This week, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Graders spent time with the book Bee-Bim Bop by Linda Sue Park. Each grade level learned the song (from Charissa Duncanson, who teaches near Detroit and is a wonderful music educator!) and added percussion instruments, xylophones, body percussion, and/or movement. We spent time in each class talking about Thanksgiving and how it has morphed from a holiday focused on the Pilgrims and Native Americans to spending time with friends and family and being thankful. Another aspect of Thanksgiving that each class brought up was how much food was enjoyed, and we talked about a dish that quite a few of our students were familiar with - bee-bim bop! The book Bee-bim Bop! actually includes a recipe that can be made at home even if you are unfamiliar with the dish. Scroll below to see some photos and videos of our students in action this week. The Fifth Graders read a book called Your Name Is A Song (shout out to Sunny's family for donating it to our classroom!) and we talked about our names: how they are as unique as we are, how they can be said in different ways, and how they can be innately musical. We then worked with Chrome Music Lab's Song Maker to turn our names into a song, whether through melody, a picture, or letters. You can see the students' work below, and if you would like to hear the song, copy the link from the top of each image. Gracey: Fisher: O'Leary Peck First Grade Young Fives and Kindergarten continued our "leaf" theme from last week by reviewing our "Going On A Leaf Hunt" song and the different types of leaves we saw when we were outside. Then, we used some leaf names to create rhythms between singing our song!
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A big thank you goes out this week to Sunny's family and Tessneem's family for donating two wonderful books: Your Name Is A Song written by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and illustrated by Luisa Uribe, and Salam Alaikum, based off of a song by Harris J and illustrated by Ward Jenkins. These books are wonderful opportunities to learn more about each other and start conversations that will continue throughout our students' entire lives. Thank you for helping our music classroom be a more representative space of our King School family!
What a week!
We did not have school on Monday or Tuesday, and then late on Wednesday evening I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina for the National American Orff Schulwerk Association conference! A big common denominator for a lot of the sessions I will be attending is diversifying literature in our music classroom, and using literature to further social-emotional learning - two things I care deeply about. Along with great new lessons, I'll also be bringing back some new instruments. I can't wait to come back and share about this fabulous experience! Please excuse this belated post - it was supposed to be posted on 10/7! Our third grade students have been working very hard over the last three weeks! We began by focusing on listening: we went outside into the field behind the school and wrote down everything we could hear. Some classes had more to listen to than others (lots of kids on the playground, construction, and even an eagle was heard at one point) but the students' lists of what they heard were impressive. After listening to Michigan sounds, we learned about the Pure Michigan initiative from Michigan.org and how the musicians were selected to make the music for the commercials. Most will recognize Tim Allen's voiceovers and know that Mr. Allen is from Michigan, but all of the musicians and the sounds themselves are also from Michigan. The students then used the instruments in the classroom to recreate the Michigan sounds they heard outside, and using a platform called SoundTrap, learned the music technology to record themselves and their instruments in small groups. Each group worked together to record the narration (text below), record their instruments, and then mix (adjust the volume of each track) as a group. Enjoy! "As life starts moving faster and faster we need to make a choice. To move faster with it or step off every now and then. To marvel at the wonders around us, to take in new sights and sounds. And remember just how beautiful life can be. This fall, let's take a deep breath of pure Michigan. Your trip begins at Michigan.org" [text taken directly from this video, the inspiration for this project]. We also had moments of exploration in our classes. Check out these rhythmic readers and rappers! |
Mrs. BergerTeacher, parent, dog mom, traveler Archives
March 2024
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