Sweets & Songs Info

Parents,

I am sending home this letter with your child this week. Please make sure you check your child's folder on Tuesday. I will also be sending home a ticket order form. I will post the order form in a separate post.

Sweets and Songs: January 25 and 26, 2014

Albertville Fine Arts Center

Dear Parents,

Your child will be participating in our annual “Sweets and Songs” program.

This event features musical performances by students from BSLK School, AES, EES, AMS and AHS. 

AES will be performing Saturday, January 25, 2014 at 2:00 pm. Students need to be at the Albertville Fine Arts Center 30 minutes before the performance.  Students will be wearing their school t-shirt. Students may wear a long sleeve shirt under their school t-shirt if weather conditions permit. Please do NOT send coats or jackets with your child. If your child leaves anything backstage, AES will not be responsible for the items.

Two types of tickets will be available:

·      General Admission $10 (all three performances)

·      Reserved Admission $20-Saturday evening (includes 5:30pm Spaghetti dinner and reserved seating section) and Sunday matinee (includes 12:30pm Spaghetti luncheon and reserved seating section)

If you would like to purchase tickets, please send money and ticket order form in a sealed envelope with your child to school for them to give to Ms. Rogers.

If you would be willing to help monitor students, please contact Ms. Rogers through a note, email or call to the school.

A DVD of the performances will be available for purchase in the lobby of the AFAC.  Please be prepared to complete the order form with necessary funds and leave in the drop box.

Thank you for your support of this event.  We look forward to an amazing experience for our students.

Sincerely,

Tracy Rogers

AES Music Teacher

tracyrogers@albertk12.org

256-878-6611

Goodbye 2013! Hello 2014!

Music class in December has been a fun month of learning and excitement.

3rd Grade: The third graders have been working extremely hard on learning the songs for their "Sweets and Songs" Performance. They have also been learning about Peter Tchaikovsky, listening to his music, and watching some of "The Nutcracker" ballet. The students have been using their listening maps to "Trepak" from "The Nutcracker" and having a blast while listening and following along. This week the students are playing a "Tchaikovsky vs. Beethoven" game. The game is boys against girls. I will ask questions, if the girls miss, then the boys have a chance to steal and vice versa. There are tie breaker questions as well.

4th Grade: The fourth graders have also been working on their music for "Sweets and Songs." They have worked really hard on words, so now it's time to add some motions in there. We'll see how it goes. They have also been learning about Peter Tchaikovsky, listening to his music, and watching some of "The Nutcracker" ballet. They also have used the listening maps to "Trepak" from the Nutcracker and have done really well following along.

I also would like to announce the winners of the "Good Behavior Contest!" These classes have shown respect and great character to me, others, and themselves every time they came to music this first semester. You should all be very proud of your children. It shows what great examples you are being in their lives.

GOOD BEHAVIOR CONTEST WINNERS:

3rd grade: Mrs. Shankles and Mrs. K. Harris

4th grade: Mrs. Burns, Mr. Young, and Mrs. Stewart

December Composer of the Month

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I had my gallbladder removed on the Monday before the break and I'm just now getting back in the swing of things. I can't believe that December is here and we're already talking about Christmas and our Sweets & Songs performance that will take place in January.

The 3rd and 4th graders are working on their music for Sweets & Songs. I'm am still waiting on conformation of the time of Sweets & Songs, but I believe the date is January 25th. I will be sending home letters with all of the information about Sweets & Songs as soon as I hear from the high school. I am ecstatic about the childrens' performance and I am confident you will enjoy it if you come and join us. Tickets are $10 a piece and half of the ticket sales come right back to your students for their music classes. I am really hoping we can earn enough money to buy 2 more iPads for our stations. So please come support us in January.

Since it's getting close to Christmas, I thought it would be a great time to have Peter Tchaikovsky as our "Composer of the Month." The kids have learned a lot about him this week. Each child has a music journal and they write the facts about the composers in them as I teach. We will continue this composer through the month of December. These are the facts that your child should know as of this week.

Peter Tchaikovsky:
*born and lived in Russia
*started piano lessons at around 5 years old
*parents did not want him to choose a career in music
*when he became an adult he decided to start a career in music anyway
*most famous for his music in "The Nutcracker" ballet

We have listened to "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and the children seem to recognize this piece of music from the movie, "Home Alone" as well as commercials, "Tom & Jerry" and much more.

At the end of the class, if time has permitted, we have read and sang along to "Pete the Cat Saves Christmas."

Time to relax...NOT!

As much as I'd love to say things are slowing down after our Veteran's Day program, I can't because it's just as crazy as ever. The students have started preparing their music for Sweets & Songs which takes place in January at the Fine Arts Center. I will post more information with dates a little later.

