FALL 2020-2021

First Grade Super Tap Welcome to Tapestry Charter School’s Super Subject update!

At Tapestry Charter School Students in 1st grade usually have seven SUPER SUBJECTS built into their weekly schedules and receive instruction in Art, Dance, Music, Theatre, Library, Physical Education and STEAM! During the Covid-19 school year, students will receive instruction, either remotely or in-person, in Physical Education all 3 trimesters and 2 of the 3 trimesters in Art, Dance, Music, Library, Wellness and STEAM.

Based on New York State Standards, Super Subjects provide students with an opportunity to explore, create, work both independently and collaboratively, and build foundational skills in the arts, literacy, science, physical education and wellness.

VISUAL ART FROM: MS. BROOKE FAWLEY

1st Graders have been working on developing their skills with size and texture this year. Masks are an interesting addition to the things we see every day at Tapestry! All students began the year with a “Behind the Mask” project. Folding paper to show the face with a mask on and a mask off, students showed the emotion they were feeling behind the mask. Most students were excited to be back at school and did a great job showing this in their portraits. Practicing their skills with scale and size, students created cartoon style faces that were both in and out of proportion. At school and at home, students looked at the art of Matisse and the art of Miro. Both of these artists create and use interesting shapes. After examining the organic shapes in works of the art by these artists, students created the most amazing paintings of extraordinary new bird species! At school, students made a Color Wheel Turkey, using a paper plate to create a palette just like the color wheel. This turkey was a great chance to practice collages skills for our next projects. At school we had rough and fluff day. Students created paper that looked textured to use for tree and bird collages. At home students persevered even though sometimes it was hard to find supplies for collages. I am proud of our 1st graders and their families for their great effort in art this year.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION FROM: MS. KATIE WRATTEN and MR. DAWAN JONES

During the first trimester both remote and in-person students have worked on traveling using a variety of locomotor skills (running, skipping, galloping, sliding, hopping) in general space and personal space. Students performed these locomotor skills traveling in a variety

of pathways including straight, zig zag and curved in order to gain a better understanding of directions. Students enjoyed working to develop their knowledge and understanding of movement concepts while also learning fundamental skills. A key term that aided the successful performance of a locomotor skill was “opposition,”  which was a primary cue in the unit. Students participated in several activities exploring these fun concepts. During our outdoor P.E. classes, our in-person students were able to apply these skills with tag games such as: pool noodle tag, freeze tag, tv tag and pac man tag.

Students also learned about the 5 food groups through the MyPlate program which incorporates fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy and grains. MyPlate focuses on finding a healthy eating style that works for your family and fits with your everyday life. The MyPlate icon is a reminder to make healthy choices from each of the five food groups. Each week we focused on 1 of the 5 groups, talked about what types of foods are in each group and how many servings we should have each day. We learned what valuable nutrients are in these food groups including vitamins, minerals, calcium and phytonutrients that help keep our bodies healthy and strong. Students learned that there are many small nutritional changes you can make, that add up to big successes over time.

WELLNESS FROM: MS. TERRA BIALY

This year we added Wellness, a new Super Subject focusing on SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and the techniques of mindfulness and yoga. Ms. Terra who has been our theatre teacher at Tapestry for over ten years completed her 200 hour Yoga teacher training this year. We wanted to offer our K-4 students both in-person and remote an opportunity to develop a regular yoga practice and expand on the mindfulness and social emotional learning that is embedded in our classrooms. In the first trimester our 1st grade students focused on identify emotions in themselves and others, recognize how emotions can affect behavior and using yoga and breathing techniques to manage emotions. 

We read and discussed several stories that looked at themes of identifying emotions, dealing with emotions, showing empathy, and the importance of kindness (The Day You

Begin by Jaqueline Woodson, Love by Matt De La Pena, Grumpy Monkey By Suzanne Lang, The Color Monster by Anna Llenas, Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall).

Students engaged in a weekly yoga practice led by Ms. Terra. In addition to the teacher-led yoga students enjoyed participating in Cosmic Kids Yoga. Each yoga practice was embedded with a theme that connected to the social emotional learning target. Yoga is an excellent way of engaging the mind and body and Ms. Terra has been working with students to develop a home yoga practice that they can share with their families. 

STEAM FROM: MS. MELISSA LEOPARD

STEAM for our first graders began with Life Science; specifically the life of plants. We investigated different types of seedlings. All students created their own paper seedling, then experimented with the movement of different kinds of seedlings. In both remote and in-person we worked with scientific labeling of a flower and basic dissections. We spent time experimenting with a leaf's structure, and how specific plants take in water to survive. All first graders

were encouraged to create a pine cone journal, where they used their observation skills to record how pine cones needles will change depending on the humidity of the outdoors.  

LIBRARY FROM: MS. JENNIFER CHAPMAN

MUSIC FROM: MS. MARIE MEALER

This trimester has been full of tuneful, beatful, and artful music making! Those are silly musician ways of saying that we can sing to tunes, keep the beat, and make music with expression in an artistic way. Every class we go through a musical workout, practicing these three aspects of music making, and it is rooted in the research based practices of Dr. John Feierabend. Our main learning targets for the year are I can be tuneful, I can sing alone and with others. I can be beatful, I can keep the steady beat on an instrument during the song. And I can be artful, I can tell a story through music. This fall we learned wonderful songs about autumn, listened to stories and imagined our own endings based on music, moved to songs to express the music in our bodies, and learned a lot of chants and rhymes to practice rhythm and steady beat. One hit is “Chop Chop Choppity Chop,” where we take turns imagining what kind of fun and silly ingredients we can chop up and add to our class soup. We’ve made a Halloween Spooky Soup, Autumn Soups for Squirrels, and Hot Cocoa Soups for these cold days. Ask your 1st grader about this song, I am sure they would be happy to teach you and start “cooking” up some musical ideas! 

In the fall, our librarian Ms. Jennifer, visited the 1st grade classes and read I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam. The students also created their own huge, scary book inspired monsters to share with their families. Both our remote and in-person students will have library as a Super Subject trimesters 2 and 3.

DANCE FROM: MS. DEBORAH LIPA-CIOTTA

Ms. Deborah was able to lead some special morning crew lessons incorporating SEL and dances from around the world with our new Edumotion SEL Journeys curriculum.

SEL Journeys is a digital experience that allows students to explore the world through movement and the arts while focusing on Social and Emotional Learning themes like diversity, empathy and kindness. She looks forward to dancing with our in-person and remote 1st graders trimesters 2 and 3.