4th Grade wishes you a Thrilling Halloween!

4th grade has been learning about ways to structure a song, called "form." We mapped the form of a familiar Halloween song using index cards, and then, since we just can't sit still when we hear this song, we mapped the form using choreography as well! Enjoy our in-class performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Click on the links below to view.

4J- AM

4J- PM

*Music teachers, this activity can be found at mrskingrocks.blogspot.com- a GREAT resource for music teachers!

Instrument Investigation Research Begins

As we prepare for our Children's Concert field trip next month, we have been reviewing families of instruments in the orchestra, how to categorize them, and now we are focusing in on specific instruments. Students are working in pairs to research an assigned instrument. They will answer questions about their instruments, create a question to research and answer, and then will present their research to the class. Students will be assessed on their written work, as well as their presentation.

Students, here are some resources you can use in your research. Keep up the great work!

     San Francisco Symphony

     Classics for Kids

     Dallas Symphony Orchestra

     New York Philharmonic

     Arts Alive


Here we are in action...

*Music Teachers: This activity was adapted from this worksheet available for purchase here at Tracy King's PayLoadz.com store.

2nd Grade Rhythm Review

We've been reviewing rhythms through singing, playing instruments, notating, and composing. We've reviewed quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes. We learned a poem called "Loose Tooth," first adding body percussion like snaps, claps, and pats, then audiating the words of the poem and just performing the rhythmic word patterns. We then learned an instrumental accompaniment to the poem and interspersed our musical creation throughout a reading of  "Loose Tooth" by Lola M. Schaefer.

We also learned a song called "I Bought Me a Cat" by Aaron Copland. Click here for a video of a performance of this piece.

We used this song to reinforce the concept of one, two, and no sounds on a beat (syllabification). We used this syllabification concept to determine the rhythm of the words of our song. See some of our "I Bought Me a Cat" activities below.

We enjoyed reading/singing the book "Cat Goes Fiddle-I-Fee."

*Music Teachers: "I Bought Me a Cat" SMART Board Lesson and Rhythm Activity available from "Music and Technology's" Teacherspayteachers store here.

Let's Keep a Beat, 1st Graders!

Our 1st graders have been working on differentiating between sounds that have a steady beat from sounds that have no beat. Ask your students to explain what a beat is, and have them demonstrate how to keep a beat with sounds around them!

We listened to environmental sounds that keep a beat, like clocks and windshield wipers, versus sounds that have no beat, like a cat meowing or a rainstorm.

We learned a poem called "Windshield Wipers," to help us begin recognizing how to keep a beat at different speeds. Check us out...

We learned the song "Miss Mary Mack," and as we did, we worked on recognizing sight words and finding rhyming words. We responded to this song with a movement game, and as the tempo changed, we had some fun! 1st graders, teach your parents or siblings how to play!

Welcome Back!

Hello, Ben Franklin families!

Welcome back! I everyone had a great summer! I'm so glad to be back for my 7th year here at Ben Franklin, and I'm excited about another wonderful year of making music with our great students.

Parents, I hope that this blog will provide you with a closer look into the music room this year. I'll be posting updates as often as I can to give you descriptions of music room activities, as well as pictures and videos so you can see us in action. Students, I hope you'll use this blog to review what we've done in class, to find ways to extend what we're learning, or just to be able to share your day with your families!

Ready or not, here we go!

5th Grade Guitars: A Recap

As the school year winds down, I want to share some photos of your 5th grade students in action with their beloved guitars! They've come a long way in such a short amount of time. We've learned to play several basic chords over the past couple of months, and right now we are presenting our final performances of a 3-chord song.

Students are choosing their own 3-chord song to play and will be assessed based on keeping a steady tempo, correct chord fingerings, and timely chord transitions.

My hope is that by mastering a few basic chords, students will be able to go out and find songs they love and want to play and will have the knowledge to get started on their own! I'm so happy that it's already happening- students are bringing in their favorite songs to play during recess or to play for the class. I am so proud of them!

One last round of centers for 2nd grade!

1/18/16***See my new website and check out the blog post on Crazy Cube compositions at https://artsintersection.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/composition-cubes/

We thought we'd try to squeeze in one last round of centers before we leave for the summer!

2nd grade has been learning about the pitch "re" through songs and activities, and now they are off exploring this concept in our centers!

In the reading center, we are playing some SMART Board games to match up written melodic patterns with what we hear and what we see.

In the writing center, we are using melodic crazy cubes with pentatonic pitches (do, re, mi, so, and la) to compose our own piece of music to a given rhythm.

In the listening center, students are listening to "Carillon" by Georges Bizet. This song features a "mi-re-do" ostinato that we have listened to in class. Students are completing a graphic organizer based on their listening and writing a paragraph about what they heard.

In the games center, we are playing Candyland! Not just regular Candyland, mind you, but musical Candyland! When students draw a card to move forward, they then have to draw a musical challenge color-coded to match their card. They may have to sing something, answer a question, read a rhythm, or any number of musical tasks. I think it's safe to say that this is a favorite.

And finally, in the instrument center, students are using what they know of "mi, re, and do" to figure out how to play simple melodies on Orff instruments. They are learning to play "Hot Cross Buns" and "Let Us Chase the Squirrel."