Music
Mrs. Andrea DeWeese teaches Kindergarten through 6th grade General Music. Students in these grades meet twice weekly for 30 minutes or once a week for 60 minutes. In Music, students create, perform, respond and connect to musical concepts. We explore rhythm, pitch and expression through singing, playing instruments, and movement. Student progress is monitored as they develop skills in reading rhythms and pitches using stick and standard notation, using Kodaly hand signs and staff notation, as well as learning to play, sing, and move with expression during the school year. Kindergarten through third grade students present two concerts each year in the winter and spring. Students in fourth through sixth grade also present a Veteran’s Concert in November. There are also opportunities for students to participate in honor choirs throughout the school year.

Band
Students in 5th and 6th grade have the option of participating in band. The 5th grade band is led by Mr. Harvey Nicholson and practices at Alden Elementary. The 6th grade band is under the direction of Mr. Ross Schumaker and practices at Riverbend Middle School. The bands perform at Winter Concerts, the All School Band Concert, and a spring concert.

Library
K-6th grade students have library once a week for 30 minutes. We have check out day or a lesson. We learn about different authors and how to find just right books. We work on the Dewey Decimal System and book location. The 3rd-5th grade are encouraged to read the Iowa Children's Choice Award books. Students have been using many makerspace building materials and tools in library as well.

Physical Education

Why is PE important? It’s important because it develops students' competence and knowledge of movement and safety, and their ability to use these to perform in a wide range of activities associated with the development of an active and healthy lifestyle. It helps build muscle strength & endurance, agility and flexibility.

In addition, in can help build self-esteem, self-confidence, creativity and problem-solving skills. It also helps to develop social skills, discipline, handle adversity through winning & losing as well as cooperation and what it means to be a member of a team.

Studies have also shown that physical activity makes us look at events in a more positive manner, we feel happier during the day and helps to develop the brain which leads to better academic work.

At Alden, we try to focus on 3 areas during PE:

• Teamwork--students try to work together to meet a common goal.

• Movement--to keep student’s bodies as healthy as they can be.

• Sportsmanship--helps students manage their lives through self-control & respect for others.

STEAM

In STEAM, K-6 students have the opportunity to learn about Digital Citizenship and Computer Science Programming. Computer Science Programming uses a spiraling education design, in which concepts and skills are revisited in each course while delving deeper each time. Each course experience is a blend of online activities and ‘unplugged’ activities (lessons in which students can learn computing concepts with or without a computer.) The online experiences are composed of mostly self-guided and self-paced tutorials, which use scaffolded sets of programming instructions to explore and practice algorithmic thinking. The unplugged lessons take a hands-on, often kinesthetic approach, making use of physical manipulatives to model computational concepts. Each course consists of 18-22 lessons that last about 25-45 minutes. A variety of other computer science programs are used in the classroom for students to explore.

Skills in our Computer Science Programming -

• Creativity

• Collaboration

• Communication

• Persistence

• Problem Solving