It has been a joy to work with your students this year in music. Throughout all the grades, we use music to teach the whole child touching on social emotional themes of respect, responsibility, kindness, positive collaboration and teamwork. We also use music to practice body awareness and hand-eye coordination through rhythmic expression. Recently, we have been talking about anatomy and how to feel and use our breath in healthy ways through vocalizing which has immense transferable benefits in sports, nervous system regulation, and confidence in speaking. Lastly, we have amazing speakers in the music room that allow us to deeply listen to all different styles of music. During this deep listening, we get to practice the art of awareness while also exploring our inner world of emotion and thought which require deep listening.
Each grade has been preparing for the Veterans Concert and the Winter Concert which is an amazing fete considering we only get to be together 35 minutes every week. Interested 4th grade students have/will get to take piano lessons to practice how mistakes are part of helping us learn and grow and experience how learning a new instrument inspires confidence. Going forward, 4th grade will get to learn xylophones then recorders to further practice growth mindset and hand-eye coordination. 5th grade will be traveling the world to learn geography, culture, language, history, and music of places around the world. 6th grade will be working on teamwork and positive collaboration as they create musical ensembles and create/write a song in small groups. They will also get to explore their unique individual musical listening interests. Please email me with any questions and stay in touch. Yay music!!! Great job Norway students!!!