Writing Activities in Music and more fall fun

Well this was another wonderful week in the world of music.
4th grade did star spangled evaluations activity. We watched several YouTube performances and picked our favorite one to write about.
Here are a few examples of what we did.

This one made me laugh because I am also not really a Lady Gaga fan.  

3rd grade did a composer of the month writing activity called Bach to the Future. . JS Bach is remembered by his music and we wrote what we want to be remembered for.
Here is one of my favorites. This one totally made my heart smile when I read it.

2nd grade also had some composer of the month fun. We listed to Bachs Toccata and Fugue and identified the organ. We then watched a Bachs Brain quaver video on Bach.

1st grade did a fall listening glyph and had a composer of the day. We learned about Vivaldis Four Seasons. We listened to Vivaldis Fall.  Our listening glyph had apples on it.

Kindergarten played instruments with some of our songs: days of the week, open them shut them, and apple tree. We also learned a song called Do You Know the Apple Man and read a book
About Johnny Appleseed.

Next week we will begin with the end in mind and work on Veterans Day songs, because there are lots of fun activities coming up in the month of October.
Next week also begins Halloween fun in the music classroom!!!

First week of fall fun in music

Well this week was the first week of fall, even though it felt like summer with the high temperatures. Not complaining though b/c it was a beautiful week!

We had some fall fun in the music room.

Grades K-2 played a steady beat pass the apple game with the song Apple Tree.  When the students get "out" in this game, they got to play rhythm instruments. We used rhythm sticks, tone blocks, drums, and maracas.  We also used this same song to play the Rotten Apple game.

Grades 1-2 had some more fall fun with the song Apples and Bananas.  What a silly song this one is!

Kindergarten had a lot of fun learning 2 cute action songs called "Two Little Apples" and "Criss-Cross Applesauce".
Kindergarten enjoyed playing rhythm sticks this week with Apple Tree and Open Them Shut Them.

3rd grade did a multicultural lesson with a song called "Egy Uveg Alma", which means "One Jar of Apples" in Hungarian.  We learned to count to 10 in Hungarian.

3rd and 4th grade had a lot of fun with our warmup activity this week.  We used tennis balls to learn whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth notes.  The music for this activity was "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa.

4th grade showed some awesome synergizing skills by working together in groups to put the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner in order.  Each group was given an envelope that contained the lyrics of our song of the month in it.  They had to put them in order.  The first group done received a tiny award slip for their hard work.

After a wonderful week in music, we ended our week outside for our "double day" Friday. The students got to do centers that involved scoops, balls and Frisbees, and footballs.  It was a beautiful day to end a busy, but successful week.

New School, New Year!

Well, the new school year is off to a great start! I started at a new school this year. I'm now teaching at West Chapmanville Grade School.

So, here are some pictures of my new classroom:

My concept wall- I did add a few extra ones and I love how it turned out. I add the things we are working on each week. Need to get a few extra magnets to help with this section. 

I ended up getting a shelf that a teacher didn't need and it worked out perfectly for our music textbooks. 

My instrument and prop storage closet. I used it to display the ensembles posters. Also, I love the Beethoven that was in my classroom. He is in my composer of the month area and also beside my music library. I love using books in my classroom! 

My composer of the month area and underneath it is my music library. Above the white board is the solfege posters. My music centers fit perfectly in this storage shelf. I also realized that this picture needs updated because I added stuff to the white board- my movement, listening, and a few procedure posters are now on the sides of the white board. 

My husband put my dynamic posters on the hallway door. Above the piano is tempo posters and the notes of the treble clef staff. On the piano are the recorder stands my amazing daddy made for me last year. Hopefully we will get recorders ordered soon and my 4th graders will begin using these. 

The desk beside the piano is used quite frequently by my kindergarten daughter after school. I also plan to add my "rest are" poster to it; just in case we ever need a quiet area. Everyone needs a "quiet" time area: myself included! 

