“This is exactly what I need to reach my kids. Rockademix is an exciting way of instructing students. Addressing every learning style, students explore concepts for mastery rather than memorization. Using dancing, singing, and art captures the students’ interest and keeps them involved.”
– Stacy Neumann, Ross Elementary

We’re very excited to announce that the Rockademix program is now being piloted at Ross Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas. This culturally diverse school serves over 1,200 students in grades PreK-8. “Our school is a priority school, with all students receiving free lunch,” said Stacy Neumann, music coordinator for the Signature Music School at Ross Elementary. “Our demographics include approximately 30% each of black, Hispanic, and white students.” Ross Elementary is located in the historic Topeka school district which was involved in the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed segregation in public schools.

Mrs. Neumann has served as music coordinator since the school’s inception in 2012, providing programs to enhance music experiences and improve learning in the academic setting. Contacting Rockademix in September, Mrs. Neumann said, “This is exactly what I need to reach my kids. Rockademix is an exciting way of instructing students. By addressing every learning style, students explore concepts for mastery rather than memorization. Using dancing, singing, and art ignites the students’ interest and keeps them involved.” She then went on to add, “The songs and the dance moves capture the attention of the kids. Using the art activities helps them visualize and create their own images. The investigation activities are invaluable. We have already used many of these covering different standards. Being able to connect back to a concept – like “The Constitution Song” – helps solidify the historical event while addressing Language Arts. It is music and arts integration at its finest.”

“The songs and the dance moves capture the attention of the kids. Using the art activities helps them visualize and create their own images. The investigation activities are invaluable. We have already used many of these covering different standards. Being able to connect back to a concept – like “The Constitution Song” – helps solidify the historical event while addressing Language Arts. It is music and arts integration at its finest.”

Kyrstin Bervert, Assistant Principal at Ross Elementary, is also excited about piloting Rockademix. She enthused, “After previewing Rockademix and receiving an inservice from Mr. Schwartz, I was thrilled to see a program that will meaningfully engage all students in developing Language Arts and Social Science skills while also building a love for the arts. I have no doubt that this program will spark curiosity and growth for even our most resistant learners. I can’t wait to see all of the songs that Rockademix will be adding to further support our curriculum.”

Jon Schwartz, founder of Rockademix, traveled to Topeka in October to discuss the collaboration, and took a second trip in February to conduct an inservice with the staff at Ross Elementary. “It’s exciting to launch Rockademix at such a large, culturally diverse school. The school understands the role that the arts play in helping all kids learn academics, and that’s what Rockademix is all about. Rockademix makes it possible for everyday classroom teachers to bring the arts into their classroom to help motivate and engage their students in standards-based learning.”

Started by Mr. Schwartz, an award-winning public school teacher, Rockademix is a ground-breaking program that uses music to enrich and reinforce the learning experience. Each original song is not only engaging and fun to sing along with, but chock full of academic content. Kids learn core academic subjects like language arts, math, technology, science and history while singing, dancing, and creating along with the fantastic Rockademix songs. Click here to listen to some of the sample songs, including “Fractions Funk” and “The Constitution Song”. A professor of education and a PhD in history along with several child development specialists made sure the program was built on solid educational bedrock, and Grammy Award-winning musicians and choreographers made sure the program rocks!

With the pilot now underway in Ross Elementary classrooms, Mrs. Neumann reports that, “Kids love the dance moves. One student who is never on task and usually distracts other students was fully engaged with the dance moves. She began asking questions about the Constitution!”

For information about piloting Rockademix at your school, please email jon@rockademix.org.