Jazz and Recorders!

The Fourth Graders have sung through their grade level musical, We Haz Jazz. As well as singing and swinging all the songs on the stage, the Fourth grade will choose one of five roles to play in the show: 1) actor 2) singer 3) dancer 4) set designer or 5) stage manager. Students studied the script so they could make informed decisions about which roles they wish to take on.

The Third Graders are so excited because they had the opportunity to take their recorders home. I hope you have a chance to look over the Recorder Karate packet together this week. This will be your child's music book for the next two years. Third graders will need to bring their recorder with them every day to class. I suggest keeping both recorder and folder in the book bag to make it easy to remember.

Orff and Drums!

The Kindergartners drummed up a good time in music this week. In their drum circle they played rhythms by themselves and as a group to get a feel for the drums. Students started by playing the "heart beat" rhythm.

During the rests of the heart beat we chanted "Move together, think together, work together, play together." Thank you Matt Savage!

Even though we didn't play the bongos this week, the Kindergartners enjoyed singing and drumming to the song Banging on My Bongos.
"Oo-ee-oh, bangin' on my bongos!"




The First Grade sang and played to I'm a Nut! This silly song gave students a chance to combine our Orff instruments with our drums for a great sound.

Parent Survey

Hello Parents! The window is now open for our parent opinion survey. You may access the survey through this site. Please help us identify areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement by taking the survey. It should take approximately 20 minutes of your time. Also, if you live in a two-parent household, we encourage both parents to take the survey.

Thank you so much for your participation in this very important reflective process!

link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZBYF22R

Slient Reflection

Here are some images to remind us of our moving International Day of Peace celebration.

Third Grade Song Writers

The third graders had a great time reading and singing the folk song "My Aunt Came Back."

Verse from original song:
"Oh, my aunt came back
From Old Japan
And she brought with her
A waving fan."





On their own or in groups, they then rewrote verses of the song. While writing students had to think how lyrics would logically work together and fit with the rhythm of the music.

Each student quietly illustrated a specific part of their verse while groups recorded their songs in Garage Band. They were very honest in their self analysis and rerecorded when they felt they could improve their performance. While some commented that they "sound funny" on play back, all students loved their final recording.

New verse:
"Oh, My Aunt came back
From Mexico.
And she brought with her
A Burrito."

All we do in K, 1, and 2!

This Tuesday we will be celebrating International Day of Peace. We will be singing "Peace Round" and "Niños por la Paz" as a community. Did you see my post last week with Ms. Tucker's class singing "Peace Round?" Beautiful!


The Kindergarteners started their Music Mini-Mester (MMM) this week. For three weeks we will have extra music-hooray! Using jungle songs we will focus on rhythm, pitch, and instrument exploration. Kindergarten students loved meeting my "boa constrictor," Silly Sam, during their first visit to the jungle.

Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Rowe got to meet Silly Sam too!


Last week First Graders listened to Johann Strauss' Pizzicato Polka. They drew pictures to illustrate what the music made them feel.






The Second Graders visited Germany last week. They sang "Sleep, Baby, Sleep," a Germany lullaby. After learning the words in English, student listened to the song in it's original Germany. They were able to find words that were similar in both languages.

Sleep - Schlaf
Father - Vater
Mother - Muter
Sheep - Schaf

Peace Round...in round

A round is a when two or more groups sing the same melody, but at different times. This is a wonderful way for students to create harmony as they sing. Ms. Tucker's class sang beautifully on Tuesday.

Untitled from Valerie Díaz Leroy on Vimeo.