Week of January 23

If you have any dinosaur costumes or costume pieces that you would be willing to let first or second grade students use for their concert, please send them to school with your child!

This week, Kindergarteners in Ms. Tepper’s classes played the poem "Wee Willie Winkie" on xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels.  They learned that the bigger the instrument, the lower it sounds.  They came up with ideas for how to play certain parts of the poem.  For example, when Wee Willie Winkie walked up the stairs, they started on the lowest sounding bar and slowly played one note at a time until they reached the highest pitched bar.  Students in Ms. Waller’s class listened to a story called So-me in Space, and learned that a quarter note gets one beat of sound and a quarter rest gets one beat of silence.  They really enjoyed singing and moving to the song "Tap Your Shoulders."

First and Second graders learned the reprise for their Spring Sing this week.  They learned that a reprise is a repeated section of music, and it can come back in many different ways.  They were very excited to begin practicing on the risers this week.  They also played instrument parts for some of the songs.  They then decided what their first and second choice parts would be.  If your child has any sort of dinosaur costume piece, dinosaur hat, etc. that he would like to wear for the performance, he may bring it in to practice with.  I will label each costume piece and keep them in individual bags so the students can practice with them during each class.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

Third graders learned a song called "Tideo."  This song was used to learn whole notes, whole rests, and sixteenth notes.  While learning sixteenth notes, they had even more practice with fractions!  They then learned a fun but tricky movement game that goes with "Tideo."

Fourth and fifth graders both finished their recorder units this week.  Any student who would like to continue working on recorder music outside of class and would like to test for recorder belts during recess has had an opportunity to sign up for a time to come in next week.  There is a link on the "Recorder Music" page of this blog with additional recorder music for those students who would like even more challenging pieces.

 

Music Fact of the Week

German composer Felix Mendelssohn was born February 3, 1809.  Interestingly, Mendelssohn, who composed the Wedding March, one of the most frequently played pieces of music at weddings, was born in the month that we celebrate Valentine's Day!  To learn more about Felix Mendelssohn, visit http://www.classicsforkids.com/composers/bio.asp?id=35