Farm and Garden:  This week the Mustangs were pleasantly surprised by excellent germination in their recently planted garden! We observed similarities and differences between the cotyledon (first) leaves of the emerging seedlings. We also got to plant some of our broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and bok choi starts in the garden. At the end of the day, we took a trip down to "officially" meet Mo and Powder, the TVCS resident Alpacas. Everyone enjoyed feeding them from them treats from their hands.

Art:  It is hard to believe this was our last art class of the school year!  The Mustangs have truly grown as artists this year.  This was so evident as I observed students showing increased complexity and detail in their drawings today.  We continued our focus on drawing techniques –today exploring methods to depict rope, chains, and ribbon.  The process and product of art in this class is more involved and dynamic than last September!  Keep sketching, painting, and exploring the wonderful world of art this summer!

Spanish:  For our last week of Spanish, los caballos sumamentes did a wonderful job wrapping up by reviewing this year through song, games, and stories. It has been great to watch them grow and improve in their Spanish vocabulary and abilities. Keep up that Spanish over the summer by continuing to play and sing and make learning another language fun! Happy verano!

Outdoor Education: As the students in this class interacted during our activities and games today, it became so clear how much they have all grown as individuals and as a group!  Endurance and ability both socially and physically is measurably stronger, and the level of the group play is more complex and involved. We met as a class to select a favorite activity to contribute as part of the upcoming Field Day; reviewing rules and specifics so we can introduce it to the whole school!

Art: As we near the end of our weekly art class, the Mustangs are squeezing in as much creative learning as possible!  Today in class, our talented artists explored tissue paper painting.  We discussed how it is possible to create imagery with materials other than pencils, crayons, markers, or paintbrushes- today’s art process involved creating imagery with torn paper pieces instead.  Tearing small pieces of differing shapes, size, and color, students selected subject matter and represented related imagery by painting (applying with thinned glue) these individual pieces onto long rectangular pieces of paper.

Spanish: This week, the Caballos Sumamentes have done a wonderful job finishing up their Skippy Jon Jones stories and plays. They’ve worked hard and earned a fiesta week next week to celebrate and keep enjoying learning Spanish. As we gear up for the summer, please let me know if you would like any worksheets or copies of our songs for the summer break! PBS Kids and BrainPop! Spanish are also great online resources to keep your kids’ Spanish muscles active!

Spanish: Gracias a los Caballos Sumamentes for such a wonderful week! We’ve really loved working on some of our Skippyjon Jones projects and showing off all we’ve learned this year with assessment games. We know body parts, colors, fruits, weather patterns, classes, clothing, and so much more, which has been shown to me again and again with our “Cruza el circulo” and “Conexión!” games. Thanks for a great week and I look forward to two more weeks of fun with you all!

Art: Today in art we reviewed a bit of color theory; specifically the primary and secondary colors of the color wheel.  Each student outlined his/her hand and forearm, then, drew overlapping circular shapes over this and the remaining areas on the paper.  We colored in the hand/forearm sections using primary colors, and the background sections using the secondary colors.  Students chose to use colored pencils, oil pastels, markers, and crayons; also combinations of these materials to complete these unique visual puzzles!

Farm and Garden:  This week we did more planting and creating a pea trellis!  We also created stone name plates for the garden and we wrote our wishes for the garden and wrote them on stones and placed in the garden. 

Outdoor Education: Experiential learning outdoors in a wintry mix this morning!  Mustangs played one game after another today in class:  ‘Stalking the Leader’, ‘Man from Mars’, ‘Ounch-Neech’…..Activities encouraging leadership, teamwork, formulation of strategy, physical exertion….

As the class learns experientially, components of this style of learning include:

-Participants are actively involved in learning

-Learning takes place in an environment of trust and safety.

-There is interaction among group members.

-There is constructive and supportive facilitation.

-Learning and knowledge comes from the individual, the group, the activities and the process.

Mustangs have excellent energy in O.E., and it is wonderful to see these young individuals so excited to learn!

Art:  A focus on drawing techniques continued in art class this week.  Mustangs learned about and practiced contour and blind contour drawing today.  We focused intently on our hands and drew them in various positions with a keen eye on detail.  Students also learned different hand positions for holding and utilizing drawing materials and the results we can achieve as we vary how we hold our drawing tools as well as how we apply the pencil tip to the paper.

Spanish: This week, los caballos sumamentes spent time working on their Skippyjon Jones stories. We have Skippy traveling to Russia, getting lost in the woods, and getting into all sorts of fun trouble. We also played review games to recall our vocabulary and actions for the year.

Outdoor Education: An active class today outside in the sun!  We began with a fun warm-up: ‘Copy Cat’ where each student silently selects a person to mirror.  With everyone in a circle, the game begins and as movements develop, the mystery of who’s who unfolds.

 We played ‘Hopping Grasshoppers’, a game involving trust and communication between partners.

