Happy Wednesday everyone! I know this month's newsletter is late. Thank you for understanding the delay. Between report cards and snow days it's been a busy time of year. :)
In January we had our first ever theater experience with Missoula Children's Theater! 38 students participated in "The Snow Queen" and got to wear amazing costumes as they acted, danced, and sang on stage with 2 professional thespians. The experience was amazing for everyone, and we can't wait to invite them back into our community. If you'd like to be a part of that, please let the PTO or me know! We could definitely use support next year with supervision after school, in particular.
In January in the music room we did a lot of assessments (for semester grades) and discussed what a musical was (in preparation for the musical assembly). Here is what happened in each grade:
-Kindergarten: we are almost done learning our Pizza song in Spanish, and we'regetting really good at matching pitch with Mrs. Harreld in our "Little circle" drawing song. We will start to use hand percussion soon as we visit the farm. Stay tuned!
-1st grade: we worked really hard on performing rhythms using our 1st grade symbols and got to play the hand percussion as we learned yet another musical form: ABA form (aka Ternary form). Can your student describe the difference? Coming up next: singing notes (aka solfege) in preparation for tone bells.
-2nd grade: we got to create sentences based on our SOAR principles for our school. We then created 16-beat rhythms based on the number of sounds in each sentence. This was challenging to do with all of the Mondays we missed in January, and the half days on Fridays. So, we'll be doing another composition unit in February to continue developing our rhythmic and melodic notation skills.
-3rd grade: We are using Boomwhackers! Students are practicing chanting/singing while performing an ostinato. They're also using the Boomwhackers to perform 8-beat rhythms using their 3rd grade symbols. We will continue to work on this as we learn a song for Multicultural Night :)
-4th grade: We started our Recorder unit, and the kids are doing so well! We are currently learning how to tongue, read notes on the staff, and how to cover the holes on the recorder completely. We'll soon start songs in our recorder packet and start earning belts.
-5th grade: we are working on entering our Xylophone song "Tatenda" into FLAT on our computers. Students will be creating a 3-part song in their program and have to navigate melodic, rhythmic, and structural notation entry into to complete this assignment.
-6th grade: Our performance at the MLK, Jr. assembly was inspired, truly. I am so proud of them! We took a well deserved break, and are now reviewing rhythms in preparation for our drumming unit on cajons!
In January we had our first ever theater experience with Missoula Children's Theater! 38 students participated in "The Snow Queen" and got to wear amazing costumes as they acted, danced, and sang on stage with 2 professional thespians. The experience was amazing for everyone, and we can't wait to invite them back into our community. If you'd like to be a part of that, please let the PTO or me know! We could definitely use support next year with supervision after school, in particular.
In January in the music room we did a lot of assessments (for semester grades) and discussed what a musical was (in preparation for the musical assembly). Here is what happened in each grade:
-Kindergarten: we are almost done learning our Pizza song in Spanish, and we'regetting really good at matching pitch with Mrs. Harreld in our "Little circle" drawing song. We will start to use hand percussion soon as we visit the farm. Stay tuned!
-1st grade: we worked really hard on performing rhythms using our 1st grade symbols and got to play the hand percussion as we learned yet another musical form: ABA form (aka Ternary form). Can your student describe the difference? Coming up next: singing notes (aka solfege) in preparation for tone bells.
-2nd grade: we got to create sentences based on our SOAR principles for our school. We then created 16-beat rhythms based on the number of sounds in each sentence. This was challenging to do with all of the Mondays we missed in January, and the half days on Fridays. So, we'll be doing another composition unit in February to continue developing our rhythmic and melodic notation skills.
-3rd grade: We are using Boomwhackers! Students are practicing chanting/singing while performing an ostinato. They're also using the Boomwhackers to perform 8-beat rhythms using their 3rd grade symbols. We will continue to work on this as we learn a song for Multicultural Night :)
-4th grade: We started our Recorder unit, and the kids are doing so well! We are currently learning how to tongue, read notes on the staff, and how to cover the holes on the recorder completely. We'll soon start songs in our recorder packet and start earning belts.
-5th grade: we are working on entering our Xylophone song "Tatenda" into FLAT on our computers. Students will be creating a 3-part song in their program and have to navigate melodic, rhythmic, and structural notation entry into to complete this assignment.
-6th grade: Our performance at the MLK, Jr. assembly was inspired, truly. I am so proud of them! We took a well deserved break, and are now reviewing rhythms in preparation for our drumming unit on cajons!
