Kangaroos activity

This week in first and second grade music, we had a fun activity relating to the Kangaroo music from Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals. We made our first two fingers into kangaroo ears and hopped them up and down our other arm to the music. Then we looked at a visualization of the music on the board which consisted of dots and wavy lines. We made our own sounds as we traced the patterns in the air. We "painted" in the air with our fingers. Then we opened up each piece of felt (one per student) and saw the dot stickers and piece of yarn. Each student created their own music. We practiced following the dots and lines while we made our own corresponding sounds. Some students chose to share theirs with the class. It was awesome, and every kid (every kid! was engaged).

I must credit Sandy Stauffer, who taught us that at a recent workshop.

As you can see from the photo in the lower right side, the music rug is still going strong! Every day I am so happy to have that rug in the music room.

Afternoon Project

My project this afternoon was to assemble sets of flashcards for my beginning string students. My friend and cohort made the templates, then I photocopied them onto card stock, then cut them up, grouped them, punched holes in the corners and put each group on its own ring.

This year, this was more of a deal than last because I have 18 beginners - 12 violins, 4 violas, 2 cellos. I told them that when they pass their Twinkle test next week, they will get a set of flashcards. They seemed very excited about that.

Student Musician

A new second grader has come to Vista, and after his first music class, he appeared in the music room after school with his mother and her friend in tow. I asked him if he left something in the room (someone is always forgetting something). Nope. He just wanted his mom to meet me.

His mom said that he loves music, picks out tunes on the piano, etc. He said he wants to learn to play violin, and I told him that he could take lessons in school in 4th grade. I said that we do lots of pre-music notation activities and she said, "J said that you did a little bit of theory, that's great!" Wow, a parent who knows to say music theory...

Love Notes

Yesterday was my last day teaching music in Kindergarten for the year. I received some very sweet notes from the children. You can tell which words were written for them to copy and which they spelled all by themselves. Here are pictures of just a few of my favorites.

Some of the drawings were quite involved.

Up and Running in the New Year

Today was the first day of school in 2013 for the CUSD. After two weeks off, it is always a little shock to the system to get back into the routine. However, this time of year is very sweet. Kids are generally in the groove, but since they've had a break, they are not worn out and I think they are generally happy to be back with their friends. Some even like the structure, but don't tell them that.

I really enjoyed all my classes today, although with the very first group we played a game where we had to sing louder and softer for the game hot and cold, and we had to sing very loudly at times to make sure the guesser could figure out where the hidden button was. My voice was a little strained after that class, but it slowly came back for the next 4.

I am working on presenting a lesson for teachers (music and classroom) next month, and I'm using the second graders as guinea pigs, and so far, what I envision is working. I'll spread the lesson over three weeks, in order to let the information sink in for the kids. This gets shortened to one 45-minute presentation for the teachers.

So, it was a good day, but now I'm tired...

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

I am a Sunday School aide this session (which means I am a second adult in the room and help take care of little things, like making sure the kids are signed in and out, serving snack, helping with various tasks, but not lesson planning or teaching), and yesterday's lesson was about Joshua and the battle of Jericho. The teacher of the 2nd and 3rd grade class built this replica of the Jericho walls and had the kids reenact the story by walking around the city walls the requisite number of times. Do you know how many times that was?

I'll tell you. It was once a day for 6 days in silence, and then on the 7th day, they blew their trumpets and walked around the city 7 times (for a grand total of 13) until the walls fell. The kids played on their kazoos and then helped with a minor earthquake to knock the city down. They might remember this story in the future...

Fonts and Kindergarten

At the beginning of the school year, I do a unit on farm animals (with songs, poems, movement, instruments, etc) in kindergarten. I make my own visuals since the visuals that come with the curriculum (Gameplan by Delelles and Kriske) are a tad pricey ($340 for just K). I have been looking at the little picture I have of lamb and as I point out the letters to the kids, I keep thinking that I need a new visual since the "a" does not look like the lower case a that schoolchildren are taught to print. We are used to reading both the single-story as well as double-story types of letters, but elementary school promotes the single story variety.

I started browsing the various fonts available in my word processor, and the best one I came up with is Chalkboard for the single-story lower case a. The other two most-used fonts have the double-story a.

Full Steam Ahead!

I really appreciate the way that my school year starts by layering in. By that I mean that I start with a week or two of private lessons, then I add general music teaching at Vista by mid-September. The first week of October brings the start of the CUSD Elementary Instrumental Music Program (EIMP), and yesterday I had my first string classes.

