Welcome to St. Peter Interparish School! My name is Mrs. Donna Stuckenschneider and I’m thrilled to be your music teacher! I can’t wait to share my love of music with my students! The information below will help you understand our music program and my expectations for music class. My faculty webpage on the www.stpeterjc.org website also contains information about other musical opportunities. The best way to contact me is email. My email address is dstuckenschneider@stpeterjc.org.
All students in music class are graded daily based upon their participation and effort shown in music class. 10 points per day may be earned by each student. I will explain to each class the concept that worksheets in music class are invisible. The students will need to show me their answers and work by fully participating in the wide variety of activities presented. It’s easy to achieve success in music class! One grade per week will be entered in our grading program (20 points possible if 2 classes occur in one week).
SINGING will be limited…but we will sing. The first activity of almost every music class is to pray through song! We sing a wide variety of contemporary Christian songs to help us pray and begin the class.
Kindergarten: This will be a year of discovery for all of us! I will be getting to know my youngest students and they will be getting to know me. We will do many things with movement, discover our voice, play many instruments and begin to learn how to read music notation.
Grades 1, 2 & 3:
This year, we will be able to discover music in a variety of ways! We will begin by experimenting with all kinds of music. We will also learn how to play simple rhythms and melodies on our keyboards and percussion instruments.
Grades 4 & 5:
Sometime during this year, we will be learning how to play the recorder in both grades. Every student will need to have their own recorder. The 5th grade students have already purchased recorders last year. They are stored in the music room at this time.
Grade 6: This year we will be focusing on combining rhythmic and melodic patterns. We will use the keyboards, the recorder, our voices, boomwhackers and guitar to learn the essential elements of music!
Grades 7 & 8: Both grades will begin the year by learning how to play 6-8 chords on the guitar. Many of the songs we will be play on guitar in class with be directly linked to the music history of the United States during the decades of 1950 – 2010. Later in the year, each class will work in groups to create TV shows that teach about the decades being studied!
