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Specialist Quarterly Communication
2022 Issue #1
Welcome!
Our Specialists
Mrs. Comtois - Content Literacy
Mrs. Katz - Music
Mrs. Ballerini - Art
Purpose
Music
Grades 3 and 4
Up next...students will start working on ukuleles and explore the concept of harmony (more than one sound at a time).
Grade 2
Up next...Students will be playing xylophones and working on composing for them!
Grades K, 1 and CSA
Up next...students will be working on tempo (the concept of fast/slow).
Student Teachers
Mr. J: Mr. J has been with us since Halloween and will be with us until Winter Break.
Physical Education
Grades 2, 3 and 4
Students in grades 2, 3, & 4 have been learning team building games to start the year. They have been working to strategize as in a team in games such as capture the flag, steal the candy, watch your back tag, and team flag tag. Students have also learned team sports such as soccer, kickball, and baseball.
Also, they have been learning chasing and fleeing games such as Rainbow tag, Never-ending ball tag, and asteroids.
This winter our focus will shift to Project Adventure activities when we are inside the gym.
Grades K and 1
Students in grades K and 1 have been learning chasing and fleeing games such as rainbow tag, Mr. Fox, Big A little a, Cookie Monster, banana tag, and stuck in the mud. They have been working on special awareness games such as musical hoops, vroom, line races, and freeze dance.
Also, students have been working on cooperative games such as asteroids, fairy godmother tag, and parachute activities.
This winter our focus will shift to locomotor movement variations while we are inside the gym.
CSA Classrooms
Art
Grade 4
We started off the year by using a little math and studying the artist M.C.Escher. The students created a tessellation by using a flip and rotation of an equilateral triangle. They worked very hard! They are now exploring mixed media to make a textured cake using mixed media. We will be moving into Color Theory for the winter.
Grade 3
Grade 2
Grade 1
Kindergarten
Exploring is especially fun in kindergarten! The students began creating lines and shapes with different art tools! We transitioned from 2-dimensional shapes into a 3-dimensional project using lines and shapes. The students created a 3-dimensional line sculpture using pipe cleaners and beads! That was lots of fun! Next term, we will explore painting and
primary colors.
CSA (Pre-K through grade 4)
Afterschool Art and Gardening
The First and Second grade students have closed up the garden beds for the fall.
Before we closed the beds, we planted garlic and winter rye for the spring! All the students had so much fun with Mill City Grows and the garden this year!
On Mondays, the Third and Fourth grade afterschool has been working with Mill City Grows and making healthy snacks from the garden!
Content Literacy
Grade 4
We have spent the first few months busy learning in 4th grade. We began our year learning about Electricity. We had fun learning about circuits and testing out what items are insulators and conductors.
We just completed our research on the 27 countries that make up North America. Each student was given one country to learn about and then gave a quick presentation to the class on their country.
Grade 3
Grade 2
We started this year off with a quick review of Mapping Skills. We reviewed the 4 main parts of a map, the map title, map key, compass and the map scale. From there we moved onto studying the 7 continents and 5 oceans. We got to take virtual field trips to learn more about these exciting continents. Many of the students want to go and visit the places we got to see online.
We have now just begun our unit on Matter. We will be focusing on the difference between physical and Chemical changes in matter. This is a difficult concept for the students to understand but we are working hard at making sure we know the difference between them.
Grade 1
We started off the year learning about rules and laws. We talked about the difference between the two and what happens when we break a rule vs a law. We also talked about the importance of following rules and laws so that everyone stays safe.
We are currently learning about where we are on a map. One of the most important things your child needs to know is their address and phone number. We talked about why this is important. Please take time every day to practice it with your child.
Kindergarten
The Kindergarten kids have been working very hard learning the routines in Content Literacy. They have been a pleasure getting to know. We began our unit by studying our five senses. The kids had so much fun as we experimented with the different senses. We were able to go outside and take a listening walk as well as have a taste testing day where we tried to figure out if the items were bitter, sweet, salty or sour. Ask your child which one they liked the best.
We have just finished our unit on community helpers. We learned about different people who live and work in our community and how they help us out.
We are about to begin our unit on holiday traditions. We will be looking at many of the different celebrations that happen over the next month.