A little reminder...

The world of education is tough for many of us educators right now.  We can sit and complain about budget cuts, not having enough time for all the paperwork, the long days, having to jump through the many hoops we have to every day, and the tons of other things that aren't ideal OR we can look for those little things that remind us why we chose this profession in the first place.

I bet it wasn't for the money....

   

Recorder Ensemble Rehearsal

This year in Recorder Ensemble, I am blessed with ten amazing talented students.  They meet me once a week, EARLY in the morning before school.  They do audition and must be able to play Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on the recorder, which they learned last year in music class if they completed our "Recorder Karate" curriculum.  Only fifth graders are allowed in Recorder Ensemble this early in the year because fourth grade has not learned how to play yet.  

This particular group is incredibly focused and hard working.  I'm not sure I even have enough music planned for them because they are already playing so well after only two rehearsals.  I gave them "homework" for Recorder Ensemble and they cheered! :-) 

OVERFLOWING WITH BLESSINGS!

This picture was taken during Chorus rehearsal on Monday, September 19th.  I wanted to take this picture simply to show how crowded in is in my room during these rehearsals!!  The room is FULL!  I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to work with these kids.  They are enthusiastic and excited to learn about music.  I have the best job in the world!
 

Third graders playing instruments

Third graders were participating in a lesson that involved an Orff arrangement of a Shel Silverstein poem.  Unfortunately, as I was going through the rotation of classes, I realized that the arrangement that I had written was a little too much for third grade at the beginning of the year, so I ended up letting them come up with suggestions for what they should play and it turned out to be a lot of fun because it was their work and each class had a different interpretation of the poem.  I am now doing the original lesson with fifth grade classes and it is going extremely well and will post pictures and the lesson plan, as well as the arrangement when I have finished!  It was still a very valuable experience for the kids I think because they really enjoy playing the instruments and also enjoyed creating and composing a little on their own! :-)

Curriculum Night 9/15/11

Our school had a good turn out for curriculum night this year!  Each of the Encore staff was paired with a grade level and I went with 4th grade.  I was happy to meet the parents of some of our fourth grade students, as well as give them some information about our Encore Program at Boger and also some information about the Music Program specifically.  4th graders start recorder in music this year!  Woo hoo!

Chorus Rehearsal 9/15/11

We had an awesome second rehearsal....we are reaching nearly 70 members...wow!  The music room is CROWDED!  But, in spite of that, we got some great work done on the opening piece of the musical.  Everyone is learning Part 2 for right now because I think it is really important to be able to hear and read music that might not always be the melody.  They did really well.  We will eventually assign parts but for now, the whole ensemble is learning both.  We did a detailed work through of the song "Jingle Bell Jukebox," learning the pitches, rhythms, and just practicing the words because they are HARD!  We started some work on the beginning of our 4th piece, "Jingle Bells Rock," which is a fun mash up of "Jingle Bells" and "Jingle Bell Rock."  

Great behavior and work from all participants!  Hooray!

First Chorus Rehearsal!

We had our first Chorus rehearsal today and it was a tremendous success!  There were over 60 students in attendance and we spent the time working on some overall vocal technique as well as a quick read through of the musical that we will be working on this season.  I am very excited about our musical, Jingle Bell Jukebox, because it is a great combination of fun, familiar songs in good arrangements, as well as some challenging but interested original songs.  

Our chorus is made up of 4th and 5th grade students who volunteer their time twice a week after school.  They go through a simple audition and application process.  It is an awesome group of kids and I am so blessed to be able to work with them.  Stay tuned for more updates as we go through our rehearsal season!

First Full Week of School

We had a great first week of school at Boger!  I have seen all of the classes at least once and Chorus and Recorder Ensemble Auditions are in full swing.  I feel really great about this year. 

 

This board is in my room this year and each class has their own "Grammy" in honor of this year's theme.  When they come to music class, they are trying to earn stickers to put on their grammy.  The more stickers, the more choices of special activities they can have or other special treats.  But, I don't tell them how many they need for certain things, they just have to keep earning them and then I surprise them with fun stuff!  The kids (and the teachers) are excited about it and responding well!
 
I hope everyone has a great long weekend!  See you Tuesday!