Second grade musicians have been working on identifying, arranging, reading, and performing rhythm patterns with eighth notes, quarter notes, and quarter rests.  They can successfully recognize, read, and perform these rhythms in the many songs we’ve sung in class over the past year: Bee, Bee Bumblebee; Rain, Rain, Go Away; Naughty Kitty Cat; Hot Cross Buns; Bounce High, Bounce Low; and Snail, Snail.  They have also been developing the ability to accompany songs and poems on pitched percussion instruments with rhythmic ostinato.  Here are some examples of their rhythm patterns.

                

Lastly, they have been preparing holiday and winter selections for their upcoming holiday concert on Friday, December 19.  Here is the link for the holiday concert information: http://www.mendhamboro.org/Page/3124

Phys Ed: WOW! its getting cold, what can you do outside when its cold? a nice brisk walk, or perhaps a ride on your bike, shooting around in your driveway, or even kicking a ball in the back yard with mom,dad, or even a friend.  It is important to keep exercised.  Inside the gym, the hilltop boys and girls are keeping exercised.  They just finished playing some fun Halloween games which focused on their eye-hand coordination, dodging, aiming and reinforcing cooperation  and sportsmanship.  I am looking forward to bringing Dance their way in November.  With technology and the big screen in the gym, the children will be doing some Wii  Just Dance moves.  

Kindergarten, First and Second grade students are having fun learning about their body parts in Spanish class! Cabeza, Hombros, Rodillas y Pies (Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes), putting together Sr. Papa (Mr. Potato Head) and Simon Dice (Simon Says) are just some of the activities we have done in class recently to practice body parts. Challenge your child to tell you a body part to touch (Toca…)! Don’t forget to visit the Spanish website and practice 

Quizlet together at home: http://quizlet.com/_ygr7c

Finally, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, what is your child thankful for? Ask them to share this with you in Spanish, as we did an activity with this in class as well! Doy gracias por… (I am thankful for)

iFeliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!

3rd Graders have been listening to The Get Rich Quick Club by Dan Gutman
We, the members of the Get Rich Quick Club, in order to form a more perfect summer, vow that we will figure out a way to make a million dollarsby September. We agree that neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night will prevent us from achieving our stated goal, till death do us part.  Gina Tumolo and her Get Rich Quick Club are determined to make their summer pay off. They're going to make a pact and hatch a scheme, and their small-town life will never be the same again.

Mrs. LeMay has been "book-talking" and "book-trailering" books by the bushel!  This excites readers to experience a diverse range of literature.  

In technology class students recently reviewed graphing using Microsoft Excel.
Students gathered data from their classmates, entered data into a spreadsheets, created a graph, and inserted legends, titles and artwork.  We will be heading back to keyboard practice next week, as well as an introduction to using the Online Public Access Catalog system to locate literary resources. 

November is a very short school month, and before we know it, it’s going to be December!  All of our Hilltop students have been busy making their holiday program props ready for the holiday concert in December.  It’s been fun but surreal to think about and getting ready for the winter holidays already.  

Along with the holiday program props, our fourth grade artists have started a new unit:  Art of the Face.  In this unit, they will be learning about different styles of art that pertains to a human face, and try to create and experiment with three particular styles:  realistic, abstract, and symbolic.  They have started with a history of portraiture that discussed few essential questions:  one, what makes Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci so famou, and two, how is Mona Lisa different from an abstract portrait, such Dora Maar by Pablo Picasso?  Then, they were given a handheld mirror to observe their own image and to draw a realistic self- portrait.  The lesson has focused on learning  about facial proportions and drawing basic shapes of the facial features.