3rd Grade: This week 3rd grade is working on songs for Sweets & Songs, singing to Forte the lion, learning new vocal warm-ups and exercises, playing rhythms on the instruments, and singing a few Christmas songs for fun. This time of the year the students always beg to sing Christmas songs even though we don't really have time to learn them, but we still sing them anyway. How can you say no to kids when it's the most wonderful time of the year?

4th Grade: This week 4th grade is working on songs for Sweets & Songs, singing to Piano the mouse, learning new music notes, playing rhythms on the instruments, and singing a few Christmas songs as well. These students have done so awesome with learning the quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes and half notes. They can now play rhythms containing those notes on the instruments.

I absolutely love books. So I always try and incorporate books in music. Since it's Christmas time I will be sharing these books with the students while they listen to the songs. I have went to iTunes and downloaded the versions that match my books. The kids LOVE this.

Here Comes Santa Claus

The 12 Days of Christmas

Frosty the Snowman

The Night Before Christmas

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas

Thank You, Veterans

Our Veteran's Day program and parade ended just a few hours ago and I just had to get on and blog about what a great job the AES 3rd grade students did. They worked so hard and I hope those of you who came enjoyed it. I hope it touched your hearts in a special way because we all know what the Veteran's sacrificed so that we can have so many of the freedoms and liberties that we take for granted each day.

I know I say it often, but thank you so much for sharing your children with me. It is an absolute honor to get to teach each and everyone of them about music, which is something I love so much and am so passionate about. I want them to love and appreciate music as much as I do.

Next Tuesday, November 12, I am sending home Horizon Communication order forms with your child in case you would like to purchase a DVD or VHS of today's performance. If you did not get to see the performance, I would love for you to order one where you can see how hard your child has worked on this program. The order forms will need to be turned back in by Monday, November 18.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Veteran's Day. Let us not forget the true meaning of Veteran's Day. Thank you, Veterans! God Bless America!

REMINDER

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! Just a reminder that our Veteran's Day Program is coming up next week. If you have a student in the 3rd grade we would love for you to come see how hard we have worked on the Patriotic songs. Please feel free to invite a Veteran. Hope to see everyone there.

Veteran's Day Program

Friday, November 8, 2013

at 9:00 am

in the Cafetorium

Parade will follow the program!

October

This month has flown by! So much has happened this month. We were out of school the 14th and 15th of this month for our fall break, 3rd grade classes have gone on field trips, we've had a recycle bowl kickoff, and went to the Fine Arts Center to see a food play. So I've missed quite a few classes this month because of all the scheduling conflicts. 

3rd grade: This month has been entirely dedicated to our Veteran's Day program which comes up in 2 weeks! I can't believe it's so close. Some of my classes have learned all of the songs for the performance which is great because we can just refine those songs and make them sound great; however I have about 10 classes that have not learned one of the songs and 6 of those classes have not learned two of the songs. So, of course, I'm in a panic. Maybe we can learn them in time. If you would like to review some of the songs with your child or let them listen to them, here is a list we are singing: God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner, You're a Hero, Thank You Military, Military Medley.

4th grade: This month we finished up our music stations, worked on playing rhythms with our rhythm sticks and egg shakers, learned about how music is just sound waves, and so much more. We also started learning a song by Louis Armstrong called "What a Wonderful World." The students love this song. It has such a wonderful meaning. The students will probably sing this song at a performance we have in January called "Sweets and Songs."More information about that later.

Hope everyone has a spooky rest of the month! Happy Halloween!

And don't forget......

Veteran's Day Program

Friday, November 8, 2013

at 9:00 am

in the Cafetorium

Parade will follow the program

Experiencing Music In A Different Way

This week the 3rd grade students have worked so hard on learning songs for Veteran's Day. We almost have the Military Medley memorized (with the exception of the Marines song.) It's definitely coming together. I hope they continue to work hard on the music where our hard work will pay off with an amazing Veteran's Day Program!


This week the 4th grade students have been experiencing music in a different way. We have been enjoying the different music stations: Instrument Station---playing the boomwhackers; Listening Station---listening to music on the iPods and drawing what they hear and feel; Reading Station---following along in a book while listening to the music on the iPods; Game Station---composing, arranging, and playing musical games on the iPads; Conducting Station---learning the different conducting patterns using the conducting batons and notating music using the dry erase boards. The kids absolutely love this! What a great way to experience music through listening, analyzing, performing, drawing, and evaluating. I also love being able to use technology in our music classroom!!!

Here are a few pictures of our 4th graders in action!

