Cougar Choir rocks the Cluster Concert

Last night, the Cougar Choir performed at the annual cluster concert at Dan F. Long Middle School. They've been working on a variety of traditional Christmas carols from around the world in preparation for their performance at the Holidays Around the World Festival coming up on Tuesday, December 16. 

They've been INCREDIBLE troopers learning a whole new repertoire in the last 6 rehearsals and even taking on the challenge of learning multiple languages including Japanese, German, Spanish, and a little bit of French. Check out their performance of Kiyoshi Kono Yoru (Silent Night in Japanese) and O Tannenbaum in the traditional German. 

I'm SO proud to be their director!

Composers Everywhere!

Right before Thanksgiving, first and second grade students became composers using the pitches and rhythm they've learned so far. Second grade students reviewed their understanding of Sol, La, and Mi in small groups to "Roll-A-Song".

Students used two dice to help them find out the rhythm (quarter note, beamed eighths, or quarter rest) and the melody (Sol, La, or Mi). They then used their knowledge of where Sol, La, and Mi live on the staff to correctly write out their song. When students were finished, they needed to give their song a title and sing it!

Completed display of some 2nd grade original songs!

First grade had been working on Sol and Mi. We have practiced where those notes live on our bodies when we sing melodies. They also reviewed that a quarter note gets one sound and that beamed eighths get two sounds. We used little leaves and pumpkins to represent the notes. 

The leaves represented the quarter note since "leaf" gets one syllable. The pumpkins were our eighth notes since "pumpkin" has two syllables. It was kind of tricky to remember that when we wrote eighth notes, both pumpkins had to be together but they did it! Such a fun way to practice writing music before we move on to the staff!!

Showing off their hard work!

Super proud of their composition after singing it!

Second grade did a little MORE composing to explore their new rhythms of half note and half rest. Students worked with a partner to explore rhythm combinations of quarter note, quarter rest, beamed eighths, half note, and half rest. Each rhythm value had a corresponding movement of "jump", "hide", "gobble" or "ru-un".Once students came up with a combination that had the correct number of beats, they demonstrated their turkey dance!

Deciding what to choose is tricky! What do you want to choose?

Goofy Turkey dancers!

First Performance - JOUST!

Back on October 28, 5th grade students shared the first musical production of the year. We spent about six weeks preparing the songs and working on the choreography in class. Our featured cast took on the extra responsibility of after school rehearsals, stage blocking, and memorizing scripts. It was definitely the most intricate show we've taken on but it was so much fun to see in its final form! Check out some of the pictures from the evening:

King Arthur attempts to rally his knights to turn from their violent ways and choose to make harmony with Boomwhacker instruments. 

 "All I Ever Wanted Was Music"

Hopefully I'll have some more pictures soon and from different angles. Being front and center directing limited how many different shots I could actually get. I'm super proud of these kiddos and the hard work the put in to make such a fun production!

Spooky Story Time

Through the month of October, different grade levels enjoyed musical stories about "spooky" pieces of music, accompanied stories with sound effects, and sang along with familiar folk songs. Here's a look at some of the books we enjoyed!

Kindergarten is reading Linda William's "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything". Stories read with funny voices are great and all but we took it one step further and added sound effects! We've been getting to know some of the different percussion instruments found in the music room and thought this would make the perfect opportunity to play SIX of them! Students added woodblocks, jingle bells, maracas, rhythm sticks, triangles, and frame drums. Talk about fun!

First grade enjoyed a sing-along story to Lucille Colandro's "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat". Its just like the classic sing-along of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Who Swallowed a Fly" but with different words to go with the holiday spirit! In this adventure, she swallows a bat, an owl, a cat, a ghost, a goblin and even more! Talk about a full stomach!!!

Second grade students met the composer Camille Saint-Saens back in first grade when they explored his "Carnival of the Animals". We've been exploring Mr. Saint-Saen's music a little deeper with a Mystery Song where students drew pictures that represented what they heard in the music. Then, they found out the actual title of the song was "Fossils" and it was FROM the Carnival of the Animals they already knew about! Another famous composition of Saint-Saens' is his Danse Macabre. We found out that it was inspired by a trip to the underground catacombs in Paris, France and he used the help of his friends Henri and Augusta to help figure out exactly how he wanted his music to sound. 

Third grade learned the mystery of the Phantom Cat! Its actually the story of the Phantom of the Opera, but the author chose to turn all the characters into cats. I guess he thought its more entertaining that way? I certainly thought so! Students found out that musicals are divided into acts just like stories are divided into chapters. In this adventure, we learn of a Phantom that has been haunting the Paris Opera House and how he loves a singer named Christine. The only problem though is there is ANOTHER man who loves Christine! What happens when you have a beautiful singer trapped between the love of two admirers? You'll have to read to find out!

There were two more books we read, even though they weren't of the "spooky" variety. Check them out below!

Kinder got to meet another of the Music Class Pals with Deborah Diesen's "The Pout Pout Fish". They were introduced to Mr. Fish, but its okay...you can call him by his first name, Nemo. :) 

Nemo loves it when he gets to sing the chorus and say "Blub, Blub, Blub". After we read his story students learned how to play Nemo's Game and his song. It was an ocean-ful of fun!

Second graders are familiar with all sorts of instruments but they've never met a didgeridoo before! Nick Page wrote a super fun book titled "Do you do a Didgeridoo?" where a quirky customer searches all over the music store for a mysterious Didgeridoo and brings even quirkier pals along with him for the search! After we read the book, students saw a didgeridoo performance by William Barton with the Youtube Symphony Orchestra. I'd even say some students found a new favorite instrument!

A Castle is Coming!

In the midst of show preparation madness, blog updates have unfortunately taken a hit. However, there is BIG news! It only took a 16' moving truck and a very kind Mr. Moreno (we weren't too keen on driving on the front lawn) to get things started, but the set for JOUST! is officially underway.

We are transforming the stage into a medieval castle complete with elevated platforms for the Damsels & Mighty Medieval Men, a perch high upon the castletop for Merlin to oversee the happening of the castle grounds, and a functioning drawbridge that will be nothing shy of a grand entrance.

I have to give my husband a HUGE thanks for his persistent work in getting all of this constructed. I've never done a construction project and boy does it tire you out. That's okay though - the kiddos will love it. With it being still in raw form right now, its a little tough to see but by Friday it should have every last detail in place. 

Some of the students have even been getting their hands a little dirty with prop construction. Last week, some of the cast members tried their hand at some paper mache to create balloons that will hang above the castle courtyard. There's still a few more clouds to go, but it should look fantastic!

Recorder Time

The time has come for 4th grade to begin their musical journey into recorder! We learn using Yamaha Soprano Baroque fingering recorder. This is a three-piece instrument for easier cleaning, and has a better sound than most student recorders. What I particularly enjoy about these specific recorders is they are translucent and come in three bright, candy colored options. Students may choose the color of their choice and even have the opportunity to swap out the body joint (middle) and foot joint (bottom) with a friend so they can have a multi-colored instrument. However, the mouthpiece MUST stay yours - no swapping. 

All students will be receiving a parent letter and order form just like the one below. If you are a 5th grade student who is new or did not order one last year, this is the time to order one for yourself! I will be taking orders through Friday, October 10. After that date, no more orders will be placed and students will need to contact a local music store for their inventory. 

It should take about a month for orders to be processed and returned to campus. Once they are delivered, cases will be labeled with student names. Check back around Thanksgiving Break to see how things are going and see what we've learned to play!

Joust has been Cast!

Ladies and Gentlemen...may I present the 2014 5th Grade Musical cast!!!

Please join us on Tuesday, October 28 and experience the saga of King Arthur and his Mighty Medieval Men as narrated by Merlin and many others.  It's been a wonderful sight to see everyone so excited and already working hard to practice and memorize their lines!

 All students who have been assigned speaking parts have received practice folders like the ones above. To help students out, their individual parts have been highlighted.

After plenty of schedule juggling and working around tutorials, the final list is ready!

Merlin: Emely Garcia
King Arthur: Bryan Damian
French King: Ryan Gonzales
French Soldiers:
French Ladies: Kate Castillo, Angie Garcia, and Natalie Suarez
Messenger: Leeasiah Sheppard
Jesters: Daniel Contreras, Jack Nelson
Mighty Medieval Men: Kaelan Frederickson, Aliyah Guynes, Nathan Shaner, Lizzie Scrudder, Kristen Howery, Carlos Hernandez, Jordyn Crain
Damsels: Rosa Montoya, Emma Richardson, Tiffany Grande, Shania Caruajulca, Clara Hernandez, Reyna Soto, Emlyn Navarette, Jessica Gonzales

Handy-Dandy calendar for all cast to know when we have rehearsals!

The JOUST! cast will have their first rehearsal on this Thursday, September 25 from 3:00 - 3:45 in the music room. In the cast folders, students received a rehearsal calendar as well as a parent letter that explains how they can sign up for text message reminders about the upcoming rehearsals.

Week at a Glance

Hey Cougars! The past two weeks have FLOWN by with the kickoff of Percussion Ensemble, Cougar Choir, and all the excitement that happens in our regular classes! Here's a rundown of what's been happening in the classroom lately...

5th Grade has been preparing to travel back in time about 500 years to the Medieval Era for our upcoming musical - JOUST! Last week students had the chance to audition for speaking roles such as Merlin, Damsels, Court Jesters, and many more! Lyric packets went out this week to begin memorizing words at home. Stay tuned for what kind of transformation the stage will undergo in a few weeks...

