MSS Specials

Morse Street Artists have been setting goals for the studio. Each class has had conversations around what our studio should look, sound, and feel like. These studio “Habits of Work” will be on display and guide artists to do their best work and reach their goals. Early art lessons have been an opportunity to warm-up our drawing muscles and stretch our imaginations.

Kindergarten used paint sticks on their first day to make circle art inspired by Kandinsky’s circles. Next they practiced using letters to turn lines and shapes into pictures. This week we read Mouse Shapes and made oil pastels shape drawings.

1st and 2nd grade began the year by “taking a dot for a walk”, a quote from artist Paul Klee. They made a continuous line or lines and used their imagination to form a picture of something or make a design. Next we read Ish, a story about a frustrated artist who learns to be flexible. Artists chose challenging pictures to make “Ish drawings”. This week artists used oil pastels to make butterflies, using pictures, their powers of observation, and remembering that it's ok if it is butterfly-ish.

Mark your calendar! First grade families are invited to art the week of November 11-15! Schedule forthcoming.

Our Morse Street Library has been full of excited readers! We have built library routines including our story and lesson time, book checkouts, and independent reading. Each class has participated in read alouds relating to book care and library behavior, and has built lists of expectations for how we care for library books and what we want our library classes to look, sound, and feel like. Our MSS Moose have been very excited about their library books - be sure to ask yours what they checked out and chat with them about what they hope to read next!

Kindergarteners have been practicing bringing one book home and back to library. We’ve learned about library manners and each class we get time for reading new books. During our read alouds, students engage in repeating lines, silent signals to show their thinking, and sharing thinking with a partner. We’ve created some high interest book bins for students to browse when they move from story time to the library tables, including Wordless Picture Books, Dragon and Unicorn Stories, and author bins for Jory John and Oliver Jeffers (among many more!). Students have also already been introduced to different areas of the library, though we will continue to grow our knowledge of how our library is set up each week.

1st graders have adopted new library routines, including viewing early reader chapter books at their tables right after our lesson. This gives students an opportunity to open a book they might not usually reach for before exploring the rest of what our library has to offer. At that time, we have also been practicing our safe bodies and library manners. Many kids spend extra time browsing books by their favorite authors or about a favorite topic. During our read alouds, we’re currently practicing silent signals for showing we’re thinking about the story, and using turn and talks to grow ideas about the book we’re reading. 1st graders are practicing reading in quiet, safe, on their own reading spots around our library or sharing their reading with each other at the tables. We hope to move 1st graders up to checking out two books each week very soon!

2nd graders have developed lists for how to be responsible with library books, and have also put a great deal of thinking into how we want our library to look, sound, and feel when we’re most successful. 2nd graders have been practicing “Quick Look” strategies that help keep our shelves organized and neat, and using shelf markers to think about where they might find books on certain topics. They have been especially exploring our graphic novel and chapter book sections. 2nd graders can check out two books, and many have been returning them responsibly on time! 2nd graders have also been introduced to sections of the library, and some have even built book sets for other students to browse.

Up next will be learning about parts of a book, sections of the library, and author and illustrator jobs. We are looking forward to a wonderful year in the MSS library! Please reach out with any feedback or questions about how library class is going for your child!

Morse Streets Musicians have had a great start to the year. We are enjoying making music. Classes have established Music class routines. These routines are practiced and help students develop work habits. Our routines include: entering the room and finding our seats, maintaining personal space and body control, demonstrating active listening with a voice level 0, initiating questions with a raised hand, and participating in all parts of our music time. The beginning activity has been a chance to play several of our small percussion instruments. Our first song of the year has been The Morse Street School Song. Ask your musician if they can sing this song to you.