Love how the new paint made my doors look! I added the quaver 5 to one. Above it I thought I should keep the school flag. The closet door has our song of the month posters. I had a students ask me this week if I was going to write birthdays on these. (LOL!)

Hmm....could make some of these for composer of the month birthdays one day. 

My umbrella is a must for the walk from classroom to school! 

The life of a teachers daughter while mommy works. The 2 totes under the window hold music centers and xylophones. 

My child watching movies while mommy works in her classroom before school starts. ohhh the life of a teachers child! 

I made my own white board with white paper. I found a cool DIY smart board on Pinterest that uses a Wii remote and some software. I want to try it, but haven't had a chance yet. The lights are the karaoke machines that came with my classroom. My child loves to play with them! I plan to use them for music fun days: after we work hard, we get to have a karaoke day! 

I added my line up chant under the Quaver 5 poster on my door. 

The year has gotten off to a great start so far. I have enjoyed playing name games and building relationships with all my new students. We played "rickety rackety ree" and "name name whats your name" in my K-2 classes. My 3-4 classes played "jump in jump out" name game. We used my blue fuzzy ball for these. I really enjoyed the 3-4 name game; it was a new one for me. On the "B" section, we had to say "My name is ______ and I like ______". Then the class echoed "His/Her name is ___ and he/she likes _____".  

My K-2 kiddos have learned the 4 ways to use our voice using Quaver. We sang the "whisper, talk, shout, and sing" song. My 2nd graders absolutely loved the 4 voices game. My 1st and 2nd graders have also learned the Bow, Wow, Wow singing game and we played "who stole the cookies from the cookie jar". 

My 3-4 kiddos have completed the first 14 rockin' rhythm raps. We added quarter note, eighth notes, quarter rest, bar line, measure, meter, and repeat sign to our word wall.  They loved using rhythm instruments to play the rhythms.  

Our fun day Friday "double day" has been fun also. We had a super fun day of "noodle tag".  Then with the rain this last Friday, we had to bring it inside and we had a Just Dance, Zumba, Adventure to Fitness day in the gym.  Needless to say, the PE teacher and I were exhausted! Definitely ready for a 3 day weekend. 

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from Mrs. Carroll's music room with my little Tigers! 

Music in our schools month

Well it's March which means it's music in our schools month. My omar students have been working on artwork for the walls. I've got my music/St Patrick's day board up and grades 3-4 have been working on a writing activity. 3rd grade wrote about their favorite music activities and 4th grade wrote about why music is important.
We completed these activities in centers. We had two other centers going on also. These two were games that showed our knowledge of reading the treble clef staff. We played treble twist up and bottle cap staff.
All 3rd graders have completed a quaver unit on classical music. We will share a song from this unit with you during our spring concert.
All 4th grade students have been working on selections from Broadway musicals. So far we've done Annie, suessical, and a Disney on Broadway Medley. We hope to share these with you on our spring concert.
2nd grade has been working hard on a Quaver musical called A Journey Into Space. We will definitely be sharing this with you on our spring concert. Stay tuned for more information!
Grades k-1 had some suessical fun last week. We read Dr Suess' My Many Colored Days and then used scarves to do some creative movement as we added music to each color. It was a ton of fun!
Mrs Curry even joined a kindergarten class at Omar. Principals need a chance to sharpen their saw also!
Omar's 1st grade learned the song Dr Suess We Love You. All k-1 classes did the song Cat in the Hat and we used instruments with it.

All students enjoyed seeing my pictures and videos of Quaver from WVMEA. It was a great honor and joy to meet him and participate in his sessions. Quaver music is engaging and fun for both teacher and students.

Today we had a music trivia question during Omar's morning program for music month. Today's was question was "name the music you heard playing". A 3rd grade boy got it correct and the answer was Star Wars. Bonus was can you name the composer: another 3rd grade boy got it and the answer was John Williams. Was so proud of them- we did this last year.
Can't wait for tomorrow. The winners get a quaver sticker!

