Week 8 Newletter: Performance Date and more

Dear Parents,

This week, we continued to fine-tune our listening skills.  First and Second Grade revisited excerpts from Carnival of The Animals and learned more about wind instruments. Third and Fifth Grades delved more deeply into the Baroque Period and J.S. Bach. This week, First and Second Grade will explore the world of percussion and Third through Fifth grades will review all they have learned to date about the Baroque Period. All grades are continuing to learn sight reading skills in melody and rhythm, along with pitch and rhythm recognition.

IMPORTANT NEWS!

Music Club for Third through fifth grades begins this Monday at 3:30. There is still room for more people to sign up.  We will be singing some fun and exciting music and delving into vocal techniques.

Music Exploration is on its second week, this Tuesday at 3:30. There is room for more in this class as well.  This week, we will be exploring rhythm and various percussive sounds.

Concerts have been scheduled at Palm Valley Church. Time has not been arranged yet, but the dates will be December 8 for 1st and 2nd grades and December 10 for 3rd through 5th grades. I will keep you posted on the times as soon as they are scheduled, but please put the dates on your calendar. Concert participation is mandatory for all students.

I am including lyrics for performance music that students are currently learning for your perusal.

Grade 1:

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don't want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
a hippopotamus is all I want
Mom says the hippo would eat me up
But then teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
The kind I saw this summer at the zoo
there's lots of room for him in our two car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there
And give him his massage

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too

 

Grade 2

 

Autumn Fires

Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens 
And all up the vale, 
From the autumn bonfires 
See the smoke trail! 

Pleasant summer over 
And all the summer flowers, 
The red fire blazes, 
The grey smoke towers. 

Sing a song of seasons! 
Something bright in all! 
Flowers in the summer, 
Fires in the fall!

 

Grade 3

 

Do Re Mi

Sound of Music
Miscellaneous
Do-Re-Mi
Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with - A - B - C
When you sing you begin with DO - RE - MI
DO - RE - MI , DO - RE - MI
The first three notes just happen to be DO - RE - MI
DO - RE - MI
DO - RE - MI - FA - SO - LA - TI...
(Oh let's see if I can make this easier)
DO - a deer, a female deer
RE - a drop of golden sun
MI - a name, I call myself
FA - a long long way to run
SO - a needle pulling thread
LA - a note to follow SO
TI - a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to do oh oh oh
Doe! - a deer, a female deer
Ray! - a drop of golden sun
Me! - a name I call myself
Far! - a long long way to run
So! - a needle pulling thread
La! - a note to follow SO
Tea - a drink with jam and bread
That would bring us back to do!
A deer, a female deer
RE, a drop of golden sun
MI, a name, I call myself
FA, a long long way to run
SO, a needle pulling thread
LA, a note to follow SO
TI, a drink with jam and bread
That would bring us back to do...
DO - RE - MI - FA - SO - LA - TI - DO! - SO - DO! 

 

Grade 4

 

The Bells

Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

Hear the sledges with the bells - 
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells - 
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

 

Grade 5

 

Lyrics for Winter Solstice

Deep in Midwinter

When the Air is Chill

On The Horizon,

The Sun Stands Still

After December

Full Moon So Bright

Soon, It Will Be The Year's Longest Night

Stars Will Align

And They'll Leave Their Mark

Showing The Point

Of The Sun's New Arc

From This Day Forward

It's Path Will Ascend

Hours of Daylight

Grow Longer Again

This is The Winter Solstice

Follow the Path of The Sun

Now The New Path Has Begun

 

 

 

 

 

Week Seven News

Hello Parents and Scholars,

It's hard to believe we are already into week seven! We have been delving into the world of the Baroque Period and notation.  First and Second Graders will be exploring the wind and string families in the Carnival of the Animals this week. Third through Fifth grades will be fine-tuning their listening skills through an exploration of the Baroque Period and are developing their sight reading skills. All grades have been working on their performance pieces as well. I am confident that we will have a performance date soon.

This week, I am excited to introduce two afterschool Music Clubs. Every Tuesday, First and Second Graders can meet from 3:30 pm -4:15pm to explore how music is created. We will do this through active games and creations of their own instruments. There are many fun ways to use household items to explore music creatively, so I am excited to share this experience with them. Tuesday, students will go home with a list of easy items that would help in the creation of different instruments, such as paper towel rolls and paper plates.

On Thursdays, Third through Fifth grade will have a chance to meet from 3:30pm - 4:30 pm to sing fun and challenging music and to explore vocal techniques more in-depth. This is also an opportunity for those who play other instruments to share their expertise as well. I am excited about this, because I know several students would love to share their talents and there is just so much to do in a short time during the day.

Thank you for sharing your students with me,

Dr. Janet Norman