Past projects 11
The Earth Has music For Those Who Listen
Funded Aug 31, 2023When the items arrived to our school the students were jumping out of their seats! They would not wait to get their hands inside of those boxes. It took a lot of calming the students down to get them to be quiet and seated to the point where they could be careful and appreciative of the materials. Once they were seated and listening quietly, we took our time opening the boxes one by one. The students had never seen a bird feeder with a camera on it! They were thrilled. I told them that it had motion sensors and would take a photo of each and every visitor. Then we could later identify it. We can even make a chart of each species of bird that visits our feeder.
The students have begun identifying the bird calls from the books and resources we obtained from Donors Choose. Thank you guys so much for your donations! They mean the world to us. The students of course know the sound of the Northern Cardinal, adult male, and the Bluejay, as well as the House Finch, the Eastern bluebird and the Carolina Wren. These are the birds we see most often in our bird feeder but there are some bird calls to birds we have never seen that the students really love! They really like the sound of the killdeer and the american goldfinch but we have never seen one at our birdfeeder or even in our neighborhood. Students come to me in the middle of the hallways to tell me about which recent birds they saw or heard and how they felt knowing they could identify biology with the help of their musical ears! We can't thank you guys enough for your donations! The students seem to really love this unit! Their engagement and listening skills are at an all-time high. This learning experience will stick with them for years to come.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Castaneda
This classroom project was brought to life by BJ’s Charitable Foundation and 4 other donors.You Only Get Better by Playing: Drums for Music Pt2
Funded Dec 28, 2022My students were absolutely thrilled when the packages arrived! They could not believe that we were getting a drum set for the school. I told them that it was my goal to make the class as inviting and fun as possible and that hopefully the drum set was a huge part of it. I really think we all love the classroom more now because it has a very modern and cool appeal.
The first thing the class learned about the drum set was how to label the different parts. The drum set we got came with one snare drum, one bass drum, one hi-hat pedal, one hi-hat, two toms, one side Tom, one ride cymbal, one crash cymbal, and a drum module. The drum module connects all of the electronic drum parts to one computer "brain" and it allows me to plug the drum set to a amplifier or headphones. We did not include an amplifier in this donors choose so look out for one we might be putting out in the future for the amplifier for this drum set. Once they were ready, the students in my music classroom learned how to play simple platters on the drum by repeating after me and then I showed them how to read notated drum music. It encouraged literacy and we played music from a variety of cultures.
We learned about lunar new year and highlighted Asian cultures and how they have influenced music history. We studied the moon calendars and the other holidays that are a part of this calendar and mentioned the fact that several cultures follow moon calendars. We watched the Dragon dance and the Lion dance and played with our own cymbals with the drum set player keeping the class together.
There is one student who actually did an audition for a magnet middle school on the snare drum and they showed the class the song that got them accepted into the local school of the arts. I was so proud of her! I have known her since kindergarten and she started learning to play the drums in first grade and she was in a band and she was never able to show the class her skills until we got this drum set. Thankfully she was in 5th grade when we received this instrument and she was able to be a leader when it came to our drum set lessons. Several other students in grades 2-4 told me they knew how to play the drums and that they had never been to an elementary school that had drums, but now they will be able to show the class their talents.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Castaneda
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Express and 2 other donors.You Only Get Better by Playing: Drums for Music Class
Funded Dec 27, 2022My students were absolutely thrilled when the packages arrived! They could not believe that we were getting a drum set for the school. I told them that it was my goal to make the class as inviting and fun as possible and that hopefully the drum set was a huge part of it. I really think we all love the classroom more now because it has a very modern and cool appeal.
The first thing the class learned about the drum set was how to label the different parts. The drum set we got came with one snare drum, one bass drum, one hi-hat pedal, one hi-hat, two toms, one side Tom, one ride cymbal, one crash cymbal, and a drum module. The drum module connects all of the electronic drum parts to one computer "brain" and it allows me to plug the drum set to a amplifier or headphones. We did not include an amplifier in this donors choose so look out for one we might be putting out in the future for the amplifier for this drum set. Once they were ready, the students in my music classroom learned how to play simple platters on the drum by repeating after me and then I showed them how to read notated drum music. It encouraged literacy and we played music from a variety of cultures.
We learned about lunar new year and highlighted Asian cultures and how they have influenced music history. We studied the moon calendars and the other holidays that are a part of this calendar and mentioned the fact that several cultures follow moon calendars. We watched the Dragon dance and the Lion dance and played with our own cymbals with the drum set player keeping the class together.
There is one student who actually did an audition for a magnet middle school on the snare drum and they showed the class the song that got them accepted into the local school of the arts. I was so proud of her! I have known her since kindergarten and she started learning to play the drums in first grade and she was in a band and she was never able to show the class her skills until we got this drum set. Thankfully she was in 5th grade when we received this instrument and she was able to be a leader when it came to our drum set lessons. Several other students in grades 2-4 told me they knew how to play the drums and that they had never been to an elementary school that had drums, but now they will be able to show the class their talents.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Castaneda
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Express and 4 other donors.Dancing to the Beat of Our Own Drums
Funded Dec 19, 2022My students absolutely love the Glowing Drum sticks! They are having a blast striking them on the drum pads! They absorb the sound so well and give them that "bounce" that makes it feel like a real natural drum. Students of all grades and varied abilities are able to use these drum sticks and drum pads and engage in our multicultural lessons. We dimmed the lights and even had a glow drum party! The older grades created their own rhythm patterns and how to roll while the younger grades explored steady beat and rhythm games.
Chinese new year has so many bright lights and colors. We saw how during the dragon dance and the lion dance, there was a group of performers who played the drums and cymbals and waved scarves. The students loved the performances that were glow-in-the-dark the very most! They said that the dragons looked so real when you couldn't see the puppet masters in the dark. We played the drums in the dark and talked about cultures form around the world and we danced and had so much fun!
Thanks a million for making my classroom feel like its the most amazing musical adventure just because we have drumsticks that glow.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Castaneda
This classroom project was brought to life by Panda Express and 3 other donors.