3rd graders got a special treat this week as a chamber ensemble from the University of Illinois came to the music room to perform Peter and the Wolf! In the story of Peter and the Wolf, written be Sergei Prokovief in the 1930s, each character is represented by a particular instrument from the orchestra and has it's own special theme. I teach about this piece in 3rd grade every year as it goes so well with our instrumental unit. This year is extra special because the Young Person's Concert in April is Peter and the Wolf and we had this opportunity for the Chamber Visit. Some pictures from the visit are below. Ask your 3rd grader about the visit and about the characters and instruments. :-)
Once again, I find myself far behind on my WEEKLY blog. This tends to happen as I wrap up and do assemblies and one school and then have to move to the other school and get into the swing of a new schedule. This was made even more complicated this time around as I was very sick the first week of this 5th Fine Arts block. So, I apologize for the "radio silence!"
Assemblies at Yankee Ridge went quite well. Thank you so much to all the parents that were able to join us. I hope your kiddos have a lovely rest of their school year and look forward to seeing them again in the Fall! We are actually already halfway through this new block at Leal. Can you believe it?! The Kindergarteners in Mrs. Wirtz's class picked right up where they left off with our song experience games and have already learned a new nursery rhyme, Little Bo Peep. We talked about the story of Little Bo Peep quite a bit along with tracing the melody with our voices, bodies and actual markers on paper. We just started our last nursery rhyme today, Little Miss Muffet. We have a lot of fun with the "terrifying" nature of that particular story. ;-) 1st graders are working on one of my all time favorite units, The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens. Saint-Saens was actually one of our Musicians of the Month last year! We start this unit by watching a video of Bugs and Daffy that introduces the larger pieces and the poetry that was written to go with the piece. We then break the 30 minute piece down into some of it's individual pieces. We have covered the Lions, Aviary, Kangaroos, Aquarium, Swan, and will finish up with the Tortoises and Fossils before spending one class period listening straight through the piece and doing a variety of activities with each song. It's one of my favorite days! 3rd graders jumped back into our study of Instruments. We've talked a lot about what causes sound (vibration) and what helps us hear that song (amplification), and then, we got started designing and building our own original instruments out of recycled materials. We have 4 words that are guiding this project. They are written on the board, and I draw attention to them about 3 times during the course of each class. See if your 3rd grader can tell them to you AND explain them! They are vibration, amplification, innovation, and cooperation. Maestra Ana's 4th graders were excited to get their hands on their recorders again! We learned a new note, "C", and have just started our 2 assembly pieces. We also had several kids jump right back into Recorder Karate and continue blasting through those levels. Ok, you're caught up! I'll try to do better in the weeks to come. :-) |
Mrs. BlackerEvery week, I'll try to write a quick note about what's happened in music class this week. Archives
October 2019
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