Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year!

Dear Wayne Thomas Families,

I am so excited to begin this new and exciting school year with you and your children.  This is going to be a year unlike any other, filled with new opportunities for learning and growth.

As you know, music classes are going to look a little different this year.  Music, along with other specials classes, will take place during the remote portion of your child's day.  I will be starting every lesson synchronously on Zoom.  That will give the students and me an opportunity to interact "live," we will go over their learning goals for the day, and then they will transition to working asynchronously.  I plan to keep my Zoom open in order to help troubleshoot as needed.

Last winter, the School Board approved the adoption of Quaver Music as the district's elementary music curricular resource.  This could not have come at a better time!  This online learning platform is interactive, and students really seemed to enjoy using it in the spring.  Like all new things, it may take some getting used to, but I am very excited to be able to share this fantastic resource with your children.  I will use additional books and materials throughout the year, but Quaver will remain the primary online resource for music.

I realize this is a new way of delivering instructional material to our students, but please know that we are all in this together.  Do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.  This is the first time I will be teaching in this manner, and we are all going to be learning together.  There may be some hiccups, but we will get through them together.  If your child is struggling with any aspect of their music experience, please reach out to me.  I am here to help.

My primary goal is for students to have a safe, healthy, and enjoyable school year.  Music will look different, but we will learn and create together in this new environment.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Emily Crutchfield

Email: ecrutchfield@nssd112.org

Twitter: @ecrutchfield112

Update from Mrs. Crutchfield

Dear Wayne Thomas Families,

I wanted to touch base regarding a couple of special culminating activities that were scheduled for this spring.  

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Arts in Action, which was scheduled for Wednesday, March 18, had to be canceled.  We are incredibly grateful to all of the fantastic presenters who were going to donate their time and talents for the event.  We hope they will consider joining us in 2022 when we hope to host the event again.

In addition, the 3rd & 4th Grade Spring Sing concert, which was scheduled to be performed on Monday, April 27 for the school, and Wednesday, April 29 for families, is also canceled.  I know students have worked incredibly hard to learn their songs for this performance.  If any 3rd or 4th grader would like to make a video of themselves performing any of the songs, I would love to see them!  Please feel free to email these to me, as I, too, am incredibly disappointed that we won't be able to share their awesome talents this year.

Next week, classroom teachers will be sharing information about how to access music lessons for all grade levels.  Students should be working on their specials assignments on Friday, April 10.  I have selected activities that I hope they will enjoy.  The music team worked hard this year on the adoption of a new curricular resource, called Quaver Music.  Some grade levels have used this during class times this year, but not all students will be familiar with it.  We will be using Quaver during this period of eLearning.  It is a fantastic resource that is used all throughout the world to enhance music education, and I am very excited to bring this to our Wayne Thomas students.  I have put together instructions for accessing Quaver, including several video tutorials, which classroom teachers will share on Thursday, prior to Friday's eLearning activities.  Each grade level will have one music lesson per week as we move forward into this new environment.

If you have any questions as we transition to eLearning for music (and all subject areas), please do not hesitate to reach out via email.  The goal is for students to interact with the resource and have a positive musical experience, but they should not be spending a huge amount of time in front of a screen.  They can pick and choose which parts of the lesson interest them the most and focus on those aspects of their learning.

I really miss our Wayne Thomas families.  I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting with students on Zoom calls, and I look forward to continue interacting with them in this new environment.

Musically Yours,

Mrs. Crutchfield
ecrutchfield@nssd112.org

Week of March 3

        Arts in Action is a biennial event that will take place at Wayne Thomas on the morning of Wednesday, March 18, in celebration of Music in Our Schools Month and Youth Art Month, which both take place in March. The day begins with an all-school assembly presented by the School of Rock. After the assembly, all students will attend three workshops that they have chosen ahead of time. The workshops feature all types of arts, including dance, music, drama, and visual arts. Examples of workshops that students will be attending include hip hop, poms, theatre games, ukulele, zen gardens, cupcake decorating, and drumming.

        We have fantastic volunteers from the community who are donating their time and resources for this event. Local participating organizations include: Soul 2 Sole Dance, The Performer's School, Rootz, Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, Music Institute of Chicago, School of Rock, Aloha City Ukes, Heller Nature Center, Botanic Garden, and Taste Buds. The 112 Education Foundation very generously provided a Foundation Grant for the ukuleles that will be used at Arts in Action.
        Students are very excited for this event!  Next week, we will have a schoolwide Art & Music themed spirit week as we lead up to Arts in Action.  We hope your child will enjoy this celebration of the arts at Wayne Thomas!

This week in music classes, Kindergarteners focused on distinguishing between high and low sounds in music.

First graders watched a movie version of Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf."  They really enjoyed identifying the different instruments that played the musical themes for each character.

Second graders sang a song called "Clapping Land."  This piece is in AB form, and they played several games with stationary and locomotor movements to help them feel the form of the song.

Third and fourth graders now know singing and movement to the first seven songs for their upcoming concert.  They will be filling out a sheet to tell me what parts they are interested in having for the concert next week in class.  Nobody is required to have an extra part, but all students are encouraged to sign up for special parts.  They will find out what their parts are after spring break.

Fifth graders are in the final few classes of their recorder unit.  Some students have earned their black belts, which is earned for successfully playing the ninth song.  Most students have really enjoyed this unit.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns: ecrutchfield@nssd112.org

Week of February 24

Learn about what your child did this week in music by reading below!

Kindergarteners read two books in music this week.  They used It was So Quiet I Could Hear a Pin Drop to create a soundscape using unpitched percussion instruments.  They worked on playing one long crescendo throughout the course of the book.  They also read Good News, Bad News and selected percussion instruments that represented the good and bad situations in the book.  They used movement ribbons to move to the good and bad situations from the story.

First graders completed an instrument family worksheet to show what they learned about the families of instruments in the orchestra.  They enjoyed playing a couple of games to quiz their instrument knowledge, and they began learning about Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf."

Second graders sang a song called "I Will Pass This Shoe."  This piece helped them to feel the macrobeat, which feels slower than the microbeat.  They worked together as one large team to play a game, which required every student's complete concentration to be successful.  They enjoyed this activity!

Third and fourth graders are doing an excellent job with their concert music.  Most classes have begun singing and performing movements to their fifth song.  They should be practicing their songs at home in order to ensure they know the lyrics and movements.

Fifth graders did an excellent job with their recorder music this week.  One student even earned a black belt for recorder playing this week!  Most students are working on their orange or green belts.  They should continue to practice at home for a few minutes each day.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns: ecrutchfield@nssd112.org

Week of February 18

Find out what your child learned this week in music by reading below!

Kindergarteners did a nice job playing the melody from Nellie Belle on the xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels this week.  They seemed to enjoy the challenge that this activity posed.

First graders learned about the final part of a symphony orchestra this week: the conductor!  They also enjoyed listening to a story called Tubby the Tuba, which reminded them of the part a tuba typically plays in the orchestra.

Second graders figured out the Solfege pitches in Bear's Loose Tooth, and performed them on the xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels.  They seemed to enjoy the activities they did with this book.

Third and fourth graders continued working on their concert music this week.  At this point, most classes have learned the singing and movements for their first four songs.  (Due to the recent days off, some classes will learn the movements next week.) Their evening concert will take place Wednesday, April 29.  A detailed information sheet will go home closer to the performance.

Fifth graders continued their work on the recorders this week.  They are doing a nice job with their music and should be continuing to practice at home.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns: ecrutchfield@nssd112.org