A final game ‘SPUD’ kept us on our toes as it requires quick thinking and reaction time.
 

Art: More with drawing techniques for the Mustangs!  Today we honed our observation skills as we studied light and shadow, and practiced specific drawing techniques to show shading.  Students drew objects in the classroom showing light and shadow using hatching, cross hatching, and finger smearing.  On this bright sunny day, we paired up, went outside and sketched our partners and their shadows in all sorts of interesting poses.

Spanish: The libros and dramas de Skippyjon Jones de los caballos sumamentes are really coming along well! We can’t wait to show off our work and perform (a mostly English, but with Spanish sprinkles play) for you all on Thursday, May 29. Get ready for three interpretations of Skippyjon Jones: Lost in Spice by our great performers!

Science: The Mustangs asked us in their first week of science if they could learn about molecular gastronomy, and we finally got to it in our last science class.  They learned about the science of popcorn: how water and steam expand when heated but the space inside the kernel doesn't expand so eventually the whole thing just POPS! To do something useful with all the popcorn we had, the Mustangs made popcorn bird feeders to bring birds to TVCS (that part isn't related to molecular gastronomy but we were just too excited about spring). 

Outdoor Education:  Mustang athletes excelled today as we focused on teamwork and trust during ‘Gold nugget rescue!’.  This partner initiative involved a blindfolded partner in search of a gold nugget (a soft ball), being guided by a seeing partner who must verbally direct his/her partner.  During pre-game discussion, we emphasized the significance of trust, communication, and teamwork.

Mustangs also played an active game of ‘Jewel Thieves’, a favorite tag, hide and seek combination

Art: In preparation for student led parent teacher conferences, Mustang artists created ink drawings of various scenes and objects; then used colored pencils to highlight the subject matter – upon completion, adding these to their individual art portfolio pages.  Students also enjoyed time allotted to sketch in their personal art books.

Spanish:  Los caballos sumamentes are doing so well on their Skippyjon Jones' stories and our newest project...Reader's Theater! We all have our parts and will be working hard to create a stellar play over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Science: Yesterday Chrissy and the Mustangs and I decided to do an eco art project in honor of Earth day.  We decided to use lots of materials that are commonly put into the trash, like candy wrappers, broken crayons and fake grass used in easter baskets, for the Mustangs to create their favorite earth scene.  We are hoping that by repurposing these materials into art, the Mustangs will help keep them out of the trash. Some of them created the ocean, mountains or the forest, while Daniel decided his favorite earth scene was his backyard. Others thought it was best to make model guitars, which we decided could count as an earth project since Beo said music helps him to connect to the Earth.

Outdoor Education: Wow, what a rainy morning!  We appreciated this significant change in the weather as so different than any of our Friday mornings together; also realizing the need to switch from our snow clothes to rain clothes on days like today!

In preparation for student led parent teacher conferences, Mustangs observed photos taken during O.E. this school year and wrote personal reflective pieces to accompany each individual’s portfolio pictures.

We spent time playing active group games out in the rain!

Farm and Garden:  The Mustangs got to work planting some starts today for our new garden! They planted broccoli, chives, cabbage, cauliflower, and some pea shoots to snack on while we wait for spring to truly arrive. They learned a song that helped them to review the four main things a seed needs to grow and created beautiful diagrams. Now we wait and watch for germination!

Science: This past Tuesday we learned about oil spills in our oceans and how they affect habitats.  Using a pan of water and vegetable oil, we stimulated an ocean oil spill.  The students got 3 different materials- a straw, twine and a paper towel to try and clean up the oil.  They found it very frustrating to clean up and quickly learned that oil spills can wreak havoc on an ecosystem.

Spanish: Los caballos sumamentes are doing very well working toward creating their own Skippyjon Jones stories and lapbooks. On jueves, they did very well with a new book from Theresa’s family, El Misterio de Melodía, about monarch butterflies and reviewing their body parts’ vocabulary with a Bingo game. Keep up the great work!

Outdoor Education: The snow is nearly gone from our playing field and we enjoyed warm temperatures our first class back.  We began with a new group warm-up game involving focus and listening called ‘Earth – People; where students stand in a circle, listening for the ‘caller’ to command ‘earth’, meaning look down, or ‘people’, meaning looking up into another person’s eyes.  If two people make eye contact they are both eliminated.  The game continues until one or two are left. 

A new initiative called ‘Group Juggling’ involved having the group stand in a circle, and using one ball to start, throwing and catching the ball so that each participant always throws to and catches from the same person.  Once the order is established, and the throwing and catching flows well, more balls may be added.  Mustangs accomplished the task with one ball fairly well, with plans to progress further next time.

This initiative is full of natural outcomes such as:

-Gets people to think ‘out of the box’

-Breaks down preconceived notions about how a problem can be solved.

-Provides an opportunity to set and reach goals as a team.’

-Develops cooperation, teamwork and a sense of success.

