love how excited they are to learn!
News from the Art Room
The art room is bustling with creativity and cultural studies this quarter! Be sure to check out the art displayed around the school during conferences, and even stop into the art room if you wish! Enjoy reading about the current and upcoming artistic endeavors of your students below!
Kindergarten artists are learning about Japanese culture and have deeply studied the iconic woodblock print, “The Great Wave” by Hokusai. They created their own interpretations of the artwork and even learned how to write in Japanese! Soon, we will do a printmaking project, a clay project and a fibers project.
1st grade artists are learning about Chinese culture and the upcoming Chinese New Year, celebrated on February 5th. We learned about the origins of the holiday, the special traditions associated with it, and then created our own Chinese New Year scroll, adorned with a positive message written in Chinese about the New Year! Students also learned about Kansas Day (January 29) and learned about the various Kansas state symbols. Artists sculpted their very own ornate box turtle (our state reptile) out of terracotta clay to display for Kansas Day. Soon, we will be diving in to some penguin art for cross curricular classroom studies.
As 2nd grade artists study inventions in their classroom, we learned about the invention of paper in the art room. Paper just so happened to be invented in China, so we were able to tie that in the Asian art all-school unit as well. Students learned how paper was made long ago, and how factories have expedited the process and made it more affordable for consumers. We created our own colorful, pulp paper mini masterpieces sprinkled with confetti and framed in swirling metallics. They will be displayed for the 2nd grade music performance. Then, we tried our hand at origami after learning the history and importance of this art form. Soon, students will be diving into some sculpture, fiber and printmaking projects!
3rd Grade artists created stunning gyotaku prints, which originate in Japan. These fish prints began hundreds of years ago with Japanese fishermen who wanted to record their special catches. Students learned to create a print from silicone mold of a real fish! We made our own red chop/stamp to sigh our work and created a short poem on our scrolls in Japanese. Soon, we will be working on projects tied to the International Festival, along with sculpture, printmaking and fiber work.
4th grade artists have wrapped up learning about the Japanese art of papercutting called Notan. This art honors the principle of Yin and Yang; a symbol for universal balance. Students learned how to create this stunning and precise art buy cutting and flipping their shapes to create symmetry and contrast. Next, we will be working on sculpture, printmaking and fiber projects in the art room!
5th grade artists created stunning sumi-e brush books. Sumi-e is an ink wash painting technique originating in the Tang Dynasty of China. Sumi-e brushes are quite special. They are made of bamboo and animal hair. Students practiced using this brushes to complete various techniques in their painting book, including calligraphy, animals, landscapes, architecture and flora and fauna. Take a look at these beauties on display in the display case by the office. Next, we will be learning about fiber art and embroidery, sculpture, and printmaking.
Thank you for reading and supporting your budding artists!
PE Happenings
Overview: It has been a great start to the second semester here at PRE! To begin the second semester, we began a soccer unit. The students have really enjoyed it so far and I have been very impressed with how skilled everyone is. We have been having a ton of fun and getting a lot of great exercise. In combination with the soccer unit, we are continuing our focus on cardiovascular fitness and that is something we work on every day.
Kindergarten: The kindergarten classes have been doing a wonderful job in the gym! The second semester began with a focus on soccer, but at a modified level. I wanted to introduce students to soccer and teach them the basic skills like dribbling and passing. Students have done a great job with this and are progressing very well! Along with soccer, I continue to focus on teaching students the very important basic locomotor movements like walking, galloping, jumping, hopping, side-sliding, leaping and skipping. This is something that they will be able to build upon as they progress through PRE Physical Education and into middle school.
1st Grade - 5th Grade: With this group of grade levels, we also have been working on soccer skills. Each grade level has a modified lesson structure to focus on what they need the most work on. 1st grade has been working on more dribbling and passing skills, with the focus on control. While 2nd through 5th grade has been touching on those at the beginning of the class period and then working on activities that will help students get better at moving around the gym while controlling the soccer ball. We have also been focusing on cardiovascular fitness with these grade levels as well. In every lesson there is a fitness component that I like to focus on to make sure all students are well rounded.
