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!