Greetings, Upper Grades families!

We finished our first full week together on Friday, and the week seemed to fly by for me. We are getting to know each other and bonding as a little community!

Speaking of community, we will be having our Upper Grades Parent Evening on Tuesday, August 28th at 7 pm. At least one parent is expected to attend the Parent Evening. Please let me know if you won't be able to attend, so we can make sure you receive the information you need! There will be time for questions, and for getting to know each other so we can create a strong foundation for all the children in the class. I look forward to it!

During our Morning Lesson, we have been reading, writing, and drawing from Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, and we will complete that language arts block in the coming week. I taught the class the Canadian folk song "Land of the Silver Birch," and they seemed to enjoy the mood of that song - it matches the imagery and stories of the Hiawatha poem very well, I think.

Here is a message from Ki Kathee full of details about the Strings Program. Have a great week! Ki Carol

The Strings Class is doing great! As a general rule, for right now, I would like for them to practice five times per week for 5 -10 minutes on the songs that we are learning in class. I have not yet introduced the bow, so all of their classwork prep is to be done pizzicato - plucking the strings with their pointer/ index finger. They received a handout on Wednesday that identifies the parts of the violin. They will be quizzed on those terms on Wednesday. When you arrive at school on Wednesday and Friday, please allow your child to bring their violin to the Strings Class Room and leave in on the table. At the end of class, we move them to the hallway on the other side of the building so that you can access them easily as you leave. We need for them to stay inside the building for climate control. Any assistance you can give to making sure that your child's instrument is tuned when they come to school would be greatly appreciated. Beginning this week, I will be teaching them how to tune their own instrument using the fine tuners, in the hope that only slight pitch adjustments are needed.

Ki Kathee