Week of August 29th, 2011

PVC PIPE FUN!

Today we enjoyed playing with a homemade instrument that I created from PVC pipe! It is like a cross between a pan flute and a xylophone, but

made with plastic pvc piping. The pipe itself is not great conduit for sound, but rather the air traveling through it makes a sound. Therefore, we played it by "tapping" the ends with the rubber spatula you see, which actually "bumped" air quickly through and out,creating a sound.

The kids had a lot of fun with this and we also refreshed on how length of tube and amount of air

relate to pitch. As a general rule, we know that:

BIGGER/LONGER/MORE AIR: lower pitch

SMALLER/SHORTER/LESS AIR: higher pitch

I also made a pvc flute and demonstrated playing that for the kids. It is so much fun to make instruments! Check out our pictures below, and also the impressive video below from Youtube of a high school student playing pop medleys with his home made PVC pipe instrument!

PARENTS CONNECT:

Check out this neat video of a highschool student playing his PVC pipe instrument!

Week of August 22nd, 2011

THE CARROT SEED

Today we listened to the audio book, "The Carrot Seed" by Ruth Krauss. For those who may not have heard this classic book, it is a tale of perseverance about a little boy who plants a carrot seed and hopes to see it grow. He takes care of it well and stays faithful despite surrounding doubt.

The audio book version of this story is wonderfully musical, and includes several little songs as well as musical sound effects for story elements, including the flute for watering can, timpanis for steps and many other instruments like guitar.

I used this story not only as a musical and listening activity, but also as a strong example of prediction while reading. Children were asked to predict whether or not the carrot would grow, and reviewed their predictions as the story progressed.

Older school age children made a "Carrot Seed" prediction book where they indicated their prediction and why, and then reviewed their response after hearing the end of the story.

I've included a free MP3 to the audio book that I used today, along with some great literacy extender activities in printable/downloadable pdf format below.

I hope you enjoy! =)

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PARENTS CONNECT

MP3 of "The Carrot Seed" by Ruth Krauss, read by Norman Rose

Wondering and Guessing Activity

The Carrot Seed: Reading extensions from the BookIt Program

More Carrot Seed Extenders

Week of August 15th, 2011

INFANT THROUGH SCHOOL AGE

Learning about the piano!

We really enjoyed taking a walking field trip to the chapel today, to view and learn about pianos. In the chapel we have an upright piano. Today we learned that there are upright pianos, and grand pianos, and these additional facts:

-Pianos have black and white keys

-Pianos have 88 keys if they are full size

-Pianos are stringed instruments that make sound when a felt hammer strikes the inside.

We got to see this neat process in action by lifting the lid of the piano and taking a look inside while the keys were being pressed. Everyone got a turn to stand on a chair and take a peek!

We also had a fun coloring sheet with some facts and a few pictures of the keys on a piano and an upright piano itself. Feel free to download it below

under "Parents Connect"!




PARENTS CONNECT
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Piano Coloring Sheet

Week of August 8th, 2011

Infants through School Age

We were so pleased to have Anna Garza visit with her saxophone today! Anna, a local band student and former JN alumni, is our cook Miss Kathy's daughter. We very much enjoyed the selection of saxophone music that she played for us which included some jazz standards like "Pink Panther" and also some childhood favorites like "On Top Of Spaghetti" and "Supercalifragilistic"!

Along with listening to the saxophone and learning about its parts, we also watched this neat Youtube video about how Selmer saxophones are made!

The main ideas we focused on today are:

-Saxophone is a woodwind with a reed

-Sound comes out of the "bell" (the bell shaped sound hole at the bottom

-Saxophones make sound through vibration

-Saxophones are made of metal

Also check out a few of our highlight videos below. Thank you so much for sharing your saxophone and talents with us, Anna! =)

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE

ON TOP OF SPAGHETTI

Week of August 1st, 2011

INFANT THROUGH SCHOOL AGE

Learning about harmonies!

Today in music class, we learned all about harmonies!

What is a harmony? Harmonies are defined as the simultaneous combination of notes or pitches, particularly of a pleasing sound or of chord structure.

Today, using a xylophone as a visual, I taught children to use the "skip a bell" method to harmonizing in thirds...that is, to play notes with one skipped note between them. Using our 8-note bell sets here at Joyful Noise, this lends itself to making a third harmony each time. Older children noted the note that was displayed on the xylophone and used that reference to select desk bells to create matching harmonies. Because were selecting pleasing or harmonious tones, we also learned the definition of "dischord".

Here is a free download of a song called "I like the flowers" that I played for children this morning in order to demonstrate what singing harmonies sounded like!

I LIKE THE FLOWERS