Introducing...(From left to right)

Ms. Verock - Art

Mrs. Steele-Hunter - Library

Mr. Herk - P.E. - (Physical Education)

Mrs. Guilbault - Music

Mrs. Disch - STEAM - (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics)

SEL - (Social Emotional Learning) - Michaela O'Donnell

In art we have been exploring various ways to use paper and tape to make art. Since December Art has been on a cart traveling to  the students' classrooms so storage and overall space is non-existent right now. We are making the best of it and still creating some really cool, inventive projects.

- Ms. Verock

The library continues to be a lively and creative space each week! It’s wonderful to see students excited about reading, sharing stories, and exploring new ideas together.

In grades K–2, we have been diving into fairy tales and fables. Students have been enjoying hearing some of the original versions of familiar stories and comparing them to the versions they already know. Through these activities, they’ve been exploring characters, settings, and problems in greater depth. Many students have also shown great creativity by imagining and writing their own alternate endings to these classic tales.

In grades 3–4, we are continuing to build our digital design skills. Students have been working on editing slideshows to make them clear and presentable, as well as experimenting with reimagining digital images into something entirely new. This month, they will begin working with “mixed-up” fairy tales, following step-by-step directions to create their own storybook slides. Looking ahead to April and May, students will use these skills to plan, write, and design their very own digital books using slides. It’s exciting to see how these foundational skills are preparing them for more independent and creative projects.

As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about what we’re doing in the library. (ksteelehunter@arrsd.org)

Thank you!
Mrs. Steele-Hunter

In music classes students are singing songs about brown bears coming out of hibernation and folk songs like, “3 Blind Mice, Are You Sleeping, and Row Your Boat.” 

Students continue to learn songs with the ukulele and soprano recorders, and primary grades will be using the xylophone. 

Chorus continues to prepare for a May 28th concert and updated schedules have been sent home with chorus members. 

Spring is a great time to listen to the music outside with birds singing, frogs croaking, and people outside. 

Enjoy the music all around you! 

We have been having lots of fun in the gym lately!  Recently the students enjoyed the classic, “parachute”.  We played some really fun games with it and gave our arms a great workout in the process.  We also played a fun game called Cat and Mouse.  The students really had to be sneaky and quick to win this game.  Students continue to earn chances to try the almost impossible shot.  So far this year only 11 students have made it!!!

Get ready… Field Day will be Tuesday, June 9th for grades K to 2 and Wednesday, June 10th for grades 2 to 4.  Hopefully we have beautiful weather!

~Mr. Herk

In STEAM, each grade completed the next design challenge.  In Kindergarten, students listened to the folk tale of Chicken Little.  Next they were given the challenge question, “How would you protect a real live little chick, from the weather or wild animals?” Students built their own chicken coops showing which weather and/or animals their houses were protecting the chicks from.

In 1st grade, students listened to the classic folk tale of The Three Little Pigs, and were tasked to solve the challenge of engineering their own straw and stick house that would blow down versus a sturdy “brick” Lego house that would not blow down.  They also observed the characteristics of a wolf and pig (predator and prey) and built a model of each using playdough.  Ask your first grader why a small animal like a pig, would need to find shelter from a wolf in real life.

Second graders learned all about habitats and used a platform called “PebbleGo” to study an animal of their choosing and learn about its habitat and characteristics.  Students came up with their own creative models of their animal’s habitat.  They also worked with a partner to design a skit showing how they could code a robot to help protect the endangered animals. 

Third graders listened to the folktale Red Riding Hood and thought about the traits of the “Big Bad Wolf”.  Next, they were offered the guiding question, “How do animal traits help them to survive?”  Each student picked a wild animal of interest to research on “PebbleGo.” Then they made a model of that animal, labeling the important survival traits.  Students also worked with a partner to create skit to save “Red Riding Hood’s basket” or a “small animal” from the “Big Bad Wolf”.  

In fourth grade, students learned about some common environmental challenges that our earth is facing today.  They created an earth game with pieces to represent how to make the earth “happy or sad”.  They also created skits to code a robot to help save the earth.  Skits included robots that helped keep the land, sea, or sky clean.

Please visit your child’s digital Seesaw journal to see pictures and short videos of what your child is working on in STEAM.  If you have not yet connected to Seesaw, please contact me at gdisch@arrsd.org.  

My name is Miss Michaela, and this is my first year teaching. I am thrilled to be a part of the ACES team and to be working with your students each week!

In SEL, students have been engaging in meaningful lessons centered on self-awareness, empathy, decision-making, and personal growth through a variety of stories and hands-on activities.

In grades 3–4, our work has focused on understanding actions and their impact, building strong friendships, and recognizing what truly matters. Through Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, students explored cause and effect, reflecting on the importance of thinking before acting. After reading Enemy Pie by Derek Munson, students examined how friendships can grow when we move beyond assumptions and take time to understand one another. The Biggest House in the World by Leo Lionni encouraged students to think deeply about values and priorities, as they identified what is most important in their own lives. While reading Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss, students reflected on gratitude and appreciation, expressing this through a creative “lucky charm cereal” activity that highlighted the people, experiences, and things they feel fortunate to have.

