Week of March 7

12 days until Arts in Action!! We are very excited to present the students with this fantastic opportunity to learn about all different areas of the arts.  March is Music in Our Schools Month and National Youth Art Month, so Mrs. Kurzawski and I thought it would be an especially appropriate time to focus on the arts!  See this article in the Highland Park Patch for more information: http://highlandpark.patch.com/events/wayne-thomas-arts-in-action-fine-arts-festival

This week, Kindergarteners in the afternoon class created movements to show the form of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."  They listened to a song called "Star and Starfish" and moved to show the high and low sounds in the song.  They also played xylophones to show high and low sounds.  Students in the morning class sang and moved to "Cobbler, Cobbler.”  They also talked about fast and slow music.

First and Second graders really enjoyed singing and learning movement for their fourth Spring Sing song, "Beware," this week.  This song is in a minor key, which means that it has a sad or spooky sound to it.  Students talked about the difference between major and minor keys and were able to distinguish between major and minor sounds.

Third and Fourth graders learned some very funky movements for their funk song!  I can tell they particularly enjoy this song because I have noticed groups of them singing and dancing to it during recess!  They also began singing a jazz song about the good things we can do to help make Earth a better place.

Fifth graders began working with Matt and Mike from the Music Institute of Chicago this week to create their own musical about explorers.  They began the process of deciding on characters for their musical and writing lyrics for the songs.  They are doing a great job so far!

Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead this weekend!