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.

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 :)

Kindergarten exploring Fast and Slow

Fast and Slow are the two musical opposites we've focused on this month.  Students had a fantastic time moving scarves to show the difference between fast and slow while listening to A Walking Song found in our series (Spotlight on Music, MMH).

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

Kindergarten composes High and Low sounds

Did you know that the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see? was written by Bill Martin in the year 1962?  Mr. Martin's book is 50 years old, just like Lincoln school!  This week, the Kindergartners and I read this wonderful book together.  I was so pleased to hear many of them reading right along with me!  After we read the story, we talked about some of my favorites from the book:  the purple cat, yellow duck, blue horse, goldfish, green frog, and red bird.  The class was divided up into 5 groups and given one of these file folders.

 I found the images on Pinterest

 Blue Horse File Folder

Inside of the folder.  Some folders have high and low on spaces, 

other folders have high and low on lines.

The students then worked together to compose music for their part of the story, using high and low sounds. To compose, the students were allowed to choose where their sounds would be placed- either high or low! After all of the pieces had been placed, students sang their compositions with me while following the picture notes placed on their 2 line staff.  Check out their super work!

Writing with our riser buddies

 Goldfish, goldfish

So PROUD of our work! 

We made AB Patterns too! 

 So proud!

 Many hands make light work 

Kindergarten Acting

Kindergarten has been learning many things in the Music room.  We have been focusing on following the heartbeat on paper and on the board (tracking) and on fast vs. slow.  Fast and slow have been loads of fun!  We have learned several songs including 'The Old Gray Cat', a song from our series, Spotlight on Music. 

We learned 'The Old Gray Cat' first by using our visual literacy skills to talk through the story and the challenging vocabulary words found in the song.  For example, the cat does not come sneaking, he comes creeping and the mice are not eating but rather nibbling the cheese.  So if your Kindergartner has been telling you that he or she is nibbling dinner and learned that word in Music class, it's true!

One of the last things we did with this song was to act it out.  We had such a BALL!  I was able to take a few videos of their acting skills, but unable to post them due to some glitches with my video camera.  The singers and I will take some new videos to share with you soon.

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!

"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.