Musical Milestones

We've been making some incredible progress with our learning the past few weeks and even getting a chance to toss in some seasonal goodies for fun.

Kinder has been focusing on echo songs using our panda puppet, Ling Ling, while keeping steady beat with different parts of our bodies. We've added some alphabet action songs to our welcome routine as a fun way to help reinforce the letters they are working on in their homerooms while enjoying a fun story, song, and dance moves! A new favorite is the song "See the Pony Galloping" - ask your student to share it with you. :)

First grade is still working on recognizing the notes So and Mi and where they live on the staff. We used hula hoops to help us learn a new song, Jingo-Ring, and then added xylophones and glockenspiels to it. It was fun getting to explore and compare the sound of metal vs wood! They've created 4 beat patterns of quarter note and beamed eighth and are showing some solid mastery of the two different rhythms :) Right now, we're adding melodies and instruments to classic Mother Goose nursery rhymes.

Second graders are having a blast putting together the poem "Queen of Hearts" with movement, xylophone, and tambourine. The other week, we solved some candy corn puzzles about the notes So, Mi, and La and where they live on the staff. We've used our poison pattern game to realize that La is the highest pitch and Mi is the lowest. Then, we take that knowledge and transfer it to written notation. It takes some serious brain power to make that transfer but they're doing an incredible job!

In third grade, we are practicing critical listening skills with our listening glyphs. These help us to isolate musical elements such as tempo, dynamics, and instrumentation. We added unpitched percussion instruments the song "Rain on the Green Grass" and are learning a traditional shaker dance to the melody "Simple Gifts". The lyrics are a great reminder as we head into Thanksgiving to be grateful for the simple things.

Fourth grade continues to master the notes B,A, and G on recorder. They've been analyzing sheet music and identifying pitch names, phrases, same and different patterns, and where repeat signs tell us to go. This week, we broke into small groups and played for each other. This gives us practice being performers and a respectful audience. Students are encouraged to listen for both a success and a critique along with a suggestion for how to fix their critique. Its incredible to see the difference it makes after they go through this perform/critique format!

Fifth grade has reached a milestone! After 2 months of learning different languages, folk dances, and folk songs they are primed and ready to share their work with you! Tomorrow is the 5th grade performance "The Universal Language" at 6:30pm. We will have a dress rehearsal for Kinder-2nd grade classes at 1:45.