I can't believe the time has come. In just one more day, I'll say goodbye to Park Hill. I'll turn in my keys, take one last look at the charming building I've come to love, and say goodbye to a beautiful chapter of my life.
Thank you to all of the members of this community for making my time at Park Hill full of fond memories, personal and professional growth, and fun. I've built strong relationships with colleagues, families, and students that I will always cherish.
As Winnie the Pooh once said, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." Too true, Winnie, too true.
I'll be sending warm (literally) thoughts from around the world in Abu Dhabi. Until we meet again, my friends, be well.
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Invitiations
Hi everyone,
I'd like to extend an invitation to all! This Saturday (May 7th) I will be performing with the Thornton Community Band and Skyview High School (8990 York St.) in Thornton at 7:30pm. The concert is FREE and is entitled "Magnificant Movies." We will play lots of great film music, including music from Star Wars! I'd love to see some folks from Park Hill there!
Also, 5th grade will be performing their feature concert "African Tunes and Tales" on Wednesday, May 18th at 6pm (students arrive at 5:30.) Be there!
I'd like to extend an invitation to all! This Saturday (May 7th) I will be performing with the Thornton Community Band and Skyview High School (8990 York St.) in Thornton at 7:30pm. The concert is FREE and is entitled "Magnificant Movies." We will play lots of great film music, including music from Star Wars! I'd love to see some folks from Park Hill there!
Also, 5th grade will be performing their feature concert "African Tunes and Tales" on Wednesday, May 18th at 6pm (students arrive at 5:30.) Be there!
Friday, April 15, 2016
This week and announcement
Hi all,
Before I summarize the learning from this week, I'd like to share my announcement that most have probably heard by now. Next year, I will be moving abroad to teach at an international school and will not be at Park Hill. It was a very difficult decision because of the support and care I have enjoyed in the Park Hill community. I am sad to leave such a wonderful group of families, students, and colleagues, but I'm excited at the opportunities that await me in Abu Dhabi. Please stop by in these last weeks of the school year to say goodbye!
This week in...
Kindergarten- we encouraged the sun to come out! We performed the poem "The Sun is in My Heart" using whispering, speaking, and shouting voices with movements. We also sang "Mr. Sun" and performed the steady beat of the song on rhythm sticks. We learned to perform different rhythm patterns using the word "sun" (one long sound) and "mister" (two short sounds). We arranged pictures on the board that went with the words "sun" and "mister" to figure out how to play different patterns of long and short. At the end of class, we got Baxter the Music Room Bear out of his winter hibernation! He came out to sing with us about spring time!
1st grade- we have been having fun with the song "Rain, Rain Go Away." Today we learned to read that song on the music staff! We reviewed the beat and rhythms of the song, and also remembered that we recently learned a NEW note, la. We now know the notes la, so, and mi. Woohoo! We watched a silly video, too:
Rain, Rain Go Away video
We then brainstormed ideas of things we like to do outside (or things we would like to do outside when it's raining!) and sang about them.
2nd grade- we were true royalty this week! We've been using songs and poems about kings and queens for the last month or more of music class, and today we added even more! We learned the first half of a fancy dance called "Kings and Queens," and we also go to create out own short dances with partners using different ways of walking (forward, backward, sideways), turning (right hand turn, left hand turn, two hand turn, gypsy turn), and bowing/curtseying. So much fun! We then learned the poem "Queen, Queen Caroline" and realized that the poem has the same structure as the dances we created! So, we finished class by performing our dances while speaking the poem.
3rd grade- we have been working on creating our own haiku poems! These haikus are for a joint project between music and art class that Ms. Ganser and I have teamed up on the last couple of years. Students each picked an element of nature (such as rain, mountain, lake, ocean, pine tree, snow, etc.) and created a 5-senses chart describing that element of nature. Then, students pulled out their favorite words from their chart to create a haiku. A haiku is a 3-line poem that is traditional to Japanese culture. Each line has to have a specific number of syllables. Here is an example:
Before I summarize the learning from this week, I'd like to share my announcement that most have probably heard by now. Next year, I will be moving abroad to teach at an international school and will not be at Park Hill. It was a very difficult decision because of the support and care I have enjoyed in the Park Hill community. I am sad to leave such a wonderful group of families, students, and colleagues, but I'm excited at the opportunities that await me in Abu Dhabi. Please stop by in these last weeks of the school year to say goodbye!
