Specials are Spot On

1st Grade March News

Library Media

This month, with Mrs. Flannery, 1st grade students will be spending time reviewing call numbers and learning about the Dewey Decimal System. They have been doing a great job exploring the library this year and learning to navigate it, but we would like to refine those skills so they can transfer them to other libraries, such as the East Hampton Public Library. Students will also be introduced to our online catalog as a resource to help them locate books.

With Mrs. Hill, students have participated in the following read alouds:

Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon

Lulu's Mysterious Mission by Judith Viorst (nutmeg nominee)

Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss

Hotel Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins

Click, Clack, Surprise by Doreen Cronin

I Wish that I had Duck Feet by Theo LeSeig

We would also like to send out a special thanks to everyone for supporting the spring book fair!

If you have any questions in regards to your child’s library experience. Please don’t hesitate to contact us or locate more information on the library webpage.

Mrs. Flannery and Mrs. Hill

Art

Miss Fausette's first graders are beginning to apply glaze to the ceramic bells they made. Children are learning the differences between glaze and paint and looking forward to the outcome when the glazed bells are fired again.

For this past month, the students in first grade have begun learning the process of watercolor painting and creating contrasting foregrounds and backgrounds! We created amazing colors that blended into beautiful backgrounds that look like sunsets, the northern lights, dusk skies, and even the depths of the ocean.

Then we took a black crayon and discussed the way the sky at dusk or dawn casts a dark silhouetted shadow on the world. We created our own ambient scenes using the BACKWASH technique with watercolors, and our contrasting shadows look amazing! When you look, see if you can tell what scene and details are casting our shadows!

Miss Pinto and Miss Fausette

Music

First graders worked very hard to polish their xylophone song this month! They learned to keep track of their own part while different parts were playing near them, which was quite a challenge. There are audio recordings of some of the classes on my website here. Students also got a chance to compose their own song to play on the xylophones! They used quarter notes and eighth notes and labeled each one “high” or “low”, then performed their compositions. First graders are also learning to look at sheet music and decipher all the signs and symbols, such as bar lines and time signatures. Our new song this month was “We are Dancing in the Forest”. Soon, students will also learn the names of two music notes on our “solfa staircase” and will then be able to read both melody and rhythm on a music staff. It is always a pleasure for me to watch first graders learn and grow at this point in the year. They seem to absorb all the new music knowledge like sponges! I hope they bring some of it home to share with you. As always, please feel free to email with any comments or questions.

Mrs. Maldonado

Physical Education

During the first two weeks of February, we finished up a beach ball unit with the children. The children spent a lot time trying different types of hits over the net with a partner. The underhand and overhand serve were also taught and practiced by the children.

Children were then given some partner challenges to try. Counting number of consecutive hits over net, points for ever serve over net and being able to use the correct technique for low and high balls are some examples.

The remainder of the month we spent time with movement, hand-eye and foot-eye activities. Station centers were set-up and children rotated from one activity to another. Stations included jump roping, hula hoops, ring toss, stacking cups, bowling and jumping sticks. We often use stations with our P.E. units. We think it is a very effective way to reinforce skills and children really like the variety of activities.

We also introduced shuffle board to the children. It is an excellent hand-eye coordination activity and the children loved it. The children continued to work on their fitness, muscle strength, flexibility and coordination. You would be very impressed by your child’s improvement in all areas of Physical Education. Please don’t hesitate to contact us, if you have any questions about your child or the program.

Coach Boscarino and Coach Ruel