Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Thanksgiving Dinner Fun

It's the week of Thanksgiving and we are all dreaming of the plate we will construct for Thursday's dinner.  Whatever your favorite, everyone's plate looks just a touch different even when the same dishes are on the table.  Level 3 students used Thanksgiving Dinner Rhythm Cards (click here for the TPT link) to create a rhythmic Thanksgiving dinner to perform for the class.





Some groups went back for seconds (it's hard not to on Thanksgiving!).


Students performed their Thanksgiving dinner rhythms for the class on the drums.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Friday, November 21, 2014

2nd Grade goes cloud watching


The 2nd grade singers went cloud watching this week in the music room.  



I found these fantastic music clouds on Cherie Herring's blog Just a Little More (click here for link) and placed them on my ceiling this year.  The students cloud watched for the melodies I sang (all included So, La and Mi- the three notes we have been studying this trimester).  Then the students partnered up and cloud watched together, taking turns finding and singing the melody or rhythm found on the cloud.


Cloud watching in Music

1st Grade Composers

First grade has been listening for high and low sounds as well as short and long sounds this month.  This past week, students attempted to write music on their risers using paper plates.


The Writing Process


Checking work with the team

High and low are a skip apart on the music staff, so the students used their risers as their staff.  Each group did a beautiful job skipping the step between our high sound and our low sound.  Some students wrote the song "See Saw" while others invented new songs during our writing activity.


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

UPDATE!!! Miss Mary Mack IS Back!!!

We have exciting news to share about our question 'How can Lincoln's 3rd Grade keep hand clapping games alive on our playground?'

We have been collecting data during lunch recess about hand clapping games.  Our questions included the following:

  • Do you see anyone playing hand clapping games?
  • Number of kids playing in the group
  • Grade level of kids playing
  • Use of nonsense words
  • Use of challenging movements

The first two times we went out, we saw not a single student playing hand clapping games.  The 3rd grade started to play games we learned in class out on the playground during lunch recess and would you believe, that we are starting to see these games catch on?  This week, we have seen as many as 10 groups playing and the students playing are from all grade levels!  This is exciting to see on our playground!

We've learned that hand clapping games are fun, but we do not know enough games to keep them from growing stale.  Each group of 3rd grade students (4-5 in a group) have been given the task of creating a new hand clapping game to present to our playground.  We have been working hard and are ready to show our work!

3rd graders are busily prepping for a practice presentation at the end of this week.  Hopefully, we will all hear some good feedback as to what is going well and what needs some attention.  We will present our new games to some experts on December 4th.  Our experts include music teachers, local college music professors, playground supervisors, and administration.  Wish us luck!  Check out some pictures of our work in progress:



Thursday, October 30, 2014

Level 3 "Thrills"

Level 3 student have been studying the form of Michael Jackson's 1982 hit song, "Thriller".  Instead of working with pictures on a page, we studied the form using movement.  I found the choreography on music educator Tracy King's blog mrskingrocks.blogspot.com.  The students and I had a great time learning the moves, performing as a large group (almost 100 kids at a time!) and learning the form to this popular song!  Check it out in the links below.

** Disclaimer:  These videos may not be viewable in some countries due to copyright laws.  I downloaded the song from iTunes and am not using it for any profit; just for educational purposes. **

PM Literacy Classes
AM Literacy Classes

Friday, October 17, 2014

Miss Mary Mack is Back!

Have you noticed your 3rd grader playing some hand clapping games?  We have been working on learning some of these in Music class.  I have been able to not only teach the kids some of my old favorites but also learn some of their favorites!  I learn a new hand clapping game almost every day from the students.

Since we started learning these games, we've started to wonder how many kids are playing these on the playground during lunch recess.  So far, we have found ZERO!!!  So now we are wondering how we can get students on our playground to play these fantastic games and keep oral tradition alive here at Lincoln.  We watched this Sesame Street video as to how to teach one another how to play and then went out to give it a try!  We'll do more research in the coming weeks and will report it on our website missmarymackisback.weebly.com.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Things are getting Spooky!

October is a spooky month, so why not celebrate with some spooky songs in music!  First grade is currently working with a song called "Mrs. White had a Fright" to learn about music syllables (rhythm).  We are working with this adorable set of ghost pictures made by Emily at The Sweetest Melody (click here to link to the TPT store).

Level 3 is working on reviewing sixteenth notes and sixteenth/eighth note combinations with Aileen Miracle's Ghost Rhythms (click here to link to the TPT store).

On the less spooky side, Second grade is singing a song about Columbus and adding in the notes they know on the xylophones (so, la and mi) while singing the song.

I'm hoping to post some pictures and video of the fun soon.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Roller Coasters in Music?

