Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Halloween Hallways!
5th Grade has been learning all about music pitches and their names in
order to prepare for learning to play the recorder :) We've learned
silly songs to remember that the spaces on the treble clef spell F-A-C-E
and that the lines are E-G-B-D-F. Another way to help us remember the
lines is we came up with our own mnemonics like Every Good Bear Deserves
Fish and Edvard Grieg Buys Duck Feet. For the spaces I gave students a
paper plate and the instructions that they could alter it in any way as
long as they made it a face with a Halloween theme (spooky or characters
to dress up as!) Now, our hallways look festive and so creative!!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Showbiz Props
Calling all 4th graders and their families who have props to use for the upcoming program! 4th Grade has been working very hard on their quickly approaching program, A Little Bit of Showbiz, on November 7th at 6 PM. We've worked on music, movement, and speaking roles-the only things missing are props to use! Instead of requiring kids to go out and purchase feather boas, top hats, canes, or capes, I thought it'd be best to see what items people already have. So please send your child in the next two weeks with any props you may have lying around. Thanks and look forward to seeing you at the performance!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Successful Fall Festival Musical!
I was very satisfied and proud of the 6th Grade's program, Fall Festival Musical! This was my first "official" program to direct and I felt that I couldn't have asked for a better group to share it with :) Lots of compliments were given from community members and families so I know they enjoyed seeing the kids perform. Check out the photos of students marching in a parade, singing, dancing with snowflakes, playing kazoos, and having fun. Nice work 6th Grade!!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
October's Composer of the Month
Edvard Grieg
June 15, 1843 - September 4, 1907
Romantic Period
Romantic Period
Fun facts:
Grieg always carried a little frog statue in his pocket everywhere he went and would rub it before concerts for good luck!
Both him and his wife were shorter than 5 feet tall!
Peer Gynt Suite: Morning Mood
Norwegian Dance No. 2
Peer Gynt Suite: In the Hall of the Mountain King
6th Grade Costumes
Greetings 6th grade students & parents/guardians! Tomorrow night is the BIG NIGHT! During class today a few kids had questions about what they were suppose to wear tomorrow. Here is the letter I sent home a few weeks ago that may have gotten lost sometime between then and now:
See you tomorrow for a night of entertainment and fun!
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Why is MUSIC Important? Music Advocacy
Obviously, since I am a music teacher I feel strongly about the importance of music in schools. I'm convinced of the benefits and necessity of music because it's been one of the biggest driving forces in my own personal life. Instead of hearing me ramble on and on about it, I thought I'd post some thoughts and facts by experts and various other people who can say it better than I can. Enjoy :)
6 benefits of music in early childhood
Posted by: Shara | January 31, 2012
Submitted by Slimy Bookworm
Today we are re-posting a fun article from Bola, owner of Slimy Bookworm, an online bookstore for children.
“If music be the food of love, play on” said William Shakespeare. The sensory experience of music is cardinal in early child development. Exposing a child to music is particularly important before they become verbal. It is always a delight watching my toddler who only speaks “baby language” light up to music. Depending on the tempo of the music, he would either sway from side to side or even break into a dance. You can’t teach kids these things, you just exposure them to music and let them be themselves.
Here are 6 good reasons to consciously exposure your child to music:
Language Development: The rhymes and repetition in nursery rhymes helps infants and toddlers with language development.
Motor Development: Infants and toddlers would usually respond to music by clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing. These are motor activities. The more they do, the better they get at it leading to better development of their muscles and nerves.
Social Development: Preschool teachers know that when they turn on music, they get laughter and pure silliness from the kids. Music loosens the kids and foster interaction between the kids and their instructors.
Memory Development: Kids learn to commit the lyrics of the songs they enjoy to memory further improving their brain’s capacity.