This week in...
Kindergarten- we encouraged the sun to come out! We performed the poem "The Sun is in My Heart" using whispering, speaking, and shouting voices with movements. We also sang "Mr. Sun" and performed the steady beat of the song on rhythm sticks. We learned to perform different rhythm patterns using the word "sun" (one long sound) and "mister" (two short sounds). We arranged pictures on the board that went with the words "sun" and "mister" to figure out how to play different patterns of long and short. At the end of class, we got Baxter the Music Room Bear out of his winter hibernation! He came out to sing with us about spring time!
1st grade- we have been having fun with the song "Rain, Rain Go Away." Today we learned to read that song on the music staff! We reviewed the beat and rhythms of the song, and also remembered that we recently learned a NEW note, la. We now know the notes la, so, and mi. Woohoo! We watched a silly video, too:
Rain, Rain Go Away video
We then brainstormed ideas of things we like to do outside (or things we would like to do outside when it's raining!) and sang about them.
2nd grade- we were true royalty this week! We've been using songs and poems about kings and queens for the last month or more of music class, and today we added even more! We learned the first half of a fancy dance called "Kings and Queens," and we also go to create out own short dances with partners using different ways of walking (forward, backward, sideways), turning (right hand turn, left hand turn, two hand turn, gypsy turn), and bowing/curtseying. So much fun! We then learned the poem "Queen, Queen Caroline" and realized that the poem has the same structure as the dances we created! So, we finished class by performing our dances while speaking the poem.
3rd grade- we have been working on creating our own haiku poems! These haikus are for a joint project between music and art class that Ms. Ganser and I have teamed up on the last couple of years. Students each picked an element of nature (such as rain, mountain, lake, ocean, pine tree, snow, etc.) and created a 5-senses chart describing that element of nature. Then, students pulled out their favorite words from their chart to create a haiku. A haiku is a 3-line poem that is traditional to Japanese culture. Each line has to have a specific number of syllables. Here is an example:
ICE
Wintery sparkle
Frozen, jagged, crackle, crisp
Cold, white drops fall down
Students have created some lovely poems that they will now use to inspire a block print art piece with Ms. Ganser.
4th grade- I don't want to give too much away- come see our concert entitled "This is the Sound that Jazz Makes" next week on Wednesday, April 20th at 6pm! Students must arrive by 5:30pm and should go to their classrooms. It's going to be a great show!
5th grade- we are starting to spend our music time focusing on our upcoming May concert (Wednesday, May 18th at 6pm.) Each 5th grade class will perform an African folktale with music added to it, and the entire 5th grade will perform a few songs together as well. It's going to be a very student-driven program and I can't wait to see how it turns out!
One last announcement:
There's a music studio in Lakewood offering some FREE, family-friendly drum classes next weekend! They will offer these one hour classes at multiple times throughout next weekend, April 22, 23, and 24. I plan to go! Here's the link:
Enjoy!
Thursday, March 24, 2016
DOUBLE SNOW DAY?!?!
Hey all,
I'm not quite sure what to do with myself on this unprecedented (at least for me) double snow day! So, I've decided to post some photos from our Drums Alive unit that Ms. Horeis and I did with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. It was so much fun!
I'm not quite sure what to do with myself on this unprecedented (at least for me) double snow day! So, I've decided to post some photos from our Drums Alive unit that Ms. Horeis and I did with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. It was so much fun!
Also, stay tuned for our 4th grade music concert Wednesday, April 20th at 6:00pm! Students must arrive by 5:30pm.
