Skip to main content
Main Menu Toggle
Cate Schmittle » Schmittle Bio

Schmittle Bio

Ms. Schmittle holds a K-12 teaching endorsement in music. Ms. Schmittle graduated with honors from Temple University in Philadelphia with degrees in music education and Spanish language and literature. She is certified in all three levels of Orff Schulwurk. She is dedicated to public school education and arts integration. She has been teaching at Decatur since 2015. Her favorite way to teach music is through active music making and utilizing student created performances. When she is not teaching, she enjoys cooking, singing in many choirs in the city, and being outdoors.
Schmittle
Ms. Schmittle with some guitars donated by Little Kids Rock
 

Posts

3rd Graders have been exploring piano for the past few weeks. We learned basic chords, played Let it Be by the Beatles, and now are practicing comping patterns by creating our own chord progressions and improvisations. Even for our more experienced piano players - these are often new concepts! Great work Decatur 3rd grade musicians! 
Students in 5th and 6th grade have started their guitar units! We are learning all about chords, persevering through challenges, and analyzing lyrics each week as we practice and perform! 

Drums, Xylophones, Percussion OH MY!

From body percussion, drumming, xylophones and more our students have been creating and performing music with each other this fall. We are composers, musicians, and performers and we can express ourselves through music.
Students in 7th and 8th grade music have chosen a song to learn together: Somebody that I used to know by Gotye. Here are two students figuring out the bass tab. Other students are playing drum set, xylophone, piano, ukulele, and singing! 

6th grade students drum together in our new music room!

5th and 6th grade students have been drumming and learning the history behind some of the instruments in the music room. Here you can see them playing tubano drums, a djembe, a gonkogui, and shekeres. Ask your child to tell you about these instruments at home. What are they made of? Where are they from? What are they used for in the cultures that they come from?
We are so excited to have 7th and 8th grade choice arts! Students are really driving their own learning and what they want to accomplish. Check out our fantastic student leader warming up the middle school choir today! 

Line Rider Project

There is a new interactive bulletin board up at school that features our final project from this school year. I am so glad that even during this pandemic we have found ways to express ourselves, to be creative, and to collaborate. Check out this great project that really shows the connections between storytelling, music, and art. Great work Amelia (5th Grade)!

Line Rider Project

Students practiced being storytellers, composers, sound engineers, and animators using Soundtrap and an online game called "linerider." They learned to work through frustrations as matching music to linerider is a difficult task - just learning the physics of the game can be a challenge. Here is one project that features a really great connection between the visual and musical elements of this project. Bella, a Decatur 5th grade student created this music and linerider animation for her story. Can you hear how it connects?
On Monday and Tuesday we welcomed Laura Yawney - a CSO Civic Fellow and Oboist to our virtual classes! We moved, we created art, we listened, and we talked about how music expresses emotions. We are so happy to partner with the CSO Connect program! 

Music and Emotion: 6th and 2nd grade collaboration!

Decatur partnered with the CSO this year to create an arts integrated unit based on music, art, and emotion. Ms. Koreman and Ms. Schmittle worked with 2nd and 6th grade students to create this project. COMING SOON will be a page on our website dedicated to ALL the incredible projects. 6th grade students are currently working to curate this page. Way to go Decatur students!
We have been exploring the music that has influenced us - or our musical identities. What did you hear growing up? What music has changed your perspectives? How has music changed you? In 5th-7th grades, students used jamboards, slides presentations, and flipgrids to share out their musical identities.