April is National Poetry Month

To kick off National Poetry Month, students who had library this week heard a variety of children's poems.  This week, we focused on Jon Scieszka and Bruce Lansky.  After Spring Break, students will hear poems by Shel Silverstein and others.  The older students will be reciting poems for their classmates. 

The library recently received a generous donation.  I was able to purchase over 100 new books which I will be sharing with the students the next few weeks.

"Maestro...if you please!"

 All grades had a short intro./review of classical music and composers starting this week, with the "Big 3" of composers (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven) for K-2 and adding in more composers/pieces for upper grades. We discussed some of the basic differences between Mozart and Beethoven, with Mozart having a more defined, or "strict" style of composing where Beethoven's was much more emotional and expressive.Younger students also learned the difference between the conductor and the composer, and we also talked about instrument families. 

Seattle Cityscape

This week, K and 1st grade students learned about Vincent van Gogh, and created the Seattle Cityscape with oil pastel inspired by the artist.
We studied one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings,'Starry Night',  and learned how to create visual textures by using lines, colors, and shapes.
After we made textured background, we added the Space Needle and other fun buildings.

Animals in Spanish - K

Kindergartners have been learning the names of Animals in Spanish. This week they created an Animals Circle Map.

Circle Maps in 1st grade

First graders have been learning the names of Family Members in Spanish, along with places around the town.  This week we created a circle map to define what places we wanted to put in our City Board Game.

4th graders conjugating verbs in Spanish

Fourth graders have been working on learning how to conjugate verbs in Spanish. They played a conjugating verbs dice game with a partner, as well as created hands with verb conjugations.
 

Ex:

Yo hablo (I talk)

Tú hablas (You talk)

Él/Ella/usted habla (He/She/You talk)

Nosotros (as) hablamos (We talk)

Ellos/ Ellas/ ustedes hablan (They talk/ You all talk)

Sharing Our Writing

Each year in June, students receive a copy of CHAnticleer, the student-created anthology of their writing.   This week in library, we talked about good writing, types of writing, and shared examples of past student writing using circle maps.  Younger students also heard the book Rocket Writes a Story by Tad Hills.  In the next few weeks, students will be editing and revising their CHAnticleer stories for submission. 

Penguin PowerPoint Presentations

For those parents who haven't viewed their child's penguin PowerPoint presentation, please click on the link below.  The children worked hard on these and are very proud of their work. 
https://www.box.com/s/bd8aqv4r7hi0j6jmi5ul

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Turtle Power!

Second Grade students are going to be having a go at coding. Today we started with a little logo programming. Students all had a go at drawing a square. By modifying the demo code, Julia took this a step further and created this beautiful pattern. If they want to have a go at home you can try it here http://mrsmorlidge.com/Technology.htm - Just scroll down to Turtle Programming. Next week we start learning Scratch, and Aubrey is going to help me teach it!

Clay Dragon Sculpture

For the past few weeks, 3rd and 4th grade students had a great time working on the clay dragon sculptures and their creation turned out GREAT!!!

"La la la la la, we'll listen to the instruments and see which ones we know!"

1st graders refined a few songs from their musical "Lemonade", and also attended a Kindergarten musical rehearsal. They were a great audience. 2nd graders made it to a 4th grade full rehearsal as well. It's great to see students involved with other grades musicals.

Pictured here in 1st grade, we sang the familiar folk tune "A-Hunting We Will Go", and students hunted down some small percussion instruments...some familiar and others of which weren't as familiar! In February, grades K-2 had a short discussion on Black)  History Month, with examples such as Louis Armstrong and various Motown songs as well. Grade 2 has been singing/visualizing Do-Re-Mi, with some ear-training examples to boot. Many students in all grades have made strides with their use and understanding of solfege (Do-Re-Mi etc..) with hand motions, and we continue to use the method in games, vocal warmups and cleaning songs for musicals as well. Our students are working very hard and I can't wait to see them perform in April!

4th Grade Tech

Congratulations to Sydney and Lidya our most recent graduates of the Type to Learn 3 program. Excellent work girls!

K-4th PE

The end of the second trimester has arrived, which means that we're getting geared up for a great final trimester for this 2012-2013 school year!  This week our students played games of Island Monster and Softball.  In celebration of Pi Day, we also took out the parachute for some games and activities on Thursday as well.  Enjoy the 3-day weekend!

K music

Kindergarten students enjoyed some free choice time between rehearsals for their musical "3 Nanny Goats Gruff." Here, a group has a go at the piano!

K-4th PE

What great fortune we had this week, soaking up a few days of sunshine!  Most of our classes were able to take advantage of the weather and play our softball games outside.  It was wonderful seeing the improvement in everyone's swing, throwing and catching over the last two weeks.  Here's a shot of one of the batters during a 3rd grade game of softball.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Using an Atlas

Students in first, second, and third grade have been working with various types of atlases found in the CHA library.   Working individually or in small groups, they have been learning new mapping skills such as the difference between political and physical maps and how to read a map key.

" Clap and sing along...with the Most Sensational, Intergenerational, Good Time Fam'ly Band!!! "

Come Join the 4th Grade Family Band as they prepare for the rip-roaring Broadway-esque revue "A Kid's Life," that has a song, dance, and instrument for everyone. Meet Grandpa and Grandma as they help the family cope with the disaster of a power-outage, resorting to more traditional means of entertainment, such as board games, story telling, singing, dancing, and jump-roping. 4th grade is doing a wonderful job with this more difficult musical, and it's fun to see them sing and dance. It will be great to see them perform in April, at a local Kirkland Performance Center near you!

