Band Notes...
Mr. Ruhlen,
Band Director

Wow!! Our band students have really improved in the past month.  We’ve been preparing the songs we’ll play in our final concert(s) and they are really coming together nicely.  Both the 5th and 6th grade band members will be playing on Thursday May 8 at the high school gymnasium.  Mr. Ruhlen needs all band members to report to the gym that evening promptly at 6:30 p.m. with horns and music.  This will be the only concert that will include our 5th grade band members.  Our massive combined 210 member intermediate school bands (Challenger and Discovery combined) will start off the program with the songs The Charioteers and Theme from Transformers.  This district wide band concert will be quite a spectacle as it includes the middle school and high school bands as well.  Our 5th and 6th graders will join in on the grand finale playing the 1812 Overture.  Dress for the intermediate band kids will be dark slacks/skirts and a dress white top/button down shirt.  Please have your students arrive promptly on time at 6:30 a.m.

Then the following week our 6th grade band members will spend the entire day going to 3 of our district elementary schools to play for the 4th graders and many younger students as a means to introduce the kids to the choices they have about what instruments 5th graders start band with.  These daytime concerts are open the parents of the   6th grade band members and the schedule for that day is as follows:    9:15 a.m. at Explorer Elementary Gym, 10:45 a.m. at  Clark Davidson Elementary Gym, 1:15p.m. we’ll be performing in the Amelia Earhart cafeteria.  The 6th grade band members will play additional songs not performed the Tuesday night before.

Lastly, Mr. Ruhlen wants to encourage each and every band member to be sure to enroll in band next year.  Those 5th graders this year will learn a great deal more as 6th grade band members and get to perform more challenging and exciting music.  This year’s 6th graders will be a huge help for the middle school band programs and will enjoy even more activities and opportunities as they progress through the districts wonderful band programs.  Keep playing over the summer!

The Pride of Goddard All District Orchestra Concert will be held Tuesday, May 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the Goddard High School Auditorium.

Call time is 6:30 p.m. for intermediate string students to assemble and get tuned for the concert.  An all district rehearsal will be held that day to run through the program.

Mr. Edelman has been working on a piece for everyone to play together. Students should be receiving that piece very soon.
Currently, the strings’ students at Challenger and Discovery are working on Beethoven’s “International Song of Peace” from his Ninth Symphony, and Rosossini’s “William Tell Overture”. These selections are some of the most famous melodies ever written.

Come to our concert on May 13 and treat yourself to some wonderful music!

The 5th grade vocal music concert “The Music in My Heart” will be held on Tuesday May 6.  Students are to report to the Challenger band room no later than 6:10 p.m.  The concert will begin at 6:30 in the Challenger Gym and last approximately 25 minutes.

The dress for your student will be a solid white (or very light-colored…cream/tan) shirt (no spaghetti straps or mid-drifts, please) and black (or navy) pants (dark jeans, if necessary).  If skirts are to be worn, they should be knee-length or longer (no mini-skirts, please).  

Not only is the concert an important part of your student’s grade in music, it is also a wonderful opportunity for your 5th grader to showcase some of their musical skills.  The students have been working hard to prepare for this night and want to be heard.  To make the listening experience more enjoyable for you and for those around you, we ask that the audience members observe the following established rules of etiquette for music programs:

1. Please refrain from talking while the students are performing.
2. Please turn off cell phones and pagers, prior to the beginning of the program. If you must make a call, please step out into the hallway to do so.
3. If you must get up to leave, please do so in between songs, instead of while the students are performing.
4. Please keep young children with you and do not allow them to run around or sit in the aisles.
5. If young children are crying or disturbing others, please take them out into the hallway.

The 6th graders are practicing songs with their new note low ti and have been practicing swing dancing.  

I enjoy teaching your children!

Thanks a million to all of you who have volunteered for Field Day!  I still need a few more for 5th and 6th grade.  Please call or email me at tford@goddardusd.com.  

We are in the process of finishing up our Fitness testing and will begin working on our softball unit.  

Thanks again for volunteering for Field Day!
5th grade-Wed. May, 14th
6th grade- Thurs. May, 15th 

Many parents ask what they can do to get their child to read more.  The following suggestions come from www.scholastic.com.  Try to make reading a part of your child’s everyday life.  Involve your child in activities that have a reading element like cooking (recipes and labels), traveling (maps, signs and guides), and current events (magazines and newspapers).  Read together, scheduling time each day to share books for pleasure and a separate time to do reading homework.  And remember to pick up a book, newspaper or magazine yourself every day.  When your child sees you reading, it will inspire him/her and help him/her think of reading as something fun that everyone does!

For this month fifth grade will be wrapping up the unit on biomes and ecosystems and starting our weather unit.  We will be learning the basics of what causes the weather to do what it does, especially in Kansas.  

Sixth grade is finishing the year discussing space and what’s in it: stars, galaxies, constellations, black holes and the like.  We will also spend some time discussing our solar system and the things found here, planets, comets, asteroids, moons.  As always, we want to see the students in the zone and be ready to finish up a great year!

5th Grade Science Shelly Brooks sbrooks@goddardusd.com
6th Grade Science Keith Lewandowski klewandowski@goddardusd.com