Weekly Review 2/3 - 2/7

This week, the first graders celebrated our most recent holiday- Groundhog's Day- by singing a fun song about Punxsutawney Phil.  We added fun hand motions, then played a groundhog game.  One child was selected to be the groundhog, sleeping in the center of the circle.  Following the beat of the song, the other students walked around the groundhog while singing.  At the end of the song the sleeping groundhog woke up, and named the first person that he or she saw. That new friend became the next groundhog!  The first graders also practiced their quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests by chanting with syllables: du, du-de, and a silent beat for the rest.

The second grade students had a great time with a movement activity.  In the past few weeks we have danced to different classical songs, progressed to country, and now they are moving along with pop music!  It is fun to respond to the music and to follow the beat.  They also learned a song about the groundhog.  Once they could sing the song, two vocal ostinato patterns were added.  For their second class of the week, they transferred the ostinati to Orff instruments (such as xylophone and glockenspiel).

This was a HUGE week for the third graders!  They finally received their recorders!  If your child is in third grade, here are a few important things to keep in mind:

• The students need to bring their recorders to class for each music day.  Mrs. Niu and I will be taking "recorder attendance," and three or more unprepared days will result in a call home.  The students will learn best when they have their instrument in school!
• Recorders are only allowed to be played in music and outside of school.  Please remind your child not to play on the bus or in their regular classroom.
• To help students succeed, home practice is necessary.  Please have your child aim for 5 minutes each day.  Of course, more is always good too!  Since the recorders are new, they will likely practice a lot- but this may fade in the coming weeks.  Ask your child to play for you to help encourage them!
• To clean the recorders, you may wash them with warm soapy water, or place them in the TOP RACK of the dishwasher. 
• Thank you- we appreciate your patience and support as your child learns a new instrument!

The fourth and fifth graders have been doing such a great job with the violins.  They have already mastered "Hot Cross Buns," and many of them can play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!"  This week we also started to use the bow.  Next week is the last chance we will have to play the classroom violins before they travel to a different elementary school in Burlington.  We will miss having them, but it's been a fun learning experience!  In chorus they worked more on their new pirate songs, as well as the lyrical "Oceanus."

We hope you have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the snow! :)