We’re Back! Our first week of school is finally done for the 2021-2022 school year in the Plains Music Room. While it was difficult to transition back to a full day 5 days a week, I was so happy to see everyone’s faces (even if they were covered in masks) and meet students again or for the first time! The music room was full of laughter, smiles, singing, and game playing once again, as it should be!
Here are some highlights from the week:
I have a lot of fun activities planned for this year, and am excited to share them with our Plains students and with our Plains Families! I will try to post to social media every other week (or more if I can) and will attempt to do short monthly updates on happenings within the music room. This way, families can keep up with how music class is progressing in general and can be informed of upcoming events and important announcements that may come from the Music Room. Again, I am so happy to have all the students back in the music room and making music together once again! Stay safe, Stay healthy, and Stay Musical! ~Mr. Conway Dear Plains Family Students, Parents, Teachers, and Family,
This year, school is going to look a lot different. Most of our students will not be in the building, won't be getting to see their teachers' smiling faces in person, won't be getting high fives or hugs on a daily basis. For me, the music room will remain empty of laughter, fun, singing, and playing. As a music teacher, this hurts my heart. From personal experience, I know the joy of making music with others, whether it was in a band in middle and high school, a choir in college, or even singing games in my own music classroom. There is a lot about what we used to do in the music room that we can no longer do, and makes music even harder to enjoy together. But.... Music is still a part of our lives. Music will still be offered in one way or another to our students. We may not be able to sing, hold hands, or play games like we used to, but I am working hard to come up with new lessons and activities that can still help us engage with music in different ways. And it is not just me! The music teachers in Rockingham county are teaming up to prepare awesome lessons for our students in virtual learning, as well as sharing ideas for engaging our younger students in person. While it saddens me that music will not look the same as it has been, I am excited to develop new, innovative lessons that still help our students engage with music in a variety of ways. To my 2nd-5th grade students: I miss you. I will miss seeing you in person. I will miss the games and fun we would have had in the music room. But I am excited to work on how to engage in music with you in such a different way To my Kindergarten and 1st grade students: I am glad that we will get to see each other face to face, in some capacity. While music will look different, I am excited to show you how music can still be a part of your life and learning in this time! There are many unknowns about the coming school year, and there may not be answers for every question. However, I know that as a school, as a community, and as a family, we can work together to make this school year the best we can with the resources we have. Have grace for your teachers, have grace for your administration, have grace for your students, have grace for your parents, and have grace for your community. I look forward to starting this school year with you all! Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay musical! ~Mr. Conway Music Monday Episdoe #7 is live! Check it out either here on our website, on our facebook page (@PESMusicRoom), or on your class seesaw!
Next week is our show-and-tell episode! We will be featuring everyone who has shared what they have done musically at home! If you haven't shared yet, go ahead and post to seesaw! Our last episode will not be uploaded to facebook, twitter, or our website! It will only be shown on class seesaw pages. Stay healthy, stay safe, and stay musical! ~Mr. Conway Hey Everyone!
Music Mondays Episode #5 is live! You can check it out here on our website by clicking the links below, or you can head over to our facebook page (@PESMusicRoom). Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Musical! Kindergarten & 1st Grade Episode: https://youtu.be/vSnbRmY7CnY 2nd - 5th grade Episode: https://youtu.be/kjYmGoQyhdo ~Mr. Conway Happy Music Monday! Below are the links to both episodes of Music Mondys. Don't forget, you can follow us on Twitter (@MrConwayMusic), Facebook (@PESMusicRoom), and find these videos on your child's Seesaw account!
Kindergarten and 1st Grade: https://youtu.be/XKwdIXwj7lM 2nd - 5th grade: https://youtu.be/HaltMP9SsHg Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, and Stay Musical! ~Mr. Conway It's time for Music Mondays!
You can see the episode for 2nd-5th graders here: https://youtu.be/Adu0cdhKu0Y You can see the episode for Kindergarten & 1st grade here: https://youtu.be/JE7cP3ufXWA Don't forget, you can also see these videos on your class SeeSaw or on our Facebook page (@PESMusicRoom). Miss you all! Stay safe, Stay healthy, and Stay musical! ~Mr. Conway It's Monday again! That means two new episodes of Music Mondays!
