Last night was the first big performance of the year! La fête d'hiver: Winter Celebration! 11 classes, 12 songs and 400+ people were there! By the grace of God, it all went smoothly. It helped that we had two rehearsals the past week. I feel very relieved that it is over though! I'm already brainstorming for "La fête de la musique" in March. I think we'll go with a similar program but I'd really like each class to get to play instruments with their songs. It would be so great if the 2nd and 3rd graders could play the new Orff barred instruments too!
In other news, my DonorsChoose field trip to the symphony in February was funded on Monday! DonorsChoose is covering the cost of the bus and 40 of the tickets. I found out about this camera giveaway today that would be wonderful to take pictures of the field trip and other DonorsChoose projects in the future. Check it out! http://www.ohsoposhphotography.com/blog/?p=5458
This is truly the season of giving and I am inspired by this photographers' desire to give back.
One of the highlights of last night was seeing all of the families of the students together and celebrating their students learning. You could really feel the shared pride and love radiating from everyone there. Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Operation Glockenspiel
This morning I broke a personal rule to not go to school and work on the weekend. But it was for a very good reason: Operation Glockenspiel.This was no ordinary mission. So many different components had to fall into place but thanks to supportive administrators, understanding committee members, my good friend Jenny and my awesome husband the mission was accomplished!
In October, I applied for The French School to "host" a classroom set of 12 Orff barred instruments (mellophones, xylophones and glockenspiels) We borrowed our friend's SUV to pick up the instruments from a storage facility and then transported them back to the school. I breathed such a sigh of relief when the instruments were safely in the classroom and we had returned our friend's car!
Now I have a classroom set of instruments! It is worth over $8000! I get to keep them until next November when the national conference will be held in St. Louis. I am really looking forward to teaching the students how to play songs with such cool instruments! A retired music teacher from the St. Louis AOSA chapter is going to come help me teach the first lessons after Christmas too!
I can't wait to see the looks on the students' faces when I tell them we have more than just tambourines and rhythm sticks to play now. I'll keep you posted on the final results of Operation Glockenspiel!
In October, I applied for The French School to "host" a classroom set of 12 Orff barred instruments (mellophones, xylophones and glockenspiels) We borrowed our friend's SUV to pick up the instruments from a storage facility and then transported them back to the school. I breathed such a sigh of relief when the instruments were safely in the classroom and we had returned our friend's car!
Now I have a classroom set of instruments! It is worth over $8000! I get to keep them until next November when the national conference will be held in St. Louis. I am really looking forward to teaching the students how to play songs with such cool instruments! A retired music teacher from the St. Louis AOSA chapter is going to come help me teach the first lessons after Christmas too!
I can't wait to see the looks on the students' faces when I tell them we have more than just tambourines and rhythm sticks to play now. I'll keep you posted on the final results of Operation Glockenspiel!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Piano Passion
Recently I started taking piano lessons. In my quest to become a better music teacher, I thought that piano would be pretty helpful. My main instrument (for about 16 years!) has been the flute. :-)
As much as I love the flute, piano is definitely a more versatile instrument. Eventually I'll be able to accompany my students in their performances instead of just being able to play scales for vocal warm ups.
This week in one of the 1st grade classes, I was blown away by one of my students. He is usually a pretty shy 6 year old but he asked me if he could play a couple songs he had learned in piano for the class. He proceeded to confidently play FROM MEMORY Ode to Joy and Jingle Bells! It was magical. By a stroke of luck, his class is singing the French version of Jingle Bells "Vive le Vent" for the Winter Concert! I asked him if he would want to play along with the class (who will be playing real jingle bells) I hope he will! I told his mom how great he was right after school. Needless to say, she was so proud! It was very inspiring for me to see a normally shy, quiet student express himself through music. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
As much as I love the flute, piano is definitely a more versatile instrument. Eventually I'll be able to accompany my students in their performances instead of just being able to play scales for vocal warm ups.
This week in one of the 1st grade classes, I was blown away by one of my students. He is usually a pretty shy 6 year old but he asked me if he could play a couple songs he had learned in piano for the class. He proceeded to confidently play FROM MEMORY Ode to Joy and Jingle Bells! It was magical. By a stroke of luck, his class is singing the French version of Jingle Bells "Vive le Vent" for the Winter Concert! I asked him if he would want to play along with the class (who will be playing real jingle bells) I hope he will! I told his mom how great he was right after school. Needless to say, she was so proud! It was very inspiring for me to see a normally shy, quiet student express himself through music. This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Praxis Passed!
I am so happy to report that I passed the Music Content Praxis exam! Now I am a "highly qualified" French music teacher!