Enjoy your spring break!!!!!
Friday, February 26, 2016
This week (2/22-2/26)
This week in...
Kindergarten- we have been studying fast and slow sounds, and this week we go to show what we know! We took a fast and slow quiz and the kids rocked it! We also sang songs to go with the story "The Tortoise and the Hare." We created fast and slow movements, and sang a train song called "Engine, Engine Number Nine" at different speeds.
1st grade- we finished up our rhythm compositions to go with the poem "Two Little Sausages." We used the words BAM (quarter note) and SIZZLE (eighth notes) to create a B section for the poem. We played these rhythms on rhythm sticks, too. We also learned a fun charades style game called Kitchen Tools. For this game, we make a long list of kitchen tools like blender, bowl, microwave, toaster, whisk, etc. Students then act these out with their body silently. You can even have a partner try to guess which one you are. :)
2nd grade- we learned a lovely new song called "Way Down Yonder in the Brickyard" that uses mi, re, and do patterns. Re is our newest note from pitch hill that we have learned, so we now know 5 notes! We added glockenspiel and boomwhacker parts to go with the song. We played the birdie game where the little birdie hides underneath a cup (each cup represents one of the notes we know) and Ms. Buckley sings a pattern. The class hums it back and has to identify which cup birdie is hiding under by knowing what the last note of the pattern we sang was. It's tricky but fun!
3rd grade- we are hard at work preparing for our spring concert! We are less than 2 weeks out! Please come hear our performance on Wednesday, March 9th at 6:00pm. Students need to arrive by 5:30pm and should go to their classrooms to line up.
4th grade- we had so much fun last week on our field trip to the Crossroads Theater to hear some live jazz. It was inspiring to hear these musicians, who donate their time with their non-profit organization, improvise and enjoy playing music together. The kids asked them thoughtful questions at the end, and it was fun to learn about the instruments they played and how they got started performing jazz music.
5th grade- we learned a new African chant song called "Ama ibu." It's two lines long and repeats over and over. The words translate as a message of gathering and setting a common intention as a group. We learned to sing the song in unison (all together) and in canon (with two groups singing the song at slightly different times.) We learned the melody on xylophones and discovered we needed a new note- a B flat! The flats are the black keys on the piano and fall between other notes. For example, B flat is the note that sounds halfway in between B and A. We also created our own new tunes for a B section of the song.
Kindergarten- we have been studying fast and slow sounds, and this week we go to show what we know! We took a fast and slow quiz and the kids rocked it! We also sang songs to go with the story "The Tortoise and the Hare." We created fast and slow movements, and sang a train song called "Engine, Engine Number Nine" at different speeds.
1st grade- we finished up our rhythm compositions to go with the poem "Two Little Sausages." We used the words BAM (quarter note) and SIZZLE (eighth notes) to create a B section for the poem. We played these rhythms on rhythm sticks, too. We also learned a fun charades style game called Kitchen Tools. For this game, we make a long list of kitchen tools like blender, bowl, microwave, toaster, whisk, etc. Students then act these out with their body silently. You can even have a partner try to guess which one you are. :)
2nd grade- we learned a lovely new song called "Way Down Yonder in the Brickyard" that uses mi, re, and do patterns. Re is our newest note from pitch hill that we have learned, so we now know 5 notes! We added glockenspiel and boomwhacker parts to go with the song. We played the birdie game where the little birdie hides underneath a cup (each cup represents one of the notes we know) and Ms. Buckley sings a pattern. The class hums it back and has to identify which cup birdie is hiding under by knowing what the last note of the pattern we sang was. It's tricky but fun!
3rd grade- we are hard at work preparing for our spring concert! We are less than 2 weeks out! Please come hear our performance on Wednesday, March 9th at 6:00pm. Students need to arrive by 5:30pm and should go to their classrooms to line up.
