5th and 4th Grade: Ukulele In this rotation, we began with a round of Staff Champion, the note-reading game, to keep those skills fresh in mind. Then students learned more about ukuleles, including a review of the parts and basics of how to care for the instruments. Then, it was time to play ukuleles! We began with the basics of how to hold ukuleles–holding the neck in the left hand, keeping the body of the instrument against your own body, where to place the hands, etc. Then they learned the open strings' pitches–GCEA. After doing some practice, we played a game called "Cool Hand Uke." Three students came to the front of the room (one from each of our house teams), and the first to play the open string that I named earned a point for their house. This was especially thrilling because it's the last week of the quarter and two of the houses are neck and neck to win! After a short Plicker quiz to make sure everyone is mastering the basics that they've learned so far, most classes had time to start working on one or two open string songs. 3rd Grade: Melody In this rotation, third graders focused on practicing their note reading skills. We reviewed the Quaver episode that they watched last time, then practiced note reading with Staff Champion. They also practiced naming notes in an actual song to get practice not just reading individual notes, but reading them in context and noticing how one note relates to those around it. 2nd Grade: Baroque Period Second graders reviewed the Quaver episode about the baroque period that they watched last time, then learned about the baroque composer Vivaldi. Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer who is probably most known for his "Four Seasons." He had an interesting life in Venice, teaching at an all-girls orphanage and writing many of his compositions for the girls in the orchestra there. 1st Grade: Lines and Spaces First graders learned about a third pitch today! La is a pitch that is just a step higher than sol. The new pitch was introduced in the song "Shiloh," which first graders listened to and sang along with while showing the high, low, and medium pitches on their bodies by tapping their shoulders, knees, or waist. They learned the hand sign for la and practiced sight-singing some exercises that included the pitches mi, sol, and la. They also wrote a collaborative composition using their three pitches! Kindergarten: Instruments
Kindergartners began learning about the four instrument families–strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. We talked about our own families and how there are certain things that tie our families together and compared that to the things that tie instrument families together. The students learned a little bit about one instrument in each family, including the violin (strings), flute (woodwinds), trumpet (brass), and drum (percussion). We worked on a song called "Air Orchestra" in which they got to pretend to play each of those instruments!
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