Orchestra updates for the week of Oct. 2
1. Our next Hauntcert combined rehearsal is this Thursday morning BEFORE SCHOOL, will be from 7:00-8:20 am, and will involve Chamber, Intermezzo, and Sinfonia orchestras. Students will need to bring their folding music stands from home to school that morning and cellists will need to bring their instruments to school that day as well. Equipment crews please plan to arrive 15 min early to help with set up (we cannot set up the night before due to Battle of the Bands).
2. We are getting down to Hauntcert crunch time and really need to complete the volunteer list - our most pressing need is to fill the spots for dry ice helpers for our mad scientist experiments. You can click here to volunteer for Hauntcert 2017.
3. The refreshment sign up list is also now available as we try to feed an army of over 800 at the end of the Hauntcert. Please consider helping us out and bringing some cookies or punch for the event! You can click here to donate refreshments for Hauntcert 2017.
4. We are now collecting various items to be used in the Hauntcert production - items can be donated or returned to you if you are willing to let us borrow them. We are in need of power strips, extension cords, and batteries (mostly AA and AAA but a few C's as well for stand lights - batteries will not be returned). We are also in need of any decorations pertaining to the this year's theme. As it is the year for "scary music", any Halloween decorations will work, but if you specifically have things related to a mad scientist/laboratory, we are especially interested! Please clearly label anything that you would like returned and send items to school by the end of this week so that we can begin planning decorations. We are also looking for unusual percussion instruments such as siren whistles, duck calls, slide whistles, bike horns etc. (if it makes a weird, loud sound, we'd love to consider it!)
5. Our first NY trip fundraiser is to work the concession stand at the October 13th football game. Please allow those students and parents going on the trip "first dibs" on the sign up sheet - after this Friday, remaining spots can be filled by anyone. Click here to sign up to work concessions at the October 13th football game. Don't forget if you are going on the trip, the October payment is now due!
6. Melissa Miles is looking for an interested parent to help coordinate some fundraising event for the New York trip. Please let Mrs. Siebenthal know if you would like to join her in our efforts to raise money for the trip!
7. Our next NCHS Orchestra Parents meeting will be Tuesday Oct 10 at 7 pm in the orchestra room (door J around the back will be open). This is our final meeting before Hauntcert and we would love to have a great turn out to continue planning the event. We are also still looking for three people interested in shadowing some of our NOPA executive board members so that they can take over those offices next year. The positions don't involve a huge amount of commitment, so if you are interested in the offices of president, treasurer, and refreshment chair, please let Mrs. Siebenthal know.
8. Parent teacher conferences are also looming on the horizon the week after the Hauntcert. As per the district's new initiative and restructuring of the process, parents must now contact each individual teacher if they wish to arrange a face-to-face conference. I will be available for conferences Oct 23-26 before school. Please keep in mind that even filling every available spot only allows me access to a little less than a 1/3 of the orchestra students. I humbly ask that you save the face-to-face conference spots for students who are struggling with the course and/or their grade and really need that time with me. If your student is not struggling with the material or grades and you would like to touch base with me, I would love to receive an email from you to check in on how things are going with your student! Hopefully this new structure for parent-teacher conferences will help us teachers reach those students who need it the most. Please contact me via email as soon as possible if we need to meet face-to-face, and sometime during the week of scheduled conferences if you would like to touch base and have a "mini-conference" via email. Contacting me during that week for an email conference will ensure that all of the grading is complete and ready to go so that I can provide you with appropriate updates.
