Bring a Parent to Music Class and Family Folk Dancing Night

Another successful Music In Our Schools Month has come to an end. This year I was very brave and opened up my classroom to the public for parents and family to come to music class with a student. At the beginning of the month, I sent out a calendar with dates parents could come for each class. Each grade level had two possible day guests could visit. I planned my lessons ahead of time so that we would still have class as normal as possible, but guests would also get to see some of the "funner" stuff we do as well. By the end of the month I had over 140 visitors plus several younger siblings! Here is the calendar I sent home.

The other activity I planned was a Family Folk Dancing Night. I sent out invitations to all of my students in 4th-6th grade inviting any family members and older siblings to join us one evening for folk dancing and treats. 32 people attended and we learned 5 dances from 4 different countries. Dances included circle dances, longways sets, and scattered formation dances. We had a great time and all of the parents asked if we could please do this again, which I definitely will! Here are some pictures from that fun night.

Kindergarten studies high and low

The kindergarteners have been studying high and low sounds in music. We've done a lot of movement to show high sounds and low sounds with our bodies. One activity we did this week was to compose high and low patterns. In groups of 3-4, students had to come up with a pattern using high and low sounds and show me using their bodies. The next day, we took our groups of 4 and combined them to make groups of 8, and then we combined them to make one long pattern with the whole class! The kids loved finding different ways to show high and low with their bodies. It was also a great beginning composition activity!


Another activity we did was to listen to "Animals with Long Ears" from Carnival of the Animals. The students used their arms to show the high and low sounds in the piece, and then we listened again, only this time we used the parachute to show the highs and lows. The kids loved this and it forced them to be very patient listeners when waiting for the next high sound.

High, Low, High, Low

High, Low, High, Low

Low, High, Low

High, Low, Low

My First Opera: Hansel and Gretel

The 3rd graders just finished learning about the opera, "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck. After reading the story we play this interactive online game to design our own opera where we learn about all of the different jobs and roles involved in putting together a full opera production. Then, we create our own real opera in the classroom.


Each student selects a job from the following: Singers (Hansel, Gretel, Mother, Father, Sandman, Dew Fairy, and Witch), Set Designer, Costume Designer, Librettist/Prompter, Choreographer, Lighting/Effects Technician, Props Manager. All students are also members of the chorus and play the roles of angels and/or gingerbread children.


Costume designers select costumes from my costume cupboard for each of the characters, set designers are given cardboard boxes to decorate (I just happened to have several available from my 1st and 2nd grade program last week), the prop managers must find things in my classroom that can be used for the play, choreographers create dances for each of the songs we will be using, lighting/technical directors use flashlights and found sounds to create special effects, and the librettist takes a copy of the "Hansel and Gretel" storyline and writes singing parts for each character who then sings the lines in his/her own way (one student sang all of her lines to the Peyton Manning "Nationwide" tune!).


At first glance, this project seems a bit overwhelming and disastrous! The hardest part was for me to step back and let the students do all of the work. However, my 3rd graders completely ran away with this project! Each of the students took their job very seriously and some of them even worked on things at home!  I gave them 2 class periods (45 min. each) to work on their given jobs and then we had a dress rehearsal and then our final performance. Students invited family members to both the dress rehearsal and the final performance and we had over 15 audience members at each! It was amazing! My only regret is that I didn't record the performance or take more pictures. Luckily, my principal snapped a few for me!

Father, Gretel, Hansel, and Mother.

Gretel teaching Hansel how to dance in the song "Brother, Come and Dance with Me".

Preparing for Act II.

Taking their final bows!

What's that smell?!

This is one of my favorite activities to do with my Kindergarteners when we are beginning to notate long and short rhythms. First we learn several simple songs or poems, then we discover how many sounds there are on each beat, one or two. Then I get out my giant beats strips and we use shoes to notate the number of sounds on each beat. I have 4 riser groups so if we notate a 4 measure song it works out perfectly for each riser to be in charge of notating a measure. In the picture below, we were notating the poem "2-4-6-8". The kids love working together and problem solving how many shoes they will need and where they should go. However, even in kindergarten, it does get a bit stinky!

Two, four, six, eight

Meet me at the garden gate.

If I'm late, do not wait.

Two, four, six, eight.

 



Invented Instruments

Here are the invented instruments from this year's 6th graders. Once again I was blown away by the creativity of some of my students! They are sorted into aerophones, idiophones, chordophones, and membranophones. Instruments are required to be homemade, make 3 or more pitches, and be sturdy, decorated, and "finished" looking. Students also composed a sound piece to be performed on their instrument using iconic notation.

Snowman Songs

The 1st graders composed their first instrumental pieces using high (B), middle (G), and low (E) pitches. They notated whole notes onto a 3 lines staff, making sure their notes went left to right. They had to use a combination of at least 6 pitches in their piece.Once they were finished, they played their compositions on a choice of hand bells or boomwhackers. I had several sets set up around the room so that students could play their composition, and then go back to their spots to make any changes to the piece that they thought might sound better. Once they were satisfied with their composition, each student got to perform their piece for the class.


*This lesson was adapted from The Snowman Song lesson found in the book "Kids Can Compose" by Nicole LeGrand.