Kindergarten week of 9.26-9.28

Because of the short week, there was no class for kindergarten.

Fifth grade week of 9.19-9.22

After our warmup, all our classes continued their work on "Sir Duke." We also played a game where classmates devised a four-count rhythm using learned note values, and other classmates then played those rhythms.

Fourth grade week of 9.19-9.22

We both reviewed "On the Road Again" and continued our work on "Sir Duke." We also played a game where classmates devised a four-count rhythm using learned note values, and other classmates helped us play those rhythms.

Third grade week of 9.19-9.22

Because of days off, we've gotten a bit off in our scheduling with third grade. All the classes were still working on "Sir Duke," but we were all at different points in the song. Some classes had makeups from this week forward so we could get everyone back on track. We've also continued learning both about individual notes and how they connect to make rhythms.

Second grade week of 9.19-9.22

After our warmup, we practiced "Nila, Nila" in Tamil with hand gestures. The kids have done a great job of picking this song up! Then, volunteers helped demonstrate higher and lower pitches with tone bells. We also worked with learning quarter notes ("ta") and eighth notes ("ti-ti").

First grade week of 9.19-9.22

After our warmup, we practiced "Nila, Nila" in Tamil. The kids have done a great job of singing in a completely new language! Then, we practiced listening to higher and lower pitches with the help of tone bells. Eight volunteers each took a bell, then the rest of the class helped to put them in order from highest to lowest.

Kindergarten week of 9.19-9.22

After our warmup, we practiced "Santa Lucia" and "Nila, Nila," and then we practiced a listening game complete with stuffed animals! We read a story -- And If the Moon Could Talk -- and we all contributed sound effects such as animal noises and whistling wind noises. It was such a fun week, and we got so much done, that we were able to close the class with a freeze dance (everyone's favorite!).

Nila, Nila

Here are a couple of different versions of "Nila, Nila." This Tamil folk song has been set with many different melodies!

Sir Duke

Here's the link to "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder. You'll see both the version with words (which is the version that was on "Songs in the Key of Life," a famous album he recorded in the '70s) and without, in case you'd like to practice.

Fifth grade week of 9.12-9.16

We talked briefly about singing four sixteenth notes and reviewed theory before moving on to rehearsing "Sir Duke," which has some notes that move pretty fast. In most classes, we finished by watching a PowerPoint on the jazz greats who are mentioned in the second verse of the song.

Fourth grade week of 9.12-9.16

We talked briefly about singing four sixteenth notes and reviewed theory before moving on to rehearsing "Sir Duke," which has some notes that move pretty fast. We capped the class by watching a PowerPoint on the jazz greats who are mentioned in the second verse of the song.

Third grade week of 9.12-9.16

In two of our third-grade classes, we got behind with the holiday and last week's assembly, so we spent our time reviewing "On the Road Again" and getting introduced to "Sir Duke," our newest song. In one class, we held a makeup class to catch up and work on "Sir Duke." In the third class, we talked briefly about singing four sixteenth notes and reviewed theory before moving on to rehearsing "Sir Duke," which has some notes that move pretty fast. We capped the class by watching a PowerPoint on the jazz greats who are mentioned in the second verse of the song.

Second grade week of 9.12-9.16

We practiced our stand-up song and warmed up, then we practiced "Santa Lucia" with hand movements to help the kids get the words into their heads. Once we finished it (and they NAILED it!), we listened to "Nila, Nila," a Tamil folk song we'll begin working on next week. We listened to the melody as we'll sing it, then we listened to a Tamil version with the same words but very different melody. At the end of class, the kids who demonstrated the best RISE behavior helped demonstrate how to play some percussion instruments and helped us with basic quarter- and half-note rhythms, as well as demonstrating piano and forte. (Don't know what RISE behavior is? Ask your kids to tell you more.)

First grade week of 9.12-9.16

We practiced our stand-up song and warmed up, then we practiced "Santa Lucia" with hand movements to help the kids get the words into their heads. Once we finished it (and they NAILED it!), we listened to "Nila, Nila," a Tamil folk song we'll begin working on next week. We listened to the melody as we'll sing it, then we listened to a Tamil version with the same words but very different melody. At the end of class, the kids who demonstrated the best RISE behavior helped demonstrate how to play some percussion instruments. They showed us basic quarter-note rhythms and educated us on the concepts of slow/fast and loud/soft. (Don't know what RISE behavior is? Ask your kids to tell you more.)

