Trimester Three Unified Arts Reports

                                                          Unified Arts Report 2011-12

Grade One

Trimester Three

Maple Avenue Elementary School

Art: The visual arts make contributions to the education of young people that extend beyond their intrinsic value.  Not only do the arts enhance the learning environment in important ways, but research shows consistent and positive correlation between learning experiences in the arts and enhanced student achievement in other aspects of the curriculum (except from SAU 19 Visual Arts curriculum)

We have been working with shape, form, and texture during the last trimester.  We have made clowns from big stars, learned about weaving, discovered how to identify spring peepers, and then constructed one in 3D. We studied robins; their colors, song and habitat, and made a puppet style one on her nest. We learned a lesson from the book Rainbow Fish, and recreated a page from the story. We also saw how sunflowers have been a favorite of artists (even young ones).  Have a happy, healthy, and creative summer!!     

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown

First graders started the trimester off finishing up our juggling unit.  The students had a great time working on their hand-eye-coordination through this fun, non-competitive activity.  We followed juggling with volleyball.  Here, the students got to learn basic skills required to play, which included: bumping, serving, and how to keep score.  The classes also learned the rich history related to this sport.  Their favorite part of the unit was using the “dinosaur” ball to play against each other!  This oversized ball is bigger than some of the students and truly added some excitement to the game!  Jai-alai was the next unit that we worked on.  This fast paced game, which is commonly played during the summer, uses scoops to throw and catch a ball.  It is a great activity to work on coordination as well as tracking skills.  The students had a great time, especially when we played a traditional style Jai-alai game in the gym.  The classes were then introduced to pillo polo, which is very similar to floor hockey.  The classes had a blast with this high energy, fast paced game.  We ended the year being introduced to golf.  The first graders touched on the history of the game, but focused primarily on putting!  Many of the students were very excited to learn this skill, especially with summer coming and the mini-golf courses opening up!  I hope you have a great summer, and remember to get out and play!

Music: “Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.” –Jim Henson

This trimester has been great in the first grade. As the season changed from winter to spring we sang a great song called “Spring is Coming.” All of the students had a chance to play some percussion instruments to accompany the song with great sounds effects. In the early spring we also got to sing a great song called “Pretty Butterflies.” Not only did the students learn to sing the song in English, they also learned to sing it in French!                                                                                                                                        In May, we spent all of our time learning to sing “I Love My Country.” This was the song that the children sang at the Memorial Day assembly. In class we focused on singing with good tone production, diction, and breath support. The students did a great job and they sounded wonderful. The children had a wonderful time learning the sign language for the song.                                                                                                               For the last few weeks of school the students have been learning to sing a song in Spanish! Through this song, the children have learned how to say different parts of their body in Spanish!                                                                                                                        It has been a great year in first grade music. I look forward to seeing all of the students again next year in second grade!

Unified Arts Report 2011-12

Grade Two

Trimester Three

Maple Avenue/ Bartlett Elementary School

Art: The visual arts make contributions to the education of young people that extend beyond their intrinsic value.  Not only do the arts enhance the learning environment in important ways, but research shows consistent and positive correlation between learning experiences in the arts and enhanced student achievement in other aspects of the curriculum (except from SAU 19 Visual Arts curriculum)

We have learned more about shape, positive and negative space, and color in our third trimester together. Projects have included:  Fractional shapes; integrating math into art. Kite shaped sun catchers gave us the chance to advance our cutting skills. We were weaving in the shape of NH animals of the wetlands, which allowed us to integrate with science. We reviewed hot and cold colors in a challenging graph paper flower shape, and enjoyed crayon resist in a sunny day project.   Have a happy, healthy, creative summer!

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown

Second graders started the trimester off by working on their hand-eye-coordination through our juggling unit.  The students really enjoyed using a variety of equipment, but really liked trying out the stilts! Next we moved into volleyball.  Here the classes learned about the history of the game, along with skills needed to play the game.  After reviewing how to bump the ball, we focused on serving.  This allowed us to play a more structured game when the time came.  The students learned about rally scoring this year and we put their math skills to work through a variety of fun games.  One of their favorite classes was when we played a game using our oversized “dinosaur” ball.  Our next unit was jai-alai, which is a popular summertime game that many of the students already play.  We worked on overhand throwing this year, as well as catching and scooping the ball.  The classes really liked playing a true jai-alai game in the gym!  Our classes then moved into pillo polo, which is a modified version of floor hockey.  The classes played a number of different games, but focused on passing, trapping and controlling the ball.  We finished the trimester off with introducing them to golf.  We focused the first day on putting, along with some basic history.  The next few classes worked on chipping the ball toward a target.  The students seemed to enjoy this unit, especially with the oversized introductory clubs we used!  I hope you have a great summer.  I challenge you to get out and play!

