Erickson Elementary Fine Arts

  February 2023 Edition Dear Kindergarten Families, We hope this newsletter finds you swimmingly as we dive into the wonders of creativity and imagination at Erickson Elementary School! We're delighted to share an exciting art project that our kindergarteners have been working on: crafting Porthole Suncatchers adorned with construction paper sea creatures inside, using tissue paper and contact paper! The Porthole Suncatcher Project: Our young artists have been busy exploring the depths of their creativity by crafting Porthole Suncatchers for our upcoming Ocean-Themed Portfolio Night Art Show. These enchanting creations will not only brighten up your windows but also transport you to an underwater wonderland filled with colorful sea creatures. Project Details: Materials: Students will be using a combination of tissue paper, contact paper, circular frames, and construction paper to create their Porthole Suncatchers. Process: Guided by our talented art teacher, Mrs. Clay, students

    Erickson Elementary School  Music Class Newsletter  December 2023 & January 2024 Edition 

So many book Genres.. so little time!  5th grade learned about different genres of books including  fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, informational, poetry and novel and verse.  5th grade learned the difference between a memoir and an autobiography.  Memoir is a french word for “memory”.   Memoirs are just a part or memory of the author’s life.  Many memoirs are more emotional and overcome an event or events that have changed the author’s way of thinking.   An autobiography is a chronological order of the author’s life talking about events that have happened in the world around them that might have affected them in some way.  Book lists of all the genres, including memoir and autobiography are in the student’s Library Google Classroom under “What do I read next?”.  Each book has a summary, AR level, points and test number and a book trailer.  Some of the books also have a read aloud from YouTube. 

  What are Infographics? Infographics are a way to make learning information EXCITING! 4th grade started making their infographics!  Students are researching a topic that they are interested in, finding facts about that topic and presenting it in a FUN way!  Some websites that the students are using are Britannica Encyclopedia Online and National Geographic website.  The student will then look for pictures that represent their facts.  The next couple of weeks, they will put all their findings together in a way that makes learning FUN!  

5th grade had a great month in P.E. We did 2 weeks of bowling, where students used google sheets to track their scores throughout their 4 days of P.E. The last week before the holiday break, we are preparing for Winter Wonderland, and doing a variety of different holiday relay and games. When we get back from break, we will go into floor hockey, gymnastics, and dance. Please make sure even with the weather, students are coming to school with shoes for P.E.! Boots and crocs are not acceptable footwear

Fourth graders have been working hard in Art class. They were using oil pastels and cake tempra paints to create hibernating bear paintings. Then they learned about Pablo Picaso's life and style of painting. They explored some of his techniques when it came to painting portraits of people. They played a dice game called "Roll a Picasso." The students used dice to randomly choose the features of a Picasso inspired face drawing. For their final Picasso piece they drew and painted a face that was split down the middle and showed different emotions on each side of the face. All classes talked about what different colors in artwork can represent in terms of emotions. The emotions that Picasso felt during his lifetime often showed up in his paintings for particular periods of time. They did a lesson on the styles of Folk Art Trees. These trees will look nice hanging up in the hallway with their sleeping bear paintings. During free art days that they have earned, the fourth grad