Week of 9/16-9/20

This week in...

Kindergarten- we played drums! We read the story Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Dr. Seuss and learned to play drums while doing a chant with our voices. We also learned a silly dance called "Seven Jumps" where we used an imaginary rubber brand to stretch our arms out for the long sounds in the music.

1st/2nd grade- we learned to say and clap our rhythm patterns. We learned a rhyme about fall colored leaves and colored in our own leaf patterns. We then learned to speak and clap our leaf patterns that we drew and performed them for the class.

3rd grade- we played a football bean bag passing game to reinforce the steady beat, and we also got to play some instruments. We played "jam rhythms" on drums, triangles, wood blocks, and tambourines.

4th grade- we have begun recorders! Each student has a recorder in the music classroom that is theirs to use for the year. We learned how to properly hold the recorder (left hand on top, right hand on bottom) and how to use our gentle air to make sounds. We learned a funny tongue twister with lots of T's in it to learn how to say "too" in our mouths when playing recorders.

5th grade- we created our own arrangements of a song we learned in class, "Let's Play a Game." In groups of 6 or 7, students got to create a performance that had an introduction, a body, and a coda (a short ending.) We used speaking and singing voices, body percussion, drums, and mallet instruments. We then performed the pieces for the class.

Talent show entry forms are due Friday, September 20th by 3:00pm!!!

Beginning of the year!

What have we been up to, you ask?!?!

In kindergarten....
We have been learning about this amazing thing called the STEADY BEAT! We have shown the steady beat in our bodies in many ways. We have learned to sing our hello song called "Hello, Everybody"We have also been exploring the 4 ways to use our voices, including whispering, speaking, singing, and shouting. We chose our favorite animals from the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

In first and second grade...
We have moved to the steady beat using our bodies and instruments. We have also started to learn about the rhythm of song, which always matches with the words of the song. We even got to play the xylophones! We learned to sing "Circle Song" and also "Rig a Jig Jig."

In third grade...
We composed our own piece of music in class using body percussion sounds (stomp, pat, clap, and snap.) This piece had two parts, an A section and a B section. We have explored the many percussion instruments in the room and categorized them by the way they are played- tap, shake, and scrape. We learned a fun song that has movements to go with it called "Wind Up the Apple Tree."

In fourth grade...
We are learning about jazz! We have moved to jazz music and begun exploring the world of scat singing. We got to improvise on a drum and also improvise using scat words. We got into groups and composed a call and response using our scat words. We also learned more about jazz instruments from the story The Jazz Fly.

In fifth grade...
We have used the chant/song "Let's Play a Game" to fuel all of our classes so far. We got to come up with a unique way to perform our name and then added a movement to go with our name. We learned how to perform some body percussion (we used claps, pats, and stomps) to go with the chant. We then transferred the chant onto hand and djembe drums and played it in canon (in a round.) It sounded so cool! We then learned that the chant is actually a song, so we learned the melody on the mallet instruments.

We have certainly been busy!

***REMINDER*** Talent show entry forms are due to Ms. Buckley by Friday, September 20th at 3pm, no exceptions!!!!! When you turn in the form, talk to Ms. Buckley to sign up for an audition time.

Thanks for reading!