Three Piggy Opera

We are working on our own Three Piggy Opera (First Grade), which I think it just the cutest little mini musical.
This is the best little montage I found online to show my kids what it will be like to get them excited :) They are going to perform in class in front on their parents as a sharing for the end of the year. This is a great way for me to say goodbye to teaching for a while too, since I'm leaving GES for a full time Graduate School Program.

 

Silly Symphony fun

 

Love these oldies

Fill In the Beat Box

We are learning about 4/4 time in first grade. This week they learned how to fill their "beat box" (personal white board) with the correct number of beats using either quarter notes or 8th notes.
This was a fun, exciting, and personalized activity that allowed the students to be creative within the parameters of the 4/4 measure. I was also able to assess,very quickly, the students who understood the rhythms and who needed more guidance. We are only using "ta" and "ti" right now.

First part of lesson learning the values of the difference stems/heads.



Student Example 1



Student Example 2

Dancers In School: #proudmotherhen

The Carolina Ballet Company sent two of their members to our school today. It was fabulous to experience the strength and beauty of ballet, up front and personal. The two dancers demonstrated their daily stretches, partner work, choreography, discussed how to stay fit and flexible, and gave tips for the students in their daily life (eat well, sleep, exercise, etc..) The kids enjoyed the jumps and spins, and the fancy "couple work" they did (as one 5th grader put it.)

Being "choreographers" for the selected 5th graders

Teaching the 3rd graders "floor work" and "jumps"



Demonstrating bar work for the students

The stage set-up with portable bars, something I would LOVE to purchase for my classroom and for the after school ballet club I'd love to teach one day. Note the BEAUTIFUL costumes in the corner of the stage.

It was interactive too, while I would have changed the layout a bit myself, for the first time out I thought they did a fine educational job. I tend to be picky when it comes to assemblies, so I won't post anything negative.

They even taught the fifth graders choreography!

Before the assembly I gave one third grade class a pre-test and it asked questions like, " What is Ballet?" and "Name a few famous ballet pieces..." I was incredibly pleased that all my students named the Swan Lake, Peter and the Wolf, and the Nutcracker! I felt like a proud mama when I knew my kids were listening to me in class all those months back :)

While some of the answers are, obviously, incorrect (i.e. boys don't wear pointe shoes) I'm SO excited that they were MOSTLY correct on all the PRE test knowledge. #proudmotherhen

Frère Jacques

I'm excited about this one! My first graders are representing France in the Multicultural Day Festival. 

There are several cute French songs, the catch is I only have five weeks to completely prepare them for the show. I really don't like the idea of simply teaching for concerts. That type of scenario can become the music teacher's version of Teaching to the Test, if we aren't careful. I really want my kids to learn about what they are singing, the historical context, the theory, the solfege, the meaning, etc. 

French Flag

So I put together a power-point on France, you know- famous landmarks, sample phrases, clips of people speaking french...Then I taught them how to say, " Hi, how are you?" then I said, " music class is fun!" (Of course they need to know how to say THAT in french *smiles*)

Sample Phrases

We discussed...

• "What is a monk?" 
• "What does a monk do?"
• "Why do they call each other, brother?"
• "Why are they ringing a bell?"

The hair was the favorite part...

Next, we talked about quarter notes and ties. "Dor-met-Vous------" We discussed the note values and why we would tie two quarter notes together. This was a lively discussion, they identified all the ties in the music (there are four.) (The below example uses a half note, this we also discussed.)

Then I added the the ukulele and the foot tambourine. Once they learned to sing it, we added the xylophones, the "bells."

Playing "F's" on the down beats.

Playing the bass xylophone.

So fun!