Music Classroom Part 2

Here are a few more pictures of our Music Room!

This is a picture of the "Rest Area." There are instructions when a child has to go to the "Rest Area." The student must set the yellow timer for 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes the students will take out the notepad from the drawer and write why they had to go to the "Rest Area," what rule they broke, and what they can do better at next time. When the child is finished, they put their name at the top of the paper and place it the pink mailbox on my desk.

Here's a better picture of my "Pete the Cat" board. The board has my rules on it and if the students follow my rules then (just like Pete the Cat says) "...it's all good." I use sign language to help my students remember the rules. 1. Listen Very Carefully 2. Follow the Directions 3. Keep my body to myself 4. Always Respect Others

My "Composer of the Month" board is on the left. Every month the students will learn about a different composer. Each week I will add a new fact about the composer to the board. The students write the facts in their music journals. This month was on Beethoven. To the right you will see a "Voice -O- Meter." This will show the kids if they may talk loudly, softly, whisper, or no talking. These are categorized by Loud Crowd, Low Flow, Whisper (Spy Talk), or Silence (Ninja Mode). This was a pinterest find and I love it!

This picture is mainly of my door. On one side of the door I have "What's the Dynamic?" and it shows the different dynamics and their symbols. On the other side of the door I have "What's the Tempo?" and it shows the different tempos and what they mean. I also wanted to point out my podium. My friend, Jessie Biddle, painted this for me. She did a fantastic job. The kids always love it. In my podium I keep all of my class lists as well as my puppet friends. Jessie also painted all of my station signs for me. They are adorable. On the side of the entrance between the yellow wall and the blue cabinet is where I keep my good behavior chart. Each time a class comes to music they are given the opportunity to gain a sticker on the good behavior chart based on how they act and participate. The 3rd grade class and 4th grade class with the most stickers will get a party at the end of each semester. I'm amazed at how well the classes are doing. If they continue doing so well I may end up throwing a lot of music parties.

This is it for now. I will post pictures of the kids at the stations more next week.

Hope you all have a very musical weekend! :)

Music Classroom Part 1

I'm so sorry I'm just now getting a chance to post some pictures of our 3rd and 4th grade music room. Things have been crazy but loads of fun and excitement here at AES! Please note that the majority of my ideas came from Pinterest or other music teachers friends! I love people sharing new ideas with me!

Here's a picture at the front of the classroom! You can see the "Composer of the Month" board to the right and our "Pete the Cat" rules board to the left. I'll post a picture from close up a little later.

Here's a picture of our "What Stuck With You In Music Today?" board. This is where I give the students the opportunity to write on a sticky note what really stuck in their mind for the day. The green and purple table is our "Rest Area." The "Rest Area" is a place where students that are disruptive or don't follow the rules go. At the "Rest Area" the students will answer the questions that I have placed on the table concerning what rules they broke, what they can do better next time, etc. To the right of the board and the "Rest Area" I have my Conducting Station set up. At that station the kids will practice their conducting patterns and much more.

Here's a picture of our Reading Station and our Game Station. At the Reading Station the students will choose a book and listen to the music on the iPods that go along with the book. The kids love this station because the kids love to read. I love this station because it not only involves music, but also reading. At the game station the students play musical games on the iPads. At this station the students can practice their notation, composing, arranging, as well as much more. The kids also enjoy this station.

Here's a picture of my desk area. It's a little junky and I'm sorry! We just have a lot going on in music class.

This picture is sideways but I honestly don't know how to rotate it, so just tilt your heads with me. HA!

This is my Listening Station. I had a friend paint an old spool for me. I bought buckets and screwed cushions on them. At this station the kids listen to music and draw how the music makes them feel. This is where we talk about Major and Minor. Sometimes I also practice instrument recognition here. If the students can hear a guitar, then they draw a guitar. If the students hear a flute, then they draw a flute.

I have an Instrument Station, but I'm going to wait on posting pictures of it, until I have it organized the way I want. I'm having someone construct me a boomwhacker box, and when I get that I'll post pictures.

One of my cabinets houses the students' music journals. I have a shelf for every class with the teacher's name on the outside. Every student has a music journal. We write about composers, instruments, and music definitions. At the end of the year the students can carry these home.

There's a lot more of my music class I haven't shown you, but I will post more soon!

Picture from Grandparent's Day---4th grade

Here is a picture of some of Mrs. Gibson's 4th grade class at Grandparent's Day!

Picture of Grandparent's Day

Here's a picture of some of our 3rd graders. Our school T-shirts came in the next day, but it was ok. They still looked and sounded phenomenal. 

