Welcome to music! My name is Mrs. McBride, and I teach general music and band here at Monroe Elementary School. Here are a few things you can expect your child to learn and experience during their time in the music room this year!
Kindergarten: We focus on different ways to move our bodies and how to feel a steady beat. We love to practice steady beat, loud/quiet, fast/slow with small percussion instruments, scarves, and through playing singing games. We will use our voices in different ways: singing, speaking, whispering, calling loudly, and thinking silently in our heads. We focus on being kind, taking turns and working together as a team!
1st Grade: We continue to strengthen everything we worked on in Kindergarten - being kind, taking turns, working together, feeling the steady beat, and using instruments appropriately. We will also start to learn how to clap and read our first music rhythms! We’ll even get to compose our own music rhythm patterns together in class!
2nd Grade: We will get to learn more rhythm notes and hand signs to be able to compose more interesting patterns together! We will learn folk dances together this year now that we have had a chance to play plenty of movement games. We will learn songs in new languages and explore where some of our new songs come from in the world!
3rd Grade: We will get to learn how to read music on the music staff using recorders!! We are applying everything we have learned from Kindergarten to third grade as we now learn about the music staff. We will learn how to perform in a ‘round’ or cannon.
4th Grade: We will continue to learn more challenging music on our recorders. We will also learn how to perform in new ways, with more challenging harmonies! There is a special new instrument unit coming later this year that is still a surprise for 4th graders…
5th Grade: We get to choose if we would like to join Band or Strings this year!! We will also learn to read more challenging music and apply this to different instruments in the music classroom. We will learn the ukulele after Winter Break in preparation for our graduation ceremony!
Every grade level will have a performance for the school and for families during the school year. Stay tuned for more information to come! I will send home a letter informing families of performance dates as your child’s grade level performance draws closer.
I’m very excited to teach your children music this year! Please feel free to reach out at any time with any questions or concerns that you may have. I can be reached by email HERE