Hello Lewis Parents and Students,
My name is Tony Jamesbarry, a.k.a “Mr. J”, and this is my 24th year teaching music at Lewis Elementary. I’m just as excited to start this year as was in my very first year. I love what I do and I love creating opportunities for young musicians to be creative and experience the sheer joy of playing music. I am a Level 3 certified Orff Teacher. What does that mean for your child? It means that we do a lot of singing, creating, dancing and and playing music. You can find out more about the Orff approach at:
https://aosa.org/about/what-is-orff-schulwerk/
And if you want to read more about what we focus on at the different grade levels here at Lewis, my website gives a more detailed outline of your child’s year. https://tonyjamesbarry.wordpress.com/music-curriculum/
In fact most of my communication home will be posted on my website. I try to write bi-weekly about general classroom happenings and performance groups. I’ve also set up specific pages for Band, Boomin’ Beats and Recorder Club.
I know many of you are wondering when these after school groups will get started and how to sign up. Below are the direct links to each of those groups’ webpages. There you’ll find all the info you need plus a link to the online registration when it comes time to sign up. Below are some specifics for each group:
Band is open to all 5th graders. No experience necessary. Instruments available to rent from PPS. Sign ups are open now! Classes begin the week of October 3rd. Sign-up at:
tonyjamesbarry.wordpress.com/band
Boomin’ Beats is open to all 4th and 5th graders. There is a 40 member limit. Online registration will open in December and rehearsals start the week of January 3rd.
https://tonyjamesbarry.wordpress.com/boomin-beats/
Recorder Club is open to all Lewis 3rd graders & 4th graders this year. I’ve not yet confirmed a starting date yet, but I’m thinking it will start the week after Spring Break and run until the end of May.
https://tonyjamesbarry.wordpress.com/recorder-club/
If you ever have questions, or just want to stop by and say hello, my door is aways open. Or you can reach me through email at ajamesba@pps.net.
Sincerely,
Tony Jamesbarry
Music & Technology 