Music: “Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.” –Jim Henson                                                                                                    This trimester has been great in the second grade. A main focus for this part of the school year has been on dynamics. Students got to sing a great song called Piano Forte. Through singing and moving to this song, the children were able to learn all of the Italian words for sound that is loud, medium, soft, etc.                                                                                                In May, we spent all of our time learning to sing “In Service of our Country.” This was the song that the students sang at the Memorial Day assembly. In class, we focused on singing with good tone production, diction, and breath support. The students did a great job and they sounded wonderful.                                                                         In June students learned about jazz by reading a great book called “The Jazz Fly.” The children had a really fun time singing and moving along to the jazz music. The children also got a chance to try playing string instruments in class. It has been a great year in second grade music class, I look forward to seeing all of the children again next year in third grade, where they may elect to play a string instrument.

                                                  Unified Arts Report 2011-12

                                                              Grade Three

                                                            Trimester Three

                                      Maple Avenue/ Bartlett Elementary School

Art: The visual arts make contributions to the education of young people that extend beyond their intrinsic value.  Not only do the arts enhance the learning environment in important ways, but research shows consistent and positive correlation between learning experiences in the arts and enhanced student achievement in other aspects of the curriculum (except from SAU 19 Visual Arts curriculum)

We have spent the third trimester together studying the way shape is used in art.

We learned about the artist Henri Matisse, who used paper cut into shapes in much of his later work. We created an underwater scene in his style, integrating with the science curriculum.  Also keeping with the science curriculum, we discovered the beauty of the aurora borealis; it’s mysterious causes and ancient legends, then designed our own with a stencil process.  We revisited the concept of negative space, and created an interesting tangled vine picture. With the project, students were able to apply what they have been learning in math class about division. We then worked with the math inspired art of MC Escher, especially his puzzle-like tessellations.  What an impressive job the kids did on this project!  Have a happy, healthy, and creative summer!

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown

Third grade had an exciting time finishing up their juggling unit. During this time, they got to use numerous types of juggling equipment that they haven’t had a chance to use before.  One of their favorites was the diablo’s, which is like an oversized yo-yo.  During our volleyball unit, the focus was more on playing an actual game while working on bumping and serving.  We played several modified games that work on the basic volleyball skills, however using the oversized “dinosaur” ball was their favorite.  One of the highlights of the whole year for third grade was finally getting to participate in lacrosse.  Here we learned about this great sport and its rich history.  We focused on throwing, catching, and cradling.  We even had a fun shooting event that the students loved! Pillo polo was our newest unit here at Maple Ave.  This modified version of floor hockey was a tiring, but exciting unit for the students.  After working on passing, trapping, and controlling the ball with the sticks, we played a number of high energy games!  Our last unit of the year focused on the lifetime activity of golf.  Here the students learned about the history of the game, but focused their time on putting and chipping.  It was great to see the fun they were having while playing a game they thought was for old people!  I challenge you to get out and play this summer!

Music: “Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.” –Jim Henson This trimester has been great in the third grade. At the beginning of the trimester we finished our recorder lessons for the year. The students came very far in learning to read music using the recorder. Students should make sure they keep recorders and books because we have another recorder unit in the 4th grade. In May, we spent all of our time learning to sing “God Bless the U.S.A.” This was the song that the students sang at the Memorial Day assembly. In class, we focused on singing with good tone production, diction, and breath support. The children did a great job and they sounded wonderful. For the last few weeks of school, the children have been singing and moving to various silly songs. It has been a great year in third grade music class.  I look forward to seeing all of the children again next year in fourth grade!

Unified Arts Report 2011-12

Grade Four

Trimester Three

Maple Avenue and Bartlett Elementary School

Art: The visual arts make contributions to the education of young people that extend beyond their intrinsic value.  Not only do the arts enhance the learning environment in important ways, but research shows consistent and positive correlation between learning experiences in the arts and enhanced student achievement in other aspects of the curriculum (except from SAU 19 Visual Arts curriculum)  

We have been studying shape, balance, and movement in art class this trimester.  Circles and fractions were the catalyst for pictures that were comprised of the circle parts we made.  This was a nice integration with math. The artistic “firsts” of Picasso gave students a chance to be wild and crazy in their Picasso style portraits with mixed up faces and bright colors.   The great but tragic artist Van Gogh was studied and we then created a replica of his famous “Starry Night”. We rounded out the trimester with a fun stick figure and negative space project reminiscent of Paul Klee’s art.   Have a happy, healthy, and creative summer!  I will miss all my art students, and I know they will enjoy art at the middle school.

