Week of September 13

I enjoyed speaking with many of you at Open House last night!  Parents of all fourth graders and any fifth graders who need to purchase recorders can access the recorder order form here:  Recorder Letter Forms are due Tuesday, September 28!!

This week, Kindergarteners discussed the different sounds they hear in their daily lives after listening to the story So-me and the Spider.  They also did a folk dance called "Seven Jumps."

First graders worked on playing high to low and low to high on xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels.  We use the phrase "low is left and long" to help remember that the lowest sounding notes are all the way to the left on the instruments and they look the longest.  They figured out how to play the sounds from the book Mortimer on the instruments using the high and low notes.

Second graders created class compositions to "Peas Porridge" on the barred instruments.  They improvised melodies until they found ones that they liked.  They added a "B" section with body percussion and then created various forms using the A and the B parts.

Third graders played "Down at the Station" on the barred instruments.  Students learned to play two different parts on the barred instruments.  By the end of the week, they did a nice job of holding their own parts while there were sandblocks, boomwhackers, and two different barred instrument parts playing!

Fourth graders performed "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" on temple blocks, tubanos, and the gankogui.  One instrument played the rhythm of the poem while the other two played different speech ostinati.  One class also created movement to each section and performed this movement in three concentric circles.  Don't forget...all fourth grade students need to turn in a recorder order form, whether they need to buy recorders or not, so I know exactly how many to order!

Fifth graders played a complicated song on boomwhackers called "Getting Around."  This piece reviewed how to read music with a coda and had many interesting patterns in it.  Any fifth grade student who needs a new recorder or two needs to turn in his recorder order form!

Enjoy your weekend!