PE, Art & Music

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Laura Gardner

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Lori Hyde

Physical Education (P.E.)

Peggy Smith

Lori Adams

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November/December in Art
It has been a fast (but fun!) couple of months in art. We were able to complete several projects and try a variety of media before Christmas vacation began. In all classes, we had wonderful discussions of God’s great design when creating the seasons. He is truly the Ultimate Creator of all things beautiful.
To celebrate autumn, kindergarten students painted paper and used it to cut out pumpkin shapes, stems and leaves. They collaged their pumpkins on black paper, adding details with oil pastels. They also learned about pointillism, which is a style of painting using small dots of color. Students created fall trees, filling in leaves with dots using Q-tips.  As a final fall project, students collaged torn paper to create adorable owls. It was fun to see the finished results.
1st/2nd Grades painted large fall landscapes with watercolor, paying careful attention to use warm colors (red, orange, yellow) and create a horizon line. We also studied the famous Kandinsky painting of circles. Students used that vision to create a tree collage with Kandinsky-inspired circle leaves. Continuing with a tree theme, we discussed the beauty of God’s creation as leaves began to fall. Birch trees in particular are extremely beautiful in winter, so students used a “resist” method with masking tape and watercolor. They created tree trunks and branches with tape, painting the background over it—when the tape was removed, trunks and branches remained white against the painted background. Students then added details of the bark along with falling snow. The results were fantastic, and it remains one of our favorite projects!
3rd-6th Grades had an introduction to chalk pastels as they “painted” pumpkins and apples, experimenting with blending and shading. They did a great job with this medium, and the results were wonderful. Students also painted large fall landscapes with watercolor, adding details with oil pastels. A fun experiment with new media involved creating sculptures with Model Magic. It sculpts similar to clay, but requires no firing or special glazes. Students in 3rd-6th grades were able to create 3-D sculptures and paint them with tempera paint. This was a popular project, and one they’d like to try again! 
This brought us to December. All classes did a variety of Christmas-themed projects, including Nativity paintings. We discussed the Christmas story as recorded in Luke, especially focusing on the star that led the shepherds to Jesus. All students created paintings showing the star’s bright light illuminating the sky, resting above the place where shepherds could find Jesus and worship Him. The students at ACS all did wonderful paintings that captured the story beautifully. We also made colorful pinecone crafts for the residents at Green Hills Retirement Center. In the last week before Christmas break, K-2nd Graders made sparkly snowflakes, and 3rd/4th Grades did a fun poinsettia painting with sponges. 5th/6th Grades spent some time experimenting with pencil drawing, learning how to create value with shading. 
All in all, it has been a busy and fun time in art. Students have worked hard and created many beautiful things. Thank you for all of the prayers and kind wishes this Christmas! I will treasure each one, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve ACS and your children! Hope you all had a blessed Christmas!


