Prepping for No Students
Hi readers!
It has been a few weeks. I didn't mind having a small holiday from blogging. I really didn't do a ton - moved to my new apartment in Morden for my student teaching placement, and started student teaching. Almost as quickly as I started teaching, we were told that schools will be closing for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Needless to say, it's been a stressful few days trying to sort out what is going on with placement and with my upcoming job in Gillam.
Thankfully, we have more than enough things to do while the students are away. My cooperating teacher has been excited to have the extra set of hands in making an escape room activity for the students, so that will be one thing we're working on, among other things. I'm hoping to get a lot of my specific planning done for my job in Gillam, now that I know my schedule.
What do we do in the next couple days, is the bigger problem. My cooperating teacher and I have been brainstorming, trying to find activities for students to do while they are home away from school. So much of music class is community based and "in person". But, it's funny how things I have done in this class will help us out in coming up with inventive ideas and seeing what kinds of things students can do over the break that is more than just boring worksheets....
It has been a few weeks. I didn't mind having a small holiday from blogging. I really didn't do a ton - moved to my new apartment in Morden for my student teaching placement, and started student teaching. Almost as quickly as I started teaching, we were told that schools will be closing for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Needless to say, it's been a stressful few days trying to sort out what is going on with placement and with my upcoming job in Gillam.
Thankfully, we have more than enough things to do while the students are away. My cooperating teacher has been excited to have the extra set of hands in making an escape room activity for the students, so that will be one thing we're working on, among other things. I'm hoping to get a lot of my specific planning done for my job in Gillam, now that I know my schedule.
What do we do in the next couple days, is the bigger problem. My cooperating teacher and I have been brainstorming, trying to find activities for students to do while they are home away from school. So much of music class is community based and "in person". But, it's funny how things I have done in this class will help us out in coming up with inventive ideas and seeing what kinds of things students can do over the break that is more than just boring worksheets....
Ada's Violin - Gr 5 and 6
So, in my post about the impact of technology, I wrote about a lesson idea using the book Ada's Violin to learn about the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay (or, Cateura). I will be using my last Grade 5 and 6 classes to present them a video of the Recycled Orchestra, read them the story, and show them homemade instruments. My idea, is for them over the 3 weeks, to build an instrument out of things they can find in their home. I don't want them going out and shopping for anything - if anything, it adds more waste when one of the characteristics of the orchestra is to be using waste to create something new. By showing them homemade instruments, I hope it sparks some ideas for instruments they can make in their homes! They have plenty of time to get the project done, and I really hope they have fun doing it!
Recorder Songbook - Gr 3 and 4
I recently won a contest on Instagram, and my prize was a copy of the book "Lazlo Learns Recorder" by Vicky Weber. It is a book intended for beginners, only using the notes B and A, but it has some beautiful illustrations! I also just love incorporating books into the classroom whenever I can, so this book was the perfect addition to my collection.
Our Grade 3 and 4 students LOVE playing recorder! I don't think I've seen another group as keen as them. When we asked them if they would use an additional recorder songbook over the break, it was a resounding YES. I'm glad they're so excited! Both my cooperating teacher and I have spent time looking for recorder songs, and we will compile our own collections sometime tomorrow to come up with the final songbook for them.
K - Gr 2?
The kindergarten classes up to second grade are still a bit up in the air for us. I'm sure we will discuss more in a few days, when we have a couple hours at the end of the day together without classes to really go over our plans. Before the break was announced, we were supposed to have a staff meeting until 5pm, but now we've moved that to 9am on Monday (when we have to be at school, with no students) which now gives us that time to work on solidifying packages.
And that's it!
I wish we currently had more ideas for K-2, but I'm feeling good about our projects and ideas for 3-6. My cooperating teacher and I are also planning on creating a website where students can find links to online music games, maybe music that they can listen to for examples of composers, etc. I'm hoping to use quite a bit of my resources that I've accumulated in this course to either help build a website, or come up with more ideas for work booklets for students. I think some flipped classroom videos would be really neat, but we need to keep in mind that a lot of our students don't have computers at home - therefore all our online materials need to be only supplementary, and can't be necessary for completing the work. All we can do is hope this break passes quickly, and our students can keep learning and thriving from home!
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