"Celebrate the Season"

Our school's Holiday performance will be Wednesday December 9th at 7 pm at Sutherland Secondary's Large gym. Look for a green notice to come home so you can order tickets to this event. I hope to get them home to the "youngest or the only" on Wednesday (tomorrow), and parents have until Monday 30 November to have the form returned.

Musical Friday afternoon

Friday was quite the musical day, with the Band members going up to Sutherland Secondary School in the morning, and our own celebrations in our classroom in the afternoon. In the morning, the Band members played with the Sutherland Jr. Band which included several Brooksbank grads.

The afternoon started with Naomi's mother and father bringing in, and assembling their 5-octave marimba! Peggy, Naomi's mum, told us about the instrument, and dazzled us with her playing.

Everyone got a chance to come up, one at a time, and noodle around on this beautiful percussion instrument. Even holding the mallets the proper way was a challenge. They're so long! You couldn't reach from one end of the marimba to the other without stretching your arms out and taking a step or two!

Then we were treated to several performances. Alaina played the marimba while Naomi accompanied her on the piano, then they switched places and played a second song, this time with Naomi on the marimba and Alaina playing piano.

Lucas M. played his trumpet, and later performed a duet with Raya (on tuba) when they played Good King Wenceslas. Brook-Lynn played a beautiful piece on the piano, and we eventually convinced a trio of band members (Alaina, Laleh, and Sian) to play a couple of pieces on their clarinets (Alaina and Laleh) and flute (Sian).

Mr. Kelly's class was invited in so some of the performers had a chance to reprise their playing, so they also had a chance to share.

Laleh, who has had 6 years of piano lessons, wowed the crowd with a beautiful rendition of Bergmuller's Arabesque.

Mia closed the afternoon's performances by playing two pieces, including Jazz Blast, the only piece from that genre.

We were grateful to Peggy and Jeffery Tseng for bringing in their beautiful marimba. This is not exactly a portable instrument! We don't often get a chance to see and hear this lovely instrument, so that was a great opportunity for us all.

Lastly, a word of appreciation and respect to those who had the courage to prepare and then perform for us all. We were impressed, encouraged, and delighted with the performances. I hope we get a chance to repeat our Musical Celebrations again in the future, for there are many talented students in our class, and we don't often get a chance to see their skill and dedication.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Late-breaking news:
Tomorrow students who wish to can audition for one of three parts for an upcoming Holiday play. There were audition sides made available, and the actual auditions will be held Thursday 19 November at recess.

Reminder:
Socials project for Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke is due Monday 23 November.
Socials project for Mr. Chan is due Tuesday 24 November.

Friday: Students who are in band will be heading up to Sutherland for the morning on Friday. Coincidentally we are having a Friday afternoon musical celebration in our classroom. To avoid any concerns, we won't start our musical celebration until band members have returned to class.

Monday, November 16, 2015

Homework:

There are two Social Studies projects currently underway:

1) Mr. Chan's Land Use project (due Nov 24)

2) Ms. Beleski/Mr. Clarke's Immigration/Emigration project. That is now due Nov. 23 (this is a change)

Also, in Science, students learned about what blood is made of today and those notes need to be added to their Mind Map of the Circulatory System. (scroll down to see details)

Here is Mr. Chan's outline for his project:

Land Use Inquiry Project

Blood

This is what my Mind Map looks like in its current, beginning stages: The Big Idea/Topic starts in the centre of the page ("Circulatory System") with radiating hierarchical branches that contribute to the sum of the system. No colour, not yet visually pleasing, but that is just fine for now.

Friday November 13, 2015

Oh, I just realized...

It was Friday the 13th, and so far we've all survived!!

Homework:

1)  Character story typed* (M)

*If your child cannot print it for whatever reason, have them type it and bring it in to me on a memory stick and I'll print it, or they could type it and email it to me and I'll print it at school.






2)  Musical Friday (F)
This coming Friday, November 20, in the afternoon we're planning a Musical party. Students who have been studying an instrument (or voice), are invited to have a song or two prepared that they can perform for us in our classroom. Should be fun and exciting!