Grandparent's Night

I can't believe September is half way over. The first half of the month we learned facts about Beethoven. We also learned the definitions of flat and sharp. The majority of our class time was spent on learning the words and notes to our songs for Grandparent's Day. The 3rd and 4th graders did an outstanding job! I will post pictures soon of the kids singing on stage.

Ready for a Musical Year!

WOW! I can't believe the summer is over and we are now in our second week of school! The summer held exciting news for me. I was asked in May if I would like to transfer to AES as the 3rd and 4th grade music teacher. This was a huge excitement. As much as I loved my job at BSLK and APS the past 3 years, my dream has always been to be at one elementary school. So when the opportunity came available, of course I was ecstatic! So now I'm the music teacher for 820 kids as opposed to 1350 kids. Couldn't be much happier. Now I get to see the kids every week and maybe I'll be able to remember their names. HAHA!

I'm almost finished with my first week of music classes. This week all of the students learned the rules and procedures for being in the music room. I also showed them around the new music room and we talked about all the exciting things we will be doing this year. Grand Open House is coming up the first part of September, so we also listened to the songs we will be singing. 3rd grade will be singing "You're a Hero" and 4th grade will be singing "A Song for Grandma and Grandpa." Go ahead and mark your calendars now where you can make sure to come to our performance.

3rd Grade Grand Open House---Tuesday, September 10th
4th Grade Grand Open House---Thursday, September 12th

This is going to be an fantastic year. The students are absolutely amazing! I can't wait to see what's in store for us in Music at AES!

***I will post pictures of our music classroom soon!***

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO ANOTHER SCHOOL YEAR

I honestly cannot believe this school year is coming to a close. Only 7 more school days left. And only 3 more teaching days for me because of field days, end of the year parties, and move up days. 

BSLK: These last few weeks we have worked extremely hard on Graduation music and sign language. The students are still struggling with the sign language, but I know it will turn out great because they are honestly trying their best. I looked back and realized that I didn't spend as much time with the sign language as I did the past two years, so I'll definitely need to remember that for next year. Chester Drawers (Mr. Eddie Bowman) visited the school yesterday morning. The kids had so much fun meeting him and singing his songs with him. Of course, "Gilbert the Goose" "Silly Dog" "Crazy Cat" and "Gravy on a Bucket Lid" were amongst the kids favorites. I loved hearing the students little voices sing his songs so happily during the performance. We all had a BLAST! Huge thanks to Kassie Millwood for bringing him to the school and being an AWESOME librarian that we all love so dearly.

APS: These last few weeks we have watched our performance of Fine Arts Night and discussed how we did. This was great because the students love to watch themselves and we get to meet the state standard of Performance Evaluation. The kids truly did a FABULOUS job at Fine Arts Night. I am still in awe of how many people are still complementing my students and I. I hope the students feel encouraged and proud of themselves for working so hard to accomplish their musical goals.

 

What a joy it has been to teach your children. This year was AMAZING! My kindergartners are clapping and playing rhythms on a first grade level. My first graders know musical notation on a second grade level. And I know without a doubt that my second graders are ready for third grade music class. What a blessing to see my students grow musically. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

TIME SURE DOES FLY WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN!

Wow...March flew by and now April is half way over! So much has happened in the month since I have blogged so let me try and catch you all up.

BSLK:  After Spring Break, we have continuously worked on our Kindergarten Graduation songs. One of the songs requires sign language, so we've been working extra hard on remembering words with not only our mouths, but also our hands. We have also played the sound shapes and worked really hard echoing rhythms and playing rhythms from the board on our sound shapes. We rotated around parachutes to change to the different shapes. We have also learned about the quarter rest and we know when see a rest, we don't clap our hands, but hold them to the side and rest them. I draw names and the students will go up to the board and clap and say the rhythm they see. The kids absolutely love this! We have not started with playing the instruments including the rest, but we will begin that the last week in April.

Chester Drawers, an author and musician, is coming to BSLK May 14th. Students have been reading his books and learning his songs for when he comes. We want to be able to sing the songs with him and have a concert. So far, we have learned "Gilbert the Goose" "Silly Dog" and "Crazy Dog." Next week we will be learning "Gravy on a Bucket Lid." The kids are so excited about this concert and are really enjoying the songs.

APS: After Spring Break, we worked non stop on memorizing songs and dances for Fine Arts Night. 1st grade's performance was Monday night and 2nd grade's performance was Tuesday night of this week. We sang "Three Little Birds" "Blackbird" "Fly Like an Eagle" "Rockin' Robin" and "I Believe I Can Fly." We sat up black lights on the stage and made the kids white streamers. On the song "I Believe I Can Fly" the students used their white streamers and the black lights made the streamers glow. At the end of the performance, all of the students danced to "Shake a Tail Feather." It was a great program. The students did an outstanding job! I'm so blessed to have such amazing students!

