Weekly Review- 9/5-9/14

We completed our first full week of school and got a chance to meet all our new first grade students. Everyone should have received a welcome letter with the dates of our music performances. If not, here are the dates:

4th Grade Veterans Day Assembly - Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 1:30 p.m.

4th/5th Grade Winter Concert - Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 6:00 p.m.

1st Grade Showcase - Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. 

4th/5th Grade Spring Concert -  Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

2nd Grade Memorial Day Assembly - Friday, May 22, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.

3rd Grade Recorder and Violin Concert - Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at 8:30 a.m.

We got new superhero chairs this year, thanks to our wonderful PTO. Here is a picture of Jennifer McFadden sitting in the comfortable chair:



Here is what we did in music for past two weeks:

First grade students are so excited to have music this year. Many of them were eager to play an instrument so we took out the hand drum for the students to see and play. We learned a chant called, "Chicka- Chicka Boom Boom" and students introduced their names by singing it in a creative way. We also learned "Welcome Back" song which introduces tempo (fast and slow) and dynamics (loud and quiet). Students had fun singing the song in different ways. The song, "Lucy Locket" was introduced. We will play the game next week.

Our second grade students practiced how to jump rope with a fun song called "Skipping Rope" They had to jump in when their name was sung and jump out when the song was completed. We had many students who could do this! During their second music class, we learned "Grizzly Bear" which reinforced dynamics that they learned last year.



In third grade, the students played one of our favorite activities of the year, "Hey Children."  The students learned the song first, followed by a clapping routine.  Once the routine was mastered, the clapping routine was transferred to the rhythm sticks so we could play the name game!  We learned a song a dance called "T-I-D-E-O" and "The Thread Follows the Needle."



Our fourth and fifth grade students learned a fun Mexican folk dance called, "Los Machetes." This dance tells the story of sugar canes being cut during the harvest. Los Machetes was created my Mexican farm workers who spent a great amount of time using the tool for harvesting. Traditionally, real machetes are use during the dance. We used rhythm sticks instead.


 The fourth grade students learned a song called, "Rocky Mountain."  This song explores high and low voices, and was a bit tricky at first!  The song has a hand routine that goes along with it- we did the routine in whole notes (4 beats), half notes (2 beats), quarter notes (1 beat) and eighth notes (1/2 beat). Then, we used hand drums and bongos instead of our laps.  EVERY student had a drum to play! It was fun to play and sing at the same time. After they finished playing the drums, we started a stick passing game to the same song.



In fifth grade, we sang an African song called "Sansa Kroma." Ask your 5th grader about the meaning of the song!  Once we learned all of the words, we did a drumming activity similar to the one the fourth graders did with their song. Next week, we will learn the stick game that goes along with the song.



Have a wonderful weekend!