The Special Edition A monthly newsletter covering exciting events in our art, band, chorus, LMC, music, orchestra and Physical Education classrooms. Volume 1, Issue 1 SEPTEMBER 2013 Welcome to our first edition of the new Special Edition. This newsletter features what is going on in all of the Specials classrooms here at Isaac Fox. For our first letter the teachers wanted to tell you a little bit about themselves and what we have done in our rooms to start off the year. Music Notes Hello! I am Becky Fuller and along with my colleague Adam Hjerpe I have the pleasure of teaching music at Isaac Fox. Every student from 1st grade to 5th grade has music twice a week for 30 minutes. In that time we work on the fundamentals of music making and music appreciation. In the music room we get to use and grow our brains in very different ways through singing, dancing, instrument playing, listening and playing games. On September 23 our students had a great treat– the LZHS Marching Band came to perform for us! IT was a great way for our young musicians to see where music can take them! - Ms. Fuller We’d Like to Hear from YOU, too! Do your children share stories about their special classes? Are they excited about a fun project or a new skill? We would love to hear stories from home about what your children are enjoying in our classes. Please email any one of the specials teachers and perhaps your story will be shared in a future issue of “The Special Edition”! Specials Teachers Art Karen Harwood Library Links Band Dan Keilman It has been a pleasure working in the Isaac Fox Library Media Center for the past twelve years. Although our media center has changed throughout the years in regards to the technological tools we can provide students, one thing remains constant- the push to put books in the hands of students that will ignite the love of reading. In addition to exploring literature, students are also utilizing technology to demonstrate knowledge of curricular objectives and building information literacy skills. LMC Anne Kuehl Students begin the year learning to locate resources in the media center and practicing the selection process of finding good fit books. Fourth and fifth grade students are assembling Battle of the Books teams. We are preparing for our Summer Reading assembly on October 11 and for kindergarten and first grade families we will hold Literacy Night on October 16. Visit the LMC webpage for additional details on upcoming programs and activities including my Monthly Media Messages newsletter. -Mrs. Kuehl Music & Chorus Becky Fuller Adam Hjerpe Orchestra Cathy Schmidt Physical Education Don Boudreaux Volume 1, Issue 1 The Special Edition SEPTEMBER 2013 The Art Room My name is Karen Harwood and I see your child once a week (forty-five minutes) for art . Kindergarten is not included. Art, like other disciplines brings different ways and levels of learning that contribute to a student’s overall development. Most children love art and it contributes greatly to skills applied in higher level thinking. I have been teaching elementary and college art for many years. I have an undergraduate degree in art education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a graduate degree from California State-Sacramento, and started a doctoral program at Florida State-Tallahassee. Teaching art in District 95 is an honor. I am at Isaac Fox Tuesday-Friday and May Whitney on Mondays. On average I see 600 students a week. It is my great pleasure to get to know every student in grades 1-5. -Mrs. Harwood On the Move In Physical Education Hi, I’m the Physical Education Teacher for Isaac Fox Elementary School, Donald Boudreaux. I have been teaching Physical Education for over 18 years. Your child’s safety and well-being are very important to me. In the first semester we will be focusing on physical fitness and soccer skills. There is a Physical Fitness test, consisting of four major tests; 1) Pacer testwhich is a cardiovascular endurance test 2) Push-up test-upper body strength 3) Curl-up-Abdominal test and 4) Sit and Reach-flexibility test. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me via email at donald.boudreaux@lz95.org or call at 847-540-2793. Thank you. -Mr. B Orchestra Notes Greetings from the Isaac Fox Orchestra! Students in 4th grade who enrolled in Orchestra this year will have their first morning rehearsal here at Isaac Fox on Tuesday, October 1st. They will be starting to prepare for their first performance, which is December 10th. Right now they are focusing on plucking out tunes on their instrument, much like a guitar player does. They will all be graduating to playing those same tunes with the bow shortly. Students who play in the 5th grade Orchestra began morning rehearsals back on September 12th at Middle School South. Their focus is on some pretty exciting winter and holiday music, which will be played in the Performing Arts Center of LZHS on December 6th. In classes they are studying new rhythms, including single eighth notes, eighth rests, and dotted quarter notes. Add to that some fancy bowings, and you have a recipe for some pretty amazing music! We are making progress on our instruments and becoming better musicians with consistent effort outside of class. Our homework is making music so we can have fun with friends! - Mrs. Schmidt Chorus Comments Chorus is off to a great start this year! The first few rehearsals we have been preparing for our District Choral Festival on October 26 which we are very excited about. During this festival we are going to get to rehearse and perform with students from 4th to 12th grade. Also, we will participate in a clinic with Paulette Boddy, a master at working with children’s choirs. Not only will this really help us with our singing– but it will show us some of the opportunities open to us if we keep singing in choir! As always I am looking for volunteers for the next couple months to help with door holding in the mornings and our Chorus Breakfast once a month. Please email me if you are interested at Becky.Fuller@lz95.org. -Ms. Fuller The Special Edition Volume 1, Issue 1 SEPTEMBER 2013 Band Notes The 2013-14 5th Grade Band is well underway since we got the ball rolling last spring during our recruitment season. The 5th South Elementary Band consists of students who attend Isaac Fox, May Whitney, and Sarah Adams. This year the band has around 105 students, with 50 students from Isaac Fox. Students just recently received their band instrument a couple weeks ago. All the students received an introductory class the second week in September in the evening at May Whitney School. The classes were held for each instrument separately along with parents, clinicians, and high/middle school assistants. All classes were successful in getting the beginners to start off on the right foot. Students are now bringing their instruments to school once a week for a sectional class and presently learning some basic fundamentals on their instrument: assembly, playing position/posture, producing proper tone, articulation (tonguing), basic rhythms with simple note analysis/performance. As we are just beginning the band is preparing for their first full band rehearsal this Tuesday, October 1 at May Whitney. The students are all excited and curious to find out how the band will sound on this first day. There is so much to learn and the students are very excited to experience this new venture of music and being in band! -Mr. Keilman