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!