-Explores how ideas are heard or discounted.

Spanish:  On Tuesday, we started to outline our Skippy Jon Jones stories which we will be writing later this trimester. We also loved taking a small break from our projects on Thursday by playing Body Part Bingo with pictures, handmade Bingo boards, and creative coloring. What will next week’s stories bring? Muy buen trabajo, caballos!

Science: On Tuesday we learned about box turtle habitat by doing a scavenger hunt for things that Mr. T needs.  When we finished, we made a collage of all the things we found to show what an ideal habitat might look like. We talked about things we'd already done to make Mr. T a good habitat, and we also talked about a few easy things we could do to make it better.

Art: Welcome back to art Mustangs!  Today we drew pen and ink drawings and incorporated a collage element using small pieces of fabric.  Students drew subject matter – people, then cut out fabric to apply as clothing.

Outdoor Education:  Thanks to all for a great winter sports session!  Hope you all enjoyed the school ski day and thank you parent helpers for your support!  Have a fun spring break!  We will transition with the weather and continue to develop our teamwork skills through fun and stimulating play in the outdoors!

Art: ‘The step between a handful of wool and a hat:  exactly how does one create felt?’

Felting is a simple process of separating, tangling, and relocking animal fibers found in items such as yarn or wool.  Felting begins through the agitation of the animal fibers; these fibers are lined with tiny scales which interlock and keep the fibers’ shape.  In felting, the scales are coaxed into separation through heat- warm water or friction-and then gently tangled using various tools.  Once the animal fibers have been separated and tangled, the felting process is complete when the scales are once again interlocked.  This usually occurs when the fibers cool; at this point the basic process of felting is complete!  There are several methods to agitate and tangle animal fibers into felt such as needle felting, nuna felting, knit felting and the wet felting method which engaged our class with fervor today!  Students created fantastic abstract fiber art pieces today through wet felting alpaca, buffalo, and sheep wool.  This process involved fine motor skills, patience, consideration of color placement, soapy water and a lot of elbow grease!

Spanish:  Hola a las familias y amigos de los caballos sumamentes! Gracias for those who have lent their Skippyjon Jones books to our class for research. We have been having a great time creating a Word Wall or Pared de Palabras from our growing vocabulary list from El Skippito Friskito. Some of the words we added today? Ruckus/alboroto, hush/callarse, and Who goes there?/Quien va? Once we are done with our books, we’ll work toward creating our own plots, settings, and characters for our stories. If you have a Skippyjon book we haven’t read yet, please bring it in! The titles we’ve read so far: Skippyjon Jones and the Cirque de Olé, Skippyjon Jones, Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones, and SkippyjonJones in the Dog House.

Science: 

This week we discussed paper and why it is important to recycle it.  Using magnifying glasses, the kids were able to see that paper is made up of many fibers.  Each child was then able to make their own sheet of recycled paper out of classroom paper scraps.  We discussed that each time paper is recycled, the fibers get shorter and it is harder to make a quality sheet of paper.  We therefore decided that while it is very important to recycle, it's also important to reduce our overall paper use whenever we can. 

Art: 

February 27, 2014

What is fiber art?  Fiber art includes any type of artwork which uses linear, pliable elements – fibers – as a major material, and may be constructed by methods traditionally associated with textile fibers such as stitching, weaving, dyeing, felting…  We enjoyed the tactile sensation involved in the felting experience – and today had a chance to prepare our abstract felted pieces for exhibit.  Students also were asked to self-reflect on the felting process; we compiled our personal review, sharing comments.   After working with natural animal fibers last week, Mustangs continue exploring different fiber art methods – this week, through weaving.  Students learned specific terminology – loom, warp, weft, shuttle, and practiced the weaving process. 

March 6

Mustang artists continue with weaving today!  The project presents an opportunity for color study and a focus on texture as students are working with different yarn thickness and color combinations. 

March 13, 2014

More with weaving today!  Students worked together to begin a larger group piece- using a large picture frame as a loom, and weaving cut fabric strips through the warp.  Students were so motivated to start new weavings after completing their initial pieces, that many of us began the process again, this time wrapping the warp and creating an entire woven piece on our own.

Spanish: 

Hola a los amigos y familia de los caballos sumamentes! Gracias for another great week. We have just about completed the research portion of our Skippyjon Jones project. We’ve found words, looked in our own closets for imaginative story props, and read nearly every book in the series. After Spring Break, we’ll get to start writing our own and possibly work toward a play, what fun! Hope you all have a great weekend con mucho sol.

Science: 

Our new science enrichment class with  our great Americorps Interns (Chrissy and Toby) has been a very exciting addition to our Enrichment schedule.  We are hoping to create our turtle habbitat for Mr. T during this time. 

