W I N T E R
2 0 1 4 - 2 0 1 5
the
Specialists’ Spotlight
CENTER SCHOOL
The Specialists
We are the educators who teach
Art, Computer, Library, Music and
Physical Education.
Art
Ms. Darleen Joos
Computer
Ms. Karin Lamson
Library
Ms. Terrie Larrabee
Music
Ms. Megan Errgong-Weider
Physical Education
Ms. Jan Gallagher
Please check out our X2 webpages
for valuable information. We do our
best to keep them up-to-date with
what is going on in the classroom.
What’s Inside?
2 – Library & Art
3 – Music
4 – Computer
5 – Physical Education
Our Newsletter
We are four months into our school year and we’ve had a great start to
the year thus far. This is the first edition of the Specialists’ Spotlight for
the 2014-2015 school year. The goal of our newsletter is to keep the
Center School community informed of what happens in each of the
specialists’ classrooms throughout the year. There will be a total of
three newsletters; one for each elementary grading period. Please also
keep an eye on our webpages through X2. Feel free to contact any of
us if you would like more information of what is going on in our
particular specialty.
A Chat with Ms. Joos, Art Teacher
We’d like to welcome the newest addition to the Center School
specialists, however she is not new to our district. Ms. Darleen Joos
has been an art teacher in Chelmsford since 1993. In a brief chat with
Ms. Joos, she told us “I am so pleased to be here. I find your children
to be bright, enthusiastic and ready to exercise their creativity.” To get
to know Ms. Joos a little better we asked her what her interests are.
She likes traveling, going to museums, the theater and concerts. Ms.
Joos also enjoys working in her art studio, which she shares with three
other art teachers in the area. For some recreational fun, she enjoys
skiing and even sledding! We are very happy to have her expertise here
at Center for our young artists!
THE SPECIALISTS’ SPOTLIGHT
WINTER 2014-2015
It’s Library Time!
Welcome back!! As we progress into another year at Center School, we have a couple of new
updates in the library! We have 27 brand new iPads for the students to use. These are a huge
hit!! The Third and Fourth grades have already used them and Second and First will start after
the December break. The iPads are loaded with instructional games such as Stack the States,
BrainPop JR, Cargo Bridge, ShapeBuilder and even the Chelmsford Public School webpage.
There are drawing apps like 53 Paper and WhiteBoard; there is also an atlas and a weather app.
Most students are already quite savvy using them!
Fourth grade has been enjoying excellent chapter books such as: Matilda by Roald Dahl and The
Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. They have been using the online catalog to look up
their books and are very successful at it. This is the same online catalog they will use in the
middle school and high school libraries.
Third grade has been excited to read Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo and Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl; as it is also the 50th anniversary of that book this year! They
have been introduced to the online card catalog and have been using the computers every week to
improve their skills.
Second grade will be next for the iPads. They have been waiting for their turn and are thrilled to be
starting in January. We have been reviewing the differences in call numbers; i.e. fiction, nonfiction,
easy reader, periodicals and biographies. They have been enjoying The Miraculous Journey
of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo and Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl.
First grade has read many books so far; such as Henry's Map by David Elliot and Duck for
Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules which is a story about the different foods that people eat for
Thanksgiving dinner.
Kindergarten has done a fine job using their shelf markers, finding their books and getting
accustomed to the library rules. They have enjoyed several books this fall including A Hat for
Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke and Nobunny's Perfect by Anna Dewdney, which is
a book about manners and being a good friend. They are turning into great little library citizens!
Happenings in the Art Room
Welcome to the Center Art Room! Each student has created a portfolio that will house
their 2014 - 2015 artwork. The cover of their portfolio has a carefully drawn self -portrait
with an imaginary background. Unlike previous years, student portfolios will be handed
out at the Art Show, which happens at the end of May. I think you will be pleased to see
their accomplishments. All grades finished their fall pictures and are currently working
on winter scenes that will continue into the New Year.
Kindergarteners have made colorful webs, spiders and scarecrows made from shapes.
They’ve also worked on penguins and gingerbread people, which have been sent home.
First Graders made colorful craypas pumpkin, party cats and Vincent Van Gogh
sunflowers. Currently, they are working on colorful snowmen collages.
Second Graders worked on their self-portraits as part of our DDM (District
Determined Measures). We’ve also worked on Halloween scenes, turkeys and
owls.
Third Grade examined “Tom the skeleton” to see how they could achieve
movement in their pictures by looking at his joints. An upcoming unit will be
exploring the culture of the dragon from different countries’ perspectives.
Fourth Grade also worked on a DDM using mid-ground, fore-ground, background and
fall scenes. We will be working with the elements of color, texture, value, shape, form
and line for the final DDM assessment.
