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 classroom 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.

Fifth Grade: During January fifth grade artists are creating their Square1Art project which is based on the artwork of Romero Britto, a Brazilian Pop Artist. The fifth graders are very excited to pick their own subject matter and create a colorful and fun piece. You will receive more information about this fundraiser from GSPIE In March.

Fourth Grade:In January, fourth grade artists are creating a watercolor birch tree forest. This will be their artwork for the for the GSPIE Square1Art fundraiser. Through the process of creating this piece they learn a variety of watercolor techniques that include; masking, wash and dry brushing. They also learn to make a neutral color by mixing complementary colors. You will receive more information about this fundraiser from GSPIE In March.

Third Grade: Artists in third grade have been working on their project for the Square1ART fundraiser. For this project the third grade students will create a tree drawing based on the artwork of Piet Mondrian. Students started the project by learning two methods of how to draw a realistic tree silhouette. Then they selected an analogous color scheme, and learned how to blend oil pastels to fill the sky behind the tree.

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!

Monday, January 13th @ 6:00 p.m.- 3rd Grade Family Folk Dance Night at Grand Avenue

Thursday, February 6th @ 6:00 p.m.-5th Grade Concert at Grand Avenue

Thursday, March 13th @ 7:00 p.m.- District-Wide Choralpalooza Concert at the High School

Tuesday May 6th @ 6:00- 3rd Grade Concert at Grand Avenue

Thursday, May 15th- 4th Grade Field Trip to Overture Center for the Link Up Concert

Wednesday, May 21st- 5th Grade Chorus Field Trip to perform at Bridges Elementary

Thursday, May 22nd @ 7:00 p.m.- 5th Grade Chorus to sing at Middle School Spring Concert

5th Grade Chorus planned a Holiday Performance for the school. They selected all of the songs, and sang to each grade level the last Friday before break. Bravo 5th Graders!

The 5th Grade Musicians were hard at work during December preparing for our upcoming concert. The music room is full of singing, dancing, and instrument playing as the students practice, prepare, and create a performance to showcase their musical learning during their time at Grand Ave.

4th Grade Musicians at Grand Avenue have been hard at work on the ukulele unit. Students have been learning the C, A minor, F and G chords this year. We also have continued working on our folk dancing skills, and learned how to dance a square dance this month!

3rd Grade Musicians worked hard on their ukulele unit, focusing on the C and A minor chords. They also did lots of folk dancing to prepare for Family Folk Dance night, coming up next Monday!

What we worked on in December:

• Winter Wonderland Stations were a hit again! Each student had the opportunity to participate in the stations twice. The stations challenged students physically through 16 different stations. Check out the dated video of the Reindeer Flight School station to see one of the fun stations students were able to enjoy. Ask your son/daughter what their favorite station was.
• We also have been talking more in depth about the four fitness components (Cardiovascular Endurance, Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, and Flexibility) and exploring some new ways to work on improving each area of our fitness.

What we will be working on in January:

• We started our Gymnastics Unit. We are very lucky to be able to use the High School Gymnastics Team's equipment. A picture of the equipment your child will get to use during this unit is included below.
• Our learning target for this unit is: Students will move with POWER and CONTROL, trying to make their movements LOOK NICE.
• We break each skill we teach down into progressions. The first step of all the progressions ensure every student can be safe and successful. As you go up the steps of the skill progression the skills get more difficult. We are encouraging students to work at their pace as we help them develop these skills.