Panther Choir singing at the SME Girls Basketball game National Anthem at 5:00

2nd and 3rd grade March 31, 2025 at 6pm in the Gym Theme is "Cookies" being proud of being unique

4th grade April 14, 2025 at 6pm Theme is I Love Broadway.

Students are learning how to:

• identify and demonstrate high/low pitch
• echo movement and singing
• walking in the music space and on their assigned spot
• keep steady
• We are continuing to practice 4 voices along with fast/slow, and loud/quiet

Here is what we are working on:

• reading quarter notes and paired eighth notes- students identify them as "ta" and "titi"
• Identifying what rhythm we know goes with words provided
• playing quarter notes and paired eighth notes to a steady beat on buckets.
• recognizing a silent beat
• Moving our body to music
• Singing voices, matching pitch, and identifying when their voice goes high and when it goes low.

Here is what we are working on:

• where our new solfege sound is-that is lower than mi
• a new rhythm half note and that it is 1 long sound for 2 beats
• singing, analyzing, and writing mi, sol, and la and adding the rhythm to it on the staff
• Moving our body to music movements with a partner that are specific and by themself
• preparing our concert "Cookies, the Musical"

Here is what we are working on:

• new rhythm that is 4 fast sounds on 1 beat 4 sixteenth notes tika-tika
• singing do, re, mi, sol, la(matching pitch)
• Singing in canon or a round
• Reading and playing with rhythms that we know(ta, titi, rest, ta-ah, tika-tika) quarter note, paired eighth notes, quarter rest, and half note, 4 sixteenth notes
• Moving our body to music movements with a partner and/or by themselves that are specific.
• Playing "B" and "A" on the recorder reading from the staff and playing along with a track.
• Preparing for our concert "Cookies, the Musical"

Here is what they are working on:

• writing known songs with rhythm and solfege onto whiteboards and into Canvas
• matching pitch on do re mi sol la
• playing the recorder on DE GAB currently playing Old Brass Wagon
• moving to music with a partner and/or by themselves to a set of specific movements
• learning a new solfege sound that is lower than "do".
• practicing and playing all of our known rhythms quarter note(ta) paired eighth notes(titi), quarter rest, half note(ta-ah), 4 sixteenths (tika-tika), 1eighth 2 sixteenths(ti-tika) , 2 sixteenth 1 eighth(tika-ti)
• We will start practicing for our concert "I love Broadway" in the next week.

Here is what they are working on:

• a new solfa sound lower than low la
• matching pitch la, do re mi so la and singing in a canon
• playing the buckets with the rhythms that they know along with placing them on different places on the bucket.
• moving to music with a partner and/or by themselves to a set of specific movements
• creating a Winter themed rhythm composition, added a melody, transferred that to the staff, and currently practicing their melodies to record into Garage Band. Students will then add loops to their melody to arrange their song.

Here is what we are working on:

• placing what sol, la, do re mi fa sol la do' on the staff if they know where 1 note is.
• matching pitch on sol, la, do re mi fa sol la do'
• using all known rhythms, ta(quarter note), titi(paired eighth notes), quarter rest, half note(ta-ah), 4 sixteenth notes(tika-tika,) 1 eighth note with 2 sixteenth notes(ti-tika and tika-ti), ti ta ti/syncopa, and tam-ti (dotted quarter note eighth note)
• recognizing leaps, skips, whole step, and half step between notes on the staff
• moving to music with a partner and/or by themselves to a set of specific movements or creating their own movements to go with a song.
• Students are creating their own song that they will record in Garage Band and add loops to.
• Students are preparing a piece on the buckets as their music room performance for the quarter. Please be on the look out for that in your email around the end of the 3rd quarter.

5th & 6th grade band continues to make progress, even while missing approx. 10 classes due to assemblies and other conflicts. After a successful Little Lancer Night on Feb 4, we now turn our attention to preparing music for our mass band concerts on March 4th. We are looking forward to performing for our families and showing the progress we are continuing to make!

• Choir is singing the National Anthem at the SME girls basketball game on Feb. 21 at 5:00 Students will need to be there at 4:45 to get lined up and warmed up.
• Then on Monday Feb. 24, at 6:00 choir is singing in the 2nd/3rd grade concert "Cookies, the Musical". Choir members need to be in my room by 5:45 to get lined up and in the gym to start at 6.
• Please make sure you have joined the Remind app and put in the code h968h89.

Strings Update!

5th Grade Strings:

Our 5th grade string students have been working hard and making impressive progress with their bowing technique! They've been practicing everything from a proper bow hold to playing on the string and bowing at the same time. It's a little bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach! The improvement is amazing thanks to their hard work and dedication. It’s wonderful to see how their hard work is paying off. Keep it up, 5th graders!

6th Grade Strings:

The 6th grade string class is diving into two new pieces this month: Instinct by Brian Balmages and Cripple Creek, a Traditional American Folk Song. Instinct is an aggressive work for young string players. It portrays those inherent, sometimes raw behaviors that help a species survive. All string parts move almost entirely by stepwise motion and use just half and whole notes. Cripple Creek introduces a fun folk tune that’s sure to get their fiddle on! The students are already bringing great energy to these new pieces, and it’s going to be a fun challenge for them as they continue to develop their skills.

The second semester is my favorite part of the year because the kids are ready for the next level of playing and we get to have more fun!

~Ms. Smith~

student code is m691518