Hello Little Hawk families,
I am extremely excited to be returning to MTE for my 5th year as the general music teacher and choir director! There are some exciting things happening this year: we'll be continuing ukulele club, I'm teaching 5th grade band this year, we have Missoula Children's Theater returning, we are welcoming representatives of Seattle Opera to our school to perform in an assembly, and the Dance Dude is coming back at the end of April!
On this blog I will be sharing information about what has been happening in the music room at the end of each month. Additionally, I will be posting useful documents, recordings, etc. on the related pages as the year progresses. Below are some websites you should have bookmarked in your browser in order to stay up to date with everything MTE-related throughout the school year. Also below is some information about an exciting personal goal I am continuing to pursue and how it benefits your student and the community.
The MTE staff truly appreciates the effort it takes to get your student ready to come back to school and learn after a long summer break. Thank you for your dedication to their education! We can't wait to see them :)
Welcome back,
Mrs. Harreld
This Blog (all music programs) - I will be posting information about grade-level performances once a month, information about choir/band/orchestra performances and field trips as they come up, resources for various ensembles, and information about my journey to become National Board Certified! More on that below***
PTO Website - Are you a member of our amazing PTO? If not, SIGN UP NOW! We need families to volunteer to help run events in order for all of our amazing PTO celebrations to continue. You can sign up for various events/volunteer needs throughout the year on their "signupgenius" website: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f49aead29a6f49-needed
You can also text "PTO" to 88202 to receive text message updates from the PTO about all of their events, meetings, and opportunities to support our students. These messages are administered through your fellow humans, not by machines, in case you're wondering :)
Our School Website - This is a great place to check the school calendar for special events, see if your child's classroom teacher has a website/blog/classdojo or seesaw page, and keep up to date with special programs at our school that are run by the district, or someone in the building.
ClassDojo - This is a website designed to help teachers communicate with families. Teachers create classroom pages, invite families to connect to the page via their account, and then you can see pictures of school work, videos from the classroom, and special reminders from your student's teacher about upcoming events or homework. There is also a message center within the website that allows you to have an instant message style conversation with the teacher that created the online classroom. Additionally, there is an app you can download (for all smart phones). This makes conversing with the teacher super easy, and keeps your feed updated with all of the latest posts from the classroom. I will be using this app for choir and ukulele club this year, so please keep an eye out for those invitation forms to connect if your child brings one home!
***Never heard of the National Board Certification? Basically, it's a super rigorous assessment for teachers to determine if they are an accomplished educator in their area. We have many NBCTs (National Board Certified Teachers) on our staff, including: Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Knowles, Mr. McCarthy, and Mrs. Gloth! (and there may be more, if I missed you let me know!)
The NBCT assessment is extremely thorough. I'm pursuing this high standard of accomplished teaching to benefit your student's music education in my room, and to have a greater influence in improving music education in the district. :)
I will be sending home release forms at the beginning of the school year in order to meet requirements for my submission. The release forms let the test administrator (Pearson Assessments) know I have your permission to share your students' written work from class. The release form also tells them that I have your permission to submit a video or audio recording of your child's performance in class. The videos, audio recordings, and all written work for my certification are for Pearson's assessment of my skills only. None of this information will be published and available to the public. I cannot submit materials if I do not have the signed release forms from families, so please mark "Yes", sign the form and return it to me as soon as you are able. I really appreciate it! Remember, this is all to benefit your child's music education at MTE and in the Edmonds School District.
I am extremely excited to be returning to MTE for my 5th year as the general music teacher and choir director! There are some exciting things happening this year: we'll be continuing ukulele club, I'm teaching 5th grade band this year, we have Missoula Children's Theater returning, we are welcoming representatives of Seattle Opera to our school to perform in an assembly, and the Dance Dude is coming back at the end of April!
On this blog I will be sharing information about what has been happening in the music room at the end of each month. Additionally, I will be posting useful documents, recordings, etc. on the related pages as the year progresses. Below are some websites you should have bookmarked in your browser in order to stay up to date with everything MTE-related throughout the school year. Also below is some information about an exciting personal goal I am continuing to pursue and how it benefits your student and the community.
The MTE staff truly appreciates the effort it takes to get your student ready to come back to school and learn after a long summer break. Thank you for your dedication to their education! We can't wait to see them :)
Welcome back,
Mrs. Harreld
This Blog (all music programs) - I will be posting information about grade-level performances once a month, information about choir/band/orchestra performances and field trips as they come up, resources for various ensembles, and information about my journey to become National Board Certified! More on that below***
PTO Website - Are you a member of our amazing PTO? If not, SIGN UP NOW! We need families to volunteer to help run events in order for all of our amazing PTO celebrations to continue. You can sign up for various events/volunteer needs throughout the year on their "signupgenius" website: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f49aead29a6f49-needed
You can also text "PTO" to 88202 to receive text message updates from the PTO about all of their events, meetings, and opportunities to support our students. These messages are administered through your fellow humans, not by machines, in case you're wondering :)
Our School Website - This is a great place to check the school calendar for special events, see if your child's classroom teacher has a website/blog/classdojo or seesaw page, and keep up to date with special programs at our school that are run by the district, or someone in the building.
ClassDojo - This is a website designed to help teachers communicate with families. Teachers create classroom pages, invite families to connect to the page via their account, and then you can see pictures of school work, videos from the classroom, and special reminders from your student's teacher about upcoming events or homework. There is also a message center within the website that allows you to have an instant message style conversation with the teacher that created the online classroom. Additionally, there is an app you can download (for all smart phones). This makes conversing with the teacher super easy, and keeps your feed updated with all of the latest posts from the classroom. I will be using this app for choir and ukulele club this year, so please keep an eye out for those invitation forms to connect if your child brings one home!
***Never heard of the National Board Certification? Basically, it's a super rigorous assessment for teachers to determine if they are an accomplished educator in their area. We have many NBCTs (National Board Certified Teachers) on our staff, including: Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Knowles, Mr. McCarthy, and Mrs. Gloth! (and there may be more, if I missed you let me know!)
The NBCT assessment is extremely thorough. I'm pursuing this high standard of accomplished teaching to benefit your student's music education in my room, and to have a greater influence in improving music education in the district. :)
I will be sending home release forms at the beginning of the school year in order to meet requirements for my submission. The release forms let the test administrator (Pearson Assessments) know I have your permission to share your students' written work from class. The release form also tells them that I have your permission to submit a video or audio recording of your child's performance in class. The videos, audio recordings, and all written work for my certification are for Pearson's assessment of my skills only. None of this information will be published and available to the public. I cannot submit materials if I do not have the signed release forms from families, so please mark "Yes", sign the form and return it to me as soon as you are able. I really appreciate it! Remember, this is all to benefit your child's music education at MTE and in the Edmonds School District.
