Well...I learned my lesson after talking last week about warmer weather and less snow. Luckily, we narrowly missed that large snow storm and although it did result in inside recess, I know we were all happy that it didn't add another day to the June calendar. Let's keep that trend going!
As a reminder...all parents dropping off children in front on the Delaney and Annex entrances in the morning are asked to please drive slowly and watch for children. Staff members are stationed on the sidewalks to assist in a safe process. Please follow the traffic flow and only drop the kids after you pull up and stop at the curb. Thank you!
Good Luck Mrs. Pitman!
On behalf of the Wrentham Public Schools' students and staff, we would like to wish second grade teacher, Mrs. Pitman, the best of luck tonight as she competes in Dancing with the Wrentham Stars. Mrs. Pitman has been training diligently and working extremely hard to raise money for the PTO. Thank you to all who contributed to and supported this great cause.
*On Friday, a Principals' Coffee was held in the Vogel Auditorium to discuss the student placement process for the 2014-2015 school year. We would like to thank the many people who were able to join us. If you were unable to attend, please visit the school website to view the presentation or click here for direct access.
* A group of 21 Delaney staff members participated in a professional book group from October to March. The group read, discussed and took part in activities surrounding the book, Pathways to the Common Core.
*Today, March 28th, marks the close of the third quarter of the 2014-2015 school year.
*Parent/Teacher conferences are quickly approaching. Students will be released at noon time on April 15th and 17th. Evening conferences will take place from 5:00-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 15th and afternoon conferences will occur on Thursday, April 17th from 12:00 - 3:00 p.m.
*There will be no school on Friday, April 18th.
*The Delaney School was chosen as a pilot site for PARCC end of the year testing in math. Two of our third grade classes will participate in online testing in mid-May.
*Preschool screening for incoming students was held on Wednesday. We loved seeing and meeting the new students and their families.
* The Freedom Trail Scholars program visited our school on Tuesday, March 25th. We would like to say a huge thank you to The Massachusetts Teachers Association for providing this program to all our 3rd grade classrooms!
From the desk of Mrs. Mariotti...
Here is what we learned during March…
This month’s composer…..Sergei Prokofiev
Kindergarten: In music this month we learned about long and short sounds. We
used long and short pieces of paper to create various rhythms together. We also
learned a new song called, “Kangaroo” that used a short, short, long pattern.
It was fun to play and pretend to be a kangaroo too. We reviewed previously
learned skills like musical opposites (loud and soft; slow and fast; beat and
no beat) and practiced playing, singing and identifying musical opposites. We
also learned about turn taking and following directions by playing an echo game
called, “Be my Shadow”. We enjoyed many fun St. Patrick’s Day songs and games
too; “One, Two, Three O’Leary”, “St. Patrick’s Day is on its Way” and even
listened to many Irish songs and jigs. We used scarves in creative movement while
dancing to the music and even did some Irish step dancing too. We ended the
month with the famous children’s story called, “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei
Prokofiev. This story is a great introduction to the instruments of the
orchestra. The first week, we read the story and learned about the instruments.
During the second week, we created a puppet show together using props and had a
lot of fun acting out the story.
This month’s composer….. Sergei Prokofiev
First Grade: We began the month with learning about dynamics (the loudness
or softness of a sound) in music. We already knew the word “piano” meant to play
softly and the word “forte” meant to play loudly. But we learned that sounds
have more variations. We learned that to be very quiet is called “pianissimo”
and to be very loud is “fortissimo”. We also learned that the word “mezzo”
before the word (ex. mezzo forte) changes the sound to medium loud. We also
enjoyed many Irish songs and games for St. Patrick’s Day. We practiced some
solo singing while playing the game, “St. Patrick’s Day is on its Way” and kept
a steady beat during the game, “One, Two, Three O’Leary”. We learned about the
fiddle and listened for its sound while dancing to Irish music. We ended the
month with a famous story called, “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev.
Prokofiev was a Russian composer who loved to write musical stories for
children. In this musical fairy tale, each character is represented by an
instrument of the orchestra. We learned about each instrument and listened for
its sound. The following week, we reviewed what happened in the story and
completed a worksheet that asked what happened in the beginning, middle and end
of the story. We brainstormed together the sequence of the story and each child
could draw their own pictures to retell the beginning, middle and end of “Peter
and the Wolf”.
This month’s composer….. Sergei Prokofiev
Second Grade: We finished our recording of “Rocky Mountain High”. The
students worked so hard learning this song! They needed to learn three musical
terms (pitch, tempo and singing voice) and apply them in the song. It takes a
lot of courage to sing in front of others and I was so proud of them! Each
class was recorded using Ms. Mariotti’s ipod and would listen back to the
recording to listen for pitch, tempo and use of singing voices. Every student
completed a self-assessment after listening to their singing. We also reviewed
the pentatonic scale (do, re, mi, so and la) and made various melodies with
these pitches. We played echo singing games where students took turns arranging
flashcards into their own melodic patterns. We ended the month with our composer of the
month, Sergei Prokofiev. Prokofiev was born in the Ukraine. We learned how he
loved to write musical stories and would match instruments to a particular
character. In the story “Peter and the Wolf”, Prokofiev used the instruments to
add drama to the story and create a picture of what each character was doing
and feeling by its sound. We learned about the following instruments; violin,
flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, french horn, drums and cymbals. We learned a
lot this month!
Third Grade: Recorder Karate is going very well! The students have been very
excited and working hard to achieve their belts! I have been very impressed by
their determination and motivation. We continue to build on our note reading
skills and always reviewing the sayings for the lines and spaces. We are also
practicing musicianship skills and playing together as a group. This month we
worked towards the orange belt, “Merrily We Roll Along”; green belt, “It’s
Raining”; and purple belt, “Old MacDonald”. We have learned how to play the
letter E and low D on the recorder. We reviewed rhythm (patterns of long and
short sounds) and identified various rhythms and their duration. It was a busy
month and filled with lots of recorder music!
You may remember that last week our Grade 2 students visited the Children's Discovery Museum. Here are a few more pictures of the great fun and learning that happened while we were there.
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely,
Melissa D. Peterson, Principal
