Hello everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus - October was extremely busy with conferences, and preparing for our Veterans Day Assembly. Below you'll find what we did in the music room in each grade level. Have a great weekend!
-Kindergarten: we've been working on learning our musical opposites: loud v. soft, high v. low, fast v. slow. We started by looking at pictures of the words and identifying the difference between the pictures, then we started working on showing the differences with our bodies (for example: hands up when we hear a high note v. hands down to the ground when we hear a low note). Finally, we moved into our "Music in Motion" game with Olaf (Olaf wears dancing shoes, so you know you're supposed to move!). Students stay in their square, with their voices off, and use their bodies to demonstrate the music opposites we learned. We will continue to do this, and start our hand percussion unit next month. This works on our understanding of timbre and steady beat.
-1st grade: we started diving into the difference between steady beat and rhythm. In particular, we've really focused on how to keep a steady beat with our bodies while we say something rhythmic. We're using a game for this, as well as looking at rhythmic notation on the white board as it relates to various songs (Naughty Kitty Cat, Gato Travieso, I Can Keep a Steady Beat). Next month we will make our rhythm game harder, and then we'll move into some pitch notation.
-2nd grade: we're performing on Wednesday, November 7th at 9:30am for our veterans! Please come to the assembly and see your children sing and sign our Veterans Day song of thanks. After that, we will start to work on learning 2nd grade rhythms with new songs and games.
-3rd grade: we finished working with the cups, for now, so we can start to learn how to read notes on the 5-line staff (so exciting!). We have a packet we're using to demonstrate our understanding, as well as using the music room rug and our music white boards to learn this concept. Once we complete the packet and can demonstrate an understanding of pitch notation we get to use Boomwhackers!
-4th grade: we started our ukulele unit, and learned our first chord: C major. We will continue to work on learning our chords for our first ukulele song, "When I'm Gone".
-5th grade: we're performing on Wednesday, November 7th at 9:30am for our veterans! Please come to the assembly and see your children sing and sign our Veterans Day song of thanks. We will then take a break from ukuleles and work on music notation with our laptops.
-6th grade: we are still working on the chords for Blackbird, and the improvement has been incredible! We're starting to pair lyrics with chord changes. Did you know students are already reading 12 different chords for this song??? If you see your student today give them a pat on the back for their hard work, they deserve it!
Thank you all for everything you do to support our music programs. Stay tuned for exciting news about our school musical this year: rehearsals/performance/everything all happens the week of Jan 14th! I will be sending home information the week after Veterans Day. :)
-Kindergarten: we've been working on learning our musical opposites: loud v. soft, high v. low, fast v. slow. We started by looking at pictures of the words and identifying the difference between the pictures, then we started working on showing the differences with our bodies (for example: hands up when we hear a high note v. hands down to the ground when we hear a low note). Finally, we moved into our "Music in Motion" game with Olaf (Olaf wears dancing shoes, so you know you're supposed to move!). Students stay in their square, with their voices off, and use their bodies to demonstrate the music opposites we learned. We will continue to do this, and start our hand percussion unit next month. This works on our understanding of timbre and steady beat.
-1st grade: we started diving into the difference between steady beat and rhythm. In particular, we've really focused on how to keep a steady beat with our bodies while we say something rhythmic. We're using a game for this, as well as looking at rhythmic notation on the white board as it relates to various songs (Naughty Kitty Cat, Gato Travieso, I Can Keep a Steady Beat). Next month we will make our rhythm game harder, and then we'll move into some pitch notation.
-2nd grade: we're performing on Wednesday, November 7th at 9:30am for our veterans! Please come to the assembly and see your children sing and sign our Veterans Day song of thanks. After that, we will start to work on learning 2nd grade rhythms with new songs and games.
-3rd grade: we finished working with the cups, for now, so we can start to learn how to read notes on the 5-line staff (so exciting!). We have a packet we're using to demonstrate our understanding, as well as using the music room rug and our music white boards to learn this concept. Once we complete the packet and can demonstrate an understanding of pitch notation we get to use Boomwhackers!
-4th grade: we started our ukulele unit, and learned our first chord: C major. We will continue to work on learning our chords for our first ukulele song, "When I'm Gone".
-5th grade: we're performing on Wednesday, November 7th at 9:30am for our veterans! Please come to the assembly and see your children sing and sign our Veterans Day song of thanks. We will then take a break from ukuleles and work on music notation with our laptops.
-6th grade: we are still working on the chords for Blackbird, and the improvement has been incredible! We're starting to pair lyrics with chord changes. Did you know students are already reading 12 different chords for this song??? If you see your student today give them a pat on the back for their hard work, they deserve it!
Thank you all for everything you do to support our music programs. Stay tuned for exciting news about our school musical this year: rehearsals/performance/everything all happens the week of Jan 14th! I will be sending home information the week after Veterans Day. :)
