Mrs. Sara Eckhoff
K-4 Music
Dakota Valley Elementary Music Department
SD Elementary Honors Choir
For those of you whom I have not had the pleasure to meet, I am Mrs. Eckhoff, your general music specialist. I hope you will stop in and visit with me any time. Although I have taught music at Dakota Valley for many years, currently I teach Kindergarten through fourth grade. I enjoy working with your children. We have many enthusiastic and talented singers at Dakota Valley. We have music two times during the six day rotation for thirty minutes each session. Our music curriculum at DVE is based on the National Music Standards. I strive to present lessons that engage every student at every level of musical study and ability.
I want to encourage you to sing with your child and to listen to music together. The pace of scientific research into music making has never been greater. New data about music’s relationship to brainpower, wellness and other phenomena is changing the way we perceive mankind’s oldest art form, and it’s having a real-world effect on decisions about educational priorities.
Did You Know?
Young children with developed rhythm skills perform better academically in early school years. Findings of a recent study showed that there was a significant difference in the academic achievement levels of students classified according to rhythmic competency. Students who were achieving at academic expectation scored high on all rhythmic tasks, while many of those who scored lower on the rhythmic test achieved below academic expectation.
Source: "The Relationship between Rhythmic Competency and Academic Performance in First Grade Children," University of Central Florida, Debby Mitchell
Did You Know?
A ten-year study, tracking more than 25,000 students, shows that music-making improves test scores. Regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making students get higher marks in standardized tests than those who had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency exams.
Source: Dr. James Catterall, UCLA, 1997
Did You Know?
"Music education can be a positive force on all aspects of a child's life, particularly on their academic success. The study of music by children has been linked to higher scores on the SAT and other learning aptitude tests, and has proven to be an invaluable tool in classrooms across the country. Given the impact music can have on our children's education, we should support every effort to bring music into their classrooms."
Source: U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Did You Know?
"The nation's top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century."
Source: "The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education," Business Week, October 1996.
(For more information please see the American Music Conference web site at thttp://www.amc-music.com/child_development.htm)
The following information will give you an idea of the areas of focus and study at each grade level. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about music at DVE.
Kindergarten
· keeping the steady beat
· moving faster and slower (tempo)
· galloping and walking (patterns with unequal and equal sounds)
· manipulating the pitch of the voice up and down (high and low)
· visually representing the shape of a melody
First Grade
- students will sing a phrase, using a body scale to show higher and lower pitches while following pictorial notation
- echo sing so-mi patterns with pitch syllable names
- point to notes on the staff corresponding to named pitches
- work with four families of unpitched instruments (wood, metal, shakers/scrapers, and drum)
- use hand levels to show melodic shape while singing a song
Second Grade
- working with three beats to a measure
- saying a rhythmic ostinato (musical pattern that repeats) while listening to a song
- listening to music in AB form (same/different)
- introducing the pitch re
- singing a melodic pattern from notation, using the pitch syllables including re
- introduce the dotted half note for three beats long
Third Grade
- introduce sixteenth notes (four equal sounds in a beat)
- perform an ostinato with four sounds to a beat
- aurally identify identical phrases in a song
- recognize high do in a notated song
- introduce rondo form (ABACADA)
Fourth Grade
Remember, music makes us happy, so keep a song in your heart.
Mrs. Eckhoff
Dakota Valley Kindergarten –Fourth Grade Vocal Music Instructor
