Michelle Irwin

Spring Concert Schedule

Students and Parents:  Here is the orchestra spring concert schedule. 

Thursday May 7th - 7:00pm - PMMS Theater - 6th Grade Orchestra

Monday May 11th - 6:45pm - PMMS Theater - Fiddle Group performance

Tuesday May 12th - 7:00pm - PMMS Theater - 7th and 8th Grade Orchestra

ALL STUDENTS:  The last day for instruments will be Friday May 15th.  All school-owned instruments MUST be returned to school by Friday May 15th for inventory.  Those students that want to check out their instrument over the summer will be given a new check-out form after inventory has been completed.

Thank you for a wonderful year.  All of my classes have made a tremendous amount of progress this year and I am proud of all of them.  I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming concerts!!

CRCT Week Schedule

Parents and Students:

Due to CRCT testing this week, our class schedule will be different.

Monday:  Normal Class Schedule

Tuesday:  8th Grade and 6-1 orchestra only

Wednesday:  7th Grade and 6-2 orchestra only

Thursday:  8th Grade and 6-1 orchestra only

Friday:  7th Grade and 6-2 orchestra only

ALSO: 

Wednesday morning 8:15 - 8:55am there will be a rehearsal for everyone participating in the Music on the Parks Festival on Saturday April 25th.

Thursday morning 8:15 - 8:55am there will be Fiddle Group rehearsal

FINALLY:

Practice Logs are due on Monday April 20th.  The last day to turn them in is Wednesday April 22nd.

Locker Problems

Students and Parents:

Because of several incidents in recent weeks involving locks and lockers, I will be doing twice daily locker checks - after all students arrive in the morning and after all students leave in the afternoon.  (It seems that several locks have grown legs, walked away from their lockers and become lost in the orchestra room.)

These locker checks will involve making sure that all lockers are properly closed and locked.  The first time I find a locker improperly secured, I will give the student a warning.  After the warning, citations will be issued to students who do not properly secure their locker.

I am doing this to ensure the safety and security of all the instruments - both school owned and privately owned.  We have had several instruments temporarily "hidden" from their owners and unfortunately still have one violin missing.  I am hoping that this will help communicate to the students the importance of securing their expensive instruments properly and consistently.

Thank you very much for your support and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Mrs. Irwin

Orchestra Update

6th Grade Orchestra:  Congradulations on an excellent performance at String Jamboree last Thursday night.  Your standing ovation was well deserved and I hope everyone had a fabulous time.

7th and 8th Grade Orchestra students:  We have a playing test scheduled for this Thursday, April 2nd.

7th Graders will play "You Raise Me Up" - the melody in C Major

8th Graders will play "Smoke on the Water" - measures 13 - 28

CODA Results

I must apologize, for this is VERY late but.....

I am SO PROUD of my 7th and 8th grade orchestra students.  We recieved an overall SUPERIOR rating for our performance at the CODA Large Group Performance Evaluation on Monday March 9th.  We also recieved a SUPERIOR rating in sight-reading.  This is the highest possible score any orchestra could recieve.

These students worked very hard over the past 2 months preparing the music and learning sight-reading techniques.  I congradulate all of them as well as their parents on a job well done.

I told both orchestras at the beginning of the school year that my goal for them was to recieve superior ratings at CODA and I am so please that I can now say "Goal Accomplished"

WAY TO GO PMMS ORCHESTRA!!!!!!!!

New 6th Grade Class Participation

6th Grade Orchestra students and parents,

This nine weeks, orchestra class participation grades will be calculated in a new way.  7th and 8th grade orchestra students have been using this rubric since January and I am now implementing it in 6th grade to have everyone the same.  I will discuss this new rubric with the 6th graders on Monday and will give them a copy for their folder.

Participation grades will be calculated every week and entered into I - Parent every week for your review.  As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.  This is a much more accurate assessment of each child's participation in orchestra class everyweek and is therefore much fairer to all of my students.  I have placed a copy of the rubric below.

Thank you very much for your support of our program!!

Download Rubric per 9 weeks

Practice Logs

Here are the LAST practice logs for the year!!! 

PLEASE NOTE:  There is only one practice log for this nine weeks.  It will count as 6% of your final grade.  The other 6% will be added to the class participation part of your final grade. 

If you have been practicing since you turned in your last practice log, it counts on this one.  These will be handed out in class on Monday.

Download 6TH PRACTICE LOG-4a 9 wks

Download 7TH PRACTICE LOG - 4a 9wks

Download 8th practice log -4a 9 wks

Six Flags Information

All Orchestra Students:

Please find below, the information about our Music on the Parks Performance on April 25th.  If you are interested in participating, please see Mrs. Irwin for a permission slip.  All orchestra students are invited to participate - not just 7th and 8th graders!!

Download Six_Flags_letter09

CODA Tomorrow

7th and 8th grade parents and students:

Our CODA performance is tomorrow.

Please either wear your concert uniform to school or bring it with you so you can change clothes after school.

We will be leaving PMMS at 5:00pm.  Our performance time is 6:00pm at Lovinggood MS. 

Parents:  Students must be picked up by at 7:00pm tomorrow night at Lovinggood.

Cello and Bass students:  Please make sure you have transportation for yourself and your instrument home on Monday night and back to school on Tuesday morning.  I WILL NOT have my car at Lovinggood so I have no way to transport your instrument for you.

Thanks!!

Concert Information - 7th and 8th Grade

Here is the latest concert information for the 7th and 8th grade Orchestra.

Download CODALETTER