Weekly Review 5/8 - 5/12

This week, the first grade students started a new project.  They learned about musical form, specifically ABA form.  "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is a good example of a song in ABA form, since the beginning and the end are the same.  The students got into groups of two and used rhythm cards to help them compose an 8 beat A section and an 8 beat B section.  Then, they used musical notation to write their rhythms on the worksheet.  Once they could successfully clap their rhythm in ABA form, they each selected a hand percussion instrument. The compositions will be performed next week!

The second graders have continued to rehearse their songs for the Memorial Day performance/assembly.  They helped us come up with ribbon and scarf choreography for their class song, and it was so much fun!  The students also started learning a new song called "Remember You." It is a beautiful song to help remember the brave people who have sacrificed their lives for our country. We can't wait to share everything with the school to honor this important holiday.

The third grade students had their last centers day this week.  This is so that we can focus on rehearsing for our June performance!  The students added Boomwhackers to the song, "Rock Boom BAG!"  We also ran through all of the belt songs as a refresher...they sounded great!  Belt testing will continue between now and the concert.  Students who would like to test must schedule a time before school or at recess with myself or Mrs. Cline.

We would like to congratulate the fourth and fifth grade students on last week's amazing performance!  The spring concert was filled with suspense, humor, and (of course) beautiful music.  We will share some photos and/or videos soon!  

This week, the students started a new composition project.  They will be composing music to accompany a book, and in a few weeks they will perform them for a kindergarten or first grade class.   Fourth grade students will be composing for "This is Not My Hat" or "Knuffle Bunny," and fifth graders will compose for "Where the Wild Things Are." They will be using music to help tell the story, just like how movies have a musical score playing in the background.

We hope you have a fantastic weekend!