News in The Arts
December 2014
Physical Education News
“ The Art’s are not a frill. The arts are a response to our individuality and our nature, and help to shape our identity. What is there that can transcend deep difference and stubborn divisions? The arts. They have a wonderful universality.
Art has the potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator. The arts do not discriminate. The arts can lift us up.”
-Former Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
Sneaker Check Award
The “Sneaker Check Award” for the first marking period was
earned by Mrs. Deutsch’s third grade class. Great job! The second marking period contest is under way. Don’t forget to wear
your sneakers on your P.E. day!
Currently in Physical Education all classes are continuing to
learn about muscles and bones. A new bone and muscle is
presented to each class weekly. This helps us learn about our
bodies.
Kindergarten, First, and Second graders are working on a unit
in throwing and catching skills as well as other ball
handling skills (using hands) such as dribbling and shooting.
They are also learning about the effects of exercise on the
body.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth graders are currently reviewing throwing and catching skills and being able to catch on the move as
well as applying these skills to a game situation. They will also
be working on a volleyball skills unit, as well as goal setting.
Save the Date
Field Day for the 2014-2015 school year is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19 and the rain date is Thursday, May 21. If you are
available to volunteer please call or email the school.
*
Ms. Svejda
Physical Education
301-279-8475
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MUSIC NOTES
Choral/General Music
Music Instruction
Kindergarten: Kindergar tners are subdividing the beat using songs and picture icons.
They continue to practice differentiating between
long/short sounds and loud/soft sounds. They will
also feel changing meter through movement.
First Grade: Fir st grader s are learning eighth
notes and quarter notes and decoding rhythms on
instruments. They are also improvising
movements and singing songs with Sol-Mi
patterns.
Second Grade: Second gr aders are identifying
meter, creating expressive movements, learning
how to crescendo and decrescendo, and playing
dotted half notes.
Third Grade: Third graders ar e learning
about expressive musical elements such as tempo
and dynamics. They are also learning about
rhythmic and melodic notation.
Fourth Grade: Four th graders ar e getting
ready to take the blue challenge on their recorders. They are learning about dynamics (volume),
phrasing, and tempo.
Fifth Grade: Fifth grader s are prepar ing for
their 5th grade production to present on January
29 at 10am and 2pm. It is about the compositional
technique called Theme & Variation. It is a student-generated product and we’re excited to share
it with the school!.
Ritchie Park Chorus
The Ritchie Park Chorus had
an excellent performance at
Strathmore as part of the “State
of Schools” event which took
place on Veteran’s Day. Our
Cluster Concert is scheduled
for November, 25th at Richard
Montgomery High School. We
are also preparing for our
Winter concert on 1/22. The
students continue to expand
their musicianship skills by
learning challenging music and
attempting to perform it with
accuracy and enthusiasm.
Looking Ahead:
Winter Concert 1/22
Ritchie Park Gym, 2pm and 7pm
Spring Concert 5/28
Ritchie Park Gym, 2pm and 7pm
Mystery coMposer
Our first mystery composer was the Russian artist,
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). He is best known for
writing nationalistic music that infused Russian folk songs
with the music of the orchestra, and operas. He wrote The
Flight of the Bumblebee and was also a renowned music
educator, teaching the next generation of Russian composers.
Watch out for our next composer sheet, coming home
soon!
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-Mrs. Davis
Art Room News
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Pablo Picasso
*Kindergarten: The Kindergarten students learned about texture by creating Texture Books!
They created beautiful book covers, where they focused on line, color and pattern. They
learned about visual textures, or textures that you can see and tactile textures, or textures that
you can feel. The students went on a texture hunt in the art room and created beautiful
rubbings. They cut-up their rubbings and added them to their texture-filled books. Coming –
up: The students will learn about two-dimensional and three-dimensional art as well as, pattern and composition.
*First Grade: The First grade students learned about sculptural concepts. Three-dimensional
art work is called sculpture and it has height, width and depth. Two-dimensional items can be
combined or changed into three-dimensional forms. The students studied the work of artist
Louise Nevelson, and noticed that she used found materials to create beautiful relief
sculptures. The students used recycled cardboard for their sculptures! They built strong
structures by using horizontal and vertical stacking techniques. Coming-up: The students will
learn about line types, sketching ideas, color, and combining shapes
*Second Grade: The Second grade students learned about theme and the work of Vincent Van
Gogh. The students used the sunflower as the theme for their watercolor paintings. They
drew the sunflowers from observation and used glue resist and watercolor techniques to create
beautiful still life paintings. Coming-up: The students will learn about shape, balance, material choices, pattern and texture.
*Third Grade: The Third grade students learned about ancient architecture! They learned
how to design an ancient Greek or Roman Façade made out of clay! They studied the elements
which made-up the ancient buildings and included these things in their designs. Their
buildings included Ionic, Doric or Corinthian Columns, Capitals, Pediments, Friezes, and
Cornices. The students also learned about the stages of clay production and glazing
techniques. Coming-up: The students will learn about composition, symmetry and
asymmetry, feelings in art, and judging art.
*Fourth Grade : The Fourth grade students learned about how to paint emotion-filled skies.
