Today, we will:  

  1. Work on copying music to practice writing on a staff.
  2. Type music into MuseScore.
  3. Learn about Modes.

 At the end of class, I will:  

  1. Put away my laptop, white class binder, pencil, and keyboard map,
  2. Peel off my sticky note, put the pad away and then stick it on the wall of the stage, and then
  3. Head to PE with Mrs. Pitruzzello.

 Today, we will:  

  1. Learn about the Walking Bass Line and the Shuffle of Blues songs,
  2. Continue working on our Blues songs, and
  3. Learn about Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton.

 At the end of class, I will:  

  1. Put away my laptop or iPad, white class binder, pencil, and keyboard map,
  2. Peel off my sticky note, put the pad away and then stick it on the wall of the stage,
  3. Put my phone in my locker, and
  4. Head to Band or THRIVE.

Today, you will be doing quiet journaling.  Please answer the following questions in your journal:

1. When you think about the past, what do you miss the most?
2. What is the greatest act of kindness you have ever seen?  Did it happen to you, or did you see it happen to somebody else?
3. Who has had the greatest impact on your life?

Then, please continue thinking about the differences between reactions and responses.  Remember, a reaction happens, but a response is a choice.  Reactions have to do with our bodies and thoughts, and responses have to do with our words and actions.
4. Write down two reactions that would happen to you if somebody told you really great news.
5. Write down three responses you could choose after receiving that news.  Two useful responses, one useless choice.

6. Write down two reactions that would happen to you if you got some news that makes you sad.
7. Write down three responses you could choose after receiving that news.  Two useful responses, one useless choice.

6. Write down two reactions that would happen to you if you got some news that makes you angry.
7. Write down three responses you could choose after receiving that news.  Two useful responses, one useless choice.

Sweet Beets - Beet & Pineapple
Yankee Doodle - C and G Boomwhackers
Music Listening - Dance from Afro-Cuban Concerto, featuring flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn

These are all suggestions - and will take up more time than you have, so you can pick and choose what you'd like to do.

  1.  Poison Pattern, using the blue rhythm sticks: Each student needs two sticks.  The leader will play a four-beat pattern, some combination of "beet," "cher-ry," and "shh."  (Example: Beet, Cher-ry, Cher-ry, Shh.")  Everyone will do it together once.  Now, that's the poison pattern and the game begins.  Everybody repeats after the leader unless it's the poison pattern.  There are two ways to get out: Repeat the poison pattern (even one note of it!), or fail to repeat a non-poison pattern.

  2.  Alphabet practice: I find some way to get them all saying "A B C D E F G A."  Sometimes we roll a ball around and whoever gets the ball says those letters, sometimes I time them to see how quickly they can go around and have everybody do it, all depends on the day.

  3.  Egg shakers (small rolling cart): Dynamics (you'll have to keep reminding them, but I use forte-strong, mezzo-medium, and piano-soft), freeze games, follow the leader, all sorts of things.  You can make ANYTHING up.  THAT BEING SAID, I do have a specific way of handing out eggs.  You bring the bin to one student at a time and ask what color they'd like.  They need to say the color and the word please, and then you hand them the egg they chose.  They should not reach into the bin themselves.  This is less about music and more about classroom management and raising good humans.  :-)

  4.  Sand scrapers (small rolling cart): Same thing as egg shakers, but I typically just have the kids grab them from the bin as I walk around.