Grace Chris

Welcome to Ms. Chris' Website! Ms. Chris teaches Middle School Chorus and Middle School General Music!

The Stowe Middle School Chorus likes to have fun, sing a lot, and is considered a large musical family! We work with a wide variety of musical concepts and styles, continuing to strengthen skills as musical technicians and aesthetically aware artists. We begin the year by reviewing fundamental skills as well as introducing new concepts that will be utilized as students encounter more challenging material. The bulk of the year is then spent working on material requiring mastery of said skills in preparation for various performances. As with any good team, expectations regarding teamwork, accountability, and perseverance are high for members of this ensemble.

In 6th grade general music, the big questions we ask are “what is music, and why does music matter to me?” 6th grade general music focuses on playing, improvising, reading, listening to, questioning, thinking about, and appreciating music. We practice our technical and team skills through playing West African percussion instruments like the djembe, djun djun, and Adenkum, singing, and hand chimes. We define musical terms and practice using them in various contexts. We listen to music and respond to it by expressing our reactions to the music and asking each other questions about the music, the people who make/made it, and the social and cultural context in which the music existed/exists.

Learner’s Expo is a course co-taught by Mr. Gagnon and Ms. Chris! It is based on the process of learning and successful problem solving; how we generate goals, develop plans, proactively solve problems, give, receive, and respond to feedback, and accomplish what we set out to do. Student’s interests drive the content of the class, with topics ranging from environmental activism to building robots, from improving athletic skills to starting a business selling handmade crafts. Learner’s Expo claims that school isn’t just here to prepare students for the “real world”; school is the real world!

School assignments will be posted on Schoology! Ms. Chris will be in contact with students about important dates and assignments via Schoology and Gmail. Instructions on creating a parent account can be found HERE.

Chorus students, pretty much everything you'll need is included in our music handbook:

Link to SMS/SHS Music Handbook

The handbook includes:

• Important dates

• Attendance policy

• Performance dress code

• Forms for the year (permission slip, student agreement, etc.)

General Music Students, everything you need to know will be in class, your Gmail account, or Schoology.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions/concerns/suggestions/musings by emailing me: grace.chris@lsuu.org

All recordings and learning materials can be found on the MS Chorus Practice Page and on the MS Chorus page on Schoology.