Kindergarten- we have been studying fast and slow sounds, and this week we go to show what we know! We took a fast and slow quiz and the kids rocked it! We also sang songs to go with the story "The Tortoise and the Hare." We created fast and slow movements, and sang a train song called "Engine, Engine Number Nine" at different speeds.
1st grade- we finished up our rhythm compositions to go with the poem "Two Little Sausages." We used the words BAM (quarter note) and SIZZLE (eighth notes) to create a B section for the poem. We played these rhythms on rhythm sticks, too. We also learned a fun charades style game called Kitchen Tools. For this game, we make a long list of kitchen tools like blender, bowl, microwave, toaster, whisk, etc. Students then act these out with their body silently. You can even have a partner try to guess which one you are. :)
2nd grade- we learned a lovely new song called "Way Down Yonder in the Brickyard" that uses mi, re, and do patterns. Re is our newest note from pitch hill that we have learned, so we now know 5 notes! We added glockenspiel and boomwhacker parts to go with the song. We played the birdie game where the little birdie hides underneath a cup (each cup represents one of the notes we know) and Ms. Buckley sings a pattern. The class hums it back and has to identify which cup birdie is hiding under by knowing what the last note of the pattern we sang was. It's tricky but fun!
3rd grade- we are hard at work preparing for our spring concert! We are less than 2 weeks out! Please come hear our performance on Wednesday, March 9th at 6:00pm. Students need to arrive by 5:30pm and should go to their classrooms to line up.
4th grade- we had so much fun last week on our field trip to the Crossroads Theater to hear some live jazz. It was inspiring to hear these musicians, who donate their time with their non-profit organization, improvise and enjoy playing music together. The kids asked them thoughtful questions at the end, and it was fun to learn about the instruments they played and how they got started performing jazz music.
5th grade- we learned a new African chant song called "Ama ibu." It's two lines long and repeats over and over. The words translate as a message of gathering and setting a common intention as a group. We learned to sing the song in unison (all together) and in canon (with two groups singing the song at slightly different times.) We learned the melody on xylophones and discovered we needed a new note- a B flat! The flats are the black keys on the piano and fall between other notes. For example, B flat is the note that sounds halfway in between B and A. We also created our own new tunes for a B section of the song.