Who doesn't like a roller coaster?  Even if you don't like to ride them, looking at them and following their track is super fun.  So, when it came time to start listening for High and Low sounds, the 1st graders and I began with vocal roller coasters!  These roller coasters are visuals with curvy, curly lines for us to sing.  Each one has a sound, word, or series of words to sing while following the track of the roller coaster.  My favorite is the "Oh YEAH" roller coaster!  We will continue to explore the vocal roller coasters while the 1st Graders are learning to listen for high and low sounds in songs they know.

Friday, September 19, 2014

3rd Grade becomes composers!

The 3rd graders are transforming themselves into composers this week.  Their assignment is to create a rhythm composition using prescribed rhythms with a partner and be prepared to perform it for the class.  Once their rhythms have been written, the students began to work with our new "Composition Menu" to make their piece more interesting.  It is like adding adjectives to a writing project to make it more pleasing to the ear.  Choices on the menu included dynamics (loud or quiet) and expressions (choppy or smooth).  Students will be performing their compositions for their classes starting today!  By the middle of next week, all students will have performed their compositions for the class.  Be sure to ask how it went!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday, September 12, 2014

What is a beat buddy?

I bet many of the K-1 parents are wondering what beat buddies are.  Every class in K and 1 used beat buddies this week to keep the steady beat.  In short, beat buddies are beanie babies!  We use them to keep the beat on our knees, toes, nose, hands...  The students love the beat buddies and love seeing which beat buddy will be theirs for the day.


My favorite is the orange bear :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Welcome Back to Music!

Welcome back to Music at Lincoln! I hope you all had a musical summer.  My family and I sure did!  We went to WDW for the first time with our kids (ages 9 and 6) and they are still singing the songs from the "Festival of Fantasy" parade and from "The Carousel Of Progress" (believe it or not, that was one of their favorite things there).  It was a great time with my family and I satisfied my Olaf cravings with a few new souvenirs for my classroom and closet!

Now that we are back to school, I can tell you that the blog is easily accessible this year!  Simply go to the Lincoln School webpage, click on Staff Directory, scroll down to find my name, and click the word "WEB" to be instantly linked to the blog!  It's that simple.  Once you've done that, bookmark the blog to your browser's toolbar and you can check it anytime!

Our concert and open house schedule should be coming my way soon.  As soon as I have that, you will have your program dates for 1st grade, 3rd grade, and Level 3 (Kindergarten and 2nd grade do not have music programs).  Please contact me anytime with questions or comments!

Happy Tuesday!

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Ta, Ta-ti and the Mystery

Since 1st grade is done with their music program, it's time to review our known music concepts so we can discover something new!  Yes, we are currently looking and listening for not one, but two mystery notes.  One mystery note is a rhythm that goes along with Ta and Ta-ti (quarter and eighth notes) while the other is a melody name that goes along with So and Mi (minor 3rd).  We reviewed by playing Tic Tac Toe with one another.  Check out the work of the students in Ms. Conrad's and Mrs. Sandoz's classes!

 One student clapped one of the rhythms for the other.  If the listener guessed the correct rhythm, he or she placed a chip on that rhythm.  If the listener guessed incorrectly, the clapper placed a chip on the correct rhythm!


 Our boards quickly filled up!  There were many cat's games because we are so good at listening 
for Ta and Ta-Ti!










Thursday, March 27, 2014

1st Grade presents Hats!

 
 
On Tuesday, April 15, 2014, the Lincoln 1st Grade students will present
 
 
 
A Musical that celebrates what's underneath
 
 
 
The program will begin at 6:30pm in the New Gym.  Open House will follow from 7-8pm. 
We hope to see you all there!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Yankee Doodle Comes to Music!

Level 3 students have been learning about the Revolutionary War in Literacy this trimester.  In Music, the 4th graders have extended our learning about that era with a Yankee Doodle project.  The students learned several verses of the song and a hand-clapping game to play while singing the song.  Students also learned about the use of drums and drummer boys during the Revolutionary War.  We took these two parts and created an AB pattern (first sing and play the game, then march to find a new partner).

After this, we created a C section to our pattern by adding in I and V chords to play along with our singing.  But this wasn't enough for us, so we added in two sets of circle dances to perform when singing and playing chords on the instruments.

In the end, we ended up with this form:  ABCBCA. 
A = hand clapping game and singing
B = march to instruments and/or dance and game places
C = circle dances

The students have worked very hard and were excited to create these videos for you!  In one music class, we were able to take one video, critique that video, discard that video, and make another one that made most of us happy with our performances.  Enjoy the final products!

Mr. Bower's 4th Grade
Mrs. Everett's 4th Grade
Mr. Klingberg's 4th Grade
Mr. Pindar's 4th Grade

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

5th Grade Music Program THIS MONTH!!

Tuesday, March 25th at 6:30pm
Lincoln's Level 3 5th Graders present
GILBERT and SULLIVAN ROCK!
See you in the New Gym on the 25th