Practice the exercises on page 8 of the Essential Elements book.  You will be able to read what notes are on the page faster if you do not look at each note one at a time.  Instead, relate the notes to each other.  All that means is that if you know one note is C, and the next note is one step above it, you can just know (without even using the sayings for the lines and spaces) that the next note is D.  Use this method when practicing the assigned exercises! (P.S. Next Friday there will be an MSU Percussion Ensemble Concert happening 7:30 pm at Wehr Band Hall.  It’s free, it’ll be really cool, and you should talk to your parents about it!)