My twin showed up for our concert last Thursday. 😀

We had some fun with shoes today. Enjoy!

Thank you to all the students who performed so wonderfully for our concert this afternoon and to all the parents who were able to take time out of their day to attend the performance. The students did a fantastic job. Thank you to our wonderful Howe and STEM Staff for all you have done for me this year. Everyone has been so flexible, helpful and encouraging. I appreciate each and every one of you!

I would like to give a huge

to Erik Tschiggfrey for recording our concert. He made a great effort to be at our school in time to record and he already had a packed day. Erik, thank you for being there for us. We will look forward to the YouTube Video link.

We are working hard on preparations for the Spring Concert. I have this fun Bunny song running through my head lately. Students in grades K-2 are performing a Pet Show themed concert and students in grades 3-5 are performing “Music is Amazing” which will include playing recorders, singing, and dancing.

We hope you will be able to join us for the concert, Thursday, May 18, 1:30 p.m., in the Howe Gym.

Thank you to our wonderful Art Teacher, Mrs. Hmayed, for all of the beautiful decorations. I am also grateful to Cheryl and Katie for helping out with some of the specialty art projects. Thank you to Johnny and Mr. Tapp for their flexibility with the use of the gym. Thanks to our building engineers and custodial staff for assisting with set up and clean up. And thank you to all of our staff at Howe for all of the encouragement, flexibility and support throughtout this year. We have a wonderful team at Howe.

Congratulations to Sam for all of his hard work. He has earned a Recorder Black Belt.

In my home every day is “Valentines Day”. Every day is a new opportunity to say “please” and “thank you” and show our love for each other. As a professional every day this year has been a new opportunity for me to say thank you and demonstrate my love and concern for all of my students. This week has been Teacher Appreciaation Week. I have been so blessed by the thoughtfulness of my administration and the continued encouragement and support throughout the year This week I have received so many special gifts, homemade cards, words of kindness, and hugs. Of the 33 years that I have been teaching music in a classroom this is probably the happiest year I have had. Each year just gets better.

I am thankful for each person in my life. May God continue to bless us all.

We have our first young musician to have earned the Recorder Karate Black Belt!

Congratulations to Layla for earning all 9 recorder belts. We are so proud of you.

Dear Parents,

Our Howe Montessor Spring Concert is Thursday, May 18, 1:30-2:45 pm, in the Gymnasium. We would love to have you join us in the audience. I would like to share with you some very specific information to help your child prepare for the concert.

Some students have a speaking part. If your child has a speaking part you would have already received an email from me with a link to the script. You will notice your child’s name is in the script each time they have to speak. Please take some time to help your child memorize their words. The speakers also need to practice speaking slowly, with a strong and clear voice.

All song tracks and speaking parts are also available for home practice. To get to the material your child can:

1. Log into Clever
2. Click on QuaverEd
3. For first time use click on the button on the right (green)
4. Click on “A+”
5. Click on “Pet Show, K, 1, 2” or “Script and Songs Spring Musical 3rd, 4th, & 5th, Grade”. Students in grades 3, 4, & 5 also have “Music is Amazing Extra Help”.
6. Click on “Launch’ on the right hand side.

On the day of the concert students in grades Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade may bring one plushy stuffed animal that is no larger than 10 inches tall (smaller is better). The animal must be one that represents a real domesticated pet; cat, dog, bird, snake, lizard, bunny, hamster, guinea pig, fish, horse. No lions, tigers, monkeys, bear, etc. permitted. Only domesticated pets are allowed. And not all students need to bring a pet, because some children are not allowed to have pets (as one of our songs will say), and that is perfectly fine. It should be small enough to hold and also place on the riser step at their feet during their performance.

Students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade are performing a Music is Amazing themed concert. Students may dress with a Disco Fever Theme if desired. We will also have a few fun surprises for you during their performance. They will finish their performance with a Recorder Playoff. Let’s see who the last one standing will be.

The 5th grade band and violin students and the After School Music Club will also play a few things during the concert.

We hope you will be able to join us for this special event. If you have questions please email me: reedc@dearbornschool.org

A fun thing happened yesterday evening…..I was on my way to Orchestra Rehearsal in Redford at the Redford Community Center and I crossed paths with one of our Howe Montessori students.  We greeted each other and were amazed at how small the world can be sometimes. Then, as I was walking in to the building my ‘friend’ and another child (not from Howe) began singing one of our concerts songs from their car.  I really loved this. Thank you for making my great day even better than it already was.  

I love working at Howe.  Staff and students have helped to make this year one of my best years ever.  That says a lot considering I have been teaching for 33 years.  😀

We had a great time performing our new variation of a Irish Dance with our students in the Special Ed program. Most of the montessori classes also learned various Irish style dances this week.

To tie in the them of Super Hero for March is Reading Month our montessori students had fun creating rhythmic ostinatos (patterns that repeat over and over again) by using Super Hero Icon Cards. Everyone had an opportunity to be the composer for their respective team and all students in the team performed the composition. Shazam! Pow! Super Music Powers Activated!!