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.
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