Using our version of “oil paint,” the students applied and blended color to create expressive
sky paintings. Coming-up: The students will learn about expressing mood, point of view, criteria for judging art and visual art processes.
*Fifth Grade: The Fifth grade students learned about idea development and
experimentation with materials when making their paper pulp self-portraits. The
students observed themselves in mirrors and sketched a self-portrait. They then filled in
the portrait with tissue paper pulp. The flat portrait was transformed into semi-3-D sheet
of paper! They demonstrated a lot of perseverance with this new medium. Coming-up:
The students
will
learn about
expression,
criteria
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judging art, and art in different
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INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
“The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction in the life of
the nation, is very close to the center of a nation’s purpose – and it is
the test of the quality of a nation’s civilization.”
John F. Kennedy, as inscribed at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.
Thank you for supporting your child’s interest in the Arts. We hope their experience in
the Arts at Ritchie Park will help them to enjoy a lifetime of active appreciation of and
participation in the rich and diverse culture of our nation.
Here are some highlights of what we have been working on:
Beginning Band (Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Tr umpet, Tr ombone, Baritone, Percussion)
We are reading songs using quarter, half, and whole notes and rests. Most of the instrument
groups have learned 5 or 6 notes and can play a number of songs such as Hot Cross Buns,
Rolling Along, Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, London Bridge, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It is
important that students ALWAYS use good playing habits (body and hand position, good
breathing habits, etc.), including when they practice at home.
Beginning Orchestra (Violin and Cello)
Students have been learning notes on the D and A strings (D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D), and have been reading tunes using quarter
notes and rests. We are beginning to use the bow, and are trying to establish good practices for how we hold and move the bow.
Our concert tunes (for the Winter Concert in January) will include some pizzicato playing (plucking the
strings) as well as, hopefully, some arco playing (with the bow).
Advanced Band
We are continuing to develop the skills we started on last year, including some new notes and rhythms
(adding eighth notes, playing in 3/4 time, etc.) and some new articulations (staccato, legato, etc.). We
are also working to develop a “characteristic sound” on each instrument (i.e. what the instrument should
sound like). We are looking forward to performing some full band arrangements (where different parts
are played by each section) at the Winter Concert.
Advanced Orchestra (Violin and Cello)
Orchestra has also been working to prepare some full arrangements to perform at the concert. We continue to refine our technique as we learn new notes (on the G string) and new ways to play old notes (i.e. using the 4th finger) It is important that students review the characteristics of a good bow hold, as it is easy to forget the correct way to hold and move the bow. The Advanced Orchestra class has divided into two groups; Group A meets on Thursdays and Group B meets on Fridays. The two
groups will perform together at the concert.
Jazz Band
We are working on having a couple of tunes to perform as the RPJB, including some improvised solos. Jazz Band instrumentation will include trumpets, trombones, and saxophones.
Please Practice Reading the Notes
It is important (and one of our measurement topics) for all Instrumental Music students to learn to
read the notes on the staff, and it is best if they do not write in the names of the notes above or
below the music. While this may take some work at first, in the long run it will greatly enhance
the student’s ability and enjoyment of music. Here are some web sites with games that might
help to develop note-reading skills:
http://www.vicfirth.com/education/keyboard/speednotereading.html
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/music/namethatnote.htm
http://classic.musictheory.net/82
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From the Media Center
The media center has a new website!
Our media center is working hard to keep students and parents in the loop for projects and events
using both a new website and a new Twitter feed! Check out our media webpage at http://
rpesmedia.weebly.com (it’s also linked through the Ritchie Park Media page). You’ll find
information about this year’s Black-Eyed Susan nominees, projects, and other databases that students have access to both at school and at home. Ask about usernames and passwords — those
are sent home separately!
Follow us on Twitter! Interested in what’s going on at Ritchie Park, in MCPS, or in the
media center at school? Follow us on our new Twitter feed @RitchieParkMC.
Students are being introduced to this year’s Black-Eyed Susan Book Award. This is
an exciting program sponsored by MASL, the Maryland Association of School Librarians. There
are three categories of books: Picture books, Chapter books, and Graphic Novels. Students who
choose to participate must read 4 chapter books or 3 graphic novels in order to vote in the coming
months. We are working on reading the picture books to younger grades this year so we can vote
on those as well! Last year’s picture book winner was Creepy Carrots….look for it in the book fair!
Students in all grades have previewed some titles and excitement is building for the opening of the
Scholastic Book Fair “Sir Read-a-Lot’s Castle.” It arrives Tuesday afternoon, November
25th and will be open for browsing on the Wednesday half-day before Thanksgiving. It will be
open every day the week of December 1 through December 5. Classes will enjoy a 30 minute
browsing/shopping time during the week to complete “Wish Lists” and shop. Students will have the
opportunity to re-visit and make purchases once they’ve discussed their Wish Lists with you. We
can’t wait for the books to arrive and hope, as always, that everyone will…
Be sure to Shop Early and Shop Often!
Book Fair Schedule:
Mon: 8-8:30 Donuts with Dad! Then 9-4
Tues: 9-4
Wed: 9-6
Thurs: 9-4 and 5:30-9pm
Fri: 9-12
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