Different Voices

Ms. White had a fright,
In the middle of the night!
Saw a ghost, eating toast,
Halfway up the lamp post!

Primary students have been learning this fun chant. They have been using different voices while they repeat the chant.

(image from bethsmusicnotes.com)  

Now that they know the chant well, we are going to decipher where the BEAT in the song is! Using my handy magnetic hearts, I will guide students by placing hearts underneath the words that fall on the BEAT. They are ready for this as we have spend a lot of time moving, listening, and playing on the beat to different styles of music! A next step would be to determine the RHYTHM of the words in the chant! Then we can add in some instruments and bring the chant to life!

~Mrs. Caya

What the Intermediates are up to!

Students in grades 4/5/6 have been busy learning all about the ukulele! They have learned the names of the strings, proper playing technique and rest position vs. playing position (very important!) :)

So far they have learned the song, "Don't Worry Be Happy", and "Wipeout". Two very different techniques needed, strumming chords, and picking the strings.

The grade 4/5 class have started learning how to play the recorder, and they are pretty amazing! In just a few short weeks (and I only see them 2 times a week for 45 mins), they have learned notes B, A, G, as well as E. They can play Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Ramble. This week they are learning a few new songs using their new note, E - BAGE Blues, and Skin and Bones.


~Mrs. Caya

October Assembly!

On October 25, Mrs. Bannister's class will be performing 2 songs. They will be presenting "Down, Down, Yellow and Brown", using ORFF instruments and movement. This song has been an excellent tool for discussing high/low, and for learning the very tricky skill of singing and playing at the same time. We have used leaf manipulatives with labelled with solfege, and I have placed this in a descending pattern, so students are able to see the movement of notes in the song.

The other song the class is performing is a cute little Halloween song called "Three Black Bats" (sung to the tune of Three Blind Mice)

Three black bats, three black bats
See how they fly, see how they fly
They all came out in the dark moonlight, 
Did you ever see such a Halloween sight, 
As three black bats!

I am going to be recording students this week and *hopefully* will remember to take some pictures, too!

Happy Halloween everyone!
~Mrs. Caya

Dem Bones!

Here is a cute little dance our kindergarten and K/1 students will be learning this week!

  

Pumpkin Patch!

Pumpkin patch, pumpkin patch
ti-ti         ta         ti-ti      ta

Looking for a pumpkin in my pumpkin patch.
ti-ka     ti-ka       ti-ka   ti-ka    ti-ti         ta

Here one is, nice and fat
ti    ti    ta      ti-ti      ta

Turn into a jack-o-lantern, just like that!
ti-ka     ti-ka   ti-ka   ti-ka    ti-   ti     ta



Pumpkin Patch is a song primary students got to learn today. What fun! We discussed the difference between a pumpkin, and a jack-o-lantern. Students showed me their best jack-o-lantern faces (scary? funny? sad? happy? silly?).

We then played the game. All students curl up into little balls, as pumpkins. I sang the song, and walked throughout the "pumpkin patch". At the end of the song, I tapped one student's shoulder on the words "just like that". They jumped up and showed me their best "jack-o-lantern face". The two of us then continue on playing the game, and tapping shoulders, until all students are jack-o-lanterns.

The students really enjoyed this game, and it was incredibly cute to see their different faces.

You could also use this song to each "tika-tika" with grades two and three.


~Mrs. Caya

Extra-Curricular Clubs!

Our Performing Arts Club has been meeting on Wednesdays from 2:30 - 3:15 pm.

They are amazing!

The club is working hard on learning Michael Jackson's famous dance, "Thriller"! We will be performing at the Halloween assembly coming up this October.

Choir meets on Thursdays at noon. Courtenay Elementary is a singing school and we have some very enthusiastic and talented young voices! The choir will be performing at different events throughout the year, as well as at assemblies at the school.

Turkey Lurkey!

Turkey Lurkey runs so fast,

  ti-ti         ti-ti       ti-   ti    ta

Turkey Lurkey's never last!

  ti-ti         ti-ti         ti-ti    ta

Turkey Lurkey, you had better

   ti-ti        ti-ti         ti-   ti    ti-ti

Hurry!    *        *        *

      ti-ti        rest     rest      rest

Turkey Lurkey is one of the songs we are learning with Thanksgiving around the corner! This is a great game for reading rhythms. Once we learn the song, I can put up the rhythms as a "Mystery Song" and have students guess the song. This is also a good song for showing melodic contour -- the way the melody goes up and down. I am making small "Turkey Lurkey's" with magnets on the back, that I can put up on the black board. The turkeys will follow the melodic line in the song. We can follow the line singing "Loo" and discuss the melodic movement. Students can also follow the melodic line using solfege:

sol-mi, so-mi, do do do

sol-mi, sol-mi, do do do

do do do mi, sol sol sol sol

sol-do

~Mrs. Caya

Pumpkin Rhythms!

Students are reading and creating using pumpkin rhythms!

Each pumpkin contains a different rhythm in4/4 time!

Students listened to me play and clap the rhythm, they dictated it to see if they got it right!

Primary students are using ta (quarter note), ti-ti (pair of eighth notes) and quarter rests.

Older students use tika-tika (sixteenth notes), too-oo (half-note), and "great big whole notes".

 

There are many different activities you could do with these rhythm pumpkins! Give students 4 pumpkins and have them compose a short rhythmic piece to be performed using body percussion. Later the students could perform using non-pitched percussion. Students could also compose lyrics to a Halloween song using the rhythms that I provide on the pumpkins. 

~Mrs. Caya