Concert Songs

Hello again!

It's come time for us to start learning our songs for this year's holiday concert.
The show will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 10th with more info to come soon.
Although there is still no snow on the ground, we've already begun to get in the spirit of winter with some catchy tunes about the cold.

As I only get to see the students once a week, I ask that you please help them to practice their songs at home in order to be prepared for our time together. They are expected to know the words and be familiar with the tunes of their group's songs.

Please note that Dropbox is required in order to access the songs and lyrics. The students will be receiving a hard copy of the words shortly. Some lyrics or parts of songs may be cut or subject to change as we work through them together. Please refer to the typed lyrics provided for now.

Just click on your child's homeroom teacher's link below to download their songs!

Thank you for all your support and cooperation.


Mme. Lyne, Mme. Stevenson, Mme. Mollenthiel

Mme. Deziel, Mme. Royal

Mme. Martine, Mme. Bourassa

Mme. Sophie, Mme. Monique

Welcome to the 2014/2015 School Year!

Hello everyone!

Welcome back to my blog! With some much going on at the beginning of the year, this is my first post of the year. I'm so glad to be back at my wonderful school teaching music again!

To those who have never visited my blog, you can check out what we were up to last year in music and be sure to revisit it soon - as I'll be posting more info on what we are learning about in kindergarten and cycle 1.

I'm still pretty new to blogging and am trying to figured out how to organize this page a little better.

So far in cycle 1 we have reviewed a lot of basic music theory elements such as dynamics (volume), tempo (speed), articulation (the way the music moves) and form (organization). The students certainly have some new vocabulary to share...presto and largo anyone? Forte and piano? Staccato and legato?

Here's what our room looks like this year:

A little addition to the hallway shows all of the SJF Jr. Staff's favourite genres of music (something we will be looking at soon in cycle 1!)

Spring Spectacular Indeed!

Hi there!
Just wanted to take a moment to congratulate all of the students on an amazing concert. I was so proud of them for all their hard work.
The kindergarteners were awesome in their first stage experience and the choir's performance was bang on! Squirm went off without a hitch!

Here are the audio files from the show:

Concert Files - k and choir (matinee and evening)


Don't forget to download Dropbox so that you can listen.

It's really impressive! Way to go everyone!

CHOIR info - May 1st concerts

Hi there!

This is just to let you know that members of the choir will be coming home very soon (hopefully tomorrow) with papers telling them exactly what to wear for the show.
Be sure to check if they have specific pieces that they are requested to wear. However, here's an overview:

Children: A plain shirt that matches the colour of hat they will be given (it will be written...but it's either pink, indigo, dark blue, red or white) and blue jeans

Spiders: plain black or fray top, black pants
Brown Recluse spider: brown top and brown or black pants

Bats: Plain black top, black or grey pants

Worms: Plain pink or brown top and pink, brown or black pants

Snake: plain green top, green or black pants

Itsy Bitsy Spider: long-sleeved black (or dark) top to go under the shift she's being given or a tank top (if no long-sleeves). Black leggings, comfortable shoes and rain boots

Little Miss Muffet: Colourful sundress and nice shoes to match, wide-brim sun hat if possible

Please make sure that your child wears/brings his costume pieces to school for the dress rehearsal on April 30th (afternoon) and for our 2 shows on May 1st (afternoon and evening).

Girls: no high ponytails and skirts/dresses not recommended unless specified.

Keep practicing, we are doing very well so far! Students need to know what scene they are in (#) and have been encouraged to add gestures/expression to their text. Let them go all out and get a little silly with how they say their words. Have fun! :)

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you!

May 1st Concert - Choir & Kindergarten

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to remind you all that we have our Spring concert coming up for Kindergarten and the choir on May 1st.

Although I only get to see the kindergarteners for 1 30-minute period a week, they have been very busy practicing for this special upcoming event and are ready and excited for the concert.

I quickly (and very roughly - forgive me!) recorded the songs for them to practice to.
In order to download the songs, you must have Dropbox.
Click your child's homeroom teacher's name to gain access to their songs so they can practice:

Mme. Yolanda & Mme. Adrienne

Mme. Emond, Mme. Ziwani, Mme. Diane

Don't forget, the students are expected to be at both the afternoon show and the evening one (even if you don't attend...teachers will be there to supervise them). Reserve your 3 tickets quickly!

Kindergarten students are asked to wear a plain white top (no logos/writing) and blue jean bottom.

I look forward to seeing you there :)

Squirm - last song added

Click here to download Give a Bat a Call (our last song to learn):
Lyrics and Music


Everyone is doing an amazing job learning the songs. Many students were sent home with their speaking parts and hopefully they have been practicing over the break. We will be incorporating the text into our rehearsals as of this week! I know the students are nervous about performing, but they should be reassured that we will be practicing it often and soon their nervousness will subside. I am really seeing an amazing growth in their confidence, as they are beginning to feel more comfortable with each other. It's so great to see how much they love to sing and I know we have a few budding performers in our midst!

I am really excited that the songs are coming along well and that everyone is working hard at every rehearsal. So far, we're having a blast!

