Bring Your Family to Music Week!

This week was Bring Your Parent (or Family Member) to Music Week and I feel like it could not have been any better! The kiddos had so much fun dancing with the family members who came and showing them how to do the dances and songs we have been learning in music class!

First Grade Practice

Second Grade Rhythm Stations

After many years of sound, these second graders have finally put musical rhythm to sight! We have been working on sound to sight for the past few months, and this week, we are showing Mrs. Manning our achievement of successfully creating our own rhythmic patterns using the rhythms quarter note (du), eighth notes (du-de), and quarter rest (sh!). Check out the stations we got to participate in!

Fly Swat:

At Fly Swat, one member of the group, the caller, picks a fly to read out loud to the group without telling the group which fly they are reading. Each fly has a different rhythm pattern on it. The group's job is to listen to the caller's rhythm and "swat" the fly with the correct rhythm on it. Whoever swats first (is on bottom) gets the fly! Whoever has the most flies at the end gets to be the caller of the next round!

Instrument Memory:

At instrument memory, there are many instrument cards face down. Each player takes a turn to try and find the matching instrument cards (violin to violin, etc.). Whoever has the most matches at the end wins!

Snowball Rhythms:

Using spoons, students scoop four "snowballs"(ping-pong balls) out of the snowball box. Students rearrange the snowballs they draw out of the box into a rhythm pattern they like and then write the rhythm they came up with on the accompanying worksheet. This worksheet is then turned in for an assessment on forming rhythmic notation correctly. It's so fun to create our own rhythms!

Egg Matching:

Students have mini Easter egg halves. Each half either has a rhythmic notation, the name of a rhythm, or the syllable said when reading the rhythms out loud. The students' job is to match up the rhythm's name (top) with its notation (bottom) OR the rhythm's notation (top) with its rhythm syllable (bottom).

We have learned so much this year and it was so fun showing off our rhythm reading skills during music stations today!

Christmas Program Practice

Music = Community

Music is the one thing in the world that everyone shares, no matter the culture, religion, or country. It is a truly unique unifying event that creates and builds community. In the music room, we are learning to work together in our school community to create beautiful movement and music. Here, our Kindergarteners are having their first community building exercise. We play musical houses, instead of musical chairs, where once the music goes off, everyone must be in a "house" (hula-hoop). I take one house away each time the music starts again, until we are one big group inside one house. Each time you enter a house, you must grab hands with the others in your house and travel when the music returns together as a family. It shows the students that in music, no one is left out. Everyone plays, everyone sings, everyone dances, because we are one big music family. Check out some of our fun below!

Creative Movement and Awareness of Space

Have you ever noticed that kiddos seem to get in the space of others around them without even noticing it? It is because the neurons for special awareness have not yet developed fully and are still in need of molding. In music class, we are trying to exercise those neurons by practicing putting our bodies in different shapes while keeping our own space. Their goal was to form the shape of whatever card I was holding up without touching someone else near them. It's a lot harder than it looks! Check out these awesome kiddos learning about personal space!

Instrument Exploration

This week, the Kindergarteners got to explore classroom instruments for the first time! They were split into groups and rotated through the different percussion instrument groups. They got to play 5 different groups of instruments! They were: the woods, the shaker/scrapers, the metals, the membranes (drums), and the pitched percussion! We had a blast making chaotic music together!