The President's Own!

Our school was incredibly honored to host "The President's Own" US Marine Band Woodwind Quintet! They were giving a concert nearby at UGA and were able to stop by our school to do a performance for our students. It was an incredible experience for all of us!

Photography Credit: Charley Clinkenbeard

A Special Concert at HSES

How lucky are we at HSES?? Our new principal, Mr. Eddy, is a musician and former band director so our 2nd grade classes were treated to a special concert performed by him and his family! The Eddys demonstrated the clarinet, oboe, saxophone, flute, piccolo, and violin. Since our 2nd graders are currently learning about the Instruments of the Orchestra, they loved being able to see the instruments up close and hear their sound in person. Here are a few pictures from their performance:

Instruments of the Orchestra Centers

Here is a sneak peak into some centers that 2nd graders recently did to help them practice identifying the Instruments of the Orchestra!

Instruments of the Orchestra

Second grade classes are currently learning about the Instruments of the Orchestra. I love teaching about the orchestra but I always struggle to create interactive lessons to go along with this unit.

After teaching about the String Family, I had the students get into 5 groups. Each team received a picture of one of the stringed instruments, a dry erase marker, and eraser. They were asked to work as a team to write as many facts about their instrument as they remember from the lesson. They also enjoyed labeling the various parts of their instrument. 

I found that this was a great way to incorporate team work and also assess what they had learned from the lesson. Once each group was done, they shared their facts with the class and posted their instrument on the board for everyone to see. 

Instrument Inventions

After learning about the Instruments of the Orchestra, the 2nd grade classes used some imagination to design a brand new instrument!  The students used the movie, Animusic, as their inspiration.  Animusic is a movie comprised of various "music videos" using computer-generated instruments.  The students are fascinated by how they look real even though they are digitally created.  Here are some of their favorite clips:

The students worked with partners to combine their ideas and sketch out their instrument.  Afterward, they wrote a story, letter, or advertisement telling about their product.  Check out their creative projects: