Week Eighteen in Review (Jan. 9 - Jan. 13)

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


Kindergarten students learned a two new songs for steady beat this week: The Monkey Stomps His Feet and Wishy, Washy. In this song students pretend to be sailors who have just returned home from a long voyage. They danced and patted the steady beat while searching for friends to join them on their next journey! Students also began learning two new songs to help them master the concept of fast and slow: Grandma Moses and The Noble Duke of York. Students especially enjoyed trying to perform Grandma Moses as quickly as possible. Students practiced their loud and quiet voices with the rhyme Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree. Lastly, students practiced listening for differences in sounds by learning movements to a song entitled Frog in the Meadow.

First grade students reviewed the song Pease Porridge and searched for the location of the quarter rests in this song. Students not only showed the location of these rests with their bodies while singing, but also found them on a heart chart. After students discovered the location of the rests, they were asked to place rests  on the chart. In their second lesson this week, students were asked to discover the location of the eighth notes in this song. After all eighth notes were placed in the correct location, students sang the song using rhythm syllables and discovered that it sounded exactly like the song - they had placed all of the rhythms in the correct place! Students also practiced using repeat signs and were introduced to basic form (same and different sections of a song) while performing a dance called the Cumberland Square.

Second grade students practiced drawing two-beat notes while singing the song Let Us Chase the Squirrel. Students also practiced singing the solfege for Apple Tree. Students then learned how to set-up the xylophone to look like melody street and how to transfer the notes that they were singing onto this instrument. While some students will need some additional practice, several students were able to play this song successfully after only a few minutes of practice. Get it second grade!

Third grade students reviewed their new melodic note high do this week. Students practiced singing melodic patterns containing high do and continued to practice playing a crossover bordun. Students were challenged to play this crossover pattern while singing the song Li'l Liza Jane. Students also learned a movement canon which required them to perform four different kinds of movements. Once students were successful, they were divided into two teams and asked to perform it as a canon (one group started four beats before the other group started). Lastly, students reviewed the song Rocky Mountain and practiced playing classroom instruments along with this song. Students learned three different xylophone patterns (one containing high do), a drum pattern, and a tambourine pattern.

Fourth grade students were given the opportunity to test for their green belt (It's Raining) this week. During testing, students were able to work at four different stations: learning a new song, create a song using BAGE cards, treble clef dominoes, and a note naming speed race game called One-on-One. Following testing, students reviewed the new note, low D, and began learning the A section to purple belt song Old MacDonald. Students reviewed how to label a song using form since knowing that a section of a song repeats can simplify learning a new piece of music.

Fifth grade students prepared for their Willy Wonka Kids auditions this week. Students learned the Willy Wonka Kids Finale song (all student will need to know this for the performances regardless of whether they are on-stage, backstage, or in the chorus). Students were also given the chance to watch short video clips from the 1971 movie and practice reading the lines that they will need to know for auditions. We worked on using a light, soft voice for high notes and adding acting to scenes in order to make them more interesting.

Mrs. Ellis's students reviewed how to draw eight lines to the steady beat at the end of the chant I Think Clocks Are Neat. Students learned that they can turn those lines into quarter notes. Students also learned that quarter notes are the notes that can be used to show the steady beat. Although the note's name is 'quarter note' when we read quarter notes we say 'ta'. Students also practiced moving to the steady beat even when the steady beat was not being played. Lastly, students practiced singing the song Rain, Rain Go Away and enjoyed playing a rainstick during this song.

Mrs. Ross's students learned about melodic note sol this week and where it lives on melody street. Students created melody street with their bodies by standing in ways that show the distances between the different melodic notes. Students transferred the rhythm of Rocky Mountain to rhythm instruments and were challenged to play only on certain notes. For example, tambourines only played on quarter notes and drums only played on half notes. Students also learned a new song containing melodic note sol called Down Came a Lady.

Mrs. Muller's students were introduced to two new listening maps this week. These listening maps continued to focus on improving the students' mastery of instrument families and sharpen their listening skills. The two pieces students listened to this week were Fossils (a movement from Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals) and Jamiacan Rumba. After becoming familiar with the listening map for Fossils, students were given the additional challenge of piecing the map back together simply by listening to the piece. Once again, students were incredibly successful!