Monday, October 25, 2004

Musical Matters

Our music program is now in full swing in room 19. The students are learning to sing correctly. We are concentrating on breathing and using the head voice register. We have studied the idea of underlying beat, and students have learned to find the natural rhythm in words. They are learning to connect the beat and rhythm they feel with standard rhythmic notation. They are also learning the notes of the treble clef, and soon we should be actually reading music! And it's only October!

They are starting to learn the notes of the recorder and to play the recorder correctly, as well. This is a fairly slow process which requires a lot of practice. Generally, our pattern is to learn to play something that the children have learned to sing, first. That helps them when they are looking at the notes because they already know what it should sound like. We're doing some very simple melodies right now, concentrating on so, mi, and la. Students will be given the opportunity to play the same tune in different keys so they begin to understand the concepts of relative and absolute pitch.

In Reading, we have finished the first unit and are starting on the second one, City Wildlife. This is a challenging unit for the children, but we will be doing as much as possible to make it engrossing for them.

Homework: Finish the rough and final drafts of the friendship essay, if not already finished and turned in. Do the "Knowledge about City Wildlife" paper. Pick one of the ideas from that paper, and put it on the small "What I already know" paper together with a good drawing or a picture from a magazine. In math, student should finish the second multiplication sheet by Wednesday. The spelling word list will be sent home tomorrow.

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