 

Fourth grade learned about their opportunity to join this year's Cougar Choir, met George Friderick Handel and his "Hornpipe from Water Music", and enjoyed an African passing game called Obwesana. For it to be such a catchy and fun melody, you'd never think it means "The rock has crushed my hand, Grandma"! Crushed hands or not, its plenty of fun.  

Third grade happened to luck out with the most pictures, so lucky them! We started off reviewing songs with Do, Re, Mi, and Sol using what we know about pitch relationships to label iconic notation. Once we could sing it on solfege (that's the Do, Re, Mi business) with our hand signs, we transferred that knowledge to standard notation and figured it out on little xylophones. The little rainbow ones really come in handy when everyone is practicing the same melody. Once its solid, we can transfer to the full Orff keyboards. Later, we reviewed rhythmic values with a rhythm dice game. Quarter notes, Half notes, Whole notes, and their coordinating rests. The students had a fantastic time making their dice with their partner and seeing whose score came out higher at the end!

Second grade has been preparing for their field trip in February to the Dallas Symphony with a review of instrument families. We've really dug into the string family with some video performances, seeing how a bow is made, and even getting to experience a bow and rosin up close. Its pretty astounding to find out that the strings on a bow are actually horse hair! (I apologize for the lack of photo - I could have sworn that I snapped one during one of our small group activities.)

First grade started training their ears back in Kindergarten to recognize melodic direction, but now its time to label it. We've learned that high and low notes are actually called Sol and Mi, notes can live on lines or spaces, and there are three ways a melody can move: up, down, or repeat. 

Once we mastered Sol and Mi, we moved on to battle some aliens and blast them with asteroids with Galactic Goonies! Gotta be quick because we only have 10 seconds to identify the melodic direction before the aliens slime our astronaut with their Galactic Goo Guns. Eww!

 Find out this weekend what the final cast list is for the 5th grade JOUST! production...

MineSTAFF!

With the popular craze of MineSTAFF, I decided to jump on the bandwagon for a bit of a music theory review. Last year, 3rd grade students learned how to read standard musical notation from a staff while 4th grade enhanced their ability by applying it to reading sheet music for recorder. Hoping they didn't forget this skill over the summer, we've been reviewing note names with MINESTAFF!

Students divided themselves into teams to be represented by characters from the popular game such as Steve, Pig, Zombie, and Creeper. (Considering I've never played the game, I hope I picked the good ones!) Students then chose their world of choice and worked as a team to figure out which pitches were shown. 

 

Sharing thoughts with teammates...

So much excitement! If you're not sure, make sure to use the resources around the room to help you...

 One 5th Grade Cougar explains how she figured out lower ledger lines. Remember, the staff has a pattern of line,space, line, space and the music alphabet only goes A-G!

After plenty of review, some frenzied competition, awesome teamwork and tons of fun, I'd say 4th and 5th grade Cougars are ready to go!

Class Dojo

What a whirlwind the first week has been! Its been such a joy seeing so many familiar faces and a blast getting to know my new friends for the year. This year in Specials, we've hopped on the Class Dojo bandwagon and love it!!! 

There are a few adjustments to how the kiddos typically interact with Dojo but its easy to adjust: Instead of each student having a Dojo monster, the whole class is represented by their teacher's Dojo monster. This way, they need to work as a team to earn or lose points. Across Specials, we are emphasizing the same positive traits and negative consequences. 

At the end of the 9 weeks, the Dojo monster with the most points in each grade level will be rewarded with a comfy casual day of no shoes, fun movie, pillows/couch time, and popcorn!!! Classes don't have to reach a preset point value to get the reward but rather continually push themselves to get points each day and be the best they can be. 

Kids are already loving it and I'll be connecting with classroom teachers so they can log in as the "parent" and see how their students are doing in Music through the year. I'm so excited! 

Back to School

This past Friday was Meet the Teacher Night! It was so exciting to be able to open up my classroom and invite students and friends new and old inside to see what excitement is in store for this school year. I love all the brightness I see when I open up my doors and hearing parents comments certainly made the effort all worthwhile. The bright colors and fun fonts make word walls so much fun!

I have to give my best friend a huge THANK YOU for her help Friday afternoon. She's such a trooper to come right from the airport to my room and start tackling the seating spots arrangements. Plus, gotta love the polka dot duck tape!

 I'm not one to attempt making a lot of Pinterest projects, however I LOVE how my lollipop tree turned out! This year, I found an adorable brochure template to edit with all sorts of music information for this school year. Super easy way to share an overview of this year's performances and ensemble opportunities I can't wait to kick off with this year's students. Percussion, Recorder, and Choir...oh my! 

I can't wait to start sharing all the excitement in the music room this year. Make sure to check back for updates, pictures, and find out how our Thompson Cougars are growing into wonderful young musicians!