Hello Armstrongonians!

As you have heard, some of us are going back into the school building next week. Things will be looking different around the school if you are one of the students returning.

There will be no music classes.

I will be helping out in a few classrooms, but I will not be circulating among all of the children who return.

Therefore, you will be still accessing your music lessons here online. I will be posting stuff each week for you to continue to learn and practice. Classroom teachers will be giving my lessons in their classes if they so choose.

So, please continue to check here for your music lessons and submit stuff to me via email at sonja.karlson@burnabyschools.ca

I will be able to attend more Team and Zoom meetings as well, as I will be in the Armstrong building. If you need help with your lessons, I will be more available to help you as well. Just let me know via email or on your Teams music page.

Continue to take care of yourselves!

Ms. Karlson

Hi Armstrong community!

Remember that I am posting music activities here each week that you can do at home. I hope you are finding them interesting, informative and fun!

You can send any completed work (videos, documents, thoughts, pictures) to my email at sonja.karlson@burnabyschools.ca. I would love to see what you are up to at home, and if you are even doing any of these assignments! I really have enjoyed seeing things that some of the students have submitted through Teams, SeeSaw and Class Dojo. I’m also hooking into every class account, so you can post them there. Let me know if you are doing these activities! You can even do activities from other grades if you like! For example, the Grade Ones are starting a guessing game. You could guess too! I will tell them the answer next week! Just click on the links above to check out the grade level activities.

Take Care!
Ms. Karlson

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone is still well! My family and I are doing fine. Still dancing, singing, and playing instruments in our homes. I hope you are doing some of that as well!

Here is something the kids could get involved with. It is amazing how musical Armstrong students are – I am always getting compliments about you guys! The raw talent is palpable. Especially when you sing! Every child has a gorgeous singing voice. Some can use it right away and have a good instinct of how to control it, and some need a little guidance. But, with training, everyone can sing, and can sing well. Here is a challenge students may want to get involved in. The CBC Inside Voices Challenge. Get training here online and participate in a song with other children across Canada virtually. Here’s the link. Have fun and get involved!

https://www.cbc.ca/music/events/canadian-music-class-challenge/challenge-your-kids-to-raise-their-inside-voices-in-song-1.5531690

Hi Armstrong community!

I hope you are all doing well and keeping busy.

I did some painting with my daughter a while ago and I wanted to share the picture I painted with you.

I hope you are doing creative things at home. Ask your family about their favourite songs, movies and videos. It’s such a great time to learn from your parents, brothers, sisters and others in your household. I love watching old musicals, so I’m introducing some to my daughter. What are you sharing in your house?

Have some fun this week and be creative!

Ms. Karlson

Here is a little message from me! Ms. Karlson. I hope our Armstrong community is staying safe!

Assignments for this week:
1. See if you notice how music is bringing people together at this time. Are you noticing ways in which people are using music to encourage each other right now? Are musicians becoming a special part of our society? Are you noticing music and entertainment and the arts in general are pretty important in bringing people together and keeping their spirits up? You can send me an email at sonja.karlson@burnabyschools.ca and let me know where you have noticed this happening.

2. Wednesday this week is Earth Day (April 22nd). Here are some videos about the environment. You can “ribbit” along to the first video and then scroll down and sing along to the second. Then there is a video about the complicated problem plastics have created for us on our precious planet. The last two videos are about the “One World Together At Home” concert by Lady Gaga and so many celebrities encouraging people to stay safe (as the above assignment! hint hint!) and a girl who took household items and did a cover of Dance Monkey about this covid-19 pandemic. She is really clever! Can you and your family find some items to use at home that make noise and play a song together?

Have fun with music this week!

3. If you want another thing to do on Earth Day, this is a great podcast about science. This particular episode is about Climate Change. A great and informative listen!

Wow In The World: Climate Change Episode

Hello students and families and guardians of Armstrong children.

These are unprecedented times, and at home learning is going to take place for the next little while.

Let me assure you that I am thinking of your little ones (and big ones!) and the kinds of activities you can do at home as a family, to de-stress, and to have fun in the performing art world.

No doubt some of you have already been participating in the performing arts to while away the time – singing, dancing, playing games, playing instruments, creating visual art. I applaud you for finding the arts a good outlet for your creativity, time and stress. I am certainly doing a lot in my home too.

I will be posting some activities and videos that you can do with your family under the new tabs at the top of this homepage. Just click on your grade level and try the activities 2 or 3 times per week. Have fun with it!

And if you are doing alternate activities, that is just fabulous!

Feel free to send me your “homework” on your Teams classroom page under the music category, via email at sonja.karlson@burnbayschools.ca or post a video to share with me and email me the url. It will be nice to see what you are doing in your homes.

You can also send me comments through this blog and just let me know what you have been up to. Stay safe, and have fun while you continue your school work (play) at home!

Ms. Karlson

Congratulations to the grade twos and threes who represented Armstrong so well at Primary Days of Music on Monday March 9th at Kitchener Elementary. They had a great experience and sang so beautifully! Good job Divisions 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15!

There is an assembly this morning, March 11th at 11:00am. The Primary Days of Music choir will sing and Divisions 5 and 7 will perform a song they have been working on called Dragons.

On Friday, March 13th the grade twos and threes will perform again for the Seismic Upgrade assembly at 9:00am.

After Spring Break, Divisions 10 (grade 4s only), 9 and 8 and the intermediates in Choir Club will be performing at the Intermediate Choir Festival on April 15th in the morning (9:15am) at Michael J. Fox Theatre.

Divisions 11, 12 and 13 will be performing at the Dance Festival at the beginning of May.

There will also be a poetry slam for the grade 6s and 7s on May 29th.

And our Talent Show this year will be on June 19th. Kids should prepare for auditions to the Talent Show for the end of May.

Have a great Spring Break and keep singing, dancing, listening to music and playing in general throughout!

Our grade 2 and 3 students will be participating in Primary Days of Music – a Burnaby Festival.
The list of songs is as follows:
1. O Canada in English and in French
2. Coast Salish Anthem
3. Way Up the Ucletaw
4. Quartermaster’s Stores
5. Green Sally
6. Why We Sing
7. Let Us Sing Together
8. All The Pretty Little Horses
9. O Lord I Want Two Wings
10. Shake the Papaya Down
11. Swinging On A Star

Parents may not attend Primary Days of Music, so if you want to see your child perform the songs they are learning in class, I would encourage you to attend one of our assemblies.

We will be going to Kitchener school on March 9th. Our Primary Days session is from 1:00pm until 2:15pm. We will be bussed to Kitchener school and back and we will be back by 3:00pm in time for dismissal.

Here is a link to many of the songs we will be singing so your child can practice at home.

Starting in January this term, students at Armstrong are moving on to bigger and better things during music classes.

The Kindergartens will be learning about all of the non-pitched percussion instruments of the music classroom including triangles, maracas, woodblocks, rhythm sticks and hand drums.

The grade ones will be learning how to improvise rhythms.

The grade twos and threes will be starting their Primary Days of music songs.

The grade fours and fives and five/six classes are continuing to build on their note reading skills and pitched instrument skills.

The grade sixes and sevens are starting to play the guitar.

Please see the Music Links and Games tab for exercises and resources to help you practice at home!

Our primary concert will be held on December 18th in our school gymnasium at 1:30 in the afternoon and at 6:30pm. Doors will open at 6:00 for parents to be seated in the gym.

The primary teachers are teaching their class each at least one song, and Ms. Karlson is teaching all of the primary classes a song for the Finale. Join us for this special celebration of the younger members of our school in dance and in song. The theme is Winter with a dash of Peace and Love.