Physical Education 

This month 3rd-6th grade will finish up their fitness testing for the year.  

The department is also gearing up for annual Field Days. Field Day will take place on May 30 for grades 4-6 at 9:15 a.m. and for grades 1-3 at 12:45 p.m. Kindergarten Field Day will take place on June 4 at 9:20am.There will also be some fun inflatables at Field Day this year. Additionally, on June 18 a company will be coming to the school with two mobile rock climbing apparatus, an inflatable gaga pit, as well as a meltdown/knock down unit for the students to enjoy.  

Thank you, PTA, for funding all of the Field Day and rock-climbing events, as well your support throughout the year. 

Garden 

Planting in the garden is in full swing. All grades are preparing the garden beds and planting seeds and seedlings to get the school garden growing.Thanks to the support of the PTA. The whole school spent three days visiting with working goats, chickens, baby goats, and even a turkey! Classes had one-on-one time learning all about the benefits of having these animals working in the school garden spaces and what it takes to care for them. 

Spanish 

Sixth Grade: Manipulating AR,ER and IR verbs in the present tense to create sentences. 

Fifth Grade: Asking and answering, “What time is it?.” Then they answer this question using both a traditional method (“menos”) and modern method ( “y”- pronounced ee). 

Fourth Grade: Determining the locations, flags, and capitals of all Spanish-speaking countries. 

Third Grade: Examining and complimenting classmates’ clothing. 

Second Grade: Identifying a variety of drinks and discussing typical drinks of Spanish-speaking countries like agua fresca and horchata. 

First Grade: Naming and graphing domestic pets in a variety of ways. 

Kindergarten: Identifying nine colors. 

Art 

Kindergarten - making a collage inspired by the book“Kites”by Bettina Ling. 

First Grade - creating mixed media landscapes using overlapping paper 

Second Grade - creating clay flowers using air dry clay for spring 

Third Grade - creating Van Gogh-inspired drawings by creating short marks with oil pastels 

Fourth Grade - creating animal portraits using complementary colors, inspired by George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog paintings 

Fifth Grade - creating drawings of city streets using one point perspective 

Sixth Grade - creating self-portraits using reference photos and tracing to transfer the photo onto drawing paper 

May 20th is our annual art show, Lunch with the Artist. Every student will have one piece of art hanging in the show. You can see your child’s artwork during their lunch period or after school. Schedule on Parent Square to follow. 

Library 

Kindergarteners - are enjoying different versions of their favorite stories, comparing characters and settings and working on character recognition. 

First graders - are creating their own characters, building on the stories they love. 

Grades 2–4 - are reading biographies and autobiographies in honor of National Inventors Month. Students will come up with their own invention ideas for a library display. 

Fifth graders - are focusing on books by authors who also illustrate, highlighting extraordinary individuals who bring their stories to life both through words and art. 

Sixth graders - are wrapping up their digital citizenship unit and beginning their final project, which supports their ELA work—learning to gather information from different sources to build strong arguments for a debate. 

As we get closer to the end of the year, students are getting ready for their final library checkouts—it’s almost time to return all books! 

Date Added: 5/13/2025

Kindergarten is wrapping up the bubbles and 3D printing unit. They will be going outside to test their custom bubble wands before the end of the month. 

First grade is wrapping up the bubbles and 3D printing unit. They will be going outside to test their custom bubble wands before the end of the month. 

Second Graders are practicing their touch typing and Chromebook Mouse skills in STEAM. They are focusing on keeping their fingers in Home Row while using the keyboard. 

Third Grade is finishing the dinosaur unit. They will be moving on to 3D printing after Spring Break. 

Fourth Grade is completing the Earth Day and sustainability unit. They are making recycled paper from scraps and recycling broken crayons. 

Fifth grade is wrapping up the 3D printing unit. They will choose one of their three projects to send to the printer. 

Sixth Grade is wrapping up the 3D printing unit. They will choose one of their three projects to send to the printer. 

6th grade: Manipulating sentences by replacing names with subject pronouns. 

5th grade: Asking classmates who complete household chores in their homes. 

4th grade: Locating and examining Spanish-speaking countries. 

3rd grade: Complimenting classmates’ clothing. 

2nd grade: Discussing popular foods of Spanish-speaking countries. 

1st grade: Locating, connecting and naming a variety of farm animals. 

Kindergarten: Identifying nine colors. 

Date Added: 4/9/2025

Kindergarten – Grade 2: 
Students have been enjoying fun spring stories in the library. We’ve read about gardens growing, baby animals, and rainy-day adventures. These books helped students practice listening and understanding, while also connecting to the changes they see outside during spring. 

Grades 3–5: 
Students are learning about different types of libraries around the world to celebrate World Library Week. It is also National Poetry Month, and students in grades 3–5 will be reading and writing poetry. Poems selected are inspired by what the students are learning in class, such as how the government works (grade 3), how to take care of our planet (grade 4), and helping out at home (grade 5). 

Grade 6: 
Sixth graders are continuing their Digital Citizenship lessons. This month, we’re focusing on how to stay safe online, talk kindly to others, and tell if a website or source is trustworthy. These lessons help students become more thoughtful and responsible when using technology.

