Happy new year to all of our IAA families! I hope this year is off to a great start for you and that the remainder of the year will be a prosperous one with regards to your well-being. Our students and staff have returned to school and the vibe of the first few days seems to demonstrate just how valuable the December break was in allowing time for everyone to recharge. The first week back from break went smoothly and I want to thank our staff and families for supporting our students with their transition back into school from our break. We’re excited about the calendar year of 2021 and all the potential it holds for change. I look forward to our continued growth and partnership as we make this year better than the last for our school and communities.

Upcoming:

January 18th: Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday - 11:30 dismissal

January 25th-February 12th: Winter Assessment for Students

February 19th: Report Cards Sent Home

Who was H.O. Wheeler?

Henry Orson Wheeler (1841-1917) was the son of a South Hero school principal; he joined the Union Army during the Civil War and afterward studied at UVM and became a lawyer. During his 32-year tenure as superintendent of the Burlington school system, eight schools were built in the city, according to a 1995 precis by UVM’s historic preservation program seeking Wheeler’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. source

IAA now has 18 videos in the IAA Playlist on the Burlington School District YouTube page.

For the latest Town Meeting we were joined by Teaching Artist Will Kasso-Condry of Juniper Creative Arts for our first Artist Talk of the year to help IAA investigate the roots of street art, where graffiti artists find inspiration, and his art. Juniper Creative Arts has invited IAA students to help create a mural at the ONE Arts Center in May to create a mural at the ONE Arts Center and we are hoping to bring them back in the Fall to work with students and other community members to create a mural here at IAA. This Artist Talk rounds one of the final components of the IAA Creature Crawl. The Kindergarten creatures are the latest to go up. There are a few more classes that will be popping up around the neighborhood this Winter-- keep your eyes peeled!

In case you missed it, we created a Music in the Classroom video in December. Mr. Brian and Jon Gailmor contributed songs and their voices. The video includes two absolutely gorgeous songs (“Even in Midwinter” and “If we only have Love”) and one old favorite.

The mission of the Integrated Arts Academy at H.O. Wheeler is to explore academic knowledge through intentional art experiences. Our richly diverse community collaborates and celebrates the world through meaningful learning and creative self-expression as we prepare students for success in the 21st Century.

Check out this old gem from Mr. Brian ONE Sings: “Counting Song Swahili.”

We are thrilled to announce the return of ONE Strings!

Rachel Keyser will be joining Kathleen Kono as a second instructor. Grades 3, 4, and 5 will each have a 6 week session of ONE-Strings, with 5th grade beginning on January 11, 2021. 4th grade will follow and we will wrap up with 6 weeks of Strings in 3rd grade which will run through to early June. Ms. Rachel and Ms. Kathleen have prepared two complete sets of violins so they will not be shared between classes. They are also revamping repertoire and personalizing the “challenge” level. Each session will conclude with a presentation of learning.

Here’s to 2021! I hope you all were able to rest and are coming back rejuvenated. I wanted to start the new year sharing a little about the philosophy of drama here at IAA. We often hear the words theater and drama. Theater is about creating a performance for an audience. Drama is about the process of experiencing the art form. Drama is improvisational and naturally brings out play which helps us make connections and deepen our understanding. Drama is not taught in isolation here at IAA rather as an approach to teaching in which drama is integrated with other subjects such as literacy, social studies, and social emotional learning. We tap into our imaginations as we play games, we build empathy as we bring stories to life from history and about people from around the world. Drama engages children to learn about the world around them.

Happy 2021! I hope this finds you all healthy and happy. We just wrapped up a unit on Jean Michael Basquiat with the third graders. They became graffiti artists and created their own symbols and street names and worked in mixed media. The energy was palpable and you can definitely see it in their creations. 2nd graders studied Kandinsky and created abstract art while they listened to music. Kindergarteners were busy with a myriad of projects. They collaged penguins, made a crayon self-portrait, and created a shape mosaic based on the book Elmer...to name a few. The next rotation involves working with math, Pop-Art and hopefully some sculpture projects with model magic! Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, whatever. sadamson@bsdvt.org

We have been finishing up the music rotation with some 5th, 4th and 1st grade classes. The 4th graders have been doing lyric analysis, learning about Beethoven’s composing, and practicing writing some of their own music notes. The 5th grade has been composing, using GarageBand to create their own original songs about their state that they have been researching in class.

Mr Myregaard

Email: bmyregaa@bsdvt.org Website: www.iaamusic.weebly.com Twitter: @IAAMusicVT

Instagram: @iaamusicvt

Happy New Year! In Integrated Arts with 4th grade we just finished a unit researching Vermont and then taking that information and incorporating it into a state poster they created digitally using Canvas for Chromebooks and Google Drawing. I’ll be heading into 3rd grade for Arts Integration next where we will be working on an author study of Ezra Jack Keats.

K-4th grade students continue to explore our Red Clover nominees for this year, 1st just learned about haikus (more specifically, riddle-kus). Riddle-kus take the traditional haiku form and change it to the point of view of an object. Through the 5, 7, 5, syllable format you provide the reader with clues to help them guess what the object is. I will continue to work with the rest of the grades on this work.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me: jpeake@bsdvt.org

Amazon Wish List for the IAA Library

Ms. Jen

I hope everyone had a wonderful break. For this rotation, classes will focus on Winter Olympic themed events. Some events we will focus on are luge, cross country skiing, speed skating, biathlon and curling. All of these events will be modified for land and for safety. We are looking for a couple extra sleds for our luge program. If anyone has an extra sled hanging around, the P.E. program could use it and would greatly appreciate it! We are going to continue to hold P.E. outside as much as we can, as long as it is a safe temperature. If your child has P.E., please send them to school with clothing that will keep them warm outside. (jacket, snow pants, hat, gloves and boots) If your child needs any of these pieces of clothing, please feel free to contact the school and we will do our best to help provide them with what they need. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. cjuckett@bsdvt.org

Mr. Juckett (Mr. J)

Hope everyone had a relaxing, restful and health break. As we continue into the winter months, please remember to stay vigilant about washing your hands, wearing a mask and keeping physical distance from others. We have done a great job at keeping everyone healthy and want to continue that! Here are this month's pop-up COVID-19 testing locations!

Stay Healthy!

Nurse Ali