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. Hexagons and triangles, along with winter symbols were the subject for a picture in January. Natural and man-made shapes were compared, and we created a winter bird project that also reminded us to be stewards of our earth. 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! At Maple Ave., the PFT fundraiser “Originalworks” was introduced during art time to be completed at home.
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. This trimester, we introduced the basic concepts of basketball, juggling, and bowling, along with a few “fun days” mixed in. During these units, the students participated physically while also learning the history related to the appropriate activity. In basketball, we covered basic dribbling, shooting, and passing skills through a variety of activities and challenges. Through bowling, the students learned how to roll the ball correctly, keep score, and set the pins up. In juggling, the classes worked on a variety of balancing activities like balancing feathers, spinning plates, and juggling scarves. We are currently involved in a perennial favorite, dance! Ask your students about “Club Maple” our very own dance club here at the school!
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!
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 brainstormed 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. 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 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. At Maple Ave., the PFT fundraiser “Originalworks’ was worked introduced in art class, to be completed at home. Next on the agenda was positive and negative space, a tricky but important concept in art, and in everyday living. Included in this project is symmetry, which is studied in math, also.
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 basketball unit. Here the students worked on their dribbling, passing, and shooting skills through a variety of basketball-based activities. The students really did well with these activities and had a lot more success, especially with shooting. During our juggling unit, we had tremendous growth in their coordination. 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 could keep two balls moving in a toss/toss/catch/catch pattern. A number of students were able to get the plates spinning on the stick themselves this year too. We followed juggling up with bowling and worked on our one-handed rolling technique. The students also learned how to keep a running score when they are bowling without the use of a computer! Currently, we are in our dance unit, which is one of the favorite units of the year!
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!
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. A multi-week project began with the life of Wilson Bentley, an artist/scientist/farmer from Vermont who discovered much of what we know about snowflakes. We took what we had learned and created large multi-layered snowflake designs, which featured symmetry and fractions, concepts used in math. Science in art was a focus of our discovery of the Aurora Borealis, where students created beautiful “ribbons of light in the sky”. At Maple Ave., the PFT fundraiser “Originalworks” art project was introduced in art class, to be completed at home.
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 unit on basketball that was all new activities for the students. The Mario Brothers activity was one of the favorites. This activity worked on dribbling and passing while trying to make it through one of our Mario Worlds. Following basketball, we got into our juggling unit where the students worked on their hand-eye-coordination while trying to balance something by keeping it moving. We worked 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 did a great job. A couple of them were able to move up the juggling ladder and achieve three balls! Following juggling, the classes worked on a lifetime activity, bowling. Here they worked in teams honing in on their bowling skills along with scorekeeping abilities. Currently, we are involved in another lifetime activity, dance. This is one of the perennial favorites, especially when we free dance in “Club Maple”!
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!
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 in the style of Van Gogh. You may be familiar with the painting “Starry Night” or even the song written by Don McLean. Students used oil pastel, a watercolor technique called crayon resist, and silhouette cutting to create their own starry night. A frame of words describing the painting was added. We shifted gears to a wild and crazy project reminiscent to Picasso’s mixed up portraits, wait until you see these! At Maple Ave., the PFT fundraiser “Originalworks” was introduced in art classes, to be completed at home.
Physical Education: “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”-Unknown
As I sit here typing up the trimester reports looking back to what each grade has done over the last trimester, I am amazed how much children grow over 4 years. Instead of being introduced to an activity, they are masters of these activities! With basketball, they were not just participating in activities, but competing and challenging each other. Through juggling, they were not just being introduced to the different pieces of equipment, they were picking and choosing what they wanted to work with. Once they found their niche, they really became focused on trying to improve their abilities with that skill. During our bowling unit, we saw more and more spares and strikes. Their bowling scores were incredible! Currently, we are involved with our dance unit, which is an annual favorite. After introducing a line dance to the class, I have the class break off into groups and have peer leaders lead the dance. It is great watching them teach and learn from each other. We will be moving into rock climbing next, with a couple of new challenges!
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!
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