Mrs. Abouav’s 
Fermata Monster Bulletin  
Issue #1, September 2018 --- sabouav@sjusd.org 
 
Here’s what’s happening in Music Class: 
TK students are exploring the many sounds their voices can make, and enjoy singing fingerplays. 
TK  They are playing simple music games and experimenting with percussion rhythm instruments. They 
are learning to use their singing voice by singing with Arioso, the singing dragon puppet. 

Kindergarten students are exploring opposites in music: high and low, loud and soft, fast and slow. 
K  Kindergartners are also learning to keep a steady beat by moving and playing instruments. Students 
are learning about their singing voice by singing with Arioso, the singing dragon puppet. 

First grade students are learning to tell the difference between steady beat (the pulse of music), and 
1st  rhythm (the short and long sounds). Students can perform quarter note (Ta) and paired eighth 
notes (Ti-ti) on instruments and use the solfege pitches Sol and Mi when singing/writing songs. 

Second grade students are singing songs that use Sol, Mi, and La, and can place them on the music 
2nd  staff (in F pentatonic scale). Students are working on dividing the steady beat into measures (groups 
of strong and weak beats) using barlines.   

Third grade students are working with the F Pentatonic Scale: Do, Re, Mi, So, & La. Students work on 
3rd  notating these pitches on the staff, as well as using them to improvise on pitched percussion 
instruments (xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels).   

Fourth grade students are learning to use dynamics like P ​ iano​ and F​ orte​, as well as using tempo 
4th  markings like ​Presto​ and ​Andante​. Students also use and perform the F Pentatonic Scale (Do, Re, Mi, 
Fa, So, La). We had great fun analyzing the musical concepts of Mozart’s O ​ verture to the Magic Flute​. 

Fifth grade students are learning to identify and conduct the meter in songs that are in 3/4 and 4/4 
5th  time signature. Students are working on syncopated rhythms (music that happens off the beat), by 
identifying and performing them with music. We are reviewing all music notation prepping for 
recorders soon. 

Students are learning to play different pitched and unpitched instruments, like drums, 
SDC  metallophones, xylophones, and boomwhackers. Students play collaborative music games, sing 
songbook stories, and perform fingerplay songs. 
  
Get to know our Music Teacher 
Mrs. Samantha Abouav​ ​is excited to join the Reed family. With an
extensive background teaching general music education classes to students
ranging from preschool to middle school, she has directed choirs, school-wide
concerts, and musical theatre productions. As founder of the company ​Musical
Minds,​ Mrs. Abouav taught private lessons, hosted recitals, and taught
parent-child group music classes. Mrs. Abouav is happy to return to her true
passion, teaching in the Elementary Music Classroom.

Mrs. Abouav’s background is in Opera and

Operetta, and she holds a Bachelors in Vocal
Performance from SJSU. She has performed
throughout the Bay Area with companies such as Lyric Theatre of San
Jose, Mission City Opera, and Livermore Valley Opera. In 2016 she
performed at Carnegie Hall in NYC with the Symphony Silicon Valley
Chorale. Mrs. Abouav is also a songwriter, performing on her ukulele or
piano as a featured artist at local coffee shops.

Mrs. Abouav is a mommy to three kiddos, ages 7, 4 and almost 2 years

old, and is married to a fellow musician who plays trumpet with the
Nova Vista Symphony.  

Who is Fermata Monster? 

He is our classroom mascot! A fermata is a music symbol that means to
hold a note for long time, but our Fermata Monster instead holds a lot
food in his belly. When students are showing stellar participation or exhibiting their R.O.C.K.S.tar Reed
Spirit, they can pick a piece of food to feed Fermata Monster. His never-ending appetite is satisfied by a
range of foods from sandwiches and watermelon, to snails, bees and ants. He makes videos for his
students & helps keep them on task. He is well loved, from TK to 5th.