Tech Time Update
Kindergarten: Students in Kindergarten have been learning how to problem solve with computers! What should you do if your volume is too loud or you cannot hear something? What happens if my computer does not turn on? We have even played a few problem solving/strategy games called Jelly Collapse, Tingly Bubble Shooter, and Cat around Africa. They have also been learning about how to minimize and maximize their screens, shut down their computers (instead of just signing out), and about many more keys on their keyboards (finding them and their function). We will finish out the quarter with doing some 100’s day work and sight word practice on the iPad.
1St Grade: Students in 1st grade have been having a lot of fun learning about animation. We started our unit by looking at different types of animation and recognizing what it is. We then worked on Osmo Super Studios to animate our own work. Students could choose to animate Mickey Mouse, Incredible, or Disney Princess. It is so fun to see their work come to life! After we are done with Osmos, we will work on the iPad with an app called Toontastic 3D to create an animated story. They will be able to move their characters and record their voice for their cartoon character. We will share these movies with the class at the end.
2nd grade: Students started the quarter with researching an inventor and their invention. They will take their research and create a Chatter Pix on the iPad. Be watching for that on their SeeSaw soon. After their awesome music program, we will finish out the quarter learning about Presentations. We will learn the basics of PowerPoint and make a presentation about themselves.
3rd Grade: Students started the quarter with reviewing the basics of word. We refreshed ourselves in preparation for their big Country research project in their classrooms. Next, we worked with Ozobot robots. We learned how to code them and make them travel around tracks. We also enjoyed a little Ozobot Bowling! Last, we will be supporting their classroom activities with their International festival projects. Students will be researching, typing, and printing papers during Tech time. This is an excellent opportunity for me to go over a lot of information in my curriculum. We will also create a Pic College based on their country.
4th Grade: Students in 4th grade started the quarter learning how to research a famous person from Kansas. We took several class periods in Library and Tech to learn how to research correctly and site our sources. After research is done students will make a brochure on Publisher about their person. We will end the quarter with learning how to create something 3 dimensional using a program called TinkerCad. After students have designed something, they will email it to me and I will print it using our school 3D printer.
5th Grade: Students in 5th Grade have started one of our most exciting units…Stop Motion Animation! We studied what animation is and how filmmakers plan a story, make scene/props and record using Stop Motion. Students will make a storyboard and film their own movie using the Stop Motion Animation app on our Ipads. We will have a viewing party at the end. Towards the end of the quarter, we will be having more fun doing some Colonial work using Pic College.
Counseling Corner
All grade levels began the quarter talking about Kindness and learning about the Kindest Kansas Citian Contest!
Kindergarten – We will be Learning about making healthy decisions, feelings and friendship.
· The Healthy Thing to Do: This lesson helps the children identify safe and healthy decisions that will help them to meet health, hygiene and fitness goals. It also helps them recognize unsafe and unhealthy decisions that might prevent them from reaching those goals.
· Feelings – Students will be able to recite and show a variety of different feelings verbally and non-verbally. Self-Awareness helps children to recognize and name their own emotions, to better understand the causes of feelings, and eventually to recognize the difference between feelings and actions.
· Friendships – Students will describe up to five ways to initiate conversations, practice verbal and non-verbal communication, and describe characteristics of a friend. Studies suggest that children who have mastered the social skill of making friends are much more resilient than isolated children. Bonding with positive peers is a very important component of positive youth development.
First Grade – We will be learning about Friendship, making healthy decisions, distinguishing between safe and unsafe things for children to do.
· Friendship – Students will be able to discuss how friends are alike but different; describe how differences can enrich friendship and list behaviors of a friend. This lesson introduces interpersonal and cultural competence. Being aware of similarities and differences and feeling comfortable with differences are important skills.
· Decision-Making – Students will be able to recite the steps of a decision-making model: Stop and Think; and to demonstrate effective ways to make decisions. This lesson teaches children a simplified way to make decisions that can be extended as their thinking skills develop. Students will also learn the harmful effects of strong chemical smells and how to make decisions to keep them safe.
· Safe and Unsafe – students will distinguish between safe and unsafe things for children to do while observing a picture of kids playing in a city park.
Second Grade – We will be learning about feelings using I-Messages, how people are alike and different, giving and receiving compliments, and choosing and being a good friend.
· Feelings and I-Messages – students will be able to describe the difference between feelings and actions; differentiating between I-Messages and You-Messages. This lesson teaches students to communicate feelings clearly and effectively. Studies show that children who can express strong emotions are less likely to act them out in negative ways. Effective communication helps children to be resilient.