In grades K–2, students have been building a strong foundation in understanding emotions, relationships, and mindset. Through The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi, students were introduced to the idea that learning takes time and effort, and that challenges are opportunities for growth. We also explored kindness and humility through The Humble Pie by Jory John, discussing what it means to be a thoughtful and supportive friend. After reading Couch Potato also by Jory John, students used their creativity to reimagine potatoes as something entirely new. Kindergarten students also enjoyed a special visit from a puppet friend, Sammy the Snail, who helped model and reinforce positive friendship skills such as kindness, sharing, and making respectful choices.

It has been wonderful to see students reflect on these themes and apply them to their own experiences both in and out of the classroom. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out at (mo'donnell@arrsd.org)

In art students have been creating wonderful pieces. They have created their own penguins, polar bears and anime characters.

- Ms. Verock

The library continues to be a busy and exciting place each week! I am so happy to see every class coming in regularly to borrow books. Students are doing a wonderful job taking responsibility for their checkouts and making sure books stay safely in their classrooms. It’s been such a joy watching their excitement as they discover new stories and authors.

In grades K–2, we’ve been exploring themed stories while practicing important comprehension skills. Students are learning to tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction, identify characters, and describe the setting of a story. They are asking thoughtful questions before, during, and after reading to deepen their understanding. Our older students have been stretching their creativity through digital design projects. They’ve been creating digital illusions using Google Slides, combining text, images, and GIFs in purposeful ways to communicate an idea. It’s been wonderful to see their imagination at work as they create, edit, and bring new ideas to life. If you ever have questions about what we’re working on in the library, please feel free to reach out at ksteelehunter@arrsd.org.

Thank you!
Mrs. Steele-Hunter 

2nd Grade - Learning Instrument Families

We have been learning the look and sounds of instruments in the brass, woodwind, string, and percussion families and it has been a bit difficult for us to keep the instruments in their groups. Once we understand the instrument families second grade will use percussion instruments to create a performance with different sounds. All will work in a group to perform their rhythms and instruments individually.

Kindergarten and First Grade

We are having fun singing winter songs about sliding, skating and cats in the snow.  We are also playing singing song games that have us move jingle bells and balls to the steady beat. Soon we will use percussion instruments to create different sounds for different feelings.

Chorus

Chorus has been going strong as we learn different songs from different Disney and Disney style movies. Hopefully students are enjoying the selections and working together to make music.

We have been having a lot of fun in gym lately!!!

The students loved bowling and earning "money" while they played.

This past week we have been talking about the Winter Olympics.  We have been competing in four events during P.E. class.  The Biathlon, Ski Jump, Curling the Bobsled!  

Be sure to tune into the Olympics and cheer on the USA!!!

Have a great February vacation!

~Mr. Herk

In STEAM, students in grades K-4 completed a very enjoyable coding unit. K and 1 worked with adorable robot critters and trucks with simple, easy to use buttons on their backs (forward, backward, left, and right).  Students learned to create a sequence of commands that guided the robots through self-created mazes and targets. 

Students in grades 2 - 4 also created original algorithms using robots that connected to iPads as they manipulated digital, block coding pieces to create logical sequences, problem solve, and debug. The theme throughout this unit was to PERSEVERE through this experience and ask for help as needed.

In addition to navigating through new technology, students had to collaborate and use their creative storytelling skills to come up with reasons why a human might need a robot to help!  

Please visit your child’s digital Seesaw journal to watch their creative robot code.  If you have not yet connected to Seesaw, please contact me at gdisch@arrsd.org.  

ACES art classes have been learning about the American Art movement called Pop Art and its founding member Andy Warhol. Third and fourth grade students are in the process of using their hand outline to create their own pop art piece. First, second and kindergarten have been designing their own pop art soup cans and putting them together to create one big pop art piece.

- Ms. Verock

Our library is buzzing with excitement as students have begun checking out books to keep in their classrooms! This year, we’re focusing on building strong reading habits and personal responsibility. Students in Grades 3–4 will also continue strengthening their digital literacy skills through Epic Reading. Our K–2 learners are enjoying seasonal read-alouds that highlight themes connected to our school CARES values—community, accessibility, responsibility, excellence, and safety. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
(ksteelehunter@arrsd.org) - Mrs. Steele-Hunter

November has students learning patriotic songs to be sung in honor of Veteran’s Day.  This year the students of ACES are all learning the Star-Spangled Banner; many of us do not know the words and are unaware that this song has multiple verses. We are also singing a song “Thank you Soldiers” which students love and is a very touching song and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” one of the favorites because of the march style and energy.

Through November and December 2nd and 3rd grade students will be working on creating and performing a rhythm composition that they have written. Students are planning how to make this interesting and will be choosing the percussion instruments that they will add to their performances. 

2nd grade students in December will begin learning about the various instruments and their families in the orchestra and folk music. 3rd grade students are beginning to learn about the musical staff and pitches in preparation of learning how to play the soprano recorder. 

4th grade students have been working on project based learning by creating a school song. Students have chosen a “known song” and have been re-writing the lyrics to be about Aces, Aces values and other things that make this school what it is. As December approaches 4th grade students will be learning about Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Suite, along with Duke Ellington and his version of the nutcracker.

