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PRIMARY SCHOOL
SAS MUSIC TEAM PLAYS, SINGS, AND LEARNS With Dr. Artie Almeida By Delaena Ganske Intermediate School Music Teacher
Pieter’s deep sense of responsibility, commitment, enthusiasm, "can do attitude," respect for others, and genuine wish to help is palpable and he demonstrates that every day he is at school. Pieter asks for nothing except for the opportunity to help and to be connected to others. In that regard, he is a model for others and the embodiment of the SAS core values. Pieter Roberts is a remarkable young man and a very special volunteer indeed.
This year the primary and intermediate music team welcomed Dr. Artie Almeida to SAS to share her expertise, energy, and abundant resources. For the first two days of her visit, Dr. Almeida and the music team played, sang, and moved their way through a series of activities designed to bring an understanding of music concepts such as form, dynamics, tempo, rhythm, and melody to students in an interactive, hands-on way. Props, toys, and a variety of standard and unorthodox instruments (e.g. large tomato sauce cans, parachutes, xylophones, rubber spiders) were used to make the learning accessible and fun. On the third day of the workshop Dr. Almeida taught classes to students in kindergarten through fifth grades while the music team observed and participated. Everyone, particularly the students, enjoyed the day immensely. One fifth-grade student, when leaving the classroom after the lesson, was heard saying, “That was awesome!” Dr. Almeida is the music specialist at Bear Lake Elementary School in Apopka, Florida, where she teaches approximately 1,150 kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Over the years, her students have performed at Disney World, retirement facilities, educator conferences, and for numerous gatherings of family and friends. Dr. Almeida is also a professional woodwind performer. Her dynamic performing groups have performed
for National Association for Music Education, American Orff-Schulwerk Association, and on the NBC Today Show. She was chosen as Florida Music Educator of the Year, and was also selected as International Educator 2006 by the Cambridge England Biographical Society. She was Seminole County Teacher of the Year, runner-up for Florida Teacher of the Year, and Teacher of the Year at the school level six times. She is the author of Mallet Madness, Recorder Express, The Ultimate Game and Activity Pack for Orchestra, ten music proficiency packs, as well as four music theory and assessment games featuring the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters.
Dr. Artie Almeida