My days and schools have changed slightly from last year. I am an Odessa Wildcat on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but I end my week at Trinity Elementary on Fridays. It is good to call both schools home!
We started the school year with lots of review as I introduced the newbies (kindergarteners) to the beat of the music. Everyone should be able to tap their toes to the music or pick up a frying pan and wooden spoon as they play to the beat!
We jumped right in with Patriotic music and had all the students playing hands on with our wonderful Orff instruments and recorders. Quite a few students earned RWB belts for their recorders for playing America. Please click this link to learn more about Carl Orff…. http://www.orff.de/en.html
The fourth and fifth graders are in full swing playing their recorders and will be earning their Recorder Karate belts as they perform songs of graduating difficulty. My avatar is a picture of some hot cross buns. This is the first song students must play to earn their white belt!!
The third graders are finishing up their performances of Don Gato! Ask your child what a BALLAD is and which character they got be. It was a great time for all. We have some really promising actors and actresses!!
Second grade is learning about the different parts of the music staff and how notes can be placed on lines and spaces. We are playing simple rhythms on un-pitched percussion instruments and keeping a steady beat on pitched instruments. Can they tell you the difference between the two types? Ask them!
Kindergarten and first grade continue to explore through a lot of dance, movement, and playing on instruments too! They had a wonderful time singing about autumn leaves falling and letting ‘real’ leaves fall from their fingers. Next they played in a train style where the first person in a short line of 4 or 5 students move to the end of the train to let the next person play. They had a ball of fun with Halloween’s Coming using a steady beat accompaniment and each child got to perform a ‘solo’!!! This week we started 5 Fat Turkeys and added a hide and seek game that goes along with the song. Soon K, 1, 2, and 3 will be singing Over the River and through the Woods while they gallop like fast horses!!