Seaford Harbor Elementary School Revamps 'Specials' For Safety

Press release from the Seaford School District:

Nov. 10, 2020

Art, music and physical education have a different look at Seaford Harbor Elementary School due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, but teachers have adapted their lessons to continue to give students authentic learning experiences.

Christine Donnelly, whose studio-style art room had stations with different materials, now teaches art in the classrooms. She has created projects based on the supplies students readily have in their desks, such as crayons, glue sticks, pencils and scissors, and provides them with blank paper.

Students in second through fifth grade are keeping art sketchbooks and Ms. Donnelly leads them in warmup activities each class to teach and reinforce different artistic skills. She and Manor art teacher Jamie LaSota collaborated to plan out monthly themes. In October, the focus was on portraits, followed by landscapes in November, and students can approach these projects using whatever materials they have available.

General music teacher Paul Ceglio also visits the classrooms to teach the fundamentals of music. With students in grades K-2, he works with students on concepts such as loud and soft, high and low, and fast and slow. They do percussion exercises such as clapping their hands or tapping their laps to understand the differences and learn how to keep a beat.

Third, fourth and fifth graders expand their musical vocabulary and listen to more complex pieces of music. They also learn about the different instrument families. With music in the classrooms, Mr. Ceglio creates digital presentations using Microsoft Teams. He said the goal is to give students a strong foundation so by the time they enter fourth grade, they are prepared to join the band and chorus.

Physical education teachers Michael Corcoran and Suzanne Mooney have created activities that provide for social distancing and minimal sharing of equipment, while still giving students exercise and teaching the importance of sportsmanship

During the nice weather, students were outdoors for fitness stations. They went from cone to cone, which were spaced at least 12 feet apart, to do different exercises including jumping jacks, pushups, squats and yoga poses.

In the gymnasium, Mr. Corcoran and Ms. Mooney created a live version of foosball. Students were positioned just like players on a foosball table, and maintained distance from each other by staying in their assigned boxes. Their goal was to pass the ball to teammates and score a goal by hitting the wall behind the last row of opposing players.

This press release was produced by the Seaford School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.