How to Draw a Treble Clef

The Grade 2/3 classes are learning to draw treble clefs.  There are 2 ways to draw them and the above is the way we learned today.  It's important to wrap the body around the G line and not go outside line 1 and 3.

Snuggle Up and Read

Yesterday the Grade 4/5 classes dusted off our boomwhackers for a little end of the week fun.  Boomwhackers are a RAINBOW of colors and notes that lead students to a pot of musical gold.   They are tuned plastic percussion tubes that vary in lengths according to their pitches. We play by (gently!) striking almost anything: a table, the floor, your thigh or hand, a shoe.  They are not only WHACKY and fun – these instruments are therapeutic and accessible for all.

This following activity hit many outcomes and skills in a very short amount of time.

We also learned about octaves.  We know that the musical alphabet has 7 letters.

Once we get to repeating the pattern, that next note becomes the eighth note, which is an octave.  One is the high and one is the low.  When we add a special cap to the boomwhacker, we can create a high and low note that is exactly 8 notes apart.

The Cat Came Back

Today the Grade 1 classes got to enjoy the fun song "The Cat Came Back."  Listening to song 'stories' is a great way to build literacy awareness, oral language skills, critical-thinking, comprehension, and self-expression.

Vocabulary: cat, yellow, farm, farmer, tractor, trucker, truck, pilot, plane, train, train conductor, little girl

Some great questions ask about the song:
What color was the cat in this story? Why do you think Mr. Johnson wanted to give the cat away? Who was the first person that Mr. Johnson gave the cat to? What were the sequence of events? How do you think the cat felt each time Mr. Johnson gave him away? How many times did the cat go back to Mr. Johnson? Can a cat really a drive a truck, fly a plane or eat up an entire field of corn? Is this story real or make-believe? How did the story end? How do you think the cat felt when the little girl took him home? Why do you think he felt that way? What was your favorite part of the story? What do you think the little girl named the cat?  What was the song form?

More Burgers and Books!

It's I Love to Read month and there are many exciting things planned for us in the music room.  We kicked off the week with Burgers and Books and some fun stories.  Stay tuned for more books and music.

When I say "Lettuce," You say "Read!"  "Lettuce!" "Read!"

Kinders Performance "Dinosaur Roar"

Can you say - Catalina Magdalena Hoppensteiner Wallendiner Hogan Logan Bogan Was Her Name?

Grade 4/5 Orff Club 2016 1st performance

Storytelling using shadow puppets is an ancient method

Our Kinder helpers telling the story!  Rehearsals :)

Learning Notes

Note Name Game Link

Grade 2/3 classrooms are learning to read music this week and we ended off our classes with some music games and center time to practice our skills.

Check out this funky song!

We were also playing the app "Staffwars" on Ms. Rempel's ipad.

Staff Wars is a free game for the computer, but it does need to be downloaded by an adult before you can play it. Click HERE for the link. You can also buy the app for the Ipad for $0.99. There are many other cool games that you can download from this page. Some do cost money, but there are others that are FREE!

Reading is Music to our Ears

This month, Kinder to Grade 3 classes are using literature to inspire us, spark our imaginations, work as a team, explore sounds and create musical stories.  

Congratulations to the Kindergartens on their performances at our "I Love to Read" assembly at the beginning of February.

Mrs. Grant's class performed "Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes" by Eric Litman.

Mrs. Lowe's class performed "When It Rains It Rains" by Bill Martin, Jr.

These are the 5 stories Room 11, 12, 17 and 18 have been exploring.  We look forward to sharing our performances with you in a few weeks.

Tuesday Assembly

 

Come on out to our Kick Off to I LOVE TO READ assembly on Tuesday, February 3 at 9:00.  Our Kindergarten classes will be presenting 2 stories with some really cool sounds! 

I Can Write Music!

I am so proud of Room 11, 12, 17 & 18.  Today they learned a children's rhyme called "Pease Porridge."  We reviewed quarter (ta) and eighth (ti-ti) notes as well as the quarter rest (sh).  We did one measure together and then they had to complete the rest of the song independently.  For some students, this was their first experiences writing music and they did REALLY well!  After this, they had to practice playing it on the hand drum.

Hats off to this Grade 1 student for only learning about this a couple of classes ago.  She did this all by herself!

Next class, we are going to write our own melodies on the pitched instruments to create a little tune.  I wonder what this will sound like?