Friday, September 26, 2014

Hello Delaney Families!
It is hard to believe that we are finishing our fourth week of school. The students are hard at work solving Math problems, reading with fluency, and writing with stamina. At recess they are enjoying some of the best weather we have ever had in September. Here are some highlights of the week:

Some Kindergarteners worked on an Open Circle Lesson that has the focus of "School Listening Look".




The following information comes from Mrs. Mariotti, our amazing music teacher. You may recognize her as she helps with arrival each morning in Delaney!
 
 


Here is what we learned during September…

Composer of the Month is….Johann Sebastian Back

Kindergarten: Welcome to music with Ms. Mariotti! We have a lot of fun in music class. We sing, play instruments, dance, and act. We are off to a great start learning each other’s names and the routine in music class. We learned that a steady beat is like the ticking of a clock. We discovered the difference between a steady beat and an unsteady beat while clapping, moving, listening and playing instruments. We made our arms into a clock pendulum to feel a steady beat while singing “Hickory, Dickory Dock”. During another class, we kept a steady beat on the gathering drum while singing “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. We also played a name game where each child played a steady beat on the Djembe drum as they sang their name. (The children love that drum!!) We sang many songs such as, “The Wheels on the Bus”, “If you are happy and you know it”, “ABC”, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “Doggie, Doggie Where’s Your Bone”. We loved dancing with scarves during creative movement and practiced our colors while singing the song, “The Parade of Colors”. We also learned an activity called, “Be My Shadow”. It is a very fun song where we take turns following and leading. It can be hard waiting our turns but I was very proud of each of them as they tried their best! Soon we will began a unit called, “Music is Every Where”. We will find music and steady beats in the classroom, at home and in nature. We will also be looking for long and short sounds (rhythm) in our names and in the music.

First Grade: Welcome back to another great year of music at the Delaney School! It has been wonderful to have you back in class! We began the school year playing lots of name games. We learned about pitches and solfege (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do) while singing the song, “Doe a Deer”. This month we are focusing on two particular pitches, “so” and “mi”. We learned a singing game called, “Cuckoo” where each child performed the “so-mi” pattern. We also took turns playing a steady beat on the big wooden xylophone to add a nice sounding accompaniment to our song. We played many follow the leader type singing games such as “Spin Around” and “Shake it” and “Be My Shadow”. We sang a lot of songs such as; “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah”, “Wheels on the Bus” and “Doe a Deer”.  We began a unit on rhythm sticks. We learned “waiting position” and “ready position”. We explored all the ways to play the sticks and enjoyed a song called, “This is the Way We Play” and each child took turns showing a new pattern or way to play the rhythm sticks. We also learned how to play an accompaniment to the song “Mr. Sun”. Students also played freeze dance to the music of a famous classical composer named, Johann Sebastian Bach. We listened to his famous song, “Toccata and Fugue in D minor”. It has a scary, eerie sound to it. Did you know Bach had twenty children?? Soon we will learn about rhythm (patterns of long and short sounds) and will compose “Leaf Music” using long (ta) and short (ti-ti) sounds. It was a great start to a new year!

Second Grade: Welcome back to music! I have many wonderful things planned ahead for you! We began music by identifying the difference between our speaking voice and our singing voice. I created a new instrument. I call it my phone. It is really just pcv piping to look like a phone. However, it is a wonderful tool to hearing your voice. The children were amazed to hear their speaking voice and their singing voice using my phone. It was wonderful to watch their little eyes light up when they truly heard their voice for the first time. We practiced matching pitch (particularly “so”, “mi” and “la”) and explored with our voices. We also focused on solfege (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do) and began to learn the Kurwen Hand Signs too. We also began to learn the difference between the “beat” and the “rhythm” to a song. The beat is a steady pulse like a clock ticking and does not change. The rhythm is patterns of long and short sounds. We practiced playing the beat on a hand drum while playing a game called, “Circle Game”.  We also explored the difference between a beat and a rhythm while playing a game called, “Concentration”. During this game, we kept a steady beat with our hands while passing the beat on a tambourine. We each needed to say the rhythm of our names one at a time. The rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds. It was really fun discovering the rhythm of each person’s name. We even speed up the tempo (the speed of the beat) as we played. It is trickier than it sounds! We reviewed two basic rhythms, quarter notes (“ta”) and eighth notes (“ti-ti”). We learned a movement game called, “Four in a Boat” and we wrote out the repeating rhythm (ta, ti-ti, ta, ti-ti, ta, ta, ta) of the song together on the board using quarter and eighth notes. We have begun writing our first song by arranging patterns of quarter and eighth notes. Students arranged themselves in small groups to perform these patterns using rhythm sticks, tamborines, sandblocks and tubano drums. Each child performed their rhythm and then was able to perform their classmate’s rhythms. Soon, we will be expanding our knowledge of rhythm to include rests (silence) and half notes (“ta-aa”).  Grade two students learned about a famous classical composer named, Johann Sebastian Bach. We listened to his famous song, “Toccata and Fugue in D minor”. It has a scary, eerie sound to it. Did you know Bach had twenty children??

Third Grade: Welcome to music with Ms. Mariotti!! I am so excited to be teaching you more music this year! In third grade, we learn how to read music and play the recorder. Students are so excited to begin the recorder and many have asked when and how to get their recorder. I will be sending a letter home by the end of September with all of this information. We will have all recorders ordered by mid-late October and will begin playing them in December. We began the year with many name games such as “Soup, Soup, Soap, Soap”, “You Who” and “Who is on Your Right?” We had fun exploring with sounds and rhythms while echoing various patterns/movements. We also played a game called “Musical Detective”. We needed to practice being a good leader and a good follower. Team work was the key! We are beginning to read music. Music is written on a staff. The staff has five lines and four spaces. Notes can be placed on the lines or the spaces of the staff. Each third grader decorated a note and placed it on either a line or space on our staff in the hallway. Soon we will be learning the sayings for the line notes and space notes. These sayings help us identify the notes (letter names) on the staff. Reading music notes will make playing the recorder so much easier!  Grade three students learned about a famous classical composer named, Johann Sebastian Bach. We listened to his famous song, “Toccata and Fugue in D minor”. It has a scary, eerie sound to it. Did you know Bach had twenty children??
 
 
 
 
PTO continues with their fall fundraiser. Orders are due by October 1st.
 
 
 
The staff vs. Wrentham Police charity softball game has been changed to Thursday October 2nd at 6:00 due to pending rain. Please come and cheer on your favorites next week.
 
 
 
 
 
Mr.Gillespie was busy this week keeping everything in working order outside Delaney!
 
 
 
Special Person's Day is Wednesday October 22nd from 9:30-10:30
 
 
Our Students participated in the Closing Ceremony for Summer Reading on Wednesday and Delaney students had great participation in the program!
 
 
Thanks for Reading and Viewing!
Have a great weekend!
Colleen C. Wagstaff, Principal

 
 
 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment