Summer's almost gone!

Hello, again!

I hope everyone is having a great summer, as I am. I have been busy visiting family in MN, and taking care of lots of things back in Greeley. I've spent some time updating the blog with the following:

• some new videos- see "True Colors" video below
• links- see "Other Useful Links" below
• a new playlist- see the blue box below and click play to hear some songs!
• a Spanish translator (this translates all words on the blog into Spanish for families who prefer to read en español!)
• new recorder music (on the 'Recorder Music' tab)

Please explore and enjoy these exciting new features! Happy practicing!

Summer time!

Hello, everyone! It has certainly been too long since my last post. For the past two weeks, I have been taking an intense summer course offered at UNC. On Friday I will complete the course and I will be Level I certified in what is called the Orff Schulwerk. What is Orff Schulwerk, you may ask?


Orff is a way to teach and learn music. It is designed for all children, and includes a unique mix of singing, body percussion, dancing, playing instruments, and improvisation. I am so very excited for this upcoming school year to have the opportunity to implement the ideas and approaches I have been learning about. Students: get ready for some amazing music classes this year. Parents: be prepared to watch your children develop into more creative and thoughtful musicians.


Also, have you been practicing your recorder? Visit the recorder page NOW and enjoy some summer music making.


Other ideas for including music in your summer break:

• listen to the radio (or CDs, or Pandora, etc.)
• sing songs you remember from music class
• play your recorder alone or with a friend- try making up your own song!
• dance to any music you hear
• instead of talking to a friend, try singing back and forth to each other
• attend a concert (lots of outdoor concerts can be fun in the summer!)
• make an instrument at home- try cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, or experiment with pots and pans in the kitchen!

Happy practicing!

Concert Thoughts

I could not be happier with how the spring concerts went for all grade levels! Students performed at their best and created an amazing display of their musicianship. This week, we will be watching a video recording of the concert to re-live/evaluate the experience. Students: you should be PROUD of your performance. Parents: you should be PROUD of your kids! What a great way to close out the school year! Thank you so much for all the support.

SPRING CONCERT!!!

Our Kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade concerts are one week from today! I can't wait to share some great music with you all.

Kindergarten students must be at their classroom at 5:15pm. The concert begins at 5:45pm.
1st/2nd grade students must be at their classroom at 6:30pm. The concert begins at 7:00pm.

Our 3rd/4th grade and 5th grade concert are 8 days away! These are shaping up to be fantastic performances.

3rd/4th grade students must be at their classroom at 5:15pm. The concert begins at 5:45pm.
5th grade students must be at their classroom at 6:30pm. The concert begins at 7:00pm.

All students must be on time and dress nicely- please no jeans, athletic wear, or sneakers if at all possible. Thank you for your continued support of music at University Schools and I look forward to seeing you all next week!

This week (4/23-4/27)

This week in....

Kindergarten- we played percussion instruments with shape pictures- our introduction to reading music! We also continued to prepare for our upcoming spring concert!!!

1st/2nd grade- we learned our last new concert song "One-Two, One-Two-Three" and continued to perfect other songs for our spring concert.

3rd/4th grade- we worked hard on the song "Get Up, Get Up, Get Up!" for our spring concert. We also ran through several of our other songs and worked on smoothing out the details.

5th grade- students were assessed on their ability to identify woodwind and brass instruments (we have been studying them in the last couple of weeks.) We also played instrument bingo as a fun way to wrap up that unit. We worked hard on concert music and played "When the Saints Go Marching In" on recorders.

Very much looking forward to the spring concerts soon! May 9th and May 10th!

This week (4/9-4/13)

This week in....

Kindergarten- we are continuing to work hard on learning our music for the spring concert. We began learning a new song called "Marching Rhythm." We played rhythm sticks and drums along with the different sections of the song. We also began singing some of our concert songs on the stairs in my room, which are similar to the risers we will be performing on in the auditorium.

1st/2nd grade- we continued learning the song "Ere the Waters of the Deep" for our spring concert. We worked hard on the song "Everybody Has Music Inside" and discussed concert etiquette. Students sang some concert songs on the stairs in my room, which are similar to the auditorium risers. We are also continuing to work on singing songs with sign language.

3rd/4th grade- we are continuing to perfect our new F# fingering on recorders with the song "Twinkle, Twinkle." Students assessed themselves in the four categories of recorder playing for that song. We also continued to work on "Get Up, Get Up, Get Up!" and "True Colors" in preparation for the spring concert. We reviewed note reading with a Mad Minutes activity, as well.

5th grade- we worked hard on music for our spring concert early this week. We focused on energy and style for "Start Your Day With a Song." We worked on memorizing a very wordy song called "Nifty Fifty." Students also learned about the brass family of instruments (last week was the woodwind family) and began learning how to identify the 5 main brass instruments by sound only.

Sing along tomorrow morning!

This week (3/26-3/30)

This week in.......(is anyone reading?!?!?)

Kindergarten- we took a quiz about hearing the difference between marches and lullabies. We began learning a new song for our spring concert called "Purple Cow", which is a silly song to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy." We continued to work on "Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go" and learned about vocal warmups.

1st/2nd grade- we worked on one of our concert songs with sign language, "You Are My Sunshine." Earlier this year, we learned the song "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." Later, we read the story There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell. This week, we read the story There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea and we later paired percussion instruments with it. We began learning another concert song, "Everybody Has Music Inside."Lastly, we spent some time learning about the percussion family of instruments, including honing our ability to identify the different types of percussion by sound only!

3rd/4th grade- we did some more work with our recorders and assessed our progress on the song "Old MacDonald." We learned a new note, F#, and learned to play "Twinkle, Twinkle." We began learning a new song for our spring concert called "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki Me O."

5th grade- Again, this week was difficult because of TCAP testing, but we still managed to get some things accomplished. We have started working on the song "Blackbird" in preparation for our spring concert. We started learning another concert song, "Nifty Fifty", which names all 50 states. We also learned to play two new notes on recorders that we used to play the song "When the Saints Go Marching In."

There will be a sing along coming up on April 13! Happy weekend.