Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone in the UPA family a very happy holiday and a restful break. Looking forward to seeing you in 2010!

Mrs. Melkonian

Dear UPA Elementary Families,
For our upcoming Holiday Concert, we are going to celebrate family by including some of your favorite family pictures. All UPE students are participating in the show, so we hope to have as many families as possible represented. One photo per family, please.

Digital Photos may be sent to Mrs. Melkonian: smelkonian@uprep.com

Hard copies of photos may be given to your child's classroom teacher or put in Mrs. Melkonian's mailbox. Photos will be returned if they are clearly marked.

Thank you,
Mrs. Melkonian

Congratulations!

Congratulations on a set of WONDERFUL exhibitions yesterday! It was truly enjoyable to see what the students have learned this trimester. Through their art work, physical demonstrations, acting and music-making we can see that we have a school of extremely expressive and talented students. I am looking forward to our next exhibitions already.

With Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, I am giving thanks for our fantastic students and wonderful group of dedicated AMPP teachers. I am blessed to work with all of you.

Mrs. Melkonian, music

Just a reminder that the UPA AMPP exhibition is on Tuesday November 24th, the last day of school before Thanksgiving break. We encourage parents and family to attend.
Each village will be showcasing Physical Education, Vocal Music, Theater, 3d art and 2d art.

schedule
Mark Murray campus - in the gym
4-5 village 9:00 am - 9:55 am
2-3 village 10:00 am - 10:55 am
K-1 village 11:00 am - 11:55 am

Ellen Thompson campus - in the gym
K-1 village 12:30 p.m. - 1:25 p.m.
2-3 village 1:30 p.m. - 2:25 p.m.
4-5 village 2:30 p.m. - 3:25 p.m.

Please come and show your support for your child and the AMPP program!

Art Update

Here are some Greek temples made by Mr. Weatherbee's class. enjoy!

ZaeShawn Reynolds

Brandon McDonald

Channon Gilbreath

We are really "moving " in the gym. We have received the Blue Cross Blue Shield grant that has brought new materials that were are in incorporating into the school culture and especially in physical education. The first program is HOPSports. HOPSports has the unique ability to combine lessons that have been proven to increase overall movement and participation while being entertaining. The fitness and health components are delivered by sport celebrities. HOPSports has over 100 lessons of multiple displays, sport-specific skills, nutritional information, "music choice lessons" and much more combine to create a well-rounded experience for our students.

Health and nutritional elements will be reinforced with a program called The OrganWise Guys Inc. The OrganWise Guys bring science-based nutrition, physical activity, and other lifestyle behavior messages to our students in a fun and interesting way. Beyond simply teaching children about nutrition, proper exercise and other beneficial practices, it instills a healthy habit mindset early on which they continue to build on throughout life that focuses on maintaining a low fat diet, consuming high fiber foods, drinking plenty of water, and performing regular physical activity. The OrganWise Guys uses charter organs with names like,"Harty Heart", and the "Kidney Brothers" that has stuffed dolls, CD's DVD's, books and handouts that will keep even adults engaged in the lessons.

The last component of the grant is the Walking Club program. Every student in UPAE will be encouraged to walk or run as much as possible and to track their walking. A trail will be mapped out in our playground and the students can track their and for every 5 miles walked, they will receive a toe tag to reward and positively reinforce their hard work. Our hope is that the increased walking and toe tag incentive will explode into a child who will fall in love with movement and a school culture that strongly support that passion.

Make sure your child bring their gym shoes to school EVERYDAY so that they are always prepared for action.

Shara Marbry

Physical Education is really "moving"! We have receive the Blue Cross Blue Shield grant that has brought new materials that were are in incorporating into the school culture and especially in physical education. The first program is HOPSports. HOPSports has the unique ability to combine lessons that have been proven to increase overall movement and participation while being entertaining. The fitness and health components are delivered by sport celebrities. HOPSports has over 100 lessons of multiple displays, sport-specific skills, nutritional information, "music choice lessons" and much more combine to creates a well-rounded experience for our students.

