An overview of the past couple of weeks

Wow. Where does the time go? I was really hoping to make at least one post a week, but school is always so busy. I guess I'll just have to post when I can. Here's a few of the activities we did in our classroom over the past couple of weeks.

K/1 students have just a long unit on farm songs. We explored many different songs about animals and learned about some classroom instruments along the way. Two of their favorite activities from this past week is a game called We're Goin' to Kentucky and Going on a Bear Hunt. They also enjoyed learning a silly song called Apples and Bananas.

2nd graders learned a really fun folk dance called Alabama Gal. We also used the song Tony Chestnut (with it's silly actions) to talk about tempo. I've Been Workin' on the Railroad is another song they enjoyed this week.

3rd graders learned a Mexican Folk Dance called La Raspa. They get quite a workout when doing this dance! If you aren't out of breath when the dance is over, you aren't doing it correctly! We created and notated body percussion (snapping, clapping, patting, stamping) ostinati (short repeated patterns in music) to perform with a poem called Mary Lost Her Coat.

4th graders are learning a fairly complicated folk dance called 't Smidje. I hope to post a video of it at some point. We started work on a song called Grandfather's Clock. We are making lots of preparations for starting to play the recorder. Ask your child to demonstrate Hot Cross Buns on their arm recorder. If you have not sent a recorder to school with your child or $5 to purchase a recorder, please do so as soon as possible.

Nearly all 5th graders have completed their first Recorder Karate test by playing/recording Hot Cross Buns for me. This can be done at home (see this previous post for directions) or during class. I am hopeful that all 5th graders will have completed this task by the end of next week. We also used the iPads again and had fun with a chant called Boom Chicka Boom.

All the students in Grades 2-5 have enjoyed a seasonal song we learned called Hey Jack!