Yikes! Shame on me for neglecting to post in December! Much of our 3 weeks of December (or less for those classes missed due to delayed opening/snow day/early dismissal) were focused on preparations for the 4th grade concert and all school Singalong. Our December composer of the month was P.I. Tchaikovsky. Our January composer of the month was living composer Chen Yi. You can access my "Composer of the Month" Playlist on YouTube here. (It has almost all of the CoM recordings I use in class for each of the grades...and you can take a sneak peak at the CoM for the upcoming months, too!)
First Grade- We are working diligently to sing, read, play, hand-sign and aurally identify "Sol-Mi." We have used Orff instruments to play "Sol Mi" songs and have perfected our mallet technique. Songs these months include "Engine, Engine," "Doggy Doggy, Where's Your Bone?" "Pizza Pizza," "Tommy Mouse," "Snail, Snail," "These are My Mallets," Star Light, Star Bright," and "Hickety Tickety." Ask your child which is their favorite "Sol-Mi" song! We listened to "Duo Ye" by Chen Yi, which starts off with a very clear "sol-mi", and also listened to Tchaikovsky's "March" from the Nutcracker, doing a very fun dance that matched the music.
Second Grade- We added the note "Do" to our Music Street Smart-Board Story. "Do" is the lowest note we know, and is a skip below "Mi. " Our "Sol-Mi-Do (La)" songs include "Mother, Mother, I am Sick," "Pease Porridge Hot," "I See the Moon," "Sorida," "Let Us Chase the Squirrel," "Mouse, Mousie," and "Down Came Johnny." Ask your child to teach you the clapping games that go with "Mother Mother," "Pease Porridge," and "Sorida!" While studying our composers, we did a partner dance to Tchaikovsky's "Trepak," from The Nutcracker, and we talked about the instruments and harmony in Chen Yi's " We Are America." We are starting a unit on instrument families, starting with the string and brass families.
Third Grade- Our newest rhythm is called "takatiki" and is the symbol for 4 sounds on the steady beat (aka sixteenth notes). We are practicing "takatiki" with the songs "Biddy Biddy Hol' Fast," "Chicken on the Fencepost," Robert Schumann's "Knecht Ruprecht," and the Orff-Schulwerk classic "Ding Dong." We have refined our mallet technique to be able to play a variety of ostinati (patterns) and melodies on the Orff instruments. In December, we did some centers to practice playing Orff instruments, prepare for our singalong, and learn about Tchaikovsky. Students used iPads (and a section of my website) to listen to 4 different Tchaikovsky pieces and answer questions in pairs and groups of 3. We also listened to Chen Yi's "Tibetan Tunes," and discussed how the music tells a story about the landscape and environment of Tibet.
Fourth Grade- After a hectic month of intense preparation and postponed rehearsals (and one concert), the fourth graders at both schools gave superb performances! When we returned from winter break, we watched and critiqued the concerts, and each student made a "chorus resolution." They wrote down one thing they, personally, did that made the performance experience good, and one thing that they would resolve to do differently, do make the next performance even better. They will get these resolutions back at the end of April, to remind themselves what they need to do to have an even better Spring performance! My plan was to do a short project with Tchaikovsky's "In A Forest of Firs," but we lost some time to the weather, and needed some extra rehearsal time, so we only had time to listen to and discuss the piece and how it tells a story, with or without the ballet dancers. In a similar way, we listened to Chen Yi's "Diu Diu Deng." January is "skill-building month" for the 4th grade. It is a chance to explore some choral pieces that will help students improve their music literacy skills and practice singing in multiple parts. We also played Orff instrument ostinati and sang along using standard notation.
First Grade- We are working diligently to sing, read, play, hand-sign and aurally identify "Sol-Mi." We have used Orff instruments to play "Sol Mi" songs and have perfected our mallet technique. Songs these months include "Engine, Engine," "Doggy Doggy, Where's Your Bone?" "Pizza Pizza," "Tommy Mouse," "Snail, Snail," "These are My Mallets," Star Light, Star Bright," and "Hickety Tickety." Ask your child which is their favorite "Sol-Mi" song! We listened to "Duo Ye" by Chen Yi, which starts off with a very clear "sol-mi", and also listened to Tchaikovsky's "March" from the Nutcracker, doing a very fun dance that matched the music.
Second Grade- We added the note "Do" to our Music Street Smart-Board Story. "Do" is the lowest note we know, and is a skip below "Mi. " Our "Sol-Mi-Do (La)" songs include "Mother, Mother, I am Sick," "Pease Porridge Hot," "I See the Moon," "Sorida," "Let Us Chase the Squirrel," "Mouse, Mousie," and "Down Came Johnny." Ask your child to teach you the clapping games that go with "Mother Mother," "Pease Porridge," and "Sorida!" While studying our composers, we did a partner dance to Tchaikovsky's "Trepak," from The Nutcracker, and we talked about the instruments and harmony in Chen Yi's " We Are America." We are starting a unit on instrument families, starting with the string and brass families.
Third Grade- Our newest rhythm is called "takatiki" and is the symbol for 4 sounds on the steady beat (aka sixteenth notes). We are practicing "takatiki" with the songs "Biddy Biddy Hol' Fast," "Chicken on the Fencepost," Robert Schumann's "Knecht Ruprecht," and the Orff-Schulwerk classic "Ding Dong." We have refined our mallet technique to be able to play a variety of ostinati (patterns) and melodies on the Orff instruments. In December, we did some centers to practice playing Orff instruments, prepare for our singalong, and learn about Tchaikovsky. Students used iPads (and a section of my website) to listen to 4 different Tchaikovsky pieces and answer questions in pairs and groups of 3. We also listened to Chen Yi's "Tibetan Tunes," and discussed how the music tells a story about the landscape and environment of Tibet.
Fourth Grade- After a hectic month of intense preparation and postponed rehearsals (and one concert), the fourth graders at both schools gave superb performances! When we returned from winter break, we watched and critiqued the concerts, and each student made a "chorus resolution." They wrote down one thing they, personally, did that made the performance experience good, and one thing that they would resolve to do differently, do make the next performance even better. They will get these resolutions back at the end of April, to remind themselves what they need to do to have an even better Spring performance! My plan was to do a short project with Tchaikovsky's "In A Forest of Firs," but we lost some time to the weather, and needed some extra rehearsal time, so we only had time to listen to and discuss the piece and how it tells a story, with or without the ballet dancers. In a similar way, we listened to Chen Yi's "Diu Diu Deng." January is "skill-building month" for the 4th grade. It is a chance to explore some choral pieces that will help students improve their music literacy skills and practice singing in multiple parts. We also played Orff instrument ostinati and sang along using standard notation.