Only 27 more school days left!

Have a musical day!!! :)

March Madness!

March is here! Spring Break is approaching!

BSLK: In March, the students will learn Kodaly hand sign "ti" and be singing a Major Scale using all Kodaly hand signs. Students will also learn the Eighth Note: 1/2 beat and be able to clap Quarter and Eighth Note beat rhythms that are written on the board. Students will also begin to work on Graduation music just by listening to it and becoming familiar with the music. Students will also sit on parachutes and echo the teachers rhythms on Sound Shapes. Students will then rotate around the parachute to play different Sound Shapes.

Some classes performed at the March PTO Meeting and did a fantastic job!

APS: In March, the students will continue to refine songs for "Fine Arts Night." Students will also be singing and dancing to "Arroostasha" which is a fun song about birds which resembles "The Tooty Ta." The students will talk about Camille Saint-Saens and learn that he wrote Carnival of the Animals. Students will listen to the bird piece of Carnival of the Animals and use ribbon streamers to fly like a bird to the music and swoop down and catch worms. Students will also work on different bird dances and songs to correlate with Youth Art Month.

Don't forget: 

FINE ARTS NIGHT

1st grade--April 15th

2nd grade---April 16th

CRAZY YEAR!!!

Wow! What a crazy year it's been already!

In February we had some snow days so I didn't get to see my APS students as much as I'd planned on, but we've still had a blast in music. In February at APS, we mainly worked on our music for Fine Arts Night. We have now learned all 5 songs for Fine Arts Night. We are now continuously singing through those songs and refining them to help make our program sound the best it can. We have also sang "Old MacDonald Had a Band." In this song, our students learn how instruments can sound like different animals. For example: castanets sound like horses clip clopping, bells sound like cows wearing bells, guiros sound like cats scratching, and egg shakers sound like rattle snakes ready to strike. Each child would receive a card with a different animal on it, then they would go get the instrument that sounds like their animal. We would then sing the song "Old MacDonald Had a Band" and the students would stand up and play their instrument when their animal was called. The students loved this. This was also a great lesson for listening skills.

At BSLK in February, we also played the "Old MacDonald Had a Band" song and played the instruments. We also learned about the Music Staff: 5 lines & 4 spaces Quarter Note: 1 beat. We have worked on clapping rhythms using just the Quarter Note. The students have done a great job with this. We also learned Kodaly hand sign "fa" and met Largo, the snail. The students also sang at Sweets & Songs at the end of January and did a fantastic job. Some classes performed in the February PTO meeting and did a fabulous job then as well.

Plato Quote

WELCOME BACK TO MUSIC

January:

At BSLK this month, the students will be meeting a new friend, Largo. Largo means slow. The students will be singing to Largo using their Kodaly hand signs so & mi. The students will also be performing a Solfege exercise using the Kodaly hand signs they have learned. The students will be learning what a choir is. A choir is a group of people that sing. The students will also be learning what a conductor is. The conductor is the person who leads the music. The students will be learning the 4 Rules of Singing in a Choir: 1. Stand up straight 2. Sing forte 3. Smile 4. Keep your eyes on the conductor. The students will be learning these things because the students will be singing in Sweets & Songs on January 19th. We will be learning how to act on stage and how to act in the audience. Students will also be playing the rhythm sticks and egg shakers this month. The students will learn about the music staff and that it has 5 lines and 4 spaces. The students will also be learning some other cool Jack Hartmann songs for the PTO program on Feb. 5th in honor of Jack Hartmann coming to our school also in February.

At APS this month, the students will be meeting a new friend, Largo. Largo means slow. The students will be singing to Largo using their Kodaly hand signs so & mi. The students will also be performing many new Solfege exercises using all of the Kodaly singing hands. The students will be working on their musical concepts by writing and drawing them on their dry erase boards. The students will also be learning about MLK and singing a tribute to him in the song "Rise Up: Tribute to MLK." Students will also be working on their songs for Fine Arts Night including "Blackbird" "Rockin' Robin" "Three Little Birds" and learning a new song called "I Believe I Can Fly." Students will also be playing their egg shakers to a cool song called, "Shake! (Your Egg Shakers.)

All students will be enhancing their listening skills and literacy skills by reading music books. This month the main book of focus is, "Waking Up Is Hard to Do."

Lots of stuff going on! It's going to be a crazy rest of the year, but WELCOME BACK TO MUSIC!