Still Playing . . .

It's been a wonderful year in the music room—too busy to keep up with my blog postings unfortunately!

We have been playing a great deal this year. Today the second grade played Fiddlestix, a card game for identifying instruments of the orchestra. It's been a fun way to explore the different instruments.  Third graders will play an online game called Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, where they can explore Benjamin Britten's theme and variations and search for instruments. Here's the link if you'd like to play at home.
http://listeningadventures.carnegiehall.org/game.aspx

Fifth graders are exploring with theme and variations. They watched a video of Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and described all the variations as they happened.  They created some "visual variations" of Hot Cross Buns which we will play with Boomwhackers. Here are a few of their really incredible ideas. I can't wait to hear what they'll sound like with accompaniments they create in teamwork time.

The fourth graders are learning the names of  lines and spaces. We read flash cards, have staff rug races, and play other games like Sneaky Snake pitch puzzles. We also read melodies to play with recorders.

Our concerts this year were quite successful. Students wrote reflection paragraphs. At the end are the class paragraphs for first and second graders. The third graders wrote their own, in rough draft form. They did a wonderful job!

We just finished two little performances: first grade went to Sunny View and second grade went to Sunny Knoll. We asked both groups to sing America with us, and it was wonderful to share the music in that way!

Kindergarten are playing patterns on barred instruments. It's been an amazing journey with this class. They are so ready to learn and have accomplished so much this year. I'm really looking forward to all the fun we'll have learning to read music next year!

Kindergarten playing aabb patterns on barred instruments

First graders are working up to playing melodies on barred instruments. I'll post video soon if we get something good.

In addition to all the games, the elementary students have been folk dancing this year. It's wonderful to see students perform them independently—they're doing a great job of working together making great music!

Class Concert Reflections

Mrs. Case’s Second Grade

We had a great concert! In the Clock Store Story we all got to our spots at the right time. In Order in the Court, we did our ostinato correctly. We all sang well with the third graders for You’re a Grand Old Flag. We should practice being more quiet and polite on the risers. Unfortunately, the mikes weren’t working, so we didn’t hear much from “the Mamas” in Buy Me Chocolate, but we sang well together. It turned out as the best concert ever!

Mrs. McAlexander’s Second Grade

We had a great concert! Flying away in the Syncopated Clock part of the Clock Store Story was fun, and there were no bumps, even though we didn’t have much space. Buy Me Chocolate was good because everyone stayed together on our ostinatos. We watched the director but could have done a better job. We could have done a better job staying quiet on the risers, too. Our concert turned out really great!

Tick Tock, Here We Come

by Mrs. Gutshall’s Second Grade

We had a great concert! We sang well on You’re a Grand Old Flag. The “children sound” was heard every time in the Clock Store Story. The children were good at acting, too. We should practice watching the director. We had fun!

Mrs. Henely’s First Graders Reflect on their Concert

We had a good concert. Ladybugs was good because everyone played when it was the right time. Pumpkin Stew was good because everyone knew what to do. I’m Growing Up was good because the boys knew when to sing to the girls and the girls knew when to sing to the boys. If we did the concert again, we could fix our movement. We could use more high/low and close/far away. We had the best concert ever.

Mrs. Hucka’s First Graders Reflect on their Concert

We had a good time at the concert! We started with Four Shapes, and we had good poses. I’m Growing Up was good because the solo singers sang beautifully and the whole class sang beautifully, too. If we did the concert attain, we would fix the Chinese Dance. We would practice to get rid of our nerves. We would fix Bow Wow Wow  by choosing good manners. We loved our concert!

Mrs. Ricke’s First Graders Reflect on their Concert

We had a good concert. We sang together on America the Beautiful and My Country ‘Tis of Thee. For Ladybugs we played our instruments together at the right time and listened while Mrs. Panning sang the verses. The cardholders put the cards up at the right time for Pumpkin Stew. If we did the concert again, we would like to sing the words better for I’m Growing Up. We liked our concert and were glad to see our families at the end.