Our first couple of weeks of music classes at Notre Dame Elementary have been very busy! Now that we've had our introductions and met one another, we're building
camaraderie and filling up our time together with songs, activities and projects!
The
1st and
2nd Graders began by learning
"Deep And Wide" and
"Hallelu-Hallelu", two fun Contemporary Religious songs that got everyone up and out of their seats, not only praising God with their voice but also with their entire body. Ask your children to show you the sign language for "hallelujah" and "Lord", two words we learned to "sign" during music class. Sign language is a great tool in emphasizing/learning the words to the music and helps us use our large motor skills as well. We had some laughs with
"*Wiggleworm/STATUE" (*MK8). I'm sure you can figure out what kind of antics we played while singing that song!
During our second music class (09/09/09) the
1st Graders sang
"*Right Side - Left Side" (*MK8), a song to reinforce their knowledge about which hand is which. We also sang a song to go along with the current baseball season called:
"*Seventh Inning Stretch" (*MK8) - a song that gets us out of our chairs and stretching our bodies as well as singing. We talked about the musical staff, the repeat sign, and 1st and 2
nd endings while looking at our music. In just two short weeks your children are already learning to follow what we call "the road map" of music.
In almost ALL of the grades your children will be receiving sheet music from
*Music K-8, Plank Road Publishing and filing it in their binders. You can access ALL the music we sing in the classroom at home by going to:
https://www.musick8kids.com/Their site will allow you to download *some of the songs your children are singing in the classroom. Then they can share the music with you
(and Grandma & Grandpa when they are visiting) at home!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
As the students are beginning to receive music for their binders we are filing it in their binders.
EVERYONE should have a 1 1/2" HARD-cover "locking" binder
and
A through Z alphabetical tabbed dividers
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders learned a fun folk-rock style song called "*Bright Happy Day" (*MK8), which gets us all in the best mood and ready to sing just about anything! Me, of course wanting them to get
excited about music class, taught them a song called
"*Music Class" (*MK8) that reminds them that music rounds their education, teaching subjects like spelling, reading, science, English, math, and history through song. It's a known fact that music makes our brain work better! And you'll be happy to know that I plan to do a LOT of cross-curricular teaching as the year goes on. I asked the children to describe "chant" for me and then we discussed the various ways and where chant is used. We then sang a song called
"*Vowel Chant" (*MK8) which sounds hauntingly Halloween-ish...and of course, the children love it! A great way to reinforce a-e-i-o-u...and sometimes y.
3rd, 4th, and 5th explored even further by opening up Music Express Magazine and sang a song written by Kara DioGuardi (composer and American Idol Judge) for the Jonas Brothers: "Play My Music"6th, 7th, and
8th Graders received their
Music Alive! Magazines (they will receive 8 issues/year in total) ang got a chance to skim over the contents before we listened to the feature
Song of the Month: "Patience" sung by
Anika Noni Rose from
Dreamgirls. It's a great example of "call and response", a type of vocal exchange which can be heard in everything from gospel to blues to hip-hop.
Each student was given a
project to complete entitled
MUSIC IN MY LIFE to work on and return the following week, which gave them the opportunity to (a) show who their music idol is (and why)?, (b) what instrument(s) their idol plays? (c) what would their idol's playlist be?, (d) what genre/style of music do they listen to (and why)?. Look for some of these projects on the music bulletin board in the NDE hallway.
We read the article about Kara DioGuardi in Music Express Magazine and listened to a taped interview she had with Jay Jacobson (composer and Editor of Music Express Magazine) and then sang "Play My Music", the song she wrote for the Jonas Brothers.Now we are working on learning and memorizing the words to
"*The Star-Spangled Banner". We'll be singing our National Anthem throughout the school year, once a month, in EVERY classroom. We'll be playing some fun games and watching some famous artists perform it, so be sure to ask your children just how they are learning the words!
It's my goal, as your music teacher, to have every student here learn the national anthem. Who knows...maybe sometime in the future one of our NDE students will stand on the podium at the Olympic Stadium and hear
"*The Star-Spangled Banner" being played for them? Wouldn't it be great if they could proudly sing the words as it is being played?
I hope to see you at our NDE Picnic Mass and hear your beautiful voices joined together in song for our first community mass together! Please come and join us in a volunteer choir, which will be meeting at 10:30 a.m. the morning of the mass (Sunday, September 27th) on the field. Bring your voices, guitars, banjos, tambourines, drums, piano skills! We'd love to have you join in! Remember... Scripture reads: Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
NDE will be starting a
Junior High Choir in October. The choir will rehearse Wednesday mornings from 7:25 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. in the Teacher's Lounge.
BOYS and
GIRLS in the
5th through 8th Grades are encouraged to participate. There will be a $75.00 per semester fee. Registration forms will be available through Mrs. Marconi or the school office next week. (Sept 22 - 25)
The choir will lead all school masses, will perform at Christmas at Ralston, at the Christmas Prayer Service, at the SF Archdiocesan Choral Festival, and other events throughout the year (TBA). Please encourage your child(ren) to join! Forms should be completed and submitted to the office by September 29th.
Our first choir rehearsal will be October 7th.
If you should have any questions please contact me:
tmarconi@nde.orgAs always...
"Keep Singing!"
