Winter Concert

Our winter concert is coming up quickly! Here's a copy of the note that went home (hopefully) last Tuesday.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

As some of you may have heard, second graders did a unit on Mary Poppins earlier this year. It was so popular one boy named his new hamster after the leading lady! Our wrap up activity was a composition project that was no easy feat.

Students composed rhythms in 3/4 time - a new time signature for us! They posted them on a unique and colorful creation. We sure had fun singing and flying these! Take a look -

Back to School with Musical ABC's!

What a fun time of year! Thanks for checking the blog. I'm going to try to update once a month or so this year. Here are some pictures of our ABC Scavenger Hunt today. 

I "hid" some pictures with an instrument or music word for each letter of them alphabet all over my room. 1st graders went around and found them with a partner. The music room is big with lots of room to explore!

Make sure you take a look at the district paper or google calendar to check our program dates. We'll be doing the same schedule as last year.

Looking forward to a great year!

Speaking Parts

Teaching Kindergartners about speaking parts is one of my favorite times of the year.

I explain what they are and what it would mean to have one. There's a lot of responsibility, nervousness and sometimes anxiety involved. I usually don't have many that are on the fence about the choice. Either they are too scared or they are super excited. As it gets closer to the show, things can change - their courage falters when they start to realize how many people will be watching. Or maybe they've seen their classmates practicing and they're thinking "I could do that!"

I try to build up the scripts as very important pieces of paper. Things to keep careful track of. We go through good places to keep it so it'll be seen regularly. I encourage them to practice saying their line to anything and everything around the house. Tell the dog, tell your favorite tree or set up a show for your stuffed animals.

In class I bust out the $1 plastic microphones to practice. It's trickier than you would think to say a line into it. Close to your mouth, but not too close. Speak loudly but not too loudly! Don't mumble and don't put the mic down until you've said your whole line. It's a lot of coordination. And oh yeah, and say your line with some enthusiasm!

Please help your Kindergartners (and even 2nd and 4th graders) prepare their lines for the show. It is such a big moment in their little lives and together we can make them feel prepared and confident.

Our classroom gets Smarter!

Thanks to the PTO and our awesome community, our schools have once again won a free SmartBoard!

Last year's SmartBoard is in the music room at Lecompton and this year's was installed at Perry Elementary.

First graders have started a unit exploring the uses of our board. They love being able to touch objects with their fingers to move them. It took a little while to get used to writing with the pens. Students have to write without leaning their wrists on the board. Of course the first day it was here, we all had to try it out. Below are our thank you notes to the PTO.

In other news, three grades are preparing for music programs - K, 2nd and 4th. Please look for information coming home about those. Dates are on the "program" link to the left.

It's a busy time for Ms. Beaulieu for sure! And with the weather getting so nice it can be little hard to focus in class. Students are doing a great job - I know the shows will be fantastic!

Don't forget to check out the Kaw Camp section of the site. You can find our newsletter and pictures of the students.

Thanks from Mrs. Lasater's class

Learning how to write was a little tricky but they've mastered it!

Ms. Johnson's class normal...

...and silly!

Mrs. Gantz's Class

Mrs. Harries' Class normal...

Silly time!

2nd Grade Program

Solo songs and information is to the left under "Program Information"
<------------------

In other news, last week we celebrated Dr. Seuss' Birthday and Read Across America Week.

At Perry Elementary we read my one of my favorite musical stories: Pete the Cat. You can listen to the books here: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/

In third grade, we took a break from our composer unit to sing some silly Dr. Seuss songs including "Somebody Stole My Hoo-to Foo-to Boo-to Bah". Here are the words.

However the song never says exactly what it is. Here are some ideas that third graders came up with.

This week, at PES we've been talking about opposites. High/low, fast/slow and so on. The first graders made up some movement pieces in groups today. They sure found some creative ways to keep the steady beat. Here's a little video we jammed to :)

http://www.speakaboos.com/search/results?q=opposites

Warning: It's super catchy and will get stuck in your head!!

Will You Be My Valentine?

Today was such a special day!

The students loved having their grandparents/friends come to visit. I know how much they look forward to it. This year they went straight to their classrooms. I volunteered to come around to each one to lead an activity.