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown

            The fourth graders started off the trimester finishing up their juggling unit.  They really seemed to have a great time working on hand-eye-coordination through this non-traditional activity.    Volleyball was the next unit we covered during PE.  Here the classes played a number of different modified volleyball games that worked on bumping, serving, and scorekeeping.  Lacrosse was the next unit we did.  The classes focused more on cradling and shooting this year than in third grade.  The classes got a workout trying to complete the running course that was set up for them, while cradling the lacrosse ball.  The classes then moved into a new unit called pillo polo.  This game is a modified version of floor hockey, and the students loved it!  We played a number of different games, and the classes left the gym exhausted!  We finished the year up by introducing golf, specifically putting.  The students really liked learning the game and are looking forward to putting their new learned skills to use this summer playing mini golf!  I have enjoyed working with your students over the last four years and wish them the best of luck!

Music: “Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry, music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.” –Jim Henson                                                                                                   This trimester has been great in music class. We began the trimester with a conducting unit. The children learned the most common patterns that conductors use. All of the students conducted many pieces of music together as a class. The children even got to hold rhythm stick batons while they conducted.                                                                  Also during the trimester, children learned all of the different words that we use to classify the number of people performing at once... solo, duet, trio, quartet, etc. Ask your child if they can name all of the different sized performing groups up to ten people.              In May, we spent all of our time learning to sing “Thank You, Soldiers.” This was the song that the students sang at the Memorial Day assembly. In class, we focused on singing with good tone production, diction, and breath support. The students did a great job and they sounded wonderful.                                                                                           During the last few weeks of school, the children learned about how the larynx (voice box) works and how to classify different types of voices.                                           It has been a great year in fourth grade. I wish all of the fourth graders the best of luck in middle school and I really hope many Maple Avenue students will consider joining the band, orchestra, or chorus at Mountain View Middle School.

End of the School Year

Well, here we are  less than 5 weeks away from the end of the school year.

Tonight is our Annual Literacy and the Arts Night at 6:30 at MAES.
There is a new addition to take a look at and take part in.   Scattered throughout the school are  fine art prints surrounded by student art that ties together. A question to think about and respond to is posted along side the art. I can't wait to see what students say!

We are working on some of the favorites of the year right now; Starry Night, Matisse,  animal weaving, Rainbow Fish...   saving these favorites for the end of the year helps students stay focused a little longer!!!

Second Trimester Unified Art Reports

Unified Arts Report
Grade One
Trimester Two
Maple Avenue Elementary School

Art: Art was the first language.
I have seen tremendous growth in our first grade students since the first trimester report was written. Routines have become well established for art class.
Since the beginning of December, we have been working with concepts in line and shape. When a line bends, a shape begins. We worked with pipe cleaners to create a three dimensional work of art and we drew an abstract geometric design, after learning what those terms meant. The holiday season was then upon us, and we put together some cute thematic projects. Shapes, shapes, shapes…Hexagons and triangles, along with winter symbols were the subject for a picture in January. A star became a colorful clown! Circles are everywhere, so we had some fun with snowmen that were dressed any way a student could imagine! The PFT fundraiser “Originalworks” was on the agenda during art time and we have finished up with leprechaun finders, a favorite of first graders!

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
This trimester has been a blast working and playing in PE. The first graders are growing, not just physically, but mentally too. They are grasping more and more concepts related to moving and controlling their bodies. Their increased coordination is allowing them more success at the activities that we are doing. The trimester started off with the students working on a lifetime activity, bowling. Through bowling, the students learned how to roll the ball correctly, keep score, and set the pins up. We kept our score electronically this year, which the classes found very exciting seeing their scores posted up on the wall. The students then moved into our dance unit, which is a perennial favorite. Here they explored using their bodies to move in a variety of ways to a variety of different music styles. Free dancing at Club Maple was a favorite during this time. We followed dancing up with rock climbing. Here the students worked on this non-traditional physical activity that is more individual based. The students learned a lot about decision making and planning during this time. We are now learning about rhythm and body control by juggling in physical education. Here the classes are working on a variety of balancing activities like balancing feathers, yo-yo’s, and juggling scarves.

