Special Area Update

• In Junior Kindergarten, we have been practicing finding our letters on the keyboard
  
• Kindergarten students have completed a graph of their favorite pets, a project they started in Spanish class
• 1st grade students used Excel to create a graph
• 2nd grade students completed a slide show including transitions and animations
• 3rd grade students have begun creating a menu for a Spanish restaurant that they designed
• 4th grade used Excel to compile data and make predictions using mean and mode
• 5th grade began blogging on Kidblog, a blog for students

Junior Kindergarten has been learning about pets and farm animals.

Kindergarten has been learning about pets, zoo animals, and farm animals.

1st Grade has been learning about classroom objects and transportation.

2nd Grade has been learning about noun and adjective combinations and different activities they do.

3rd Grade has been learning about family, ownership, and most recently, parts of the body.

4th Grade has been learning about time and has started to create their daily routine.

5th Grade has been learning about ordinal numbers and time

In February Art Goes To School came to Chesterbrook Academy and shared their wonderful portfolio of works of art with all the students during their normal art class. The students learned about the art in the context of art history, aesthetics, and in an interactive presentation discussed their favorites. Don’t be surprised when your student asks you for a print of a masterpiece to hang in their bedroom. Many of the girls liked Gustav Klimt’s portrait of Mada Primavesi and students also loved the Jacob Lawrence painting.

We moved from South American to Africa this past month. The students have a variety of projects currently in process.

Junior Kindergarten is finishing the African necklaces and creating African animals with handprints.

Kindergarten is finishing their Ilurkes (African fly Swatters).

First Grade is finishing their dancing African animal collages.

Second Grade is finishing their African Story Teller hats.

Third Grade is working on African Masks.

Fourth Grade is weaving bags.

Fifth Grade is still working on their Egyptian Sarcophagus drawings.

HEALTH:

JK: The Junior Kindergarten students finished a unit on germs. They are able to identify what germs are and how to stop the spread of them.

K: The Kindergarten students finished a unit on Home and Travel Safety. Throughout the chapter the students learned how to recognize emergencies and ways to respond appropriately.

1st: The First grade students finished a unit on Keeping Active. Throughout the chapter the students learned and discussed activities that enhance individual health throughout life, such as getting enough sleep, good nutrition, and daily exercise.

2nd: The second grade students finished a unit on Keeping Fit and Active. Throughout the chapter they learned how exercise helps keep the body healthy, ways to exercise safety, and how sleep affects the body.

3rd: The third grade students finished a unit on Activity for a Healthy Body. Throughout the chapter they learned how to keep their bodies fit. They also learned how to stay safe while taking part in physical activities. The last topic covered in the chapter was sleep and how it impacts the body.

4th: The fourth grade students finished a unit on Food and Your Health. The students worked together in group to research one of the six basic nutrients. After researching their assigned nutrient each group created a visual then presented to the class. They were then required to create their own food group booklet identifying the five food groups from MyPlate.

5th: The fifth grade students finished a unit on Being a Wise Consumer. They worked together in pairs to create an advertisement for a health care product. Upon finishing their health care product advertisement they presented them to the class.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION:

Jk-5th: The students finished a unit on gaga ball, a form of dodge ball that is played in an octagon pit. The students used their dodging and striking skills to remain in the game.

This month in music we learned a lot and had a bunch of fun at the same time!!!

JK and Kindergarten learned a lot of different dances, including the box step, swing step and we even did a dragon dance during Chinese New Year!

The older kids have been busy composing various pieces this month. This is a fun way to reinforce music reading, writing, and performance skills. 1st grade composed a rhythm piece, 2nd grade composed a 2 instrument rhythm piece, 3rd grade composed a piece called “The Imperial Marimba”, 4th grade composed a piece for marimba using a pitch class, and 5th grade begin writing the music for their opera based loosely on the Ant and the Grasshopper.