Date Added: 4/9/2025  

Music: Students in grades K-3 are working on St. Patrick’s Day songs and games while fourth graders compose music for an old Mickey Mouse Cartoon.The choruses are in full swing and are gearing up for the spring concerts.World Music has been working on songs for the performance in June.SCMEA vocal students just finished two weekends of intensive rehearsals and performed a fantastic performance this past Sunday. The Drama Club finished up a fabulous performance.

Spanish: The students are currently working on the following:

Grade 6:Analyzing class school schedules from a variety of Spanish speaking countries.

Grade 5: Dissecting family trees and giving verbal descriptions of relationships.

Grade 4:Retelling telephone numbers in a culturally authentic manner (grouping instead of single digits).

Grade 3: Investigating the weather through Latin America.

Grade 2: Labeling and matching various popular food vocabulary.

Grade 1: Naming farm animals.

Kindergarten: Counting from 1-10.

Art:

Kindergarten: Working on self-portraits and how to draw the parts of the face.

Grade 1: Learning about implied texture and how to use lines to make spring animals appear soft and fuzzy.

Grade 2: Learning about hot and cold colors and using them to symbolize a mood. Drawing and painting traditional Mexican suns and moons.

Grade 3: Learning about the Baroque period of art and recreating Johannes Vermeer’s famous painting,“Girl With a Pearl Earring.”

Grades 4 and 5: Working on designing agenda book covers for next year's agenda books. The theme this year is STEAM or science. The winning designs will be revealed the week before spring break.

Grade 6: Learning about figure drawing and illustration. Choosing a figure from Greek mythology to create an illustrative drawing and connecting with their recent reading of“Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief,” which was read in ELA.

Garden:

Students have started to plant seeds in the greenhouse for the summer garden. All classes have started tomatoes, eggplant, onions and peppers.

Kindergarten: Will soon start seeds for their Mother’s Day gifts. 

Grade 1: Has wrapped up a unit learning about seeds. 

Grade 2: Learned about bugs and has spent a class period observing worms in the worm composter. 

Grade 3: Finished learning about soil and has had their soil station day sifting, forming and mixing soil for our seed starting efforts.

Grade 4: The worm composting bin arrived, and students had a lab day working on experiments similar to Charles Darwin’s study of worms. Did you know worms don’t have eyes or ears? Don’t worry no worms were harmed in the experiments!

Grade 5: Completed their study of composting in their group project of compost jars and have recorded their results. 

Grade 6: Brought home last month's successful plant propagations and conducted Darwin’s worm experiments in the greenhouse during science period.

STEAM:

Kindergarten: Students are learning about 2D and 3D shapes. They are preparing to make and test bubble wands using TinkerCAD and the school’s 3D printers.

Grade 1: First grade is reviewing 2D and 3D shapes. They are preparing to make and test bubble wands using TinkerCAD and our 3D printers.

Grade 2: Second Graders are learning about how 3D modeling and printing works. They will make backpack tags using TinkerCAD and our 3D printers.

Grade 3: Third Graders are researching a dinosaur of their choice. They will learn about their dinosaur and create a model of its skeleton.

Grade 4: The class is beginning a mini-golf unit. They will learn about simple machines and then work in groups to create mini-golf holes out of cardboard.

Grade 5: The fifth grade just wrapped up an Engineering Challenge Competition. Students will continue with 3D modeling and printing.

Grade 6: Sixth Grade is beginning a 3D modeling and printing unit. Students will create three unique projects and choose one item to send to the printer.

Library: This month marks the kickoff of Pick A Reading Partner (PARP) Month and our Beanstalk Reading Challenge, where students track their reading, earn badges, and participate in a school-wide challenge. Every grade has been introduced to the program, and we encourage families to join in by reading together at home and to reach out with any questions. Here’s what each grade has been up to in the library:

Kindergarten – Students have been enjoying fun, interactive read-alouds.

Grade 1: ELA lessons are supported by focusing on characters and settings in stories.

Grade 2: Students’ exploration of animal stories continues as they investigate how animals are portrayed in different literature genres.

Grade 3: After completing an illustrator study, the class has moved onto an author study, focusing on writers who have adapted traditional tales or drawn inspiration from folktales. One example is“The Gruffalo”by Julia Donaldson, which is based on a Chinese folktale.

Grade 4: Students are celebrating Women’s History Month by exploring biographies of inspiring women, including“Shark Lady”by Jess Keating and“The Oldest Student”by Rita L. Hubbard.

Grade 5: Students are being introduced to different reading tools and resources, while also discussing media balance as part of their digital citizenship lessons.

Grade 6: Students are creating book trailers using iMovie and Canva. This exciting project will wrap up with a book trailer showcase during the school’s upcoming book fair.

Physical Education:

The students participated in a fun game called Cageball. A giant ball is inflated, and students are arranged in a big square. Each student is assigned a corresponding number with peers from three other teams.When their number is called, students crab walk to the middle of the square and try to kick the ball over one of the other teams’ lines. The kids loved it!The circus is also back in town. Each grade will participate in two circus sessions, run by the National Circus Project team.The fifth and sixth grade will perform in the circus show at the conclusion of circus week.

Date Added: 3/13/2025