Farm and Garden:

The Mustangs are taking over chicken duty! This week in farm and garden, they learned to C.L.U.C.K. Students shared why we have chickens here at school and what our chickens need to stay happy and healthy, and then created beautiful posters for our coop, compiling their thoughts. The Mustangs are very excited about taking over this important responsibility at school.
 

Outdoor Education: 

March 7, 2014

Mustangs skied the entire loop at Pioneer Park!  Lots of excitement too, charging down the cyclecross track features.

March 14, 2014

TVCS Grand Targhee Ski Day! 

Outdoor Education:  Snowshoe adventurers today!  Snow shoes can be complicated:  so many straps, cleats, connection points…. But, Mustangs were diligent and focused today as each child accepted the challenge to figure these snowshoes out!  Way to go!  As a class we trekked about in the fresh powder, and even played a fun game of snowshoe tag. Cross Country Skiing on Friday! 

Art:

‘The step between a handful of wool and a hat:  exactly how does one create felt?’

Felting is a simple process of separating, tangling, and relocking animal fibers found in items such as yarn or wool.  Felting begins through the agitation of the animal fibers; these fibers are lined with tiny scales which interlock and keep the fibers’ shape.  In felting, the scales are coaxed into separation through heat- warm water or friction-and then gently tangled using various tools.  Once the animal fibers have been separated and tangled, the felting process is complete when the scales are once again interlocked.  This usually occurs when the fibers cool; at this point the basic process of felting is complete!  There are several methods to agitate and tangle animal fibers into felt such as needle felting, nuna felting, knit felting and the wet felting method which engaged our class with fervor today!  Students created fantastic abstract fiber art pieces today through wet felting alpaca, buffalo, and sheep wool.  This process involved fine motor skills, patience, consideration of color placement, soapy water and a lot of elbow grease!

Spanish: Hola a las familias y amigos de los caballos sumamentes! Gracias for those who have lent their Skippyjon Jones books to our class for research. We have been having a great time creating a Word Wall or Pared de Palabras from our growing vocabulary list from El Skippito Friskito. Some of the words we added today? Ruckus/alboroto, hush/callarse, and Who goes there?/Quien va? Once we are done with our books, we’ll work toward creating our own plots, settings, and characters for our stories. If you have a Skippyjon book we haven’t read yet, please bring it in! The titles we’ve read so far: Skippyjon Jones and the Cirque de Olé, Skippyjon Jones, Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones, and SkippyjonJones in the Dog House.

Farm and Garden: The Mustangs are taking over chicken duty! This week in farm and garden, they learned to C.L.U.C.K. Students shared why we have chickens here at school and what our chickens need to stay happy and healthy, and then created beautiful posters for our coop, compiling their thoughts.The Mustangs are very excited about taking over this important responsibility at school.

Art: Mustangs worked diligently today to complete their abstract mosaics.  Many unique cut out shapes and color combinations show up in these fun artworks.

Spanish: Los caballos sumamentes are truly getting in to their Skippyjon Jones’ end-of-the-year projects! We have started a Pared de Palabras Bilingue (Bilingual Word Wall) and Lista de Caracteres (Character List) to prepare for creating our own Skippyjon Jones stories. Some of our most interesting words so far? “Cabezones” (bobbleheads), “bullicioso” (bouncy), and “rastrear” (sniffing)! Check out our newest words sobre la ventana in the main room. I can’t wait to learn more together! And no “estoy bromeando” (our phrase of the week!).

Outdoor Education:

Hello TVCS families!

As the school ski day draws closer (Friday March 14), I wanted to let parents and caregivers know that if your child needs an equipment rental for the school ski day, Peaked Sports in Driggs has generously offered TVCS families a discounted one day rental (includes skis, boots, poles) for $10.00.

Also, in upcoming Outdoor Education classes (Friday Feb. 28 and Friday March 7), we will –weather depending, be Nordic skiing!  Both X-country and skate ski set ups are fine.  Peaked Sports will offer TVCS families a two-week Nordic rental at $10.00.  If you choose to participate in that rental, please plan accordingly with the pick-up and drop-off dates – (2 week rental).

Let the staff at the store know you are with TVCS!

Please contact the office with any questions.

Thanks and Happy Winter everyone,

Tonia Ralston

Spanish: I am very excited that the Caballos sumamentes have chosen a fun new project to work on: creating a Skippyjon Jones story and play! If you have a book at home, bring it in for our research phase over the next 5 weeks. We already read Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones and discussed characters. We will be working on a word list, character list, plot list, costumes, drawings, and poetry as we work through our project and get toward the end of the year. If we forget to bring a book one day, “No te preocupes” (“Don’t worry!”), we have plenty of time to research and read more!

Farm and Garden:  We germinated or attempted to germinate seeds this week and recorded our observations in our seed journal. We shared our observations with the class and drew conclusions from our data. 

