Fine Arts Weekly Update
May 10, 2024
Band - Mahacek/Stevison/Tokos
6TH/7TH/8TH GRADE BAND
The Hixson Pops Concert is on Wednesday, May 15th at 6:00 on the Hixson practice field (South side of school).
Students should arrive at 5:35 for warm-up.
Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating. Also, parking will be at a premium!
The concert will feature the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade bands and should end around 6:45. In the case of bad weather, the concert will move to the Hixson Gym.
Students should wear their Hixson Band t-shirt along with shorts or jeans and tennis shoes. Students may opt to wear sunglasses as well.
See everyone on May 15th!
Please email us if you have any questions,
Drew Mahacek - mahacek.drew@wgmail.org Joe Stevison - stevison.joe@wgmail.org Emily Tokos - tokos.emily@wgmail.org
Orchestra: Grubb
*Mrs. Grubb is on maternity leave for the rest of the school year. Please reach out to her long-term sub, Mrs. Susan Nelson, at nelson.susan@wgmail.org if you have any questions or concerns.*
IN CLASS: For the remainder of the school year, students are working in small groups (called ensembles) of 2-5 people. Each group has chosen 2 short songs to practice together, and will perform both songs for their class on Wednesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 16th. It is important that each individual person knows their own part very well in order for the group to sound good together and be successful. This requires students to practice and learn their part at home so when they come to class, the group can work on putting the song together with the different parts. If they can’t play their own part, the group will not be able to stay together and will not be successful. Students will receive participation points for this unit, depending on how well they use their class time and how well they work together as a group.
AT HOME PRACTICE (1 hour per week, minimum): Ensemble Songs
-Mrs. Grubb
INTERMEDIATE ORCHESTRA
*Mrs. Grubb is on maternity leave for the rest of the school year. Please reach out to her long-term sub, Mrs. Susan Nelson, at nelson.susan@wgmail.org if you have any questions or concerns.*
IN CLASS: For the remainder of the school year, students are working in small groups (called ensembles) of 2-5 people. Each group has chosen 2 short songs to practice together, and will perform both songs for their class on Wednesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 16th. It is important that each individual person knows their own part very well in order for the group to sound good together and be successful. This requires students to practice and learn their part at home so when they come to class, the group can work on putting the song together with the different parts. If they can’t play their own part, the group will not be able to stay together and will not be successful. Students will receive participation points for this unit, depending on how well they use their class time and how well they work together as a group.
AT HOME PRACTICE (1.5 hours per week, minimum): Ensemble Songs
-Mrs. Grubb
ADVANCED ORCHESTRA
*Mrs. Grubb is on maternity leave for the rest of the school year. Please reach out to her long-term sub, Mrs. Susan Nelson, at nelson.susan@wgmail.org if you have any questions or concerns.*
IN CLASS: For the remainder of the school year, students are working in small groups (called ensembles) of 2-5 people. Each group has chosen 2 short songs to practice together, and will perform both songs for their class on Wednesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 16th. It is important that each individual person knows their own part very well in order for the group to sound good together and be successful. This requires students to practice and learn their part at home so when they come to class, the group can work on putting the song together with the different parts. If they can’t play their own part, the group will not be able to stay together and will not be successful. Students will receive participation points for this unit, depending on how well they use their class time and how well they work together as a group.
AT HOME PRACTICE (2 hours per week, minimum): Ensemble Songs
-Mrs. Grubb
Choir: Mueller
6TH/7TH/8TH GRADE CHOIR
For our remaining time in choir, the students have proposed songs they enjoy that we could learn for fun, and each class voted on their top two choices from those options. The students have also been finishing up learning how to read simple meter rhythms with takadimi syllables and did an excellent job with our Group Takadimi Challenge!
Music Discovery - Mueller
In Fifth Period Music Discovery, we are wrapping things up for the year with our Meaningful Songs projects, where students have picked a song that has personal meaning to them that they enjoy, researched it, and are now finishing up by explaining why they like that song.
Art: Hannel
VISUAL ART 6
Our last unit of study is a fiber art study. Students will try to make felt with a wet felting technique. It’s a great lesson in science! If time allows, we will do some simple sewing to make the felt into something beautiful! I have enjoyed this group and watching them develop drawing skills and learning how to construct in clay. We have done a lot of work in 9 short weeks! I hope to see their faces in Art 1 next year!
See the class syllabus HERE. Contact Mrs. Hannel HERE.
ART 1
The end of the year is here! To wrap it all up, students will be cleaning out their bins, getting all the art back from the art show and taking it all home. I also plan to give them some time to explore a little sculpture. It’ll be a fun way to end our time together. Thank you for sharing your young artists with me. I have enjoyed them and hope to see their faces in Art 2 next year!
See the class syllabus HERE. Contact Mrs. Hannel HERE.
ART 2
Our last week is upon us. We will finish our time together exploring plaster and hollow casting. Sculpture is a fun way to end the year! Also, next week students will be cleaning out their bins and taking home the artwork from the art show. I have really enjoyed this group of artists! They have given their best try with each unit of study and have really impressed me with their work ethic and creativity. I hope they all enjoy art at the high school level… they are ready and have what it takes!
Drama: Conners
6th Grade Drama Discovery - Drama Discovery students have been working really hard during this fourth and final term of school. TheY started the term with our ensemble building unit which focuses on building positive community traits through theater games. Students explored theater games that focused on listening, respect, supporting, trust, accountability and responsibility and other important positive group traits. This unit was followed by Intro to Pantomime where students learned to act and create effective stories without using words or sounds. This unit was followed by Improvisation which allowed the students to perform without using scripts and focused on improvisational skills and traits. Students then explored our Reader’s Theater unit that allowed them to create scripts through the format of readers theater which is a unique form of script writing and performing. Finally, students are ending this term by writing Original realistic dialogue scenes with characters, setting and a strong conflict in proper script writing format which they will rehearse and perform. Thank you to the students for a wonderful school year!
Assignments that are due: Original realistic scenes are due Monday, May 13th. All work will be completed in class.
Drama I - Students in Drama I are currently in the process of working on their Fairytale theater unit. In this unit students are working collaboratively with partners to adapt a classic fairytale with a twist. Students are expected to design the set, costumes, props as well as, practice performance skills in preparation for their final assessment.
Assignments due: Please continue to work on memorization and characterization.
Drama II - Students in Drama II recently started our short filmmaking unit. In this unit students are learning how to create and write a screenplay in proper format. Students are also expected to act, film and edit their short film as a final assessment. Students are in the filming phase of this unit and will hopefully be able to edit their film before the school year is out. They have been working hard and pushing through to complete this final project.
Homework: No homework at this time
FYI- For all drama classes I allow students plenty of time to practice/rehearsal during class. I am reminding students to please use that time wisely during class and any work not completed in class should be worked on at home.
For any questions or concerns please contact Mr. Conners at conners.eric@wgmail.org
Click: 2021/2022 Theater SyllabusContact Us
Mrs. Grubb- grubb.stephanie@wgmail.org
Mrs. Hannel- hannel.jenny@wgmail.org
Mr. Stevison- stevison.joe@wgmail.org
Mrs. Tokos- tokos.emily@wgmail.org
Mr. Mahacek- mahacek.drew@wgmail.org
Mrs. Dickens (Drama Discovery) - dickens.alexandria@wgmail.org
Mr. Davis (Music Discovery) - davis.jaylen@wgmail.org