Art, Music, PE, and LMC Informational Newsletter

Art, Music, PE, and LMC Informational Newsletter

Ms.Kochanek & Mrs. Nickel What have we discovered in Art so FAR? Monday and Tuesday Art Classes If you are interested and available to help put up/take down art work, please e-mail me at Patty_Kochanek@ipsd.org. The schedule is extremely flexible, and I could really use the help! Thank you! -Patty Kochanek, Monday & Tuesday ART K-5. Kindergarten will be learning about repetition and pattern in art. First grade will be reviewing pattern as well as learning about symmetry. Second grade will be reviewing symmetry as well as asymmetry, and learn about the famous artist, Grant Wood. Third grade will study the concept of value through studying the artist, Pablo Picasso. Fourth and fifth grade will embark on a weaving unit that includes techniques such as basket and straight weave as well as the history of weaving. Thursday and Friday Art Classes Kindergartners will be learning the difference between warm and cool colors. We will be creating cool snowflakes and snowmen. Both will be created with oil pastels and glitter. The snowflake lesson emphasizes balance, specifically radial balance. Each ray of the snowflake should be the same therefore balanced. The snowman lesson teaches value. We will be adding value; in art value means lights and darks to should rounded objects, with cool colors as shadows on the snowballs and under the snowman. 1 st graders will be working with model magic clay to create a coil pot. They will be experimenting with modeling clay first to create a pinch pot and coil pot as well as sculpture. 2 nd graders will be learning about different watercolor techniques in a landscape painting. 3rd graders are drawing posters for the I Search calendars sponsored by the Naperville police. Every elementary school in district 204 selects two grade levels to create posters. The poster contest stresses safety in the community. The top five from each grade level will then be sent to the police station. The police will select the poster to represent Owen in next year s I Search calendar. The winner will be announced during the award ceremony at the end of the school year.

4 th graders are continuing their study of Cubism, Impressionism and Surrealism. We will be reviewing Picasso and Monet and introducing Salvador Dali. Student will portray an insect in each of these styles. 5 th graders will start Van Gogh Starry Night. Next they will be learning about Leonardo di Vinci in their 1 point perspective unit.

Mrs. Handy Ukulele and Recorder Thoughts: Ukulele came to the Hawaii in 1879 from Portugal. About 30 years later it became popular on the mainland or the continental U.S. The Soprano Ukulele has 4 strings and is about 20 inches long. If you want to see some amazing playing, look for I m Yours ukulele on youtube and watch a 4 year old boy play ukulele while singing the melody to Jason Mraz s song, I m Yours. Recorder is a woodwind instrument dating back to the 12 th century! The recorder was replaced by the flute in most orchestras around the 18 th century. Recorders are now made out of wood or plastic. They look similar to a clarinet, although the holes on a recorder are not covered with key pads like the clarinet. There are many different kinds of recorders- bass, tenor, alto, soprano- but in elementary school most students learn soprano recorder. This recorder is closest to a child s singing voice, or an adult female s singing voice. One tricky aspect of recorder is they your LEFT HAND plays on the top holes (the holes closest to your mouth). At Owen Elementary, students in 3 rd, 4 th, and 5 th grades play the recorder. Kindergarten: George Frederic Handel is the composer we are studying from the baroque era. He wrote many wonderful pieces. We are listening to some that he wrote for King George I. One is called Water Music and it was written for a party on the Thames River! Students are learning a new circle game called, Circle Round the Zero. So far everyone seems to enjoy finding a new friend as the song goes along. We have begun using bean bags to find the steady beat with a partner. Students will also explore clapping games and rhymes to help them keep the steady beat.