Music: Music education opens doors that helps children pass from school into the world around them –a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. –Gerald Ford

This trimester in music we spent a lot of time on listening to “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns. The children drew pictures of what each animal sounded like it was doing at the carnival. The children were very imaginative and did a great job with this project.
Students have also been learning how to read simple rhythms in music this trimester. The children all sang a song called “Partner, Partner” that they all really enjoyed. Students were given the actual sheet music to this song to analyze! The students also got to participate in a fun “Partner, Partner” dance.
The last unit in the second trimester is a series of songs to welcome spring. The students sang a song called “Rain Sings a Song.” Students were given the opportunity to play rain sound effects with a variety of different instruments including rain sticks and the thunder tube!


Unified Arts Report
Grade Two
Trimester Two
Maple Avenue Elementary School

Art: Art was the first language.
We have been focusing on line and shape in this trimester. We revisited the concept of geometric shape in art and brain stormed objects that were comprised of those shapes. Students created their own geometric shape compositions and added color with colored pencil. A lesson on the use of colored pencil taught them to use short strokes, in one direction. The holiday season was then upon us, and we made some fun thematic projects. In January the concept of natural shape and manufactured shape was discussed. We talked about the career of the designer and discovered that almost everything we see and use started out in the mind of an artist/designer of some sort. To put the information to use, students became ice skate designers. Wild and crazy ideas were encouraged. The size and placement of objects in a drawing or painting creates the illusion of depth in art, and we tried that out in a watercolor/drawing artwork with animals as the subject matter. The PFT fundraiser “Originalworks’ was worked on in the art room.


Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
Second graders are having a blast in PE this year. They are not just being introduced to the activities and touching on them, but they are fully involved with them! During this second trimester, we started off with our bowling unit. The students had a lot more success this year posting higher scores. The students also worked on using just one hand to roll the ball compared to the two handed between the legs roll we see in first grade. The biggest change to this unit was having the students track their scores electronically. The classes then moved into our dance unit, which is one of the yearly favorites. The children did a great job exploring different body movements during this unit. The classes learned a number of line dances as well as free danced. The dance to “Dynamite” was one of the favorites. Rock climbing was the next unit we covered in physical education. This activity is all about decision making and planning. The classes did very well during this and made tremendous progress in their planning from week to week. We are now in our juggling unit. They are beginning to show the ability to keep something balanced by moving it on a much larger scale. Instead of just scarves, a majority of the students can keep two balls moving in a toss/toss/catch/catch pattern. A number of students are able to get the plates spinning on the stick themselves this year too!

Music: Music education opens doors that helps children pass from school into the world around them –a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. –Gerald Ford

This trimester in music we spent a lot of time looking deeper into what musical notation looks like. The children sat around a giant staff floor mat and used small stuffed critters to help them learn the letter names of all of the lines and spaces in treble clef (not to be confused with terrible cliff.) Students learned lots of funny memory tricks to remember the names of spaces and lines on the staff. One of the favorite tricks for remembering the names of the line was: Elephants Go Bouncing Down Freeways! The students also got a chance to write a little bit of music on their own, which I played for them on the piano.
The second part of the trimester, we explored my favorite musical topic-opera! To avoid much confusion, we had a long discussion on what the difference was between opera and Oprah. We spent many weeks listening to “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Initially, the students listened to the opera entirely in German and created comic books to illustrate what they imagined was happening. It was amazing to see how many students came very close to the actual plot of the opera with their pictures. To conclude this unit, we watched a video of an actual staged version of the opera. Students were glued to the video while it played. I even had students ask me if we could watch more operas! The children did a great job with this unit! Bravo! Brava! Bravissimo!


Unified Arts Report
Grade Three
Trimester Two
Maple Avenue Elementary School

Art: Art was the first language.
We continued with our work involving shape and line, completing an abstract geometric composition in colored pencil. Neat, professional colored pencil work was stressed. The holiday season was then upon us, and we made some fun thematic projects. Science in art was a focus of our discovery of the Aurora Borealis, where students created beautiful “ribbons of light in the sky”. The PFT fundraiser “Originalworks” art projects were completed in art class. We are starting to work with the theme of space at this time, to integrate into the classrooms.

