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IAA Newsletter

February 2020

IAA NewsletterFebruary 2020

Principal's Note

As we progress through the beginning of 2020 and the middle of our winter, our students have been hard at work here at IAA. Our students continue to be engaged in meaningful learning experiences with our dedicated staff as well as engaging in winter progress monitoring assessments. Our winter progress monitoring is an opportunity for teachers to check-in on students’ learning toward specific learning targets and proficiencies. It is also a good time for you to check-in with teachers about your own student’s progress as we partner to support their learning goals. Our next calendered district parent conference day will be on March 27th; however, the month of February may be a good time to reach out to speak with your student’s teacher to get an update on their progress. As always, thanks for continuing to partner with our IAA staff so we all can provide the best possible learning experiences for our students.


There are some key dates to add to your calendar for the month of February:

  • February 14th: 2nd trimester ends

  • February 21st: Report cards issues


Mr. Robinson
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School News

  • January 27th-31st was Kindness Week here at IAA. Keep the kindness flowing forward at home and use this checklist to keep you motivated.
  • Celebrate Black Voices on February 14th
  • Wonder Week, February 17th-21st
  • Winter Break: February 24th-March 3rd

Art Integration

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Flynn Theater Updates

Next week, community artist-in-residence, DBR, returns for his fourth visit to Vermont, and his third to IAA. During his visit, DBR continues his work with the 5th grade as guest teacher in ONE Strings and makes a special appearance with the 4th grade. Plus, unique to this visit, families have two opportunities to engage with DBR. On Friday, DBR the son of a Haitian immigrant, will kick off Celebrate Black Voices at Friday Town Meeting, and he’ll be the featured artist at the Flynn on February 8 for the monthly Free Family Saturdays event. The Free Family Saturdays Series is an hour-long, musical program held in the Flynn’s lobby at 10 am and is characterized by a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere for families. Pre-registration is recommended—https://www.flynntix.org/general-admission/dbr/Details?perfNo=17053&perfCodePrefix=EPM205—although walkups are also welcome. We look forward to a week of celebrating our community, our individuality, and commonality with DBR!
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Health

With January being full of high fevers and sickness we’d like to change that for February! You child needs to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school! Please remember to wash hands often, stay hydrated, and get lots of rest! Thank you!

Art

Kindergarten: We have finally finished our three-dimensional self-portraits. Students used the primary colors and imaginatively painted the entirety of the portrait! On top of that, kindergarten classes are now able to manipulate paper in less traditional ways by folding and crumpling.

1st Grade: First graders are putting finishing touches on their abstract cities inspired by Piet Mondrian. We are making a base for our cities to stand on and adding little details around them like trees and people to emulate actual collective cities.

2nd Grade: Our texture plates are finally finished and we have moved on to create self-portraits in conjunction with Ms. Heather’s and Mr. Leal’s classes. We read the book, “The Colors of Us” by Karen Katz and will be focusing on learning how to mix diverse skin tones that accurately represent the diversity of our student body.

3rd & 4th Grade: The project we are working on introduces the concept of monochromatic (single hue/one color) paintings by using observational drawing to first draw Pokémon. After drawing, students carefully paint using a range of one type of color rather than using multiple hues.

5th Grade: Collaging is what we are working on for our next long-term project. Students are using torn paper from magazines to create either landscapes or portraits. There is an emphasis on using color swatches instead of cutting out arbitrary pictures. Fifth graders have also completed their Burlington city skyline arts integration project and it has been installed in the school hallway!

Be sure to check out the art room’s Instagram @cprinciart! Thank you for your support.

Warmly,

Ms. Princi

Drama

This month and beyond we are celebrating and honoring Black History month. We are exploring poets, musicians, and artists as we honor their work. Our work will be centered around using our bodies to tell a story and will practice tone and volume in our voices to strengthen our message. The hope is that we move through the month with love in our hearts and peace in our words.

Ms. Piper

Library

We have been busy learners here in the library! Kindergarten students have just started book check out, and will practice keeping track of their books in the classroom. If Kindergarten families wish to check out books, come see Ms. Jen in the library and we can set up a family account so books can go home. Starting this week we will be working with Bee Bots and learning about coding.

1st-4th grade had the opportunity to explore some of our new databases; PebbleGo (K-3) and PebbleGo Next (3-5). These are wonderful research tools (and are just super fun to explore and learn with). You can access these resources at home with your student by going to the Library Resources, under the Library tab on the IAA website. You do need to enter our user name and password, but your student should know it (if not, please email me: jpeake@bsdvt.org, and I can give it to you).

5th grade has been using PebbleGo Next to do research on different North East states and the Indigenous Peoples that live in them. We have also been working on how to vet sources and then cite them in our work.

Thank you to all the families that have been looking at the Amazon Wishlist and sending things our way! The library has never looked so full and exciting :)

As always, you can email me with any questions and follow along on our instagram page: @iaa_library

Ms. Jen

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Music

IAA 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders sang at the Leahy Echo Center for their annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration. More than 75 IAA kids participated! We joined students from the Sustainability Academy for one song, and sang two songs by ourselves. Mayor Miro Weinberger introduced us! I saw us on the news later that night! We had fun!

All of the music classes are livening up these winter weeks with dancing in the music room, with dance caller, Mr Myregaard! The older classes are doing contra dances, like the Chimes of Dunkirk, while the younger classes are doing some circle dances, like Circle Round the Zero. Nothing better to lift the spirits than dancing to music!

Some 5th graders are making use of the “Composer’s Club” time a couple of times a week in the music room. They can also access their compositions from any place that they have an internet connection, as their pieces are stored in the cloud.


Mr Myregaard

bmyregaa@bssdvt.org

www.iaamusic.weebly.com

@IAAMusicVT

PE

January has been full of adventures and lots of laughs. In P.E. we have been finishing up our fitness testing, dance residency, and basketball units all at the same time. To wrap up our basketball unit the fifth graders enjoyed a wonderful field trip to see a UVM womens basketball game. A huge shout out to all of the staff and parents who helped make the trip so memorable, safe, and oh so fun! February is going to be filled with healthy living, outdoor adventures, and most importantly self care. This month our focus is on ourselves and improving our overall health and well being.

IMPORTANT: Move it Move it will not be running during the winter months due to the track being unsafe caused by weather conditions.


Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1QOSTRJ3F9TDG?ref_=wl_share