Our school is home to over 600+ students in grades 1-5. It also houses our district's Spanish Immersion program where many of our students receive half of their day's instruction in Spanish. 52% of my school's students are from low income homes and 24% are students with disabilities. All students have general music class in the music room each week. My favorite thing about the students is their passion and enthusiasm. I cannot describe the energy it gives me when the room is buzzing with excitement for music!
Students love to sing, chant, move, play instruments, and compose in the music room.
The music room allows students to express themselves musically: vocally, instrumentally and physically! It also provides them with an additional outlet for their creative energy in their day.
My Project
The students at my school LOVE to accompany themselves on Boomwhackers. These instruments allow them to practice rhythm, music literacy, and ensemble playing skills while they sing along to the music they create for the group. We have a classroom set of 8 diatonic Boomwhackers (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.)
We are EXTREMELY limited with the key signatures we can learn/perform in due to the lack of chromatic pitches (sharps/flats) in our diatonic sets.
This causes educational issues such as sometimes the students must sing in a lower/higher range than is appropriate for their voices to perform a song. Students in grades 3-5 have been practicing forming their own chords. In many instances, they cannot create a complete chord due to the missing instruments.
With the addition of these instruments it would allow students to sing songs in original or age appropriate key signatures. It also would help to alleviate consistency gaps in learning due to missing notes of a chord. Students would be able to use these engaging instruments more often in the classroom boosting classroom participation and morale.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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. Nicole Fox and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.