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
This trimester flew by in PE. We started it off with a lifetime activity, bowling. Here the students worked in teams honing in on their bowling skills along with scorekeeping abilities. The classes really liked the ability to track their scores electronically this year. Following bowling, the classes moved into our dance unit. Here they worked on learning a number of line dances as well as expressing themselves through free dance. Club Maple was outdone this year by introducing Just Dance on the Wii. The classes had a great time with this, and it was a great way to bring more technology into physical education. Rock climbing was the next unit that the classes worked on. This unit focuses on decision making and planning. The students were much smoother climbers this year when on the wall, especially during the challenges. Many of the students really took to this independent activity that is growing in numbers. Currently we are juggling, where the students are working on their hand-eye-coordination while trying to balance something by keeping it moving. We are working with Diablo’s, Devil Sticks, spinning plates, balancing feathers, stilts, rings, scarves, yo-yo’s, and juggling balls. Many of these challenges were new to the students, but they are doing a great job. A couple of them were able to move up the juggling ladder and achieve three balls!


Music: Music education opens doors that helps children pass from school into the world around them –a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. –Gerald Ford

Third graders are deep into learning how to play the recorders! We have already made it about half way through the book! So far, students have learned to play 4 notes-B,A,G, and C. The children are doing a great job learning to read music. It is great to see the students’ eyes actually following the music and that they are not just learning the music by rote! This skill will really come in handy if they choose to take strings, play a band instrument, or sing in a chorus. Learning to read music also helps the brain grow and develop because students are forced to make the left side and right side of the brain connect.
The last few weeks, we took a small break from the recorders to sing some fun songs to go along with the outer space unit students are studying in science. Students did a great job singing “Is There Life on Mars” and “Poor Little Pluto.” Ask your child why Pluto has been feeling so sad lately!



Unified Arts Report
Grade Four
Trimester Two
Maple Avenue Elementary School

Art: Art was the first language.
Fourth graders began the second trimester with a multi-week piece of art that reviewed and showcased what they have learned about color theory in the four years we have been together. Trees were the subject, and the style was influenced by Andy Warhol’s multi-paneled pieces such as his famous Marilyn Monroe series. I worked with the fourth grades to provide props and decorations for the winter musical lead by Mr Landano. The PFT fundraiser “Originalworks” was completed in art classes. We shifted gears to a wild and crazy project reminiscent to Picasso’s mixed up portraits, wait until you see these!

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
One of the many challenges I face as a teacher is to try and keep the interest of the students while challenging them physically and mentally with the games and activities we do in physical education. This year, I have brought forward a number of ways to increase the use of technology in the gym. We started this semester off with the lifetime activity of bowling. The students had a great time competing with this while showing their skills off. This year we kept their scores electronically and had them projected up on the wall, which really brought out the competitiveness in them! We then moved into our dance unit. The main attraction this year was playing Just Dance on the Wii. This was a great way to bring technology into the classroom and spark the students’ interest into dance. The classes did great competing with each other playing this fast paced game and got a great workout without even realizing it! The third unit we worked on was rock climbing. This individual activity focuses on planning and decision making to move efficiently across the wall. The students really did well and showed great maturity with their decisions while on the wall, especially during the challenges. We are currently working on juggling, which is a great activity that focuses on hand-eye-coordination. The students have worked with balls, scarves, plates, Diablo’s, devil sticks, yo-yo’s, pins, rings, and stilts during this time. Through our stations set up in the gym, they are beginning to master a number of the different skills!

Music: Music education opens doors that helps children pass from school into the world around them –a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. –Gerald Ford

Fourth graders started out the trimester with a review of recorders. The children flew through this unit and did a great job remembering many of the musical concepts from third grade! The climax of the unit was when the students’ played a piece called “E-lectricity.” In this music, the students had lots of fun making their recorders sound like an electrical current!
The second part of the trimester, the children learned all about the notes on a piano. Students were then taught how to construct major scales by using a piano and a formula.
To go along with the 4th grade New Hampshire History curriculum, we have been singing the New Hampshire official state song “Old New Hampshire.” Ask your child if they can sing the refrain of the song for you!

Extended Absence and Art Show

I am sorry to report that I will be out from school recovering from back surgery for the rest of March and into April.
I have provided lesson plans for my substitute so that your children will continue learning from Goffstown's the visual art curriculum.

At the SAU offices this month is a display of art from some of the young artists of Maple Ave. The public is invited to view this fun art show during regular open hours.
See you in April!

February and March

We are working hard and having fun in art classes learning about shape and form!

I am working with the PFT at MAES on the Original Artworks fundraiser once again in March. Art work will be mostly completed in school this year. In addition this year, if a student has a work of art that they did outside of school they are welcome to bring it to me and if it meets the criteria, we can use it for the Original Arts piece!

Also, look for information about an Artist in Residency at MAES in late March (through the PFT) that ties into the visual arts curriculum.

Lastly, the Superintendent's Building will be adorned with beautiful art work from Bartlett and Maple Ave during the months of March and April. Stop in and see the great creative art your kids are capable of!

