March '17

Hilltop Library Collaborative ART PROJECT

Students are working together to construct a collaborative art project. ALL students are working toward ONE  beautiful reward. Students earn stickers at various times throughout the week.  They then collaborate, pay close attention to details by following the color code, and apply their stickers.  Students have been making predictions, community-building, and earning lots of stickers. The end result...a school-wide collaborative ART project. What do you think it will become?

Hilltop Library Celebrates National Women’s History Month!

We have been reading and researching amazing women @ the Hilltop Library! Students in 3rd and 4th grades conducted mini-research using various print and digital sources. In grades K-4 we have been exploring nonfiction, biography, and of course referring to www.loc.gov for some wonderful primary sources!!

We will be kicking off the READING WITHOUT WALLS program challenge @ the Hilltop Library after spring break. Stay on the lookout for more information about this wonderful reading challenge brought to us by the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Gene Luen Yang. All students will have an opportunity to participate in this challenge in various forms.

Questions?? email: lemay@mendhamboroschools.org

Art:  March is National Youth Art month! We are celebrating it with the annual exhibition of students’ artworks at the Mendham Public Library.  Please come and enjoy the artworks made by many Mendham students from Hilltop and Mountainview.  The exhibition will be held until the end of March.  Thank you for your support!

Hilltop artists will be showing their artworks on paper this month at the Mendham Public Library.  Due to the lack of space, we can only afford to exhibit only a sampling of the artworks by the lower grades.  However, the prints made by entire fourth graders will be displayed. There will be portraits, landscapes, still lifes as well as a sprinkle of folk art and pictures using different styles.   

Congratulations to the following Hilltop students for their artworks exhibited:

The entire fourth grade class

Lucas A

Zoya A

Fiona C

Jake C

Max C

Tyler D

Matthew D

Mallory F

Sarah F

Beckett G

Cassidy G

Ella O

Nikola H

Colin J

Avril K

Olivia K

Mackenzie K

Lila K

Tess K

Jack M

Stella M

Will M

Annabel N

Matthew P

Sophie P

Catherine R

Josh S

Amanda S

Jessica

Jedd V

Dasha Z

In the art room, our fourth graders have begun the weaving lesson and are thoroughly enjoying the therapeutic activity.  Third graders are working on creating artwork applying different principles of design. They are also practicing using mixed media to create artworks.  Second graders are working on the next element of art -- form.  Using soft pastels, they are learning to highlight and shade to transform a flat shape into a three-dimensional form.  Their Birds on a Tree pictures exhibiting this concept may be seen at the art show.  First graders have finished their folk art unit, and have started to learn about different famous artists and their styles.  We are starting out with Joan Miro and his abstract art and continuing to Vincent Van Gogh.  Kindergarteners are introduced to famous artists as well.  This month, they are creating delightful stabiles in the style of Alexander Calder who is most famous for his mobiles.  

February '17

First Graders are Flipping over FLIP GRID!

First graders researched an animal using print and online sources. After researching and note-taking, students constructed a book about their animal including: table of contents, four sections (body, food, habitat, fun facts), all about the author, and lastly they cited their source(s). Students used nonfiction books and/or PebbleGo database. Finally, students presented their research to their classmates and recorded their presentation in Flip Grid for easy access from home and across their grade. Flip Grid is a safe way to share information, practice fluency, create short presentations for an authentic audience, and encourage learning, conversation, collaboration and feedback. Stay on the lookout for our next Flip Grid….4th Grade Book Review Vodcasts!

Keyboarding …3rd and 4th graders participated in a mini keyboard unit over the past few weeks during their technology class.  Students are now ready to continue their keyboarding practice at home, in school, and whenever they are using a keyboard. Keyboarding is a skill that will improve greatly with consistent practice when using the CORRECT TECHNIQUE. If possible, try to keep an eye on your child's keyboard experiences at home.  Encourage your child to type with ALL fingers and ALWAYS use the technique we learned in class. Students began their practice in school using www.Typing.com  and www.dancemattyping.com. These websites can be found on the keyboarding section of the Hilltop Library Media Center website, along with more free sites. Your child has worked very hard to develop the correct technique in the classroom, now it is time for them to continue using the correct keyboarding technique at home and in their daily school/home computer activities.

