...but we've only been in school for 3 weeks!
Wow, summer went by so fast and so has September!
I am VERY excited to be back at Kennedy and Franklin schools for what I know will be another fantastic year! To get back into the swing of things, grades 2-4 had two weeks of music centers activities, including wipeboard questions to answer and review exercises. One of my favorite questions was "How did you stay musical this summer?" There were some terrific answers- singing in the car, going to concerts and festivals, listening to music on electronic devices, and playing instruments.
I was also very impressed that so many of my students retained their music literacy skills from last year, and told me they were very excited to learn new songs, games, and notes this year.
One of the new things I am (re-)introducing this year is Composer of the Month. Although we often listen to famous composers' masterworks, each month one composer will be featured on a bulletin board in or outside of the music room and each grade level will listen to and do a different activity with a piece by that composer. (September is Franz Joseph Haydn)
Songs and activities we have done in September are:
First grade- Our welcome songs ("Hello Everybody" and "Hello and How are You?"); locomotor and non-locomotor movement to "March in C Major," selections from "String Quartet in A Major," and the movement improvisation game "Walk with Me"; and games "My Aunt Came Back," "Going to Kentucky," and "Frog in the Middle."
Second grade- Our new welcome songs ("Hello There" and "Jambo"); games "Concentration," "Plainsies, Clapsies" (ask them to show you this one- playground classic!); name game "Up the Ladder" with students creating the body percussion accompaniment; and review centers. We also clapped along to the second movement of Haydn's "Surprise Symphony," and discovered just what the surprise was.
Third grade- Our ABA form welcome song "Everyone Says Good Morning"; games "I Lost the Farmer's Dairy Key," "Jump In, Jump Out; play party "Alabama Gal"; review centers; and we correctly identified the form of Haydn's "German Dance." as AB, which is the same as "I Lost the Farmer's Dairy Key."
Fourth grade- Our new welcome song "Funga Alafia"; Rondo form name and drum piece "Take a Seat..." which is adapted from the Orff-Schulwerk Music for Children, Volume I. We also did review centers, and added the solfege syllable Fa to our knowledge of solfege to learn the game "Son Macaron," and talked about audience etiquette in conjunction with Haydn's "Joke Quartet." Fourth grade also started CHORUS :) Please click here to learn more about fourth grade chorus.
Wow, summer went by so fast and so has September!
I am VERY excited to be back at Kennedy and Franklin schools for what I know will be another fantastic year! To get back into the swing of things, grades 2-4 had two weeks of music centers activities, including wipeboard questions to answer and review exercises. One of my favorite questions was "How did you stay musical this summer?" There were some terrific answers- singing in the car, going to concerts and festivals, listening to music on electronic devices, and playing instruments.
I was also very impressed that so many of my students retained their music literacy skills from last year, and told me they were very excited to learn new songs, games, and notes this year.
One of the new things I am (re-)introducing this year is Composer of the Month. Although we often listen to famous composers' masterworks, each month one composer will be featured on a bulletin board in or outside of the music room and each grade level will listen to and do a different activity with a piece by that composer. (September is Franz Joseph Haydn)
Songs and activities we have done in September are:
First grade- Our welcome songs ("Hello Everybody" and "Hello and How are You?"); locomotor and non-locomotor movement to "March in C Major," selections from "String Quartet in A Major," and the movement improvisation game "Walk with Me"; and games "My Aunt Came Back," "Going to Kentucky," and "Frog in the Middle."
Second grade- Our new welcome songs ("Hello There" and "Jambo"); games "Concentration," "Plainsies, Clapsies" (ask them to show you this one- playground classic!); name game "Up the Ladder" with students creating the body percussion accompaniment; and review centers. We also clapped along to the second movement of Haydn's "Surprise Symphony," and discovered just what the surprise was.
Third grade- Our ABA form welcome song "Everyone Says Good Morning"; games "I Lost the Farmer's Dairy Key," "Jump In, Jump Out; play party "Alabama Gal"; review centers; and we correctly identified the form of Haydn's "German Dance." as AB, which is the same as "I Lost the Farmer's Dairy Key."
Fourth grade- Our new welcome song "Funga Alafia"; Rondo form name and drum piece "Take a Seat..." which is adapted from the Orff-Schulwerk Music for Children, Volume I. We also did review centers, and added the solfege syllable Fa to our knowledge of solfege to learn the game "Son Macaron," and talked about audience etiquette in conjunction with Haydn's "Joke Quartet." Fourth grade also started CHORUS :) Please click here to learn more about fourth grade chorus.