Kindergarten week of 9.12-9.16

We practiced our stand-up song and warmed up, then we practiced "Santa Lucia" with hand movements to help the kids get the words into their heads. We took a break to dance to a shape-and-number song, then finished learning "Santa Lucia."

Fifth grade week of 9.6-9.10

We learned a new song to help us stand up straight like singers! Here is a song to help them remember the process:
Stand up
Feet apart
Knees relaxed and shoulders back
Our hands and arms are at our sides
Now we are ready to sing!

After we warmed up, we practiced "On the Road Again" for our winter concert. Then, we listened to "Sir Duke," the next song we'll practice, and we learned the chorus.We finished the class by learning a few new rhythms -- dotted quarter notes and sixteenth notes.

Fourth grade week of 9.6-9.10

We learned a new song to help us stand up straight like singers! Here is a song to help them remember the process:
Stand up
Feet apart
Knees relaxed and shoulders back
Our hands and arms are at our sides
Now we are ready to sing!

After we warmed up, we practiced "On the Road Again" for our winter concert. Then, we listened to "Sir Duke," the next song we'll practice, and we learned the chorus.Then we did some theory review -- we wrote out the staff and treble clef and talked about "dotted" rhythms. If you don't know, ask your kids what happens when you add a dot to a quarter or half note!

Third grade week of 9.6-9.10

Due to the Labor Day holiday and a longer-than-usual Friday assembly, I only saw one third-grade class this week. In that class, we learned a new song to help us stand up straight like singers! Here is a song to help them remember the process:
Stand up
Feet apart
Knees relaxed and shoulders back
Our hands and arms are at our sides
Now we are ready to sing!

After we warmed up, we practiced "On the Road Again" for our winter concert. Then, we listened to "Sir Duke," the next song we'll practice, and we learned the chorus. We ended class by doing some music-reading review and learning about dotted half notes, and getting volunteers to write note patterns on the board.

Second grade week of 9.6-9.10

We learned a new song to help us stand up straight like singers! Here is a song to help them remember the process:
Stand up
Feet apart
Knees relaxed and shoulders back
Our hands and arms are at our sides
Now we are ready to sing!

After we warmed up, we practiced "Santa Lucia" for our winter concert. Then we began expanding our knowledge of music-reading, starting with the staff and quarter note, then moving on to whole and half notes. Finally, we sang a story together.

First grade week of 9.6-9.10

We learned a new song to help us stand up straight like singers! Here is a song to help them remember the process:
Stand up
Feet apart
Knees relaxed and shoulders back
Our hands and arms are at our sides
Now we are ready to sing!

After we warmed up, we practiced "Santa Lucia" for our winter concert. Then, we began learning a little about music-reading, starting with the staff and the quarter note. Finally, we sang a story together.

Kindergarten week of 9.6-9.10

We learned a new song to help us stand up straight like singers! Here is a song to help them remember the process:
Stand up
Feet apart
Knees relaxed and shoulders back
Our hands and arms are at our sides
Now we are ready to sing!

We warmed up and kept a beat together, and then we practiced "Santa Lucia" for our winter concert. Next, we practiced a little chant to help us learn more about singing together and following rhythm directions. Then we sang a story together and closed with doing the freeze dance -- their favorite!

Fifth grade week of 8.29-9.2

We tried a new warmup this week that was a little more rhythmically challenging. After we got our faces nice and limber from that, we practiced "On the Road Again." We spent a lot of time on the bridge, which has some very high notes. We talked about tuning the highest notes in the song so that, when we have 200 kids on stage, they're not all singing a different note! We talked about making our mouths round, both inside and out, and where to feel our voices in our mouths so we sound fantastic. Finally, we reviewed some note values. In most classes, we added in dotted rhythms and sixteenth notes.

