Cathy Cameron Muscente - General Music Teacher, especially younger grades

UNIFIED ARTS MUSIC TEACHER MS. CATHY CAMERON MUSCENTE   Hi! My name is Cathy Cameron-Muscente and I am a music educator at SACs.  I am currently in my 22nd year of teaching here at City School. I have taught all grade levels Prek-8th here at one point or another. This year I am teaching PreK-3, one 4th grade class, guitar/ bass guitar lessons, and 4th-8th Chorus.  This year I currently visit classrooms on a weekly basis. I love that I get to work with so many amazing students and staff.  I have many goals during my visits which include: singing together, learning to move to music, playing a variety of instruments, learning to read and write music, and most of all having fun learning through games and many activities.  City School is the third school I have taught at during my career. I will be finishing my 36th year of teaching in June. My favorite part about teaching music is that I get to have fun creating and playing music with students.   My band, the Smokey Newfield Project, playing here at City School with guests, Zach Kelly and Alex Charpentier.   Things you might not know about me: My favorite color is green.  My favorite snack food is popcorn.  I have three wonderful adult children and four amazing grandchildren ( ages 16, 11, 7, and 2) I love to travel and learn about different cultures and places. I love to read mysteries and build and play in Minecraft. I play in a band called the Smokey Newfield Project. I play guitar, electric bass, trumpet, and mandolin.    I typically do different activities with each of the grade levels I work with, although sometimes the themes and topics overlap.     During music class last week in several learning communities, we worked on many things. We read the book, Every Little Thing, by Cedella Marley. Next, we listened to the song “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley. We learned that this song is in the reggae style. After listening to it, we practiced the chorus and then learned to do sign language to the song. In this lesson we utilized our skills of listening, identifying styles of music, and actively participated in using sign language to interpret a song.     After we did that part of the lesson, we continued to work on reading and performing short rhythms. This is a skill that is important to set up understanding notation in music. The activity, Who Sent Me a Letter, let us practice our reading skills, in a fun game setting.  Link to 21 Pictures.   Link to a 2-minute video with interviews of 1st-grade Investigators and some images from Explorers and Travelers. Profile of Previously Profiled Unified Arts Teachers  - Ms. Darcie Rankin