Art and Technology

Interested in what your child is doing in Art and Technology? Here is how Miss Schultz and Mr. Jarred are working with our team to integrate our classroom learning into specials.  If you have any questions, feel free to inquire with them! 

Art
"We are starting Vermont animal masks inspired by Native American masks from the Pacific Northwest.  Our goal is to show the inner spirit of the animals that your students have been studying on the outside of a paper mask. Some children have already begun this project and are showing the brave spirit of a bear, the calm spirit of a toad, the wandering spirit of a butterfly, etc. with expressive lines and shapes....  I am excited to see how they will come together - they will be able to wear them and we will finish in two or three classes.  This lesson compliments our year-long first grade Art theme of finding connections with each other and the world around us through Art, and also promotes creative thinking and problem-solving skills."

Technology
During technology, students learned how to access images of their Vermont animal.  These images, which they printed themselves, were used on the front covers of their animal research reports.  Students also researched the actual sounds their animals make through an online video.  In addition, students have been recreating their Vermont animals after choosing the appropriate habitat using KidPix - a computer based art program.

In case you were wondering...

There was not homework sent home for this week.

Happy Vacation! 

Realistic Fiction Stories Underway...

Towards the end of last week, students began planning out their Vermont animal realistic fiction story. After reading an abundant amount of realistic fiction stories, the children had a wealth of knowledge and ideas to begin drafting out their own rendition. The hardest part of all - was not coming up with an idea - but focusing on one problem having to choose their favorite. The children came up with so many different renditions of stories. To help them focus, students completed a story map - complete with ideas they planned to include about the character, setting, problem, and solution. On Friday, as a class, students generated lists of "WOW" words on anchor charts that had to deal with time, place, season, weather, and nature element. Today, after reviewing these words, students referred back to their planning sheets, and visualized what the setting looked like at the beginning of the story and completed a crayon resist watercolor illustration - complete with their choice of techniques (sponge, scratch, saran wrap, and or salt).  Tomorrow, students will use these pictures and "wow" word anchor charts to do complete their description of the setting. 

Birthday Breakfast TIME CHANGE!

We will celebrate April birthday’s this Friday with a family breakfast.  Due to an all school assembly scheduled for 8:30, our breakfast will be pushed back to 8:50. All families are invited to attend, regardless of when your child’s birthday is. If you’d like to stay after dropping your child off at school, feel free to join us at the assembly or hang out in the classroom to chat with other parents. Sorry for the time change and any conflicts that may occur as a result. Sarah, Ben, and Nephele’s families will be providing us with a scrumptious birthday snack!  Thanks to all for making this day special and meaningful for all children. 

Songbirds

I hope you weren't surprised if your child had a tendency to sing like his/her favorite bird this past weekend. Friday morning, we learned about a variety of songbirds.  The focus was on how they sing special songs in the spring to attract mates and to establish and defend territories.  We also learned about how others call may communicate messages such as danger or the location of food sources. After an entertaining puppet show led by Heidi, our class listened to a variety of bird calls and then tested our skills with a fun game of bingo, while eating a small bird snack. After becoming experts on which song belonged to which bird, we went out for a walk around town, trying to identify birds based on their songs.  We only identified the songs for about half the birds, so use the sheet sent home Friday to help your child identify additional birds that may be present at your house early in the morning!

 

 

 

Morning Meeting Shares

Beginning Tuesday, April 17th, children will be asked to share three important facts about their animal that can help it to survive in Vermont.  To integrate student literacy and comprehension learning about synthesis, classmates will offer a retell of their peers sharing.  Talk with your child about his/her Vermont Animal and ask them to synthesize the most important facts about it and how/why it can survive in our Green Mountain State.  PLEASE DO NOT SEND IN SPECIAL THINGS FOR SHARE THIS WEEK.

Request for Info

Make sure you check your child's backpack for the letter sent home from our administration regarding placement for next year. We'd like to receive these forms back ASAP so we can begin gathering data to get the placement process underway. Please remember that we will try our best to consider your requests.  Our professional learning community teams work hard to create balanced classes to ensure social and academic learning for all.  Many factors are considered when creating new learning communities.  Thanks in advance for understanding.

A note from the art teacher

I just wanted to clarify about tomorrow evening because I have heard questions from staff and families.  

The Parent's Group kindly invited me to display student artwork during Family Night tomorrow.  The artwork will be in the first floor hallways and in the cafeteria.  There will be one or two new projects on display from each grade level.  The projects in the hallways will stay up until after April vacation, but a couple in the cafeteria will be on display for one night only.

