This week (11/17-11/21)

Happy Thanksgiving break!

This week in...

Kindergarten- we did some fun Thanksgiving activities, including a fun movement game that went with this poem:
Mr. Turkey's on the go and he can keep the beat
Can you guess which way he'll move and put it in your feet?
We also did a fun singing game with a song about pumpkin pie where the student sitting in the middle of the circle would have to close their eyes and then guess which students from the circle was singing the solo at the end of the song.

1st grade- we are in full on concert mode! We are rockin' and rollin' getting ready for the winter concert on Tuesday, December 9th. We have some very special music prepared to share with you. :) Students need to be in their classrooms but 5:15 pm on the night of the concert. Students should dress nicely for the performance. Can't wait!

2nd grade- we are also in full on concert mode! We are pumped for our performance on Tuesday, December 9th. Students must be in their classrooms by 6:15 pm on that night. Students should dress nicely for the performance. Woohoo!

3rd grade- students turned in their found sounds projects this week. It has been so fun to see what instruments they created at home! We are going to have lots of fun with those instruments after Thanksgiving break. :) This week, we learned a poem called "Bow Wow Wow" and learned 3 speaking parts to go with it. We divided into 4 groups, each group saying their own part. It was crazy!

4th grade- we continued learning about Charlie Parker, the great alto saxophonist. We also learned a new song on recorders called "Closet Key" and learned a really fun game to go with it. Ask your child to explain the game to you. :)

5th grade- we learned how to play the song "Tue, Tue" on xylophones! We have been having fun with this song from Ghana recently. We learned a cup part to go with the song, and we also made up our own cup parts/passing games in groups to go with the song. The xylophone part was definitely challenging, but fun to work on. After break, we will try to put it all together with some students playing xylophones, some playing recorders, and some playing drums. Tons of fun! Below are a couple of photos from 5th grade this week.

This week (11/12-11/14)

It was a short but great week!

I'll post more details about what we are up to next Friday since it was such a short week, but here are a few reminders:

1st Grade Winter Concert: Tuesday, December 9th, 5:30pm, meet in classroom by 5:15pm

2nd Grade Winter Concert: Tuesday, December 9th, 6:30pm, meet in classroom by 6:15pm

• 2nd graders should be practicing the "Leaves, Leaves" poem with body percussion at home please! 

3rd Grade Found Sounds Projects: due Thursday, November 20!

This week (11/3-11/7)

5th Graders see below for homework info...

This week in...

Kindergarten- we kept a steady beat! We did lots of steady beat movements, and each student got a chance to be the leader and show the class what steady beat move to do while everyone said the poem"Apple Pie." We also learned about high and low sounds, and put leaves on a tree to show how high the sounds we hear were.

1st grade- we worked on a new song for our concert (Tuesday, December 9th!) called "Celebramos Juntos", which means "celebrate together" in Spanish. We also worked on lots of our other concert pieces, including "Winter Wiggles" and "I Have a Little Snowman."

2nd grade- we are hard at work on our concert music for Tuesday, December 9th! We made up our own body percussion pattern to go with "Leaves, Leaves" that we will continue practicing at home. We also worked on a cool rhythm piece called "Gingerbread Breakdown" and sang a song called "Hip Hop Elves."

3rd grade- we learned a fun folk song/dance called "Wind Up the Apple Tree." We also talked a lot about the percussion family of instruments and learned to categorize the instruments by how they are played (tap, shake, and scrape) and by instrument type (drums, woods, metals, shakers/scrapers.) We played a fun and crazy game with hula hoops that challenges us to watch the conductor (leader of the music.) Don't forget- the found sounds project is due soon! Hodges and Riley instruments are due November 20, and Schleifer instruments are due November 21. See the "Founds Sounds Project" link under 'Pages' for more info if your child has not discussed this with you.

4th grade- we are learning about the life and music of Charlie Parker, the great alto saxophone player. We are also playing and reading the music of a couple of songs, hooray! We use the 'Recorder Music' page to access this music. Students who ordered recorders can expect to receive them before Thanksgiving break.

5th grade- we are learning about a new song from Ghana called "Tue, Tue" which means "Sorry, sorry." We sang and played instruments to go with it. Some of the instruments are being borrowed from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science- they are real, genuine instruments from Africa and they are so cool! There are rattles, drums, a thumb piano, and some crazy dancing rattles and dancing belts too. They were fun to examine and explore this week. We are also learning a cup part to go with this song. It's pretty challenging, but fun.

Homework
1. Sing the song "Tue, Tue" with the real words and snaps.
Tue tue, barima tue tue X2
Abofraba ama dowa dowa tue tue X2 (the end goes up the first time, down the second time)
Barima tue tue

2. Sing the song "Tue, Tue" using solfege syllables and snaps.
So so so so, so la so mi mi mi mi X2
Do mi so so, la so mi mi re re so so so so, do mi so so la so mi mi re re do do do do
Do re la do do do do

3. Practice "Tue, Tue" with the cup part.
Clap clap pat a pat clap up down
Clap up slap down right left over
*Always pick up the cup with your right hand except at the end on the word left