In music this week, students were up and moving around. Often, musical concepts are easiest to learn with large body movements, whether that is loud v. soft, lyrics to a new song or keeping a steady beat.
Pre-K Ages 3 & 4 are still using classical music to learn the difference between loud and soft. We used ribbons to indicate loud (waving them up high) and soft (tickling our toes) in the Vivaldi Concerto "Autumn" that we also studied last week.
The 4-year-olds went onto practice loud & soft with claves, Mexican instruments. Using the same piece of music, the students played softly or loudly with the beat, based on what they heard.
The 3-year-olds moved into some movement activities, including a song about popping corn, when they had to wait until the "pop" sound to jump up, and a song about galloping slow-fast-slow, like a pony.
As always, Pre-K spent some time with Baby Beluga, and had the opportunity to pass him around, giving him a hug and/or kiss if they wanted.
The Pre-K 4 class is doing so well and I'm always happy to see them in music. Even when it is raining, they all brave the weather to come and see me!
Grades PreK-2 have been enjoying another classical music lesson based on Handel's Surprise Symphony (1791). Here's the story associated with this song:
My mom made cookies and I couldn't resist, so I snuck down in the middle of the night and ate them all. Before I knew it, there were cookie crumbs all over the floor. I tiptoed to pick them up (with the rhythm of the music: tip-toe-tip-toe-tip-toe-crumb...) but suddenly I heard a loud noise! I was worried my mom might catch me so I hid on the floor and pretended to be asleep and very quiet. When I was sure the coast was clear, I finished my job of picking up the cookie crumbs and headed back to bed.
Here's a short clip of Pre-K 4 doing this activity after hearing the song. The song can be found on the PRIS YouTube Page on the Pre-K and KG/1/2 Playlists.
Grades K-2 joined together for one class this week, something that may become more regular as they prepare for the Winter performance. First, they watched the Peace video that Grades 3/4 made last week and sang along.
Then, we got right into a new song, called "Pizza, Pizza Daddy-O," which is a playground game from the 1960s. You can find a link of 1960s children playing it here: Pizza Pizza Daddy-O.
Next, the students played a hand-clap song/game called "Four White Horses." A recording of the song can be found here: Four White Horses.
During their second music classes of the week, the Grade 1/2 finished learning their composition, named it, and began practicing it with rhythm sticks.
The Grade K/1 class continued practicing Orff rhythms, but were able to learn to play some world drums along the way. Each student had a turn with each drum.
Finally, the Grade 3/4 class has been working hard on their ensemble piece, "Jambo", a "hello" song in Swahili (from Kenya). The students worked through a few performance groups and settled on these two groups with every student getting a chance to play an instrument and sing. We also added a new West Kenyan instrument, the gongokui. Here are short clips of each group's practice. Please note that they are still in the practicing stages and this was only the second day trying the song with full instrumentation and singing.
"Jambo" Group 1:
This week, in Library, we continued the school-wide focus on giving associated with the exciting carnival. We read "Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfitzer, an amazing story about a fish finding happiness by giving something precious to his friends. Here is a link to a great read-aloud of this book read by actor, Ernest Borgnine: Rainbow Fish. After reading "Rainbow Fish," the students had enough time to check-out books and even briefly read their books.
While looking for the "Rainbow Book" read-aloud, I found two wonderful sources for read-aloud books that you can access at home. Storyline Online is a Website and a YouTube Channel managed by the Screen Actor's Guild. They feature famous actors reading children's books. I have added these links to the right hand side of this blog under "Fun Links". I encourage you to explore this resource at home!
Next week, we will ease into learning a few songs for the Winter performance...it's never too early to start practicing. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. The PRIS students are doing a great job!
Don't forget to check the PRIS Music & Library YouTube site for playlists, recordings and videos!
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