Dear parents and students,
Thank you for a fantastic week in music and PE. My week is always very varied as I teach kindergarten to grade 6. Kindergarten students are developing their fitness by taking part in fun activities. We always warm up by playing games and moving to music. Good listening is rewarded with praise and special stickers. This week students have developed jumping, catching and working together during races.
Kindergarten students have been practicing towards a performance using a sound story. Each line of the song Hey Diddle Diddle is played by a high or low sounding instrument.
Grade 1 and 2 students develop, important foundation skills when playing the glockenspiel. We are learning to read the musical notes and we do this by remembering Every Green Bus Drives Fast. Each letter of the word is a musical note.
Grade 3 Students are working on the white and yellow belts for recorder Karate. Coloured belts are awarded once the piece of music can be played well. A challenge for many students is to hold the recorder in their left hand.
The grade 4 students taught me a fantastic game call ‘Pass the beat around the room.’ It teaches them to work together and practice keeping the beat. They took responsibility for the game resulting in a great warm up activity. We learnt a new song called ‘Thanks a Lot’ by Raffi. The song uses a simple melody and the C chord only.
Grade 5 students are making final preparations to perform their song lyrics with a 12 bar blues played using Garage Band on the iPad. I encourage the students to listen to Blues artists to gain a better understanding. Eric Clapton is a good place to start, students can then discover more traditional blues artists such as BB King.
The complex rhythms of Samba were a challenge for grade 6, but they worked hard and I feel they are gaining the required skills for a performance very soon. Four instruments will produce different rhythms with the Surdo drum keeping the heart beat.
I wish you all a great weekend with family and friends.
Mr Mike