MS Keyboarding Success

Congratulations to Cole, Alex and John who today became the most recent graduates in our keyboarding program. Well done boys!

Music Theory, on a Ship.

Busy and fun times in music this week. K-1 students sang a variety of songs and chants while playing xylophones and non-pitched percussion as well. A fun one in particular, was "The Boat," where students sang a peppy boating song and called out the boat leaders name at the front of the ship. Students accompanied the songs with hand drums (large and small) and a shakera, a special gourd shaped instrument with beads, that when gently rubbed and swirled makes the sound of water/an ocean. It is fun to see the students switch instruments, in a ship formation!

2nd grade has been drilling time signatures, meter, and more rhythms. They are getting good at sight reading and counting the rhythms!

K-4th PE

So much for April showers bringing May flowers (knock on wood)!  In celebration of the fantastic weather that found its way to CHA this week, all of our classes went outside and worked on our soccer skills during PE.  After playing a game that focused on passing the ball to one another, we enjoyed a friendly, competitive game of soccer.  It was awesome to see our students running around the field and getting some excellent cardiovascular exercise in at the same time!  Here below you can see a shot of a game between a 3rd grade class.  Enjoy your weekend!

Keyboarding Success!

Congratulations to our two must recent recruits to the CHA Keyboarding Wall of Fame (it's a virtual wall at the moment, but I hope to make it a reality soon!). Hayden and Ethan C completed the final lesson of Type to Learn 4 this morning, which is an excellent accomplishment. I was particularly impressed by how they have coached each other through the process - a little competition here and a little encouragement there. Well done!

Composing in Rondo Form (ABACABA)

 It was a lot of fun to see students creating some great music this week. Students learned about RONDO form, where there is an A section and new sections occur then repeat, but the A is always between them. 3rd graders mastered the A section on the board to the left, first with speech, then adding the pats (drumming). Then working in small groups, students rearranged the rhythms to form their own composition for the class to play. One class had a great time with their composition "I Don't Know Why the Minnesota Vikings Rode Their Rainbow Ponies to the Musical 'Stars' of Hollywood."

To the right, 2nd graders prepare for a surprise performance for their classroom teacher in their rendition of "1000 Hungry Savages". The chant of the title comprises the A section, and for the B and C sections, the boys created a rhythmic chant of various favorite foods, while the girls created their own. They added various tempos, dynamics, choreography, and one even had a dance. We all the left the room hungry.

Middle School Technology

The students have been making PowerPoint presentations to show their parents the research they did prior to the trip and the fun they have while they were on the trip. This week I showed them how they can add music to the slideshow and then save the slideshow as a movie. The example shown here is by 5th Grader Alex; I particularly like how the theme and the music compliment the subject matter. You can download the other presentations here https://www.box.com/s/vz508nnqxbht7nwxojpv

3rd Grade House Projects and Presentations

Third graders finished up their House Projects last week and presented their Houses to the class this week and last week. Here is a sample of one of the presentations:)!

First Grade Board Games in Spanish

 First grade students have been learning that names of family members in Spanish, as well as the names of places in Spanish. They are having a great time creating their very own board game in Spanish class with the vocabulary they have learned!

K-4th PE

What (mostly) beautiful weather we had this week!  Mother Nature allowed us to soak up some sun and play a little frisbee.  Each of our classes worked on the fundamentals of gripping, throwing, and catching a frisbee.  In addition, we had some friendly competitions within each class that honed in on these particular skills.  Our 3rd and 4th grade classes actually took these skills and transferred them into a game of Ultimate Frisbee, which took place out on the soccer field.  It was great running around in the sun and learning the concepts of a new game.  No doubt we will be getting our Ultimate Frisbee on again sometime this school year if the weather permits.  Have a fun and safe weekend!

CHA Mural Painting

Finally!!! our Paint the Wall at CHA project is done and our students are very proud of their masterpiece. Our students had such a great time painting the background, making a tree with hand print leaves, and gluing glass pebbles with their names on.
Please check out our masterpiece along the 2^nd floor north stairs. (right by the elevator).

Typing to Learn

The first graders have been spending time during their Technology classes practicing their typing skills using the program Type to Learn 3.  This program shows them proper fingering using a variety of practice lessons and games. 

New Books!

A CHA parent generously donated money to the library for the purchase of new books.  The students were able to peruse and hear some of the new titles as well as check them out this week.  Many of the books flew off the shelves, and eager children shared them with one another.  The older students were challenged to read some of the Sasquatch nominees, while the younger students flocked to the poetry books.

K-4th PE

Happy Spring Break!  What a week it's been with all of the spectacular performances each grade put on during their musicals.  In between all of the activities this week, we were able to sneak in some quality PE time.  All of our classes did a little running outside while the weather was still nice.  Once the rain decided to creep in, we then transitioned to bowling indoors, which is displayed below with some 1st graders celebrating a strike.  Hope everyone enjoys a safe and enjoyable Spring Break!

Relief Printing

 This week, 2nd grade students learned about Relief Printing and created the Turtle Relief Printings with leftover styrofoam lunch boxes.  In the relief process, the artist carves away the area of the picture he doesn't want to print, leaving only the image area raised. The ink/paint is applied to the surface with a brayer. The carved away areas don't receive any ink/paint and, therefore, won't appear on the finished print. Relief printing is usually done with a carved piece of wood. However, we were able to achieve similar results using a piece of styrofoam!

The students had a great time making several prints of their design.

Coding with Scratch Cat

Week 2 of coding in 2nd Grade. This week the students were introduced to Scratch. Scratch is a programming language out of MIT that "makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively." This week the students started with the online beta version which you can find a link to here http://mrsmorlidge.com/Technology.htm. Hopefully it is going to be a lovely, sunny Spring Break wherever you are; but if it isn't this is something you could have hours of fun with
 at home!

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!