The end of the 2017 - 2018 school year is in sight!
I cannot believe how quickly this year has passed by. We have accomplished so much in the music room and I am excited to share with you what the classes have been working on in these final weeks of the Spring trimester!
Kindergarten
What we have learned:
Four Voices (Speaking, Singing, Whisper, and Calling)
Steady Beat
Steady Beat
Fast vs Slow
Loud vs Soft
High vs Low
Beat vs Rhythm
We have been working really hard on solidifying the concept of rhythm in the final weeks of school.
Students can now alternate between the steady beat and "the way the words go" (rhythm) with vocal cues, visual prompts, and in small groups!
We have some pretty exciting songs and chants to help us practice our beat vs word!
We passed our shoes with our Cinderella chant!
We took turns showing the beat and words with our Bee Bee song!
We picked which song to play the rhythm of with our SMARTboard Game!
We showed off our instrument playing skills with Ebeneezer Sneezer!
One of my favorite practice songs is called Aiken Drum. It is about a silly man who lives on the moon! He wears clothes made from different foods and plays on a "ladle" as his instrument of choice.
First, we learned the song and patted the steady beat.
Next, we clapped the "way the words go".
Finally, the students improvised their favorite foods that Aiken could wear and added them to the song.
As a fun finale to our song, we took instruments from the classroom and split into groups. Each group built their own Aiken drum and sang about the parts we was made of in the original song!
Look at these incredible Aiken Drum's that we created!
We will use the concept of beat vs rhythm to introduce 1st graders to quarter notes and eighth notes!
Take songs from the radio this summer that your students know well and have them clap "The way the words go" to keep it fresh in their minds!
1st Grade
What we learned:
ta/ti-ti (Quarter Notes and Eighth Notes)
So/Mi
Quarter Rest
2/4 Meter
ABA Form
La
1st graders moved musical Mountains this year!
We have learned so many different things, it is truly incredible how hard they worked!
It takes some special kids to get through the amount of content that 1st grade has! 1st grade music brought on some difficult concepts and this class has mastered them all!
Their final weeks were spent practicing their new pitch - "la". We learned that it lives above so and mi on solfa street but is a next door neighbor to so!
Their final weeks were spent practicing their new pitch - "la". We learned that it lives above so and mi on solfa street but is a next door neighbor to so!
It likes to do it's own thing on the staff and doesn't copy so like mi does!
Students did such a great job dictating so-la-mi patterns on their staff lap boards and their new favorite game? - Poison Pattern!
Poison pattern is a great singing game that requires the students to memorize a 4-beat melody using so-la-mi pitches. The teacher sings various melodies that they students echo back. If they teacher sings the poison pattern and the students echo it back, they must sit out until the next round!
Ask your students about this game and play a few rounds every so often to keep them on their toes! They really LOVE when you try to trick them!
Here are some youtube videos that you can use to help you provide patterns to echo. Simply pick 1 pattern before the video starts to be the "Poison Pattern":
2nd Grade
What we learned:
Half Note
Do
16th Notes
Re
Repeat Sign
Although the list seems small, 2nd grade concepts bring on some complex challenges! These kiddoes did such a wonderful job with rhythm this year and have turned into quite the rhythm reading Rockstars!
For the final weeks of class, 2nd grade has been practicing those 16th notes in songs, games, and dances!
I think that Mama Llama is one of my personal favorites that 2nd grade has recently learned. This excited nonsense song allows students to sing with 16th notes and improvise actions to the steady beat. We sure have been getting silly lately and it seems like we do more giggling than laughing with this new song!
The most important goal in music is the Make Music JOYFULLY so this song is hitting all of the marks!
Please ask your student to sing this song and teach the game to your family! It really is a fun time!
Here are the lyrics (Pro Tip: if it seems wrong, it's probably right! :D)
Mama Llama, Cumma Llama, Cumma la Pizza!
Mama Llama, Cumma Llama, Cumma la Pizza!
Mama Llama, Cumma Llama, Cumma la Pizza!
Oh! no, no, no, no La Pizza!
Oh! no, no, no, no La Pizza!
Eenie-meenie, dex-a-meenie, Uh-wop-a-lop-o-meenie!
Aba-gatcha, Aba-watcha, X-Y-Z!
Eenie-meenie, dex-a-meenie, Uh-wop-a-lop-o-meenie!
Aba-gatcha, Aba-watcha, X-Y-Z!
3rd Grade
What we have learned:
Syncopation
do-re-mi
Eighth/double 16th and double 16th/Eighth Notes
so-la
high Do
3rd grade had to do some catching up for me this year! Because they got started late on melodic elements, we really had to push to get through all of the pitches they need to know! The good news? WE DID IT!
I could not be prouder of these students for their hard work and focus as we raced through the solfege ladder this year! They are strong singers and have an excellent start on all of the pitches for next year!
We had some fun improvising with high do (their final pitch to learn). We started with a simple song about a bird and his wife!
In our song, the bird changes his colors based on how his wife leaves him.
After creating some new verses as a class, we split into groups and each group was assigned a different colored bird! Some of their ideas are simply Genius! Please enjoy a video we took of them sharing their verses below:
In the final weeks of the year, we have been working hard at naming our new rhythm: short-short-Long, or two 16th notes paired with an eighth note, as seen here:
We learned a fun song with an even MORE fun game to help us with this rhythm:
Hogs in the Cornfield!
I don't want to spoil any surprise as far as the game goes so please as your students how it works!
While your at it, ask them about the game for Our Old Sow as well! (I guess our class is in a piggy mood) Both are a ton of laughs to play and sing!
I so look forward to next year! Although I am saying goodbye to the first class I had all the way through, I am excited for them to move to 4th grade and continue learning with Mrs. Nelson!
As for the rest of my kiddoes, we will get right back into new and exciting concepts as soon as that first bells rings in September 2017!
Enjoy your summer!
Stay safe and see you next year,
Abby Hoselton
P.S. Look for my annual "Goodbye" post on Friday. I will include some AWESOME musical opportunities in the summer and what I will be up to in the coming months to be even better for your students next fall!
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