Greetings from the music room at Saint Patrick School! We are off and rolling for our 2010-2011 school year and already the music room is filled with singing voices! I want to personally welcome back all of our students and extend a special welcome to all of our new students and their families! Below is a little bit about what we’re doing for the month of September!
K/1st Grade classes will be singing songs of welcome, back to school, patriotic, and fall themes. We will be learning the rules of the music room and adding some movement to some of our songs. Don’t be surprised if you hear your child singing their ABC’s with a rock n roll rhyme to it! We will also begin learning about note values–whole half, and quarter notes. Your child will learn to play rhythms with sound shapes and rhythm sticks too! 
We will begin learning the musical game “Bluebird” which uses singing, movement, echo, and solo voice responses.
2nd-6th grade classes will also be singing songs of welcome, back to school, patriotic, and fall themes! We will review whole, half, and quarter notes and use them to play rhythms and notes on the sound shapes and boomwhackers! (Boomwhackers are long, plastic tubes in different lengths cut to sound like each note on the C scale and we use them for rhythm and for note-reading to play in a song. ) We will also begin to learn and review notes of the C scale. Some of our lessons will be from the grade level music book, others from Music Express magazine which includes music maps, popular songs, interviews with musicians, and other activities.
7th-8th grade classes will start off with some songs of fall, patriotic songs, and songs and activities from Music Express! We will try some 2 and 3 part harmony in a song to learn those skills of reading parts. Students will review note values, notes of the C scale, and will use those skills in our handbell unit. We will play individual notes with handbells as well as learn chords C, F, and G.
We will be very busy in music class this year with all we’re learning! We have great equipment with lots of percussion instruments, guitars for upper grades, a large, music staff whiteboard for the students to practice on, and a smart board to integrate into our classes. We do lots of singing in class! I personally strive to start every music class with a Christian focused song–a privilege that public schools don’t have. I pray God blesses us with a great school year! Mrs. Berry