Trimester One Unified Arts Reports

Here are the Art, Music and PE trimester reports for your reading pleasure.

Unified Arts Report
Trimester One
Grade One


ART: Throughout history, the visual arts have served to connect our imaginations with that which make us human. Works of art reflect human feelings, values and the highest of ideals.
Art is a universal language. It has the power to transcend cultural variations, uniting us all. By cultivating an understanding and appreciation for artists’ works of the past and present, art education develops respect for diverse cultures and creative expressions.
Art is woven into every aspect of our lives, and learning about how and why artists, designers and advertisers use the elements of art will enable students to make intelligent informed decisions in the future.
We have spent the first three months of school together getting to know each other and exploring the world of color. As we become more aware of the color all around us, we learned about three special colors; the primary ones. We tried blending them in different ways to create new colors. We discussed rainbows and prisms. We made monoprints; a one of a kind crayon form of printing. We talked about trees and why trees are so important to us and created giant leaves with blended color using a new medium; water crayons. Our imaginations were stretched with leaf creatures, a drawing project. We have recently been studying the elements of geometric and organic shape. We are learning the differences between natural and manufactured shape. We continue to utilize the elements of color studied earlier. Projects will continue to build upon themselves throughout the school year, and all your child’s years here at Maple Ave.

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
This year first grade has started off discovering our bodies and how they work. The students began the year with a variety of gross motor skilled activities. These activities are designed to get the students exploring and moving their bodies in a variety of ways. One of their favorite activities that we did during this unit was active reading. During this activity, I read them a few different books. While I was reading, they got to move around like the animals that were mentioned in the books, along with making the noises that the animals made. The students moved in a variety of styles (skipping, galloping, running, etc.). We worked on this unit for the month of September, each week changing the activities but keeping our focus on body control and awareness. After finishing up this unit, the students were introduced to soccer. Here they learned a little bit of the history of the game, while spending most of their time learning some of the basic skills needed to play. The students practiced dribbling under control, passing with the inside of their foot, as well as several different ways to trap and control the ball. They really enjoyed playing “sharks and minnows” during this unit! The classes recently finished off our basketball unit, in which we covered the history of the game, along with dribbling, passing, and shooting! One of the favorite activities was “Mario Brothers” which worked on dribbling and passing! We recently begun our bowling unit, which is one of the lifetime activity units we do during the year. The pinnacle of this unit tends to be the last day when we do disco bowling! I look forward to seeing those great dance moves they break into while bowling!

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. – Victor Hugo

It has been a great first trimester in first grade! Many students have sung their names for the class in our “hello song.” Students are also becoming very comfortable using hand signals when singing solfege (do re mi fa sol la ti do.) Ask your child to demonstrate the solfege hand signals for you! Students have also learned to understand and recognize basic music notation.
We sang a great song about Robot Boy and all of the things that he likes to do, we also re-wrote the words as a class to make our very own Robot Girl song!
A big focus lately has been on identifying the difference between pitch and volume. This concept can be very abstract for first graders, and the two can be confused easily. Students know this saying by heart now: “the bigger the instrument, the lower the sound.”
This trimester we have sung some really silly songs including “Ladybug in My Soda” and “Hip Hop Turkeys.”
In the coming trimester we will begin to shift our focus to musical expression and begin to look deeper into some musical notation.

Unified Arts Report
Trimester One
Grade Two


ART: Throughout history, the visual arts have served to connect our imaginations with that which make us human. Works of art reflect human feelings, values and the highest of ideals.
Art is a universal language. It has the power to transcend cultural variations, uniting us all. By cultivating an understanding and appreciation for artists’ works of the past and present, art education develops respect for diverse cultures and creative expressions.
Art is woven into every aspect of our lives, and learning about how and why artists, designers and advertisers use the elements of art will enable students to make intelligent informed decisions in the future.
We began the new school year together by discussing and reviewing the concepts of color in art and our everyday lives. We took advantage of harvest time and drew colorful fruit and veggies in color groups, trying to remember as many of each color as we could. We became reacquainted with the primary colors, and mixed them to make secondary colors. We talked about rainbows and their relationship to the color wheel and what creates a prism. We discovered the difference between hot and cold colors and how they effect our perception of certain objects. Autumn foliage was the perfect vehicle to create beautiful trees. We have been studying the element of shape recently. We know that shape is made of a line that is connected. Spirals were used to illustrate that a line becomes a shape. We constructed objects from geometric shapes. We talked about the difference between manufactured and natural shapes and discovered that every manufactured shape starts out as a natural one! We also continue to utilize the elements of color we learned earlier. Projects continue to build upon themselves throughout the school year.

