Novembre et Decembre 2019

In November, all grades participated in the singing of "Une Colombe" ("A Dove").  Actions were used to support the lyrics.  The students in Grade Five provided accompaniment to the song.

On December 13th, everyone gathered in the gym for Caroling.  Students were joined by their family members to sing along to familiar Christmas songs (French and English).  Our Grade Five and Grade Four students provided instrumental works on handbells and ukuleles.   A fun and merry time!

Grade One:

• "I Think Music's Neat!" - An introduction to steady beat.  Students demonstrated their understanding of steady beat through movement (patting, clapping, walking, marching, etc.), writing (pre-notation) and listening (ear-training; pulse vs environmental sounds).   
• Steady Beat or Not - Students listened to series of sounds and had to identify whether what they heard was a steady beat or not (ear-training).  
• Musical Four Corners/"Four Voices" - A game to distinguish four different types of voices (speaking, whispering, shouting, singing)
• "Going on a Bear Hunt" - Students provided actions and sound effects for the story.

Grade Two:

• Rhythm Reading - Students read aloud rhythm flashcards to reinforce their reading skills.  Djembes were also used for reading and playing rhythm patterns.
• Djembes - Used to introduce note values (quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, eighth notes).  
• "Three Little Muffins" - Reviewed forte, piano and mezzo forte  (dynamics; volume in music) through poetry.  Symbols (f, p, mf) for these dynamics were also reviewed and used to create changes in volume throughout the poem.  
• Musical Four Corners/"Note Values and Rests" - A game to reinforce note identification.  

Grade Three:

• Group Work - Students worked in small groups to integrate rhythmic reading, movement and djembe playing. The following process was used: planning, practicing, editing, presenting.  Both classes demonstrated great teamwork!
• Musical Four Corners/"Dynamics" - A game to reinforce knowledge of dynamics (symbols; ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp, crescendo, descrescendo).  A new dynamic symbol was introduced:  sfz (sforzando)