Specialist Communicator

Welcome to our new and improved specialist quarterly communication, now using Smore! We think this will be a better way to communicate! Check out the wonderful things we're doing in Art, PE, Content Literacy and Music!

The purpose of this quarterly newsletter is to update families about what each special is working on with your children!

So far...students have been working on reading rhythms for music and applying them to playing recorders. They learned the history of recorders and have been playing together on songs such as "Eye of the Tiger". They have also started working on their concert song for this year.

Up next...students will continue to play the recorder but the focus will be reading pitch notation independently. They will learn about the staff, lines and spaces, and the note names for the notes they've been playing on the recorders.

So far...students started the year learning about instrument families: the percussion family, woodwind family, brass family and the string family. Recently, students have been working on rhythms.

Up next...students will be learning about the treble clef and music staff and the notes on the lines and spaces. They will also begin to work on their concert song for their show!

So far...students have been learning all about the fundamentals of music: beat, pitch and rhythms using iconic notation. They have been singing together as a group and playing instruments. They also learned a Russian folk dance called "Sasha" - be sure to ask them about it!

Up next...students will be working on more songs, learning about tempo and working on their concert songs.

Washington students have participated in a variety of athletic activities so far this year. Units we covered include soccer, baseball, frisbee, and football. All grades are learning skills to throw, catch and control objects. 3rd and 4th grades are applying their skills while learning about spacing and strategic movement. Within each unit, we practice skills and apply them using a variety of games and races.

In the future we will explore basketball, hockey and racket games like pickleball. We will also revisit units already covered and apply skills we learned this fall.

Students have done a wonderful job meeting our most important expectations in P.E. We play safely, treat ourselves and others with respect, and give our best effort all the time. Teamwork and sportsmanship are things we practice with every game we play. We exercise, learn about being healthy, and most importantly HAVE FUN.

4th graders have been working hard on a unit about TEXTURE (how something feels). They created dragon eyes using a glass bead and clay. The object was to make the surface look and feel like a dragon’s skin. The classes painted them this week and they look amazing!

3rd graders are working on a unit on SURREAL

art ( dream-like, fantasy). They looked at art made by Joan Miro to get some ideas. Using the COLLAGE(cut paper assembled together) method, students designed a creature and placed it in a setting that would highlight the surreal qualities.

2nd graders are looking at art from around the world. The current project focuses on art in India and the celebrations where unique elephant art is displayed. The students created their own elephants using wrinkled paper to decorate with fabric, paper, ribbon and other materials to show how the elephants are honored in the culture.

1st graders are working on SYMMETRY (same on both sides). They created a painting using the method of adding paint and then folding the paper to make a symmetrical image. They will be using this along with other materials to complete their project.

Kindergarteners have been busy using many different tools and materials in the proper ways. We have focused on using just enough glue (dot, dot, not a lot) and cutting safely with our scissors pointed away allowing the helping hand to turn the paper and finishing with proper clean up routines.

CSA Pre-K students have been very creative making art while exploring different materials and focusing on shapes and colors. Each week they try their hardest and have been practicing good classroom routines.

CSA classes have been focusing on the seasons. They have been creating fall windsocks, winter sweaters and snowflakes with a variety of materials and tools. Students are focusing on following directions for the materials while they use their creativity to make their art.

We have had a busy start to the school year. The students had fun learning all about electricity. We had the chance to do many experiments to understand how electricity works and how it travels. We also learned the difference between conductors and insulators. We then began our first research project. The students were all given one of the 24 countries in North America. They were then given the chance to be the experts and teach the class about their country. Many had fun bringing in money from different countries and showing it off. We have finished this marking period by participating in the National Hour of Code week. We are learning a lot in computer programming. The students are hoping to be able to use our new coding robots soon.

We have had a busy start to the school year. We started the year by looking at climate and temperature around the world. We first had to learn what the difference between the two were. To complete this unit we had a visit from Channel 5 meteorologist Kelly Ann Cicalese. We then moved on to our study of indigenous people focusing on the Wampanoag tribe. The students learned many things about how the Wampanoags did things and still do today. As a fun project the students were asked to construct a new home that would protect our Wampanoags from the elements. The students had fun working in groups using the Engineering Design Process to work through this project and testing it out as a class. We have begun our unit on the 13 colonies and will move onto the American Revolution when we return from winter break.

This year the students started by learning about the 7 continents and the 5 oceans. We visited each continent to learn more about the people, the land, the animals and traditions in the area. The students were asked to identify these locations on a map as they will need this skill again in 3rd grade. We then extended what they were learning in their classrooms and looked at the difference between physical and chemical changes in matter. We even did an experiment to look at chemical reactions. The students all want to try making a homemade volcano at home when the weather is nicer. We are currently working on learning about landforms and how they are important to our Earth.

Our first graders have been working hard this year. Our first unit consisted of us learning about where we are on a map. The most important things you students should know is their address and phone number. We talked a lot about why we need to know this information. We also looked at different parts of the map and how to use them. We then moved on to what are the differences between rules and laws and how they are important to people to help keep us safe. We are currently learning about weather. We will be looking at how to be a weather watcher, who are meteorologists and what tools do they use to forecast the weather.

The kindergarten students have been adjusting to specials nicely. We began our first unit by looking at our 5 senses. We did lots of experimenting with our senses. We took a listening walk in the yard, taste tested items to see if we could determine how they tasted and even used our noses to identify what things were by the way they smelt. We then started talking about community helpers and what they do for us. We took some time to decorate cards during this unit that are being sent to soldiers who are currently serving overseas. Right now we are finishing our unit on Traditions around the world. We have been looking at how people in different countries celebrate the many winter holidays and comparing them to what we do.