Virtual Valentines Project

During the month of February some classes participated in a Virtual Valentine Project during their library and technology classes. Students created digital valentines for a 5th grade class in Andover, Kansas and a Kindergarten class in Durham, CT.. We shared our creations and then participated in a virtual meeting with our partners.  Students introduced themselves, read poems, shared digital valentines, and then listened to our new friends share. This project was made possible by the Global Virtual Valentines Project

3rd and 4th graders got CREATIVE with CANVA - one of Mrs. LeMay’s favorite design tools! Students designed some fun valentine documents and discovered a new, dynamic platform they can use to present or share information. Students would need to create their own free account in order to use this free website from home.

February is Heart Month The Third Graders will be jumping on February 14th.  It will be done in school at the end of the day.   Lets Get ready to work our bodies out.  Our Hilltopers will be using their own bodies to build strength by doing Animal walks in the gym.  I will be focusing on Body Awareness:

• Keeping your body in control
• Body Balance
• Body Control
• Using your own weight to get Strong   Upper and Lower body

Its time to get your parents Walking.   Take your parents for a Walk is back and the Tokens will begin.   How this works is your son or daughter will bring home a form (Mrs. Morales has them in her gym) and when your child takes you for a walk, you sign the paper, bring it to the folder in the gym and your name is put in a bucket where if it gets pulled out you will receive a Token. ( the token can be worn on your sneaker or backpack.   The winner is announced in the Morning with the Morning announcements.  

Music:

Kindergarteners are developing their ability to use and switch fast/slow tempo while singing/playing instruments with visual cues to known poems/songs. They are creating, in an age-appropriate way, new text to short songs. They have played one new instruments: jingle sticks. They continue to develop the proper technique on instruments that they have played so far this year.

First Graders are reading and performing rhythms to known songs and poems with picture notation (not traditional notation yet).

Second Graders have been writing and reading 2-pitch songs on a 3-line/2-space staff to understand pitch in notation. They have used xylophones and metallophones to play 2-pitch songs from their written notation.

Third Graders continue to use Google Classroom to listen to excerpts from “Autumn” and “Winter” from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi and use music vocabulary (dynamics, melody, rhythm, tempo, and timbre) to describe Vivaldi’s music. The recorders have been ordered.  It takes about 2 weeks for the recorders arrive.

Fourth Graders will earn their orange belts this month when they play either Good King Wenceslas or Seashell from traditional music notation.

January '17

Art: Happy 2017!  As the new year begins and the second marking period comes to an end, many of the art folders will be going home.  Parents -- please sign the folder and keep the artworks at home, but return the folder with the art journals/notebooks.  We need the folder for more artworks to come later in the year.

Fourth graders have finished the unit of art of the face.  They will be bringing home their symbolic portraits and realistic selfies.  We have started our printmaking experiences; this year we will be focusing on just intaglios, a printmaking process where the image is cut out of the printing plate.  They will be experiencing using the reduction method to make prints.

Third graders, with an exception of one class, have  finished up winter birch tree landscapes, a study on rhythm which is one of the principles of art.  Students then will practice using patterns as part of their artworks and create a multimedia dragon pictures.  

Second graders will take home their art folders with holiday street collage(unless they already took it home), pine tree paintings using space and distance, and Chinese dragon puppets practicing folding and cutting skills.  

First graders will also take home their art folders with winter monochromatic landscape and a sampling of some folk art:  koi nobori, embroidery and aboriginal art.    

Kindergarteners have been painting, cutting and gluing to experience different aspects of art.  They are really beginning to understand how to handle certain art materials correctly.  Fun, fun, fun!

Physical Education:  It’s time to hit the Volleyball court.  Our 1st -4th graders are developing and improving on the three basic skills of Volleyball.  Setting, Bumping and Serving.  As we continue through the weeks, all of the skills will be placed together. For 4th grade, they will play a modified game of volleyball called “Nukem” volleyball.  For the younger grades they will be able to work with a Big Beach Ball.  Keeping it up, working together cooperatively to keep the ball in the air.

As February approaches, the Third graders will be getting ready for Jumprope For Heart.   

Music

Kindergarteners are developing their ability to use and switch between high and low voices with visual cues to known poems. They are creating, in an age-appropriate way, new text to short songs. They have played some new instruments in the new year: colored hand bells, chimes, and boomwhackers.  They continue to review instruments that they have played so far this year.

First Graders are reading, performing, and conducting the steady beat in known songs. They can highlight phrases in known songs. They have played quite a few instruments in the new year to demonstrate their ability to perform a steady beat accurately.