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
We are off to another fast start in second grade! We began the year with a variety of cooperative games. These are activities designed to get the classes working together toward a common goal, in turn, building a stronger sense of community amongst the students. During this unit the students really focused on using positive communication. They needed to verbalize their thoughts and listen to their peers. This was a great unit to watch unfold as well as experience with each class. The students made some great strides in working together and having a common goal be the big picture. The classes then moved into our soccer unit. Here they focused on dribbling, passing, and trapping. Watching the students begin to control their passes using the proper kicking technique was amazing. During first grade, they really struggle to use the inside of their foot when striking the ball, but this year they really did awesome! Following this unit, the classes moved into basketball. Here they had a brief lesson on the history related to the game and its local ties to New England. The activities we did were designed to get the maximum number of touches on the ball while working on the necessary skills (dribbling, passing, shooting) to play the sport. The classes’ favorite activity by far was “Mario Brothers”, which worked on dribbling and passing. We are currently involved in one of our lifetime skills units, bowling. This is a crowd pleaser, especially when we do disco bowling during the last class!

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. – Victor Hugo

We have had a great first trimester in second grade! The children are becoming more and more comfortable using hand signals when singing solfege (do re mi fa sol la ti do.) Ask your child to demonstrate the solfege hand signals for you! The children have also learned to understand and recognize basic music notation.
A big focus this trimester has been on musical timbres and the way different instruments sound. Timbre can also influence our mood as the students learned in our gentle sounding song about autumn. In our song “Whacky Ogre” we used boom whackers and other classroom instruments to help us sing a very fun song.
For Thanksgiving, students completed a really silly art project where they constructed turkeys out of music symbols.
Patriotic songs have been the focus of the last few weeks. Second grade students did a great job learning “Yankee Doodle” and were able to put all of the mixed up words together like a puzzle.
During the last week of the trimester, the students will be listening to the famous piece of music “Carmina Burana.” This will lead us into a deep listening unit that will begin the second trimester.

Unified Arts Report
Trimester One
Grade Three


ART: Throughout history, the visual arts have served to connect our imaginations with that which make us human. Works of art reflect human feelings, values and the highest of ideals.
Art is a universal language. It has the power to transcend cultural variations, uniting us all. By cultivating an understanding and appreciation for artists’ works of the past and present, art education develops respect for diverse cultures and creative expressions.
Art is woven into every aspect of our lives, and learning about how and why artists, designers and advertisers use the elements of art will enable students to make intelligent informed decisions in the future.
We began our third year together reviewing familiar concepts; primary and secondary color, hot and cold color, and the color wheel. We all made our own color wheel with a theme to keep and refer to. We looked at various landscape paintings, and then made one, emphasizing the horizon line, then added color with only primary colors; a challenge when you must have all the colors of the color wheel present! We created beautiful autumn impressionistic paintings entitled scattered leaves. We learned about the color scheme called complementary, and tried an eye/brain exercise to experience after-imaging. We then put the knowledge to use with an op art project using complements. Our most recent project is an abstract one, using geometric design and colored pencil. We continue to build upon the knowledge we have gained in our years together in art. It is a joy to see the students’ enthusiasm and love of learning.

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
The third graders started the year off with a challenging unit this year, cooperative games. These activities are designed to get the students communicating and working together toward a common goal. The challenges placed before them are very tough, especially when a class is just getting to know each other early in the year. One of the new challenges that they had was working together to clean up a “toxic waste” spill in the gym. This challenge was amazing to watch! The students started off pretty rocky and really struggled. After a short time their communication skills really began to take over and their whole attitude changed. When we did the challenge a second time, they completed the task with ease because their communication skills and ability to stay positive had improve so much that working together was a breeze! These activities really help develop a sense of community in the classroom. The students moved into soccer after the cooperative games unit. Here they played several new games to work on their dribbling and passing skills. The growth between second and third grade is amazing and very noticeable when watching them work with the balls. Their favorite activity was “sharks and minnows”. This is a dribbling activity that really stresses making good decisions, while maintaining good ball control. The students then moved into their basketball unit, which not only taught the fundamentals, but the history of the sport. “Mario Brothers” was definitely one of the favorite activities during this unit. This fast paced game worked on dribbling as well as passing and allowed them to test their skills with their classmates. We are currently involved with our bowling unit. This year the third graders will be keeping their scores electronically, which they are very excited for! Should be fun seeing all those scores posted up on the wall just like at the bowling alley.

