Star Spangled Banner

Fourth and Fifth Grade students are learning about our National Anthem this week and next week in class.  Students will be using iPads to scan several QR codes that are located throughout the room and discover the story behind the song as well as interesting facts and key people involved in the War of 1812.

Students will respond in the google doc as to what they have learned and I'll be giving an update as to what students now know about our National Anthem that they didn't know before.  Be sure to check our blog next week as students share what they have learned.

Students:  Click on this link to respond and share what you learned!

https://docs.google.com/a/staff.lisd.net/forms/d/1WzVv4Ht6uTGcGgUun2Px5lZ3Mtx3Y0k8TLNTv617FAg/viewform

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Kindergarten students learned about pitch this week.  We've been working on identifying the difference between our four voices: singing, whispering, talking and shouting (we use this one in class rarely when identifying it because not only can they damage their voice, but they have used it much on the playground and know it well).  Students have been doing several songs to help them hear how their voice can move up and down.

This week we did a dance to the song "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," then sang the song and finally played our first instrument all year (besides rhythm sticks) - the xylophone!  They were very excited.

We talked about the sizes of the bars, the different sounds the bars make (long bars have low sounds, short bars have high sounds) and how you can use a mallet to walk up the bars to make the sounds get higher or you can walk down the bars to make the sounds get lower.

Students played using mallets moving up and down the bars to the song.  Moving up when the spider moves up the water spout and moving down when the rain comes and washes him out.  And back up again.

Finishing Touches

Mrs. Von's class is in the final stage of getting ready to perform the North Skelton Sword Dance.  Students were in four groups and worked together to help their group run through the entire dance from beginning to end.  It was great to see them using critical thinking skills to figure out what to do when things didn't work out correctly with the star shape at the end.  Students were thrilled with the results and so was I!

Students working out how to finish the star

Bow Wow Wow

First graders in Mrs. Park, Ms. G and Mrs. Keller's classes learned quarter notes, quarter rests and eighth note pairs yesterday and in class today.  They were singing all through class and excited to work together in groups to draw their notes on the dogs.

Somebody is excited about learning notes and rests!

Love that the boys helped each other out!!

Mrs. Park and Mrs. Keller's classes hard at work!

These two girls finished their papers and then read all three pages
reviewing beat, rests and then the rhythm of the song.  They
sang it many times and had smiles on their faces the entire time!

Found a very quiet space to work!

Great job Ms. G's class!!

What is Music?

I posted a Google Doc in the tab "Students" and used it with our Fourth Graders to allow them to share their thoughts about what music means to them.  The topic was very broad.  They were simply to share what they thought about when they heard the word music as well as to share favorite singers/composers/songs and information about music.  Here is what they wrote:

“Orchestra and the sound of peace, relaxing, beautiful and sweet. That’s what I like about music.” – Sophie

“I like music because to me singing is my life!” – Jordan

My favorite artists are Cher Lloyd, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. Music to me is my everything.  My favorite thing about music is the lyrics. I like music because if it gets stuck in your head then you know it better.” – Evelyn

“A growing period of rhythm, beat and style” – Zeke

“To me music is sounds of life. I hear music everyday. Music is a place that you could feel sad or happy. I like anytime of music. Sometimes I listen to English artists. I really like to listen to Indian music. Indian music has a nice feeling to listen to. Other types of Indian music can have a party flow to it. This is what I think music is. To me music is like peaceful beautiful sound to my ears. Its waves are like the waves of life. Music just goes with the flow.” - Stephy

“My favorite artist is Taylor Swift because she sings some country and country music to me is calming. Music to me is sounds and beats put together. All I like to do is sing whenever I’m in the car. All I do is sing sometime my family gets annoyed I sing so much!” – Zoey

“I like music when I am stressed out. Music is a beautiful sound to me. I like all kinds of music, country, classic and so much more.” – Anisah

“My favorite music guy is Leonardo.” – Levi

“It is the taste of good sound.” – Carlos

“I think music is instruments and voices.  My favorite songs are Roar by Katy Perry and Royals by Lorde.” – Arabella

“Music is a beautiful sound to relief pain in your body. It helps your stress, makes peace to all minds” – Zoha

Learning Quarter Notes, Eighth Note pairs and Quarter rests

Mrs. Townzen, Mrs. Keller and Mrs. Shield's classes (First Grade) learned about quarter notes, eighth note pairs and Quarter rests today.  They were beyond excited to learn their first music notes!!

We sang the song "Bow Wow Wow" and used an incredible resource created by two of my friends and colleagues Debbie Anderson and Phyllis Thomas.  The resource is called "Interactive Now!"  There are a variety of places to get it.  Here is one link if you want to order their materials.  SOOO worth it!

http://www.musick8.com/store/alphadetail.php?product_group=3240#.UlRqzxY2_zI

The students love seeing the dogs and tapping the dogs.  Using the SmartBoard, students came up to write lines to show that there was one sound on each beat when all the dogs were the same.

They were excited to write their first notes.  As one student said "Hey!  It's like writing the letter d and then coloring it in!"  The students were very successful in writing their notes and finding where there was a rest in the song.

I always start them out learning rests as the letter Z (since the dog is sleeping and when you sleep, you make zzzzz's).  Though we talk about how this letter Z doesn't snore.  It's just silent!  No sound, but there is still a dog (beat).

So proud of all of their hard work!

Three Part Round

Today in Mrs. Childer's class, the fifth grade students worked on a three part canon called "If the people live their lives."  It is a gorgeous melody in a minor key.  The students love it.  We began by singing it together as a class.  The next class I sang the second part of the canon while they did the first. During today's class, they performed it as a two and three part canon.  I loved hearing their response as they finished.  Most amazing was the fact that they were all able to hold their parts and to keep balanced in their parts.  They are such a joy to teach!!

Here is a snapshot of what they were able to do in the three part round:
(having trouble downloading it in www.wevideo.com - will be here soon!!)