My students need 5 ukuleles, a DVD guide and a tuner to begin learning to play a new instrument in music class and enrich their understanding of musical elements.
I like to inspire students to dream big. My students got so excited when I introduced them to a small, guitar-like instrument called the charango from a recent building team trip to Bolivia. They said it looked like a ukulele. I want my students to be able to learn about the ukulele hands-on.
I teach music to 950 wonderful students at a year-round public school in North Carolina.
My students are between the ages of 5 and 12. My students are so sweet and love learning music. Students at our school have music, art, P.E., Spanish, media, and technology instruction in addition to their regular classroom instruction throughout the school year. I meet with my students, on average, once a week for 45 minutes roughly 30-36 times per year. I feel that it's important to make the most of the time we have and make every class period rich with hands-on meaningful activities. I teach a variety of students with different family and socioeconomic backgrounds. We work as a team to encourage, support, share and inspire each other through diversity and study of world musical culture and other elements of music included in the Standard Course of Study.
My Project
My students are my inspiration. They are always so curious and inquisitive. Many of them make meaningful connections to what we learn in music class and value what we do. When I returned from the building team and saw their interest in learning to play a stringed instrument like the ukulele, I thought, "Now's the time." My students think learning to play musical instruments is cool, especially the guitar and piano. The ukulele is the perfect beginning string instrument for my students. It is relatively easy to learn to play and is a good fit for the size of their hands. It's a fun way for the students to learn the many different elements of music hands-on. They can practice their music reading skills and pick a simple melody or learn to strum chords. Students can work on their performance skills as they play individually or as part of a group. With practice, skill level will increase along with students' confidence.
Funding this request will have such a huge impact on the lives of so many children.
It will make a dream a reality and will hopefully inspire students to believe that anything is possible. If the request is funded, students will have access to their own ukulele in class. Learning to play the ukulele will inspire confidence and team building, courtesy, respect, and academic achievement. These activities will have a positive impact throughout the school and for the remainder of the lives of these students.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Sonstroem and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
