Ode To Fifth Grade Susan Latino, St. Clement of Rome School, Metairie, Louisiana Grade Level: Fifth Grade

Our school is very musical, with a national award winning symphonic band and chorale, in which our fifth graders participate.

Each year I like to personalize the outside wall of my classroom with a bulletin board that includes the names of the children in my class. This board is left up all year.

Trying to encapsulate a musical theme, I designed this board. It was also used as an opening game. The students received a �quiz� the first day of school and given one week to find the name of the song (yes, it is a real song), time signature, key signature, and the name of the note that their name was written on. Those with the correct answers received a prize.

I used black paper and glued white grosgrain ribbon for the staff. The ribbon helped to keep the lines straight plus gave it a nice look. A musical font from my computer was used to make the colored notes, time signature, and treble clef. I cut and pasted these into MS Power Point and added my student�s names on the notes. These were printed on photo paper to give them a shiny look.

Did you guess the name of the song? It is Ode to Joy!