Art, Music, PE, and LMC Informational Newsletter

Ms.Kochanek & Mrs. Nickel

What have we discovered in Art so FAR?

Monday and Tuesday Art Classes

If you are interested and available to help put up/take down art work, please e-mail me at Patty_Kochanek@ipsd.org. The schedule is extremely flexible, and I could really use the help! Thank you! -Patty Kochanek, Monday & Tuesday ART K-5.

Thursday and Friday Art Classes

Thank you for coming by the art room during Open House and introducing yourselves! IT was a fun night! If anyone is interested in helping out in the art room by matting artwork or sending out notices for the Fine Arts Festival or helping out with displaying art work in the hallways please contact me at denise_nickel@ipsd.org.

Kindergarten used model magic clay to create snowflakes. Model Magic is very clean clay. It looks like marshmallows. Many students really enjoy creating with it and ask where they can buy it. Target, I believe, still sells the colored packets and Michaels and Hobby Lobby sell bigger white packets. The white packets are fun because the kids can color it themselves. Next, the students will be learning a bit about Chinese New Year in art. They will create a Chinese New Year dragon.

1st graders will be experimenting with clay, creating pinch pots, coil pots and sculptures from modeling clay. The modeling clay is just for practice. The final project will be a coil pot made with Model Magic that they can take home.

2nd graders will be entering the I-Search calendar contest that is sponsored by the Naperville Police. The theme is Safety in the Community. Students will come up with a slogan then support the slogan with their art.

3rd graders will be starting a weaving unit. We will be reviewing watercolor techniques as well as learning new one. We will be using multimedia in our weavings.

4th graders will also be entering the I Search calendar contest sponsored by the Naperville Police.

5th graders will be learning about Leonardo di Vinci. We will discuss The Last Supper and see how Leonardo used 1 point perspective. Students will then write a word of their choice in block letters and add 1 point perspective to them to make it appear to be 3-d on a flat format.

Mrs. HandyThe following titles are books either about music, or ones that I use in music class that have a song attached to them. I used this list last year as well, so you might already have read these books!

“Do, Re, Mi- If you can read music, thank Guido d’Arezzo” by Susan L. Roth (1st grade in Jan.) It tells the TRUE story of how solfege (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) was created as well as the music staff.

“Can You Hear It?” with The Metropolitan Museum of Art (various grades throughout the year)This book pairs well known music pieces with well known art pieces from the Met. Fabulous questions and great music and visual art!

“Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin” by Lloyd Moss (2nd grade in the fall)Tells a rhyming story of different instruments in the orchestra and the different instrument families in the orchestra.

“Tracks in the Snow” by Wong Herbert Yee (2nd grade in Jan.)This is a cute winter story with a repeating phrase. This phrase turns into a little song and musical accompaniment in the 2nd grade music classroom.

“Baby Beluga” Illustrated by Ashley Wolff (Kinder. in the spring)This version also has the melody printed in the back cover.

“Anansi the Spider” a tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott(5th grade in the spring)The folk tale of a spider and his many sons. Students will act out the tale, with instruments and movement representing each son.

“Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?” by Dr. Suess (2nd grade in Feb.)Students will pick different instruments to represent all the sounds in the book.

“We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rose and Helen Oxenbury (Kinder. In the spring) Students will pick different instruments to represent all the sounds in the book.

4th Grade:

Students will learn about Dvorak a Romantic composer from Europe.

Once the recorders come in, students will continue working on recorder. They will start working on a curriculum called Recorder Karate.

Two items that will help your student succeed with recorder: Remind students to bring their recorder to music! If a student forgets their recorder 3 times or more their music grade will drop. Students should PRACTICE recorder at home. If your student is having difficulty learning a piece, please have them practice it at home.

5th Grade:

We are finishing up the ukulele unit. All the students have worked hard learning the ukulele. They will be able to revisit it during the Rock unit in March.

Students will begin writing a rhythmic composition in 6/8 or 4/4 time. This composition will be used for many things, including collaboration with a partner, and a melodic composition later this spring.

Students will also continue reading music and singing/playing in 4 parts. They will review 2 composers this month: Dvorak and Mozart.

3rd grade:

Students will start February by performing “The Napping House” by Audrey Wood for Kindergarten.

We will study Stravinsky and “The Firebird” in February.

During February students will begin learning recorder, an early woodwind instrument. In a couple weeks students will bring home a small packet of music, recorder finger charts, and music theory worksheets to help them master recorder. Please help your student practice this packet- it will help them immensely in music class.

2nd Grade:

February will be spent producing a drama of Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite.” This will help us understand how to show a story based in music with no words.

We will also play some games to help us understand dynamics in music (louds and softs).

At the end of the month students will work on “Mr. Brown can Moo! Can You?” by Dr. Suess.

