Joyful Noise Music: poetry

Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Week of February 5th, 2018

LANGSTON HUGHES

My People

The night is beautiful,

So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,

So the eyes of my people,

Beautiful, also, is the sun.

Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

Langston Hughes

Happy Black History Month! You will notice this month that we are focusing on Black history and modern culture, through the arts and humanities! Looking for neat ways to celebrate and learn with your family? Here's a great starter list of 5 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month with your family!

Today in music class, we learned about the poetry of Langston Hughes. Our 3s and 4s class also learned that Langston Hughes often wrote about the unfair treatment of people with brown skin during the time that he lived, and we noted that people with brown skin are still treated unfairly at many times to this day. A simple but important concept for students to grasp using succinct language. Although we did movements to the poem to indicate the night, faces, stars, eyes, and so forth, I explained to children that when Langston Hughes pointed out the body in "his people" that he was referring to people, like him, who had brown skin. If you would like to read a very interesting and in-depth analysis of My People, please check out this link!

We also had some fun with movement songs like "Elevator, Escalator," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "The Bubblegum Song."

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1) Do you remember who wrote the poem, "My People" from music class? Langston Hughes!

Week of December 30th, 2013

ONE IS SILVER AND THE OTHER GOLD!

Today's theme in music class was friendship! We sang "Silver and Gold" and sorted/wore gold and silver bead necklaces--a big hit. =)

We also read the following poem about friendship:

With a Friend

by Vivian Gouled

I can talk with a friend

and walk with friend

and share my umbrella

in the rain.

I can play with a friend

and stay with a friend

and learn with a friend

and explain.

I can eat with a friend

and compete with a friend

and even sometimes

disagree.

I can ride with a friend

and take pride with a friend.

A friend can mean

so much to me!

Older children talked about how the structure of a poem is different from a book, and learned what the word "stanza" meant. We also discussed a few vocabulary words in the poem including "compete" and "pride"!

We also played a fun ball game, sang "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story and learned how to sing "friend" in Spanish! We discovered today that if we are speaking of a friend that is a girl, we would say, "mi amiga" and if the friend is a boy, it would be "amigo".

Our infant class also enjoyed singing songs with puppets and practicing rolling the ball!

Over all, our main theme today is how precious our friends are, and we are thankful for each and every one here at Joyful Noise.

Have a safe and joyous New Year!

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

FOR EXTENDED LEARNING:

1. Who are your friends?

2. Is "amiga" a friend that is a girl or a boy? What about "amigo"?

3. Can you show me something silver and something gold?

Week of September 30th, 2013

SPOKEN WORD AND POETRY!

We really enjoyed watching and listening to some neat spoken word and poetry performances today! We learned how sound effects and words can be like instruments (the "boom" of a drum spoken aloud, the "sss" of the maraca or shaker beads, the "click" of a castanet) and we also learned how rhythm, tone and storytelling create powerful linguistic "music"!

Check out the pictures and video below to get a better idea of how we experienced spoken word and poetry today!

A relaxed pose while listening to poetry!

We looked at some awesome examples from one of my favorite spoken word performers and poets, Tom Waits! Since 1973, Tom's gruff voice and mesmorizing "beatnik" style have been an impressive poetic element in my own life as much as many others.

We took a very close look at this wonderful poem by Jamaican children's poet, Valerie Bloom, and her wonderful work "Granny Is".

Click the video above to hear her read the poem, and see the text below:

The infants being read the poem "Dog Train" aloud!

Some peekaboo fun!

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOU CHILD ABOUT

MUSIC CLASS TODAY:

1. Did you hear a poem about a "Granny" today?

2. What foods did "Granny" make? (Coconut drops, "grater" cake, coffee)

3. What animal did Granny ride to the market? (A donkey)

4. Where did she wash her clothes? (The river).

And some deeper questions to ask:

5. Do you think the granny in the poem is nice? Do you have a grandma?

6. What things that you smell make you think of your grandma? Does your grandma have animals? What food does your grandma like to cook?

Keep the conversation going and don't forget to try reading some poetry to your family tonight--it's especially powerful when paired to music or a beat!

Week of September 10th, 2011

Spoken Word Fall Poems

We had a wonderful time reciting fall poetry today with rhythm instruments as well as a few pitched instruments! The children made sound effects for fall leaves crunching with some recycled paper that I had, along with castanets, ethnic instruments, and my psaltery!

See the lyrics below and please enjoy the video, picture and sound clips I've assembled for you today!

Check out our new "Hello" song!