Special Area Newsletter

November 2024

Music with Ms. Peters

During the month of November our K-2 students will end our fall songs and will continue their adventures to catch our Rest Villain by creating, performing, and responding to a variety of musical elements and exploring music from around the world. Adventures will take students to Mexico, Hawaii and the South Pacific, and the Caribbean Islands. Students have been busy identifying, creating, and performing rhythm on a variety of instruments and singing.

3rd-5th are ending their fall songs identifying, creating, performing and responding to a variety of musical elements on a variety of instruments. Students will begin their unit on sound. Mrs. Peters was awarded a Bright Ideas Grant from the Fayette Education Foundation this year for our integrated STEM, Music, and Literacy unit. ""From Sound to Story: Exploring STEM, Music, and Literacy" is an engaging and innovative and interdisciplinary unit designed to enhance elementary students' understanding of sound while developing their literacy skills. By integrating music and STEM concepts, students will explore the science of sound through hands-on activities, experiments, and musical experiences. Through this interdisciplinary approach, students will not only gain a deeper understanding of sound but also develop crucial literacy skills such as reading, writing, and communication. Using musical instruments, sound-making materials, and interactive lessons, students will learn about the properties of sound, including pitch, volume, and frequency.

VPE will host our Veterans Day Program on November 11th at 1:00 p.m. All students will practice singing patriotic songs in music class to prepare for this great event. More information will be provided soon. Due to spacing restrictions, only veterans and their families may attend this performance. A video will be made available and shared to all.

Way to shine VPE Musicians!

Library with Ms. Ault

The book fair is coming! We are so excited for our first Scholastic book fair of the year. The fair takes place in the VPE library from November 18-22. Students will be shopping during their library class time. We will also be open during Unity Night on November 21 from 5:30-7:00. We accept credit cards, cash, check, or you can deposit money in your child’s eWallet. There is an online store you can purchase from as well and orders are shipped to your door. Be sure to look for more information coming home soon! Click here to access the Book Fair Homepage.

P.E. with Mr. Penrod

Hey VPE families! As we move into November our K-2 students will be focusing on soccer-based skills, foot-eye coordination. The 3-5 students will begin working on using 2 or more pieces of equipment during a skill, an example being hockey & lacrosse skills. All grades will also begin working on their basketball fundamentals- dribbling, scoring, and passing.

STEM with Ms. Sproles

We've been having a great time in the STEM Lab! Kindergarten and First Grade students continue to work on technology foundational skills to be independent technology users. Second grade finished our unit on biomes for now, but we will revisit at the end of the year. Third graders finished their unit on life cycles of both plants and animals. Fourth graders continue to learn about fossils and rock layers. We plan to end the unit with a fun stop motion animation project. Finally, fifth grade students finished their unit on food chains as transfers of energy. Second through Fifth grade students participated in our annual spooky STEM centers at the end of October.

Art with Ms. Masterson

Fall is in full swing in the art room, putting warm colors to good use creating some seasonal backgrounds with woodland animals. If you didn’t get a chance to order art to remember, you can still do so, but you will have to pay for shipping to your home. Thanks to everyone who has already ordered to support the art room. Up next, clay projects will begin for 3rd and 4th grade. Abstract art for lower primary, and weaving for 5th grade.

Culture with Ms. Jackson

Happy Fall everyone!! For the month of November kindergarten will continue learning about our/ their community, who is in their community, what their community looks like on maps and what goods and services are. 1st grade is learning about how the different choices they make can impact their community and what their rights and responsibilities are in school, at home and in the community. The 2nd grade students are exploring the history of North America. 3rd graders are learning about the geography around the world. 4th graders are learning about the exploration of Europeans. And 5th will be finishing up the 13 Colonies lesson, and diving into the cause of the Revolution.