In this first marking period, the first graders reviewed the names of and played a wide variety of classroom percussion instruments: rhythm sticks, hand drums, lollipop drums, triangles, glockenspiels, woodblocks, guiros, xylophones, maracas, boomwhackers, tambourines, and rain sticks. Ask them about the unusual instruments - whistle tubes and thunder tubes  - that we used in The Weather Song.  They used  the instruments listed above to highlight texts of poems (called soundscapes) and to accompany songs with a steady beat.  

First graders listened to and identified dynamics (levels of loudness) of short music excerpts with English and Italian terms (piano = quiet, mezzo-forte = medium loud, forte = loud).  They experienced  and verbally identified tempo (speed) of short music selections with English and Italian terms (adagio = slow; moderato = medium; allegro = fast).  

First graders can identify a series of pitches as “mostly high” (not loud) or “mostly low” (not quiet).  They can tell which pitch of 2 pitches is the higher (or lower) one.  We played this game to hone our pitch skills: Piggies High/Low Pitch Game.

They also sang quite a bit as we learned holiday and winter songs for our annual holiday concert on Friday, December 19, 2014.  Click on this link if you need the holiday concert information: Hilltop Holiday Concerts. Happy Holidays!  

OUR HILLTOPERS ARE WORKING HARD ON THEIR EYE-HAND COORDINATION. WE ARE ALL FOCUSING ON USING OUR FINGERTIPS TO DRIBBLE A BALL.  THE FOURTH GRADERS ARE PREPARING TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER IN A 3 ON 3 BASKETBALL GAME. THE YOUNGER GRADES ARE LEARNING HOW TO DRIBBLE, PASS AND EVEN SHOT AT DIFFERENT LEVEL BASKETS.

I ENCOURAGE THE CLASSES TO WORK ON STRETCHING THEIR BODIES INSIDE IF THE WEATHER IS TOO COLD OR RAINY OUT.  I HAVE TOLD THEM TO DO SIT UPS DURING A COMMERCIAL WHEN THEY ARE WATCHING TV. FOR A MOVIE, PICK OUT A WORD THAT EVERYTIME YOU HEAR IT,DO 10 SITUPS, OR EVEN PUSH UPS.

WE WILL BE READY FOR A LITTLE VOLLEYBALL WHEN WE GET BACK FROM WINTER BREAK

I WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY HOLIDAY FROM YOUR P.E. DEPT.

2nd Graders have begun their state research! We started off with the book How To Make An Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman.  Then students used the USA Map to locate the state of their choice and their capital city.  Students then learned about the United States Census, and navigated to www.census.gov to locate their state's population.  We also have a better understanding of URLs ending in .com , .gov, and .edu.  Students also located and recorded information from the www.factmonster.com website, and will soon be creating digital presentations. 

As the first marking period comes to an end, the Hilltop students are bringing home their art folders.  Please keep the artworks at home, but sign and return the art folders.  We need it for more artworks to come.  Thank you for your support and happy holidays!

The third graders have been practicing and applying the principles of art:  contrast and emphasis, balance and unity, rhythm,pattern and movement.  This month, they have learned that 1) the visual rhythm is the repetition of lines, shapes and colors and 2) how to create a movement in a picture using the visual rhythm.  We have started by listening and identifying  “rhythm”(repetition of beats) in a piece of music and have correlated that concept to understanding what a “visual rhythm” is in an artwork.  By discussing and comparing Op Art artworks of Bridget Riley and the Fishing Boat prints of Hokusai, the third graders have shown me that they have understood what visual rhythm is.  We are currently creating a beautiful winter landscape using the birch trees to create the visual rhythm.