Week Four in Review (Sept. 28 - Oct. 2)

Greetings from the music room! It was another exciting week of singing, moving, and playing instruments! Here are some of the highlights:

Kindergarten students learned a new song and movement activity called Hunt the Cows. They pretended to find the lost cows and also explored the upper range of their voices by adding "yee-haws" to a story about Cowboy Joe! Students also learned a new song called The Little Mice Go Creeping. This song will help students learn the difference between loud and soft. Another song students learned this week is called Here Comes a Bluebird which practices moving to the steady beat while working cooperatively with classmates. Additionally, students accompanied a song called Listen to the Ducks using rhythm sticks and tambourines.

First grade students took a rhythm pre-assessment this week. This assessment will be used to help track each first grader's progress on rhythmic skills throughout the school year. Students also explored the differences between high and low sounds using the rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. Students used their high and low voices and also played ascending and descending glissandos on xylophones. Additionally, students began looking at the difference between one and two sounds on a beat using icons and the chant Engine, Engine.

Second grade students took a rhythm pre-assessment this week. This assessment will be used to help track each second grader's progress on rhythmic skills throughout the school year. Students also learned a chant called Three Little Muffins and discovered that musicians call loud sounds forte and quiet sounds piano. Students also moved around the classroom by responding to forte and piano sounds.

Third grade students learned a new song and dance called Tideo. This double circle dance allowed students to work with several different classmates. Students also discovered the placement of melodic notes mi re and do in this song. Additionally, students began learning a song called Closet Key which will be used to reinforce mi re and do. 

Fourth grade students took a rhythm pre-assessment this week. This assessment will be used to help track each fourth grader's progress on rhythmic skills throughout the school year. Students also learned a musical game from the Phillipines called Sagidi Sapopo. In addition, students learned a song called Crow Rooster which can be sang in a three-part canon! Students also began learning movement for a song called No One in the House which will be used to learn sixteenth notes.

Fifth grade students reviewed the I and V chords and also learned about the IV chord. Students learned the pattern of these chords in the 12-bar blues and played these notes on the xylophones. Students also learned about use of the 12-bar blues in the blues genre and early rock and roll. Students learned about the blues style and looked at the form of blues lyrics (AAB) by listening to Good Mornin' Blues. Students also created their own blues lyrics.