A Few Notes From Mrs. Music

As I walk down the halls at school I try to say hello to as many students as I can. I have been working on learning all of my students names, however this is difficult because I have over 700 students. In the last three weeks I have noticed that many of my students either can't remember my name, or they cannot pronounce it. Quite a few of my younger students have started calling me "Mrs. Music" as they pass me in the hall. I don't mind the nickname, in fact it is kind of cute.

This week has been a busy one. We had parent teacher conferences and I have had a meeting almost every night. I was at parent teacher conferences for two afternoons until 5:30. If I didn't have a friend stop by to say hi, I would have to say that no one stopped to talk to "Mrs. Music." I really didn't expect anyone to stop by and I am not at all sad about it. It just tells me that all of my students and their parents must feel that their music needs are being meet.

I have had a fun week teaching music this week. With the younger grades I showed them magic tricks and we listened to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. In the older grades we started playing the recorder. Does anyone know where I can get some noise canceling earplugs that the students can't see?

We have had performance days for the last few days. I try to smile the whole time while my students are performing. This usually works except for today. Today I had a first grader bring in his drum set. I tried to smile each time the drum was bring hit, but it was hard. It became even more painful when two other students who signed up to perform on the piano changed their minds and wanted to play the drums instead.

Each class left music this week on a positive "note." This is sometime hard to do, especially as the students get older. I made an effort this week to make music a positive and fun experience, so that when they come back in three weeks they would remember that music is enjoyable and not a punishment. Instead of doing a boring and punishing worksheet, I chose to play charades with my 6th graders. That was probably the best decision that I made this week.

At school, I also have the opportunity to teach science to 3rd graders. I have always liked science and have a great time teaching it. This last week in science we have been focusing on living and non-living things. They were excited when I announced that we were going to have a "Small Animal/Insect Museum" on Thursday. This is kind of like show and tell. I told them that they could bring in a small animal or insect that was in a cage. I sometimes forget that I teach in a fairly wealthy area.
I had a student whose parents bought him a new pet rabbit just for this museum. He wanted to bring an animal but had forgotten so he called his parents and they went to the pet store and purchased him a bunny and a cage. They dropped it off at the office just in time for science. All I really wanted was something like a grasshopper. This reminded me of four years ago when I asked my students to bring dirt to school for a project and someone went out and bought some at Home Depot.

Even though I stay really busy, teaching school is delightful.