Improves Mood: Have you had to deal with getting a cranky kid through a checkout line in a grocery store? I have, playing music from my phone on those occasions works wonders! Works for car rides too. Kiboomu.com has over 1,000 children’s song downloads with lyrics and kids music apps at affordable rates. They even have a subscription plan that any parent (especially homeschoolers or preschool teachers) would find valuable.
Entertainment: Everyone needs to have some downtime and need to let loose every now and then, yes even kids. Music has the ability to make this happen.
Music does seem to be the food of a child’s brain development, so play on!
- See more at: http://blog.kabongo.com/6-benefits-of-music-in-early-childhood/#sthash.JWiRF3Xh.dpufToday we are re-posting a fun article from Bola, owner of Slimy Bookworm, an online bookstore for children.“If music be the food of love, play on” said William Shakespeare. The sensory experience of music is cardinal in early child development. Exposing a child to music is particularly important before they become verbal. It is always a delight watching my toddler who only speaks “baby language” light up to music. Depending on the tempo of the music, he would either sway from side to side or even break into a dance. You can’t teach kids these things, you just exposure them to music and let them be themselves.
Here are 6 good reasons to consciously exposure your child to music:
Language Development: The rhymes and repetition in nursery rhymes helps infants and toddlers with language development.
Motor Development: Infants and toddlers would usually respond to music by clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing. These are motor activities. The more they do, the better they get at it leading to better development of their muscles and nerves.
Social Development: Preschool teachers know that when they turn on music, they get laughter and pure silliness from the kids. Music loosens the kids and foster interaction between the kids and their instructors.
Memory Development: Kids learn to commit the lyrics of the songs they enjoy to memory further improving their brain’s capacity.
Improves Mood: Have you had to deal with getting a cranky kid through a checkout line in a grocery store? I have, playing music from my phone on those occasions works wonders! Works for car rides too. Kiboomu.com has over 1,000 children’s song downloads with lyrics and kids music apps at affordable rates. They even have a subscription plan that any parent (especially homeschoolers or preschool teachers) would find valuable.
Entertainment: Everyone needs to have some downtime and need to let loose every now and then, yes even kids. Music has the ability to make this happen.
Music does seem to be the food of a child’s brain development, so play on!
6 benefits of music in early childhood
Posted by: Shara | January 31, 2012
Submitted by Slimy Bookworm
Today we are re-posting a fun article from Bola, owner of Slimy Bookworm, an online bookstore for children.
“If music be the food of love, play on” said William Shakespeare. The sensory experience of music is cardinal in early child development. Exposing a child to music is particularly important before they become verbal. It is always a delight watching my toddler who only speaks “baby language” light up to music. Depending on the tempo of the music, he would either sway from side to side or even break into a dance. You can’t teach kids these things, you just exposure them to music and let them be themselves.
Here are 6 good reasons to consciously exposure your child to music:
Language Development: The rhymes and repetition in nursery rhymes helps infants and toddlers with language development.
Motor Development: Infants and toddlers would usually respond to music by clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing. These are motor activities. The more they do, the better they get at it leading to better development of their muscles and nerves.
Social Development: Preschool teachers know that when they turn on music, they get laughter and pure silliness from the kids. Music loosens the kids and foster interaction between the kids and their instructors.
Memory Development: Kids learn to commit the lyrics of the songs they enjoy to memory further improving their brain’s capacity.
Improves Mood: Have you had to deal with getting a cranky kid through a checkout line in a grocery store? I have, playing music from my phone on those occasions works wonders! Works for car rides too. Kiboomu.com has over 1,000 children’s song downloads with lyrics and kids music apps at affordable rates. They even have a subscription plan that any parent (especially homeschoolers or preschool teachers) would find valuable.
Entertainment: Everyone needs to have some downtime and need to let loose every now and then, yes even kids. Music has the ability to make this happen.
Music does seem to be the food of a child’s brain development, so play on!