1st Grade:

We finished reading “Do, Re, Mi- If you can read music, thank Guido d’Arezzo.” This is the true story of solfege (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) and western music notation. We are beginning to write music notation (line and space notes) and we are working on direction in music (ups and downs/ high and low pitches).

We will continue singing play party games and reviewing Tchaikovsky- the man who wrote “The Nutcracker Ballet” and “Swan Lake Ballet.”

Kindergarten:

We are still studying George Frederic Handel from the baroque era. He wrote lots of pieces. We are now listening to music from King George II, “Royal Fireworks Music.” It really is from a fireworks presentation.

This month we are singing and playing music about bears and other animals. “Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rose will be paired with musical instruments. We will continue keeping the steady beat using bean bags.

Mr. Folley

CURRICULUM

I’M BACK!!!!! After an extended holiday break and time with my little girl it is time to get back to work. The month of February is going to be very busy in PE. We will start with volleyball and learning the basic fundamentals of the sport. Lower levels will be introduced to volleyball but really be focusing on hand-eye coordination.

Later in February we will be learning the heart and how it works in our body. We will discuss the valves, the chambers, arteries, veins, and the lungs. Students will run through an obstacle course that demonstrates the blood flow. 5th grade students will be having an in depth test at the end of this unit.

TestingFor grades 3-5 there will be some written tests coming up. Most of these tests we will be using google documents on the computers here at school. I am also going to be doing some testing in cooperative groups. I will be stressing to the students our learning targets for PE and reminding them that the responsibility of learning is on them. Ask your child what our learning targets are. Hopefully they can tell you but if they need a reminder you can find them on the PE wesite.

NEWSWe all know that eating healthy is important to our health. Students learn about the food pyramid and study nutrients and vitamins and the importance of a balanced diet. The below link will take you to an article about the timing of your eating and how important it is to your health when working out and to gain every benefit.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/366767-eating-schedule-and-factors-of-exercise/

Mrs. McHale Mrs. Sassano

Our reading incentives are well underway. As a reminder, our two incentives are the Six Flags: Read to Succeed and Ozzie’s Reading Club.

For the Six Hour Reading Club:

Students must read a total of 6 hours. Students who submit tally sheets receive a coupon for a free admission ticket to Great America. If you do not have enough room on the first sheet, just attach a piece of loose leaf with the dates,

what was read, amount of time read, and parent initials.

For Ozzie’s Reading Club:

Program runs eight weeks. Students submit forms every two weeks. Students receive prizes for each base attained. Students who hit a "home run" by making their goal all four times earn a free ticket to a Kane

County Cougars baseball game.

Remember that it is okay to double dip and count the same minutes toward both incentives.

Kinders will be taking another look at Destiny, and they will learn that they can search for books by author and title. They will learn how to tell if a book is currently in the library. They will also review that call numbers are the key to finding books, and that the library is organized into sections including easy fiction, fiction, and non-fiction. These concepts were introduced in December and reviewed in January.

During the month of February, Owen students will be voting for their favorite books from the Monarch list (Grades K-3), Rebecca Caudill list (Grades 4-8), and Bluestem list (Grades 3-5). The boys and girls have been reading and hearing these stories since last year, and they are excited to participate in selecting these children’s choice state awards.

The lists of nominees for all three of these awards have just been released for next year. To view these lists, see bottom of page for this month.

First graders will be learning about searching by title, author, subject and series. They will also be looking the browse feature, which will help them find titles and authors when correct spelling is a challenge. They will also take a closer look at the book summaries in each record. These concepts were also practiced in December and January.

Second graders will be learning about our databases during January and February. We will begin with Kids infobits. We will continue to work on our “Super 3” research projects. We are creating a class PowerPoint on an animal. (2J Pandas, 2W Polar Bears, and 2L Grizzly Bears)

Third graders will continue to look at our databases, and we will use the online encyclopedias as well. Allow your child to try this from home. Just log on to the patron catalog and use the username and password that your child uses at school.

Fourth graders will be looking at the 2012 reading lists for the Bluestem and Rebecca Caudill readers’ choice awards. We will also be doing an author study of Jon Scieszka, since he will be in Naperville in March. All fourth graders will have the opportunity to hear him speak.

To visit Owen’s Internet home page, go to the LMC section, and click on “Search Owen’s patron catalog.” Log in using the username and password that your child uses at school. Under the heading “Book Awards,” take a look at links to the book awards your children will be voting for this month.

Fifth graders will be looking at the 2012 reading lists for the Bluestem and Rebecca Caudill readers’ choice awards. We will be using the “Big 6” research model to review the steps students can take toward completing a research project for school. Included in this model is a strong emphasis on citing sources. We use the MLA model. Students will review using the, Citations & Bibliography tab under References in Microsoft Word 7. Students will also work with Easybib, to see which citation creator works best for them.