4th grade- we had so much fun last week on our field trip to the Crossroads Theater to hear some live jazz. It was inspiring to hear these musicians, who donate their time with their non-profit organization, improvise and enjoy playing music together. The kids asked them thoughtful questions at the end, and it was fun to learn about the instruments they played and how they got started performing jazz music.
5th grade- we learned a new African chant song called "Ama ibu." It's two lines long and repeats over and over. The words translate as a message of gathering and setting a common intention as a group. We learned to sing the song in unison (all together) and in canon (with two groups singing the song at slightly different times.) We learned the melody on xylophones and discovered we needed a new note- a B flat! The flats are the black keys on the piano and fall between other notes. For example, B flat is the note that sounds halfway in between B and A. We also created our own new tunes for a B section of the song.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
This week (2/8-2/12)
Sorry for the break since my last update. January totally ran away with me! I spent a few days down in Colorado Springs as well for the Colorado Music Educators Conference, where I learned lots of fun new things to incorporate into the rest of the school year. :)
This week in...
Kindergarten- we helped Ms. Buckley solve the mystery of who delivered the secret valentine! We played a passing game with the song "Messenger" and tapped heart charts and played rhythm sticks to match the steady beat. We also learned that a steady beat can be fast or slow.
1st grade- we have begun our new food unit! We learned a fun poem:
Two little sausages frying in a pan
One went sizzle and the other went BAM!
We learned to speak this poem, added movements, and then composed B sections with a partner. The rhythms we created used "bam" (quarter notes), "sizzle" (eighth notes), and rests. We got to share our patterns with the class by speaking and clapping.
2nd grade- we learned a fun Valentine's day dance called "Heel Toe." Ask your 2nd grader to show you and see the fun video below!
5th grade- we just finished our fantastic composition unit, for which we used the book "The Tree of Life" as inspiration. Students created original pieces of music in groups of 5 or 6 based on part of the book. Last week students performed these pieces for each other, and also graded each other's performances using a rubric we created as a class. Each performance was video recorded so that Ms. Buckley could watch them multiple times later and write down her own comments for each group. Students also completed self-evaluations where they wrote about how this project went for them and scored themselves on their effort, teamwork, and musicianship. The group with the highest score from each class will perform their piece at our concert on Wednesday, May 18!
This week in...
Kindergarten- we helped Ms. Buckley solve the mystery of who delivered the secret valentine! We played a passing game with the song "Messenger" and tapped heart charts and played rhythm sticks to match the steady beat. We also learned that a steady beat can be fast or slow.
1st grade- we have begun our new food unit! We learned a fun poem:
Two little sausages frying in a pan
One went sizzle and the other went BAM!
We learned to speak this poem, added movements, and then composed B sections with a partner. The rhythms we created used "bam" (quarter notes), "sizzle" (eighth notes), and rests. We got to share our patterns with the class by speaking and clapping.
2nd grade- we learned a fun Valentine's day dance called "Heel Toe." Ask your 2nd grader to show you and see the fun video below!
3rd grade- we have been learning the Japanese folk song "Sakura" to go with our tree theme for our upcoming 3rd grade music concert! The concert will be Wednesday, March 9th at 6:00pm. Students should arrive to their classroom by 5:30pm to line up and prepare to take the stage. We can't wait to share this music with you!
4th grade- we have had lots of fun lately playing a competition style game with the song "Old House." For this game, we pass around a bag filled with jenga blocks while we sing the song. Whoever is holding the bag at the end of the song must draw out 1 jenga block, then speak and clap the rhythm that is written on it. The person who drew the block then adds the block to a structure the group is building in the middle with the blocks. The group with the tallest structure when the timer goes off wins!
Friday, January 15, 2016
This week (1/11-1/15)
This week in...
Kindergarten- we made alphabet soup! We played with letter sounds and shapes, we stomped and moved to "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", and learned a poem:
ABC's and vegetable goop
What will we find in the alphabet soup?
We learned a fun team game that goes with this poem.
