K-Aboriginal Dot Painting

This week at art class, Kindergarteners had a great time learning about Australian dreamtime painting and Aboriginal art. Next we talked about how we could make it our own. The students created their hand prints and filled the paper with patterns and symbols that will communicate something about themselves. They also had a great time mixing colors to discover new colors.

Music: Puttin' the "Soul" in Solfege

Students continue to prepare for the Festival of Peace and Light next week. It's great to see students continue to improve with their pitch, while using the solfege hand chart. I wanted to give a special shout this week, to the odd-numbered grades of 1, 3, and 5! First grade improved greatly with their South African song. 5th grade- awesome job on the xylophones.

Also, congratulations to the 3rd grade on a fantastic performance at Belle Square Mall. They sang so well, and were wonderful in representing CHA. BRAVO!!

CHA Joins the Hour of Code

More than 14 million people took part in this week's Hour of Code, including all our CHA students and a number of their parents by the sound of it! Organized by the Partovi brothers and sponsored by a wide range of tech companies as well as the President, the purpose was to show students that coding can be fun and rewarding. If you want to have a got at home you can find everything you need here http://mrsmorlidge.com/Technology.htm

P.E.

It's that time of year here at CHA: the weather is cooling down and the holiday season is in full force!  Our focus in P.E. this week has been on Movement and Space Awareness.  Some of our classes got to take part in Shoe Pass, a cohesive abdominal workout that blended sit-ups with shoes.  We also had some classes participate in an activity called Blizzard.  In Blizzard, partners assist each other in blindly finding their way across the gym through a myriad of obstacles scattered throughout the floor.  Here we can see one of our 3rd grade classes in the thick of the Blizzard action.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Sharing Folktales

One way to learn about a country's culture is to read and share folktales.  This week in Library, students have been hearing stories and facts about the countries they are studying for the Multicultural Fair. Kindergarten heard Possum Magic by Mem Fox.  First graders heard two tales from South Africa while second graders heard some animal stories from Brazil.  I found a book written from a Singapore author called The Elephant and the Tree for third grade.  In fourth grade, students heard and shared Greek myths.

Music: Sing, sing, sing!

Students had a really great week in music, as we continue to prepare for December performances. Be sure to check out the 3rd grade next Wednesday at Bellevue Square Mall. 11:00 AM. It will be exciting to hear them perform!

Enjoy your weekend!

Supermercado in First Grade

First grade students are having fun leading calendar in Spanish. They are also practicing with "Cuanto cuesta" to ask how much something costs and we have started setting up our "Supermercado" to sell our fruits and vegetables. First grade students are very excited to set up the supermercado!

Third Grade Finishing up Bedroom Unit

Third graders finished up their bedroom projects this week. Their bedroom projects turned out great!  They also played "Donde esta Nacho?" telling where Nacho the dog was located in the bedroom.  If students finished their projects they were able to play a "Pick One" game to review the bedroom vocabulary and location positions.

K-3 Music: Takin' It Back to the "Old School" When Times were So Cool, with selections from the "Blue Moo."

Younger students have been doing a lot of voice exploration and vocal development in music. We've been working on pitch and projection while singing songs for upcoming performances. 5th grade has been working on a Guatemalan marimba song, and students are coming a long way with their mallet technique. Here a 1st grade class warming up with the "voice-parachute."

It's fun to take a singing break with 'hits from way back never,' via the Blue Moo Jukebox. It features bands and singers from past decades, in a variety of styles and genres. Some favorites include Christopher Kale Jones, The Uninvited Loud Precision Band, The Sparklets, and John Ondrasik. It's fun to see which students/grades like which songs.


"Do you wonder how a cow can touch your heart and soul? I don't know, but anyhow, it's what they call Rock-and Roll."