This year works a little differently because we are splitting up our orchestra into two groups, depending upon experience, so on Mondays I have three classes instead of two. I managed to survive all three groups, mostly because string students are the very best (I may have said this once or twenty thousand times before), and because we start a little slowly, making sure everyone is in the right place. Also, some students are confused and don't make it to the first day of class, so the numbers are a little lower until everyone gets on board.

So now, for me, the school year is running on all cylinders as of yesterday!

What's in a Name?

What is the sweetest thing to a child's ear? Their own name. When my daughter was in nursery school, the school director once told the parents that we should make deposits into the children's "good feelings bank" on a daily basis. Obviously that is a fundamentally important idea since I have carted it around in my head now for over 20 years. How sweet it is to have someone say hi to you by name.

I have many students. Many. At Vista our whole school population is just over 300. In October I will add students from other schools in our string program, so I will have another 40-50 names to learn (or relearn!). I want to make a concerted effort to learn everyone's name and use it - look them in the eye, smile and make a connection.

In my music blog today, I posted about one way in which I am starting to work towards my goal, incorporating names into the curriculum. I know I may not get to 100%, but I am going to strive towards that.

Counting Down

Two more classes at Vista next week.
One recital for private students this weekend.

Then summer is official for me!

The Joys of Teaching

I am so pleased with a new student who started with me last month.  He took recorder with me at Vista last year as a third grader (and did quite well).   He did not start an instrument in the school music program this fall, but he went to a children's concert by the Claremont Symphony Orchestra in January and came home to declare that he wanted to take violin lessons.

He has had 5 lessons with me so far, and I can tell that he takes his practicing seriously.  He also seems to have a natural affinity to the violin.  Today he told me that his goal is to be as good as Joshua Bell.  At the rate he's going, he can certainly achieve that goal!

Orffing and Socializing

Today was the day for Claremont music teachers to get inspired for the new year! I am a member of the American Orff Schulwerk Society where I have borrowing privileges for the video library. I thought that if I borrowed three videos, I should share them with friends, so this is what we did. Jody offered her house, we brought salads to share and watched some truly inspirational teaching. We will definitely have to do this again sometime!

Memory Lane

Liesl and I have been reminiscing today. First we watched The Grinch and Charlie Brown's Christmas (Rudolph is tomorrow), then we went through some of her old school work. She wanted me to scan some of the funnier stories, and here is one where she nearly predicts her future. If she had known about neuroscience in first grade, perhaps her teaching topic would have included neurons.

It's that time of year

Children are very hard to teach this time of year. That is all.

'Tis the Season

It's the time of year to get my beginning strings at Vista into gear for their first performance - Jingle Bells at our Winter Sing next week. We will play it twice - once with pizzicato (plucking), once with the bow. They are a little nervous, but they'll do great. There is safety in numbers, and we have 19 beginners!

A Happy Sound

Today I made the kindergarteners giggle with glee. I played the Trepak from Nutcracker, and in the accented parts, we splayed open our hands as though flicking paint on the wall. They were enjoying that so much that we added a little jump when we did that.

Orchestra Happiness

My little orchestra at Vista has 6 players, the smallest group I've ever had. Last week I decided that my two beginning cellists at Vista were ready to join us, especially since the music has mostly open strings for them. They came to rehearsal today and did great, with smiles on their faces. I also bragged about them to the rest of the orchestra telling them that I chose Sarah and Grace since they were some of my beginners who actually practice!

We will be ready to play for the Winter Sing next month - yay!

More String Classes

It was over 100 degrees today, and it is still hot now. Thank goodness the three rooms I taught in today were air conditioned. Kindergarten at Vista, then beginning strings at Oakmont and Condit. Slow to start since not everyone came (3 of 10 at Oakmont - 7 of 14 at Condit), but I'm still tired, nonetheless! BUT, I am going to enjoy all my classes, I think, unless the real stinkers missed the first day....

And we're off!

First day of string classes this year. First day of teaching strings in one and a half years.

I'm tired!

Firsts and Lasts

Today was my first day back teaching music at Vista after our wonderful sabbatical year. I had two classes of 3rd graders and a group of 24 upper graders. Right now I am tired and ready to relax before orchestra tonight. It will take awhile before I'm truly back in the swing.

Today was Claire's last day at Starbucks. Tomorrow is her day to make sure that all her loose ends are tied up before she takes off for London!