- See more at: http://blog.kabongo.com/6-benefits-of-music-in-early-childhood/#sthash.JWiRF3Xh.dpufToday we are re-posting a fun article from Bola, owner of Slimy Bookworm, an online bookstore for children.“If music be the food of love, play on” said William Shakespeare. The sensory experience of music is cardinal in early child development. Exposing a child to music is particularly important before they become verbal. It is always a delight watching my toddler who only speaks “baby language” light up to music. Depending on the tempo of the music, he would either sway from side to side or even break into a dance. You can’t teach kids these things, you just exposure them to music and let them be themselves.
Here are 6 good reasons to consciously exposure your child to music:
Language Development: The rhymes and repetition in nursery rhymes helps infants and toddlers with language development.
Motor Development: Infants and toddlers would usually respond to music by clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing. These are motor activities. The more they do, the better they get at it leading to better development of their muscles and nerves.
Social Development: Preschool teachers know that when they turn on music, they get laughter and pure silliness from the kids. Music loosens the kids and foster interaction between the kids and their instructors.
Memory Development: Kids learn to commit the lyrics of the songs they enjoy to memory further improving their brain’s capacity.
Improves Mood: Have you had to deal with getting a cranky kid through a checkout line in a grocery store? I have, playing music from my phone on those occasions works wonders! Works for car rides too. Kiboomu.com has over 1,000 children’s song downloads with lyrics and kids music apps at affordable rates. They even have a subscription plan that any parent (especially homeschoolers or preschool teachers) would find valuable.
Entertainment: Everyone needs to have some downtime and need to let loose every now and then, yes even kids. Music has the ability to make this happen.
Music does seem to be the food of a child’s brain development, so play on!
6 benefits of music in early childhood
Posted by: Shara | January 31, 2012
Submitted by Slimy Bookworm
Today we are re-posting a fun article from Bola, owner of Slimy Bookworm, an online bookstore for children.
“If music be the food of love, play on” said William Shakespeare. The sensory experience of music is cardinal in early child development. Exposing a child to music is particularly important before they become verbal. It is always a delight watching my toddler who only speaks “baby language” light up to music. Depending on the tempo of the music, he would either sway from side to side or even break into a dance. You can’t teach kids these things, you just exposure them to music and let them be themselves.
Here are 6 good reasons to consciously exposure your child to music:
Language Development: The rhymes and repetition in nursery rhymes helps infants and toddlers with language development.
Motor Development: Infants and toddlers would usually respond to music by clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing. These are motor activities. The more they do, the better they get at it leading to better development of their muscles and nerves.
Social Development: Preschool teachers know that when they turn on music, they get laughter and pure silliness from the kids. Music loosens the kids and foster interaction between the kids and their instructors.
Memory Development: Kids learn to commit the lyrics of the songs they enjoy to memory further improving their brain’s capacity.
Improves Mood: Have you had to deal with getting a cranky kid through a checkout line in a grocery store? I have, playing music from my phone on those occasions works wonders! Works for car rides too. Kiboomu.com has over 1,000 children’s song downloads with lyrics and kids music apps at affordable rates. They even have a subscription plan that any parent (especially homeschoolers or preschool teachers) would find valuable.
Entertainment: Everyone needs to have some downtime and need to let loose every now and then, yes even kids. Music has the ability to make this happen.
Music does seem to be the food of a child’s brain development, so play on!
- See more at: http://blog.kabongo.com/6-benefits-of-music-in-early-childhood/#sthash.JWiRF3Xh.dpufToday we are re-posting a fun article from Bola, owner of Slimy Bookworm, an online bookstore for children.“If music be the food of love, play on” said William Shakespeare. The sensory experience of music is cardinal in early child development. Exposing a child to music is particularly important before they become verbal. It is always a delight watching my toddler who only speaks “baby language” light up to music. Depending on the tempo of the music, he would either sway from side to side or even break into a dance. You can’t teach kids these things, you just exposure them to music and let them be themselves.