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THE SPECIALISTS’ SPOTLIGHT
WINTER 2014-2015
Music
“Farmer Brown,”
“Kye Kye Kule” and
“Lazy Bones.”
The music room is swinging so far
with lots of singing, playing
instruments and movement in our
curriculum (based on the
Massachusetts Arts Curriculum
Framework and also the
standards-based First Steps
Curriculum by John Feirerabend). Pete
the Cat is the music room mascot. We read his
books from time to time and use his stuffed animal for
games as well in the younger grades.
Third Graders have been reviewing
basic musical knowledge through songs, rounds
and games like “Cut the Cake,” “Frere Jacques” and
“Poison Rhythm.” During their Halloween unit, we
sang the song “Halloween Night” where they kept the
steady beat on a variety of percussion instruments as
well as singing the song. The big change in 3rd grade is
learning the recorder. We’ve been playing around with 3
notes (B, A, G) to learn songs, play patterns and even
games to get to know the notes better. In January we
will really dive into some songs in order to get ready for
a unit called Recorder Karate.
If you have a Kindergartener, they may have come
home singing songs like “Pitter Patter,” “I’m A Dingle
Dangle Scarecrow,” and “Johnny on the Woodpile.”
We’ve been concentrating on steady beat with songs
and chants like “Engine, Engine” and “Two Little
Blackbirds” and solo singing (to sing by themselves, and
they can really sing!). They are also working on
improvising with their singing voice. If they break into
song one day, ask them if they visited Arioso-land (we
can only sing there).
Fourth Grade has also been reviewing their musical
knowledge through songs and games like
“Chicken on the Fencepost” and “Poison
Rhythm.” We’ve recently played “Do You Want To
Build A Rhythm?” to work in teams to know our
rhythms better. It has been fun, but I think the students
are ready to do even more challenging work with
rhythm and solfa! Their recorder skills have held up
since 3rd grade and they will really get into the recorder
come the New Year.
Currently, Grades 1-3 are studying the music of the
composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky who wrote the ballet
music to The Nutcracker. We are discussing and
watching a version of the ballet in 2nd and 3rd grade
while watching a more kid-friendly version with 1st
grade to introduce the story and music. We will
continue on with this composer in January to get to
know some of his other compositions.
I do have to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to our
4th grade Chorus and Orchestra for a couple of fantastic
performances at both the State House (only singing) and
their Winter Concert. It was a lot of work to put on
these shows, but it was worth it in the end. It was so
much fun!! Now let’s get ready for String Fest (March 3)
and the All-Town Select Chorus Festival (March 7) of
which more information will come home closer to that
time.
First Grade has also been reinforcing steady beat
and using their singing voices through songs like
“Peep Squirrel” and “Au Clair de la Lune.” For
Halloween, we sang, moved and played instruments
(chimes and rhythm sticks) to the song “Halloween.”
We’ve also been working on movement to music by
moving to pieces like “Aquarium” from Carnival of the
Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.
We’ve got a lot of singing, playing and moving to do in
the New Year. Have a great Winter Break!
Second Grade started off the year by singing solos, duets
and trios to the song “Welcome to Music.” Most of the
students are very comfortable using their singing voices
so they did very well. We are also working on our
rhythmic knowledge
and being
comfortable with
“speaking” in
rhythm, which we
call “Arioso.”
Songs we’ve been
singing include
4th graders at the State House with
Secretary of the Commonwealth, William Galvin
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THE SPECIALISTS’ SPOTLIGHT
WINTER 2014-2015
Computer Lab Tech News
Kindergartners are excited
to come to computer lab!
We started the year off
learning how to hold a
mouse, and learned how to
click, double click, and click and hold to drag items.
Then we played some mousing games on the computer
to reinforce these skills. We moved on to learn about
“Bunny ears, cotton tail” – these are the fingers used to
type Ctrl-Alt Delete. These keys are used to access the
login screen of the computer. They each have a
username/password that they are
learning to enter into the two
boxes and then they have their
own access to the computer.
We’ve worked on programming in Microworlds of a
flashing pumpkin scene. The students drew their
background and made 2 pumpkins,
and input code on the pumpkins to
flash them on and off. We also
learned about online safety at
http://www.netsmartzkids.org/.
3rd graders started the year by
learning about the world, continents and
oceans. We did a World Map project in Microsoft
PowerPoint where they typed in the locations of the
continents and oceans. We learned
about Cyberbullying and Online
Safety with a fun Garfield online
program
(https://learninglab.org/). After
this, we did American Revolution
research, then we learned more
about Scratch programming. They designed a Cat
Maze game in Scratch. Scratch is a free program
available from MIT at
http://scratch.mit.edu/
1st graders have focused on
learning the keyboard with
Type to Learn Jr. and Tux Typing.