November/December Music Class Highlights
We spent most of November and December in rehearsal for our musical, "Dr. Newheart's Christmas Cure." After 6 and a half weeks of singing, rehearsing lines and blocking scenes, we were very excited to perform for family and friends at Stonebrook Community Church on December 12th. We were able to do the entire musical once again on December 17th at Green Hills Retirement Center, where we were warmly received. All the students did a fantastic job at both performances! The 3 year old class also gave a delightful performance of singing and reciting John 3:16 at Stonebrook. A special thank you to Mrs, Lubinus, who not only played "Dr. Newheart" so beautifully, but was a great acting coach too!
As we began learning the music for "Dr.Newheart," the 3rd through 6th grade classes learned about how to follow written music. We used music books for learning our program songs, rather than words projected on a screen. We found out how to read music with repeat signs, measure numbers and pick-up notes. All of the classes learned more about dynamics and expression in our musical numbers. For the younger classes, we really worked on keeping the steady beat to the calypso rhythm in the song, "It's My Delight." We also learned how to clap on the ""off" beat as we sang the final chorus of "Go Tell it on the Mountain."
As we prepared to perform the musical, the elementary classes also learned Biblical truth about the first three Beatitudes that Jesus taught. We learned that "Blessed are the poor in spirit," means to have a helpless heart in need of a Savior. "Blessed are those that mourn," means to have a heart that is sad and sorry about our sins. To be blessed with a humble and meek heart means to trust God's plan completely for our lives.The greatest example of a humble heart was Jesus Himself, who trusted God's plan by going to the cross willingly to save us. We also learned (from the Candy Stripers) that when Christ gives us a new heart, we are a new creation that delights in the Lord and longs to discover more about His Word.
The Early Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes had time to work on a few other musical activities, in addition to learning songs for the musical. In November they played some singing games about food. In "Alphabet Soup," we each found a letter in our pretend "soup," and sang the letter on the interval "so - mi." In the song, "Peas and Carrots," we took turns by making up new parts to the song as we thanked God for our favorite food. We sang and acted out the nursery rhyme, "Little Jack Horner." We took turns being a hidden sheep in "Little Bo-Peep," who was found by playing different rhythm instruments.  
My son, Carson Gardner, came as a special guest to lead music at chapel in November. Carson was a former student at ACS from preschool through 8th grade, and is currently attending Crown College, where he also leads worship as a guitar, piano player and vocalist.
In late November, I attended the Iowa Music Educator's Conference at Iowa State. The main speaker was
Dr. John Feierabend of the University of Hartford. I was able to learn how to implement his "Conversational Solfege" method of teaching music to elementary students by incorporating classical works with music theory concepts. For younger children, I learned a lot about creative movement to music from Dr. Feierabend. I also attended excellent workshops by the Kodaly Educators of Iowa, Early Childhood Music and Movement Association, and First Iowa Orff. Lastly, I was able to share some wonderfully fun pioneer dances with ACS students for our party after our musical from folk dancing expert, Martha Riley! 

November/December Physical Education Newsletter

Did you like that kind of workout? What would make it better? What would make you more motivated? These are the kinds of questions I’m asking our students as I desire to help them own their own pattern for movement in their life.

I’ve found that I really need to be led in a group by someone up front who is facilitating my workout. This has changed for me. I used to be motivated to work-out on my own. It was important for me to know how God has wired me and what is best for me at this time in my life. I’m asking students to do the same kind of thinking to find out what will make them excited to get out and move with joy.

One of the workouts that many of our students enjoyed was the Buddy Body Blast.  I had a list of exercises on the board, a green list and a red list. One partner would start with an exercise that was counted to 10 while their partner did another exercise until they finished, then they switched. They worked their way down the list and encouraged each other gasping for breath, but with a smile and a high five every time they switched. It’s fun to hear when they really connect with a particular kind of work-out.

We are currently working with all the students taking leadership in leading exercises with their voice as well as their body.

St. Cecelia’s physical education teacher, Sandy Rupnow, is a friend of mine from my early years as a PE teacher. She had their school donate several items to our school last year: a huge green cage big ball, a wonderful tug-o-war rope, basketballs, scooters and playground balls.  We use the big green ball for special events and every once in a while in class for soccer, volleyball or the game, Alien.  Teamwork is a must to negotiate the weight and size of the ball. Our students excelled in these activities on a few surprising warm days in late fall.

I also like to use Capture the Flag as a reward when we get those warm Nov./Dec. days as well. I believe it teaches courage for every student. They have to initiate taking their bodies into “enemy territory” and run hard to save their friends from jail or to steal the well-guarded flag. We end with conversations about the courage needed to live a faithful life. This is one of my favorite conversations with our students.

Thanks to the volunteer work of Ron Helland, we’re able to tie two volleyball (badminton) nets across the multi-purpose room and play beach/balloon volleyball. We even had a tournament there!

It is with great joy, I said yes to the opportunity to substitute teach for Mrs. Lubinus while she was gone. I was granted permission to take our 5/6 graders cross-country skiing, so I took them to my garage, fitted them with boots, and headed toward the Carr Woods trails. It was a great day ending with lunch at my house. I would love to check my skis out to any families who would like to give it a try. I believe your 5/6 grader could give you excellent instruction on getting up once you fall!

We’ve begun the ACS juggling progression and will continue it through 3rd quarter. My goal for each student is that they catch balls in a row corresponding to their age. If they are 6, I’d like them to try to catch 6 throws in a row. Upper elementary students are using  the cascade pattern for their catches with the goal of 12 catches in a row. Have them show you their pattern and you can help them with their PE homework!