Rest & Relaxation

Hello everyone!

I hope all of my students and their families are enjoying a happy and safe Thanksgiving vacation. I am definitely using my time to recharge and enjoy some time with my family.

I started teaching full time in 2009, and before that spent time in classrooms doing observations and student teaching. I have taught thousands of students. I may not remember all of their names, but I am thankful for each one of those students for helping me to become a better teacher. They might not all remember the names of the notes on a treble clef in a few years, but I am hopeful that they have all gleaned something positive from a music class along the way. I have encountered students of all ability levels, personalities, and from different environments. They have all had an impact on me of some kind.

I am also grateful for my colleagues, past and present. Some of them have been wonderfully supportive, many are fantastic communicators, and all of them have compassion for our students and a passion for teaching and leading the buildings in which I've taught.

I am grateful for the mentors I've had that have helped me become the teacher that I am. I still use many of their ideas and systems.

I am grateful for my facilities. Some of the music teachers in my network teach from a cart. I am thankful for the spaces I have to teach in.

I am thankful for my music teachers that I had growing up: Mrs. Craine, Mrs. Gregory, Mr. Piper, Mr. Hollen, Mr. Sears, Ms. Helsman, Mrs. Cashman, Mr. Yon, Mrs. Perchy, Mrs. Connell, Mr. & Mrs. Detwiler, Mr. & Mrs. Verzella. All of my college professors.

I am thankful for my mom, who was an elementary school teacher and, despite seeing all the work she put in after hours, still inspired me to go into the world of education.

I am eternally grateful to all of the people who have supported and continue to support the arts in education. It is obvious that reading, writing, math, and science lay the foundation for education. It is necessary that music, art, drama, and language continue to augment and enrich the lives of our students.

I love teaching music and have many favorite units throughout the year, but many of my favorite activities come in the month of December - and I'm excited to share them with you in the coming weeks!
Enjoy the rest of your vacation and I'll see you at school on Wednesday!
- Mrs. Zimmerman

Celebrations!

Good evening!

As we wind up for a two-and-a-half day week, I'm thinking positive about what's to come! This year our technology administrator, Mr. Kyle, has been encouraging us as a faculty to "celebrate" each other and our students when things are going well. Here are some people I'd like to celebrate!

• Mrs. Prowant, who is my counterpart at St. Thomas & Mt. View and is also the chair of the music department. She does a fantastic job advocating our programs and keeping everything in the music department running! She is helping both students and teachers of TSD find their "unlimited NEXT!"
• Mrs. Bodenberg, the librarian, who is always wonderfully supportive and flexible, especially when it nears concert season for me. I really couldn't ask for a better "travel buddy"! Any time there are delays, dismissals, field trips, or other strange scheduling snafus, Mrs. Bodenberg will work her hardest to make sure that she still gets to see all of her classes so that students can check out new books for the week.
• I always send out copies of my concert lyrics and music to our classroom teachers in the weeks leading up to our concerts, and I am extremely appreciative of any time the teachers allow my students to practice along with their music or even listen to it in the background of an activity. This week Mrs. Beam's class was clearly practicing! They sounded fantastic during rehearsal on the stage... what professionals!
• Shout-out to all of the third and fifth grade students who tried out for solo singing parts this week! It takes so much courage to audition for a solo, especially when taking a risk that you might not get the part. I've been on the receiving end of that disappointment many times in my life; it's something that comes with participating in music that prepares you for real-life scenarios like job interviews. Everyone who tried out did a fantastic job, and made my job especially difficult. That's a great problem to have!
• Also, way to go to the JBHS Marching Band for placing first in the Chambersburg Christmas parade on Saturday! I'm sad I didn't get to see it in person, but I saw a video and they sounded and looked terrific! I know they work really hard to prepare for every performance they have, and I don't remember ever marching with snow on the sides of the road for these parades!

Keep up the awesome work, TSD! So proud!

- Mrs. Zimmerman

Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

Hello!

This week was kind of crazy with all of that snow! It definitely put a wrench in my musical plans for this week. Since we rotate on a four day special schedule, a snow day pushes everything back a day. Between the snow day and the two-hour delay, I had a discussion with the other music department members and Mr. Kaczmark and decided that it would be beneficial for us to postpone Montgomery's Holiday Concert until Monday, 12/10, which was our "snow date."