Fourth grade week of 8.29-9.2

We tried a new warmup this week that was a little more rhythmically challenging. After we got our faces nice and limber from that, we practiced "On the Road Again." We spent a lot of time on the bridge, which has some very high notes. We talked about tuning the highest notes in the song so that, when we have 200 kids on stage, they're not all singing a different note! We talked about making our mouths round, both inside and out, and where to feel our voices in our mouths so we sound fantastic. Finally, we reviewed some note values. In most classes, we added in dotted rhythms and talked about what the dot does to a note value. Ask your kids!

Third grade week of 8.29-9.2

We tried a new warmup this week that was a little more rhythmically challenging. After we got our faces nice and limber from that, we practiced "On the Road Again." We spent a lot of time on the bridge, which has some very high notes. We talked about tuning the highest notes in the song so that, when we have 200 kids on stage, they're not all singing a different note! We talked about making our mouths round, both inside and out, and where to feel our voices in our mouths so we sound fantastic. Finally, we reviewed some note values. (Next week we'll be adding in more!)

Second grade week of 8.29-9.2

We tried a new warmup this week that was a little more rhythmically challenging. After we got our faces nice and limber from that, we practiced "Santa Lucia" some more and talked about smooth, connected patterns in music as well as rough-sounding patterns. There are some wonderful second-grade singers! Finally, we read Fiddle-I-Fee.

First grade week of 8.29-9.2

We tried a new warmup this week that was a little more rhythmically challenging. After we got our faces nice and limber from that, we practiced "Santa Lucia" some more and talked about smooth, connected patterns in music as well as rough-sounding patterns. I showed the kids my sheet music and told them that, as the year goes on, they'll see sheet music more and more and begin learning some basic music-reading. Finally, we read Fiddle-I-Fee.

Kindergarten week of 8.29-9.2

This week in kindergarten, after we warmed up our voices, we did a fast/slow exercise using Brahms' Lullaby and the William Tell Overture by Rossini. We "rocked the baby" (a real stuffed animal if we had it, otherwise we made a rocking motion) to the lullaby so we could feel its slowness; then, we galloped around the room to the William Tell Overture. Then, we listened to a few other snippets of music to decide whether they were slow or fast, and we decided which other things were slow (turtles, rowboats) and which were fast (airplanes, trains). We also read the book Fiddle-I-Fee.

Fifth grade week of 8.22-8.26

After our warmup, we dug into our first winter concert song, "On the Road Again." We talked a bit about its meaning and how it relates to our winter concert theme. We talked about using our voices in the high and low registers, and making the sudden jump from low to high at the beginning of the song and how to make that sound appealing. One class had the idea to add a clap into the song -- I think we'll keep it! Finally, we reviewed note values.

Fourth grade week of 8.22-8.26

After our warmup, we dug into our first winter concert song, "On the Road Again." We talked a bit about its meaning and how it relates to our winter concert theme. We talked about using our voices in the high and low registers, and making the sudden jump from low to high at the beginning of the song and how to make that sound appealing. Finally, we reviewed note values.

Third grade week of 8.22-8.26

After our warmup, we dug into our first winter concert song, "On the Road Again." We talked a bit about its meaning and how it relates to our winter concert theme. We talked about using our voices in the high and low registers, and making the sudden jump from low to high at the beginning of the song and how to make that sound appealing. Finally, we reviewed note values (and, in some classes, had volunteers come to the board to write their own rhythms down!).

"On the Road Again" -- our first winter concert song!

We've begun practicing the Willie Nelson song "On the Road Again" for our winter concert. Our theme this year is "Music: The Universal Language." The song is about traveling and making music with our friends. We've talked some about how some of us really enjoy making music with our friends, listening to music with our friends, and dancing with our friends.

Second grade week of 8.22-8.26

After our warmup, most of our class was spent listening to and practicing "Santa Lucia," our first winter concert song. We also read the book We All Sing With the Same Voice (and sang the "Sesame Street" song) and talked about ways in which we are all similar, and ways in which we are different.

First grade week of 8.22-8.26

After the warmup, most of our day was spent listening to and practicing "Santa Lucia" for our winter concert. We talked some about louder/softer and slower/faster, using volunteers to help us demonstrate movements for each concept. We also read We All Sing With the Same Voice  (and sang the "Sesame Street" song) and talked about how we are all the same, yet different.

