Art - Krista Geier and Marie Yarnell

Music - Amy Hiel and Rebekah Knitt

Physical Education - Jacob Breunig and Seth Kostroski

Email: contact@saukprairieschools.org
Website: www.saukprairieschools.org

This newsletter is to help you stay connected to what is happening in the Grand Avenue Specials. The Specials are composed of Music, Art and Physical Education, each student has each specials class twice a week. We hope that you find the information useful and please feel free to contact your student's Specials teacher with questions or concerns.

ALL SCHOOL PROJECT:

We are very excited about this year's all school project based on the artwork by Takashi Murakami. Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial media (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts. His influential work draws from the aesthetic characteristics of the Japanese artistic tradition and the nature of postwar Japanese culture. He has done projects with Billie Eilish, Nike, and Vans.

For this year’s collaborative project each student created a flower or character influenced by Murakami’s art. The art will be installed in the Grand Avenue Commons. Next time you are in the building take time to enjoy the variety of color schemes and creative touches that each artist selected.

WHAT WE'VE BEEN WORKING ON:

Fifth Grade: In October, artists created a clay mug based on the face jugs created by slave potters from Edgefield South in the early 1800's. 5th grade artists were asked to create a face out of clay that included eyes, nose, mouth and at least one extra detail. When creating the face mugs artists enjoyed exploring the possibility of making realistic, funny, ugly and cute faces. This project uses skills that artists learned in previous clay projects to design and build clay vessels. The mugs will be glazed before going home.

Fourth Grade: Fourth grade artists have been creating Day of the Dead sugar skulls. To start the project they learned about the traditions and celebrations that are a part of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday. Artists then studied sugar skulls and developed designs to add to their skull drawings. Drawings were transferred to metal tooling foil and artists learned how to repousse and chase the metal to make three dimensional areas. The final step was to add color with sharpies. Artists were very excited to work with the tooling foil and new tools!

Third Grade: Artists in Mrs. Cichanowicz's, Mrs. Nachriner's, and Ms. Udulutch's classes are working on a drawing project based on art by Keith Hering's break dances. Each artist will draw and paint three dancing figures on complementary colors. The paintings will be assembled to create a fun series of dancing figures.

Artists in Miss. Bollig's, Mrs. Smith's and Mrs. Lenerz's classes are working on loom weaving. All third graders will have the opportunity to weave, we rotate the looms. The children have warped their looms and have begun the basic weaving pattern known as tabby and some have tried raya knots. This is a longer unit; however, the children really enjoy having the opportunity to create their own weaving. Several different weaving techniques are demonstrated and the children are asked to include at least three different styles in their weaving. They are given the opportunity to choose their own colors as long as they use at least two, but no more than five. This allows them to create patterns with color that show unity, or look like they belong together.

Did you know the Sauk Prairie K-12 Art Department has a Facebook page? Like us to get announcements for upcoming events and pictures of what we are doing in class!

This month we welcomed Opera for the Young into our school for a performance of The Magic Flute. The 5th Grade Chorus members performed alongside the professional opera singers and did a fabulous job! All grade levels learned about opera, different voice types, and the plot of The Magic Flute.

As we learned about the opera and prepared for the performance, all students helped to create decorations to get our cafeteria ready to transform into a performance venue! 3rd and 4th Grade students created a star for the night sky tunnel, and 5th Graders worked together in groups to design and create their own life sized aliens.

Some Veterans Day and Opera performance prep at the same time!

Finished products!

Congratulations to all chorus members on a wonderful show!

Sauk Prairie Physical Education Assessment

We consider it a privilege to assist your child in developing the skills necessary to become a skillful mover and a productive citizen. As we have worked with your child we have established an environment where your child can feel safe and experience success.

Your child’s elementary physical education progress reflects the following combination of grading criteria, based on the National Physical Education Standards. To learn more about them, please visit http://www.shapeamerica.org/standards/pe/ or talk to your physical education teacher. A quick and easy explanation of each standard is listed below:

#1 Movement Skills and Patterns - developing the skills to be able to move and play successfully

#2 Understanding Movement Concepts - knowing how to move and applying skills and strategies to movement

#3 Health Enhancing Levels of Fitness - showing and knowing how to get fit and stay fit

#4 Responsible Personal and Social Behavior - acting fairly and respectfully while I play and move

#5 Recognizes Benefits of Physical Activity - knowing why it is important to be physically active

Skills Covered by Standard So Far This Year in Physical Education Class:

Movement Skills and Patterns: Chasing, Dodging, Throwing, Catching, Volleyball Skills (serving, bumping, setting), Fitness Testing Components (Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, Flexibility, Cardiovascular Endurance)

Understanding of Movement Concepts: Chasing/Dodging Safely, Space/Body Awareness,

Climbing Wall Challenges, Throwing to a Moving Target

Health Enhancing Level of Fitness: Active Class Participation,,

Exercise Level Challenges

Responsible Personal and Social Behavior: Safety, Classroom Expectations and Procedures, Cooperation, Self-Assessment

Recognizes Benefits of Physical Activity: Warm-up Card Leader and Follower, Knows What

Activities They Enjoy To Stay Active