1 st Grade: Johannes Brahms is our romantic era composer. He wrote a famous lullaby that most students know. Ebeneezer Sneezer is a silly song that helps students learn the 8 notes in a Major scale. (Similar to Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music ) We will learn how to play it on xylophones. We will also start exploring treble clef and finding how it relates to xylophones and our voices. 2 nd Grade: Our composer is Edvard Grieg from the romantic era. He wrote the Peer Gynt Suite based upon the drama Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. Students will create their own drama to this music, and perform it for another 2 nd grade class in February. Students will begin understanding and reading treble clef music. This is where students voices sing in elementary school. Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee is a book we will read. Students will also learn a short song with Orff (xylophone, drum, instruments) accompaniment that corresponds to this book. 3 rd grade: Gioachino Rossini is our romantic composer. He wrote the William Tell opera. Most students have heard the trumpet fanfare from this opera- it is the theme from The Lone Ranger. We are just beginning a music story for The Napping House by Audrey Wood. Once complete, students will read and perform this story for the kindergarten students. This is always a fun story to depict using percussion instruments. Students are also reviewing treble clef. Recorder, an early woodwind instrument, is played in this clef. Students voices sing in this clef in elementary school, so I want them to be able to read music in this clef. We will also begin learning recorder in February. I will send home ordering information soon. 4 th Grade: We are working on 3 American Folk songs in January- Bow Belinda, Alabama Gal, and Lil Liza Jane. Students will play 3 and 4 different music parts at the same time. Each part is called an ostinato. These students are also reviewing reading music in the treble clef in preparation for their recorder unit in February. I will send home ordering information soon; students will be able to use their recorder from last year. George Bizet is our romantic era composer for January. 5 th Grade: This year the 5 th grade students are learning ukulele! This string instrument is similar to a guitar, but has 4 strings, tunes differently, and is smaller (about 20 inches long). It is from Portugal originally, but most students know it from the Hawaii Islands. By the middle of February students will know 4 chords, a few Hawaiian songs, and be able to read a basic chord chart while accompanying themselves or their peers. I am working with PM Music Center to find a good price, if students should want to purchase their own ukulele. A note will go home with this information soon. I am so excited to teach ukulele to these students! I hope they are just excited to learn!

CURRICULUM Mr. Folley Students will be introduced to bowling. The Wii bowling will be used as a visual and for the students to practice their bowling technique. The lower grades will focus on opposition and aiming while the upper grades will focus on keeping score. The gym will turn into a bowling alley for PE in January! This half of the school year students will be focused more on sport skills. We will still have fitness testing and a heart unit, but the main focus is going to be on volleyball, basketball, and soccer with other sport skills practiced as well. EXERCISE OF THE MONTH With the snow on the ground, try to find some time to do skiers. You can do this by placing your feet together with your knees slightly bent and hopping side to side. Pretend you have ski poles in your hands and switch sides on each hop. This is going to work balance, leg strength, arms, and if long enough cardio. Of course, if you can get outside and really ski, all the better! NEWS Mr. Folley will be back on January 31 st. He is staying home for three weeks with newborn daughter Quyn and preparing her for daycare. Dance Unit was absolutely a blast in December. The assembly that we had to finish off the dance unit was perfect. The performances were great, the organization and respect that the students showed was awesome, and the overall experience was great for all involved.

Mrs. McHale Mrs. Sassano Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 is a good year for all of you and your families. Look for information about our reading incentives to come home in the next few weeks. Our two incentives are the Six Flags Six Hour Reading Club and Ozzie s Reading Club. For the Six Hour Reading Club: Students must read a total of 6 hours. Students who submit tally sheets receive a coupon for a free admission ticket to Great America. For Ozzie s Reading Club: Program runs eight weeks. Students submit forms every two weeks. Students receive prizes for each base attained. Students who hit a "home run" by making their goal all four times earn a free ticket to a Kane County Cougars baseball game. Kinders will be taking another look at Destiny, and they will learn that they can search for books by author and title. They will learn how to tell if a book is currently in the library. They will also review that call numbers are the key to finding books, and that the library is organized into sections including easy fiction, fiction, and non-fiction. These concepts were introduced in December. First graders will be learning about searching by title, author, subject and series. They will also be looking the browse feature, which will help them find titles and authors when correct spelling is a challenge. They will also take a closer look at the book summaries in each record. These concepts were also practiced in December. Second graders will be learning about our databases during January and February. We will begin with Kids Infobits. After that we will take a look at Facts for Learning and finally Facts on File.

Third graders will be looking at our databases. We will also practice cutting and pasting text and graphics from these databases into other documents. Allow your child to try this from home. Just log on to the patron catalog and use the username and password that your child uses at school. Fourth graders will be looking at our online encyclopedias this month. Remember that these can be accessed from home. Just log on to the patron catalog and use the username and password that your child uses at school. Fifth graders will be also be using our online encyclopedias as they begin their next research project on inventors. Visit Owen s Internet home page. Go to the LMC section, and click on Search Owen s patron catalog. Log in using the username and password that your child uses at school. Check out some of the links on this page.