"Santa Lucia" -- our first Winter Concert song!

We've begun working on an English-language version of "Santa Lucia" for our winter concert. Our theme will be LIGHT. Here's a version of "Santa Lucia" in the traditional Italian. We are doing the same melody, just different words.

Kindergarten week of 8.22-8.26

Our kindergarteners are a frisky, fun bunch! They had had an exciting day and had a hard time settling down to business. We listened a little to our first winter concert song (posted above), but we accomplished little more. We were able to work through more of our lesson plan the following week.

Ravi Shankar and The Beatles

Here are the pieces the fifth-graders heard. Can you hear the sitar?

Fifth grade week of 8.15-8.19

We started off the class, as always, with warming up our voices, and we talked about why we do this. (It's to warm up our vocal cords, which are muscles just like any others in our bodies.) One of the things we will cover this year is talking about world instruments, and we started this by talking about the sitar. We listened to a piece of (semi-)traditional Indian music -- a sitar/violin duet -- and then listening to "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles. We discussed the sound of the sitar and how it was used in each piece of music. Finally, we reviewed note values.

My Favorite Things

Here are the two versions of "My Favorite Things" that we listened to. First off is the version from "The Sound of Music"; second is the John Coltrane version. Which one do you like better?

Fourth grade week of 8.15-8.19

This week, we continued to learn how to follow a conductor's cues (stopping/starting, following the conductor to keep tempo) and how to stand properly in order to sing. The bulk of the class, however, was spent talking about themes and variations. We did this by listening to the song "My Favorite Things" as performed by Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music," then listening to a performance by the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. We talked about how, in the Coltrane version, you can still hear the main theme of the song even though there are a lot of variations on top of it. We closed out the class by doing a review of note values. The fourth graders are doing a great job!

Agnus Dei from Faure's "Requiem"

Here's the Agnus Dei from Faure's "Requiem." Can you hear the changes from soft to loud, and back to soft?

Third grade week of 8.15-8.19

This week, we talked more about conductor cues (stopping and starting, watching for tempo) and how to stand properly when we sing. The bulk of our class, though, was spent talking about the musical terms for soft and loud, and for the transition to softer and louder. Third graders, do you remember the terms piano and fortissimo, or crescendo and decrescendo? We listened to a piece of music called the Agnus Dei from Faure's Requiem, which has many spots that change dramatically from soft to loud. We also reviewed our note values.

Second grade week of 8.15-8.19

This week, we continued to work on how to follow a conductor's cues (when to be ready to sing, when to stop) and how to open our palates to sing wide! We talked about verses and refrains, and we worked on this both with The Cat Came Back (with me providing verses and them the refrains) and with poems, where I said the verses and they provided the refrains. The refrain was usually a line, or even a sound, that broke up the verses.

1st grade week of 8.15-8.19

The first graders worked on warming up their voices and learning about high and low sounds. We experimented with making our voices sing high and low. They also met my friend, Nick the High-Low frog, who falls asleep when we sing too low -- and they took turns waking him up! Finally, we also read The Cat Came Back. It was a fun week!

The Cat Came Back

Kindergarten week of 8.15-8.19

It was our kindergarteners' first week, and we kicked it off with a bang! We did an icebreaker called the Name Train to learn each others' names. We also did the freeze dance, which was fun and helped us learn about sounds and silence. Last, we read The Cat Came Back and sang the song to go with it. Look above to hear (and see) a different version!

Winter Concert!

Many of you were here last year and participated in the winter concert. I wanted to let you know that we do plan to have another winter concert this year; I will let you know the date as soon as I'm able. Watch this space! (I'll also send a letter home.) As always, you can leave a message for me at ext. 200 or rdodds (at) lotusschool (dot) org if you have any further questions.

Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year!

Welcome! My name is Robin Dodds -- your kids know me as Mrs. Dodds -- and I am the elementary music educator here this year. Across all grades, we spent the first week getting to know each other, learning how to warm up our voices, and reviewing basic rhythms. We're getting off to a great start, and I look forward to spending more time with your kids in the coming months!