5th graders have been reviewing B, A, G, and E on their recorders. We used the Halloween song Skin and Bones to reinforce these pitches. The students have songbooks with this song in them so they can play it at home if they wish. This week we got very creative. We read a book called The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. The students got into groups and created an 8 beat ostinato to match up with an item in the book. I read the book to the class and they inserted their ostinato where appropriate. This is a short clip of Mrs. Satterwhite's class inserting their ostinati into the story.
In 4th grade we took our first quiz of the year. The students had to identify the pitches B, A, G on a recorder chart and draw it on a treble staff. Most of the students did a great job on this. We will continue to review it through the year. We have really been focusing on our DARE song, which we will sing at the DARE graduation on December 6th. The kids have learned almost the entire song. Check out the link to "4th grade curriculum" on the right side of the blog. There is a video of the DARE song on that page.
3rd graders had so much fun this week! We read a really great book called Shake Dem Halloween Bones. The kids learned a song to sing with it and accompanied it on xylophones. We are working on the correct technique to perform a crossover bordun on barred instruments. The kids loved singing this song and playing instruments while I rapped the book to them. The book is also worth .5 points in our AR program! I hope the students take advantage of that :)
During 2nd grade this week, students also read a Halloween book and inserted instruments. The book was called Scary, Scary, Halloween. The kids learned the proper way to play hand drums using upstrokes and downstrokes. We spelled out "Halloween" and played the rhythm of it on the drums. Second graders began practicing a very important concept: labeling the notes "mi, so, la" on a three line staff. This is a tricky concept because some students have a hard time understanding the difference between a note that is on a line and a note that is in a space. The kids did a great job and we will be practicing this a lot this year before we learn new notes. I think the most fun activity was a creative movement activity. We froze into our favorite Halloween characters and moved around the room to Halloween music when we were tapped on the shoulder.
This week in 1st grade, the students practiced a lot for our upcoming winter program, "The Elves' Impersonator." They are working so hard to learn the music for this, and I am hoping we have 100% attendance that night! We did take breaks to sing songs about Halloween, though. We sang "Stirring My Brew" and talked about silly things we might put into a brew if we witches creating funny potions. I reviewed how pitches can go higher and lower and the kids used their bodies to show me when sounds went up and down.
Kindergarten students talked about our 4 voices this week. This was a review, as we had already introduced them last week. The four voices are talking, whispering, calling (yelling), and singing. We demonstrated each voice and talked about the appropriate places to use each. Our Halloween songs included We are Scary Skeletons and The Witch Has An Itch.
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