It hardly seems possible that we ended the second trimester of school. The children are working hard to make up for lost learning time during the snow days! They will likely be tired this weekend after completing two full weeks in a row!
Here are some of the highlights of the week!
Mrs. Rosenkranz invited me to read to her class for Dr. Seuss day and they were great listeners. The book above called SNOW was my choice since it was once again snowing!
Kindergarten Alternatives Evening was successful. Thank you to all the guests who attended to hear about our programs for 2015-2016.
Balloons for Mr.Moon
Postponed to week of March
23
Mrs. Jeffries and her students invited me to teach a lesson to culminate their poetry unit. We learned about Haiku and everyone was able to write one. I will be displaying their efforts in the office!
From the Music Teacher:
Here
is what we learned during February…
Kindergarten: Between vacation and a few snow
days, this month flew by!! The main focus this month was keeping a steady beat
and following musical changes such as tempo (speed) and dynamics (volume). We
played many movement games where the children would need to match their
movement or singing to the changes in the music. This is a great exercise in
following directions, turn taking and utilizing/controlling motor skills. As
always, the children rise to the occasion! We reviewed the term “beat” and how
it is steady and even like a clock or a heartbeat. We practiced keeping a
steady beat while playing instruments, clapping and marching. Kindergarteners
learned many Valentine Day songs and games this month, such as “Special
Valentine”, “Skinna Marinky Dink”, and “Do you Know My Valentine”. We also
played a Valentine version of the classic song “Bingo” by changing the lyrics
to “Heart”. We used paper heart cutouts to help us with the spelling.
First Grade: This month flew by between vacation
and snow days! Many classes had a chance to sing a fun song called “No School
Tomorrow” about making a wish for a snow day….for some classes their wish came
true! We learned a new term called melody.
A melody is the part of a song that you would hum or sing to. We learned lots
of new melodies this month such as; “Do you Know My Valentine” singing game,
“Special Valentine” hand clapping game and “Doe a Deer”. We also made a
valentine variation to the song “Bingo” where we changed the song to “Heart”.
We also practiced writing rhythms using quarter (“ta”) and eighth notes
(“ti-ti”). Each student would draw either a “ta” or “ti-ti” rhythms to create a
pattern of music. We played a game called, “Composer and Musician”. We took
turns being the composer who wrote the music and the musicians who played the
music. It was important to use good listening skills and teamwork so we all
played together. It was a busy month for such a short month.
Second Grade: For a short month,
February was very busy in the music room. We learned about pitch (highness or
lowness of sound), form and composition.
We sing using solfege (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do) in every music
class. This helps to develop listening skills and improve singing voice. We
also learned that music has a form (or pattern). We used the visual of a fence
to make our own musical patterns. The long fence post represented a strong
(loud) beat and the small fence post represented a weak (soft) beat. We learned
about two special forms; the march (set of two beats) and the waltz (set of
three beats). We listened to several familiar marches and waltzes composed by
Peter Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The children enjoyed making movements to
match the music. We made an original composition using boomwhackers. Students
composed a rhythm and then divided their music into sets of two (march) or sets
of three (waltz). Then they chose two colored crayons to add pitch to the music
and matched those colors using the boomwhackers. They did a fantastic job being
composers!!
Third Grade: Recorder Karate is going very well!
The students have been very excited and working hard to achieve their belts! I
have been very impressed by their determination and motivation. We continue to
build on our note reading skills and always reviewing the sayings for the lines
and spaces. We are also practicing musicianship skills and playing together as
a group. This month we worked towards the orange belt, “Merrily We Roll Along”;
green belt, “It’s Raining”; and purple belt, “Old MacDonald”. We have learned
how to play the letter E and low D on the recorder. We reviewed rhythm
(patterns of long and short sounds) and identified various rhythms and their
duration. It was a busy month and filled with lots of recorder music! We have
also been playing a game called, “Conductor”. During “Conductor”, one student
leads the ensemble of recorder players to follow their baton while selecting
various notes to play. It is important that the ensemble follows the
conductor’s cues and cuts when the conductor stops them. It is great practice
with sight reading and self-control. Despite all the snow days and vacations,
the children have made great progress this month!!
Read Across Wrentham
Now ending March 22nd
Reminder
of goals
1gr= 375 mins
2gr=500
mins
3gr=750
mins
Roderick
4-6grs 850 mins
Mom and Son Night
Friday April 10th
7-8:30p.m.
Miss Shaw's third grade class won the Uno's
PTO fundraiser pizza lunch!
The pizza was delivered today and the
class enjoyed a special treat!
Dr. Seuss Day
Ralph Masiello , illustrator and author, was a guest for our Grade 1 classrooms. Thank you to WEST for providing the grant. The students were held in rapt attention by his lessons in drawing! The best part is that he leaves his work behind for each class. Be sure to ask to see it next time you are in a Grade 1 classroom.
Family Literacy Night was very successful. Thank you to the
families who came and participated and to the teachers and Mrs. Arnold for
coordinating the event.
Remember to spring forward!
Thank you for reading and viewing!
Colleen Wagstaff
Delaney Principal
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