This is separate from the Kinder Art Show and is better thought of as a simple "Art Walk" than a formal Art show.  I apologize for the confusion!  

To summarize:

Union Elementary School ART WALK 

Friday April 13th during Family Night!

Student artwork from grades K-5 on display in the first floor hallways and the cafeteria.

Thanks very much your help and support,

Kristina

Next Week

Next week is pre-k screening. You might remember this from when your soon to be 2nd graders were entering UES.  On these days, Tuesday, April 17th and Wednesday, April 18th I will be working with all first grade teachers to conduct these screenings for each incoming child (we will all be K teachers again next year). While we are working with these pre-k students, the current K team will be the guest teachers for the first graders (K's have 2 days off).  Dena Cody will be working with our class, following the routines of the day and continuing our study of geometry, reading groups, writer's workshop, etc.  While I understand the challenges of having a guest teacher, I can ensure you that Dena's experienced teaching will provide a successful day for all!  I will check in periodically throughout the day.

If you are willing to volunteer for an hour or 2 to answer questions, chat, help ease the stress of new Kindergarten families during these days, please contact me. We are looking for parent volunteers to guide discussions/answer questions while their children work with us. If you'd like to help, please let me know ASAP!

Editing

Today in writer's workshop students learned how to edit their writing. Using the skills of revision and proofreading, children used a checklist to ensure their piece was complete. Using the acronym, C.O.P.S., students asked themselves many questions as they prepared their reports for publication.  Each question has been a teaching focus during the last few weeks.

Content:             Did I include a topic sentence for each section?
                                     Did I make complete sentences?

Oooh, Wow:       Did I use spaces between my words?
                            Did I use uppercase at the beginning of each sentence?

Punctuation:        Did I include punctuation at the end of each sentence?

Spelling:             Did I spell my animal’s name correctly?
                            Did I spell all my trick words correctly?

Check out how focused your children are during writing (most of the time!) 

Making Maps

We continue to explore maps in a variety of ways.  Last week, we drew our own maps of the first floor of the UES building. While doing this, we thought of how we could show a visitor the route from our classroom to the cafeteria.  Today, we used a new math tool to construct maps using cuisenaire rods.  Students worked in cooperative groups to show a representation of our classroom. Working and learning together with different ideas can be challenging for first graders. INQUIRE with your child how they used empathy and cooperation to collectively build these maps with their peers.

Scholastic Book Fair

The Parents Group is hosting their biannual scholastic book fair. Our class will be traveling to the book fair on Friday, April 13th at 2:00.  If you'd like your child to purchase a book during school hours, please send money in a clearly marked envelope with your child's name on it and any restrictions you may have to their purchases (ie. toys).  The book fair will also be open Friday evening and after school for families to attend with their child. A wish list will be posted behind the checkout with a list of books that our classroom would enjoy adding to the classroom library collection. Thanks as always for your support.

Reports

WOW! I am so impressed with the hard work students have been showing as they work to finish their nonfiction animal reports. The children have learned how to open a paragraph with a focus statement and then write a detailed description of a particular topic. Students have been writing clear and concise complete sentences. Today we spent time learning about how to write an introduction to the entire report. The children were enthralled and ecstatic over finding a way to 'hook' their readers.  Tomorrow, we'll work on writing a conclusion to these reports. INQUIRE with your child about what they included in their introduction to get their reader excited about reading their report.

Rainy NAP

Two weeks ago it was heavy winds and a blizzard walking up to Hubbard Park. Today, it was rain...rain for the entire four hours!  We were adventurous and braved the weather despite the challenges (we were quite thankful for waterproof clothes!) We began our morning showing Mrs. Wrigley's class a new way to Hubbard Park from Cliff St. Looking out over Montpelier, students spotted new landmarks they discovered on their city maps back in the classroom. Once we made it to the entrance of Hubbard Park, students were challenged to cooperatively find clues about where we were headed.  While on this scavenger hunt, students were also on the lookout for man-made objects that had been set out in the forest.  Once back together in a large group, students worked with cooperation and empathy to put the missing clues together and found out we were on our way to "THE TOWER." The children also sorted the man-made objects they found and realized that all objects had to do with mapping!  While waiting for their turn to explore the tower, students from both classes learned a new tag game from Amy.  Following the tower tours, students used Hubbard Park maps to find their way back to the old shelter.  Along the way, students discovered and tallied the amount of man-made and natural landmarks along the way. In all, I believe the groups found five different ways to get back to the shelter. We were quite thankful to Amy and Zach to build a fire with us to end our day. BRRRR!

