The Ukes are Coming! The Ukes are Coming!

Woo hoo! I learned late last week that our DonorsChoose.org project for ukuleles has been fully funded! We had one large donation from a local family and then the remainder of the project was funded by the Horace Mann Insurance Company. I am very grateful for the support of those two donors. I really didn't expect the project to be funded this year, but it looks like we'll get to use them yet this spring. The ukuleles were ordered on April 20! I can hardly wait until they get here. I haven't told the students yet, so we'll see if the news leaks out to them this way.

My plan is for 5th Graders to get to learn to play the ukuleles. It will be a couple of weeks before we are able to start. First of all, the ukuleles need to get here. Secondly, we are finishing a unit on band/orchestra instruments and then I have the iPad lab reserved for a GarageBand project. Then we will start with the ukuleles. We sure have a lot to fit into these last few weeks of school.

The timing of this news is perfect since I just started teaching the song Count On Me by Bruno Mars to the 5th graders. We were just discussing the ukulele because he plays it in the video.

Great News - Matching Donations

Great news! Between now and the end of April, any donations to our DonorsChoose project (even $1) up to $100 will be matched by Maclife.com. All you have to do is enter the code MACLIFE at checkout. You can see all the details of the MacLife DonorsChoose Challenge here.

2nd Grade Class Compositions

Each second grade class wrote a song using the pitches Do, Re, and Mi. After writing the song, the students learned to play it on the mallet instruments. We recorded Mrs. Jessen's class today. We attempted to squeeze everyone together so they could all be seen in the video, but I still managed to block the view of a couple of students while playing the drum. I thought I was out of the shot. :( I'll add the other class recordings as we make them.

Mrs. Jessen's Class

Tarzan Swing

5th Grade Concert Selections

Here are some of the 5th grade spring concert selections.

Dance #31

Humpty Dumpty

Colonel Bogey's Grand Old Flag

't Smidje

4th Grade Concert Selections

The 4th-5th Grade Spring Concert was held on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Here are some of the selections for the 4th grade portion of the concert.

Entrance of the Dragon Riders

“Entrance Of The Dragon Riders” by Paul Jennings (ASCAP) © 2008 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

Fifty Nifty United States

Polly Wolly Doodle

Rockin' Frere Jacques

3rd Grade Concert Selections

Here are some of the third grade spring concert selections:

America the Beautiful

“America The Beautiful” by Samuel A. Ward/Katherine Lee Bates/arr. by Paul Jennings (ASCAP) © 1993 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

Rocky Mountain

Skip, Skip, Shoo Fly Shoo

Follow the Rainbow

“Follow The Rainbow” by Teresa Jennings (ASCAP) © 2005 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

See You later

“See You Later” by Teresa Jennings & John Riggio (ASCAP) © 2003 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

2nd Grade Concert Selections

Here are some of the second grade selections from the spring concert.

Sing-A-Ling-A-Ling

Playin' My Kazoo

“Playin’ My Kazoo,” by Teresa Jennings (ASCAP) © 1999 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

Whacky Do, Re, Mi

“Whacky Do Re Mi” by Teresa Jennings (ASCAP) © 2000 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

K/1 Concert Selections

The K-3 Spring concert was held on Thursday, March 15 and I think it went quite well. Here are some of the K/1 selections.

Mr. Sun

She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

“She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain” arr. by Paul Jennings (ASCAP) © 1996 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

Music Makes Me Sing

“Music Makes Me Sing!” by Teresa Jennings (ASCAP) © 2005 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission.

Movement to Aquarium (from Carnival of the Animals)