Did you know that I award points to students during music class every time they do something great!!!!  There is a running tally for each homeroom in the hallway and at the end of the term, the class with the most points wins a movie and popcorn party (1 winner in each grade level).

There are some exciting new ways for your student to earn bonus points and help their class win that BIG PRIZE!!!!!

2 bonus points – turn in the blue coupon you child was given at the start of the year.  This is for when your student sings, plays, or repeats on of our songs/activities at home or recess (basically anywhere outside of class).

2-5 bonus points – research something from music class on your own, write it down, and bring to MR. G.  This can be a song title, vocab word, famous person we learned about in class, or even a question that Mr. G didn’t have the answer to.

5 bonus points –  attend a concert, recital, play, musical outside of the school day and bring Mr. G the program as proof you went.  Great way to earn points if you have older siblings in the band, orchestra, or chorus!!!!

10 bonus points – perform in a concert, recital, play or musical outside of the school day and Mr. G a copy of the program, a picture of you on stage, or even send a short video!!!!

***REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR NAME AND TEACHER ON ALL SUBMISSIONS***

Improvisation and creation are some of the highest forms of music making.  Students are either planning out or spontaneously creating new music.  This week our 1st graders and Kindergarteners explored our Orff instruments via creative activities.  First graders played a copy cat game where one leader improvised patterns on the teacher xylophone and the class had to follow them.

Kindergarten used hula hoops in a similar manner.  Each type of instrument was assigned a different color hula hoop.  When the leader stepped into the hoop that group played, when the stepped out the group of instruments stopped.  This allows two levels of improvisation:  First, the leader is improvising the organization of the instruments that play and second, the students are improvising at the instruments by themselves when it is their turn to play.

Well, it’s been an interesting start to the new semester with our snow days and now a 3-day weekend ahead of us!  I wanted to share what is happening in music class before time gets away from me over this long weekend (again 🙂  )

 

KINDERGARTEN = is beginning to play our orff orchestra instruments this month.  Be sure to check in with your child to ask them which one they got to play (xylophone, metallophone, or glockenspiel) and be sure to ask them about the hula hoop game we played!!!!  NOTE – some classes have not done this yet.

1st GRADE – We are visiting our Pitch Hill story book and learning to read melody patterns that use Sol – La – Mi solfege pitches. We are also playing an instrument rotation game to go with Hickory Dock (pictures below).

 

2nd GRADE – We are visiting our Pitch Hill story book and learning to pentatonic melody patterns on the music staff (Do – Re – Mi – Sol – La)

3rd GRADE – We are learning to read dotted half notes (3 beats long) and reviewing other notation elements such as measures, time signatures, and barlines to make sure we are ready for recorders!!!!

4th GRADE – We are reviewing some notation elements to make sure we are ready for recorders.  We are also learning to perform a 3-part partner song called “Turn the World Around.”  It is a fun Calypso style song that combines three different melodies together into harmony.

5th GRADE – We composing “snow music” to go with a the storybook “Snow Music.”  It’s been a lot of fun to watch students choose instruments to match the story and compose rhythms, ostinati, and lyrics to fit the story.  There have been some great discussions about the challenges and successes groups have had while composing.