I am so thrilled to be back for my 7th year at SPSL and teaching K-3 music (as well as 6-8 Math Resource)! I have redecorated the room and we will be surrounded by ice cream this year. The kids always love to see the new classroom theme and it is always fun to come up with something new each year.

We will be starting off the year with lots of review and a focus on our basic elements of music like steady beat and rhythm. This means lots of singing and instrument games! Participation is key and we want to make sure we are trying our best, even if we might make a mistakes.

2nd grade will begin working on the music for their Christmas musical at the end of September and it is going to be such a fun show!

We have begun preparations in both 1st/3rd grade for their spring musical “The High Seas” on April 3rd and it is sure to be a raucous and rollicking show! They love singing the songs and we will being choreography in the next week. 3rd graders have received their parts and should have their lines memorized by Feb. 28th. Rehearsal schedules have also gone home and a link is also included on the right side music my music webpage.

The Omaha Symphony Orchestra will once again be coming to SPSL on Feb. 11th to perform an interactive concert for students in grades Pk-3. This year, the theme is STEM focused and we have been learning about the science of sound in addition to the instruments of the orchestra in preparation.

Here is a description of this year’s show “The Amazing Music Machine”.

“Professor Bernstein believes that they have created the ultimate music-making machine—but they are missing just a few things before the invention is complete! Help the professor complete their machine by working to collect missing sounds and take part in the grand experiment as laboratory assistants.

Focusing on teaching orchestral instrument families, the curriculum of Mission Imagination combines a child’s love of storytelling with the power of symphonic music in an up-close and playful setting. The program’s dynamic format puts kids in the center of the action, making them active participants in their own learning. Help the Professor and the orchestra in their experiment to identify and gather each instrument’s sound so our collection is complete!”

It is always a wonderful experience for our students and we are blessed to be able to offer this each year. Remember that they would like students to bring a “homemade” instrument to play along with the orchestra. A note went home with students with ideas, but feel free to reach out, if you need more.

We have had a great start to the year and have been very busy in the music room!

3rd grade has been learning about the whole note and working on the pentatonic scale using solfege (Do, Re, Mi, So, La). They have been composing and notating melodic patterns using a variety of rhythms.

2nd grade has been working a lot with So, Mi and La patterns as well as preparing to learn about the half note (shhh, don’t tell them yet!). We also spend one class period a day learning their music for their Christmas musical, Lights! Camera! Christmas! They have really enjoyed singing the songs and it is going to be such a fun musical.

1st grade has been learning about quarter notes and quarter rests. We love to sing our songs that go along with each of them too! Next up, eighth notes!

Kindergarten just wrapped up our farm unit and had tons of fun learning about different instruments each class. We are focussing a lot on steady beat as we move into our short spider/pumpkin unit.

Hello and welcome back! I am so excited for another amazing year in music! My name is Mrs. Sara Fleming and this will be my 6th year at SPSL. This year I will be teaching grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

We have lots of exciting things planned and I look forward to working with our students yet again. Some highlights for each grade include:

3rd Grade- Adding to our solfege ladder, whole notes and rests, sixteenth notes, musical form and ostinato as well as crossover bordun on barred instruments. They will prepare for their spring musical in April as leads as well as learn BAG on the recorder.

2nd grade- Lots of barred instrument activities to develop confidence  with mallet technique, musical games to learn more about dynamics and rhythmic patterns. Learning more types of rhythms including the half note, single eighth notes and half rests. Lots of time will also be focused on learning about time signatures and meter. 2nd grade will participate as a choir in the Christmas musical with 4th grade.

1st grade- We review the musical elements introduced in kindergarten including fast/slow, sound/silence, high/low and  up/down. We continue to develop our understanding of these elements through lots of instrument and movement games. We will then move on to introduce Mi and So. 1st Grade also learns about quarter notes, quarter rests and eighth notes. In the spring, they begin to prepare for their musical with the 3rd grade in April.

Kindergarten- Our year starts out with our music on the farm unit where they get to play a new percussion instrument each class.  Lots of dancing, movement and musical games daily. They also perform in a Christmas program and end-of year program for just Kindergarten.

We thank you for your continued support of our music program here at SPSL and it is because of our amazing families that we are able to offer such robust and exciting experiences to further their musical knowledge and appreciation.