The Specialist Newsletter 10/26/07
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Na Mea Waiwai Those things that enrich us |
Aloha! First, I want to thank all families again for the support you showed our iron-keiki at last month’s Keiki Triathlon. It was my first special event and it turned out fantastic, thanks to the incredible turnout and all the positive encouragement from the families and school to help push our athletes along. Every single person that started the race finished, battling that challenging Waimea weather along the way! I would love to see pictures from the event. If you have any you’d like to share, please e-mail them to me at btranquilli@hpa.edu. Also, it was great getting to share PE class with parents during Parents Weekend Lower School Class Visits on October 19. If you have any questions or comments about what you saw in your child’s class that day, please e-mail!
After spending the first six weeks building our endurance and learning basic fitness skills, our classes now are focusing more on sports, with an emphasis on motor skills like hand/eye coordination. So far, we’ve covered volleyball and spent two weeks at the incredible Rutgers Tennis Center learning tennis skills from professional Cindy Hill. In the next month our units will progress to softball, basketball, and the popular “Capture the Turkey” over Thanksgiving week. We also will be completing our first health unit on nutrition in November.
With Halloween coming up and the holiday season following on its heels, this week provides a wonderful opportunity for you as family to talk about nutrition, exercise, and PORTION CONTROL!!! It is very important that parents set the example for healthy nutritional habits. It’s going to be tempting for you, as well as the kids, having all that yummy candy in the house. Here are a few tips from about.com so everyone can enjoy Halloween without over indulging:
- Let your children enjoy some of their Halloween candy in moderation when they have finished trick-or-treating—after you have inspected the treats for safety. Keep a close eye on the kids who tend to binge so they don't eat too much candy.
- Give your kids a day or two to enjoy the Halloween candy, then throw the rest away or give it away at work or group meetings. Many people think this is wasteful. However, if your child has difficulty controlling his/her candy consumption, this may be what you need to do.
- Put all of the extra treats into a high cabinet in your kitchen or pantry. Out of sight is out of mind.
- Divide up the leftover candy to be eaten a little bit at a time. You will need lunch-sized paper bags, tape, stapler, and maybe some markers or pens.
- Place two or three small treats, or one larger piece, into each plain paper bag. Tape or staple the paper bags closed and keep them in a large box or bag. Let your kids pick out one bag each day.
- Alternately, each bag can be marked with a day or date for the next week or two. Your child gets the treat bag that is marked for each day.
- Skip the Halloween candy sale on November 1. Cheap bags of candy sounds like a good buy, but you don't need the sugar and calories.
VISUAL ARTS - CINDY YARAWAMAI
The kindergarten class has continued with the visual design principles learning more about shape and textures. The students explored these components with the use of clay. They learned how to roll, flatten, cut, and draw into clay to create a finished project. Next, they made crayon rubbings of “textured” things around the school and collaged their findings. Other textured materials were added later into the compositions. The first graders used their bird creations as inspiration for their ceramic pieces and were very tenacious learners with their paint/batik shape masks. It took a few tries and some inventive students, but we successfully used a variety of materials to create the effects we wanted.
The second graders used their color-mixing/garden painting unit to explore lines and shapes with clay for their next project. They are now creating a mural about the ocean and studying the various components of sand and ocean life.
The third graders continued with their printing unit learning the printing process and the variations and techniques that can be applied. Their finished pieces were very exciting to see. With Ms. Tarnas they are learning about the characteristics of living things. We have been studying camouflage and how some living things protect themselves from their enemies. They are now working on their own camouflage paintings.
The fourth graders have been having fun with our Halloween unit, creating funny, expressive Jack-o-lanterns and glue/pastel Halloween scenes.
The fifth graders have been studying Zen Buddhism and Japanese brush painting. They composed their own haikus with Ms. Kennedy, which will be added into their finished ink/wash paintings. Next week we will be venturing off to the Upper Campus to learn about the Japanese tea ceremony, tea bowls and raku pottery from Mr. Gordon Motta, the Upper School ceramics instructor.
