March 22, 2021
News from P.E., Health, Library, Art, and Music:
Happy Spring, Willard Families! We hope you’ve all been able to stay happy and healthy and also enjoy this beautiful spring weather. Your students have been up to lots of learning in Physical Education, Health, Library, Art, and Music!
With the snow melting from the playground, P.E. classes are beginning to work on recess games. We are mostly focusing on “4 Square.” Be on the lookout: Mr. Welch will soon be posting a page with all of the activities we have done this year with links for rules and games as well as extra P.E. activities.
In Health class, students are learning about nutrition and the five food groups. We will know how to choose healthy snacks. We will also learn what the nutrients in food do for our bodies!
In the library, we’ve been celebrating “Read Across America" during the month of March. Various guests have been reading books to classes via video. Lyn Smith, a guest author from Maine, sent a video of herself reading her first book, "What Makes An Opossum Tick?”.
We’ve also focused on Women's History during the month of March and displayed books in the library to share with students. We just finished up reading all the nominated Chickadee books. Mrs. Dompkouski will review the books with Grades 1-3 and then students will vote
for their favorite book in April.
In art this week, First Grade will be starting a project that follows the theme of courage. We will be reading the book “Drum Dream Girl”. We will create our own drums using patterns and practicing our wax resist skills by creating patterns with crayon and painting over using colors
inspired by the book with watercolors! In Fourth Grade Art, we will start our form unit which is an element of art and the last element of art that we will have learned this year. We will be creating 3D rooms that include pattern, shape, form, color, space and line. We will be using pop art to inspire how we design our rooms as well! Second Grade will be focusing on a folk art unit. We will be creating folk art inspired self-portraits! We will also be learning about Maine folk artists and use them for inspiration! Third grade will also continue their form unit by creating a watercolor painting of a fruit that represents form: our last element of art that wewill have learned this year!
Students have continued making joyful melodies in Music class! All grade levels have been learning about the String, Percussion, Woodwind, and Brass families. In Grades 1 and 2, we have continued using drums and boomwhackers to practice musical teamwork, and
we’ve also been learning about how high and low notes are made. Third grade continues to practice rhythm and note-naming on the music staff. We will be using instruments such as boomwhackers to read musical pitch. Thanks to “Stuff The Bus” and our awesome community,
Grade 4 students have had the opportunity to play ukuleles in Music. We can name parts of the ukulele, properly hold and care for the instrument, play a “C” chord, self-evaluate and problem-solve to create our best sound, and strum various rhythm patterns. Moving forward,
we will also introduce an “F” chord to our ukulele playing.
Thank you families for your continued support and encouragement of your childrens’ whole learning! We look forward to the many learning adventures that are ahead for this Spring.
Kind Regards,
Alex Welch - Physical Education
Amanda Brewer - Health
Susanne Dompkouski - Library
Jillian Gaare - Art
Meaghan Mannino - Music