15 classrooms later I'm all danced out! But it was a blast. All the students learned a song/dance called "Heel, Toe on the Line" which is a Valentine's song. Then we taught it to the grown-ups! It's a pretty simple and fun dance. I don't have any pictures or videos but between all the teachers and all the parents I bet there will be some!

In other news, several grades are gearing up for music programs. The 2nd graders are helping me pick theirs which will be on April 24th. The 4th graders have to write theirs so we're starting early. This is the third time I've done this project so I'm still working to perfect it. In a few weeks the Kindergartners will start preparing for their recognition.

Don't look for a post next week - I'm heading to Florida! For work :) I'm attending a conference on after school programs to help improve Kaw Camp.

S is for Sunflower

Sorry it has been so long since I posted! It's been busy around here!

The first graders had their grade-level music program this week. It was based on the book S is for Sunflower by Devin Scillian.

The kids did an excellent job despite our shortened rehearsal schedule. I was so proud! The audience didn't sound too bad on our Home on the Range sing a long either!

Next week is parent teacher conferences. Please feel free to stop by and see me. I usually don't have a line :)

I have...Who has...

We're one week into the second semester and it seems like time is flying!

The first grade music program is in only 18 days! January 29th at 6:30 at the Perry Elementary gymnasium. Our show is called "S is for Sunflower" and we're loving our songs so far. Please remember to have your students wear blue jeans and a black shirt. Cowboy boots are permitted but not cowboy hats. I'll be supplying a red bandanna to accessorize. 

At Lecompton, as 4th grade is wrapping up their recorder unit, the 3rd and 2nd graders learned a game called "I have...Who has...". It's one I found on a blog. I've seen it done with sightwords but this one has rhythms. The first person says their rhythm and then asks "who has.." and says a new rhythm. The rest of the kids check their card to see if it's them. We get all the way around the room. I challenged them to see how quickly they could go. 

In Kindergarten we've been singing some Wee Sing songs we learned at the beginning of the year. They're probably ones you know! Today we sang "Down By the Bay" and we got to the verse "Have you ever seen a mouse painting a house?" I remarked that a mouse couldn't paint a house, what a silly song! One Kindergartner said, "Well, it would just take a long time." In the next class someone commented, "Maybe a little house!"

I just love their imaginations :)

Sing We Joyous All Together Again!

Hello parents and students! I know it has been awhile since I posted up here. The last two weeks of the semester were, as predicted, a little bit hectic around here. I'm so looking forward to our upcoming semester. It's going to be a blast!

I'll post a bit about our winter program below but I wanted to draw your attention to the links at the left. The next music program is the 1st graders on Kansas Day (January 29th) at Perry Elementary. Please check the program info page as that gets closer. Also, if you'd like to know what we're up to in Kaw Camp feel free to check out that page. 

Our 12/12/12 concert was a bit of an experiment. Having the programs in the gym last year worked pretty well but it was fairly packed. We thought we'd try one big night and I'd say it was a success! I really enjoyed the sense of community that was felt with everyone coming together. Thank you for getting them there and showing your support. It really means a lot. 

If you pre-ordered a DVD, those should be done next week and we'll get them home as soon as possible. We will be sending out another round of order forms in case you didn't get a chance to order one and wanted to. I'll be showing it to the students next week once I have it. 

I asked the students to reflect on their performances. At Lecompton we filled out a worksheet and drew pictures that reminded them of the concert. We got a lot of pictures of the Grinch :) At Perry, I had them answer the same questions in a discussion. Here are some of their responses:

When I was singing, I felt...

awesome

EPIC

happy

pretty good about myself

nervous

christmas/y

gorgeous 

kind of nauseous 

The hardest thing was...

paying attention to the teacher

to get out of that crowd

playing the recorder

to sing in front of the crowd

We also have some pictures from the evening: 

1st graders - Ring a Little Bell

Woah! That's a crowd!

Mrs. Shaw and Perdido

Kindergartners - Rudolph

Siblings with Santa

4th graders - The Grinch

3rd grade - Frosty the Snowman

2nd grade hanging out before the show