PE

The main focus of our PE classes this week was using teamwork to the best of our abilities!  We did a variety of activities, from juggling balls in small groups, to passing hula hoops around in a circle while holding hands.  Below is a picture of our 5th graders, who are linked to each other's arms, desperately trying to stand up together without breaking the grasp between arms.  I'm happy to report that they eventually found success!  Have a great fall weekend.

3rd--Chihuly-inspired Painting

This week in Art class, 3rd grade students had a great time learning about Dale Chihuly and working on the Chihuly-inspired painting.

Chihuly is well know for his glass works but his paintings and his painting style is also impressive.
To mimic Chihuly’s style of painting we layered paint on to canvas through several steps.

Each one ended up so different and the kids really enjoyed applying each different layer.

Rainbow Fish in Kindergarten

Kindergarten students in Library and Technology have been focusing around the character Rainbow Fish.  We have been reading various books starring this unique fish and playing a problem-solving game in Technology called "Rainbow Fish and the Whale."  Rainbow Fish and his friends have be swallowed by a hiccupping whale!  It is Rainbow Fish's job to free his friends.  Students must use their mouse to help Rainbow Fish with this task.  It's challenging for some of the students, but they do enjoy it when they accomplish a task!

Meet Mikio - Master Agent!

I am delighted to announce that CHA 5th Grader Mikio today completed Type to Learn 4 - Agents of Information. As students progress through the program they are promoted to different grades, with Master Agent being the ultimate accomplishment. Mikio has put  a lot of effort into his keyboarding to achieve this goal. Congratulations Mikio!

A bit of a mixed week in Technology!

As we all know, Technology is wonderful when it is working, but a little frustrating when it isn't! This weeks' plans had a to be a little flexible while we worked around a defunct network switch. Second graders are continuing to work on the KidPix Landform Slideshows that will reinforce what they have been learning in Social Studies. Third graders have been working on their 'All About Me' timelines. Using Microsoft Word and incorporating text boxes, shapes and word art students are creating a pictogram that will depict the main events in their lives so far. Fourth graders finished off their Islandwood movies and if you are a parent of a fourth grader you will be notified how you can share these videos at home. Fifth graders continued to work on their HTML pages. Usually html coding is something we only spend a little time on before I show the students how to use Expression Web to generate the code, but this class is really enjoying writing the code themselves so we are spending a bit longer on this topic! Here is a screenshot of the website Ethan and Mikio are working on!

1st Grade Music-Engine Engine!

This week in music, grades 1 and 2 added "My Country 'Tis of Thee" to their list of patriotic songs. In all grades, we started introducing and practicing songs for the Festival of Peace and Light in December. Countries students will be studying include:

K- Australia
1-South Africa
2-Brazil
3-Singapore
4-Greece
5-Guatemala

1st grade enjoyed a game called "Engine Engine," with a singing train that moves on the track. There were also a few drummers and xylo players that made up the train station. We've been playing "Name that Tune" in K-1, working on review/familiarity with folk songs and nursery rhymes. Happy Friday!

PE

This week in PE was all about getting quality exercise with activities involving constant movement.  Most of our classes played Pin-Down or took part in a Fitness Stations activity.  There were also a couple of classes that were able to complete their monthly run whenever the rain let up on us!  Here we can see one of our Kindergarten classes in the midst of a game of Pin-Down.  The object of Pin-Down is to knock over other people's bowling pins by throwing or rolling a soft, squishy ball.  Have a great weekend CHA!

4th Filed Trip to Chihuly Garden and Glass

4th grade students had a field trip to the Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center last Thursday!!
It was so much fun and a great learning experience!

A BIG Thank you to CHAPTER and our parent volunteers.

5th--Radial Name Design

These colorful designs were created by 5th grade students. Following careful steps, students repeated the letters of his or her name in a radial design and traced it with a permanent marker. The letters reflect and connect with each other forming lots of interesting repeated negative shapes. All of these shapes were carefully colored in with markers and color pencils in a symmetrical pattern. Look closely to see if you can find the names pictured in each design.