Next week is Omar's Leadership Day so we are spending this week reviewing our 7 habits songs and preparing for this.
Stay tuned for dates for spring concerts!

Christmas Programs

Well Christmas break is almost over and that means it's almost the end of the 2nd 9 weeks.  The 2nd 9 weeks is a busy month for the music classroom.  We have Veterans Day and Christmas programs back to back.  All students did a fabulous job this year!
PK students did wonderful with their showcase songs: 5 Little Christmas Trees and Little Snowflake. They are always adorable!
Kindergarten students rocked their reindeer songs. The reindeer pokey was fabulous and one of my favorites this year!
1st grade looked so comfy in their PJs. We had a blast "Jammin' in our Jammies". 
2nd grade sang their snow songs, but we haven't had much snow yet.  (who doesn't love a snow day or 2?)
3rd and 4th grade did great working together to perform "How the Penguins Saved Christmas".  I'm sure my 3rd grade kazoo students enjoyed playing those kazoos for their parents over break.  The Holden 3rd grade students did fabulous with their sing a long; phew Deck the Halls is a hard song. 

Our performances aren't over for the year, because selected 4th grade students should get to participate in an all county 4th grade showcase concert.  We will also have spring concerts.  Hopefully Holden's spring concert will be on our brand new stage!

We will take a little break from performances in January and work on some music objectives, such as new music center activities, pokemon rhythms, and lots of fun with our new Quaver series. 

October/November

wow, is it really almost Thanksgiving? Phew!  Time flies when you are having fun and that's what we do in the music room. We spent October working on Veterans Day and Christmas program repertoire.
We managed to squeeze in some Halloween fun also.  Some of our favorite Halloween activities are Halloween stomp, just dance- monster mash, calling all the monsters, and DayO,  witches Brew, and our new Quaver songs(pumpkin bones,  going trick or treating,  and skin and bones).
We also completed Music of the Armed Forces Listening Glyphs. Several of these are in the hallway at school.
Bravo to all my students for doing a Fantastic job for our Veterans Day program! They were completely student led.
Now we begin working on Christmas programs.  Stay tuned with notes about information for these programs.

Back to School and making music.......

Well another year has started and lots of wonderful things have been taking place in the music room.  We have a brand new music series called Quaver Music. Both students and teacher love this program! I have never seen kids catch on to music concepts so fast. Grades 1 and 2 rocked strong and weak beats. Grades 3 and 4 rocked meter signatures, music alphabet/reading notes on staff, and SATB(soprano, alto, tenor, bass).  4th grade also had fun learning all about 16th notes with quaver. 

We use the Quaver 5 this year in music and with this we will have a great year.
The Quaver 5 =
1. Be Safe
2. Be Polite
3. Be Cooperative
4. Be Responsible
5. Be kind

Ask your child to sing the Quaver 5 to you! We had a blast singing along with Quaver at the beginning of the year to learn these awesome rules! Rules are important both at home and school!!

This week we will have some fun with music centers. We are adding a few new ones to our centers this week.

1. Rotten Apple Game- all of my students know the song Apple Tree. This game is sure to be a big hit and I can't wait to introduce it. The students will take turns tapping the beat on the cards. The last one they tap(on word "out") decides their fate in the game; if it's a bad apple they are out, but if it's a good apple they keep going. The person with most apples at end of game is the winner! What a great way to practice keeping a steady beat!

2. 4th grade will also play Swat the Rhythm 2. Last year we had Swat the Rhythm. Since they learned 16th notes with Quaver, we can now play the Swat the Rhythm 2, which adds 16th note rhythmic patterns. 

We have also all learned our song of the month for September which was the Star Spangled Banner.  Stay tuned for notes home about Veteran's Day and Christmas programs. We have dates for both of these and I've been busy planning for both.  It's going to be another awesome year in the music room. 

Oh, another awesome addition for the Holden parents is that we don't have to have sign and return music grades anymore. I have been given a LiveGrade account for both my schools. All my students are in there and I will be adding music grades. They will print out with all of your child's other grades.