Saturday, November 24, 2012

Rhyme Time with Kindergarten

One of the literacy goals in Kindergarten is to learn about rhyming words.  What better place to do that than in Music!  There are so many childrens songs that use rhymes.  The best part about them is that they are so fun to sing!  We have been singing "Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go" for the last several weeks.  Our favorite parts are when we sing about the bear in underwear and the pig in a wig. 

We use many books in the Music classroom, including "Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go".  Below is the version I like best- the illustrations are wonderful and the sequence matches the version we sing in class. 

Image via Amazon.com
ISBN # 978-0-689-71503-7

Next, we'll be singing "Down By the Bay" which is another one of my favorites!  Just wait and see the verses we compose!

Friday, November 16, 2012

District 4th and 5th Grade Chorus Concert a HUGE Success!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL CHORUS MEMBERS ON A FABULOUS AUTUMN CONCERT!

You and your families should be proud of your wonderful work.  Remember to check the schedule to see when our next rehearsal will be.  Don't forget about your Chicago Steel Ticket orders!  They are due on December 3rd to take advantage of the discounted rate. 

Don't have an order form?  See Mrs. Passini ASAP.

2nd Grade Bounces through Music!

Music uses combinations of comparatives/opposites to create interest.  One of the opposites 2nd grade has been exploring is strong vs. weak beats.  Strong beats are something you have to feel, so we have been practicing locating strong beats with our bodies, instruments and tennis balls.  Yes, tennis balls! 

Students practice feeling the beat by bouncing their tennis ball on the strong beat and catching it on the weak beat.  Some of us are still chasing the runaway ball across the carpet but most of us are really feeling the strong beats! 
One of our first attempts to bounce the tennis balls.  So far so good!


 If a ball bounced away from any student, he or she raised a hand and a classmate would roll the ball back to the hand that was up.  It worked fantastically well! 

Here we are trying strong beats with the tambourines.  While students were not playing the tambourines, they were clapping along to show the strong beats.


Friday, November 9, 2012

Instrument Centers

After our trip to hear the Symphony Orchestra, we ended our instrument unit with centers.  Students had a great time using the SMART board, listening to "The Monster Mash" and playing Instrument Memory.  It was a fun way to finish up our unit on the 4 Instrument Families.  Check out our fun below!
Instrument Memory


At the SMART board students had to take all of the instruments
and place them into the correct family.  When the group was finished,
they tapped the 'check' tab to see if they were correct.
There were lots of "YESSS!" cheers!

One center was to reflect on the concert we had just returned from seeing. 
Here is an example of what most students found to be most memorable.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

1st Grade explores Forte and Piano!

If you peek into the Music room this month, you might see the 1st Graders popping up and down like popcorn!  No, it's not because we are hungry, it is because we are exploring forte and piano.  Forte is the Italian word for 'loud' and piano is the Italian word for 'soft' or 'quiet'.  Since all musical markings are written in Italian, we learn the terms in Italian as well as English. 

Students listened to the March from "Jeux D'enfants" by Bizet.  They listened for the sections that were forte and piano.  When the music was piano, the students made themselves as small and quiet as possible.  When the music was forte, the students made themselves as large and loud as possible.  They really looked like popcorn!  As you can probably guess, forte was our favorite. 


FORTE!!!


We read a story from Spotlight on Music (our district music textbook) called Romper, Stomper, and Boo.  Watch the blog for performances of this story over the next few weeks!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

3rd Grade Orchestra Field Trip!

What a fun morning!  We traveled to Wheaton College to see the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra perform but before we went into the auditorium, we walked through campus to see Perry's Mastadon.  The Mastadon was recovered from Perry's Pond in the 1960s.  Perry's Pond is right here in our town!  It was exciting to see all of the information about the Mastadon before the concert.

On to the concert!  After reviewing concert ettiquite, we entered the auditorium ready to listen to the music.  Little did we know we would also be treated to a magic show with local magician, Mike Folker!  Mr. Folker was fantastic!  He talked about how music can be colors for your ears.  He created many memorable works of color including a backwards American flag (he later fixed it) and a bright rainbow!  All the while, the orchestra played many familiar tunes, including Variations on America  which we listened to in class. 

Here are some links to videos of the music we heard at Wheaton College:

Sabre Dance by Katchaturian
Thus Sprach Zarathustra by Strauss
Storm Movement from Symphony #6 by Beethoven
March Militaire by Schubert
Violin Concerto in G Major Op 12 #1 by Vivaldi
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach/Stokowski
Variations on America by Ives

The students and teachers enjoyed our trip!


In our seats waiting for it to start.

Very excited!

Our teachers were excited too!

Some of us got to sit with our friends.

Our reaction to the question "How was the concert?"