Sylvan Park Related Arts Newsletter

We are pleased to welcome you back to school. In this newsletter, the related arts teachers have outlined the essential learning in art, music, physical education, and Spanish. As always, please contact us with any questions.

The Sylvan Park Related Arts Team

In Art we are drawing bugs, parrots, and still lifes with kindergarten, 1st ,and 2nd grades. In 3rd and 4th, we are creating foil sculptures and 2 point perspective drawings. We are also planning to do a ceramic clay project with each grade this nine weeks, but unfortunately our kiln is having some electrical problems. We have contacted Metro to repair the problem and are hopeful it will be soon. Please encourage your child to bring their art work home when pieces are given back. I have a few students who are reluctant to take their art home. Thank you for all your support and the generous and sweet gifts before the holidays!!! Blessings from the Art Department.

Dear Parents,

I am so excited to be teaching music here at Sylvan Park! Music has been such an important part of my life and I am so glad I have the opportunity to share it with these wonderful students. I started music lessons at the age of 3 and have never been without it since. Fall of 2008 saw me moving from Houston, Texas to Nashville to attend Belmont University where I was lucky enough to be a member of Belmont’s top choir, the Belmont University Chorale. I graduated in May of 2012 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. My love for music has taken me around the world and enriched my life in so many ways. I look forward to sharing the power and joy of music with the students here at Sylvan Park!

In kindergarten this quarter, we will focus on interpreting iconic notation for steady beat and rhythm, exploring different ways we use our voices, and the solfege pitches of “so” and “mi,” among other things. First grade will also work on solfege and add the pitch “la,” as well as compose “so-mi” patterns and practice rhythmic dictation. Second grade will read and create rhythms using note values from paired eighth notes up to half notes and half rests. They will also learn the solfege pitch “re” and discuss musical forms and phrasing. In third grade, we will focus on reading music from the staff using solfege, practice playing a basic accompaniment in duple meter, and practice improvising question and answer phrases using percussion. Fourth grade will also work on reading music from the staff using solfege, as well as playing accompaniments, and improvising rhythmic and tonal patterns using all of the solfege and note values we have learned so far.

I also wanted to say a big thank you for the gifts that I received before Christmas break; that made my start at Sylvan Park truly special! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Emily Biederstadt
Emily.biederstadt@mnps.org

(615) 298-8423 ext. 105

This nine week our focus will be stunts and tumbling and jump roping skills. February will kick off our Jump Rope for Heart. Students will be discussing the heart and how it works. Students will bring home information the week of January 27, 2014.

As always, safety of all of our students is most important to us. Please remind your children the necessity of following the physical education rules consistently. The rules are as follows:

1. Be safe. (Stop- Look and listen on whistle signal).

2. Be able to cooperate with others.

3. Be respectful to others and equipment.

4. Work hard.

5. Have fun.

Thank you for your support at home.

Coach Goad & Coach Scott

In Spanish, as part of our schedule, we will continue to reinforce ongoing vocabulary and themes such as greetings, calendar, weather, seasons, conversation, and numbers. All grade levels will focus on family, body vocabulary, and cognates. Kindergarten and first grade have important counting goals to reach by the end of the nine weeks. Additionally, second, third, and fourth grade will learn how to tell time in Spanish. Spanish classes will explore culture through the paintings of Joan Miró, Hispanic Folktales, and the wonders of South America. I am sending home a more detailed grade-level learning outline this week.

Finally, thank you for the thoughtful, delicious, and delightful gifts and warm holiday wishes that sent me off merrily to Christmas break. May you have many happy Spanish thoughts this nine weeks!

Sra. Poole