Dr. Koop's Newsletter
January 24, 2025
Madison Public Library - Great resources!
The Madison Public Library is an excellent organization within the Madison community with resources for children and adults. Please see this link https://www.madisonnjlibrary.org/just-for-kids/ for the Madison Public Library Page for Kids.
Valentine's Day Celebrations
Please see this link for a letter including important Valentine's Day celebration information.
KRS Parent Book Club - The Anxious Generation
The second meeting of the KRS Parent Book Club will be held via Zoom on February 5, 2025 from 7-8 PM. Everyone is invited to attend. To participate, all you need is a copy of the Anxious Generation by, Jonathan Haidt. Our second meeting will focus on pages 49-110 to include the following topics:
Part 2 The Backstory: The Decline of the Play-Based Childhood
Chapter 2 What Children Need to Do in Childhood
Chapter 3 Discover Mode and the Need for Risky Play
Chapter 4 Puberty and the Blocked Transition to Adulthood
Please join the meeting at this Zoom link.
February 5, 2024 - 7-8 PM
Greetings from the STEAM Lab!
Save the date for our annual STEAM Fair! Wednesday April 2 from 5:30-6:30pm. All students
in grades K-5 are invited to participate. Students will create their own STEAM project at home
and bring it to school on Wednesday April 2. Students will have the opportunity to view the
projects during the school day and families are welcome to come during that 5:30-6:30pm hour.
Examples of projects will be given and questions will be answered during STEAM classes as we
get closer to the Fair. We are hoping for some special guests to attend this year's fair and, as
always, we are looking forward to seeing the innovation of the KRS engineers!
News from the Music Room
Music students are having a great time in 2025! Kindergarteners are starting their solfege journey with the help of our music class singing "friend", Bobo! First and second graders are enjoying learning about the sections of the orchestra in preparation for our unit on Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf". Third graders are learning to read and play the new note "G" on their recorders. Fourth and Fifth graders have concluded a unit on bucket drumming and are working on achieving White, Yellow, and Orange belts in our "Ukulele Karate" program. Equally exciting is that our 4th and 5th grade chorus had their first rehearsal of the new year. Enrollment for chorus is still open if there are any fourth or fifth grade students who are interested in joining mid year. Please email Mrs. McEachern at McEachernD@madisonnjps.org if you have any questions!
News from the KRS Art Room
Kindergarten:
We have been continuing to work with different art materials and practice new skills! Classes are finishing up creating snails using watercolor paint and collage inspired by the book Round by Jennifer Ward. Next up is a cute book Copy Cat by Ali Pye where we will practice our folding and cutting skills to create a cat.
First Grade:
We are talking about and using the element of art: shape. Students just completed robots made of geometric shapes with painted paper and collage. Students are now working on Organic shape collages inspired by Henri Matisse.
Second Grade:
Classes have been using their art passports to take an imaginary trip to South Korea. After taking a peek inside today’s hanoks (traditional Korean homes) students created their own hanok through a folded paper project complete with a decorated outside and inside.
Third Grade:
Classes are using their art passports to take an imaginary trip to India. We are painting and learning to create detailed designs inspired by the Indian tradition of Henna painting. We will be reading the book A Garden in My Hands by Meera Srirham.
Fourth Grade:
Classes are working on a favorite project inspired by the decoratively painted mud houses of Burkina Faso, Africa. Students created their own stamps, and now are stamping their own beautifully detailed paper that will be used to create a collage.
Fifth Grade:
Classes are beginning to learn about graffiti vs street art. We will be looking at the work of famous street artists Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Students will work on creating their own street art identity wall.
