First 9 Days in the Books

We have had a SMASHING start to a new school year, in the COUGAR BAND.  We have title the first several days as our W.O.W. or Week of Welcome!  York Chester looks great our students have come back ready to roll.  There are a lot of new things going in the YC Cougar Band.

First, the band is a part of the Gaston County Schools iPad Pilot Program.  The Apple iPad is a fantastic tool to make learning more fun and to make learning more interactive.  The iPad is on the cutting edge of technology and learning today and we have them in the Cougar Band.  WOW!

Secondly, we have arranged our classrooms to make students the center of the action.  Students are being grouped into pods of collaborative learners, because we know that working with other students is a better way of preparing our students for a 21st Century work environment. Like the old saying says "two heads are better than one".

In the band we have been very busy.  The first few days we did our Peer to Peer interview project.  We  used this as a way to learn more about one another and to use 21st Century Technology literacies.  We have also been working on our Bb Scale in 7th & 8th Grade.

We are now in the process of playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star of Rhythms with 7th & 8th Grade, which is our first playing test.  Our 6th Grade band students are learning how to read music using resources like musictheory.net. 6th Grade has also begun to produce their first sounds on their instruments.

Yes, it is really exciting!  Check out our band website COUGAR BAND.  It has all current information for our band family.  Students should have their blue band form from the band handbook and yellow google form turned in.  If they still have these forms, please ask them to bring them Monday.  I will send out information in several ways: email, blog, tweet (@ycbluesgroove or #yccougarband), calls, and hardcopy. Our band youtube page has videos that students will use as part of their lessons bit.ly/yccougarbandtube. We also have created Edmodo accounts for students to assess lessons and interact to work through problems.

Great things are going on in the Cougar Band.  Get on board with everything we have going.  Come be a part of the family.  GO COUGARS!