Happy Thanksgiving!

Students who had music on Monday and Tuesday did a variety of activities related to Thanksgiving. The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders all danced the Virginia Reel to the song Turkey in the Straw. This was a particular favorite, so maybe if your child had music Monday or Tuesday they can teach you the steps. Kindergarten students learned a song about giving thanks which they shared before their great Thanksgiving feast today! I will leave you with the lyrics to that song as we enjoy a few restful days off from school…

Thank you for the world so sweet.

Thank you for the food we eat.

Thank you for the birds that sing.

Thank you for everything!

Donkey Dynamics

This week, first grade students are reading the story Crash Bang Donkey  by Jill Newton. The book is all about a donkey who is very loud and can play a lot of different instruments. I found a coloring page of a donkey with this great poem at the bottom, so we read the poem and decided which dynamic we should use for each verse. We’ve already used the dynamic words loud and soft in music this year, but now we are also using the fancy Italian music terms for loud and soft-forte and piano! We looked at the rhythm I wrote out for the poem, clapped it using our rhythm nicknames, and then added in a little f and a little p for the dynamics we wanted to use. After clapping it with the new dynamics, we decided which instrument we should play for each dynamic. Our choices were cymbals or sand blocks, so we decided the cymbals could play the loud section and the sand blocks could scrape the rhythm for the quiet section, while still other students spoke the words to the poem! 

Kindergarten Composing

This week, the kindergarten students are working on composing with quarter notes and eighth notes. We clapped rhythms with our rhythm nicknames (ta and ti-ti) last week. This week, after practicing longer rhythms, each student got two pieces of paper. We wrote ta on one and put ti-ti on the other. Then, we worked with a partner to create a 4 beat rhythm. After performing these rhythms for the class, we moved to groups of 4 to create longer rhythms. One group from each class who performed their rhythm well and showed good audience membership was able to perform their rhythm a second time for the class on hand drums!