Week 14

Last week the kindergarten students all rehearsed boomwhackers. It was a massive undertaking but we got through it just fine. Special thanks to Ms. Pais, Mrs. Douglas, Mrs. Sperring, and Mrs. Ulrich for helping supervise the kids. The band and chorus are ready for the concert. Students that are not in band and chorus just need to wear Wildcat T-shirts and jeans. Everyone needs to be in the cafeteria by 6:30 pm.

Music Week 13

We are still getting ready for the concert on Dec. 13th. I am very pleased to annouce that the kindergarten students have made tremendous progress on the Boomwhackers. I can now point to them and they usually hit when they are supposed to hit. The recorder experiment with the 2nd and 3rd grade classes is going fairly well. I am working on a way to get some music to some of the students that want to practice for extra credit. The same is true for piano students in 4th and 5th grade.

Music Week 12

This was a short week. Some of the classes were allowed to do stations. I noticed a lot of the students are getting better at DDR.

Music Week 11

This was our first full week in two weeks. 4th and 5th grade are back to piano skills while 2nd and 3rd grade are being introduced to recorder skills. I am trying to encourage the students to go get their own recorder because we have a limited number here at the school. Everyone is still preparing their material for the winter concert set for December 13, 2007 at 7:00pm in the cafeteria. Unfortunately, the classes on Friday have missed out on station day but I can assure you that we will be having one soon. I am also in the process of building a website for band and chorus to keep parents and students updated.

Music Week 10

Last week we had Station Day. 4th and 5th grade had four separate stations in which they had to work on different concepts. Station 1 was a quiz station that had pictures of notes, Station 2 was a rhythm stick station where they had to play rhythms from the overhead, Station 3 was the piano, Station 4 was the playstation with Dance, Dance Revolution. K-3 learned how to play DDR and when we redo station day they should be able to do four seperate stations.

Music Week 9

5th grade spent most of this week at Camp Crystal. Other grade focused on their songs for the Dec 6 concert. K-2 learned a new game called Engine, Engine, No. 9. It was a singing game that required the kids to listen to the beat and follow it exactly and we do a pretend train wreck at the end. 2nd and 3rd grade need to start bringing in recorders so we can begin our new unit. If anyone is having trouble locating one please feel free to email me or call me at the school and I can point you in the right direction.

Music Week 8

This week I was out due to an illness in my family. I returned on Thursday to finish out the week. Mrs. Harden's and Mr. Lake's second grade class are coming along quite well with their song for the December 6th concert. I am extremely proud of the work they have done this week. Hopefully, I can get everyone else caught up to speed next week. 5th grade will be gone to Camp Crystal and I will review old material with the students that did not attend the trip. 2nd and 3rd grade need to start bringing in recorders soon.

Music Week 7

This week K-2 continued to work on their songs for the winter concert. The songs that they are working on are general music songs and not neccesarily specific holiday music. 3-5 are still working on piano skills but the 2nd and 3rd graders will be switching to recorders at the end of October. Recorders can be purchased at any music store in town. Some of the stores are Hoggetown Music, which is located by the new Home Depot on 53rd Ave, Lipham's which is located by Grandy's on 34th St., Southern Music which is located in the Oaks Mall Plaza, and Parramore Music which is located in the K-Mart shopping plaza. The cost should be no more than $6.00. When they get it, please make sure to put their name on it. If you are having a hard time locating one please let me know and we can try to find one for your child.

Music Week 6

This week 3-5 video taped their songs. I will try to get them ready for a PTA meeting. The idea was to put them on the website but we don't have a memory stick to do that. Right now the videos are on actual tape instead of a memory card device. The students did a really good job of putting their songs together. I hope to be able to show some at the next PTA meeting. I cannot emphasize enough how great a job the older classes did with their songs. The K-2 classes began to work on their songs for the winter concert. The winter concert will feature every grade level in some fashion and will feature the band and chorus. The date has been set for Thursday December, 6 @ 7:00 pm.

Music Week 5

This week we focused on reviewing concepts and skills learned the previous week. The K-2 classes learned a new song called Wind the Ball. It's kind of a follow the leader type game. We have to practice it some more for them to really get it. I am pleased with the progress that the 3rd-5th grades are making with their piano skills. The focus is to get some left/right hand independence and be able to play some simple songs. Right now I am at a dilemma: I don't know whether to continue with piano so they can actually learn some skills or switch them to recorder. It would be nice for them to learn more musical concepts through piano and then maybe switch to recorder next semester. I feel that third grade is in an excellent position to switch and then maybe pick up piano later this year. Next week, we will definitely video tape the students playing some of their songs on piano.

Music Week 4

This past week in music, 3rd-5th grade either continued or began working on basic piano skills. We are working towards left hand and right hand independence, reading music, and keeping a steady beat. I plan on video taping the piano class so parents can see what songs their children have learned on piano. K-2 continued working with boomwhackers. The song we learned was called Diddle, Diddle Dumpling. I hope to begin working on music for the winter concert. If there are any problems with your child learning holiday music please let me know immediately.

Music Week 2-3

Grades 3-5 began working on identifying note values. We used the rhythm sticks and some rhythms that were on the board. This week I had the classes read off of a rhythm sheet. Most classes were fairly successful with it. Some students need a bit more help. Last week K-2 classes learned motions to the song : Everybody Sit Down. We worked on trying to distinguish high and low sounds and what is a steady beat. We will need to practice that more. This week we worked on the song Walk Right In. We used variety of ways to move around the room. We will work on these skills again next week. Kindergarten also got a chance to use the boomwhackers this week. Some of the 1st and 2nd grade classes worked on learning a street game Down, Down Baby. I taught the hand motions to it and we then played instruments that go along with it. We will review this and hopefully be able to add more to next week.

Thanks to all the parents that stopped by at open house this week. We will be having a instrument rental night on September 11th at 7:00pm in the cafeteria. Hoggetown Music will be there to demonstrate instruments and set up rental contracts to those who are interested. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at the school.

Music Week 1

This week we went over rules and class expectations. I expect students to follow the school rules, follow my class rules, and act like the good students that I know they can be. Also, I will be passing out forms for interests in the school chorus as well as a new 4th and 5th grade band in two weeks. The K-2 classes played musical chairs and did a variety of movement exercises while the 3-5 worked with rhythm sticks. This year we will work to have a total music program. We will do some singing, some instrumental work, and hopefully work with new music software on the computers in addition to learning the fundamentals of music. Next week, we will begin our Unit on Beat.