The say that the health and nutritional elements will be reinforced with a program called The OrganWise Guys Inc.The OrganWise Guys bring science-based nutrition, physical activity, and other lifestyle behavior messages our students in a fun and interesting way. Beyond simply teaching children about nutrition, proper exercise and other beneficial practices, it is instill a healthy habit mindset early on which they continue to build on throughout life that focuses on maintaining a low fat diet, consuming high fiber foods, drinking plenty of water, and performing regular physical activity. The OrganWise Guys uses charter organs with names like,"Harty Heart", and the "Kidney Brothers" that has stuffed dolls, CD's DVD's, books and handouts that will keep even adults engaged in the lessons. The last component of the grant is the Walking Club program. Every student in UPAE will be encouraged to walk or run as much as possible and to track their walking they ALL will be given one pedometer. A trail will be mapped out in our playground and the students can track their and for every 5 miles walked, they will receive a toe tag to reward and positively reinforce their hard work. Our hope is that the increased walking and toe tag incentive will explode into a child who will fall in love with movement and a school culture that strongly support that passion. Make sure your child bring their gym shoes to school EVERYDAY so that they are always prepared for action.

Physical Education

Physical Activity is important we are, therefore implementing a walking program called the Feeling Good Mileage Club.

The Feeling Good Mileage Club provides opportunity for students to walk for fitness. The mileage club will be held from October 19, 2009 until June 1, 2010 to walk for fitness. The mileage club will be held during recess and physical education classes. The walking course is a 1/8 mile loop on the playground of our campus.

Your child needs no special equipment or shoes (expect for gym shoes physical education) to participate. Simply have him or her dress appropriately for the weather. Each student is free to walk as little or as much as he or she desires in the designated time. The Feeling Good Mileage Club is noncompetitive.

Awards will be given. For each 5 miles your child will receive a toe token to place on the shoe laces. At each 10 miles your child will receive a certificate, at the 15 mile mark a shoe take will be given and they can sign the 15 mile poster and at 20 miles a runner tag will be given.

We think your child will enjoy the Feeling Good Mileage Club. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shara Marbry at 313-874-9800.

First Six Weeks!

Hello from the UPA Mark Murray Music Room! Students were eager to get started in music this year and so was I! They have already shown improvement that could only be made through hard work and concentration.

The fourth and fifth graders are in the midst of an African Drumming unit. They have been working hard on their drumming technique, specifically hand position. As we continue, we will begin adding singing and dancing to our drumming ensemble pieces.

Third graders are continuing to develop their singing voices by singing songs in English, Swahili, and even Yiddish! We will also work on Orff instrument (xylophone) technique as we add challenging accompaniment to the songs we have learned.

Second graders are doing a unit entitled "Carnival of the Animals". This unit is centered around a musical suite consisting of 14 movements, all based on a different animal. It is called "Carnival of the Animals" and was composed in 1886 by a French composer named Camille Saint-Saëns. Each class period, students listen to the piece, move as the animal does, and sing a song about each animal. So far we have done the Lion, the Tortoise, the Bird, and the Rooster.

First graders are continuing to work on keeping a steady beat. They are also learning new songs that will help them move forward in their music making, both singing and playing instruments. But we will always love one of our favorites from last year; "Skinny marinky dinky doo". If you need a pick-me-up in your day, just ask your first grader for a round of this song and you will feel better in no time!

I was so excited to welcome the Kindergartners into the music room this year! They are cheerful students who do their best and who are excited to try new activities. We have been learning about the different voices we use. These include speaking, whisper, shouting, and singing voice.

We are hard at work here in the music room, and are looking forward to a year of harmonious music making! Check back soon for upcoming concert information!

Music Blogs

Ms. Ginger and Mrs. Melkonian's music classes are starting out strong this year! We are happy to introduce our own blogs, just for music updates. Please visit us to hear what we are listening to in class, see pictures and hear students performing. We hope you will visit us often!

Mark Murray Campus

http://upaelementarymusicmm.blogspot.com/

Ellen Thompson Campus

http://upaelementarymusicet.blogspot.com/

Art Update

Art at UPA is in full swing and everything is going so well! Please take a moment the next time you're in the building to look at all of the hard work the students are putting in to their artwork.

In art thus far at the Ellen Thompson campus, we have studied the art of hieroglyphics, ancient cave drawings, King Tut, Greek vase patterns and Aboriginal dot painting. How time flies when you're having fun!

Clarence Boykin III 3rd grade

Theo Smith 4th grade

Jalen Smith Kindergarden

Welcome!

It's a new school year and the AMPP team at University Prep Academy Elementary School has been busy planning for the school year. We've already been at school for three weeks getting ready for our 700+ students! We are really excited for a year of creativity, expression, physical activity and fun.
This year, the Mark Murray and Ellen Thompson Campuses will have one team of AMPP teachers who will be working in both buildings. This blog will be our way of keeping parents and students informed of what is happening in the arts at UPA. Please visit us often.