New school year!

Hello everyone!

I'm so sorry to have not posted sooner in this new school year. As we all know, the beginning of the year is a hectic time. Please take a moment to enter your email address into the white bar at the top of the blog page and hit "submit." You will then receive an email every time I write a new post on this blog along with a link to the blog page- super convenient! This makes it easy to know when to check up on my blog. I will also add new videos and pictures throughout the year, so don't forget to scroll down to check those out.

I attribute my lateness with this post to my sincerest attempt to make the most of including what I learned during my summer training course into my teaching this year. The course I took culminated with a Level I certification in the Orff Schulwerk approach. Orff Schulwerk is a way to teach and learn music. It is based on things children like to do: sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, and keep a beat on anything near at hand. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later. This is the same way we all learned our language. I have been having so much fun incorporating this approach into every lesson so far this year. I even attended a workshop this past Saturday, the 8th, to brush up and get more new materials. That was one of 5 such workshops I will attend through this school year.

So far this year....

Kindergarten- we have been focusing on a few key points: the 4 ways to use our voice (whispering, speaking, singing, calling), being a good audience member, finding the singing voice, and learning about moving through self-space (staying in your spot) and general space (around the room.) We've learned the songs "Hello, Everybody", "Rover", "This is My Space", and "Counting Song". We've also worked with several rhymes and have learned basic technique for playing hand drums. We learned about the new words "conductor" and "solo."

1st/2nd grade- we began the year by coming up with a gesture (a unique body movement) to go with our name. We played a game with the song "Rig a Jig Jig" in which we paired up with multiple different partners in class. We learned a circle game/song called "Wake Me, Shake Me."We came up with lots of ways to move to the steady beat, including body movements (tapping the floor, patting your elbow) and even playing the steady beat on mallet instruments (this is called a bordun pattern.) We had our first experience playing mallet instruments with the song "Stars Shining." We experience playing with two hands together and one hand at a time while we counted the numbers of the stars in the song. We also got to figure out how to play our favorite food answer on the mallet instruments from the song "Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner." We have begun our discussion of musical opposites, beginning with loud and soft (piano and forte are the music words.) We learned the new words "bordun", "xylophone", "metallophone", "glockenspiel", "piano", and "forte."

3rd/4th grade- we began the year with the rhyme "Acka Backa" and played a game involving moving around the room and meeting classmates. We learned a song and game called "Wind Up the Apple Tree" that got us moving right away and taught us about AB form in music. We also immediately dove into reading notes on the staff, starting with the notes B, A, and G with an activity called Mad Minutes. Students have one minute to correctly identify the names of as many B's, A's, and G's on the paper as possible, out of a possible 30. We learned to sing the song "I've Been Wishing" which we then figured out how to play on the mallet instruments- the students had to find the notes by ear until they could play the melody! We learned a cumulative song called "I Bought Me a Cat" (see video here). We have also learned a traditional folk dance called the "Galopede" which involves a series of movements with a partner facing across from you. The kids had fun with this! We learned the new words "bordun", "ostinato", and "form."

5th grade- we began the year by examining our names. Names are such an easy way to begin the study of rhythm. We each had to find a unique way to say our name and the class would echo. We then had to try to fit our name into one pat, clap pattern. Students were divided into groups of 4 and created their own "name compostions." Students would choose one name to be the ostinato (a musical pattern that repeats over and over.) For example: Da-vid, Da-vid, Da-vid, Da-vid. They then had to choose the order in which to share the 4 names of their group members. For example: Da-vid, Syd-ney, Jack, Al-ex. Students then could decide whether their composition would start with the ostinato pattern or with the 4 name pattern, or both simultaneously. We performed these for the class and transferred the speech to percussion instruments. Students learned a song in a minor (sad sounding) key called "Who Has Seen the Wind?" Students learned a bordun pattern to accompany the song, figured out how to play the melody by ear on the mallet instruments, and also improvised their own new melodies. We also immediately dove into reading notes on the staff, starting with the notes B, A, and G with an activity called Mad Minutes. Students have one minute to correctly identify the names of as many B's, A's, and G's on the paper as possible, out of a possible 30. We have also learned one traditional folk dance called "Lucky Seven." It begins in one big circle but involves some tricky movements that took us several tries to master! We learned the new words "soprano", "alto", and "bass."

Please continue to read my blog throughout the year- it's here for you! Feel free to leave comments and ask your kids to further illuminate/explain/demonstrate some of the activities I summarize in these posts. :) Thanks!