We are almost halfway through the first nine weeks already as we begin the month of September this week.  All choirs are in full swing with learning new sheet music and music reading skills. Our first performances will be around Veteran's Day, so keep your ears open for more details concerning that in the coming months! 


TODAY BEGINS OUR T-SHIRT SPONSORSHIP FUNDRAISER!!
Your student should be coming home with a t-shirt sponsorship form.  Sponsorship collection begins TODAY, Sept 2 and ends Tuesday, Sept 15.  This is one of our BIGGEST fundraisers of the year and we need your help to get it off to a great start.  Both Dade Middle and DCHS Choruses will be raising money with sponsors, but money raised by DMS students will stay at DMS and vice versa. The sponsorship form, as well as the letter home, is attached. 

UPCOMING ASSESSMENTS AND FOCUS TOPICS: 

6th Grade Chorus
Major Scale Performance Assessment: Wednesday, Sept 2 
1st 9 Weeks Focus Topics : Intro to The Staff, Alignment and Breath Management, Singing with Pure Vowels and Relaxed Open Tone


7th Grade Chorus
Leap Interval Identification Assessment: Tuesday, Sept 8
1st 9 Weeks Focus Topics: Review of 6th Grade Concepts, Interval Identification, Singing with attention to Blend, Balance, and Intonation 

8th Grade Chorus 
Basic Music Notation Assessment: Friday, Sept 4
1st 9 Weeks Focus Topics: Review of 6th & 7th Grade Concepts, Syncopated Rhythms, 3 Part Singing, & Tonal Memory

How Can YOU Help Develop Your Student's Musicianship: 
1) Encourage them to practice singing and vocalizing every day!
2) Ask them about what they are learning in class so that they think about music learning 
3) Listen to a variety of styles of music and ask your student to describe them using more than just "I like it!" or "I don't like it!" or "It's good" or "It's bad."  Encourage them to justify their opinion with the musical terms we are learning in class. 

Dade County Chorus students are off to a great start for the 2015-2016 school year. :-) I was so excited to meet so many middle school parents on Open House night and I look forward to working with you and your students throughout the year.  

In each class we have spent the first week reviewing the syllabus, going over classroom procedures, and getting to some singing! Our next hurdle to address will be the Student Learning Objective(SLO) Pre-Test.  This test is designed to assess your student's current knowledge and skills of the concepts taught in each particular Chorus class.  The pre-test will not count toward the student's grade in Chorus, but a post test at the end of the year does act as a "Final" for the course. 

The SLO testing schedule will be as follows: 
-August 13 & 14(Thurs & Fri): DMS 6th Grade Chorus & DMS 7th Grade Chorus
-August 14 & 17(Fri & Mon): DMS 8th Grade Chorus
-August 17-20: DCHS Mixed Chorus & DCHS Women's Chorus

I hope that the SLO testing will not take a full two days, but in order to allow enough time for the performance AND written portion, I have allotted two days per class. 

I am excited to get our First Days of School paperwork and duties out of the way in order to get into some music learning! If you have any questions about anything we have done or are doing in Chorus, please feel free to contact me via email at gabriellehaston@dadecs.org.  Thank you! 

At the end of each year we have a graduation day...at DMS it is technically 8th Grade Promotion, but we all know it's graduation. :-)  Graduation is a time to reflect on the years that have passed and look forward to the future.  This year we send off a fantastic group of seniors who we will miss dearly.  Each and every one of them are unique and talented and we wish them the very best in the future!  You will always be a part of Dade County Chorus!