Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Math & Music Makers Camp update by Mikari Tarpley, Jr. Camp Counselor, 12 years old


When at Math and Music camp, it's all about variety and the importance and inspiration of the things we learn, ALWAYS! This week in math, we are learning about strategies and different ways of decoding. Believe me, when I say this is the most fun, brain working activity there is out there! Whether it is decoding backwards alphabets or numbers, it is truly enjoyable. This gives your problem solving abilities a definite boost!


Musically, we are all about the genres! From Classical to R&B, we are learning it all. At camp we are learning how the tone of any genre of music can give off an emotion which helps the listener  feel the music. On Monday our first Mystery Musician Kelly Kilgore of Wondergirls Productions shared her talent! Miss Kelly is a professional actress who has performed in all acting genres including musical theatre as well as in film and TV.  She taught us how actors use music to feel the emotion of a scene. We all performed a scene with a partner using the same lines, but changing the emotion to happy, or angry or silly.  We had so much fun! Today, our Mystery Musician was  Aaron Holton.

Mr. Aaron is a Sound Engineer who is currently working on the FOX TV Series, STAR.  He explained the intricacies of mixing music to get the perfect sound.  He showed how  increasing the reverb of a singer or softening a low bass can really make a difference in the way a song sounds.  We even got to make our own songs using a cool app that he shared with everyone.  We split into two groups and made two cool, original songs that made us want to dance!! We had a blast!!

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Infinity and Math History

Learning is fun at Math & Music Makers!!

 In the past few days at camp, the students learned about the first African-American female engineer at NASA-Mary Jackson.  They also learned that an Engineer is a problem solver.  We worked on addition and multiplication fluency with minute drills and the students used dice to practice addition, subtraction and multiplication.

 We continued to work on addition and multiplication fluency with minute drills.  We discussed place value and the meaning of “infinity”.  Did you know that there are in infinite number of numbers between 0 and 1?  We used dice to practice writing three digit numbers in Standard, Expanded, Word and Base Ten forms.  Finally, the students designed very cool chain reactions with colorful dominoes.

Our Mystery Musicians this week were full of knowledge and very entertaining.  Kerren Berz came on Monday and played violin.  In our previous blog we mentioned that she was the Concertmaster for the CSO, but she has also been featured on albums by Outkast, Pink, Cartel, Sinead O’Connor, and on the hit single “Survivor,” by Destiny’s Child.  She's amazing!!

On Tuesday Producer, Mixer and Sound Engineer, Leslie Brathwaite shared all of his cool stories about working with Beyonce, Ferrell and Justin Timberlake.  The kids were so excited to hear that he also worked on some of their favorite movies including all of the Minion and Transformers series.

On Wednesday, David Klausman showed us a small portion of his trumpet collection.  He played each of the trumpets and then let the kids try to play the trumpet also!!  We definitely have some future trumpet players at camp this week.  Blow kids, blow!!

Today the kids were surprised when I walked in an announced that I was going to perform along with our camp music teacher...the super talented, Joshua Franklin!  I sang a jazz song, then sang my single "R U Livin' Right" and told them how to buy it on iTunes. :-)   Mr. Josh played some  Beyonce tunes on the ukulele and then taught everyone how to play a C chord all by themselves on the ukulele.  After sharing the ukulele, Mr. Josh pulled out the keyboard.  Our brave camper, Veerdant joined in the fun played a tune on the keyboard for everyone!  Mr. Josh and I then sang a duet by Katy Perry to end the mini concert for the day.

We have had an exciting week thus far!  Tomorrow will end with a short culminating performance when the kids show some of the cool things they learned!  Math + Music = FUN!!  Check out the collage below!


Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Monday Funday First Day of Camp 2017

The first day of camp is always a little scary for the kids and the teachers :-)  The teachers hope that the kids actually show up and enjoy themselves.  The kids just want to have fun, but are afraid that camp might be another version of school and they might not make friends with the new kids they meet.  Needless to say, our first day jitters ended early yesterday!  These pictures will show you that the day was a complete success!!!  The violinist in the pictures is Kerren Berz- Concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.  She came to share her talent and musical knowledge with the students.  THANKS Ms. Kerren!!!















