What's happening in Music & Art at Baker-Butler?

 Each month we are highlighting a different grade or department such as PE on our blog through our guest posts. This month we are excited to highlight the great work in Music & Art at Baker-Butler. Check out what Ms. McReynolds and Ms. Vidoni have to share in Art and Ms. Rehorn and Ms. Grundler in Music! 

 

 

This past month students in 4th grade worked hard to finish an assignment that we started
in the first quarter.  They needed to choose which piece of art they wanted to complete. It could
have been the drawing project using markers to finish a picture of their dreamhouse, a cardboard
sculpture inspired by a dreamhouse, a printmaking safari animal or using oil pastels shading to 
create a fall themed picture of pumpkins.  The students finished the month by moving onto learning
about patterns while studying The Tree of Life by Gustav Klimpt. The students had choices of 
collage, acrylic and tempera paint or metallic markers to create a fall tree inspired by Mr. Klimpt.
They were to add patterns and details to show interesting variety in their art.  

This month 1st Grade worked on learning about different types of lines while listening to 
Sergei Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
They tried out all different materials and practiced adding lines to their art in each material. 
We are finishing the month November by exploring organic and geometric shapes and looking
at art done by Henri Matisse.  Students have a choose weather to use collage like Mr. Matisse, 
paint or drawing tools. We are having a lot of fun exploring how to use choose in the art room 
in a responsible way.

This month, Kindergarten has been learning about the artist Piet Mondrian and his painting
 “Broadway Boogie Woogie”. They watched a one minute and 15 seconds video on YouTube
 called “Building the Boogie”. They loved the music and movement, while learning more about
 this abstract painting.  Using the primary colors, like Mondrian did in his painting, the students
 made a collage of their choice.

2nd grade has been working on multimedia “Scarecrows” after listening to the story 
“The Little Scarecrow Boy” by Margaret Wise Brown. They did an awesome job!

3rd grade has been learning about Henri Matisse and his fabulous cut-outs.  
They watched a short video from the Tate Modern, an art gallery in London, on 
Matisse’s cut-outs.  They created their own collage or cut-out inspired by this wonderful
artist! It was very colorful and fun!

5th grade has been learning about the artist Grant Wood.  We watched a short YouTube
 video on his life and his beautiful paintings.  The students are creating rural landscapes
 with barns, farmhouses, fields, animals, roads, windmills, or anything else of their choice. 
 They are using sharpies and watercolor pencils to create their landscape.

Music:

Our 5th grade classes are in the process of choosing their favorite songs for their 
upcoming performance in December, called “Songs from Stage and Screen”. We look
 forward to seeing you on December 11th at 6:30pm for our show!

Kindergarten guest post

Each month this year we will be featuring a guest post by one
of our grade level or content area (e.g., Art) teams. Our October
guest post was written by our Kindergarten team. Here's what our 
Kindergarten students have been doing recently:

Kindergarten is sure having some Fall Fun! We have learned about
the changing season, apple trees, pumpkins, Johnny Appleseed and 
so much more.

We had 2 field trips in October. First, we visited the Hollymead Fire
Station. We got to see inside a fire truck and watch how the firemen
prepare for fires in our neighborhoods. We also learned how to Stop, 
Drop and Roll and that very important number to call for
emergencies: 911!

We also visited Roundhill Farm and saw animals, played in some corn,
climbed through mazes and went on a hayride to find the perfect
pumpkin. Many of our families were able to join us on this field trip and
fun was had by all!

We are looking forward to the Character Parade and our 
Fall Festivals in our classrooms. Fall is a fun time of year!

Baker-Butler hosts Men's Pro Tennis players

This blog post was written by Lynda Harrill with QuickStart Tennis of Central Virginia. Thanks, Ms. Harrill, for all of your work and support!

Men’s Pro Challenger Players Visit Baker-Butler Elementary

Charlottesville, Virginia (10/31/2018) – QuickStart Tennis of Central Virginia, Inc. (QCV) is pleased to report Collin Altamirano and Henrik Wiersholm, players in the 10th annual Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger Tennis Tournament, recently visited Baker-Butler Elementary School as part of the USTA Pro Circuit’s community outreach initiative and to promote Net Generation — the next generation of tennis greats in America.