Art: Today we revisited the elements of art through discussion to better prepare ourselves for our next exciting project.  We studied the color wheel, gaining a better understanding of primary and secondary colors.  We talked about shape in art and read a bit about the famous artist Matisse, also looking at examples of his later works with cut out shapes.  Then, we touched on what mosaic art is and also discussed differences between this art form and collage.  Where is this wide range of information taking the Mustang artists?  We are applying this art knowledge in an abstract mosaic art project.  Students drew a ‘base’ shape, an outline for their mosaic design.  With the enthusiasm of Valentines day approaching, many students chose the heart shape- and drew these shapes with inspiration found in Matisse’s ‘Heart’ painting.  Next we are cutting out small paper mosaic tiles; the traditional square, but also, some interesting organic shapes also seen in Matisse’s work.  Students are choosing different color combinations and also using decorative paper.  The final step will be to apply our cut outs onto our base shape as an abstract mosaic design. 

O.E: The culmination of a successful ice skating unit today!  The consistency this unit provided proved beneficial to each individual’s skill progression and self-confidence.  Consecutive weeks spent on the ice allowed for greater positive impact for the Mustangs.  Ice skating is a sport that offers many benefits for children.  It can become a life time activity, and when started at a young age, it allows for children to harness their skills and ability on the ice as they grow.  With an ever increasing emphasis on screen time, it places our youth in the fresh air.  Ice skating increases lower body strength by working the hamstring and quadriceps muscles and is helpful for improving coordination and balance.  Ice skating encourages artistic expression- children can express themselves artistically alone and in a group.   Learning to play hockey exemplifies these and many other benefits as well.

Thank you parent helpers!

Outdoor Education: Mustangs are demonstrating such exciting growth in skills and confidence on the ice!  We are having fun skating around with our friends and playing group games on the ice while we explore movement on this smooth surface.  Next week will be our final ice skating O.E. class.

Art: Mustangs completed the cat mural!  We arranged the many squares in different ways and enjoyed viewing all these colorful works as one piece.  Students also had time to work independently in their artist books.

Farm and Garden: How do plants begin? Students suggested that they come from seeds, but debate ensued as we explored the question:  what came first, the plant or the seed? To continue in our exploration of the seed, we broke into two groups. The first group began their seed story (a continuing project) by examining a seed and thinking about what might be going on inside that seed. The second group would explore the potential of some of our seeds to become plants through a germination test. The students wrapped seeds in wet paper towels and will open them up next week to see how many of our seeds have germinated. Students made some predictions, and we explore these predictions and the results of our experiment next week.

Spanish: Los caballos sumamentes are excited to continue reading in Spanish and playing “Simon dice” to test their Spanish vocabulary. In particular, they are working on getting to know weather patterns and verbs in Spanish so they can learn how to express their actions in a new language. Along with this, we’ll be working on learning animal body parts, more foods, and continuing our phrases of the week…this week? Are you going to teach your new phrase of the week to a friend or family member? “Claro que si!”

Spanish: Estoy muy orgullosa de los Caballos Sumamentes! We have done a great job of learning fruits and other food words in Spanish evidenced in how well everyone is doing in our class games “Simon Dice” and “La Guerra!” We will also be looking into creating puppets together that will speak in Spanish with us and help us review what we already know as we reach the end of our song list. Finally, we’ve started learning more action words from our newest song, “Que haces en la clase?” Don’t forget to use the phrase of the week… “Olvidalo!”

Art: Today in art, Mustang artists engaged in the creation of a group mural project.  Students each received two 9x9 inch squares; one with a feline outline, one blank.  Each student selected art materials of choice to draw and design decorative finishes to the outline, then drew a cat in their own representational style and chose different art media for a vibrant, colorful finish.  Exhibited as one piece, the final work will celebrate the individuality of each artist and showcase how each artist is different.

Outdoor Education: We went ice skating!! 

Outdoor Education: Our first of four wonderful ice skating Fridays!  I witnessed big boosts in confidence in our beginning skaters, and saw those students who have had more ice time build on their foundation of skating skills.  Thank you very much parent helpers!

Spanish: Los caballos sumamentes continue to love enjoying singing their Spanish songs and reading sight words in Spanish. They remembered a lot about their colors, greetings, weather, phrases of the week, and more over the break. This week, they learned names of fruits and how to say they buy them (comprar), fix them (arreglar), count them (contar), and eat them (comer). In the coming weeks, we will be working on getting through longer stories in Spanish, learning new songs, and working on autorretrato projects for the end of the year. Dale, Mighty Mustangs!

Art: Today in art students continued working on the ‘fabulous felines’ project.  Four different drawings with color added using four different art media.  Students used sharpie and colored pencil, markers, oil pastel, and charcoal.

Outdoor Education:  Nearly a foot of light, fresh powder on campus!  Mustangs bundled up for action in the snow.  We played ‘fantasy tag’, a game where each individual writes down a fantasy, dream, something he/she has always wanted to do.  As the facilitator reads the fantasies, two groups attempt to guess which person belongs to which fantasy, and an exciting running and chasing game ensues.