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. – Victor Hugo

For the first part of the trimester we have learned a lot about musical expression. Students have drawn pictures while listening to music. Students have done a great job making connections between visual art and music.
Students are also becoming pros at using hand signals when singing solfege (do re mi fa sol la ti do.) The children have begun to learn about minor scales using solfege hand signals this trimester. Ask your child to demonstrate the solfege hand signals for you!
The children have begun the recorder unit! The children have been very excited and looking forward to playing! For the past few weeks we have been busy preparing for this unit. The students have actually been completing math exercises in music class! This will help us be able to read the notes and play more accurately. Ask your child to sing the song “Rhythm is Math” for you!


Unified Arts Report
Trimester One
Grade Four


ART: Throughout history, the visual arts have served to connect our imaginations with that which make us human. Works of art reflect human feelings, values and the highest of ideals.
Art is a universal language. It has the power to transcend cultural variations, uniting us all. By cultivating an understanding and appreciation for artists’ works of the past and present, art education develops respect for diverse cultures and creative expressions.
Art is woven into every aspect of our lives, and learning about how and why artists, designers and advertisers use the elements of art will enable students to make intelligent informed decisions in the future.
It is a treat to instruct fourth graders in art! We can be more in depth with our vocabulary of art and projects that we can create. We started our year with an interesting project called “Me and My Shadow”. Students learned a great technique to draw a human figure and then attached a cast shadow. The figures were in an action pose, and from the back! Ancient and living cultures are a wonderful way to learn about our world and appreciate the diversity surrounding us. We studied the art of the Abenaki people of NH and VT. The style, subject matter, and materials used were (and still are) determined by what the environment provided. Replicas of birch bark canoes were constructed after viewing a slide show where contemporary and centuries old techniques were shown. I am always happy to share my Abenaki heritage with the students. Next we began a complete review of what we have learned about color in art and our world. Work on a tree color sampler utilized all our color concepts and employed some useful art techniques. Students will self-assess on the knowledge they retained.

Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
Fourth graders are true explorers! There is nothing that they aren’t willing to try to conquer. During fourth grade the students are truly challenged not just mentally, but physically too! The classes started the year off with cooperative games that are designed to get the classes working together and building a strong community. The first couple of warm-up challenges were met with ease! However the challenges quickly got a lot more difficult! They were not as straight forward and really required good communication and complete cooperation to complete them. The cliffhanger challenge was a true test of their ability to work together and stay positive. Each class started off by standing together on one mat, and had to move across the room to get to another mat. The class was not allowed to touch the floor at all, and were given a couple “space age hovering discs” , that they were allowed to step on. However the challenge was communicating as a group to figure out how to use these discs correctly. Once this was done, they had to put their thoughts into actions and work together to complete the challenge. This was a blast to watch each class conquer this challenge. This unit was followed up by several weeks of soccer. Here they worked on honing in their skills of kicking, trapping, and dribbling. The classes also explored how the game has evolved over time along with changes in equipment. This was a great way to mix history in with physical education! We followed soccer up with basketball. The classes worked on the basic skills (dribbling, passing, shooting) by getting as many touches on the ball as possible. “Mario Brothers”, a game that works on dribbling and passing, was definitely a class favorite! We are currently working at Maple Lanes on our bowling skills. This game is a great lifetime skill that can be enjoyed throughout their life. We are going to try and keep our scores electronically this year, which the classes are very excited about!

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. – Victor Hugo

It has been a great first trimester in 4th grade music! For the first few weeks of school we looked really deep into the different parts of a song. The children also learned to sing the classic children’s song “Grandfather Clock.”
We have been hard at work on our winter musical! We are rehearsing as a middle school chorus would during class to prepare for next year! I think all families are going to be VERY impressed. I thank all of the children for their hard work on memorizing the words and the movements to all of the songs. I also thank students who have taken extra time during recess to audition for parts and help prepare for the concert! It’s going to be great!

Holidays and Unified Arts reports

Greetings!
The holiday season is upon us! Students are already becoming increasingly excited and the happiness is contagious.

The fourth grades will be making decorations and props for the holiday show, being held on the 20th.

Other classes will continue with the art curriculum. Shape and line are the basic topics currently. Holiday themed projects will come home the 2 weeks before our break, and will integrate into the visual art curriculum as well.

The unified arts reports will be posted next week. All three, art, music, and PE will be available for viewing on each of our respective blogs/web sites.

Have a wonderful, peaceful holiday!
Mrs Plourde