Fall/Winter 2019

Music

Digital Citizenship

Visual Art

Physical Education

Library Media

Grade 1 musicians are ecstatic about their unit on “Peter and the Wolf.” This story is told through the music of Sergei Prokofiev. The different characters in the story are each repre-sented by a theme played on an instrument from the orchestra. First graders have also been working on singing, reading, decoding and creating music with Sol, Mi and Do solfege syllables. In addition, grade one students have been building on their classroom instrument knowledge through playing the hand bells, boomwhackers, and various drums. For our Winter All School Meeting, they will be singing “Auld Lang Syne,” “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth” and “The Holly and the Ivy.”

Grade 3 students have been participating in a program called "Recorder Karate," where they can play a song to earn a certain color belt to tie around the bottom of their recorder. I am pleased to say that students have been developing some great practice habits in class! In addition, stu-dents have continued learn to play the ukulele, with the help of my own creation of “Ukulele Karate.” This year there is going to be a strong emphasis on note name reading and its connection to the way those notes are played on various instruments. For our Win-ter All School Meeting, they will be presenting “Auld Lang Syne,” “Jingle Bells,” and “Ode to Joy.” Just as a reminder, the Recorder Karate practice tracks can be found

here: recorderdojo.com username: karate password: rubric

Musicians in Grade 2 have been learning to write down rhythms after hearing them, also known as rhythmic dictation. They have just each composed a song using the rhythms we have been learning about. They each performed their winter inspired song for their classmates. Some songs they have learned to sing include: "Savez Vous Planter?” “Juba” and “Yankee Doodle." For our Winter All School Meeting, they will be singing “Auld Lang Syne,” “Caroling, Caroling” and “O Tannenbaum.”

Grade 4 students have completed their unit of violin! Each student performed “Good King Wences-las” for their final assessment. Due to the changes occurring throughout all three elementary schools, the music teachers have been consistently looking at how we plan our instruction. There-fore, fourth grade will be returning their focus to music literacy and practicing ukulele and xylo-phone. Throughout the year, students will continue to be exposed to a variety of instruments. In addition, students had a very successful outing for our performance of "America the Beautiful" on

the ice at the Providence Bruins game on December 2nd! For our Winter All School Meeting, they will be presenting “Auld Lang Syne,” “Good King Wenceslas” and “Hanukkah is Here.”

This year, our school will be celebrating winter in a "Winter All School Meeting." Due to the lim-ited space in the gym and cafeteria, we are unable to accommodate parents and families to attend our multi-grade performances. However, as the renovating continues, we are hoping the space will allow for families to be invited to future performances. Please be on the lookout for an audio recording of your child's songs from the "Winter All School Meeting," to be sent via email before winter break. The audio recording will be a great way for students to share their learning with their families, while also accommodating the request of those who do not wish their child to be vid-eo taped. I appreciate your flexibility with the changes this year!

Students in Kindergarten have been enjoying songs such as "Jenny Jenkins," "Down by the Bay" and "Wise Old Owl." Their confidence in singing a solo is blooming! They have also begun to explore the percussion instruments in the classroom, including egg shakers, tambourine, djembe, and guiro. For our Winter All School Meeting, they will be singing “Auld Lang Syne,” “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth” and “Good King Wenceslas.”

Notes from Miss Picard

Hi! I’m Tricia Carlin, the new STEM Teaching Assistant at Flanders Ele-mentary. Prior to joining Flanders in September, I worked at Niantic Center School as the Library Assistant, and I recently earned my mas-ter’s degree from the University of Rhode Island in Library and Infor-mation Studies. I am excited to work with your youngsters.

During the renovations, Digital Citizenship classes have been held in student classrooms using either laptops or iPads. The construction has posed some challenges for computer classes, but I am impressed with the children’s persistence, patience and flexibility. Renovations are al-most complete, and the computer lab will be ready for classes any day now!

• Practice logging in to Lexia, using each student’s unique East Lyme School District username • Completed Lexia literacy reading program activities • Practice letter recognition and writing skills with Handwriting without Tears app

○ Become familiar with Microsoft Office and

created digital folders for student work

○ Explored Pebble Go Next research database

○ Registered with Noodle Tools, a digital citation tool, and entered research sources

○ Practiced typing

DIGITAL

CITIZENSHIP

I’m looking forward to getting to know your children

better and working with them in our new computer lab!

Our all school Square 1 Art drawings turned out amazing!! I

hope this awesome fundraiser is a great success! The kids

are all so proud of their artwork!

We currently have another fundraiser going on throughout

the district for the JVL Fund for the Arts… The goal of JVL

fund is to raise money for a self- sustaining annual grant of

$1000 that is granted to teacher applicants in the district

who wish to enrich their programs through the creative

arts. We currently have note cards for sale that feature an

assortment of artwork from grades K-12 that can be pur-

chased for $10 at the Flanders School front desk, the Pre-

School and Fun Club. Please help support us in supporting

creative enrichment opportunities for our children!