Kindergarten and First grade students continue to sing songs, move to music and create/improvise these movements within the music classroom. Students will begin to use more percussion instruments to show steady beat, tempo and dynamics of music they hear and create. 

The chorus has begun meeting and students are trying to learn many songs in a short amount of time in order to sing at a December 18th. concert. 

Keep listening to and enjoying the music all around you.

It has been an exciting month in gym!  We played a new game called Mario Kart Battle Mode.  All classes had a great time and are looking forward to playing it again before the end of the year.  So far only 5 students have made the Almost Impossible Shot.  Students love the difficult challenge they earn when they show the CARES values in P.E.  

Reminder:  Please have students bring a pair of sneakers or wear them to school for gym class.  Many students are wearing heavy boots with the cold weather and trying to run around the gym with them on, which is difficult and makes participating hard.  

Have a great holiday season!

~Mr. Herk  

In STEAM students signed in to their Seesaw portfolios and used the various tools to take a selfie, draw a digital self portrait, type their names, and record their voices.  Please email me at gdisch@arrsd.org if you did not receive the QR code to sign in to your student’s Seesaw portfolio and you would like to get that connection.

Next, students in each grade were challenged to plan and design a simple machine.  Kindergarten students built ball and ramp experiments. Ask your student which rolls faster and farther, a high ramp or a low ramp?  Which ball rolls faster; big or small?  First graders designed their own original catapults. Second graders designed their own pulleys with an explanation of how their pulleys would be best used.   Third graders designed their own wheel experiment to prove that wheels make vehicles go fast and farther and can lift a heavier load.  Finally, fourth graders put simple machines together to design a chain reaction.  Throughout this unit, students worked on critical thinking and engineering skills, observing, predicting, learning about force and motion, thinking creatively, and working together.  All of the above designs and observations were recorded in Seesaw so be sure to keep those notifications on!

Currently we are starting a new unit where students are learning to code many new robots!  Coding is a fantastic way for students to build problem-solving skills, creativity, and confidence as they learn to think like computer scientists. Students are using block coding which is a fun, accessible, visual, way for all students to program and develop algorithmic thinking.

- Mrs. Disch

The month of Thanksgiving brings us to the character trade of GRATITUDE. During our Social Emotional Learning lessons, we will learn about what gratitude is, how it feels and the things and people that can bring us to gratitude. We will also spend time discussing the gratitude that Native Americans had and still have for the Earth. December will bring us into the character trait of Empathy. We will discuss what it means to be empathetic and read some mentor texts that will help express that feeling from us. We will also talk about how we can act on empathizing with others in order to make the world a better place. Some of our mentor texts that we will be using are included. If you have any questions about our SEL lessons, please feel free to reach out to me at tjohnson@arrsd.org

ACES art classes started off the year with a look into Op Art by Bridget Riley. Her art utilizes line, shapes, colors and space to trick the audiences eyes. Students were challenged to create some of their own op art.

Art classes were also introduced to the Japanese Princess of Polka Dots, Yayoi Kusama. The classes decorated pumpkins in the style of Yayoi.

Hello families! My name is Mrs. Steele-Hunter, and I am excited to be joining the school community as your new Library Media Specialist this year. We’ve already hit the ground running in the library.

In grades K-2 we’re diving into engaging stories while building key literacy skills to support early reading development. In grades 3-4 students have begun digital literacy lessons focused on how to be respectful, responsible digital citizens and how to use technology properly.

My goal this year is to get the library fully up and running, with students able to check out books by the end of the year. I can’t wait to share the joy of reading and digital literacy with all of our students!” Thank you! Please let me know if you have any questions. Kaylee.

Students are learning the school values and expectations in the classroom as we learn about composers, music notation, songs for fall and Veterans Day. The fourth grade will begin a project to create a song for the school and it’s C.A.R.E. value

We are off to an awesome start in P.E. this year! We have been talking a lot about good sportsmanship and what that means and looks like. At the end of each class students have been earning almost impossible shots for their great effort in class. Please remember to have students wear sneakers on their gym day. In most cases it’s the day after they have Library.

Hi, I’m Mrs. Disch! So far, students have been getting acquainted with classroom activities and STEAM building materials. Click here to view my Open House slides. I am also working on creating a digital portfolio on SEESAW for each ACES student. I will be sending out QR codes to students’ portfolios this month, so stay tuned!

Hello! I'm Mrs. Johnson, and many of you may have known me since second grade. I've taken on a new role, and this year I will be teaching Social Emotional Learning to all classes. Social Emotional Learning focuses on five competencies: self-awareness, social awareness, decision-making skills, relationship skills, and self-management skills. We are currently focusing on kindness and differences. We are already learning our core values ​​for ACES: community, acceptance, responsibility, excellence, and safety. I will be introducing students to reference texts about differences they may encounter in school—such as autism, Down syndrome, and individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, to name a few examples—and how acceptance is integrated into our core values ​​as these differences are noticed and embraced in our school community. I am so excited to teach such an important and helpful subject and look forward to working with your students this year!