Welcome to Virginia Palmer-Fuechsel's Homepage

This year we will have a year-long, team-taught curriculum for the performing arts, computer and physical education. As a rule, PE will be on Mondays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the class will be divided up into small groups. While one group has a short music lesson with Liam, the other groups will be working with Virginia on a different activity (computers or drama productions). Thursdays are reserved for the full music ensemble and other activities.

Music:
As explained in the letter you also received, this year we are privileged to be able to offer an introductory violin program. Depending on his/her small group assignment, your child will be bringing the violin to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or Wednesdays and Thursdays. On Thursdays, we will focus on ensemble skills and putting everything together, sometimes together with piano, guitar, drums and other instruments.
We ask you to come on Monday, September 8, from 4-5 PM to our introductory session for parents and students. During that meeting we will fully explain the program, instrument choice, tuning and maintenance, and a representative from the local Arts & Music chain will talk to you about instrument rental options.

Physical Fitness: Liam, already well-known to the middle-school students as a funny but hard core fitness teacher, will be leading P.E. He will be focusing on indoor and outdoor fitness, building agility and strength, group games and good sportsmanship. In addition to the regular Monday and Friday P.E. days, from time to time we will have a special activity or field trip. Grading will be based on their individual work-out ethic (30%), working together well, including good sportsmanship and “spirit of the classroom” (30%), working towards mastery of individual goals and group game skills (30%) and contributions towards making P.E. fun for everyone (10%).

Computer Applications:
During the first quarter, on Tuesdays and Thursdays Virginia will be working with the children on keyboarding skills, using the Mavis-Beacon program and online keyboarding games. They will also be learning the art of creating and presenting a short power point, which will be a major part of their grade.

Drama:
During in the second quarter, the focus will be on loosening up with drama improvisation games, learning, memorizing and performing short monologues and small group performances from a collection of mystery scripts. A performance for the parents will be scheduled. As in previous years, we hope to be able to participate in the 2009 Folger Children’s Shakespeare Festival, which takes place in May. If accepted, Maril will choose and prepare a 20 minute script from one of Shakespeare’s plays. We will work on the blocking, memorization of lines, acting, etc. in drama class during the 3rd quarter and beginning of the 4th quarter. After the play, we’ll work on creating short skits.
In all of our classes, we hold to a simple but serious “Spirit of the Classroom.”

1. RESPECT. This applies to everyone and everything! Unchecked disrespect following the stop warning can lead to lunch detention.
2. COMMUNICATE appropriately and effectively. “Bad words” and insults have no place in the classroom! Raising your hand and speaking one at a time works best, too.
3. CARE. Take good care of your stuff, each other’s stuff and the school’s stuff. This especially applies to instruments, stage props and athletic gear!
4. CLEAN UP and put everything back in the right place before leaving the classroom. This is especially important in the black box theater.
5. QUESTIONS are important and we are here to answer them as best we can.
If you don’t know something or are confused, just ask! If you are absent, please check in with us. Emails are encouraged too, and not just from parents.

Contact Information:
Virginia Palmer-Fuechsel virginia@newschoolva.com 540-428-2375
Access to important class links at www.portaportal.com Guest login: vpfuechsel
Liam Andrews liam@newschoolva.com

Essential Information for Parents and Students:

The class will be divided up into two groups on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. While one group has a short lesson with Liam, the other group will be working with Virginia on a different activity (computers or drama productions). On Thursdays, we will focus on putting everything together and working on ensemble skills, sometimes together with piano, drum and/or guitar accompaniment. Depending on his/her small group assignment, your child will be bringing the violin to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Important! On violin days, BEFORE going to his/her first class, your child should go right to the theatre backstage area and “park” his/her instrument case in the violin locker.

Once students get their instruments, we expect them to practice a minimum of 15 minutes, 5 days a week. (This includes unpacking and packing time, because we want them to do it carefully. Always remember to loosen the bow before putting it back in the case!)
Practice sheets must be signed by a parent or guardian.

75 minutes a week = C
85 minutes a week = B
95+ minutes a week = A

Practicing every day helps them learn their skills much better than practice lumped into one or two long stressed-out sessions. You can’t cram finger and bowing skills. We expect students to turn in their signed practice sheets on a weekly basis. Once they get going on learning their notes and working towards performances, you will find that getting them to set up their instrument and practice is not such a chore. By the way, one of the best ways to encourage good posture and remind your child to practice is to tape a copy of their piece for the week at eye level on a wall in the room where your child does his homework.

Concert dates:

Holiday Concert
target date: Wednesday, December 17 from 7- 8:30 PM
Talent Show Date to be scheduled in March
Spring Benefit Concert Date to be scheduled in early June

We will keep you posted on rehearsals and concert dates. Please note that all students are required to participate in scheduled concerts (the only excuses are serious injury or contagious illness!)

Taking care of your instrument:
A violin is a fine instrument. Get your child in the habit of packing up his instrument properly after each practice session. When not being used, please be sure that your child keeps his/her violin in a safe place with moderate humidity, preferably not in a drafty spot or next to a heating vent. Never leave the instrument in the car! The bow should always be loosened after use. Liam will check instruments on a regular basis to make sure that they are in good repair.

Your rental store will most likely give you guidelines for your instrument.
Here is a more detailed maintenance guide provided by Potters Violins:
http://www.pottersviolins.com/maintenance_guide.php

Tuning and strings:

If a string breaks, just tell us. We keep replacement strings ($4.50 each) at the school, and Liam can fix and tune it up quickly.

At first, your child might need some assistance with tuning. Liam tries to get all the instruments tuned well on Thursday mornings, before school.

Some helpful links, violin quizzes and music games can be found at Virginia’s portaportal at www.portaportal.com
Guest login: vpfuechsel. Go to Music - Elementary and Middle School Classes.

Grading is based on:

Individual work as documented in the weekly practice sheets
Working together in small group and ensemble toward performances
Work toward mastery (achievement stickers, quizzes and worksheets)

Honor Certificates:

During our December and Spring concerts, we will honor the student who has shown the most improvement for that period, the student who has consistently behaved the most professionally (tries hard, listens well to directions, and is on time and ready with his/her instrument, music folder and pencil), and the student who contributed the most toward the success of the ensemble.

Choose a familiar fairy-tale figure and download or draw a picture.
Then write a short monologue that would fit into one or more speech bubbles.
The project will be graded for creativity, spelling and grammar, neatness and appropriateness for that character.

Example: Just what WAS Cinderella thinking?

Oh no! I\'m late!
Will I get home in time? It\'s almost midnight!
Great pumpkins!
Oh, how I\'d love to escape that horrible mansion and get married.
My stepmom and her stuck-up girls boss me around all the time.
OMG, the party was so much fun!
I just wished that klutzy prince (but he was sooo hot)
hadn\'t stepped on my foot so often. Ouch! Did I lose a shoe?
He\'s really sweet. Shy. So charming.
I already had him wrapped around my little finger.
Oh, if only I didn\'t have to leave…