Clay Elementary School Specials Newsletter

Newsletter November
Volume 1, Issue 3

4th Grade Recorder Orders

Contents
Recorder Order

Upcoming Events

News From Mrs. Hill

Upcoming
Events

4th Grade Concert,

Thursday, December
3 at 7:00 p.m.
3rd Grade Concert,
Monday, February 15
at 7:00 p.m.
2nd Grade Concert,
Monday, February 29
at 7:00 p.m.
1st Grade Concert,
Monday, April 18 at
7:00 p.m.
Kindergarten,
Monday, May 2, at
7:00 p.m.

This year the 4th grade students, like in the past, will be learning how
to play recorders. The unit is called Recorder Karate. During
recorder karate, each student will have the opportunity to earn a
certain color of belt to attach to his/her recorder. To attain a belt, each
student will need to practice an assigned recorder song and play it for
me with minimal mistakes. Once a song is passed, a belt and bead
will be tied to the students recorder and a new song will be assigned.
There will be time to practice in class, but the more practice outside
of class the better chance a student has of passing a song and earning
a belt. All students will need to have a recorder and a recorder
karate book to use in class and take home for practice. Below is a
list of recorder and book combinations that are available. Please
decide on the recorder you would like to purchase for your
student and send the money in an envelope marked with the
recorder color you are purchasing and your students name.
Please send the exact amount. I will be making a mass order, so if
you write a check make it out to Lisa Vroom. The money is due on
Thursday, December 10. All 4th grade classroom teachers will be
collecting the envelopes. The recorders will be passed out in January.
If you have any questions, please call or email me at
lisa.vroom@southeastpolk.org.
Below are the list of recorders and prices.
Recorder and Book Combinations:
Black $4.75
Orange $5.85
Blue $5.85
Green $5.85
Purple $5.85
Red $5.85
Yellow $5.85
Clear $5.85
Pink $5.85
If your student already has a decent recorder, please send
money for only the book, which is $2.70.
If you order a recorder and book combination, you do not
need to order a separate book too.

Dont forget to checkout Mrs. Vrooms Website at

http://mrsvroomsmusicroom.weebly.com/

Page 2 of 2

Art News

Specials Newsletter

Clay Elementary School

Artsonia is our online art gallery of the students artwork. Artsonia permission forms are
coming back to me, thank you first grade parents for filling those out. You will receive an
email as soon as I have some artwork up on your childs account. If you are looking to
volunteer in the art room I could use help with Artsonia. I have hundreds of students and as
much as I love this program it takes time that I simply dont have enough of! Your help would
be greatly appreciated.
This year 3rd-5th grade students will submit their own artwork, so parents you will see an
increase in artwork this year. If you have never given permission for your child I will send
notes home to give you that opportunity. I think they would enjoy showing you their gallery.
4th Grade Art Trip!!!!!!!!
4th Grade visits the Des Moines Art Center December 4th. Look for a parent note coming home
in the near future. This is always a fabulous trip and our thanks go to the DesMoines Art
Center for covering transportation costs!
*Questions to ask your 1st grader: What are the primary colors? (red, yellow,blue) What
colors do they make when you mix them? (Secondary colors, red+yellow=orange,
red+blue=purple, blue+yellow=green) What did you paint with your primary and secondary
colors? (fish and its habitat)
*Questions to ask your 2nd grader: What painting did you look at by artist Raphael? (St.
George and the Dragon) When was he living? (Around 1500, 100 years after the story was
created) What did you paint? (a castle with.)
*Questions to ask your 3rd grader: What is a Fantanimal? (an animal and mix of something
else from our world) What Fantanimal did you design? What are its relatives, food, natural
enemies, home, size and name? What did you use to color your picture? (oil pastels) What
techniques did you use? (blending, color solid, softly shading, mixing colors, color details over
top of color)
What type of painting did you make that resembled a similar idea of Georges Seurats Sunday
at La Grande Jatte? (pointillism) What is pointillism? How long did it take Seurat to paint his
painting? (two years)
*Questions to ask your 4th grader: What was your I Movie about? Who were the characters?
How did you demonstrate a pillar of character?
What does a Mimbres bowl look like? (Artwork is on the inside, geometric and realistic images.
Smooth and rounded.) Where and when did the Mimbres people live?( In the southwest four
corner region from 0- 1150 AD) How did you go about making a bowl? (created stamps, rolled
slab, cut out circle, smoothed edges of clay with water, stamped in radial stamp design,
draped clay over a bowl)
What is a still-life? (a drawing or painting that includes objects that are grouped together and
do not move.) What objects did you choose for your still-life?
*Questions to ask your 5th grader: What was your I Movie about? Who were the characters?
How did you demonstrate a pillar of character?