-Ice skating begins next Friday!

Art:  Welcome back Mustang artists!  We are exploring ‘cats’ as subject matter.  Today the class spent time looking at the artwork of Laurel Burch, specifically her ‘fantastic felines’.  Students sketched cats of all sizes and shapes, with many focusing on the details of the cats face.  Each individual received a large sheet of paper divided into 4 equal parts and drew his/her cat designs treating each quadrant as an individual work.  In these drawings, students are focusing on a whimsical representation of the cat, incorporating pattern and design as well.  Students will utilize different art media for each of the four cats.  After completing the initial drawings, we began with the first cat of choice- outlined the drawing with permanent marker and colored the image with bright colored pencils.  ‘Fabulous felines!’

Spanish: os caballos sumamentes continue to love enjoying singing their Spanish songs and reading sight words in Spanish. They remembered a lot about their colors, greetings, weather, phrases of the week, and more over the break. This week, they learned names of fruits and how to say they buy them (comprar), fix them (arreglar), count them (contar), and eat them (comer). In the coming weeks, we will be working on getting through longer stories in Spanish, learning new songs, and working on autorretrato projects for the end of the year. Dale, Mighty Mustangs!

Outdoor Education: In O.E. today Mustangs spent most of our class playing the game ‘Steal the fish’.  This game offers students repeated opportunities to use teamwork during quick decision making periods throughout play.  We played ‘Red Rudolph’ as well!  Happy Holidays!

Spanish: Felices dias festivos a todos las familias de los caballos sumamentes! We are almost in the holiday season and so excited to know so much Spanish to help us celebrate. “Regalos,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Prospero Año Nuevo” are some of those words…what else do you know? Make sure to keep up with your songs over the holidays and get ready for some fun field trips and activities when you come back! If you’d like to participate or have suggestions for Spanish, please let Kristin Ladd know at kristin.ladd@tetonscience.org.

Art: Happy Holidays!  Mustang artists created delightful owl ornaments today.  Starting with a cardboard template, students wrapped colorful yarn around the owl body, then decorated eyes and beak with shiny sequins.  This activity focused on texture and challenged us to focus on our fine motor skills!

Farm and Garden: In farm and garden over the last few weeks, we've been busy with bees! Students learned about the roles of  the bees within a colony, how they communicate through dance, and how they build their comb and make honey. We tasted local honey and honey comb, made beeswax bees and flowers, and hand-dipped beeswax candles. Happy solstice to all!

 Art:  Today in art when Mustangs removed the tape masking the bark areas of their landscape watercolor paintings, the results were amazing! Tree shapes came to life jumping off the paper! Using crayons, students added details of smaller branches, leaves, shadows, and foreground objects to complete these exciting works.

Outdoor Education: A little cold weather did not deter the Mighty Mustangs! We bundled up for winter fun today. Mustangs worked through a new teambuilding initiative. ‘Log jam’ --Everyone starts by standing on a low beam. The group is told they will need to line up in some determined order without anyone falling off the beam. A certain time limit to complete the activity adds an element to the organizational output of the group. --Natural outcomes: -promotes contact, support, and inter-dependency. -develops understandings about group dynamics. -focus on communication. -develops group problem solving skills. --As a framing/debrief, discussion involved: -what made this activity difficult? -what were the keys to success? -what was the group’s problem-solving style and how did it work? -what is it about the nature an activity that determines the leadership needs? -what happened if a technique didn’t work? -were you able to ask for what you need in this exercise? -in what ways did people feel support? -what is someone didn’t do their part? We played an imaginative game of ‘Santa tag’. Although perhaps seemingly basic, the game of tag offers great practice with accepting outcomes, practice with switching roles quickly, and risk taking.\ Mustangs will participate in a 4 week ice skating unit at the Kotler arena mid-January, and today some students who do not have their own personal skates were fitted in TVCS skates.

Art:  Welcome back to Art! Today Mustang artists learned about foreground, mid-ground, and background. We looked at a landscape painting with trees, and discussed how to show depth through size differences, and separation between land mass and sky. Students placed sections of masking tape on water color paper to serve as aspen tree trunks and branches (masking or blocking out technique). Then, painted a surrounding environment/landscape showing fore, mid, and background. We explored watercolor techniques of wet on wet, and wet on dry. Next week we will remove the tape and discover our results!

Spanish:  After a week off for the holidays, los Caballos Sumamentes are back at full speed in Spanish. They enjoyed making Fortune Teller games in Spanish today that they can play with friends and family. This week, we learned a new phrase: Dime (dee-may). A way to use it with your child? Tell them: “Dime” what “dime” means and they will (even though you may have already figured it out). We also had fun learning our newest song about getting up in the morning and putting on our camisas, pantalones, calcetines, zapatos, y chaquetas. We’re most looking forward to a special visitor next Tuesday, December 10, who will make tamales with us as a traditional Mexican holidays’ treat. Let me know if you’d like any extra materials for your child(ren) over the break to keep up with their espanol!

