Black History Celebration

The Williams Elementary Black History Celebration will be Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 6:00 pm in the cafeteria. Participating students need to arrive at 5:30. Everyone is welcome. Volunteers are always appreciated.

The overall focus this year is on the continent of Africa. We are doing this to commemorate the life of Nelson Mandela. As you many you are aware, he passed away in December. However, K and 1 have simple songs related to the Blues and a Spiritual.  

The tentative plan so far is this

K-Get on Board

1st-Good Morning Blues-lyrics should be coming home

 

2nd-Acting out the West African Folk tale Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. 

 

3rd-Boat Song-folk song from Nigeria and will also play recorders. I have sent the music home on Edmodo. If students don't have a recorder, they can "air" recorder their part at home. Please ask them to log in and study the music. Also, there was supposed to be some poetry reading. 

4th-Video presentation. 

5th-Presentation on Mandela. Also, Mrs. Cation will ask specific students to talk about the artists that they studied this month. 

Chorus may sing a song

I may also have my little drumming group play. 

Thanks for all of your help and support. If you have any questions please let me know.  

Edmodo.com

Parents,

We are using an educational software called Edmodo in grades 3-5. It is a free site similar to Facebook but for educational purposes. Many of the middle schools and high schools use this site for doing online classwork. I thought it would be a good idea to help the kids get familiar with it now so the transition will be easier as they move on to secondary school. Some of the classes have already been using Edmodo throughout the year. This has allowed me to interact with students on musical topics or get students caught up on anything they missed in class. I am currently using it to help students retake quizzes that they did not do well on. I have added the link in the links list. In order to use it, your child must have a valid email address, preferably yours, and a group code for their class which they can receive from me. The group codes are good for about 10 days or so and then Edmodo will automatically lock the group. There is also a parent's section to help you keep up with your child's assignments as well. Remember, this is only for 3-5 grade students. Students that choose to participate must remember that this is not Facebook and casual chatting is not allowed. If you have any questions please feel free to call me or email me at thomasmv@gm.sbac.edu.

Special Ensemble Forming

Hello Williams Community,

 

 

I would like to do a special ensemble for the closer at the black history program. I have enough instruments for 16 students. The only stipulation is that they have to be able to come to the concert on March 6 at 6:00pm and be able to practice in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That would mean eating breakfast quickly and practicing from about 7:20 until about 7:40. I would like to extend this opportunity to all of the 3rd-5th graders.

If we can start tomorrow we would have only 8, 20 minute rehearsals until the concert.

Please call Mr. Thomas at 955-6719 or email at thomasmv@gm.sbac.edu

Quiz Alerts

Attention Grades 3-5 will have quizzes in the upcoming week for the music appreciation lessons they have worked on.


3rd Grade: Name 3 facts about Scott Joplin

1. Born-Died
2. Most Famous Song
3. Fact of your choosing

4th Grade: Name 3 facts about Thomas A. Dorsey

1. Born-Died
2. Most Famous Song
3. Fact of your choosing

5th Grade: Kings of Blues Quiz
10 questions multiple choice, true/false, listening examples

Music Research Article

Here is an article that you may find interesting. It is about music education and brain research.


http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/11/25/13music.h33.html?tkn=LUOF1I6iXi44%2BqCOr2tPwghYJaG8gNTBzMgj&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1