Can You Feel The Beat?

This week in music was all about steady beat!  The beginning of the year is a great time for the kids to review the concepts of beat and rhythm. 

Kindergarten demonstrated different ways to show the beat.  The kids came up with great ideas!  They patted their legs, clapped their hands, stomped their feet, tapped their toes, and found many other ways to keep the beat.  Ask them to sing "Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands" and show you the movements that go along with the song. 

First graders also reviewed "Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands."  We also talked about using our high and low voices during "Hickory Dickory Dock."  We then kept the steady beat in fun ways during our song about monkeys.  Each student got to be a monkey and had other students copy their movements.

Second graders had fun on orff instruments this week!  We kept a steady beat to accompany "Charlie Over the Ocean."  The students had a great time reviewing how to play these fun instruments.  We also talked about high and low sounds and labeled them as "so" and "mi."

This week in third grade, students played a song on the barred instruments.  We played a song about the Golden Rule and discussed why that rule is important.  We reviewed how to treat mallets nicely and how to play our barred instruments correctly.

Fourth graders learned a very important concept this week: how to read notes on a treble staff!  We learned that the space notes spell "FACE" and the line notes are "EGBDF."  Ask your child what sentence they learned to help them remember these lines notes.  Any student who creates their own sentence using these letters as the first letter of each word will get extra credit!  We also had fun on drums and barred instruments, playing an orchestration to "I Want to Rise in the Early Morn."

Fifth grade had an awesome time dancing to "The Pink Panther."  We learned different movements for all 3 sections (ABC) by reading the rhythms on the Promethean Board.  We also started learning to count rhythms by numbers.  The students were also introduced to I and V chords and how they provide foundations for songs.  We played I and V chord changes on the barred instruments to accompany "Dis Solda La."

All 4th and 5th graders have been given flyers regarding recorders.  Those who were interested received permission slips to join 4th and 5th grade chorus.