Sunday, June 4, 2017

WEEKLY THEMES FOR CAMP
Week 1:  Math & Music FUN with Dice, Dominoes and More.
Week 2:  How to Become a Super Math & Music Sleuth.
Week 3:  Let’s put the FUN in Fractions!

Week 4:  A World of Dimensions.

Welcome to WEEK One of Math & Music Makers
We have lots of exciting fun planned. Check out what we are doing this week...

Making Sense of Numbers

Let’s make sense of numbers! We will use Dice, Dominoes and other manipulatives to explore whole number and decimal place value, rounding, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Musical Improvisation
With a roll of the dice, we will learn about all genres of music.  Most children are familiar with pop culture and the latest music craze, but this week we will dig deeper to discover the music that makes each genre special using fun games, karaoke and improv.



1st day of camp info!

Dear Parents,
Welcome to Math and Music Makers Math and Music Camp -Summer 2017!  We are very excited to have your child/children join us this summer!  We are looking forward to an eventful summer!  Please take a few moments to read through this letter for important information you will need to know for the camp.  BELOW this letter you will find our CAMPER INFORMATION FORM which should be completed as soon as possible.
We will also be posting camp updates, videos and pictures each week on our blog http://mathmusicmakers.blogspot.com/ which also feeds to our FaceBook Page https://www.facebook.com/MathMusicMakers/  so that you can see what’s happening in camp.


LOCATION & TIME

The camp begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. at The Day Room at Tolleson Park.  The address is 3515 McCauley Road, Smyrna, GA 30080. (On google maps the dayroom exact location is King Springs Park Rd Smyrna, GA 30080 which you can use for navigation purposes.)

Carpool/ Drop off begins at 8:25 am and pick up begins at 3:30 pm. Children not picked up by 3:45 pm will have to be placed in the extended care program which costs an additional $60 per week  The extended care ends at 5:30 pm.

SNACK & LUNCH
Please provide a snack and a lunch with a drink for your child each day.  If your child has any food allergies, please let us know by completing the allergy question on the camp information form attached. If your child is staying in the aftercare program please pack 2 snacks. We are not able to warm up meals.  We will provide water for the students during the day.
DRESS
Each child should wear comfortable clothes and dress for the weather.  We will spend some time outdoors, so, sunscreen is encouraged along with closed toe shoes.  We are also asking each child (especially the k-2 students) to bring a change of clothes (for emergency purposes).  Please pack the change of clothes in a large Ziploc bag labeled with their name we can keep the change of clothes and return them on the last day of the camp session.
On Fridays, weather permitting, we will go swimming at  the Smyrna Pool for a couple of hours.  Please send your child in with a swimsuit under their clothing on Friday along with a towel, sunscreen and anything else you believe your child will need.  Let us know if your child can swim or not.  We want to make sure we get a life preserver for your child if necessary.  A reminder about the pool will be sent home on Thursday.  If you have any questions or concerns about the pool visit or anything, feel free to contact us by phone or email.  678-964-5274

We still have a few spaces in each camp session this month so please spread the word! We also have a week of camp for 7th -9th grade students on July 17th- 21st.  Thanks for sharing, and we look forward to lots of fun with this week at Math & Music Makers Camp!!    DON’T FORGET TO COMPLETE THE INFO FORM BELOW OR CLICK HERE to complete online... https://goo.gl/forms/SjKiI2mjR82vuYQo1

Imani Thomas & Tomaree Tarpley


Monday, May 15, 2017

Camp Memories

We are getting ready for camp next month and here's a little video from our last week of camp in 2016!  We had a ball with our middle school students who wrote some really cool math songs and performed them on the last day of camp.  Click the link below and enjoy!!

SUMMER Camp last day 2016!

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Ollie Patterson says "Do what you love"

Ollie Patterson a successful, professional saxophonist shared with us his journey from corporate America to becoming a full time musician. He gave us valuable advice that will help with our professional careers whatever path we choose! Thanks Ollie for sharing your talent and wisdom! You rock!