These typing programs are on our
computers in school. They liked the Tux Typing
program where the penguin gobbles the letters up! We
have also focused on mousing practice and drawing in
the Microworlds program. I introduced the students to
the concept of code with Microworlds, and we will
work further to input some code blocks to make things
move around on the screen. We also enjoyed learning
about Native American teepees, and we used Microsoft
PowerPoint to decorate one. They are now learning the
basics of Microsoft Word.
4th graders started the year by
learning Microsoft Excel. We
created a multiplication table,
with formulas in every cell to
make the product. These were
laminated for the children to reference for the rest
of the year. After that we focused on learning about
Cyberbullying and Online Safety using
learninglab.org as well. Then we did an immigration
research unit with some of the Scholastic web sites
that are available for Ellis
Island. We also did some
Scratch programming, and
made a “Hide and Seek” or
“Whack a Sprite” game that
the students enjoyed.
Typing is our key focus in grades 2 – 4. At the
beginning of each class, we spend 15 minutes doing a
typing lesson. We have been using
the online typing program, BBC
Dance Mat Typing. Proper hand
placement is emphasized, with
hands on the “home row”. If
you would like to work on
typing skills at home, the BBC
program is free and online at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr
We were all excited in the
computer lab to be participating in the
Hour of Code during December. This was part of the
Computer Science Education week
that Chelmsford was participating in.
(http://csedweek.org/learn)
The following websites are great
computer science resources.
http://code.org/
http://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/
2nd graders focused on typing skills at the beginning of
the year, and worked in Microsoft Word to create a
document, The Garrison
House. They wrote about
their trip to the Garrison
House, and learning how to
change the fonts, center
titles, and type in
paragraphs. They learned
how to input a picture of
themselves into the Word document.
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THE SPECIALISTS’ SPOTLIGHT
WINTER 2014-2015
Physical Education: It’s Where It’s At!
Welcome back to
Physical Education!
It’s been a busy and
exciting time in PE
class this term.
Students have gotten
to know new friends and
tried some different activities in their
new grade levels.
fitness skills by playing warm-up
games that challenge their
strength and cardiovascular
system. In game situations they
are able to employ more
intricate strategies and use
teamwork to accomplish a
group goal. Most recently, they
were working on some simple
choreography to one of the songs for their
Winter Concert. We love collaborating with Ms. E-W
in music!
Kindergarten has been working on basic movement
patterns, body part identification, ball skills,
coordination and gross motor skills. Their favorite
warm-up activity is moving to a CD called Catch A
Brainwave, which teaches a series of
movements that are designed to help
support brain development. Some of
the manipulatives that have been
introduced include bean bags, hula
hoops, jump ropes and Whatzits (a
sort of oversized plastic badminton
birdie).
All grades have had fun in the Halloween Games,
which was a huge fitness skills class
disguised as FUN! In order to extend
the enrichment activities that all the
students experienced with Dan Cripps
in the teepee, the classes who were
meeting Thanksgiving week were
doing stations that depict some of the
activities
that the
Native
Americans shared with the
Pilgrims to help them
survive: Canoeing, Planting
Corn Relay, Fishing, Foot Race and Arm Wrestling,
Making Cornbread and Lacrosse. All grades also have
continued to work on their ball skills by practicing
basketball skills (dribbling, passing, shooting). As we
go into the Winter Break, all grades have been
enjoying the fun of Reindeer games. Some classes have
even joined together with Ms. E-W’s music class
during the extra block for some fun music and
movement activities! Specifically we’ve been working
with the music from The Nutcracker. We’ve listened
to music with Ms. E-W focusing on certain pieces in
the ballet feeling the beat and how light or heavy the
music is. Then we’ve ventured off to the gym to work
together with movement and even a giant parachute to
finish our adventure to the music of the Russian
Dance (Trepak). So much fun! Have a great break!
First graders have gotten used to a new
kind of PE class that is structured differently than their
Kindergarten class. They have teams and team
captains that help with equipment and are learning
some leadership skills to help their teams. They have
learned a basic warm-up sequence that addresses
cardiovascular endurance, strength and flexibility.
They have also been introduced to a variety of skills
such as dribbling with feet, throwing overhand and
underhand, catching and kicking.
Second grade has been learning to incorporate some
of their basic skills into low- organization games and
activities such as Bean Bag Animal Tag and Extinction
which involve not only running, but dodging, chasing
and fleeing, as well as 6 Goal Soccer which helps them
use their foot dribbling skills also.
They were given skill assessments
on overhand catching and striking
with a short-handled implement
and will be assessed again later in
the year to check for progress.
Third grade has begun to put
their leadership skills in action
by leading warm-up exercises,
and making rules choices in
certain games and activities.
They have enjoyed using “surfboards” to
improve balance and have also played 6 Goal Soccer
and Big Bertha Bop, two favorites in all grades!
Fourth graders are working hard to improve their
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