Monday Assembly

Come and join us this Monday morning for an exciting assembly to celebrate Music Monday across Canada.  Musical performances by all students and 3 special presentations.  Hope to see you there.

Costumes

Parents/Guardians:

Please have all forms and costumes in by no later than Monday, May 2.  All items must be labeled on the inside and put in a bag with your child's name on it.  For the New Yorker chorus, if you haven't already, please return the form indicating the night your child will perform and you will attend.  This is needed IMMEDIATELY.  Thank-you to all who have returned them promptly.

The main actors costumes have been mostly provided.  These students are expected to be performing both nights as they have lead roles.  Please see a few items that may still be needed.

• Orphans: cool short shorts, tank top, flat shoes or boots - black preferred or neutral colored shoes, hair ties for pigtails/braids, anklet white socks or neutral colored stockings or long white, grey, or black knee high socks

Orphans - Isabella D, Samantha K, Cassey C, Aura S, Dacotah A, Azraa A, Krista N, Parinta A, Cadence D, Romee M, Irish G, Maye A, Jessica, Delilah, Kiera C, Ruby, Gianna, Danieka, Krystal, Abigail

• Ms. Hannigan, Lily, Grace, Apple Sellers: short shorts to wear under dresses, white or black tank top

Ms. Hannigan – Bailey T

Lily – Willow M

Grace Farrell - Nicole M

Apple Sellers – Hannah N, Shannon, Sierra      

• Rooster, Oliver, Grumpy Man, Louis, Roosevelt, Officers, Bert and Bundles, Star-to-Be: short shorts to wear under pants, white t-shirt/undershirt to wear under dress shirt, black or dark shoes with black socks

Rooster – Johannes M           

Oliver Warbucks  – Nathan D

Grumpy Man –  Riley S

Louis Howe – Jimmy H

President Roosevelt – Meelad A

Police Officers – Mitchell R, Jayden K

Bert Healey – Tyson W   

Bundles – Quinton C

Star-to-Be - Joseph   

• Girl servants - bike shorts to wear under their skirts, white tank top or camisole, black shoes with white anklet socks
• Boy servants – bike shorts to wear under their dress pants, black socks with black or dark dress shoes

Servants - Jack, James, Phoenix K, Marlen E, Joseph M, Brielle, Hannah, Alea M, Piper, Sara, Olivia, Brooke

• Sandy: short shorts to wear under costume, cool undershirt, hair tie, white or black or brown socks and slip-ons (beige/black/brown/grey/white)

Sandy – Christina M      

GOOD TO GO!

Usherette – Breanna W

Stars-to-Be – Kristine N, Drew H, Keerat K.

            

The Cat Came Back

Today the Grade 1 classes got to enjoy the fun song "The Cat Came Back."  Listening to song 'stories' is a great way to build literacy awareness, oral language skills, critical-thinking, comprehension, and self-expression.

Vocabulary: cat, yellow, farm, farmer, tractor, trucker, truck, pilot, plane, train, train conductor, little girl

Some great questions ask about the song:
What color was the cat in this story? Why do you think Mr. Johnson wanted to give the cat away? Who was the first person that Mr. Johnson gave the cat to? What were the sequence of events? How do you think the cat felt each time Mr. Johnson gave him away? How many times did the cat go back to Mr. Johnson? Can a cat really a drive a truck, fly a plane or eat up an entire field of corn? Is this story real or make-believe? How did the story end? How do you think the cat felt when the little girl took him home? Why do you think he felt that way? What was your favorite part of the story? What do you think the little girl named the cat?  What was the song form?

James and the Giant Peach

Each year up to 120 students from across the School Division are selected to make up two casts for a selected musical production. At the request of the school and music teacher, selected students from Grade 3-5 are invited to audition for next year’s production, ‘James and the Giant Peach Jr’.  The show will run Jan 28 – Feb 4/17.

Guidelines consist of choosing students from twenty-one schools, with representation from all the schools and grades.  Selection is based on the quality of the audition and the character needs of the musical, which includes in-tune singing, voice projection, acting, and stage presence.  Elementary students will be required to attend one weekly rehearsal on either Monday or Tuesday.

