Week of December 13

Your students might be interested in taking a look at the Solami's Solo section of the blog over winter break.  This is where Solami, a bear we use during various music activities in the primary grades, writes about what he is learning.  He just might update his section of the blog over winter break, so keep your eyes peeled!

Kindergarteners in the morning class learned a song called "The Snowman."  They created movements and played tone bells along with this song.  Students in the afternoon class did creative movement with scarves to a song that had many different styles in it.  They also played a winter singing game.

First graders made a list of all the different kinds of bells they could think of.  They came up with ten types of bells!  They played tone bells and tone chimes while singing "Ding Dong Bells."  They did creative movement with scarves to Vivaldi's "Winter."  They also did simple improvisation on the Orff instruments to "Winter is Here."

Second graders were recorded singing "Rocky Mountain."  This will be used as a benchmarking assessment.  They also listened to Sergei Prokofiev's "Troika" and learned to conduct in 4/4 time.  They played a singing game, too.

Third graders learned the second song in a partner song set.  They sang both songs, "Over the River and Through the Woods" and "Snow, Beautiful Snow," separately and then half of the class sang each song.  Partner songs are composed to work together in that way.  Then they decided what they wanted the overall form of their piece to be and performed it in that order.

Fourth graders learned a new note on their recorders this week!  They learned low D.  It is important to remember that when playing low D, they need to blow less air than for other notes.  Almost all fourth graders have earned their yellow belts.  About half have also earned their orange belts.  A few have earned their green belts.  They should try their best to practice periodically over break so they don't regress.  (They can even do this with the mouthpiece off the instrument, so it won't make a sound!)

Fifth graders learned two new notes this week!  They learned F and low C.  (They already knew F#.  F is half a step lower than F#.)  They need to blow very lightly into the instrument for low C in order to prevent it from squeaking.  Almost all fifth graders have earned their orange belts.  Most have earned their green belts.  Several have earned their purple belts, and a few have earned blue and red belts.  They should try their best to practice periodically over break so they don't regress.  (They can even do this with the mouthpiece off the instrument, so it won't make a sound!)

I hope you have a relaxing, safe, and happy winter break!