Donors Choose Project; Please Give to Help my Students!

Hello Everyone!!!

I have created a project on donorschoose.org to help get some much needed supplies for my classroom! I've pasted my project story here for you to read.  If you feel like this is something you'd like to donate money to, please click on the donorschoose.org "Give the gift of learning" button to the right or visit: www.donorschoose.org/mrs.beason Thank you so much in advance for your support, it is much appreciated!

Hand Drums & Sleigh Bells To Build Rhythmic Technique

My Students: How often have we heard that making educational concepts concrete with kinesthetic tools is essential to reach all learners? My students cannot fully engage in music making without instruments to help them connect their brains to their bodies through kinesthetic awareness in rhythmic technique.

My students are highly active, spirited, talented, and enthusiastic about music. They attend a wonderful elementary school in a rare Idaho community that is extremely supportive of its music programs. My students are always looking for more opportunities to utilize instruments in the classroom. They are exponentially more engaged in music making when their kinesthetic awareness is engaged through the use of instruments to make music. While the school does provide a small repertoire of instruments, we are extremely low on classroom sets of instruments. Usually half of the class ends up with one kind of instrument while the other ends up with a different instrument. This is useful for some lessons, but the students are interested in more unified instrumental music making. They want to feel more connected by using the same instruments to discover rhythm in new ways. My students are very imaginative and extremely interested in building their music skills, especially rhythmically.

My Project: These resources will change my students' lives in the music classroom by providing them with rhythm skills that are more sound. With these instruments, the students will be able to participate in many eurythmic activities that focus on the development of concepts such as pulse, beat, meter, canon and more. Eurythmics is a system of rhythmical physical movements to music, which are used to teach musical understanding or for therapeutic purposes. Drums and bells are wonderful tools that help develop the art of interpreting musical compositions by rhythmical, free-style bodily movement. The therapeutic nature of eurythmics through the use of instrumental tools will also appeal to all learners, especially special needs students who often attend music for socialization purposes. My students will gain a deeper understanding of rhythmic patterns through the development of an internalized sense of rhythmic beat through the use of these instruments and the activities that go with them.

Plato once said that music is a more potent instrument than any other for education." With the increasing budget cuts in public school that often result in the termination of our students arts' programs, now is a more crucial time than ever to support the programs that still exist. Through this support, our students will have the musical tools they need to show the public why music is such a powerful enrichment to their education, and is thus something to be valued and funded in our schools.

My students need hand drums and sleigh bells to hone in on their rhythmic development technique.

 

Fall into Music

Hello to all!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, and for that I extend my apologies. Getting in the groove of the new school year has taken up a lot of time and kept me quite busy.  I also had an unexpected occurrence in my life; my husband and I were surprised to learn that I am pregnant. It was unplanned, but now that we’re used to the idea, we’re very excited.  The only wrench this throws in the school year (besides growing a large belly, mood swings, and increasing uncomfortable-ness) is that I will be taking leave the last 6 weeks of school. Good timing for my baby and I as we’ll move right into summer without any interruption, but that does leave me with the task of finding a qualified long-term sub to take over my classes and direct the 4^th graders’ recorder performance while I’m on leave. I do have someone in mind, but it depends on her availability. I know it’ll work out somehow.

Back to school now. It’s already fall, which I love because that means the holiday season has begun. I created a “Fall into Music” bulletin board that states all musical concepts in a creative fall-themed way. Here are some photos:

 Another addition to my classroom is the “Rest Area” chair.  This chair is in a designated space in my classroom where I can send students who need a moment away from the classroom activities to alleviate their disrupting behavior by sitting in a solitary space away from others for a few minutes.  It’s very basic: a classroom chair with the “Rest Area” sign taped above it.  Of course, the sign is themed with actual musical rests; to be specific, half rests and quarter rests.  I made the sign using a simple word document. I typed the text and then inserted pictures of quarter and half rests around it.  Feel free to duplicate in your classroom! I’ve found it to be a very effective outlet for re-directing instruction.  Here’s a picture:

Other things on the horizon that I will be planning for are holiday assemblies and the 5^th grade December performance.  I’ll try to do much better about posting more often to keep you updated on things I’m doing.  Thanks for stopping by!