I would like to thank the third and fourth graders for their hard work and artistic endeavors painting pots for plants to sell at the Pumpkin Patch. Also, thank you to the parents who were able to make the art classes with their children during Parents Weekend; it was such fun having you in class. You all did “great” work!
MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS - GEORGIA POLÁKOVÁ
Don’t be surprised if you hear your child singing Spread A Little Aloha all around your home. The popular song that was included in the grade 4-5 musical is catchy and meaningful and has been chosen to be the Lower School song to reflect loyalty, the virtue for this month.Grades K-3 say goodbye to Tchaikovsky. Did Tchaikovsky really think his head would fall off when he conducted? Did he really use canons in his 1812 Overture? Did he really travel to the United States and open up the new concert hall, Carnegie Hall? Did he really think his Nutcracker ballet was not very good? I’m sure your child can let you know the answers to all these questions. Their study of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s life and music was brought to a close with the presentation of the Tchaikovsky Aficionado Certificates and a special P.I.T. treat!
The kindergartners and first graders will be studying steady beat and accompaniment with the exploration of the Orff Xylophones. They also will be introduced to variety of classical music that reflects the upcoming holiday themes.
The second and third graders can’t get enough of Red Grammer’s music, their favorites being The ABC’s of You and Brothers and Sisters from his CD Down The Do Re Mi. They also are about to begin their curriculum based musical Pirates of Grammar Island. Ahoy you mateys! Come to the show at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, November 30, at the Gates Performing Arts Center.
* If you are looking for a gift, may I suggest going online to redgrammer.com and order one of his many uplifting CDs. Also, be on the lookout for The Nutcracker Ballet DVD at Christmas time. Tchaikovsky’s music can be purchased at anytime at Borders. If you are looking for a recording of the 1812 Overture, be sure to find a performance with the real canons!
Grades 4 and 5 NEWS – The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming! That was certainly true for the fourth and fifth graders last Friday up at our Gates Performing Arts Center as the Aliens were beamed back from earth, the U.S. to be exact, and reported on the U.S. regions they had researched and explored. Working along side of two fabulous and creative teachers, Ms. Doi and Mrs. Kennedy, and their talented and enthusiastic students, my job was joyful from the very beginning of this creative process up to and including the actual performance. The students’ contributions to the script, choreography, costuming, and props made this show a true collaborative effort.
Photo from the 4/5 musical dress rehearsal of U.S. Geography. They are alien scouts having tea while reporting about the New England states that are not new at all, but quite old.
LIBRARY MEDIA - SUSAN HAMMER
This month, children in grades K-5 visited the public library to get to know the public library and resources available to them. Students brought home applications for a library card. Please help your child fill out the library card application (if they don’t already have a public library card) and return it to school. We will visit the public library at least once more to obtain the cards.
In kindergarten, first, second and third grades, we have been learning about the Caldecott Honor Award and famous illustrators of books who have received this award. We read books by Keven Henkes (Kitten’s Full Moon) and Gail Haley (A Story, A Story: An African Tale). Together we read Koa’s Seed and Tutu Nene and discussed different Hawaiian words that we use every day. All classes read and recited a collection of poems by famous authors. Every other week, we have a new poem—ask your child which ones we are reading together!
In the second and third grades, we have been reviewing how to find books in the library using alphabetization skills through the Dewey decimal system. In the fourth and fifth grades, we have been reviewing the Dewey decimal system and how to find books in the library according to this system. Students also researched different states in preparation for their October performance. Classes also have been listening to and discussing a read aloud from Hawai‘i’s Best Spooky Tales 3 & 4.
Birthday Books – Students with birthdays in October are able to choose their birthday books from a new order of books.
Parent volunteers – I am currently looking for parent volunteers for a lot of fun in the library! If you are interested in volunteering for any amount of time in the library, please contact me at shammer@hpa.edu. The Lynn Taylor Library also will be hosting a community book fair in the spring that I will need help with.
Web site tip of the month – Would you like your child to read more even though they use the computer often? Check out www.teachingbooks.net. This is an awesome Web site which offers audio visual Web sites and interviews with your children’s favorite authors