3rd Grade School Theme 3

I made sure I was on time this time.

'Willoughby Wallaby Woo' by Raffi
    The kids were still excited to sing this again.  I do need to find a better way to pass out the rhythms sticks.  It is a little cumbersome and it takes a long time.

Quarter Note, Eighth Note, Whole Note, Half Note
   We just did a super quick review.

Andante, Allegro
   I introduced the concept of Andante and Allegro.  I had printed up a page that defined Allegro as 'fast, quickly, bright' and Andante as 'at a walking pace' or so I thought.  When I asked to kids which one they thought was faster they all replied Andante.  I look at the board and I had printed the definitions backward.  So I quickly ripped the page up and put the right definitions with the right words.

'Pomp and Circumstance' by Edward Elgar / Animal Parades
   I never knew before this song had Allegro sections.  Obviously we never played that part at graduation obviously.  I also learned that this march is only one of a series of military marches he wrote called pomp and circumstance.  I think it is the only one commonly played.  Another thing I didn't know was that pomp stood for the inspiring marches and hoo-rahs that got everyone excited for war.  Circumstance stood for the realities of war that were less than pretty.
  Listening to the song in its entirety, it felt very pomp and not very much circumstance.  I thought it would be fun for the kids to put together a animal parade to it.  I used Audacity to clip the song into 11 parts.  It went Allegro, Allegro, Allegro, Andante, Andante, Allegro, Allegro, Allegro, Andante, Andante, Allegro each section building a little to a big ending.  I printed up two pages of animal pictures and made a long strip of paper with the sections labeled along it.  Only one kid caught that I had misspelled one of the Andante sections.  Smart kid.
  So I wasn't going to make the same mistake as before so I made them stay in groups according to where they were seated.  This worked and it didn't.  There were quite a few kids who didn't get to choose an animal to put in a section because the other kids in their group completely took over.  My own daughter was in tears at the end but that doesn't surprise me much because she is a little melodramatic.
    As I played each section the kids chose an animal to put in that part of their 'parade.'  So the kids liked this activity a little too much.  Some kids were really listening and choosing an animal.  Others, I have no idea what they were doing.  I noticed the teacher dealing with problems in different parts of the room.  It was extremely hard to get them calmed back down to play the next section.  If I do this again I will cut it down to six sections instead of 11.  It is pretty much a repeat anyway.

A note about audacity.  It is a really cool program you can download from the internet.  You also have to download the Lame Encoder so that you can make MP3s of your final product.  I am not sure what you are supposed to do with the program but I use it to clip music to only the sections I want to use.  It works fabulously and is much easier than trying to fast forward and pause music.

3rd Grade School Theme 2

Second time at 3rd grade I was late.  Timing is not my thing.  The teacher was not happy.  I got a little flustered and didn't start with Willoughby like I had wanted and went straight into note review.

Quarter, Eight, Half, Whole Note Review
     Tapped out some rhythms with the rhythm sticks

At this point I was going to play a song for them but one of my kids had moved my CD and I didn't have it.  I had to go on to the next thing.

Put together measures.
   So I had them get into groups and told them to get scissors.  BIG MISTAKE.  The minute I said to get into groups the kids jumped up and went all over the classroom to find their friends.  They then didn't know where to sit so they just milled around in bunches all over the room.  As I got them sitting down I would give them a paper I had made with different types of notes on them.  It took a while to tell them through the chaos that I wanted them to make two measures of four counts.  Eventually they did it and then I had a few groups share their measures with the group and then we tapped them out with the rhythm sticks.

After that I was done!

3rd Grade School Theme

3rd Grade
September Theme - School

Ah 3rd Grade.  I don't know what it is about this group but they are just a squirrely group.  The first time went the best.

Introduce quarter notes, eighth note, half notes, whole notes and their values.
   I had printed up each type of note.  I started with quarter notes and then tore the note if half to show the value of eighth note.  These guys were funny.  When I tore that paper in half they collectively gasped in horror.  I assured them I had more.

Rhythm sticks
    Used rhythm sticks to work out some combinations of notes.

'Wake Up' by The Verve Pipe
    Used rhythm sticks while listening to Wake up.  I encouraged them to try to pick out different rhythms in the song.  I didn't use Audacity to clip the song so it was a little to long and the kids got a little exuberant.

Kindergarten School Theme 2

Kindergarten
Theme for September - School

Second time in Kindergarten I got there a little early (which is huge for me.)  It was technically October but we used the Sept theme since this was only the second visit and there are still four Mondays left of October to use October's theme.

'Fun to Do'

'Wheels on the Bus'

'Be Kind to Your Web-Footed Friend' by Mitch Miller and Gang
    I taught them the words.  Then we played the music and sang.  It was a little low since it was singing with a men's choir.  The kids liked it especially 'the end' and we sang it twice.

'Willoughby Wallaby Woo' by Raffi
   I started this song and they loved it but I kept messing up so we moved on to the next thing.

Book 'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus' by Mo Willams

'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'

    We were a little shy on time.  I was going to 'Stars and Stripes' by Sousa and probably should have to fill some time.  I wasn't sure at the moment how it would have gone over.  I need to make a system of choosing kids.  I had several kids complain that they hadn't had a turn.

Kindergarten School Theme

Kindergarten
Theme for September - School

So the first time I went to kindergarten I got the time wrong and came an hour early.  The teacher was really sweet about it but it had to be annoying.  We had fun though and it went well.

'Fun to Do' from Children's Songbook
   http://www.lds.org/cm/display/0,17631,8764-1,00.html   Kids got to chose some other things that they thought were fun.

 
Wheels on the Bus

    Made a big bus from an from a Powerpoint clipart image on poster board and had pictures of different parts of the song on a magnetic board for them to take turns picking.
 
Introduced Quarter Note and Eighth Note
   Tore picture of Quarter Note in half to show 1/2 of a beat for Eighth Note


Rhythms stick to ABC by Jackson 5

   Rhythm sticks made out of pcv pipe.  I had four quarter notes on one page and eight eighth notes on another page.  We would switch back and forth between tapping out quarter notes and eighth notes.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt
   I have watched a you tube of Michael Rosen performing the Bear Hunt poem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc0U2WAz4s   He did not have anyone repeating after him.  It is quite amusing the way he does it and he has this cool accent.  It kind of bugs me now to listen to a repeat version so I don't repeat.  Plus it is long anyway so it is twice as long if every word is repeated.