Second Graders have been working on rhythms and Meter in 2. They can divide rhythms in known songs into 2-beat measures and add bar lines. They understand also that 2-beat meters are divided into strong and weak beats. The students are beginning to use a 3-line/2-space staff and understand how pitch works in notation.

Third Graders have been using Google Classroom to learn about the composer Antonio Vivaldi, define music vocabulary, and use music vocabulary to describe Vivaldi’s music. The recorder letter for the upcoming third grader recorder unit went home last week.

Fourth Graders have been using Google Classroom assignments to comment and answer questions on video clips from an authentic Native American Powwow where drumming and traditional dances are shown. They are also working on reading and playing the orange belt songs in Recorder Karate.

December

Happy Holidays! The children of Hilltop school will be learning the basics of basketball.  Many activities will be played incorporating those skills.  

 Your children maybe coming home and telling you that they climbed a wall today. Thanks to the HSA the children will have an opportunity to experience climbing in gym.  We will start with many of the basic steps and Rules that are needed to make the rock wall experience a success.

Enjoy your Holiday and your time off with your children.

Mrs. Morales

 3^rd & 4^th Graders participated in an HOUR of CODE!

We live in a world surrounded by technology. We know that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly depend on understanding how technology works.

In an effort to continue our exploration of how technology works, our 3^rd and 4^th grade technology classes experienced an HOUR OF CODE with Mrs. LeMay.

We spent time discussing algorithms, the importance of attending to details, debugging, using models and simlulation to explore complex systems, perseverance, and collaboration.  All of these elements are not only critical copmonents of computer programming, but are applicable to all areas of learning. Students started out by working together to devlop the lines of code necessary to get Mrs. LeMay to her shoe! Students then went on to read and write code on paper (paper programming), and finallly students wrote code using the www.code.org platform.

Check out the great SketchNote by Sylvia Duckworth called “10 Reasons to Teach Coding.” She put the infographic together based on information from Brian Aspinall. Stay on the lookout for our own 3^rd and 4^th grade SKETCHNOTES! For more information about the Hour of Code, go to https://hourofcode.com/us.

Citations, Citations, Citations….

2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th graders are involved in research projects that require students to locate and access several print and digital resources.  We have discussed the importance citing their sources, and grades 3-4 have heard Mrs. LeMay’s Lovely Lollipop Story – The Importance of Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due!  In grades 3-4 we have gone into great detail discussing citation format and creating citations for our recent BrainPop mini research projects.  

The 4^th Grade Mannequin Challenge Videos and Scavenger Hunt are online! 

Our 4th graders recently worked together to complete Hilltop Library Mannequin Challenge videos. Students came up with a pose that could clearly illustrate the wonderful tools, resources, and space we have at the Hilltop Library -- where our students grow as readers, researchers and learners!

In an effort to engage ALL Hilltop learners, I have created the Hilltop Library Mannequin Challenge Scavenger Hunt. All students are welcome to complete one scavenger hunt form and return it to the Hilltop Library at any time this year to receive a prize. The Mannequin Challenge Scavenger Hunt form can be found on the Hilltop Library website.  Students can watch all 3 mannequin videos, but only need to complete one scavenger hunt form. The videos can be found on the password protected portion of our website. Questions?? email lemay@mendhamboroschools.org

1^st Graders Researchers are blossoming…Students have been learning about the Internet, the Chrome browser and how to navigate to the PebbleGO database at www.pebblego.com.   We discussed the importance of keeping our school login information private, and all students have had extensive practice logging in to the database. The Mendham Borough School District subscribes to this database, and students can access it from school or home. This informational research database is geared towards younger, emerging readers, giving them access to relevant, current information about research topics in a multimodal literacy environment that supports them at every level. Students searched, located, and accessed various informational texts and topics. They then went on to gather and record information, and will soon be locating the citation for a given informational article!

 

All Hilltop students are working on selections to share at the holiday concerts on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 in Hilltop’s Gym.  

Our theme this year is “Holiday Magic, Holiday Wonder.”

Holiday concert times are:

Grades 1 and 2 at 9:00 a.m.

Grades 3 and 4 at 10:15 a.m.

Kindergarten at 2:30 p.m.

Snow date for the concerts is Thursday, December 22, 2016. Concert times for the snow date would be the same as listed above.

Please have students dress neatly/nicely (no sports jerseys or shirts with logos) and not to warmly as performing on risers under lights makes the children warm.