Week of November 14

If you would like to discuss your child's musical growth so far this school year, please feel free to stop by during conferences.  I will be at Wayne Thomas from 3pm to 8pm on Monday and from noon until 8pm on Tuesday.  I would be happy to speak with you about your child's progress!

This week, Kindergarteners reviewed echo singing by moving to and singing a song called "I Wish I Were a Turkey."  They also enjoyed playing a singing game and playing tambourines with "Turkey Dinner."

First graders worked on differentiating between rhythm and steady beat in the song "What'll We Do?"  They enjoyed learning a dance to "You're a Turkey, Too!"  They also composed and performed four-beat rhythm patterns based on the words of things for which they are thankful.

Second graders learned a song called "Yummy Pumpkin Pie" and played unpitched percussion instruments along with it.  They also enjoyed performing a dance called "Turkey Tango."  Students learned the solfege pitches "re" and "do," and they sang and created movements for a song called "A Turkey Knocked on My Back Door."

Third graders read a story called When I First Came to This Land, and sang a song by the same name.  They played instruments with this song and discovered that instruments actually represent the characters in the song because of their specific tone colors.  They also learned about the New Yam Festival of West Africa and sang a song called "Tue, Tue," which is performed as a part of this festival in Ghana.

Fourth graders learned to play "Hot Cross Buns" on their recorders.  Students should be practicing this song at some point over break, even if they focus mostly on the fingering instead of actually blowing into the instrument.  They should also begin to work on "Gently Sleep," which is the song they will play to earn their yellow belts in Recorder Karate.

Fifth graders played an accompaniment part for Beethoven's "Fur Elise" this week.  They also worked on the song for their white belt on recorder, which is "Snake Charmer."  They should continue working on this over break.  Once they have this song learned well, they should begin to work on "Lion Sleeps Tonight," which is the song for the yellow belt.

 

English composer Benjamin Britten was born on November 22, 1913.  Listen to a recording of "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," by Benjamin Britten, while you read about his life and compositions at http://www.nyphilkids.org/gallery/main.phtml?  Search for him by name to find his information on the page.