Sunday, January 13, 2013

Back in the swing of things. :)

So, after the craziness of Program preparation and practicing and practicing and practicing and practicing... you get the picture, it almost feels like a break to get back to normal. Now my job is back to teaching kids to love and appreciate music by showing them how much I love and appreciate music! :) (Not too bad of a job, I have to say). I mean, what person can say that they get paid to walk around a classroom with kids acting like a train, sing a song about random animals where a hippopotamus says "bookadoo", sing directions, dance around to Irish music, etc... :) Constantly I have to remind myself how much joy that I can give and receive at my job. It is only when I get overwhelmed with the nitty gritty details and discipline that I lose my joy. The days when I live in the moment, have lessons planned, and then give the rest to God are usually just amazing days, when I leave work fulfilled and filled with joy.

I am also excited because I have come up with plans for "Units" for the rest of the year to help this incredibly unorganized woman begin to organize her lessons and classroom :)  (since I do not have a curriculum, which is good and bad at the same time)

Here are my ideas (if you know of any activities, songs, stories that go along with any of these, PLEASE share!! :)  or if you have any ideas to expand upon each unit, I am open for ideasm very open!


K- Fun Folk Songs 
1st Animal Themes
I Bought Me a Cat
2 Multicultural Unit 
    • Spain
      • Start with Spanish song (Aqui) 
      • Talk about the various instruments and way of singing
    • Germany
      • Teach them Alle Meine Entchen 
    • Ireland 
      • Lesson on a Simple Irish Folk song melody 
      • Teach them a little Irish Dance 
- African 
3rd Grade-- 
Theory (have them do a little quiz to see where they are before we have recorders) 
Beginning Recorders -- basic, GAB, with many songs on these 3 notes 
4th Grade-- RECORDERS 
Playing for belts, learning notes, rhythms, dictating rhythms… 
5th Grade-- Music History    ( The very nerdy side of me is super excited about this! - I absolutely LOVE Music HIstory!!:) 
Jan- Before Medieval
- Greek Theater Lessons :) 
- Chant (cont. the lesson plans I was doing for Chant) 
Feb- Medieval
March- Baroque
April- Classical
May- Romantic 
6th
Jan- Piano unit 
Playing the Paper keyboards and learning a little about scales and chords in the process



Saturday, January 5, 2013

Success! :)

My inaugural Christmas Program finally happened on Thursday January 3rd, the 10th Day of Christmas! :) 

You see, the sky decided to open up and blanket KC with all that white stuff for one day only, yup you guessed it, the day of my program. I had never been so bummed to see the magical flurries and I definitely felt like an adult when I was devastated to have a Snow Day. I thought to myself, "Wow, I sound old!" Anyways, because of the Snow Day my program was moved to after Christmas Break. 

Now all this sounds very sad and depressing but I forgot to mention how amazing that day ended up turning out. Basically all I can say it that I am very very blessed. My boyfriend, Matthew, was planning on surprising me for the program but even though it was canceled and there was snow persistently making its presence known, he came down anyways and we had a very special visit! (Yup I am definitely blessed!!!) 

So, God just likes to work in mysterious ways, that is for sure. 

Anyways, the Program finally occurred this past Thursday and I am incredibly blessed to say that it was a SUCCESS! A large majority of my students enjoyed it and many many parents overwhelmed me with their praise and congratulations. It was definitely a night I will never forget! Even the priest at our school's parish came up to me and said, "This was a good program... actually this was a VERY good program!" It was so funny though because at the start of the program I had to check myself and remind myself that it was not a practice. I had the blessing of running through it many times to fix many kinks and so I was quite used to seeing the whole thing performed. 

So, a post about an Elementary Christmas Program is not complete without all the funny instances (that were all caught on tape) and memorable moments. The fact that this Program went so well is in large part because of the Power of Prayer and God's grace because all the facts added up to much less success. Since the Program was moved to after the break I had: many kids gone on vacation, kids who were sick at home (my Joseph being one...), a few kids who moved from our school, a few kids who just didn't show up,  etc.... Right before the Program began I had 2 of my Wise Men (3rd grade boys) come up to me and share with me that "Michael (the other wise man) was sick, but we think Ryan can be the third because his costume looks most like a king." I just loved how they figured out the problem by themselves. Let's see, I had a 1st grade girl "rock out" to Away in a Manger (I think she had her own version playing in her head...), one of the preschoolers lifted up his shirt and was rubbing his belly, the preschoolers decided to clap for themselves, one of my narrators for the Nativity play had decided that he was also a shepherd proceeded to leave the Nativity scene and cross the entire stage to go say his line "And Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (and this crossing of the stage was definitely not planned...), my little 1st grade boy who soloed "Away in Manger" did an amazing job and melted many hearts, and the finale successfully startled the audience because I had the entire school stand up and sing the 2nd verse of Joy to the World after the Kindergarteners sang the first verse on the stage. 

Whew... that was a mouthful, but I decided that since I have not written for awhile that I would update you all. :)