I have highlighted some of the projects grades have been

working on since the completion of the Square 1 Art:.

Students have had continued experiences

in color mixing with the introduction of the

paint palette. They have created turkeys

with tail feathers of primary and mixed

secondary colors. They also created 3-D

turkeys out of model magic that were sent

home. Students are currently working on

snowy owl paintings inspired by the book,

“Owl Babies” by Martin Waddel. Several

future projects will be reflecting the win-

ter season.

Students recently completed their own “Wild Thing” paintings with water color. These were inspired by Maurice Sendak’s book,

“Where the Wild Things Are”. We are currently working on snow-man drawings that demonstrate light direction and the use of shad-ow to create the illusion of a sphere. We will continue with this con-

cept of light source and shadow on and upcoming project, “Monet inspired Snowy Landscapes.”

With a continued focus on composi-tion, students have created pumpkin

patches in perspective. Included in the lesson were concepts of foreground, middle-ground, and background. In

connection with the second grade field trip to the Florence Gris-

wold Museum, students created fantas-tic “Fairy Houses” from a variety of materials. As a follow-up, students

created writing pieces in their second grade classrooms.

Students have been revisiting, and learning new concepts about color and also the influence it has in the creation

of art. They are currently working on drawings of ani-mals that will be inspired by

bright colored wood carvings from Oaxaca Mexico.

Students have been working hard on a mixed media half face portrait. Beginning with a brief over-view of proportion, and a demonstration of various colored media (chalk pastel, tempera paint, col-ored pencil, color sticks), students chose their preferred materials and began creating realistic or unre-alistic self- portraits. They were asked to think about color and how it communicates feeling and mood and to use those that would best represent them. A personal symbol is also included. The bor-ders of the pieces will include words that describe each student. When these portraits are completed, we will begin a favorite art project using wire and plaster to create Alberto Giacometti inspired sculp-tures. As part of this project, students will compare and contrast the art style of Surrealism to previ-ously learned styles of Realism and Impressionism.

Physical Education

Amy Stoddard MS, CTRS Happy-Healthy Winter!! Hello, I am Mrs. Stoddard your child(ren)’s new PE Teacher. It’s exciting to be

part of the Flanders’ Community again. All three of my children experienced this school and I was a sub-

stitute teacher/parent volunteer for several years. I am a certified Physical Education/Kundalini Yoga

teacher in CT/MA, along with a master’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation.

Our standard PE curriculum will have some new twists and turns to meet the needs of every stu-

dent! SNEAKERS! SNEAKERS! SNEAKERS! Please help support your child(ren) by making sure

they wear sneakers and comfortable clothing on their PE days. Also, ask them to teach you what they

have learned in class.

K-2nd Grade:

Students are experiencing a Mindfulness

and Yoga Unit with opportunities to experi-

ment with Hula Hoops and games. They

are learning to develop mind/body connec-

tions of awareness, strength, flexibil-

ity, and balance through breathing, yoga

poses, locomotor movements, and guided

play. When we return from winter break,

we will begin an

exciting Unit on

Health and Fit-

ness. Hoping that

all students are

motivated to be-

come more active

and healthier in the new year!

Fantastic February!! Our Whittle Equipment arrives! All students will have the opportunity to

explore and try new challenges on this timeless apparatus. Students will be encouraged to

climb, hang, swing, balance, and maneuver bars. They will all experience various Gymnas-

tic movements at their grade level on floor mats as well. Happy-Healthy 2019!!!

BABY UPDATE:

Mrs. McGuire had her sweet baby girl, Ivy Bren on

Veteran’s Day! They are very well and happy to have

the rest of the school year together. We hope for a

surprise visit in 2019.

3rd-4th Grade:

Students are currently focusing on basic

ball skills, defensive positioning, and move-

ment to open spaces in our Basketball

Unit. They are ready for game-like situa-

tions in the next few weeks. We continue to

practice “kindness only” in our classes and

celebrate those who model positive leader-

ship and teamwork. Next month, they will

be experiencing new team building opportu-

nities in our Cooperative Games Unit. Prob-

lem solving, communication, and trust

building will be key in completing the chal-

lenges in class.

Library Media with Mrs. Delouchry

the Flanders library is moving back this week! We are so excited to return

to this space. Your children have been busy in library class this fall. In each grade

level, we take time to talk about books and build excitement and love for books every

week. Your child will continue to come home with a book of their choice on their li-

brary days (except this week). Thank you for reminding them to return their books

on library days. They are always excited to browse for new books.

Kindergarten students have been

reading, listening, and viewing litera-

ture for pleasure and to share common

experiences. As well, they are working

on identifying parts of a book and the

difference between fiction and non-

fiction. We have also been reading

books from Unite for Literacy and QR

First grade students are identifying

areas of the library and understanding

basic organization. We are working on

checking out books that are just right for

us. They are also recognizing that infor-

mation and literature come in a variety

of sources. We have also been reading

books from Unite for Literacy and

QR codes.