I know this may inconvenience some, as this is a very busy time of year. However, pushing the concert date back will allow our newly chosen soloists and readers more time to become comfortable with their speaking and singing parts, and will give us more time to rehearse together on the stage. The more prepared we are, the less nervous and stressed we all feel.

Here's what else is going on in music class leading up to Thanksgiving break!

Kindergarten continues to learn some fun Thanksgiving songs and work on finding a steady beat. We are also getting out our jingle bells this week! Did you know that Jingle Bells was originally written as a Thanksgiving song? We're going to learn all about it!

1st Grade is still preparing for our concert, but not without some breaks to celebrate Thanksgiving! We are also reviewing the notes we learned at the beginning of the year: quarter notes, eighth notes, and rests. First graders have quickly become experts on singing a scale, too!

2nd Grade is starting to learn more about form, or how a song is put together. We have been looking for patterns in our songs and started one of my favorites this week- "A Mud Puddle Jumped On Me!" We will also start learning about the Nutcracker soon!

3rd Grade soloists and readers have been chosen! It was extremely difficult to choose from all of the eager students, but I reminded them that if they were not selected this time that they will still have opportunities in 4th and 5th grade to be featured in a concert.

4th Grade is going to briefly work on some fun, familiar folk songs before we start learning about the child prodigy W.A. Mozart and play around with some holiday music!

5th Grade put up some stiff competition for solos this year, and made it very hard for me to choose just six soloists for each school. What a great problem to have! We have so many talented students, and it takes a lot of courage just for the students to try out! I can't wait for all of the fifth graders to show off their talents again after their stellar concerts last spring!

This week, since November is coming to a close, we will also be wrapping up our November Performer of the Month, Michael Jackson. Here are our four facts for our fact contest:
- Born in Indiana
- Member of the Jackson 5
- Singer, songwriter, dancer
- Thriller

This is my favorite time of year! I can't wait to share more updates with you as we go!
-Mrs. Zimmerman

Welcome to our music room!

Hello and happy Friday! I hope my students are enjoying their 4-day weekend!

The next two months are going to go by quickly in our music rooms at Mercersburg and Montgomery Elementary School! Here's what we have going on...

Kindergarten is learning about keeping a steady beat. We are going to be singing a lot of seasonal songs for the upcoming holidays and seasons! Recently we were describing a song about Veteran's Day by saying how it made us feel. The students used lots of good descriptors, including "calm" and "thankful." We also discussed how a song can be both happy and sad at the same time!

1st Grade is busy preparing for our upcoming holiday concert. We've been talking about long and short sounds, and recognizing quarter notes and eighth notes. They're doing a great job and are on their way to becoming musicians that can read music! Of course, they are also enjoying playing their favorite Turkey Game in preparation for Thanksgiving. : )

2nd Grade is talking a lot about song stories this year, or how a song can tell a story without using words. We just finished learning about Peer Gynt and the Hall of the Mountain King - a perfect way to get in a Halloween mood! We've been working on reading music in our textbooks, which is something new for second grade. They've been enjoying finding all of the new symbols in their music! Their curiosity is awesome!

3rd Grade is also busy preparing for our upcoming holiday concert. Soon we'll start talking about folk songs and reviewing our lines and spaces on the staff to get ready for RECORDERS! Information will be coming out about that before Thanksgiving. We'll start learning how to play recorders after Christmas vacation!

4th Grade just finished learning about Johann Sebastian Bach. He was one talented guy with one fancy wig! We're about to start learning some folk songs before we dig into holiday music and Mozart. They've also been talking a lot about timbre, which is the quality of sound that lets us tell different sounds apart.

5th Grade is preparing for their last holiday concert of elementary school! (Don't worry - they still have one more concert opportunity in March since this year is District Wide Chorus!) They are wrapping up learning about musicals and have enjoyed watching clips from various Broadway shows during class. There's a lot of fun in store for 5th grade in music class!


Don't forget our holiday concerts for grades 1, 3, and 5 are coming up!
Thursday November 29th for Montgomery Elementary
Tuesday December 4th for Mercersburg Elementary
Both concerts start at 7 pm and are in the JBMS Auditorium. Students should report between 6:45-6:55 to their seats at the back of the auditorium. Doors open at 6:30.


I can't wait to share more about what we're doing in music this year! Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @KZimMMMusic !!!

~ Mrs. Zimmerman