Solfege in Kindergarten

The kindergarten music classes have been watching a video clip from "The Sound of Music" where Maria teaches the children to sing using solfege (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do)
We also are playing the boomwhackers with our solfege songs and holding up picture cards for "Whacky Do Re Mi".  It is great to see so many of the children working hard to learn the hand signs for the solfege!
A coloring booklet will be coming home this week...actually it is copied from a scrapbook project my daughter Brittany made...ask your kindergartener to sing you the song!  :)

First Graders and the SMART Board

This year's first graders learned to love the SMART board last year with Sibelius' Groovy Shapes software. This year we are using Sibelius' Groovy Jungle which goes deeper into the concepts of tone color, dynamics, music words, and composition. Learning on the SMART board is engaging and meets learners where they are in a variety of ways. There is auditory learning, visual learning, and tactile learning as the concepts are explored.  In addition to software I have purchased for students to interact with while learning music elements, I am also able to create "games" and use lessons that others have created via SMART Exchange. It is an amazing technology tool that I continue to learn about and integrate in my teaching. I'd love to show it off during Parent/Teacher Conferences!

Thank you Parent Instrument Demonstrators!!

Thank you ever so much to Carl Korfmacher, Matt Tedesco, Dan Brice and Regina Ylvisaker for coming and sharing their musical instruments and talents with 2nd graders! It was a wonderful experience for the students!

Kindergarten Kids and the Chicken Dance!

As promised, super cute kindergarten kids having fun with the Chicken Dance in music class!

The Colors of the Fall.... and other music class happenings!

The Kindergarten Music Classes are all learning a fun song called "I Like The Colors of The Fall" and their giggles about the "new" colors of YURPLE and SMELLOW are contagious!  I have been presenting nursery rhymes using songs and books and especially popular are the versions in "Wooley Cat's Musical Theater". Introduced just this past week, the Chicken Dance has been a huge hit!  I promise to post a video soon!  I really focus on routine: ask your child if they can sing you our Good Morning/Afternoon song, I Like School or Twelve Months of the year.  These songs open our class time and focus on the day of the week and month of the year.

The First Grade Music Classes have been learning about opposites in music: high/low, fast/slow, loud/soft, speak/sing, short/long. We have been working on pitch matching through different singing games like "Doggie, Doggie" and "Who Has the Penny...." We are exploring "Groovy Jungle" on the SMART Board, which is a popular activity!

The Second Grade Music Classes are exploring symphony websites to increase awareness and understanding of the instrument families. We are looking forward to live instrument demonstrations this coming week and some games on the SMART Board before finishing the unit with an assessment.  The timing of this unit (a change from previous years) has the positive result of the students being able to see the instruments "up close and personal" as the JC McKenna and High School bands will march past us in the Homecoming Parade!

I have been encouraged by the number of views on this blog and hope that you all will spread the word!  Thanks for following our Levi Leonard Music Blog!  :)

Wanted: Parents to demonstrate musical instruments!

An email went out to all Second Grade families today to invite parents or other family members to come to their child's music class and demonstrate a musical instrument that they play. I have already received a few responses, which is very exciting!!
If interested, please email me at kellenk@evansville.k12.wi.us  to confirm a day and time during the week of September 19-23.
I know the students will enjoy the live demonstrations, especially of instruments I do not own!  :)
Thank you for supporting music at Levi Leonard Elementary!

"Positive"

The 2nd graders have been learning the song "Positive" by Teresa Jennings. The words are powerful and so appropriate as we begin this school year!

we survived the heat!

Even though it felt like an oven in the music classroom, the enthusiasm and smiles from the students were abundant and contagious!
We are getting to know each other, viewing a video on the rules and procedures of the music room, and singing some "Back to School" songs.
I am especially excited that the unreliable CD player has now been replaced with an iPod!
We are off to a great start!