3rd Grade Music- Ready..set...Sing...Play!

 Congratulations to our students for two fantastic assemblies this week- those who ran for Student Council and to our 3rd graders for a wonderful Veteran's Day assembly. Both assemblies reminded me of how lucky we are, both to be in America and also to be at CHA where we have such great students. 3rd grade sang the  "Star-Spangled Banner," and all students sang "You're a Grand Old Flag," from which we've been working on in class. Here, 3rd graders took a singing break and performed a few pieces they created in small groups. Pieces such as "The Lonely Owl" and "The Haunted House" were performed. It was great to hear the creativity! Bravo!!

PE

Happy Veterans Day Weekend CHA!  What a great time to reflect on all of the sacrifices put forth by the men and women of our armed services.  For PE this week, all of our classes took part in our monthly run (that is, if there wasn't a monsoon going on outside).  Aside from that, our focus this week was on fitness.  Most of our classes were able to go through a Fitness Stations activity, which saw our students work out their core body muscles and get some quality cardiovascular exercise in as well.  Enjoy the three day weekend.

Dewey Decimal System

This week, third graders started learning about how the non-fiction section of the library is organized by working with the Dewey Decimal Classification System.  We reviewed a PowerPoint presentation that parallels how a caveman might have viewed his world with the way the books are organized.  They also chose books from certain sections and had their peers guess where they found them.  Fourth and fifth graders also reviewed this information.

Menus in 2nd grade

Second graders have been reviewing foods and drinks in Spanish. They are now getting into making a Menu in Spanish and in the next few classes they will be starting a restaurant skit in Spanish.

Fruits and Veggies in First Grade

First graders are having fun reviewing the fruits and vegetables in Spanish and they loved feeding Marco el monstruo in class.

First graders are also practicing how to say "Me gustaria.." I would like to ask for a specific fruit or vegetable. We are starting to get into our market place vocabulary where students ask "Que le gustaria comprar? (What would you like to buy?) and students need to buy the fruits in vegetables by saying what they would like in Spanish. See the sample video below!

Feliz Dia de los Muertos

Last week, students celebrated Dia de los Muertos in Spanish class. They enjoyed sharing happy memories of loved ones that have passed on in their lives and drinking chocolate caliente (hot chocolate).  First grade had fun creating skull masks to wear on Dia de los Muertos.

Fourth and Fifth graders had a great time decorating their sugar skulls in class!

Technology

One of the fun aspects about Halloween at CHA is that you never know who will stop by the Tech lab for a lesson! This week Second Grade students chose which landform they will b creating for our slideshow and used Google Earth to view their place on the planet. The Third Graders worked on their PowerPoint slides for the Veteran's Day Assembly. Fourth Grade students learned how to add captions and music to the Islandwood videos they are making using Windows Movie Maker, and finally Fifth Grade learned how to install some educational apps on the new Surface RT's.

PE

Hope everyone enjoyed a fun and safe Halloween night!  There were so many great costumes on display at CHA on Thursday; it was truly a sight to behold!  This week we participated in some games that worked on our hand-eye coordination with a modified version of bocce ball that we called "Pumpkin Ball."  Below we can see one of our second grade classes tossing and observing their throws during a game of Pumpkin Ball.  Have a fantastic fall weekend!

Spooks Galore in K-2 Music

 Halloween is a fun time in music class, whether it be spooky sounds, songs, or crazy sounding instruments. Pictured top left and right, K-1 students sing and switch instruments during the tune "There Was an Old Witch."

Pictured in the middle, 2nd graders sing the spooky tune "Hoo's in the Forest."  Students scattered as trees sing louder and softer to help the hunter locate the owl who's been causing mischief in the forest. 3rd grade also revisited the tune!

 Here's some shots of the Haunted House transformation. Thank you to all teachers and families for a great Fall Festival! I especially wanted to thank Senora Malewiski and the Specialist team. It is wonderful to work with such a dedicated and talented group!