Art: Today marked the completion of the students’ art journals!  We added paper, punched holes, and bound the papers with colorful yarn.  Then the truly exciting part – each student began filling in pages!  

Outdoor Education: Mustangs celebrated upcoming Thanksgiving through a fun and creative twist on the game ‘Fish Gobbler’ that we learned last week.  Students offered suggestions to make up the game –‘Turkey Gobbler’ with call outs like ‘mashed potatoes!’, ‘slicing the turkey!’, ‘apple pie!’ relating to different actions and movement levels.  We played ‘Killer!’, a circle activity focusing on observation skills and decision making- also very suspenseful!  Class completed with a high energy, active game of ‘jewel thieves’.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Music: Practicing for our winter concert! We also played musical chairs! 

Spanish:  Buen día de acción de gracias! This week, we learned a new song about table manners and how to say parts of our family in español. We now have two words of the week to try while we’re on vacation: “Basta!” And “Pasame.” Both can definitely be used during Thanksgiving festivities or just over dinner. Ask your child what these mean and how to use them with hand actions. We are regularly reviewing our colors, weather, days of the week, parts of the body, and months of the year. As we get into the holidays, I will be looking for ways to celebrate navidades and dias festivos in different cultural ways. Let me know how you celebrate your cultural holidays this time of the year! I hope you all have wonderful descanso, viajes seguros, y días festivos!

Outdoor Education:  Today in O.E. we played a favorite game of ‘jewel thieves’- combining tag and scavenger hunting for a dynamic, action packed running session. We learned a new game – ‘Fish gobbler’, involving movement levels, quick reactions, listening, chasing and running.  A lot to do and keep track of- this games kept us on our toes!

Spanish: Los caballos sumamentes are progressing really well in Spanish! Just in time for the cold season, we are really learning our weather terms along with the days of the week, months of the year, and reviewing the songs we have been doing throughout the year. This week, get like Speedy Gonzalez and use our phrase of the week: Andale! As a reminder, students are encouraged to ask for a copy of the Spanish songs. Please email the Spanish instructor, Kristin Ladd at kyoladd@gmail.com if you’d like a copy so you can keep up your Spanish over the break!

Music:  We started music class off today with a listening exercise using Santana's "Oye Como Va".  What instruments are being played? How many band members are involved? What is the feel of the song? What do the lyrics mean?  If this was in a movie, what would the scene be?  We spent the rest of class practicing our songs for the winter concert.

Art:  Mustang artists are creating imaginative collage imagery on the covers of their art journals.  We cut out shapes from a variety of decorative papers arranging these to make up a scene.  Then, using a gloss medium, attached and sealed all the individual pieces to the art journal cover.  We discussed how using different sizes, focusing on details, and overlapping certain areas can create more interesting results. 

Farm and Garden:  This week, the mustangs celebrated the transitioning seasons with some baking. With Thanksgiving coming up quickly. we thought we better taste test some pumpkin pie ingredients. The mustangs sampled freshly baked sugar dumpling squash, sweet potatoes, of course pumpkin. Their reactions to these foods varied with some turning up their noses to the flavors and others noticing subtleties in the sweetness of each. Everyone could get around making them into pie however, and so we did! Busy hands rolled out butter crusts and filled them with all our squash/potato fillings (mixed with sugar, eggs etc. of course!) The kitchen smelled great. Ask your student what pie they liked the best! 

Art: Mustang artists are learning the language of art!  We discussed the elements of art and the significance of these concepts.  Each student cut out individual words:  texture, value, color, shape, space, form, line, and glued these to the cover of his/her portfolio.  We made sure to leave room next to each word so we can write down important information we learn about each one. We began a new project today:  creating a personal art journal.  Mustangs will use a collage process to create imagery relating to a selected theme for the covers.

Music: The focus of today's music class was singing.  We've begun preparations for the December concert and are starting to narrow down our song choices for the performance.  We also worked on rhythm through a call and response with the lollipops and mallets.  The students took turns leading the call and response.

Spanish: Saludos a los caballos sumamentes y sus amigos! Greetings to the Mighty Mustangs and their friends! We had a great week learning our newest song about the days of the week and how to talk about the weather. In clase de espanol, we're really working toward knowing all the songs we've learned (10 in total!) along with our phrases of the week very well before the holidays come upon us. We have been reading Eric Carle's La Mariquita Malhumurado and getting to know animals, practice our numbers, and learn some fun phrases like "Oye tu!" If you would like a copy of the main CD used in class, please let the Spanish teacher, Kristin Ladd kristin.ladd@tetonscience.org know, and she will gladly make you a copy! Keep an eye out for cooking recipes and holiday tamale-making in the near future. Also, don't forget to ask your child the phrase of the week! What could "Que lindo" mean? Thank you for your support and we look forward to another great week next week!