Being part of this group is a devoted commitment for four months: Sept., Oct., Nov., Jan. and the first week of Feb.  Each cast will rehearse on a specified day, beginning in September.  Students with lead roles will be required to attend two weekly rehearsals.  There will also be additional rehearsals three weeks prior to the show.  Attendance is of the utmost importance, and students must make up for all rehearsals missed by attending on the alternate cast’s day.

Here is the link for the music to practice with.  The cast requirements, speaking audition passages and all of the sheet music are in this drop box.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/koj8zfy2d2b0t12/AAAxd2S5bZNuhFa6RmA5CeDSa?dl=0

Audition dates are as follows at Westwood Collegiate in the cafeteria.  Please contact Ms. Rempel for the link to set up an audition time.

Grades 6 & 7              May 9 or 10                4:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Grades 3, 4 & 5:         May 11 or 12              4:00 – 7:30 p.m.

If you are interested in having your child audition or would like to know more about the process, please contact Ms. Rempel via the school, phone, or email.  We are asked to limit students sent to auditions for practical purposes and we have a set criteria for students wishing to audition.  This includes: 1. parental support 2. student attendance/commitment  3. student behaviour 4. musical/drama/dance aptitude 5. confidence 6. ability to take directions/focus 7. involvement in extra-curricular music/drama activities 8. stage presence

James and the Giant Peach.

Grade 6 Band

Grade 6 George Waters Showband

Thank-you Mr. Johnson and the Grade 6 George Waters Show Band for coming today to our music room to play for us.  It was awesome to see some of our alumni and hear their stories about learning a new instrument.  They sounded really fantastic and many of Grade 5's are excited to try-out instruments for band next year.

For more information about band, contact Ms. Rempel or Mr. Johnson @ GW band website.

Why is it important to learn a musical instrument?  Here are some scientific reasonings.

Celebrations

For term 2, our classes did a variety of music activities and practiced many instrument and team building skills.  One of our highlights was playing together on the barred instruments and creating songs and stories.

Grade 1 Abiyoyo by Peter Seeger

Grade 2/3 playing Old Mother Hubbard

Springing into...

Great way to end off our music classes for March with singing extraordinaire, Heidi Korte.  

Leaving you a great video of Heidi's vocal student, Dane Bjornson.  Happy Spring Break!

Colored Days

On Thursday, the kindergartens were identifying their emotions.  They came up with a great list of feelings we have.  We talked about what color they are sometimes attached to.  We read this fun story "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss and then we listened to music with it and each student got to act out the part of their animal character according to what the music sounded like.  

Puppets we used to express the feelings in the music

Sometimes the music is fast and sometimes slow.  Sometimes its loud and sometimes it quiet. Sometimes its high and sometimes it low.  Depending on what we hear, it can change the way we feel.   Sometimes music can help us relax and be calm.  Other music can make us feel happy or excited.  When we watch a scary movie, the music we hear can make us feel frightened.  

Listen to the pieces of music below.  As you listen, think about how the music makes you feel

 Choose a face that matches the feeling of the music.

"Nae"

Today we had vocal coach, Heidi Korte, do a workshop with our soloists for the upcoming Annie musical.  It was amazing!!! I learned lots and we are already seeing and hearing a change in these awesome kids singing!  We look forward to having her back in a few weeks.

A little about Heidi: She is a singer that started her musical journey in opera and classical music. She has a music degree from the University of Manitoba in classical voice but has since then developed a pop/rock contemporary sound. As a multi-instrumentalist she can play most instruments including harp, cello, bass, accoustic guitar, but is most comfortable on the keyboard. She also runs her own private music studio out of her house and teaches piano by ear, improvising, contemporary vocal technique, guitar, and songwriting.

Check out this great warm-up and hear the difference between Celion Dion and Ellen singing.

Singing Proud!

I write this post with some tears in my eyes because today at the annual 98th Winnipeg Music Festival, our Grade 4 and 5 choir made me so proud.  They should be proud of their work in the past week and today's performance.  It's not been without pain, sweat and tears (and ALOT of noise!), but they pulled together and REALLY showed their singing skills and represented our school well.  Congratulations to both Stevenson choirs on your silver medals!

Silver medal winners!

Silver medal winners!