Season's Greetings, Gillipie Families! Our students are hard at work preparing for our Winter Program! We can't wait to present the culmination of their preparation and we are looking forward to seeing family members of students in Prek through Grade 6 on December 17. Pictured is Ms. Collin's and Ms. Young's class practicing, "Hot Cup of Cocoa". Ian Lewis, Music Teacher...
In music this year students have had the opportunity to share their work, compositions, and even solos with the class. In these experiences, our students develop confidence, empathy, and presentation skills. Many students have requested to perform with instruments that they are learning outside of school. A few weeks ago, one student asked if she could play her violin with her Kindergarten class. For many of our students, this was the first time they had seen or heard a...
Hello Gillispie Families, In the last few weeks, we have started sharing student compositions. This year we are using a new computer program called Soundtrap. Soundtrap is a digital audio workstation (DAW), similar to Garageband, which is created by the makers of Spotify. In previous years, students have created songs but there wasn't an opportunity to share their original compositions with their peers. Since the format of specialty classes is different this year, we have been sharing our songs...
In music class this month, our Prekindergarten students have been learning how to read music notation. Pre-K through Grade 1 students have been playing xylophone and learning various songs. This picture captures students reading and playing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!” This month has a continuation of our exploration of new styles of music. Over the past few months, we have learned about “The Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns. Recently, we have started our journey into blues...
It has been over a decade since Gillispie first rolled up its sleeves and hosted the first blood drive, and the tradition continues with our annual Grade 3 Blood Drive and Bake Sale February 11, 2020. An event that was organized to support a former Gillispie family affected by childhood leukemia has now turned into our blood drive--a life-saving, annual event that our local community depends on. Over the past ten years, our Gillispie blood donors have saved...
This week, Grades 5 and 6 students held a musical theater performance for their peers and parents! Bringing their techniques to the stage, they performed two songs from “Hamilton” and a song/scene from “The Lion King." They did a fabulous job! We can't wait until they have a beautiful new theater space to perform in! Click here for a video of one of the songs from Hamilton! ...
With bittersweetness, admiration, and respect, I announce that two incredibly accomplished and dedicated educators will be leaving at the end of this school year. Linda Jacobs, who has lovingly instructed our students for the past 29 years in music, and Laura Moore, who in her twelve years has nimbly taught elementary students library, technology, and media literacy skills, have big plans as they head into their future. These two women have been bedrocks in their areas of...
Students in Grade 4 have been learning to play the ukulele, including how to hold it, how to tune it, and how to take care of it. One of the benefits of teaching ukulele is that it can be used as a melodic or harmonic instrument. Students can play and sing at the same time. In addition, eye-hand coordination, fine and gross motor skills and whole-body/kinesthetic movement are utilized when playing this delightful instrument! Each introduced instrument is done...
Students in Grade 2 have been learning to play the recorder! In early January, they received lesson books to begin the process of note reading. The children are enthusiastic about playing an instrument and using music stands and books. The recorder is a wonderful, age-appropriate instrument that helps students develop their musicality and sense of musicianship. Students also learn how to coordinate their fingers, their tongue, and their breath – all 3 things at once – in order to play...
Students in Grade 6 have been reviewing the concepts of beat, rhythm, and texture. After watching a CNN report with behind-the-scenes footage of the group STOMP, Grade 6 students formed groups, picked out unique objects such as brooms, bubble wrap, buckets, paint sticks, tubes, and aluminium pie pans from a collection of gathered objects and created their own version of STOMP! Near the end of class, each group had to perform their creation in front of their peers. This covers...