· Same and different – Students will discuss how people are alike and different, discuss their own personal strengths, and demonstrate giving and receiving compliments. This lesson teaches children to respect differences and to value their own and others’ strengths. Students practice giving each other compliments based on personal strengths. Recognizing personal strengths boosts self-esteem and helps to increase resiliency.
· Friendship – Students will describe how to choose a friend, how friends help each other, demonstrate asking for and offering help, and saying please and thank you. This lesson teaches positive qualities to look for when choosing a friend. Choosing positive friends is important since friends influence each other strongly, especially as children grow older.
Third Grade – We will be learning about our connections with others, reviewing feelings and using I-Messages, and decision-making.
· Connections – students will list ways they are connected to family, school and community. A sense of connectedness helps build resiliency in children. They will make a connections chain to show the connections they have with themselves, family, friends, school and community.
· Feelings and I-Statements – Students will review feelings and recite proper I-statements using the following formula: I feel ______ when you _______because________. I want ___________. Communicating effectively is one of the keys to resiliency. Effective communication skills help children to resolve conflicts with others, bond with others, and avoid involvement in problem behaviors. By identifying, accepting and expressing feelings in positive ways, children learn empathy and build interpersonal competence.
· Decision-Making – Students will review the stop and think decision-making model: (1) Picture a positive outcome (2) List choices and consequences (3) Act out the best plan (4) Now tell yourself how you did. Learning to make good decisions and plan ahead help children to achieve their potential.
Fourth Grade – We will be learning about Decision Making, identifying and managing emotions, and effective communication.
· Decision-Making – Students will follow the steps of the decision-making model, as well as identifying the benefits and consequences of decisions. Children equipped with decision-making and problem-solving skills are more likely to make confident, healthy decisions and avoid negative consequences. The ability to stop and consider the positive and negative consequences of decisions reduces the likelihood of acting impulsively, and keeping actions consistent with short-term goals.
· Identifying and Managing emotions – Students will name a variety of emotions, recognize physical signals associated with specific emotions, demonstrate awareness of their own feelings, and identify healthy and non-healthy ways to express emotions. Children begin to experience more complex personal and interpersonal events as they mature into pre-adolescence. Children equipped to identify and manage their emotions are better able to express their feelings with confidence. Emotional self-awareness fosters the recognition and appreciation of the emotions of others, promoting a greater capacity to build empathy, diffuse conflict, and build stronger relationships.
· Effective communication – Students will define effective communication, identify the roles of the speaker and listener, differentiate effective and ineffective listening and speaking skills. Children with effective communication skills are better able to handle conflict peacefully, share feelings, and share ideas with others, enhancing cooperation and relationship building. Children who are effective communicators are better able to make decisions consistent with their goals and develop healthy relationships.
Fifth grade – We will be learning about effective communication, bonding and relationships, and safe use of prescription and OTC medications.
· Effective communication – Students will define communication, identify the elements of communication (both verbal and nonverbal), differentiate assertive, aggressive and passive speaking styles, and identify active listening skills. Children who are effective communicators are better able to make decisions consistent with their goals and develop healthy relationships.
· Bonding and relationships – Student will compare healthy and unhealthy friendship qualities, understand how to be compassionate and empathetic toward others, and recognize the benefits of belonging to a positive peer group. Bonding with pro-social others fosters belonging and connectedness, mitigating the impact of risk factors on behavior. Peer selection skills, including the ability to make and maintain positive friendships, is a critical protective factor. Children surrounded with positive peer influences make more responsible, less-risky choices and are more likely to reach their goals.
· Safe use of prescription and OTC medications – students will recognize and anticipate negative reactions to personal mistakes and disappointments, differentiate positive and negative self-talk, the effect of positive and negative self-talk on feelings and actions, use positive self-talk to manage and overcome mistakes, and differentiate safe and unsafe use of prescription and over-the-counter medicines. Awareness of the dangerous effects of the misuse and abuse of prescription and OTC drugs serves as a critical protective factor. Establishing a clear perception of harm about the effects of these drugs builds protection within the child to mitigate the risk of abuse or accidental misuse. Proactive storage and administration practices in the home serve to reinforce safe use of prescription medicines and prevent accidental misuse.