Ms. Marzouki worked with ESAA specialist teachers in Art, Drama, Movement, and Music, on their most resent classroom project, Commotion in the Ocean. Jennie Andreasen, a Nationally Board Certified Teacher in Early/Middle Childhood Music, volunteered to work on this project with our teachers. Mrs. Andreasen recently published an article on integrating the arts in the latest edition of the Orff Echo, a national magazine for music teachers.
Using the music of “Aquarium” from the work, “Carnival of the Animals”, students explored concepts of form, pathways, tempo, and levels. Students and Mrs. Andreasen choreographed a movement piece, with students playing the roles of many ocean creatures and plants in a classroom that was transformed into an aquarium with many art pieces created by the students. The students also designed costumes based on a sea creature they researched. After the dance presentation students, in costume, spoke about their personal learning while family and community members mingled in the “aquarium” listening to individual presentation about each creature.
Throughout the project core academic standards were taught and reinforced in Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Design, and Habit of Learning.
A few of the core academic goals for the project included:
Language Arts - non-fiction text structure; note taking; complete sentences including punctuation, capitals, and spaces
Math - measurement; perspective; symmetry; recording and analyzing data
Science - balance within systems; ocean layers
Social Studies - ask questions and gather data to inform and report findings; continents and oceans locations on the globe
Design Process - discover; imagine; plan; create; revise; present
Habits of Learning - collaboration; revising for excellence; creativity; critical thinking; thinking routines
Photos from ESAA's Cuddle Up and Read event.
ESAA students raised over 750 items to donate in the first and second grade Food Drive Project.
ESAA will be collecting canned goods and dry goods to donate to the local food pantry.
Witch, Donna Mae Ringle, visits Ms. Marzouki's Classroom.
ESAA’s new creative movement/dance specialist Anna Brueggeman has an extensive background in dance, including ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, improvisation and choreography.
Whenever Jamie Lohuis sees a cotton ball, she can’t help but smile and remember why she chose to work with children.
In order to increase their learning-fun and minimize the impact on school staff, we are in need of some gently used cookware for student use in...
Fifth-graders at ESAA will leave their mark on the world of science when they cast their vote on a burning question: What is a flame?
In their latest project-based learning unit, third- through fifth-graders at ESAA are getting a firsthand experience in democracy. The students are examining how to develop a student government for ESAA that provides freedom, democracy and justice.
What Elizabeth Marzouki enjoys most about teaching second-graders at ESAA is their enthusiasm for learning.
This month, Mr. Johnson’s third- and fourth-graders and Mrs. Timm’s fourth- and fifth-graders will host the meeting and will share what they learned about slavery.
Parents and select community members will have a very special dining opportunity next month. ESAA first- and second-graders are designing a restaurant for their current health...