Past projects 21
Jr. Musical Theater Celebration Shirts!
Funded Mar 9, 2020I wanted to update you on our project status and how we are moving forward during this time of uncertainty. I received the Musical T-shirts for our performance just as the Covid-19 virus shut down our schools in March. We were unable to go to the performance and thus unable to wear the shirts to the performance this school year.
Our plan is to continue with the same musical this next school year (barring no more shut-downs) and be able to use the t-shirts for the Broadway Jr. performance in March. We are so excited to be able to have this opportunity to represent our school in a professional manner.
Thank you for your continued support of our school and it's endeavors. We are grateful for all that you do for students across America! Our students will be able to stand confident and proud at our performance this coming year because of you! Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by The Walt Disney Company and 6 other donors.Music Manipulative Madness!
Funded Dec 5, 2019We are so grateful for your generous donation to help us get our classroom working this fall! Our resources are being used in many ways. The pen pal holders are now on the side of our xylophones to hold our mallets! This is so convenient and easy to use. The books we got will be used for future music lessons and programs. The erasers we received will help us count musical beats in simple songs and activities. I was especially excited for the new snail puppet to help us with our musical that we are putting on. My students were so excited to have these items this week! They were so glad to be able to have your help for their classroom. I will be using these items to help facilitate many more music lessons and performances. Thank you so much for this opportunity to educate my students and give them a love for music!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by College Football Playoff Foundation & ACC and 2 other donors.Help! I Need PD!
Funded Oct 17, 2019As a member of the American Orff Schulwerk Association, I got to participate in the professional development conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Thank you for your donation to make this event possible. We started off with a bang with Irish Celtic Dancing for the classroom! Thursday, Friday and Saturday were filled with classes and workshops for Music Teachers from all over the country. I was blessed to be able to see and hear from some of the most recognized educators in my field! My main take away from the event was that learning is a process and it doesn't happen overnight. If I feel that way, imagine how my kids feel when we are expecting them to get a concept quickly!!
The highlight of the event for me was spending time collaborating and getting ideas from other educators. I believe that it is important to have mentors and educators around you so that you have someone to talk to when things get hard. In speaking with these friends and mentors, not only do you get more ideas for your classroom, but you are able to diversify and learn about others as well.
The best thing I will be bringing back to my classroom is how the artwork of Keith Haring can be used with hip hop music to create some really awesome performances. You can see me in one of the pictures with our final artwork piece that we created. The performance was even better. This lesson will be relateable to my kids at my school because it fits right in with their love of all things hip hop!
Thank you again for your continued support of education and all things music! We are so grateful for your contribution to our classroom!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.Stars Chorus Library Update!
Funded Oct 25, 2018I am excited to share with you that our Chorus has received their new music! They are so excited and have already begun to sight read through the music. New music always brings with it the challenge of knowing how the music sounds or how to decipher the notes on the page. We have begun that process with our first read through.
Reading a new piece of music is a lot like reading a new book. We examine the text/lyrics to decipher the meaning of the song. We look at the musical symbols to know what tempo, volume, and expression to use. We take care to learn our separate parts and then put the various parts together. By this time, we are able to start the memorization process. When that is finished we are ready to get on the stage to perform. It takes weeks and weeks of practice but the end result is wonderful!
My students are very excited about the new Bruno Mars song we received. They cannot wait to perform it on their 5th grade promotion ceremony in the spring. Currently we are preparing for the district musical showcase and the music we received will help them have the upper hand in that competition! They are excited to show off their new skills.
Thank you so much for your generous support and care for the Arts! We appreciate it so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
Music Teacher Goes to School!
Funded May 8, 2018I'm excited to share with you my journey that was the 10 day intensive teacher training course, Orff Schulwerk Level 1. Our daily schedule included a morning canon sing, movement class, recorder instruction, and basic pedagogical instruction in this teaching approach. The process or approach that is the Orff Schulwerk proposes that music and movement are intertwined and that a child's music education should be of the very basic elemental style. Everything we learned was based on that premise. We spent many hours moving, imitating, improvising, and creating. As it was a wholistic approach, much of what we learned was very childlike and playful. It was such a FUN experience. That said, it was intensive with nightly homework to help us review the concepts we learned each day. We presented a final concert at the end of the two weeks that showed all that we had learned.
The highlight of the two weeks was the Family Folk Dance night. We invited local family and friends to come join us at an instructional and fun folk dance experience. We learned 8 dances that night. All of the dances were from various countries and were modifiable for the classroom. The fun of folk dancing is that you may start off with one partner but then you end up dancing with almost everyone in the room. It was an experience that I want my kids to enjoy and am planning to have a Family Folk Dance at our school sometime soon.
Something that was particularly exciting was our experience with introducing a new instrument to small children. Our movement teacher brought out small egg shakers for each of us. He treated it as if it was his little pet and made small gestures and playful sounds with the egg shaker. It was SO CUTE! This playful approach gets the kids learning instantly and allows the students to learn how to care for a simple instrument on a basic level without having to say too much about "rules." There were several other times where we were introduced to a new concept or instrument in this manner and it was so effective. I will be taking that back to my classroom immediately.
Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this. I loved it so much and am planning to go back next summer to take the next level of the course. It was a life changing experience that I will not soon forget.”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by Google.org and 3 other donors.Rolling With Orff!!
Funded Mar 27, 2018We are very appreciative of the complete sweep of the site a few weeks ago! Wow is not even word enough for the joy that we felt for your generosity. We are using the new resources for our upcoming concerts in April. Rather than carrying the instruments back and forth from the music room to the performance space, we are now able to roll down the instruments on these carts. It saves us time and physical strength to be able to quickly set up our musical equipment and instruments. We also plan to use the stands and tables within the classroom for ease of use and hands on activities.
The students were ecstatic when I told them that we finally had rolling carts for their instruments. It has been such a safety hazard for them to carry them back and forth so they are glad to have an easier way of transport. They are very grateful.
Our next steps include me getting my Orff certification. This is a three level certification that is something many music teachers do. I plan to complete level 1 this summer. Having this course and professional development will allow me to get my students to a higher level of musical learning.
Thank you so much for your help and love for the arts!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple.Last Stand for Orff!
Funded Mar 27, 2018We are very appreciative of the complete sweep of the site a few weeks ago! Wow is not even word enough for the joy that we felt for your generosity. We are using the new resources for our upcoming concerts in April. Rather than carrying the instruments back and forth from the music room to the performance space, we are now able to roll down the instruments on these carts. It saves us time and physical strength to be able to quickly set up our musical equipment and instruments. We also plan to use the stands and tables within the classroom for ease of use and hands on activities.
The students were ecstatic when I told them that we finally had rolling carts for their instruments. It has been such a safety hazard for them to carry them back and forth so they are glad to have an easier way of transport. They are very grateful.
Our next steps include me getting my Orff certification. This is a three level certification that is something many music teachers do. I plan to complete level 1 this summer. Having this course and professional development will allow me to get my students to a higher level of musical learning.
Thank you so much for your help and love for the arts!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by Ripple.Bucket Drum It Up!
Funded Mar 10, 2018Wow! What a surprise to get this great new song of our project getting funded. We are so very excited. Thank you so much for helping to support the arts and educators like me. My students are going to love being able to use these new materials. The drumsticks will be such a needed replacement for the flimsy ones we had that kept breaking. Once we tape these up with some cool fluorescent colors they will be indestructible! My students have always been asking if they can take their buckets home to practice and now w have a way they can do that. They will be able to use the practice pads as a way to take something home and use to practice. We will implement a library checkout system so that they all can have a chance to try them out. Thanks you so much for this wonderful gift you have given our students. They will always remember their time at our school because of these wonderful opportunities!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
Music Books for Literacy!
Funded Dec 29, 2017In the music classroom, we are beginning to build our library with books about music. Not only are we looking for books about music but we are trying to build understanding about specific music and composers. The lessons we have begun to cover are about how music makes us feel, the various styles of music, and music by different artists/composers. I also particularly enjoy that some of the books are instructional and allow me as a teacher to learn and implement new music and lessons into their learning.
My classroom is a music room. Most of the time we are busy making music. Every now and then there are times where we need to slow down and learn about music from a different point of view. I use reading as an activity center during our centers time. I also use books to introduce a new concept or to engage the class about a certain subject.
I think all my students are enjoying the new library. However, my Kindergarten students are enjoying them the most. Many of the books are geared towards their learning. In particular are the narrated stories about composers that capture the student's attention immediately. It is also really fun to have the composer's music playing along as we read the story. They are becoming more interested in music and it's historical aspects because of these books. We are particularly glad for them to even be interested in music at all much less be excited to read about it. Myself and my colleagues (pictured) are using these materials across three different classrooms and couldn't be prouder to see our students growing! Thank you so much!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
4 Voices: Whisper, Talk, Sing, Shout!
Funded Nov 21, 2017Thank you so much for your recent donations to our classroom. Our Kindergarten and 1st grade music students are learning about how to use their voice in everyday situations. We are so excited to use these four puppets to make the lesson come to life. In our room, we are using the rabbit to help learn about our talking voice. The butterfly helps us learn all about our whisper voice. The owl is getting lots of use in learning how to use our singing voice in such a beautiful way. Our favorite character/puppet is the grizzly bear! He gives us lots of tips on when to use our shouting voice and gets a little excited sometimes and forgets that he shouts a lot!
My students were very excited to see we got some special boxes of goodies in my room. They were inquisitive as to what was in them and kept asking me when I would tell them. Over the last week, we have brought to life each puppet out of the box. They have been wondering when the next friend will come out! They have marveled with wonder over the fun and look forward to seeing what each puppet will say when they come to class.
The next steps in our classroom is to begin to build a literacy center within the music room. We are lacking in music books for their reading so that is our next project. We are excited to move forward with getting them hooked on reading through various music topics and titles! Music class is always changing and having a lot of fun. Come join us and see how we change the world through music!”
With gratitude,
Ms. B.
This classroom project was brought to life by J.Crew.