Here are 6 good reasons to consciously exposure your child to music:
Language Development: The rhymes and repetition in nursery rhymes helps infants and toddlers with language development.
Motor Development: Infants and toddlers would usually respond to music by clapping their hands, stomping their feet and dancing. These are motor activities. The more they do, the better they get at it leading to better development of their muscles and nerves.
Social Development: Preschool teachers know that when they turn on music, they get laughter and pure silliness from the kids. Music loosens the kids and foster interaction between the kids and their instructors.
Memory Development: Kids learn to commit the lyrics of the songs they enjoy to memory further improving their brain’s capacity.
Improves Mood: Have you had to deal with getting a cranky kid through a checkout line in a grocery store? I have, playing music from my phone on those occasions works wonders! Works for car rides too. Kiboomu.com has over 1,000 children’s song downloads with lyrics and kids music apps at affordable rates. They even have a subscription plan that any parent (especially homeschoolers or preschool teachers) would find valuable.
Entertainment: Everyone needs to have some downtime and need to let loose every now and then, yes even kids. Music has the ability to make this happen.
Music does seem to be the food of a child’s brain development, so play on!
Let's Go Fly a Kite!
Monday, October 7, 2013
September's Composer of the Month
John Williams
2/8/1932-Present
Students absolutely loved September's composer of the month, but that's not surprising since most of the world does! Ask your child what they learned this month and I bet they'll tell you he's written music for some movies you recognize! Some cool facts about Williams is he's written music for over 109 films, had 48 Academy Award nominations, is American, and still alive :) We spent a lot of time discussing how much of an impact music has on the storyline and emotional attachment to movies. If film music is done well, you don't even realize it's there! We hardly ever have enough time to watch the entire video clip during class, so students may enjoy watching the end of these at home.
Olympic Fanfare and Theme:
Star Wars Main Theme:
Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter:
Bonus:
Saturday, October 5, 2013
August's Composer of the Month
Ludwig van Beethoven
December 16, 1770 - March 26, 1827 Romantic Period
December 16, 1770 - March 26, 1827 Romantic Period
We started the year off with many of the world's favorite composer-Beethoven. Students learned what a composer is, about Beethoven's rough childhood, and how going deaf affected his music. We learned about and listened to his Fifth Symphony, 9th Symphony, and Moonlight Sonata. In order for student's to remember the piece of the day, we listen to it at least twice and in different ways in order to get it stuck in our brains. Technology is fantastic because I can show kids so much more than what I'm able to bring into my classroom like full orchestras and so much more! Students ask me at least once a day if I can give them the web address so they can re-watch videos at home, so I promised I'd put them on my blog. So here they are:
5th Symphony-
9th Symphony-
Moonlight Sonata-
Composer of the Month
I have implemented a new program this year that I and the kids are very excited about: Composer of the Month!
Through Composer of the Month, your 3rd-6th grade child will study a
new composer who writes music and each week we will focus on one of
their songs. Using this curriculum, I will be able to teach appreciation
for music by learning about
music themes (melodies), harmonies, instruments, vocal styles, forms,
dynamics, tempo, mood, and foreign languages. In addition, we will cover
a lot
of historical information surrounding the lives of the composers.
Please encourage your child’s love of music by helping them learn this
year’s composers, listening along with them, and prepare to be amazed by
how much your child knows. As you participate in your child’s musical
development, you and your child will discover life-long benefits that
music can bring!
Upcoming 6th Grade Program
Program News
Music Program Dates for 2013-2014:
10/17 @ 6 pm - 6th Grade
11/07 @ 6 pm - 4th Grade
12/05 @ 6 pm - 1st Grade
12/12 @ 6 pm - Kindergarten
02/06 @ 6 pm - 2nd Grade
03/06 @ 6 pm - 5th Grade
04/03 @ 10 am - Pre-K
04/10 @ 6 pm - 3rd Grade
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