Week of September 23rd, 2013

MAKE-AND--TAKE CASTANET WORKSHOP!

We had so much fun making home made castanets today and comparing them to some of the castanets I have in my music collection!

How did we do it? Very simply--with supplies like cardboard, cardstock, buttons, scraps of wood and a little hot glue (used only by the teacher, of course!)

Check out the short tutorial below for more of an explanation, and ask your children if they enjoyed making an instrument today!

Follow up questions to ask from class today:

 1) Did you have music in a new place today? (We met in rooms 16/17 near the downstairs kitchen)

2) What makes the "click" sound in your home made castanet? (Some children had smaller castanets with buttons, and classrooms where buttons/small objects are a choking hazard had a large castanet made with scraps of wood!)

Hi from Miss Chantal!

Check out this quick tutorial/explanation video of how we made our home made castanets today!

Cute little video of "5 Little Monkeys" with the Two's Class! 

(We use our castanets as the "sneaky" alligator mouth!)

Week of September 16th, 2013

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE!

Did you know that this Saturday, September 21st, is the International Day of Peace? You can read all about this inspiring event here: http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/.

Across the world, many celebrations and events take place in honor of International Peace Day, but as you can imagine, they are all themed around global unification, harmony and humanity!

We began our learning process today by asking: what is peace? See the video below where I briefly show an example of a posture of peace to the kids. I also talked with children about an attitude of peace, and we looked at the written word and a few symbols, which included the traditional circle, the peace sign with your hands, and the International Peace Day symbol, which is a dove with a branch! After looking at the pictures, we sang a few fun "peace" tunes, including "Peace Like A River" and "I've got peace in my fingers" (see the video below!).

One of the highlights of Peace Day is that at 12 noon across the world (in respective time zones) a moment of peace will be observed.  People may do this with silence and then follow through with a kind action, a vigil, lighting a candle, or even saying a prayer.  I thought this would be a neat opportunity to practice counting, rhythm and silence, so using our Remo fruit and veggie shakers, we practiced counting to twelve and being very silent after!

Hear the toddler Peace Count here: Toddler Peace Count mp3 

Ask your child some important questions today:

1. What do you think peace is?

 2. How can you be peaceful with your body?

3. Do you remember how to sing the peace songs from music today? (See below!)

4. Let's practice counting to 12, and being very silent afterward!

FROM THE FIVE'S ROOM: "How can you create peace?"

Acadia: "Whisper."

Riley: "Be quiet."

David: "Give someone you love a kiss."

Alex: "Feed the animals."

Week of September 9th, 2013

THE SITAR!

We enjoyed learning today about this wonderful and exotic stringed instrument!  Used most commonly in Indian music, the sitar can have up to 20 strings and requires constant tuning.

                         You can read more about the sitar here!  

One of the neatest things we learned about the sitar today is that they are often made from dried out pumpkin, or "toomba" (this is the part you see above labeled the "kaddu"). The kids practiced pronouncing all of the names today of the sitar parts as well as the name of the instrument themselves. We also enjoyed singing a call and response song (see below), using rainbow streamers, and pretending to fall to the ground and sleep like leaves.

Questions you can ask about music class today:

1. What instrument did you see today that had strings? 

2. What is the instrument made from? 

3. How did you move your body with rainbow streamers?

Check out the cool videos below to hear the amazing sitar musician Ravi Shankar and see his impressive technique.

INFANT CLASS

Check out this cute new movement chant we tried today! The video has the simple lyrics posted so you can easily "play along" at home! :)

IF I ASK YOU TO SING (CALL AND RESPONSE SONG)

Listen to the mp3 so you can sing along!

If I ask you to sing, will you sing? (YES I WILL!)

If I ask you to sing, will you sing? (YES I WILL!)

If I ask you to sing, if I ask you to sing

If I ask you to sing, will you sing? (YES I WILL!)

THE TODDLERS SINGING "IF I ASK YOU TO SING" MP3

WAY UP HIGH IN THE APPLE TREE 
(Toddler Room)

Week of September 2nd, 2013

SKIT-SKAT-DOO-BOP-BWAH-DOO-DOO!

Students had a great time learning about scat today with a little vocal practice (we had fun singing the scale with animal sounds, take a listen here: AnimalWarmups.mp3) and watching some amazing videos of the Queen of Jazz (and scat!), Ella Fitzgerald! Check out the youtube videos I shared with the children today of her alone as well as with Mel Torme.

I think the kids had a great grip on the idea of how to scat, and they found it to be a lot of fun! Check out one of our students giving scat a try here: Scatting Practice.mp3. We even tried a "scat circle" with our older students, who joined hands and took turns scatting a little in "solo" mode.

All students also enjoyed singing songs and experimenting with the keyboard today! Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

(Scatting starts at about 1:30!)