Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Recorder Music!
I've ordered some recorder music to use with my kids at church and it has come in! It's just the spark I need to motivate me to do some planning. Unfortunately, I think I'll have to wait until Monday, as I need to get to Eastman to work on my project today and tomorrow I have a family party to go to. So..am praying that my motivation will stick around until Monday. :-)
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
End of the Year
Things are winding down...it is a bittersweet time, more so this year than others. I am done teaching at church for the year. The Lord really blessed our concert and my ministry there as a whole this year. While I am excited and looking forward to next year, I am ready for a break.
My two string concerts are over as well, and the Lord blessed them as well. Right now I am in the midst of report cards, inventory, and other misc. things. There is a chance that I could be teaching general music there next year. I'm not sure that I'm ready for it, I've thoroughly enjoy my break from it this year, and having my Monday's off have been wonderful. But I guess I have to trust the Lord to work that out.
The bad news is that they are cutting the 3rd grade string program (district wide) for next year--a sad event for everyone involved. Many of the current 2nd graders think that they are going to take a string instrument next year, but they will have a rude awakening when they get to CH next year.
This morning was our year end party for the 4th and 5th graders. As I was creating my awards to hand out, I was struck by how many of my kids have just been awesome this year in helping me set up and tear down for each rehearsal. I even had kids come in and help with the 3rd grade orchestra. Overall, my kids have been wonderful to work with this year. If I had to make a choice, I would much rather work with kids who have great attitudes than kids who can play well. A child's attitude and willingness to help out are more important to me than his or her ability to play an instrument well. If only I had learned this lesson when I was young!
Before I head off to shower and work on report cards, I have to say that it feels good to update and write on this blog. My life has been so hectic lately that I haven't been able to think about writing. The Bible says that He won't give us more than we can bear, so I must trust that He knows what He is doing in this regard. Have a good night!
My two string concerts are over as well, and the Lord blessed them as well. Right now I am in the midst of report cards, inventory, and other misc. things. There is a chance that I could be teaching general music there next year. I'm not sure that I'm ready for it, I've thoroughly enjoy my break from it this year, and having my Monday's off have been wonderful. But I guess I have to trust the Lord to work that out.
The bad news is that they are cutting the 3rd grade string program (district wide) for next year--a sad event for everyone involved. Many of the current 2nd graders think that they are going to take a string instrument next year, but they will have a rude awakening when they get to CH next year.
This morning was our year end party for the 4th and 5th graders. As I was creating my awards to hand out, I was struck by how many of my kids have just been awesome this year in helping me set up and tear down for each rehearsal. I even had kids come in and help with the 3rd grade orchestra. Overall, my kids have been wonderful to work with this year. If I had to make a choice, I would much rather work with kids who have great attitudes than kids who can play well. A child's attitude and willingness to help out are more important to me than his or her ability to play an instrument well. If only I had learned this lesson when I was young!
Before I head off to shower and work on report cards, I have to say that it feels good to update and write on this blog. My life has been so hectic lately that I haven't been able to think about writing. The Bible says that He won't give us more than we can bear, so I must trust that He knows what He is doing in this regard. Have a good night!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Concert Time!
And thus begins the end of the year concert season. My concert at church is this Friday night. I am very thankful to finish up most of my "getting ready" tonight, as the rest of the week is very busy. It should be an exciting concert, the 4th graders are playing When I Survey the Wondrous Cross on recorder, as well as Do Lord. I wasn't sure if it would come together or not, but I guess the Lord is going to be merciful as it sounded great last week.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Hooray for Friday!
I am so blessed not to have any commitments tonight. I have been able to do some cleaning, organize last year's lesson plans (from church) and get caught up on typing up this years plans. Our K-4th concert is towards the end of May and I only have 7 classes left, so concert planning has been also added to the list. While planning the concert at church is a lot of work (in many ways more work than planning my concerts for my string kids), it is relatively low stress because I program things we have been working on over the course of the year. The challenge is planning material that the parents haven't heard before. I have been teaching some of the 4th graders since they were in kindergarten!
Since the kindergarten and 1st grade will perform together for the concert, I started having them come together last week. It is nice because instead of teaching five classes each week, now I am only teaching four. The downside is that now 20 kids are trying to have a music class in a room that is too small for us. And yes, we do folk dancing--which to the passerby looks like controlled chaos. Today's challenge: multitasking. Two of the girls in the class are sisters. While they are a year apart they are so similar that it is easy to mistake them for twins. This proved to be a problem for me as I had a hard time remembering who was who while I was trying to teach them how to do-si-do, keep the chaos under control, and be some child's partner. It really is a riot. But thankfully each week gets a little better as they (slowly) learn to discipline/control their dancing. At least the small room keeps them confined as we are working on it!
Since the kindergarten and 1st grade will perform together for the concert, I started having them come together last week. It is nice because instead of teaching five classes each week, now I am only teaching four. The downside is that now 20 kids are trying to have a music class in a room that is too small for us. And yes, we do folk dancing--which to the passerby looks like controlled chaos. Today's challenge: multitasking. Two of the girls in the class are sisters. While they are a year apart they are so similar that it is easy to mistake them for twins. This proved to be a problem for me as I had a hard time remembering who was who while I was trying to teach them how to do-si-do, keep the chaos under control, and be some child's partner. It really is a riot. But thankfully each week gets a little better as they (slowly) learn to discipline/control their dancing. At least the small room keeps them confined as we are working on it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)