Valentine's Day Rhythm Stations

1st graders are doing Valentine's Day themed stations this week in music. Each station helps them practice their rhythms (beat, beat-t, beat-e-t-a, rest). We did 5 stations total and had lots of fun!

Mrs. Dorazio's students clapping a long rhythm

One student plays the secret Valentine rhythm and others guess what number it was.

Students roll the rhythm dice and then notate the rhythm using popsicle sticks.

Students draw a Valentine word and students decide what rhythm matches it.

Sleigh Ride Grade 1

1st graders have been learning about the American composer Leroy Anderson. He was born close by, in Cambridge, MA!

Last week we danced to Bugler's Holiday.

This week we learned a cup game to Sleigh Ride and played the rhythm sticks after.

Staulcup's Class Rhythm Sticks

McEachern's Class Rhythm Sticks

Yurick's Class Rhythm Sticks

Halloween Fun

Students have started listening to their winter concert songs for our concert on Thursday, December 7th. The concert will take place at Shapleigh Middle School with K/1 at 6 PM and 2/3 at 7 PM.

After working on our winter concert music students have been doing some fun Fall and Halloween themed activities.

2nd graders made rhythms out of their favorite candies and then performed it for the class.

3rd graders are adding instruments to Halloween poems to make "spooky sound stories".

Normandin 1

Normandin 2

Wilson 1

Wilson 2

Wilson 3

Wilson 4

3rd Grade Drummers

3rd graders did a lesson on body percussion last week. This week they started drumming on the konga drums.

They used our new rhythm dice to compose a rhythm that they performed for the class. I created the rhythm dice by writing a rhythm on each side of a foam cube (beat-e-t-a, beat-t, beat, & rest).

Hartley's Class performs "Tiny Surfer"

Normandin's Class performs "If you See a Monkey"

2nd grade Boomwhackers

The 2nd graders are starting boomwhackers this week. Boomwhackers are plastic tubes that make different notes/sounds based on how long or short they are. The longer the tube the lower the sound.

Here is Ms. Sallade's class performing a fun song called "Wait to Eat the Donut." When their color boomwhacker comes onto the screen they play they rhythm "wait to eat the donut".

Here are some students from Mrs. DeLuca's class performing rhythms that they composed using our new rhythm dice (I wrote rhythms in sharpie on each side of foam cubes).

The third and final week of our boomwhacker unit is boomwhacker stations! We have 5 stations that last 5 minutes each. Students work together for two stations and individually for three. 

Ms. Down's Sstudent playing his "beat, beat-and" composition using colored squares.

Mrs. DeLuca's student playing his composition.

1st Grade Long-Short

Last week 1st graders learned about the sound opposites forte (loud) and piano (soft). They watched and danced to the song "Forte Piano":

This week students are learning about long sounds and short sounds. The song "Pizzicato" uses very short sounds. We learned a cute little poem about a froggy in disguise eating flies. I read the poem along with the rhythm of the music and students responded with "catch flies!" They played the guiros and tone blocks. Poem credit= Activate Music Magazine.

Staulcup's Class

Greene's Class

Then students learned the rhythms "beat" (quarter note), "beat-t" (paired eighth notes), and "rest" (quarter rest). They used our new foam hearts with rhythms on them to compose 4 beat rhythms. Then they got to combine their hearts with 2-3 friends to create a "super long rhythm".

Pete the Cat Composition

Some kindergarten classes played instruments to Pete the Cat's "I Love my White Shoes" then were able to compose their own shoe rhythms! One big shoe= Beat and two little shoes= beat-t.

We practiced as a class first on the SMART board.

Clapping their rhythm

Composing

So fun!

1st Grade Stick Compositions

1st graders learned how to make rhythms using popsicle sticks this week, inspired by listening to the book "Freddie the Frog and the Mysterious Wahooo!" Their rhythm choices were beat (quarter note), beat-t (eighth notes), Beat-e-t-a (sixteenth notes), and rest (quarter rest). They used the heart beat strips to help make 4 beats of rhythm. Then they clapped and said the beats and performed their composition for the class on the drum. Lastly, they made some more rhythms and played them on the egg shakers.

Students will use this skill again next week during their Valentine's Day lesson for our informances. We are excited to welcome parents into the music room soon! :-)

Drumming Unit Grade 3

3rd graders have spent the last two weeks learning about body percussion and drumming. Here are some videos of 3rd grade classes performing the poem "If you See a Monkey." They work on using the high notes on the edge of the drum and the low notes in the middle of the drum.

Students also learned about what an "Ostinato" is. It is a rhythmic pattern that is repeated. In this case, the ostinato is the poem that they repeated 3 times.

Mrs. Normadin's Class

Ms. Peternell's Class

"Tiny Surfer" Performed by Mrs. Wilson's Class. This is a different poem that also uses "high" and "low" notes on the drum.

Composing their own ostinato of their favorite candy.

Toothy Rhythms Grade K

Kindergarteners did a lesson on loosing their baby teeth. First they sang a song called "Bye Bye Baby Tooth." Then students created a toothy rhythm as a class on the smartboard using teeth as "beats" and lost teeth gaps as "rests".

Then students each got to compose their own rhythms using paper lips and teeth.

Finally, two students got to be the tooth fairies and when they tapped a student's shoulder that student became a lost tooth and ever so slowly sat down, to the music of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies!"