"Welcome to the music class. What should we expect? 
Welcome to the music class. What should we expect?
Time to sing, time to speak, time to play and move!
Welcome to the music class; that's what we expect!" -Lyrics from Expect Music (Music Class Theme Song)by Ms. Lo, 2025.

In Ms. Lo's music class, you can always expect a joyful and hands-on learning experience as we sing, speak, play, and move our way through the time we have together. As a professional musician and educator, Ms. Lo believes it is important that every child who enters her classroom has a positive learning experience and opportunities to become a well-rounded musician. While not every child will aspire to become a professional musician, I hope to inspire every child to become a lifelong learner and music lover, because music is everywhere. Ms. Lo wants the children to know that the music we learn about in the classroom also exists outside it. We will explore different musical genres composed by various composers from different historical periods together. Moreover, we will read amazing stories, play fun musical games, sing beautiful songs in many different languages in addition to English, learn dances from different cultures, and play instruments with proper techniques in solo or ensemble settings. 

Our music class always begins with a musical greeting, with Ms. Lo singing, "Hello, Children!" on a Sol-Mi (Solfeggio) pattern, and the children respond with "Hello, Ms. Lo!" on a Sol-Mi pattern as well. This is an initial assessment to determine whether every child can hear the sameness or difference between the two pitches. Ms. Lo believes TONE DEAF is a learned behavior that can be corrected by retraining our ears to listen for the sameness and differences between two or more pitches. After the greeting, our lesson will begin with a review of what we learned the previous week to reinforce the materials. The order of review will be determined by two factors: children's readiness and my personal perspective. Sometimes, starting the lesson with a storybook may not work as well if children come to my class after sitting for a long time in their own classroom. However, it may work very well if they come to my class after a very active learning session in their own classroom, where they have been moving. Therefore, the order of activities I planned may need to be adjusted to meet my students' needs daily. And that is absolutely fine with me!

Informal assessments are used to collect data on students' learning progress and to inform or restructure my teaching practices. Formal assessments are used to determine students' mastery of the skill sets. Ms. Lo is working on digitizing assessments using iPads and portfolios, so students and parents can also see their own results and progress.