Dear San Antonito Families, 

I am very excited to be back, and a warm hello to all of our new families! November is a big month for our students. We will have our Veterans Day performance on November 10th at 9am in the gym. Please complete this form if you would be joining us for this celebration. 

The students have been working very hard to prepare for this performance and they sound amazing!

 

As I find out what the students remember and have learned since I’ve been out, they have many exciting music concepts I will introduce this month.

Kindergarten will continue experiencing beat, rhythm, and singing with the themes of thankfulness and family. 

1st Grade will continue singing sol-mi and practicing their rhythms (ta, ta-ti- and rest).

2nd Grade will learn the half rest and will be singing ostinati (repeated patterns) with their songs.  

3rd Grade will learn the dotted half note and will be exploring form.

4th Grade will add the pitch E to their notes they play on the recorder.

5th Grade will review the recorder pitch D, V-I harmony and question and answer form. 

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the music program!

Hello from the music room!

Our kindergarten classes have been getting more in tune with our classroom expectations and routines every week. They are having a ton of fun learning farm animal songs, exploring basic instruments, and finding their singing voices! First, second, and third graders have been honing their listening skills through various rhythmic games and song recognition activities. Fourth and Fifth graders are stretching their brains and ears with more intricate rhythms and melodies every week. We have also recently introduced recorders to the older grades which everyone is super excited for!

As September comes to a close we are beginning to work on our Veterans Day program. In November, every class will be performing songs for a group of veterans from our community. As we introduce the songs each grade will be singing, we have begun to talk about why Veterans Day is celebrated. Students have had the chance to share stories with their peers about the veterans in their lives.

Over the coming weeks we will be exploring more of the instruments in our music room, practicing more complex rhythms, learning some cool fall songs, and continuing to work on our Veterans Day program. 

October will bring Mrs. Schaub’s much anticipated return! She will be back midway through and plans on finishing the month teaching music concepts with fun seasonal songs and activities. 

I am very grateful for the time I have had with everyone in the music room and I’ll see you around school!

Mr. Nick

email

e503873@aps.edu 

This Month in Music

Greetings! My name is Mr. Nick and I am the long-term sub who will be covering for Mrs. Schaub, our full-time music teacher, until her mid-October return. I am super excited to start the school year in the music room!

Over the next few weeks our returning students will be getting reoriented with the space and expectations of the music classroom and remembering where they left off in May. Our incoming kinders will be introduced to the exciting world of music and learn how to use their bodies and voices to make music of their own!

Please review the following expectations and procedures with your kids to help facilitate a smooth return to the music room:  

To ensure that peers and materials are kept safe and everyone has a good time, students will follow the three Roadrunner rules:

1. Be Safe
2. Be Respectful
3. Be Responsible

After each activity, students will use a rubric to grade themselves and their peers on these rules. (Although students typically self-grade rather effectively, I always have the overriding vote if needed.) A magnet is placed on a corresponding behavior chart in the room to visually track and reinforce positive choices. If most of the day’s magnets are on green and purple, they add a star to their class star chart. At 10 stars, they earn music game time for half the class period (They have to do a little bit of work before play).

In addition to these Music Room guidelines, I will support the classroom teachers by also incorporating their group specific strategies when appropriate. 

When rules are broken, a tiered system of logical consequences will be used to help students learn from their mistakes and make better choices in the future.

1. First Instance: Verbal reminder or redirection.
2. Second Instance: Implement a natural consequence (change seating arrangement, lose instrument privilege for the day, etc.) and a verbal warning, brief one-on-one conference with the teacher to discuss the behavior. 
3. Repeated Disruptions or Unsafe Behaviors: Documented Parent contact, meeting with classroom teacher and/or administration if needed to collaborate on an effective course of action.

Specific Procedures

• Entering the Room: Students will wait quietly outside the door until invited in. They will then find their assigned spot on the carpet and quietly wait for instruction.
• Instrument Use: Instruments are not toys. They are classroom tools that are to be touched and played only with permission. Students will treat all instruments with care and put them away properly when finished.
• Performance and Listening: When a classmate or a group is performing, we will listen respectfully and be a good audience. At the end of a performance, we show our appreciation with applause and positive feedback.
• Moving Around: Students will move with purpose and care around the room, being mindful of instruments and other students.
• Dismissal: Students will clean up their area and wait for the teacher to signal that it's time to line up quietly.

If you need to contact me for any reason, I can be reached via email.

Thanks for reading!