The teaching highlight of this last week was in a kindergarten class. I've been trying to improve transitions in my classes. It seems that after only 10 seconds of down time some students lose interest and focus! So I experimented this week. While transitioning from teaching a new song (using the stereo) to learning half notes (on the board) I decided to sing a couple songs with the kids that we have learned the past few weeks. It worked really well! I know that I probably have heard of this method before but for some reason I hadn't tried it yet. I can't wait to see how it works with all of the grades. Bon week-end!
The teaching highlight of this last week was in a kindergarten class. I've been trying to improve transitions in my classes. It seems that after only 10 seconds of down time some students lose interest and focus! So I experimented this week. While transitioning from teaching a new song (using the stereo) to learning half notes (on the board) I decided to sing a couple songs with the kids that we have learned the past few weeks. It worked really well! I know that I probably have heard of this method before but for some reason I hadn't tried it yet. I can't wait to see how it works with all of the grades. Bon week-end!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Piano Lab
After a mere 6 days from start to finish, I am thrilled that my new DonorsChoose project has already been funded! I am working on raising money this year to buy 10-12 full size keyboards for my classroom. Then for the older students next year (3rd and 4th graders) we can have a piano lab! The students are already getting excited and I am too! With the funding of this 1st DonorsChoose project, we now have a great start to the piano lab. We have 2 keyboards now, with stands and headphones.
DonorsChoose.org!
It is awesome!
DonorsChoose.org!
It is awesome!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Entertaining Exam
Yesterday I took my Music Content Knowledge certification exam. Unfortunately, I have to wait 4 weeks to find out my results. It was definitely the most unique exam I've ever taken. Since I started this blog, I've been studying (at least once a week) for this test. As my mother likes to say "Do your best and let God take care of the rest" I feel like I did that, and if I don't pass I'll review more and try try again!
The exam was unique in that there were 30 listening questions in which I had to identify composers, chords, world region, genre, performers etc. It was kind of like having your Itunes on shuffle and then answering questions about the music. :-)
In other news, my 2nd year of teaching music in French immersion is in full swing. I didn't get to go to my Level I Orff summer training course because it was canceled due to low enrollment. Dommage. Too bad. I'm going to attend all of the workshops put on by the AOSA music teachers professional organization here in St. Louis though. They are great! I always feel so encouraged and rejuvenated after them. Plus I walk away with at least 10+ interactive fun lessons! I just have to translate them into French and I have so many native speakers around at school to help me with that. :-)
Have a great week and enjoy the autumn weather!
The exam was unique in that there were 30 listening questions in which I had to identify composers, chords, world region, genre, performers etc. It was kind of like having your Itunes on shuffle and then answering questions about the music. :-)
In other news, my 2nd year of teaching music in French immersion is in full swing. I didn't get to go to my Level I Orff summer training course because it was canceled due to low enrollment. Dommage. Too bad. I'm going to attend all of the workshops put on by the AOSA music teachers professional organization here in St. Louis though. They are great! I always feel so encouraged and rejuvenated after them. Plus I walk away with at least 10+ interactive fun lessons! I just have to translate them into French and I have so many native speakers around at school to help me with that. :-)
Have a great week and enjoy the autumn weather!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Flying Solo
I am very blessed to have a teacher assistant, Monsieur Abdou. Most elementary music teachers do not have assistants and our school's teacher to student ratio is not the norm in public schools. Usually he helps me out for 5 of my 8 classes. On Thursday, Abdou's host family took him on an all day cycling trip. He really deserved the day off but needless to say, being alone with 20+ children ages 5-9 holding tambourines and maracas is tough. I am still learning a lot about elementary classroom management. That is a long way to say, I spend a lot of time trying to keep the children in control and on task. Having another adult in the classroom to manage the hyper children (or the ones having melt downs) is priceless.
By the grace of God, it was a successful instruction day. I wanted to let the students play percussion instruments to a song they knew really well. So I passed out maracas and tambourines for "Les cro-cro" It is an upbeat 2/4 song about crocodiles. I let them dance (on the red lines without jumping on the flip forms of course) and they did a great job of playing their instruments and staying on the beat. I could tell they were all trying hard and having fun too! This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
By the grace of God, it was a successful instruction day. I wanted to let the students play percussion instruments to a song they knew really well. So I passed out maracas and tambourines for "Les cro-cro" It is an upbeat 2/4 song about crocodiles. I let them dance (on the red lines without jumping on the flip forms of course) and they did a great job of playing their instruments and staying on the beat. I could tell they were all trying hard and having fun too! This is one of the reasons why I do what I do.
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