Art with Ms Jones
I am excited to announce that I have started an Art Class Website so you can see what we’ve been doing in classes! It is incomplete, but you can view it here for a sneak preview. While it may be a work in progress, we are excited to share some of the art projects we have worked on with each of you! After conferences, I will also start sending some things home from students’ art portfolios.
We have finished our “Perspectives” unit with all the 2nd-8th students and our “People and Zoo Animals” unit with Kindergarteners and First Graders. We will now start to incorporate watercolors in many classes!
In October, we will study the medium of oil pastels and make “Pastel Pumpkins” in most classes. Towards the end of the month, 2nd- 5th grade classes will start painting and learning more about the color wheel. Please keep in mind that some of these projects can get messy! We have smocks to protect students' clothing, but it doesn’t always catch everything, and you may see some paint or colors on clothes after their Art Class Day, so please don’t send them anything that you would like to avoid getting potentially ruined.
Kindergarten and First Grader students will also learn about the color wheel through songs, crayons, markers, and slightly less messy mediums :)
I will say goodbye to the first quarter of Middle Schoolers with a mini art show for them on their last day of class on October 3rd.
I will meet the new students on October 7th, the beginning of the new quarter. We will start with the basics of line and shape and move into “Perspective” this month!
Mr. H’s Music Notes
Happy Autumn!
All classes will continue to watch clips from “Singin’ in the Rain.” to support their musical learning!
Kinder & 1st Grade
- This month in Music Class, we will focus on keeping a steady beat and playing different rhythms on instruments.
- We will also play new singing games based on the pentatonic scale!
2nd & 3rd Grades
- Students will learn Treble Clef Note Names and play various rhythms on instruments.
- They will also play singing games based on the pentatonic scale throughout the month of October.
4th & 5th Grades
- This month, students will perform the songs they have written, and they will learn about Major vs Minor, the Pentatonic Scale, and Syncopation!
Special Music Class Request!
If you have any empty metal coffee cans, could you please donate them to the music room and send them in with your students?
We will be using them for “junkyard percussion instruments”. Thank you for your support!
PE with Coach Cat
Happy Fall Y’all:) Everyone has been doing such a great job in PE class!
For the month of October, we will be focusing on our soccer unit.
Kinder & 1st
Students will focus on body and spatial awareness, passing skills, and dribbling skills in this unit. Students will have the opportunity to demonstrate positive attitudes and teamwork with each other as they learn new skills. They will learn and demonstrate new ways to show respect, consideration, and care for others.
2nd & 3rd
Students will focus on partner passing, dribbling around objects, trapping the ball, defense/offense, spatial awareness, and gameplay. As they learn new skills, students will learn to demonstrate positive and respectful behavior toward each other. Students will also have the opportunity to encourage others through verbal and nonverbal communication.
4th & 5th
Students will focus on passing to a moving receiver, dribbling around objects, trapping the ball, defense/offense, finding open spaces, and game play. They will have the chance to demonstrate positive and respectful behavior toward each other as they learn new skills. They will also learn about giving each other positive feedback throughout the lesson.
SEL with Ms.Cruz
Greetings!
For the upcoming quarter, we will focus on one of our letters in the word PUMAS, which stands for Proud, Understanding, Motivated, Accountable, and Safe. For the month of October, each grade level will focus on S, which stands for SAFE! How can our pumas be safe with each other while in school, at home, or in our community?
Kindergarten through 2nd Grade: The students will learn what safe behavior looks, sounds, and feels like. They will have a better understanding of safety awareness in school and in our community. They will learn fire, weather, water, and road safety through a variety of activities such as matching games and creating posters.
3rd Grade: The students will learn what personal safety looks, sounds, and feels like. They will understand personal space and what boundaries look, sound, and feel like. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the role they play in their community. They will begin to understand the importance of setting boundaries and what healthy and unhealthy relationships are, and how they can have an impact on our emotional and mental health.
4th and 5th Grade: Students will discover what peer pressure looks, sounds, and feels like in different environments. They will learn what safe choices are with peers and safe and unsafe relationships. Students will understand the balance of power, what it means to find the courage to speak up, and how to identify safe adults. Students will also learn about cyberbullying and the safe use of cameras and digital devices. They will understand what making safe decisions is like on the internet and social media.
7th and 8th Grade: Students will work on a project about their identity and being comfortable with who they are. The students will get a chance to dive into their own identity for a deeper understanding of who they are with the hopes of respecting and building their self-esteem. Students will understand each other's differences and how they can be safe with each other. They will also learn about conflict resolution through a restorative lens and how to safely handle difficult situations in a variety of places, from home to school to their community.
STEM with Ms. Jess
Happy Fall!!!
Kindergarten: For our next unit, we will study forces. In this unit, students are introduced to pushes and pulls and how they affect object motion. They observe and investigate the effects of changing the strength or direction of those pushes and pulls.
1st Grade: Our next unit will focus on the sun and shadows. In this unit, students will observe the Sun and shadows throughout the day and seasons. They will use their observations to understand patterns that occur throughout the day.
2nd Grade: After wrapping up our animal diversity unit, we will study erosion and the earth’s surface. In this unit, students explore how water shapes the Earth's surface. Students construct and use models of mountains to demonstrate that water flows downhill and, in the process, transforms huge rocks into the tiny grains of sand we find at the beach. Students also construct and use model hills to determine the causes of erosion and design solutions to problems caused by erosion.
3rd Grade: We will start one of my favorite units, which focuses on heredity, survival, and selection. In this unit, students explore plants and animals' inherited and acquired traits. Analyzing traits provides evidence for how those traits vary, how they are inherited, and how they have changed over time through both artificial and natural selection. Students also examine how a particular environment can affect traits, including inherited traits that provide animals with an advantage for survival.
4th Grade: In 4th grade, we will wrap up our unit about the “human machine” and move on to animal and plant adaptations. In this unit, students explore the adaptations of animals and plants. They investigate how an organism's external and internal structures work together as an interconnected system that aids in its growth and survival. They also use models to explore how a combination of instincts and memories influences animal behavior.
5th Grade: In 5th grade, we will wrap up our unit about the sun and stars and move on to the water cycle and Earth’s systems. In this unit, students consider the profound importance of water as a natural resource. They investigate the distribution of water, how it cycles through Earth’s systems, and how it affects human societies.