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

2nd grade students created compositions based around the pop up book Yellow Square by David Carter. Each group chose a page and found inspiration from the shapes and colors to inform their compositions. 

6th Grade Composition

6th grade students spent the 3rd marking period creating compositions. They began with improvisation, used a notation software, and then taught it to peers for a live performance. Here is one example of a student final performance.
3rd grade students are learning to use GarageBand. They created loops, sampled sounds, and created their own drum tracks. I can't wait to see what interesting music they create with these new skills! 
4th grade students are learning to play the ukulele! They can now read a chord chart and read tablature. In this photo they are playing along with and singing Lava! 
Students worked really hard preparing for Annie Jr. auditions! They learned about stage presence, performing confidently, and being a supportive audience member. Here you can see 3rd grade and Ms. Branch working on their orphan acting while learning a dance! We can't wait to see 2nd, 4th, and 6th grades in the chorus as well as the full cast and crew for the shows on May 22nd and May 23rd! 
Students in costume
5th Grade Students went on a field trip to the Lyric Opera for a backstage tour! They viewed the theater from all different heights, walked on the catwalk, tried on costumes, learned about wigs, saw the stage hands setting up for an opera, and learned all about different backstage jobs. Check out the photo album page for more! 

6th Grade In Studio Performance

6th grade students spent music classes in the first marking period working on drums and percussion. Their learning spanned from a backbeat on drum set to learning all about West African drums and percussion like the djembe, dun duns, shekere, and gankogui. They culminated their learning with an in studio performance including a drum warm up, complimentary rhythmic ostinatos, and two songs the students arranged with their classmates. Both songs, Take Time in Life and Banuwa, originated in Liberia. Attached is a performance from one of the 6th grade classes!