Week 22 (February 3-7)

Hello Delaney Families,

I hope that you all had a wonderful week!  I'm thrilled to report that we were able to go outside for recess for most of the week and that the kids had a fantastic time playing in all the snow.  Thank you to all for sending the kids in their winter attire!

Speaking of clothing...there is a massive pile of clothing items in the lost and found area off of the Delaney Cafeteria.  Hats, mittens, sweatshirts and even some coats are waiting for their owners to come by to claim them.  If you suspect that something may belong to you, please stop by and check it out. 

FYI...Periodically throughout the year, leftover items are spread out for the kids to look through.  Anything that remains unclaimed, is then donated to charity.

PreK information night - SNOW DATE- February 12th

The PreK parent informational night that was previously scheduled for February 5th, has been rescheduled to next week.  Parents are invited to meet in the Vogel Auditorium on Wednesday, February 12th at 6:00 p.m. for a brief presentation followed by a visit to the preschool classrooms.

This week students in Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3 participated in an online reading assessment.   Upon completion, the children grabbed a book while their classmates were finishing their work.  We are very proud of them for their hard work and outstanding effort!

Mrs. Mariotti's Music Update

 

Here is what we learned during January…

This month’s composer…..Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Kindergarten: We began the month on a unit of bells and shakers. We inspected how they made their sounds and identified what materials they were made of. We compared what was the same and different between the two instruments. We sang lots of songs, “Pretty Ponies”, “Passing around Bells/Shakers”, “Jingle, Jingle” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. We also focused on the beginning sounds of words with two fun songs called, “Round the Circle” and “Oobie, Oobie”. This is a nice transition to phonetic awareness and annunciation in singing. We also read a story called “Mozart Finds a Melody”. It tells a story about Mozart and his quest to find a melody (the part of the song you would hum or sing). He has a very special pet bird who inspired him. This story lead us to many Mozart related listening and activities such as; freeze dance and creative movement. Some highlights in music always include playing the singing game, “Doggie, Doggie Where’s Your Bone”.

This month’s composer…..Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

First Grade: This month in music we focused on the term melody. A melody is the part of a song that you would hum or sing to. We also reviewed the term composer (a person who writes music). We learned about a famous composer called Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was born in Austria on January 27, 1756 and was a child prodigy. We also read a story called “Mozart Finds a Melody”. It tells a story about Mozart and his quest to find a melody. He has a very special pet bird that inspired him. We also did many Mozart related listening and activities such as; freeze dance and creative movement. We learned about patterns in music with the song “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. We learned about the A and B sections in music. In music, we used a yellow circle for the A section and a white circle for the B section. The children had a lot of fun making different patterns of the yellow and white circles and sang the coordinating part to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. It was a lot of fun! We also explored with various instruments such as triangle, castanets, bells and bongos.

This month’s composer…..Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Second Grade: This month we focused on rhythm. We learned about using quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes and quarter rests to make rhythmic compositions. We composed our own rhythms to play with a partner. During various music classes, we alternated using rhythmic flash cards to explore with. We also wrote our own rhythms on the white boards too. We used lots of instruments this month; bongos, shakers, guiros, finger cymbals, claves, boomwhackers, wood blocks and even body percussion! We also focused on pitch (the “highness” or “lowness” of a sound). We began our 6 week unit on solo singing as well. Every week, we will learn more about solo singing (posture, various ranges, pitch and breath support) while singing the song “Rocky Mountain High”. Ms. Mariotti has been audio recording the children’s voices using her ipad to track their progress! The children have loved hearing their voices and have already begun to make progress using their “singing voices” instead of their “speaking voices”. Lastly, we learned about our composer of the month, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We did a lesson from Classics for Kids using Mozart’s song “Turkish Rondo”. We learned that a rondo has a particular pattern of a repeating melodic theme (A section) followed by a contrasting section (B, C, D). The end result is A B A C A D A. We used the analogy of a sandwich with the bread as the A section…it made us very hungry =)

 

This month’s composer…..Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Third Grade: We are in full recorder mode! Every music class begins with a “freebie”. It means that each student gets an opportunity to play whatever they like on their recorder (improvise). This is a great exercise to give each student an opportunity for solo playing in a relaxed, casual environment. We continue to focus on the notes G, A, and B. Every student has made great improvement in learning how to play these notes smoothly and accurately. We also remind ourselves to pick up the recorder using our left hand. We have learned many songs, “Hot Cross Buns”, “Merrily We Roll Along”, “Down By the Station”, “Au Clare de Lune”, and a duet “The Big Bass Drum” and the “Triangle Song”.  We continue to review how to read music in preparation for our Recorder Karate Book. This program requires the students to read musical notation. We also break up into groups to practice ensemble playing. It is a great opportunity for students to practice beginning, playing and performing together as a small group. Cooperation and team work is a big component of any music group. Please encourage your child to practice their recorder. It is better to practice for 5-10 minutes every day instead of a marathon the night before music class. Every child who practices at least four times a week can pick a sticker. I also would like to share a friendly reminder that students keep their recorder and music folder in their backpack. When the whole class remembers their folders and recorders, they will be rewarded that class with a game during the last five minutes of class. Students will be able to test for their first belts after February vacation. 

Vision & hearing screening for all third graders is underway!

 

If you have any questions, please contact the health office at

 

x1050.  Screening for students in Grade 2 will begin next

week.

 

Students in Mrs. Nunes' kindergarten were fortunate to work with several parent volunteers last week for center time. Thank you for coming in and giving your time.  The students were thrilled to have you!

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine Dance-A-Thon for All Students

with DJ Manny Barros.

Help Support the PTO  & our "Dancing Star" Kristin Pitman

Thursday, February 13th from 6-8pm in the Roderick Cafeteria

See the pink flyers in your backpacks and around school for all the details.

The student with the most pledges will receive a special prize.

Also, one student from each grade with the best Valentine-themed outfit will get a prize too.

Come out and have a great time dancing while raising money for the PTO and inspiring Mrs. Pitman to get her groove on!

Refreshments available. All students grades 3 and under require a parent present.

Extra forms can be found on the school website.

See you next week with your dancing shoes!

 

Valentine Candy-Gram 

Send a friend, teacher, or staff member a special "sweet" message this Valentine with a Candy-Gram...only $1!!!

Choose  a Lollipop or Twizzler and select from two sentiments.

Orders will be taken the week of Feb 10th and delivered to the special someone(s) on Friday, February 14th in their classroom.

Parents are welcome to send a message to their own children.

Order forms can be found on the school website and in the school offices all week. Roderick students will be able to buy Candy-Grams during lunch Monday thru Thursday and at the Dance-a-thon.

All proceed go to support Mrs. Pitman and the PTO through The Wrentham Community Events, Inc. Dancing With the Wrentham Stars.

 

Read Across Wrentham

The students at Delaney and Roderick in grades 1-6 have now completed their 2nd week of Read Across Wrentham, a 5-week incentive-based reading enhancement program. Please continue to encourage your student to fill in their reading logs and remember READ, READ, READ!

 

 

 

 

As always, thank you for reading.

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Sincerely,

 

Melissa D. Peterson, Principal