April Calendar Focus

Our calendar focus for this month is on stages of growth that mark the lifecycle of the tulip plant. As you know, the first grade planted a test tulip garden in October and students have been journalling and tracking the progression of Spring to our part of the world through this international project. 


Students created calendar markers for April using what they know about the stages of a tulip plants life - bulb, emerged sprouts and bloom. We continue to set aside time each week to explore, inquire and observe our tulip garden/plants as part of ongoing science learning. Please talk with your child about when they think their tulips will bloom, and some ideas they have about using their tulips to better understand how they grow, and why when they grow is an important sign of Spring in Vermont. 
To learn more about this project go to: www.learner.org/north/tulip

Understanding Realistic Fiction

Students have been learning about the difference between fiction, nonfiction, and realistic fiction. Throughout the year, children have been writing a variety of fiction stories and allowing their imagination lead them across pages. Students then began writing informational text on real topics they knew a lot about and are now researching and writing reports on Vermont animals.  Before we begin writing realistic fiction stories (and before every genre we study) I am immersing the children in the genre during reading.  Throughout this week and the following, we are diving into realistic fiction books. We've read a variety of realistic fiction stories about a variety of animals in North America. Students are learning about a variety of story elements and identifying them while reading. INQUIRE with your child what these words mean in stories - character, setting, problem, and solution. Students are learning that all good authors include these elements when writing. Some students are even beginning to identify the different events that occur in a story that lead up to the climax. To help your child at home understand these elements and to prepare them for their realistic fiction story, have them practice oral telling a story about their Vermont Anima complete with a beginning, middle, and endl!  If you're at the library, be sure to check out the Smithsonian Collection of Realistic Fiction Animal stories or any of Jim Arnosky's books. 

NAP - MONDAY!

We have NAP on Monday. My apologies for not sending home a reminder, but I'm hoping that you all will see this! Please dress according to the weather forecast and remember to pack a lunch for your child. We will eat snack before leaving at 9:00 and enjoy a lunch in the park. We plan to continue engaging in learning about maps, community, and navigating around.  We will return to school by 1:00 for specials.

Don't forget to check out Amy's new blogpost that was written along with a member of Moretown Elementary! http://northbranchnaturecenter.blogspot.com/ 

Friday Art Workshop

Students from Mrs. Wrigley's class joined us this morning to learn about three new art techniques and tools that will be used in the realistic fiction picture writing project.  Working and learning together, children experimented and created mini nature illustrations using crayon resist water colors. Students had the opportunity to explore the techniques of scratching, splattering, and sponging. INQUIRE with your child what their favorite tool was that they used. Also, INQUIRE with your child which student they worked alongside with.

 

Thank you to the Gilmours for offering to help supply some new art materials for this upcoming project. If you are interested in helping out as well, please contact me via email. Thanks as always for your continuous support! 

Recycling at UES

Today we had an assembly  we learned  about  Recycling in the big  gym. We had guests who  are experts on Recycling. We also learned about people in our school who are helping. - written by Alanna and Ben

As Alanna and Ben shared with us, our school joined together in an all school assembly to congratulate and extend our thanks to those people in our school who have helped take a part in making the earth a better place.  Melissa Pierce's Fifth Graders have been working diligently around the school ensuring all students (and teachers too) are disposing, recycling, and composting the correct materials.  They also did some research on the amount of materials our school throws away and realized that paper towels took up most of our trash! These students then worked with our custodian director, Todd Keller and with VT Solid Waste Management District to figure out a solution.   Mr. Vilaseca, VT Education Commissioner, awarded the 5th Grade class and our special Union Elementary School with the honor of being the first school in Vermont and the United States to offer complete (closed-loop) recycling. The Power of Three uses 100% recycled paper towels - the paper towels in our school will be separated and then shipped to a company that turns the paper towels back into products directly used by our school. Thanks to Melissa and her class for making this happen!

Pictures taken by Eoin at the assembly....

 

We ended the assembly today with a song created by Sharon Pine's third graders, who participated in a song writing residency a few months back. Vermont is STRONG! 

Donations Needed

Our students noticed that many of our watercolors are running out. In order to prepare for our upcoming Realistic Fiction project, we will be needing to purchase a set of new watercolors for each child. We will also be needing a specific sized card stock for each painting. If you can help our class out, please contact me. I will be purchasing these materials in the upcoming weeks and would greatly appreciate any donations towards them. Thanks for all your support!