Dear Parents,

Hello everyone!  The school year is over halfway done and it’s time to solidify our plans for the annual band trip to the Long Beach Loyalty Days in Long Beach, WA.  This experience is a lot of fun for the kids, and it builds pride, skills and character.  But the best part of the Long Beach trip is the Wishkah community involvement.  Family members are a welcome and important part of our trip – they made SO MUCH happen for our kids last year!  It was the Wishkah band families who:

·         Hauled our instruments & gear

·         Brought a grill and cooked our burgers & hot dogs

·         Camped in yurts, cabins, RVs & tents with their children and their children’s friends

·         Chaperoned their child and a small group of friends during activities and free time

·         Brought younger siblings to march with the band and carry the Wishkah banner

·         Helped with loading and unloading equipment, and with setting up camp

·         Cheered for us along the parade route and congratulated our band kids on a job well done!

As you can see, the Long Beach Loyalty Days trip is a great experience for the whole family.  We have many parent-involvement roles to fill for the trip, and all volunteers can count on a fulfilling and rewarding experience.  These memories last a lifetime for parents and kids alike! 

Which Kids Go On This Trip?

Please understand that the Long Beach trip is a required performance for all band students, grades 5-12.  Whether or not their family can come, students are counted on to march in the parades and represent our school.  Students who do not come on our band trip leave holes in our parade block and in our sound.  If your child absolutely cannot attend our spring parade trip, it is critical that you let me know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  That gives us an opportunity to fill your child’s spot, and it gives your child time to make up lost performance points.

Where do we stay?

Students sleep in chaperoned tent sites with friends of the same gender and an adult chaperone.  If you are planning on accompanying your child on our trip, you may make reservations at Cape Disappointment State Park (www.parks.wa.gov, then select Cape Disappointment at the top left of the page).  I would like band families to feel free to reserve any campsites they choose.  But if you’d like to stay together with our group, let’s look at reserving the yurts and RV/tent sites in the B loop (look at RESERVATIONS map online), such as sites 81 through 90.  I will reserve a couple of tent sites for chaperoned tent camping.  Otherwise, students can stay with families.

Itinerary

The Long Beach Loyalty Days trip itinerary is both fun and full.  Here is the basic outline.

Saturday, May 5^th

·         8:00AM – Load busses

·         8:45 – Leave for Ilwaco

·         11:30 – Parade line-up begins for Ilwaco Children’s Parade

·         Noon – Ilwaco Parade begins

·         12:45PM – Snacks & Awards, kids eat their sack lunches

·         1:30 – Load equipment & bus, leave for Long Beach

·         2:00 – Chaperoned free time in Long Beach (laser tag & go karts, plus shopping & sight-seeing)

·         4:00 – Meet at bus, leave for Cape Disappointment State Park

·         4:30 – Set up camp, snack, chaperoned free time in woods/beach/trails/campground

·         6:30 – BBQ burgers and hot dogs, chips, veggies, etc.

·         7:30 – Campfire, chaperoned free time

·         9:00 – Be quiet, settle down, continue campfire

·         10:00 – In tents/yurts for the night (quiet!)

Sunday, May 6^th

·         8:00AM – Wake up!  Breakfast, Pack, Clean-up and Load Bus/Trucks

·         10:00 – Check out of campground and leave for Long Beach

·         10:30 – Arrive parade line-up area, unload bus & trucks

·         10:45 – Lunch provided at Long Beach Fire Hall

·         11:30 – Line up in parade formation

·         1:00PM – Grand Parade begins

·         3:00 – Load bus/trucks, snacks & drinks for everyone!

·         3:30 – Awards Ceremony

·         4:30 – Leave for Wishkah

·         6:30 – Arrive Wishkah, unload and go home.  You did it!!

PARENT MEETING

In order to plan a successful trip, we will have a parent meeting on Wednesday, March 7^th at 6pm.  Please try to attend this meeting!  Kids are welcome.  We need to make plans for chaperones, firewood, pickup trucks, grill, little sisters & brothers to carry our banner in the parade, paper plates, tents and more.  Please mark your calendars for March 7^th at 6:00pm.

FUNDRAISERS

Chicken Bingo - We will have a Chicken Bingo and BBQ night the week of June 11^th.  More information on this will come home in a month or two. 

Traveling Bake Sale – Tirzah Taylor will be calling band parents for baked donations for a traveling bake sale to benefit the band.  Thank you for your baked goods and for your support!

World’s Finest Chocolates – I will place an order for World’s Finest Chocolate bars on Wednesday, February 22^nd.  I will be ordering 50-bar variety packs of candy bars to be sold for $1 per bar.  Chocolate bars will be sold out of the band room before school and at lunch.  If you and your child would like to sell World’s Finest Chocolate Bars outside of school, I will order 50-bar variety packs for you to sell.  You will have two weeks to sell the candy bars and return the money.

That is all I have to report right now.  If you have any questions about our trip or our fundraisers, please call me at 532-3128 or email me at spatterson@wishkah.org.

Thanks,

It has been an amazing year for the Wishkah Music Program.  We have kept ourselves very busy! 

In October the band played at the Homecoming game, supported by community musicians from Wishkah and Aberdeen.  In November we had our Veteran’s Day Assembly.  All the elementary classes prepared a song to sing, the band played a march, and the guitar class performed a classical ensemble piece.  December marked the first Wishkah School Christmas Concert in two years.  All the elementary grades and music classes dressed sharp and played their best before a standing room only crowd.  After exciting performances from all the groups, Santa Claus surprised us with candy canes for all the children.  What a night! 

In March, four band students performed at the Chinook Region Junior Solo & Ensemble Competition.  After playing their selection before a small audience, the students were adjudicated by an expert instrumentalist, receiving advice on how to be the best musician they can be.  That same month Wishkah School received a visit from the Fife High School Music Department.  Hearing their Concert Band, Jazz Band, Jazz Choir and Chamber Choir exposed our student musicians to some great new ideas.  It helped us reflect on the music we are making now, and the music we hope to make in the future.

The students worked very hard to prepare for our April/May performance: the spring band trip to the Long Beach Loyalty Days Celebration.  We raised money by selling suckers, selling Papa Murphy’s Pizza cards, and by soliciting donations from local individuals and charitable organizations.  After miles of marching practice and drill rehearsal, the 5^th through 9^th grade band students marched at attention and wore their Wishkah Band shirts with pride, winning awards in both the Ilwaco and Long Beach parades.  The kids got to watch several other marching bands play.  They also made lifelong memories playing laser tag, driving go karts, playing on the beach, and visiting around the campfire. 

The final performances are coming up, and then Wishkah Music will take a break until August.  Right now the students are working on preparations for the Spring Concert on Thursday, June 9^th at 6:30PM.  All elementary classes will perform, as well as the bands and guitar class.  They’ve got some fun surprises up their sleeves that will keep the audience entertained until the very last minute.  After that, the final performance will be Graduation on June 11^th.   Pomp and Circumstance will be played by the band, and the guitar class will provide some interlude music.

The moment I interviewed for this position, I could tell that Wishkah is a special place.  But I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would get to work with such awesome, smart, funny, talented, helpful, AMAZING kids.  This has been a fabulous school year, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish next year and the year after.  And the year after that!  Thank you so much for supporting these kids and our growing music program.  I’ll see you at the Spring Concert!

Dear Parents,

I can’t believe that April has already arrived and our trip is only three weeks away!  As we iron out the final details, it is critical that we have one more parent meeting before the big parade weekend.  Please attend our FINAL PARENT MEETING on Tuesday, April 19^th at 6:00PM in the band room.  Agenda items will include:

v Propane and BBQ supplies

v Costco trip for breakfast & snack supplies

v Finalized trip itinerary

v Parent chaperone list

v Finalized sleeping arrangements

v What students will need to bring

I hope to see a lot of parents at the meeting – working together, we can provide an unforgettable experience for these kids.

Thanks, and see you there!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Patterson

Christmas Concert Reminder

The Wishkah Valley School Christmas Concert will be held this Thursday, December 16, at 6:30PM in the gym.  All students in grades K-8 will be performing, as well as many 9^th-12^th graders.  Please encourage your child to look nice for the performance.  Also, please arrive fifteen or twenty minutes early so that your child can prepare with his or her group.  Remember that the Christmas Concert represents a large portion of the overall first semester music grade for grades 5 through 12, so attendance is critical.  The kids have been working hard to prepare for this concert, and they can’t wait to show you what they can do!  See you on Thursday! 

Here is an opportunity for you or your musical friends or relatives to join the Wishkah pep band for music, refreshments, and fun!  Dust off your old instrument and come on down!

Anybody who is interested in playing at the Homecoming game can join us for an optional rehearsal on Tuesday, October 19^th at 6:30pm here at the Wishkah school.  We will meet again on Saturday, October 23^rd at 11:30am for a pre-game run-through.  Kick off is at 1:00pm.  Students, teachers, parents, or any other interested community members are welcome to join us for any part of these festivities – the more the merrier!

I am excited to announce that the 5^th/6^th grade class is ready to begin playing band instruments.  These students have proven themselves to be well focused and highly motivated.  They have practiced melodic and rhythmic independence, they have worked on recognizing and identifying the sounds of different instruments, and they have even composed eight-beat rhythms on their own!  It will be fun to watch them continue to grow as a musical ensemble.

Representatives from Rosevear’s music store will be here at the Wishkah School on Tuesday, October 12 at 6:30 P.M. for Band Information Night.  In order to have a beginning band, each student must have two things: a book and an instrument.  Our friends from Rosevear’s can answer all your questions about books, equipment, instrument repairs and accessories.   We will be studying out of a book called Accent on Achievement, book 1.  This book costs around $7.95 and will be available for purchase at Band Information Night.  Students can rent an instrument from Rosevear’s, or use an instrument owned by a family member or family friend.  The school owns a limited number of instruments that can be lent to student musicians.  Here is a list of instruments played in a beginning concert band:

Flute                                                                               Trombone

Clarinet                                                                           Baritone

Alto Saxophone                                                               Tuba

Tenor Saxophone                                                            Snare Drum/Bass Drum

Trumpet                                                                        MalletPercussion                                                              

This week we will be demonstrating and trying out all the different band instruments in class.  I would like to hold our first band rehearsal in two weeks from today, on October 19^th.  In the meantime, please do not hesitate to call or email me with questions of any kind.  Have a great day, and I look forward to seeing you at Band Information Night!