This week, for 2nd - 5th graders, I explore a website called Incredibox! This website uses animation and pre-made musical loops to make music exploration and creation easy! Here's the video: https://youtu.be/B2P6bH3n67g For the Kindergarten & 1st grade edition, I show you a great activity you can do with random object lying around your house! Here's the video: https://youtu.be/T2FLZi0V4_c Don't forget, if you create Hello Plains Family!
With the school being over and with stay at home orders being issued to keep us healthy and safe, it is time for us to think outside the box on what music learning will look like for the remainder of the year. For the past few weeks, I have met with Plains staff, other music teachers, and administration to determine the best avenue for the next nine weeks. What I have come up with is what I like to call, "Music Mondays!" "Music Mondays!" will be a weekly episode where I share with students a fun way that I have found that allows me to make music right from my home. This may be an application on a device, a way to get outside, or something to do with various objects you can find around your house. Two episodes will be made every week. One episode will be geared toward 2nd - 5th graders and will run a bit longer. The other episode will be geared toward Kindergarten and 1st grade. All episodes can be found here on my website under the Monthly Updates! tab or under the Music Monday Episodes Catalog Tab. I will also post these videos to SeeSaw, Twitter, and our brand new Facebook Page! Find it under the Contacts Tab, or look us up @PESMusicRoom. For this week's "Music Monday!" Episodes, please find the appropriate Episode below! 2nd - 5th Grade: https://youtu.be/HERTxutoIYU Kindergarten & 1st Grade: https://youtu.be/8dszlo2df7U Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, and Stay Musical! Ok, maybe more than a few. I apologize for not updating after November. Here is a quick update on what is going on the music classroom the past few months!
First off, Congratulations to our 4th and 5th graders for an amazing Concert in December! I'm so proud of their hard work! Our 5th graders have been learning about Jazz music the past few weeks! We have learned the history of Jazz, played some jazz on instruments, and even got to experience Jazz Dance through a visiting artist, Ellie de Waal! What an amazing time we had! On Tuesday, March 17th, we will be skyping with Chris Raschka, a children's illustrator who has illustrated books based off of jazz music. We will be talking with him about where he gets his inspiration from! 4th grade has started recorders! What an exciting instrument to learn to play! We spent some time learning how to read the staff in preparation, and now we are slowly working our way towards our first song! Hopefully the students have been showing off their cool new instrument at home! 3rd grade has learned some new songs in preparation for learning our next rhythm notation. I won't give it away here so it will be a surprise! We have also review "sol" and "mi," two pitches that we will use to sing the interval of a minor 3rd. We will move on to review our next pitch as well. The 3rd graders are doing an excellent job of staying focused, playing, and singing the games we have in class! We are also beginning to learn about the staff, how it is made up of lines and spaces, and what steps, skips, and leaps are! 2nd grade is also preparing to learn their next rhythm notation. We have also learned "high" and "low" in preparation for learning the actual music names for those pitches. We have also begun to learn about the staff and will be putting "high" and "low" on the staff as well in preparation for learning how to read music that is written on the staff. Kindergarten and 1st grade are preparing for their musical in April! We will be presenting "Glow," the story of Flier the firefly, who gets lost from home in a terrible storm and learns that even though it may look like he doesn't serve a purpose, everyone in the meadow has a specific and special job meant only for them! Along with preparing for the musical, 1st grade is preparing to learn their first rhythm syllables and Kindergarten in experiencing the difference between Marching beats and Swinging beats! Thanks for checking in! I promise to try and be better at keeping everyone updated on the music room happenings here at Plains! If you ever have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]! Important dates for the rest of March: March 26th - Festival Choir March 27th - Early Release for Students (end of 3rd nine weeks) |
PES Music Updates!As often as possible, updates on happenings in the classroom, as well as announcements of upcoming events will be posted here. Archives
August 2021
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