Music No
Music Notes
End of January 2015
Happy New Year, everyone!
As always, I invite you to
check out our music classroom blog at:
It was great to see so many of our students’ families
at our holiday musical performance last month! The Hillcrest penguins put on a
great couple of shows.
Now that our performance is over, we’re delving back
into other curricular materials in the music room.
This month the kindergarteners
have been practicing their echo songs, including “Purple Light,” “No More Pie,”
and “Charlie Over the Ocean.” The students have been focusing on using their
singing voices and echoing pitches accurately. They’ve also begun leading the
echoes for the game with “Charlie Over the Ocean.” (Ask your kindergartener to teach you the song.) In addition to
singing, the kindergarteners have continued to show the steady beat using body
percussion, as well as pointing to beat symbols in a left-to-right pattern
(preparing for future music reading skills). Finally, they have reviewed
fast/slow, loud/soft, and high/low using actions and listening skills.
The 1st
graders have been reviewing their ta and ti-ti (quarter note and two 8th
notes) rhythm knowledge, and recently added rest (quarter rest). They’ve been
clapping, speaking, reading, and writing these three rhythms. They’ve also been
singing in large groups and small groups, focusing on using their singing
voices and matching pitches.
The 2nd
graders also added to their rhythm knowledge – they continued practicing
their 1st grade rhythms, reviewed half note and half rest, and
learned whole note. “The Water is Wide” is the main whole note song they’ve
been singing. They’ve been clapping, speaking, reading, and writing their
rhythms. Last month, they learned about The
Nutcracker and its composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, before taking a
field trip to the Meyer Theatre to see highlights from the second act of the
ballet. Check out the music blog for videos of the Act II dances, as well as
Olympic ice dancing videos to which the students drew connections.
The 3rd
graders have continued practicing their body percussion rounds and canons,
and they’ve begun to take turns leading their classes. They began taking their
knowledge and body percussion experience and applying it to songs. They’ve
played rhythm football, practicing tiri-tiri (four 16th notes) and
ti-tiri (one 8th note followed by two 16th notes). Most
recently, they read Tikki Tikki Tembo
and will start to determine how to notate the rhythm of his name.
The 4th
and 5th graders have been learning/reviewing their treble clefliteracy skills. We’ve practiced using rhymes and acronyms to remember the
lines (EGBDF) and spaces (FACE), always building from the bottom to the top.
The students worked together to create their own acronyms. Currently, they are
playing SMART Board games, doing written practice, and taking timed tests to
improve their accuracy and speed. This helps the students build their treble
clef literacy for recorder playing. When we start our recorder unit, they can focus
on learning recorder fingerings while applying previous music reading
knowledge. For at-home practice links and apps, please check the music blog.
Earning DRUM
cards outside of class: If students
are able to attend any performances outside of the school day, I ask that they bring in a program with their name on it and tell me (or write on the
program) something about it
(something new they learned, their favorite part of it, etc.).
If you have any questions or
concerns, please contact me!
Ms. Corinne Galligan
(920) 822-0433
cmgalligan@pulaskischools.org
musicathillcrest.blogspot.com
(920) 822-0433
cmgalligan@pulaskischools.org
musicathillcrest.blogspot.com
