This week (9/29-10/3)

This week in...

Kindergarten- we met a new friend on our farm, the cow! We sang, played instruments, and spoke poems that involve the cow. We got to hold and make sounds on cowbells (how perfect is that?!), wiggle our bodies, and keep a steady beat.

1st grade- we colored in 4 beautiful fall leaves with a partner. We then learned to speak and clap the pattern of our leaves, for example: "red lead, yellow lead, green leaf, orange leaf." We also learned a fun poem for fall: "Leaves, leaves, floating down. Red, yellow, orange and brown."

2nd grade- we had fun making patterns of different colored fall leaves. We learned how to speak and clap these patterns, and we even put them on instruments too. For an extra challenge, we split into groups. Each group was in charge of speaking and playing their instrument to go with their color leaf. In other words, we were making "real music" by having everyone follow along with the music but only play their part on their turn.

3rd grade- we played a fun steady beat game with a football bean bag with the following chant: "Football, football, that's our game. Punting and passing it's not so tame. Miss the ball and without a doubt, along comes the coach and says you're out!" We then learned to play the RHYTHM of that chant (as opposed to the steady beat) and read some rhythms on flash cards.

4th grade- we are continuing to learn about super star Ella Fitzgerald and her amazing jazz singing. We have also been working hard to make more beautiful sounds on our recorders. We learned to play the rhythm of a nursery rhyme on our recorders called "Deedle deedle Dumpling", and we also learned a body percussion part to go with the words. We made up our own rhythms to play on recorders as well.

5th grade- the madness has begun. I'm making use of my 5th grade classes for the final project of my Masters thesis for my Masters in music education degree. For the project, students are divided into groups of about 5 or 6. In their groups, their task is to take the book "The Tree of Life", which we have examined in class, and choose a part of the book as their inspiration. Then, the group creates a piece of music around that inspiration using whatever instruments, voices, and techniques they choose. It's very open-ended. I can't wait to see how their pieces develop!

Talent show- auditions were this week and I was so pleased. Students were well prepared and fun to watch. Every person that auditioned made it into the show. :) The actual show will be Thursday, October 30th. I'm looking forward to working with each act to help them be even better prepared for this special performance.