Second graders are learning how to

use the catalog, Destiny, to perform

simple author, title, subject, or key-

word searches to find books. They are

also using the principles of library or-

ganization to locate materials within

areas of the library. Ask them to show

you at home how to search for books on

our Flanders Library Catalog.

Third graders have been taking

notes and arranging information

about the Dewey Decimal System

on Wixie. You will hear more about

these projects on the Flanders News

Program! We are also working on the

organizational features of non-fiction

books.

Fourth graders have been determining the advantages

and disadvantages of print, non-print, and

electronic sources and selecting the best

one for the task. They are also working on

appropriately crediting sources and creat-

ing a simple bibliography. We also had a

special Rubik’s Cube challenge for

4th graders. They worked as a grade level

to solve 36 two by two Rubik’s cubes. They

did it! You will hear more about this on

the Flanders News!

The East Lyme Schools Librarians collaborate all the time. Recently we came together to

work on a Holiday Book List to share with families. We know the time spent with our children

reading is so important and such valuable. Whether you buy a child a book or check one out

form the library, it is really about the kindness, peacefulness and love that can be spent with

a loved one. We encourage you to enjoy the magical gift of reading with a loved one this holi-

day season. We hope you enjoy the Holiday Book List!

A WINTER HOLIDAY BOOK GUIDE

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.” -Garrison Keillor

Whether it’s a gift bought for a special occasion or a book checked out from the library, we hope you

enjoy the magic and wonder books can bring to you and your loved ones this holiday season. We’ve com-

piled a list of recommendations based on personal interests. We hope you find it helpful.

Books for children that like visuals, comics and graphic novels:

The Meltdown (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #13) by Jeff Kiney, grades 3-7 Peanut Butter and Jelly (A Narwhal Jelly Book #3) by Ben Clanton, grades K-4 Supernova (Amulet #8) by Kazu Kibushi, grades 3-8 Waking the Monsters (Hilo #4) by Judd Winick, grades 3-7 Kristy’s Big Day, (The Baby-sitters Club Graphix #6), by Ann Martin, grades 2-7 Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild (Dog Man #6) by Dav Pilkey, Grades 1+, *Released on 12/24

Books for children who like to play games:

The Book Scavenger Series by Chris Grabenstein, grades 3+ Mr. Lemoncello Series by Jennifer Bertman, grades 3+ 2019 Game On! By Gamers for Gamers, grades 3+

Books for children who like movies:

Mary Poppins Returns by Kathy McCullough, grades 3-4 Christopher Robin: a boy, a bear, and a balloon by Brittany Rubiano, grades 1-4 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, grades 4+ The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, PreK-2 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: the secret of the Realms by Disney, grades 4+

Books for children who like nature:

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall, grades K-2 Winter is Here by Kevin Henkes, grades K-2 Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year, by Fiona Waters, grades 1+

Books for children who like history:

Who Was/What Was/Where Was Series, grades 3+ Kids Presidents by David Stabler, grades 3+ I Survived Series, grades 3+

Books for children who like adventure:

The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid by Dylan Thomas, grades 2+ Knights vs. Dinosaurs by Matt Phelan, grades 1-4 This is How We do It by Matt Lamonthe, grades K-3 Explorer Academy: The Nebula Secret by Trudi Trueit, grades 3+ 9 from the Nine Worlds by Rick Riordan, grades 4+ The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris, grades 4+

Books for children who like to play sports, run, be active:

I Got It! By David Wiesner, grades Prek-2 The United States of Sports, Sports Illustrated, grades 2+ Year in Sports 2019, Scholastic, grades 2+

Books for children who like crafting and cooking:

Kid Chef Junior by Anjali Shah, grades K-3 Cooking Class: 57+ Recipes that Kids Will Love to Cook and Eat by Deanna Cook, grades 3+ The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids, grades 3+

Books for children who like animals:

The Snowy Nap by Jan Brett, grades PreK-2 Stories of the Night by Kitty Crowther, grades K-2 Who Would Win? Komodo Dragon vs King Kobra? (Who Would Win Set), by Jerry Pallotta, Grades K-3 Skunked! By Jacqueline Kelly, grades 1-4 Dinosaurium by Lily Murray, grades 2+ 125 True Stories of Amazing Animals by National Geographic Kids, grades 3-4

Books for children who like to tinker, build, create:

National Geographic Kids: How Things Work Inside Out by T.J. Resler, grades 1-4 Star Wars Maker Lab: 20 Craft and Science Projects by Liz Heinecke, grades, grades 3-4 Rosie Revere and the Raucous Riveters by Andrea Beaty, grades 1-3

Books for children that like to laugh and be silly:

Are You Scared Darth Vader? By Adam Rex Grades, grades K-3 The Cookie Fiasco by Mo Willems and Dan Santat, grades K-2 Potato Pants! By Laurie Keller, grades K-3 Captain Underpants, grades 2+