Music with Mrs. Karia

Our Wildcats had a visit this October from the Pirates of Penzance- a.k.a. Opera for the Young! Students sang along with and enjoyed the hijinks and brilliant melodies. We had over 40 students participate in the offstage chorus. Thank you to the Whittier PTO for funding Opera for the Young and to Brooks for loaning us the risers for our growing chorus of opera singers!

first day of chorus! September 2019 We're off to a wonderful start to music class. So far, students have focused on singing and moving, through activities and games. We've also done reading activities: steady beat for K-2nd, and grade appropriate rhythms for 3rd-5th grade. Above is kindergarten doing the movement game galloping galloping (at the part of the song where it says "backs touch the ground". 4th-5th grade-Students interested in playing recorder flute, will have an opportunity to join Recorder Club on Mondays at 12. Parents will receive an email if their child comes to the meeting Monday. 3rd-5th grade-Opera for the Young is returning to Whittier this October. If your child is interested in being in a special on stage chorus they should come to a meeting on Friday at 12.

Whittier's Buddy Bench! The Whitttier Chorus has created a video to go with our original song about our Buddy Bench. We hope you enjoy our video and that you all have a wonderful summer! BUDDY BENCH SONG

3rd Trimester Report Cards This trimester 4th and 5th graders focused learning pieces for their SLAM performance in May. Their performance grade was based on their performance and practices for SLAM. Students who got an E learned extra parts to songs during lunch or played for me in small groups during class. Their reading assessment was based their reading during the trimester and a test at the end of the trimester. Reading assessment: E- student answered all required questions and 5 bonus questions correctly M- student answered 4-5 required questions correctly and answered 1-2 bonus questions correctly P- student answered 3-4 required questions and no bonus questions correctly or used a help sheet for the answers and received 5-6 questions correctly NY- student answered 0-2 questions correctly Their listening assessment was based their reading during the trimester and a test at the end of the trimester. Listening assessment: E- student answered all required questi...

2nd Trimester Report Cards This trimester 4th and 5th graders focused on learning pieces for the opera and their study of the recorder. Their performance grade is based on singing a song from the opera and playing a phrase of a piece on the recorder. Opera assessment: M- student matched pitch consistently P- student matched pitch but not consistently NY- student did not match pitch 50% of the time or less (no E possible for this assessment) Recorder assessment: E- student spent the time to learn the whole piece and recorded it for me at school or at home M- student played the chosen phrase of the piece with correct fingering and only 1-2 squeaks maximum P- student played the phrase but had some incorrect fingering 1-2 times and squeaked (or had an unclear tone) more than 2 times NY- students had incorrect fingering more than 1-2 times and were not creating a clear tone consistently. Their listening grade  was based on a quiz on form in pieces of music I played i...

What a February! Here are just a few of the highlights from last month During the day on February 27th, we had our Black History Month assembly (featuring Cynthia Maddox as Harriet Tubman). 2nd-5th grade students who volunteered to come to a few lunchtime rehearsal learned the song "Harriet Tubman" to sing at the conclusion of the assembly. That evening, Whittier held it's first Black History Month Literacy Night. At the beginning of the evening, students and adults joined in singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Everyone in the school learned the song. Some (like this first grader) even tried learning to play it at home!

There will be a featured chorus singing the song "Harriet Tubman" for our Black History Month Assembly next week. If your child is in 2nd-5th grade and interested in singing they can come to the rehearsals during lunch recess. 2nd grade rehearsals- Friday at 11:10 and Tuesday 2/26 at 11:10 3rd-5th grade rehearsals Thursday at 11:40 (for those who didn't come this Tuesday), Friday at 11:40 (featured part auditions), and Tuesday 2/26 The lyrics to the song we are learning are at this link Lyrics Here is a link with an older chorus performing the song (we won't be doing this exact version) Video