Weekly Review 9/23-9/27

We can't believe it is already the last full week of September. Here is what we did in music:

First grade students learned their first two solfege tones:  sol and do.  For every pitch in music, there is a visual hand sign. The height that the hand sign rests is correlated to how high or how low the pitch is. We tossed around a ball to help us practice singing those pitches. When the ball was tossed in the air everyone sang "sol," and once it was caught everyone sang "do."  They also finished their "Lucy Locket" game from last week.  Then we made soup for our home room teachers.  All were chefs and participating in making the soup by adding their own ingredients.  As each child added an ingredient, we performed the "Chop, Chop, Chippety Chop" chant.

Second grade students learned a fall song "I'm a Nut" and composed their own version. Here are two partner groups:

In third grade, we learned a traditional Caribbean folk tuned called, "Four White Horses." This song is in a musical style called calypso. Students thought that they heard a piano or a drum. They actually heard the steel drum! We talked about the steel drum and saw how it was played in a popular song.  Once the song was mastered, we added a fun clapping routine.  Quartets of students clap the hands of the person across from them (either high or low) then clap the hands of their neighbors to the sides.  The routine repeats with regular hand claps in between each move, and alternating between high and low.

The fourth grade students learned a cup game this week.  It is a rhythmic cup passing routine which has been around for generation. Many of the students know it from the movie, "Pitch Perfect." Next week we will change the tempo and do variations of the routine.

Fifth grade students reviewed the cup routine from last year, then performed it while singing "I've Been to Harlem." It is very challenging to sing while doing such a complicated task!  Especially since the rhythm of the song is quite different from the rhythm of the cup routine. We will continue with this routine next week and learn one more cup routine!

We hope you are enjoying the lovely weather! Have a great weekend!