General Music Curriculum

  • All Maplebrook students meet twice per week for music. Students in Mrs. Tomei's class experience music through singing, movement, and playing instruments. Learning targets revolve around the musical elements of Melody, Rhythm, Harmony, Form, Tone Color, and Expressive Elements. Our curriculum is structured around the National Standards for Music Education:
     
    PERFORMING:
    1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
    2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
    (District-wide assessment in 3rd grade)
     
    CREATING:
    3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
    4. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
    (District-wide assessment in 4th grade)
     
    RESPONDING:
    5. Reading and notating music.
    6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
    7. Evaluating music and music performances.
    (District-wide assessment in 2nd grade)
     
    CONNECTING:
    8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
    9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
    (District-wide assessment in 5th grade)

About the Instructor

  • Melissa Tomei teaches general/vocal music and chorus at Maplebrook Elementary. She is an alumna of district 203 (Kingsley, Lincoln, and NCHS). Melissa became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2011.

    Melissa has her B.A. in Music Education (summa cum laude) from North Central College in Naperville (2005) and her Master of Music Education from Northern Illinois University (2010). Her thesis was "The Relationship Between Musical Aptitude and Academic Achievement of Third-Grade Students." Melissa has her Orff Schulwerk certification from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (all three levels), Kodály Level 1 certification from Indiana University Bloomington, and World Music Drumming Level 1 certification from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She also has 13 years of experience teaching group and private piano lessons.
     
    Melissa has written and received two grants to purchase instruments through the Naperville Education Foundation, "Drumming to Increase Listening, Respect, and Cooperation" (2008) and "An Authentic Musical Context for the Multicultural Imperative" (2010).
     
    Melissa is a member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA), and the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE). To learn more about the Orff and Kodály philosophies of music education, visit aosa.org and oake.org.
     
    Melissa can be reached at mtomei@naperville203.org or 630-420-3535.

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