K-4th PE

The month of March has finally arrived.  This week, all grade levels began a 2-week softball unit.  We broke down the different steps to swinging a softball bat and then attempted to hit a whiffleball.  In addition, the students also had the opportunity to field whiffleballs that were hit either on the ground or in the air.  A kindergarten class fielding ground balls can be seen above.  Have a great weekend!

Body Parts in Second Grade

Second graders have been learning the names of Body Parts in Spanish and have started a Monster Project this week. They have also learned "Cabeza, hombros, rodillas, pies" (Head, shoulders, knees, feet) in Spanish, as well as "La cabeza, me duele la cabeza".  There is a short clip of two second graders leading this song in class.

First Grade Farm Animal Presentations

This week first grade students presented their Farm Animal Speeches in class. They were excited to show everyone their Farm Animal Puppet and relay information to the class about their animal in Spanish.  Below you can view two of the presentations!

Honoring Dr. Seuss

This Saturday, March 2, marks Dr. Seuss' 109th Birthday!  To celebrate this innovative author, students discussed books that he had written.  They heard one of his not-so-popular, but still creative, Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose.  They also heard various books which have won or have been honored with the Geisel Award.  According to the American Library Association, "The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished American book for beginning readers..."  This year's winner was Up, Tall, and High by Ethan Long. 

 

 

Kindergarten and First Grade Students played on the Seussville website. 

Technology - Poster Art

This week in Technology 2nd, 3rd and 4th Grade students are creating the art work we will be using for Spring Musical Posters, Tickets and Programs. Students are using the new KidPix 3D program to create their pictures and are doing a fabulous job as you can see from this one by 2nd Grader Elizabeth K!

K Music- Yes, yes, more drums please.

Kindergarten is hard at work with their musical "3 Nanny Goats Gruff." Here, students took a hard earned break from singing, with a few drum 'interludes'. Bravo Kindergarten!

K-4th PE

I hope everyone is able to enjoy some of this beautiful spring time weather we're experiencing right now in February, what a treat!  This week in PE, we focused on some activities that promote cooperative learning.  Our K-1st graders played Scootermania, where the students split up into partners and took turns pulling their partner on a scooter across the gym to collect 10 bean bags as quickly as possible!  2nd-4th graders played a game of Foam Ball Passer, where 3 teams competed in a relay race that required them to pass a ball to one another, using only your feet.  Needless to say, our relay races got pretty interesting.  Here's a picture of our 2nd graders playing a game of Pin Down, in which one team tries to knock over all of the other team's bowling pins first!  Have a fun & safe Mid-Winter Break!

Celebrating Lunar New Years Day~!!

2nd Grade students had a great time watching a video clip of the Lion Dance Parade for the Chinese New Years day.  The lion expresses joy and happiness and is used to summon luck and good fortune.  Lion dance troupes perform throughout the two-week Lunar New Year celebrations, often going from village to village. After learning about the Lion Dance Parade, the students had a great time making their own Lion Masks.

Celebrating Lunar New Years Day

This year, Lunar New Year's day falls on February 10th. To celebrate Lunar New Years day, First Grade students made these fire breathing dragons.

They had so much fun creating different types of dragons such as flower breathing dragon, water breathing dragon, icicle breathing dragon, Lego breathing dragon and so on.

Celebrating Award Winners

The American Library Association recently announced their Newbery and Caldecott Award-Winning books.  Primary students heard This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen as well as the Theodor Geisel winner, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  Students in the third grade and older heard excerpts from Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, this year's Newbery winner.  This story is told from the perspective of Ivan, a gorilla for many years who lived in a shopping mall.  All these books prompted discussion about what makes a "good book."

Third Grade Tech - Presidents' Day Slides

In their Technology lessons the Third Grade students have been creating slides for their Presidents' Day Assembly on Friday. Each student chose a president they wanted to research and then created a slide using two facts and a photograph. Students also choose a background and transition. The finished slides were combined to create a short movie which you can view here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70t03sp_EmE

K Music- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Kindergarten enjoyed some instrument improvisation with the book "Chicka Chicka Boom-Boom". Students would listen to the words/beat of each page, then play/improvise on the instruments with the same type of beat/duration, then switch instruments on the cue. It was great activity for listening and awareness, and it's always fun to hit stuff!

Favorite Desserts

   

2nd Grade students had a great time creating their favorite dessert with clay inspired by Wayne Thiebaud.

1st grade music: Ta, ti-ti, ta, sing, move, Tupperware?!

1st graders enjoyed some hard earned free time today, after working on their musical "Lemonade." It fun to see their enjoyment during choice time. A couple of classes even learned that, you don't need drums to be a drummer. 1st grade has also been doing rhythm work, with quarter notes and eighth notes, or 'ta' and 'ti-ti.'

For the past two weeks, 3rd and 4th Grade students learned about a Pop Artist, Wayne Thiebaud and the children used his style to paint their favorite desserts.  I have them watch the CBS Sunday Morning clip about Wayne and his life. After watching the video clip,  students learned how to paint an object looks more realistic and 3 dimensional by adding darker shades and brighter tints.