OLG Newsletter – March 19th

Erin Stampe

Parent Org Chair

Please volunteer be part of our Parent Hospitality Team during next week’s Accreditation Visit, March 24th through March 26th. We need people to bake, cook, set-up and clean-up meals and check/restock snacks during the day. The time of day that help is needed is set up around times many of you are at the school for other commitments, and our volunteer crews are set up to be efficient and quick for minimal disturbance. These are all easy tasks and this is our last, big call for volunteers before the April 30th Commitment Hours Deadline for the 2014-2015 school year.

We especially need help with meal and snack set up! Everything you need is onsite and ready to go. All we need are your helping hands!

• Are you at the school mid-morning for recess duty or to help in a classroom? Volunteering to do mid-morning snack check and replenish consumed snack food and beverages.
• Are you at the school for lunch recess duty? Volunteer to be on the lunch team and help set up the lunch buffet and replenish snack items.
• Swing by a few minutes before school pick up and check on our snacks one more time for the afternoon – it’s so easy!
• Will you be at the school for a scout meeting or volleyball practice? Join our dinner team and help heat food and set up the meal and dessert.
• Do you drop off your child early at EDC or for zero period Spanish? Can you spare 15-20 minutes? Brew coffee and help to set up breakfast and snacks.

Do you work full-time and need “at home” volunteer hours? Consider baking and/or cooking a dish or meal! This is great way to earn hours from the comfort of your own kitchen.  You will be preparing meals or snacks for a team of 6-7 people. Please note that there is 1 gluten free individual and 1 shellfish allergy individual on the accreditation team. So, please include some options that will work for those particular dietary needs. You may drop off your cooked and baked goods at the front desk of the school (preferably the day before it is needed) and someone will take it over to the Walmesley Center kitchen. All meals should be fully cooked and only require simple heat-up before serving.

All of these tasks earn you generous commitment hours, so sign up today! Click here to see job descriptions and sign up to help. We need YOU!

Preschool, Pre-K

Since the Winter Concert, we’ve enjoyed learning active songs like “Spring Up,” “Freeze”, “Sansa Kroma” with rhythm sticks, the Irish song “I’ll Tell Me Ma,” and a song about Leprechauns!

We’ve learned camp songs like “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” and “I Love the Mountains, I Love the Rolling Hills.”

We make active games of identifying notes and then trying to get a skoosh ball into a bucket.  We follow along with the song map of “Flight of the Bumblebee” while tapping in time.

We’ve listened to the sounds that many orchestral instruments make and then tried to identify them through listening only.  We’ve listened to Cliffe’s “Sunshine & Cloud” and tried to identify the type of weather changes he was expressing in his composition.

Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade

Since the Winter Concert, we’ve enjoyed learning active songs like “Spring Up,” “Freeze”, “Sansa Kroma” with rhythm sticks, and the Irish song “I’ll Tell Me Ma.”

We practice moving, counting, and singing in rhythm by jumping in and out of hula hoops, clapping along to the written rhythms in the iPad app, “Rhythm Cat,” following the song map as we listen to “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and we’ve played a game of “Who Am I” with musical notes and expressions instead of names.  We make active games of identifying notes on the piano and staff and then trying to get a skoosh ball into a bucket.

We’ve played a game of Orchestral Instruments Concentration after listening to all the different sounds that they make.  We’ve listened to Cliffe’s “Sunshine & Cloud” and tried to identify the type of weather changes he was expressing in his composition.  We’ve sung along with pop songs like, “In My Room” (Beach Boys) and “Brave” (Sara Bareilles).

We’ve learned about the composer Giacchino Rossini and his opera, “The Barber of Seville” and I shared the Bugs Bunny cartoon that was set to that same music, “The Rabbit of Seville!”

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grades

Since the Winter Concert, we’ve enjoyed learning active songs like “Spring Up,” “Freeze”, “Sansa Kroma” with rhythm sticks, and the Irish song “I’ll Tell Me Ma.”

We practice moving, counting, and singing in rhythm by jumping in and out of hula hoops, clapping along to the written rhythms in the iPad app, “Rhythm Cat,” following the song map as we listen to “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and we’ve played a game of “Who Am I” with musical notes and expressions instead of names.  We make active games of identifying notes on the piano and staff and then trying to get a skoosh ball into a bucket.

We’ve played a game of Orchestral Instruments Concentration after listening to all the different sounds that they make.  We’ve listened to Cliffe’s “Sunshine & Cloud” and tried to identify the type of weather changes he was expressing in his composition.  We’ve sung along with pop songs like, “In My Room” (Beach Boys) and “Brave” (Sara Bareilles).

We’ve learned about the composer Giacchino Rossini and his opera, “The Barber of Seville” and I shared the Bugs Bunny cartoon that was set to that same music, “The Rabbit of Seville!”

Chorus

Since the Winter Concert, we’ve had two impromptu Lunchtime performances:  1) Valentine’s Day “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and 2) St. Patrick’s Day “I’ll Tell Me Ma.”  We dance and sing and treat it like a very exciting flash mob.

We practice singing in rounds (specifically “Dona Nobis Pacem”) and we are always practicing our psalm performances.  I’m continually impressed with the Chorus members’ bravery and enthusiasm