Henrik (left) and Collin with some of the 130+ students at Baker-Butler

Eleni Heeschen, PE teacher at Baker-Butler, says, “More than 130 second and third grade students had the opportunity to meet two men playing in a local pro tennis tournament at Boar’s Head Sports Club. The students enjoyed watching them hit, got to ask them questions about being a tennis pro and a few even had the opportunity to hit a few balls with them. It was a great opportunity for our students to see that hard work and practice helps make a good athlete. All the third graders had an introduction to tennis with Tennis Tuesdays last year when Lynda Harrill of QuickStart Tennis came and spoke about tennis and healthy eating. The fifth year of Tennis Tuesdays starts in January.”

Lynda Harrill, QCV QuickStart Coordinator, adds, “Baker-Butler is one of our ‘next level’ schools so we are always looking for opportunities to reinforce the good work that is being done at the school. The visit by Collin and Henrik was very special. Both of them played on the UVA Men’s National Championship team in 2017 and I have known them since they first came to UVA. Watching them grow as tennis players, become great adults and represent our sport so well, makes me so proud. Collin has been on the pro tour for 18 months. Henrik has one season left at UVA and will join the tour next summer. It’s wonderful to have players like them inspire the next generation of tennis.”

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QuickStart Tennis of Central Virginia is an all-volunteer, grassroots Community Tennis Association established in 2009 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization to promote, develop and grow QuickStart Tennis in the heart of Virginia for all beginners, especially underserved youth, using the kid-sized QuickStart Tennis format.

QCV’s service area includes Albemarle, Amelia, Appomattox, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Culpeper, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fluvanna, Franklin, Greene, Greensville, Halifax, Henry, Louisa, Lunenburg, Madison, Mecklenburg, Nelson, Nottoway, Orange, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Prince Edward, Powhatan and Rappahannock counties and the cities of Charlottesville, Danville and Martinsville. We currently serve 207 schools with more than 95,000 kids, 15 parks & recreation departments, three Boys & Girls Clubs and three YMCAs in our service area of 27 counties and three independent cities. We have also gotten tennis into PE classes in 36 additional schools with 15,000 students in communities outside our service area.

Visit QCV at: www.quickstartcentral.org and on Facebook.

For additional information, contact quickstartcentral@comcast.net

Updates from our ESOL, School Counselors, and Intervention teachers

We are trying something new this year to help spotlight more students and teachers on our school's blog. Once a month this school year we will be featuring a guest blog post from a different team of teachers in our building. 

This month's blog post is from our team that includes our ESOL (English as a Second or Other Language, also called English Learners), school counselors, and intervention teachers. 

Here's what they've shared about who they are and how they're working with students so far this year.

English Learners

Ms. Sabra Timmins

3rd Grade English Learners send a photo greeting to the preK class.  They are looking forward to serving as reading buddies and mentors to the youngest students at BBES this school year.

After English Learners shared the book "All Are Welcome," we talked about what that looks like at BBES.  Students created artwork and "welcome" signs in other languages to help everyone feel good about being at our school.

Guidance

Mr. Miles Nelson

My name is Miles Nelson and I am one of two schools counselors at Baker Butler Elementary. I work primarily with third through fifth grades. The beginning of the year starts with with building rapport with students. In the classroom lessons we are working on empathy and collaboration to help build our community within BBES.

I am Welby Moon and I am the other one of the two school counselors! :) I work primarily with grades K-2. This week the kindergarteners were introduced to Sooper Puppy and learning about feelings.

Intervention teachers

Ms. Marcee Porterfield, Ms. Tabitha Roberts, and Ms. Danielle Paxton

The intervention team supports students in grades K - 5. We offer extra help to students who need to strengthen reading skills in order for them to master grade level expectations. We also support classroom teachers during math and writing blocks.  

During intervention, we work on many skills, including:

Working on Writing

Working on Reading:

And Working with Words: