DC Campus: NW Session 1 Newsletter

A Note from the Director of Camp Levine

Dear Camp Levine Families,

We’ve had such an awesome time at Camp Levine this session! We’re thankful for you sharing your camper with us this summer. It’s been a pleasure watching them explore and enjoy the creative freedom that music and arts inspire. Our Camp Levine team is great, but the support of our Camp Levine community is what has made it all possible.

Whether this is your camper’s first or third summer at Camp Levine, we hope that through our theme “Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall: Harmony in All Seasons,” we have provided a fun and engaging artistic experience.

We hope to see you next year!

Best,

Jazmin Goodson, Director of Camp Levine

A Note from the NW DC Site Director

As Site Director, my role has been shown in greeting the kids to start the day with stories and lessons to take with them. In addition to music, during camp the students have been learning some positive psychology. We chatted about the Magic Red Hat & Green Hat during morning sing (from U.Penn Positive Psychology). The basic premise is Red Hat gives the power to stop things that are bad and the Green Hat gives the power to grow things that are good. Campers were encouraged to look for places to use their Green Hat Powers and speak up for things we like in others, camp, and ourselves.

I’ve seen campers learn to regulate their emotions, take risks in being social, try new instruments, perform solo in front of classmates, share things they like about each-other, support the positive behaviors of their friends, gain new skills on instruments, laugh uncontrollably, turn their frowns into smiles, and most of all I’ve watched them love camp. I’ve seen the most musical growth in their morning singing. They learned so many songs and motions to go along with them. I’ve seen tremendous growth in campers who were learning new routines, gaining more independence from their home environment, and I’ve watched personalities blossom in some campers who were initially shy.

It’s great to see when teachers can combine their strengths in a collective effort. It goes a long way in the felt community that supports our campers!

Jon Hamilton

Site Director, Camp Levine NW DC

PreK/Kindergarten Classes

Our PreK/K campers are assigned to one teacher and camper group for the entire 3- week session. They explore music and the arts through singing, storytelling, arts and crafts, creative movement, and imaginative play.

Summer Group: Beth Barbaro

The Summer kids have settled into our routine and are eager to learn and share what they know!  We have been spending several days exploring each season; this week we finished fall and started winter. 

In class each day our stories, songs, activities and projects center around a particular theme. For example, we read “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn Buehner. We sang about the things we would wear in winter, if we were going out to build a snowman. This was followed by a finger play about hot cocoa. We put paper plates under our feet and “skated” (just like the snowmen in the book!) to excerpts from Vivaldi’s “Winter.” We created our own “snowmen at night” by painting/stamping white circles on black paper, and gluing on faces, mittens and scarves. 

In addition to our daily lessons, the children enjoy learning new songs at All Sing, time on the playground, free play in our room, and Visiting Instruments. They love our teen apprentices, who lead afternoon dance parties and find ways to celebrate each child with awards such as “Longest Napper” and “Queen of Clean-Up.”

This is such a sweet and enthusiastic group of kids – I’m really enjoying working with them!

Spring Group: Cierra Grace

Our Spring campers have been singing, moving and playing with such enthusiasm these past two weeks! They’ve engaged in solo singing and leading the group in echo songs, rhythm reading with picture notation, and we even got to play the metallophone for the first time! It was quite impressive! Art projects have been the favorite activity for this group, creating polar bears, spring trees, and leaf silhouettes. Campers have really become fast friends and are so kind to each other. It has been so nice to see! Finally, they are looking forward to their performance and have been doing so well preparing for it!

Fall Group: Monica Shelly

The Fall PK/K group has been exploring the seasons through music and visual art expression! We’ve embodied the spirit of Fall with leaves dancing in the wind, experienced a winter wonderland with a snowstorm in the middle of summer and indoors! Spring brought out our inner buzzing bees and hopping bunnies, and we’re eagerly anticipating creating musical fireworks after the 4th of July holiday.

Students have been actively engaged in daily singing sessions, sharpening their listening skills, and using scarves and the parachute to respond to musical cues in songs. They’ve also been learning to play barred instruments to accompany themselves while singing and performing rhythm patterns on hand drums . Beyond their musical talents, these young musicians demonstrate kindness and joy, making each day of camp truly delightful!

Winter Group: Darren Shillingford

In our Winter group, we’ve been having some great music circles. We’re slowly building confidence in singing along. Some of the songs are “Hello in my heart”, “Patito” which we use egg shakers and bean bags to engage with the songs. For our upcoming performance, we’re working on an original song using some tone bars, name of song TBD. Proud of their progress singing and playing the tone bars. They’re catching on fast and are great listeners.

Morning Classes

Morning classes at Camp Levine are music an instrument focused. During the morning classes our campers grades 1-6 experience Instrumental Music introductions and instruction, General Music, Art, and Games & Sports. Read below to hear from our teachers about what your campers did during Session 1!

Music+ (General Music)

Amanda Silverstein: In Music +2, we have been having a fun time learning songs from different seasons, singing and playing on percussion and Orff instruments and doing lots of musical games. Campers are prepping for an exciting seasonal themed performance next week featuring all the skills they have been focusing on!

Guitar

Mark Sylvester Guitar students have been learning the basics of holding the guitar, strumming chords, and playing melodies. The Focus classes have been hard at work learning a few extra chords to play while singing, all for the end of camp performance.

Trumpet

Donny Albrecht: The students have been learning how the trumpet works and how to buzz and make a sound. They have been learning the words to well known nursery rhymes as well as how to read musical notes in treble clef. They have learned about clefs and time signatures and repeats. They have been doing chordal and melodic ear training where they identify Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented chords as well as sing their solfège of melodic phrases. They learned about the history of the trumpet and the use of mutes to change the trumpet’s sound. They have learned how to care for their instruments and breathe with correct form. Most of all they are learning that the trumpet is fun and loud!

Piano

Ariel Nathanson-Nolinja: The piano students are doing a wonderful job in class! They learned the basics of playing the piano in week 1 and have worked hard on their performance pieces during week 2. They are excited to perform next week!

Games & Sports

Kyng Cleveland: We have had a blast in Sports and Games this session! The campers are engaging in fun games that challenge them and also get them active outside if the weather permits it. During the heat wave this week we had to move inside for a couple days, but we still had a great time. We have been playing games like Capture the Flag and Kickball. I Hope to see the campers next year!

Percussion

Chris Clark: Hey there parents! What a wonderful, exciting camp we’ve all had so far. Your campers have been exploring drums, striking vibraphone, and marching their way into progress. The students having been learning about beat, rhythm, dynamics, and various drums and percussion instruments found in the Cottage. Each day students connect concepts of space, time, and language to discover a new way to express themselves.

Violin

Avner Finberg: Our violinists this year came from a variety of musical backgrounds – some never played an instrument, and some of them did. One of our violinists even plays a different string instrument during the year. Despite those differences, every one of our violin focus group kids learned to play our songs and I am proud of them for it! It has been a sweltering session, so we are dreaming of cooler weather while playing Frosty the Snowman.

Younger campers experienced holding the violin and the bow and playing songs with open strings in sampler groups. Our Pre-K’s also learned about the violin and held the instrument and the bow for the first time!

Instrument Building

Savannah Hanley: So far in Instrument Building campers have been busy! We started off by designing instruments based on their favorite seasons and what that might sound like. We then brought our creations to life using recyclable materials to talk about how music can be made from anything. This week campers started on their miniature rainstick shakers and a surprise instrument project that we will complete next week! HINT: It’s Something that lives in the ocean!

Afternoon Classes

Afternoon classes at Camp Levine are musical theater focused. During the afternoon classes our campers grades 1-6 experience Dance, Drama, and Choral music classes. These 3 classes collaborate to produce a musical theater performance at the end of the session. Read below to hear from our teachers about what your campers did during Session 1!

Composition:

Avner Finberg- We had a wonderful time exploring the building blocks of music in music composition! We learned about the beat, different kinds of rhythm, the notes of the scale, the major and minor modes, and intervals. We learned how to sing the Daily Do in solfège, gaining confidence in holding a pitch and singing notes.

After mastering the basics, we explored composing short melodies with the rhythm that we learned by arranging rhythm and notes into themes and musical phrases, the shortest building blocks of a musical composition. The older groups also learned about notation, and how to make a “road map” for improvisation as a group and with solos. We also listened and learned about famous compositions such as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Dance:

Rick Westerkamp- In Dance class, the campers have been working on dancing and moving as an ensemble versus dancing and moving as individual artists. Campers have explored movement creation using verbal and non-verbal communication, reflecting on the ease and challenge inherent in each form of communication. Campers have been an audience for one another, providing constructive feedback to help them grow in our movement expressions. The campers have had fun learning and contributing choreography to the production. Their exploration of bringing individuality to ensemble choreography has been a pleasure and a privilege to behold!

Drama:

Willisa Toney- Campers have been engaging in theater and movement activities. They’re having a blast dressing up as different characters and playing drama games such as Zip, Zap, Zop and Detective. Campers enjoy moving to the beat as they learn parts of the stage. It is quite entertaining listening to them explore and create different sound effects. The upcoming drama production is shaping up nicely and the campers are eager to perform!

Choral:

Ashlei Peoples– In Music +1 and Vocal/Choral, the 1st and 2nd grade students have been working on developing their aural skills through singing solfege syllables. They have learned about musical concepts such as call and response, developing motions and moving to musical stories, echoing their singing on xylophone and metallophone instruments, and learning about songs centered around the seasons involving egg shakers, drums, xylophones, and scarves! The students played the matching notes on xylophones to the song “Rocky Mountain high” and then sang and performed motions with the songs “Mister Sun” and “I Love the mountains.” The students also sang songs such as “Wacky Weather” and “If all of the raindrops” and added Mr. Rick’s dance moves that they were taught to tie into the “Harmony in all the Seasons” musical! They have made amazing progress, and I truly enjoy working with this awesome group!! Looking forward to next year!

The 3rd and 4th grade students created a song from scratch about the seasons that involved them playing harmony on xylophone instruments, contrasting rhythms on conga drums, and adding improvisation to give them full control over their creativity. This song is called “Can You Dig Those Crazy Seasons.” They also learned the song “Seasons of Love” from RENT where we worked on singing in two-part harmony, clapping on the offbeat, projection, and birth control. Students practiced singing with solfege syllables, played rhythm games, and even learned about form in Music from the “March” song from the Nutcracker! They are a very creative group of students who I loved working with!!

The 4th-6th grade students took turns in leading solfege activities daily for repetition and developing aural skills! We worked on sight reading music as well and identifying and singing the note names and the matching solfege symbols. The students learned how to sing a very vocally challenging song such as “Over the Rainbow” and the super fun “Let it Snow” and learned how to project and sing the proper notes and add inflection! Some of the students in this group will be serving as student conductors during their song performance in the musical play! This group was a ton of fun to work with and very good helpers! Looking forward to next year!