Weekly Review 10/19-10/24

Thanks to our wonderful PTO, the Burlington Music Department, and our music friends and Francis Wyman, Mrs. Rzasa and I were able to purchase this wonderful educational rug for all of our students. The students walked in with excitement with this new addition to our classroom:

In first grade, students learned the words crescendo (a gradual increase in loudness of the song)  and decrescendo (a decrease in loudness of the song) with a fun October song called, "The Bats Are All Asleep." Mrs. Rzasa and I created a story and every time the students had to sing the phrase, "The Bats Are All Asleep," the had to sing it using decrescendo. We also learned another song called, "Thump, Thump, Thump" that involved the students singing certain phrases with these new musical terms. We made the song more spooky by adding the egg shaker, hand drums, and triangles. The students loved it and had so much fun!

Second grade students reviewed the song "Ghost of John" from first grade and added an ostinato (repeated musical phrase) with boomwhackers. The words, "Ghost of John" became the ostinato on the pitches D/E and B/A.  students continued to work on tonality, identifying major patterns and minor patterns.  We completed our "Witches' Stew" activity (complete with instrumental sound effects), sang a different song called "Witches' Brew" (funny that they have such similar names!), and even composed new lyrics!  The students also enjoyed a game and song called "A Funny Little Lady" about...you guessed it...a witch!

In third grade students  reviewed the song "Ghost of John" from first grade and added an ostinato (repeated musical phrase) with boomwhackers. The words, "Ghost of John" became the ostinato on the pitches D/E and B/A. We also added a triangle and a thunder drum. Here are some videos of our third grade students performing, "Ghost of John."They learned a new song and game called "Pass the Broomstick," which is also in a minor tonality. 

Fourth grade students have been busy preparing for their Veteran's Day Assembly on Friday, Nov. 7th at 8:30am. Here are the lyrics if you need them: Veteran's Day Songs. They also continued learning, "Stars that Twinkle and Shine."

The fifth graders learned a spooky song called "Halloween Night."  They read along with the musical score, and identified the different pitches on the staff for the instrumental accompaniment. We  reviewed how to play the Orff instruments and how to hold the mallots properly on a C Major scale. We also learned two ostinato parts of the song. Next week, we will add other instrumental parts of the song. In chorus, we continued working on, "Candle For Peace" and "Candlelight Cannon."

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!