Outdoor Education: Mustangs started off with a new game – ‘Fire in the Forest’, a relationship game involving running, leadership skills, role playing, and quick transitions. Next we played ‘Gold Nugget Rescue’, a trust and sensory activity emphasizing verbal communication.  In this activity, a partner throws a ‘gold nugget’ (tennis ball, soft object) as far as possible and then verbally (with safety as priority) guides his/her blindfolded partner to the nugget.  The nugget is retrieved and the guide continues to lead his/her partner to the ‘safe’.  When the task is complete, roles are switched.  Mustangs also practiced throwing and catching playground balls with partners during running relays.

Music

We kicked off music class today with a high energy rendition of "This Little Light of Mine".  Next we moved on to rhythm, starting out seated in a circle with cups.  Between clapping and tapping the cup with fingertips we practiced a series of different rhythm combinations.  Applying the same techniques we swapped the cups out for hand drums and did some call and response between drums.  We ended with some applied listening on a song called  "Beacon of Liberty" from the film Madagascar and then talked about what instruments we heard and the "feel" of the song.

Spanish

Esta semana fue muy especial porque celebramos Dia de los Muertos! This week was very special because we are celebrating Day of the Dead! Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead is a holiday from Mexico that is now celebrated in many parts of the US that comes the two days following Halloween. We have used this past week to prepare for Dia de los Muertos by making skull masks, a traditional costume for the holiday and reading a book about the holiday. There is much to celebrate when it comes to knowing our ancestors and family members we miss dearly. I encourage students and families to get to know more about the holiday and how celebrating the past can help us enjoy the present! Here is a great website if you are interested in knowing even more: http://www.mommymaestra.com/2010/11/brief-history-of-dia-de-los-muertos-for.html. Celebrations in the community will be held November 1 & 2 with food, traditional altar decorations, kids' activities, and cultural dance at Driggs City Hall as part of the Art Walk and its own celebration through the Hispanic Resource Center.

Farm and Garden

We harvested seeds from two enormous farm-grown pumpkins!  We cleaned and roasted them for a tasty snack.  We also played a fun seed game to reinforce our understanding of a plant's life cycle.

Art

Mustang artists reviewed our main points learned about Norman Rockwell and completed their detailed illustrations.  Great imaginative storytelling through these drawings! 

We also traced spooky Halloween masks and colored these in.

Outdoor Education

As one student defined teamwork initiatives as “working through a plan to make something happen together”, today Mustangs were challenged to work through ‘The Human Knot’.  This team building game promotes problem solving skills and encourages kids to work together to overcome obstacles.  All students in the group become connected by both hands with a goal of working together to untangle themselves without letting go of one another’s hands.  Considerable communication and strategy formulation occurs as they try to free themselves from the ‘knot’.

The class was introduced to a new game called ‘Spud’ which involves each student assuming different roles during play, reacting to varying situations quickly, running, throwing, and catching a ball.

Art

Another famous artist introduction today!  Mustangs listened to a story about the life and work of Norman Rockwell.  It was so interesting to learn about one of America’s favorite artists; how his hard work and motivation combined with his artistic talent led him to achieve big goals and realize his dreams as an artist.  We learned about illustrations – how they can tell a story without words and how by using many many details, the picture’s main idea becomes even more clear.  We discussed the common themes in Rockwell’s paintings such as people, family, everyday events, along with details and filling the whole page.  The class viewed a lot of Norman Rockwell’s works from many Saturday Evening Post covers.  We spent time looking at ‘The Game’; an April Fools piece, and enjoyed discovering that there is more to this painting than meets the eye!  Students began drawing their own ‘everyday scene’ with lots of details, and similar to ‘The Game’, adding more details that do not necessarily belong.

Outdoor Education

Today we opened with a fun group warm-up called –‘Red Handed’.  Action packed and hectic at times, this game involves passing some objects swiftly around a circle with a goal of never ending up with two items in ones lap at a time. 

Mustangs worked through the ‘Caterpillar Walk’ teamwork initiative where in two groups partners join hands holding them high overhead forming a tunnel.  The partners at the end of the line walk under their team’s arms to become the first in line.  Immediately following the last pair, the next pair walks through, and so on.  The ‘caterpillar’ moves quickly and cooperatively until the entire line has reached a set distance goal.  Then- changes direction and moves back.

Spanish

Saludos y besos a los mestanos sumamentes! The Mighty Mustangs have learned their Spanish songs so well this month! I praise their enthusiasm and participation in getting to know vocabulary and phrases for numbers, colors, greetings, parts of the body, and, our newest addition, feelings and needs. I appreciate that many Mighty Mustang families are using our words of the week as well. Our newest is: “Chocala!” Give a high five this weekend for all the great things your kids do! Hasta luego!

Music

See a great video below of the kids playing a listening game called "statues".  They love Music class!