Weekly Review 1/29-2/2

This week, the first grade students have continued their Peter and the Wolf unit by watching the movie! We don't watch movies often in music class, but this one is a great way for the students to connect the story with the music.  Next week, they will be finishing this unit with a fun and exciting activity! Students also added another hand clapping routine to, "A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea."





The second grade students have been learning about the four main instrument families, and this week they started to learn about the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.  The piece was composed by Benjamin Britten, a famous English composer, in 1946.   It was written to help teach children about the instruments of the orchestra.  The second graders played an interactive Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra game in class- it is a listening activity that takes you on a safari adventure as you visit the four instrument families and unlock each of their games.

Third grade students received a very special instrument this week- A RECORDER!! Students were very excited about this. Here is some information to help your students succeed with the recorder:

• The students need to bring their recorders to class for each music day.  
• Mrs. Rzasa 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!

Our fourth and fifth graders are beginning their composition unit!  We reviewed all the different note values from our recorder unit in third grade- quarter note, quarter rest, half note, and an eighth note pair.  For our fifth graders, we added a half rest. Next week, they will be choosing their partners  and writing their compositions. Fourth grade students will compose an "ABA" form and fifth grade students will compose a Rondo form, also known as "ABABA."

Here is a picture of a 5th grade student helping out a 4th grade student on the cello during recess time.