January Learning Objectives

Here are our learning objectives for this month!

Kindergarten:  I can sing high and low music.
1st Grade:  I can sing, hear, write and read so-mi melodies.
2nd Grade: I can hear and sing rhythms that last longer than one beat.
3rd Grade:  I can identify do, re, mi, so and la on the music staff.  I can hear and sing rhythms that                           last for longer than two beats.
4th Grade:  I can perform recorder songs that use Low E.
5th Grade:  I can perform recorder songs that use Low E and C.

November Learning Objectives

November has been busy!  Check out our learning objectives for the start of Trimester 2!

Kindergarten:  I can hear high and low music.
1st Grade: I can hear and sing high and low tones.
2nd Grade:  I can compose and perform my own rhythms.
3rd Grade:  I can identify Do, Re, Mi, So, and La on the music staff.
4th, 5th, and Level 3:  I can rehearse my musical performance for the 12/15/15 music program.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone!  I hope you all had a relaxing summer filled with loads of fun.  I had a wonderful summer traveling and spending time with my family and friends.  On Monday, we are back to school and back to making music!

This year, I will be checking in with you to see if you have been reading the blog!  There will be little mini-incentives for checking out the blog and telling me about what you saw.  I will let you know exactly when it starts.  It's so exciting!

Here are our objectives for the first few weeks of school:

Kindergarten:  I can keep a steady beat.
1st Grade:  I can sing alone and with the group.
2nd Grade:  I can read and perform rhythms with ta and ta-tee.
3rd Grade:  I can sing So-Mi-Do melodies.
4th Grade:  I can play 3 note recorder songs.
5th Grade:  I can describe and analyze music.

I can't wait to see you!  Enjoy the last few moments of summer vacation :)

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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!

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!

Veteran's Day Celebration on Monday

Students have been preparing for Lincoln's Veteran's Day celebration for the last several weeks.  In the Music room, we are working on the following songs:

Level 1: You're a Grand Old Flag
Level 2:  This Land Is Your Land
Level 3:  Star Spangled Banner
               4th Grade: America, The Beautiful
               5th Grade: Sing America Sing!

The Kindergarten and 1st Grade students have come to love singing with this Youtube video which is set up in a karaoke style with the words at the bottom of the screen.  You can find the video we've used in clas by clicking here:   You're A Grand Old Flag

Level 2 has been working hard to sing all the parts of This Land is Your Land.  We have not been using a video, but have been practicing with the music from our music textbooks.  Want to practice for Monday?  Click here and remember, we are only singing verse 1:   This Land Is Your Land

4th Grade is singing America, the Beautiful.  Click here to review the song:  America, the Beautiful

Level 3 is singing and learning about The Star Spangled Banner.  Check out this amazing performance of our national anthem from Super Bowl XLIV:  Star Spangled Banner

King Bidgood's in the Bathtub!

Photo Courtesy of Amazon.com

ISBN #978-0152054359



Congratulations 1st Grade on a WONDERFUL music program!

You certainly DAZZLED your families with your musical abilities and performing strengths.  I am very impressed and proud of your performance tonight.  You should be too!  We will celebrate your hard work in the music room this week.  Congratulations :)

Centers in 1st Grade

The 1st Graders have been working through centers this week.  There are 4 centers the 1st Graders are working through including Listening, Reading, Composing, and Instruments.

At our Listening Lab, students used iPods for the first time to listen to 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket' performed by Ella Fitzgerald.  Students learned how to use an iPod and completed the listening log.

 Teaching each other how to use the iPods.

One of my favorite answers of all time!

In the Reading center, students had to match the letter notation with the staff notation.  This helped us practice our So-Mi reading skills!

 It looked a little chaotic at first.

 Success!

In our Composing center, students used the Brown Bear, Brown Bear folders to compose melodies using So and Mi on both lines and spaces.

Singing with handsigns and melody names.

The Instrument Center was the most interesting to everyone- write a So- Mi melody using cottonballs then play your melody on the instruments.  The students had a great time creating and playing music.

So- So             Mi-Mi           So 

Written on the left, instrument on the right.

Students are having a great time with our centers and cannot wait to do them again.  Thanks for checking out the blog to see what Lincoln musicians are up to this year!  

Holiday Sing Photos!

We had a GREAT time singing together the last day of school in 2012! 

I hope you all have had a great vacation.  It was so wonderful to see you all this week!  Get ready for much more music making in 2013!

So and Mi come to 1st Grade

1st Grade has been exploring high and low sounds and this week, we renamed our two notes So and Mi (a minor third or G and E on the piano).  The students practiced reading So and Mi from written music, practiced writing So and Mi on the music staff  and even did a little ear training too!  In our ear training, we listened to a So-Mi pattern and wrote it using Zoo Pals (paper plates) and our risers.  Yes, it's true: Music can be written using many different things.  Check out their fantastic work!

 Writing 'So-So Mi So-So Mi' 

 Writing 'So-So Mi So Mi'

Some riser groups got to write their So and Mi patterns on the staff in the middle 

of the Music Room carpet.

1st Grade Snowman Dances

First Grade has been listening to selections from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker this month.  Over the last few music classes, we have composed a snowman dance to the 'Trepak' movement of this piece.  Using music educator Tracy King's snowman designs, the children created a series of movements to accompany this piece of music.  Classes had the opportunity to choose their motions from the pictures shown in class.

Here is what Ms. Conrad's class chose:

and what Ms. Kotarba's class chose:

We talked through the form (order) of this piece which follows an ABAC pattern.  Enjoy the 1st grader's Snowman Dances!

Mrs. Buchholz's Class

Ms. Conrad's Class

Ms. Kotarba's Class

1st Grade performs "Romper, Stomper and Boo"

The 1st Graders had a glorious time performing "Romper, Stomper and Boo", a story from our series Spotlight on Music.   We worked on Piano (soft sounds) and Forte (loud sounds) and worked with different instruments.  We took several music classes to get everything just right for our video performances to share with our families at home.  It was so much fun and the singers really took a lot of pride in their work.
Unfortunately, my video camera has failed and did not allow me to load the videos into a format you can see at home.  Don't worry!  Many more creative videos are to come- maybe even before Winter Break!  Fingers crossed!

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!

"Monster Mash" Listening

Students in Kindergarten, First and Second Grades have been listening to the song "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett.  Pickett released this song in 1962, making this song 50 years old- JUST like Lincoln School!!

Students were able to show what they heard in the music by coloring with rules.  Each part of the listening house has been colored according to what they hear. 

This student heard music that was loud and colored the shutters red.

This student heard music that was soft and colored the shutters purple.

I like this activity because I get to see what they hear.  It sounds funny, but it's true!  Here is a nearly finished product:



From this picture, I can tell everything from if the music was loud or soft and if the student liked the music or not!  If you are a parent of a Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd grade student, watch for this page to come home in the next week or so.