Kindergartners studied the four families of orchestral instruments: Woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion. With the help of a puppet named “Bleekie,” they learned features of each and practiced identifying members by sight and sound using a fun game on Quavermusic.com called “The instrument crane.” This game can be found on Quavermusic,com, accessed via your student’s Clever account. Once in Quavermusic, click on the Student Tab, then Student Interactives, and choose Instrument Crane from the top row. Your student might amaze you!
Second graders put on a wonderful performance in the first week of February, with joyful singing and many students reciting lines for the musical “Go Fish!” In the weeks since, students increased analytic listening skills by studying how melodies are put together by notes moving in steps, skips, or repeats. They turned themselves into human notes and “performed” melodic snippets by moving their bodies on a giant musical staff (created by tape on the floor). We also made connections with language arts by comparing musical phrases to sentences in stories. Both help us organize ideas and communicate meaning. We ended the month studying a new type of scale called the pentatonic.
Fourth graders began the month of February with the recorder unit. After a quick review of note reading on the treble clef, students began learning how to break down the complex task of coordinating fingers and breath to create melodies on the recorder. My primary goal is to teach students how to analyze a problem, isolate the component parts, work to achieve small goals, and then put those parts back together to create a meaningful whole. It’s exciting to hear their progress!