Good work everyone! Keep it up!

New choir songs uploaded to Dropbox!

Please check out the Dropbox link to download the new choir songs (copy/paste the link):

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p40fxtsbem7e9q9/bp0PqcnN2S


So far we have learned
- Squirm
- Cool to be a Worm
- A Spider Song

This week we will be starting to learn:
- A Snake in the Grass

Have fun!

Squirm - music and lyrics

To all those involved with our choir, here is the dropbox link for the two songs we have started to learn so far:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p40fxtsbem7e9q9/bp0PqcnN2S

There you can download the lyrics, as well as the music for practicing.

With just two rehearsals so far, the students have already learned 2 songs from the show! I am very impressed at their dedication so far and we are having a lot of fun learning the silly moves that go along with the music too!

Talent Day SUCCESS!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to post quickly about what a great success our talent days were. Lots of students chose to perform and I was so impressed by their courage and talent! We had lots of incredible singers, dancers and musicians. I wanted to say a big congratualations to those who chose to perform and a thank you to those who showed that they could be wonderful audience members. We learned what concert etiquette is and the importance of being polite, quiet and supportive during a performance. We also learned about performance and what it takes to show our hard work to others. We had a wonderful time learning about the hidden talents of some of the students!  Great work everyone! You made me very proud. :)

Excitement ahead in 2014!

Hi there everyone!
Happy New Year!
We have kick-started the year with some hip-hop dance in kindergarten to get the students feeling the music and recognizing the beat again. It's great to see how many of the students are able to move with the music and transition the type of movement they do depending on the music. In our freestyle session, I saw lots of students taking risks and jumping into the middle of our dance circle to have some fun and show off their best moves! This term, we are focusing on music appreciation and will be translating our feelings about movement into different mediums. I think dance was a great way to start off 2014. We have already experienced moving with the music by using scarves and ribbons to follow the rhythm of a piece.
*Parents: please note that ALL songs used in class are appropriate for children. If the originals are not, I use the KidzBop or Minipop Kids versions (which you should check out!) which are 100% child-friendly and sung by kids! For example, this week we danced to the Minipop version of Timber.

In cycle 1, we started back with some exciting stations in music class. We are reminding ourselves of what we have already learned about rhythm by playing different rhythm partner games I created at one of the stations and focusing on music appreciation with the other 2 stations. With the introduction of the iPad and iPods into our music class (I managed to wrangle up an old iPhone and some iPods from my own family members), students have been able to listen and respond to different pieces of instrumental music. By drawing whatever they feel the music is telling them to draw while they listen, students have been expressing their creativity and learning to appreciate and differentiate between different types of music. We have also been thinking about our favourite bands, singers and musicians and will be presenting our artwork on them as soon as we are finished.

In order to expand our listening station (which will be used for music education purposes), we always need more listening devices. I am not sure how big of a request this is but I was reading another music teacher's blog and she had expanded her station and enhanced her classroom by accepting donations of old iPhones from parents that were wiped clean. If you know anyone who has an old iPhone lying around that means nothing to them anymore (like my own father, who just upgraded to the iPhone5 and whose old phone will now be used in our class), we would love to use them in our classroom!

Some exciting news for 2014:

We will be stating our Choir on January 22nd!

Choir is open to cycle 1 students (grades 1 & 2) and permission slips go out today. 

It will be held every Wednesday at lunchtime. We will eat as a group and then start rehearsals. 

This year we will be trying something a little different and we will be presenting the short musical Squirm! 

As there are only 30 spots available, please be sure that your child returns their permission slip asap! 

As our time together is limited, I must reserve the right to not allow students who are continuously disruptive to participate (after 3 warnings) in the choir. 

I look forward to seeing everyone and am excited to start this fun activity!

The last week of January (27th, 28th, 29th), we will be having talent day in each of our classrooms. 

The students have been asked to decide if they'd like to show their classmates a musical talent that they have. 

They are encouraged to sing a song, do a dance or play an instrument. They can perform anything we have learned in class or something that they have practiced at home or at lunch/recess. It can be very simple and should not exceed 2-3 minutes. They can participate by performing alone or with friends or by being a good audience member. 

Students have been told that although I would like them to take a risk, have some fun and show the class something (music-related), I will be just as happy if they participate by giving their full attention to those who choose to perform. 

No one is forced to perform, but I'd be really happy if you could encourage your children to come up with something to show us. I will be signing the students up in class and they must specify what they are doing and who they are doing it with. More flexibility and spontaneity will be expected in kindergarten. 

I will be sending a letter home next week to share my expectations with all parents. 

If your child decides to play an instrument brought from home, you will need to specify this on the form that will accompany the talent day announcement. All instruments will be kept safely locked up in the music room until the end of the day, however it will be your child's responsibility to ensure it gets safely to and from school. We do have some percussion instruments, as well as a keyboard/piano and guitar (3/4 size) available for use at school. 

I am really excited to see what the students come up with! 

If you have any further questions, please feel free to post comments on the blog or contact me at adunn03@lbpearson.qc.ca