1st grade- we reviewed our new song "Snowflakes" by placing snowflake symbols on the white board to match the song (snowflakes go up high for the note "so" and down low for the note "mi.) We labeled the rhythms in the song with quarter notes and eighth notes. We then played the steady beat with the song on maracas, and the rhythm of the song on rhythm sticks. Challenging but fun!
2nd grade- we learned a new song called "Apple Tree." This song helped us to learn a new note from pitch hill, "do." We played a fun elimination game with this song- whoever has the apple bean bag on the last word of the song is out! Funnily enough, the last word of the song is actually the word "out!" When someone gets out, they echo a singing pattern after Ms. Buckley using the notes la, so, mi, and do. Then, that person grabs rhythm sticks and plays along on the steady beat for the rest of the game.
3rd grade- we reviewed how to play "Willow Tree" on xylophones- challenging piece! We then learned a new xylo part to go with the song "Banyan Tree." This helped us learn to play instruments parts in triple meter (3 beats per measure instead of the more typical 4 beats per measure.) We tried playing drums and sticks to go with the song, drums on beat 1 and sticks on beats 2 and 3. It sounded like this: boom chick chick, boom chick chick, boom chick chick, boom chick chick.
4th grade- we are continuing to prepare way in advance for our 4th grade music concert in April. We reviewed the African call and response song "Kye Kye Kule", pronounced "Chay Chay Koo Lay." We are going to include this in our concert because jazz music originally goes all the way back to Africa pre-dating slavery. Now, we are starting to work on our next piece "Hammer Ring." This song has many version, and we will share two of them (a simple one and jazzier updated one) at our concert.
5th grade- last week, we read the story The Tree of Life. This story is filled with different animals and parts of the tree's life cycle that make excellent inspiration for original pieces of music. Each group is hard at work creating their own piece using whatever instruments, voices, or other sounds they wish. It's going to be so fun to hear the final results in a couple weeks!
Kindergarten- we made alphabet soup! We played with letter sounds and shapes, we stomped and moved to "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", and learned a poem:
ABC's and vegetable goop
What will we find in the alphabet soup?
We learned a fun team game that goes with this poem.
1st grade- we reviewed our new song "Snowflakes" by placing snowflake symbols on the white board to match the song (snowflakes go up high for the note "so" and down low for the note "mi.) We labeled the rhythms in the song with quarter notes and eighth notes. We then played the steady beat with the song on maracas, and the rhythm of the song on rhythm sticks. Challenging but fun!
2nd grade- we learned a new song called "Apple Tree." This song helped us to learn a new note from pitch hill, "do." We played a fun elimination game with this song- whoever has the apple bean bag on the last word of the song is out! Funnily enough, the last word of the song is actually the word "out!" When someone gets out, they echo a singing pattern after Ms. Buckley using the notes la, so, mi, and do. Then, that person grabs rhythm sticks and plays along on the steady beat for the rest of the game.
3rd grade- we reviewed how to play "Willow Tree" on xylophones- challenging piece! We then learned a new xylo part to go with the song "Banyan Tree." This helped us learn to play instruments parts in triple meter (3 beats per measure instead of the more typical 4 beats per measure.) We tried playing drums and sticks to go with the song, drums on beat 1 and sticks on beats 2 and 3. It sounded like this: boom chick chick, boom chick chick, boom chick chick, boom chick chick.
4th grade- we are continuing to prepare way in advance for our 4th grade music concert in April. We reviewed the African call and response song "Kye Kye Kule", pronounced "Chay Chay Koo Lay." We are going to include this in our concert because jazz music originally goes all the way back to Africa pre-dating slavery. Now, we are starting to work on our next piece "Hammer Ring." This song has many version, and we will share two of them (a simple one and jazzier updated one) at our concert.
5th grade- last week, we read the story The Tree of Life. This story is filled with different animals and parts of the tree's life cycle that make excellent inspiration for original pieces of music. Each group is hard at work creating their own piece using whatever instruments, voices, or other sounds they wish. It's going to be so fun to hear the final results in a couple weeks!
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