Music Games
The students identified steady beats within the songs played for them. Upon listening to the musical examples from the Making Music cd, they wrote if the beat was steady or if it was a rhythm that was not steady. The class also danced to a song called Step in Time. We started with a march and proceeded to perform the silly movements commanded in the song. In this class, we are learning to identify the amount of beats a note takes and clap the rhythm of a musical exercise. One of our favorite activities is carried out while moving to the beat of a song called The Entertainer. This activity is to act out the word given on a card, while the class individually guesses and writes their word on a small white board and holds it up. The teacher signals yes, if their answer is correct. For this game, the only sound that is to be heard is the music of The Entertainer!
Ms. Farrell
Learning the Recorder
For 3rd grade music, we are teaching the students how to play the recorder. We have learned out first three notes, how to identify these notes on a musical staff, how to position the hands on the instrument and which recorder openings to close for each note. We’ve had a student request to play a song in front of the class, which included the three notes we just learned. Very impressive! They are ready to start playing song selections, and songs they will play!
Ms. Farrell
Music Theory
In the 4th and 5th grade music classes, recently we have been starting with a review of music theory. This includes one student at a time using the smartboard to identify each noted presented to them on the treble cleff musical staff. Each student identifies as many notes as they can, without making a mistake and the score is recorded. In this class we have practiced the C Scale, playing high and low notes with clear tones and are in the process of playing a song selection. Prior to playing the song, we are clapping the beat of the song, which currently includes quarter notes and half notes. The students are in approximately four groups and there is teamwork in identifying the notes and playing the music accurately. The class is very attentive and excited to play each music exercise and learn the song!
Notepad, Word Pad, and Word
In class we are working on learning three different word processing programs, Microsoft Notepad, Word Pad, and Word. We have finished the lists and are now focused on writing a critical comparison review of the three programs to find out which one we like the best.
Learning about software
In first and 2nd grade, the students are learning to identify educational software and educational computer games. We are expanding from Jumpstart 1st Grade to several other Knowledge Adventure games, including MathBlaster and Reading Blaster.
Mr. Boyd
Valentine Ode
For Valentine’s Day, the students tried their writing skills on a free-verse ode to something they love. An ode is a lofty poem to a person or thing. Most students chose their pillow pet; a few their games, computers, or bicycles; some opted for their mom, an aunt, teachers or school, and one, the rain! They had fun writing. If you come by our classroom, the poems are all tacked up on our bulletin board for you to enjoy.
On top of that bulletin board is a verse from Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The students discussed what this verse meant to them and wrote a note in response on a piece of heart-shaped paper. These notes are now the borders of the bulletin board.
When you look at our bulletin board, it is very telling. Yes, the things and people we love take center stage of our lives and God is on the periphery. The third graders were challenged to make it their goal by the end of this school year to reverse this – making God the center of their lives!!!! Let’s keep them in our prayers as they seek to put God first.
Fun with Legos
Writing?! Five sentences?! THREE PARAGRAPHS?!?! That’s the reaction you get when you want the third graders to write (well for most of them). Forget about telling them to add more details or rewrite a sentence or, horrors of horrors, calling their finished work a draft!
Last week, as a fun idea, I brought Legos into the classroom to illustrate the writing process. The students were randomly put into five teams. Each team was given the same number of Lego bricks (15-2×4’s, 9-2×2’s, 8-1×4’s, and 2-1×8’s). They had 5 minutes to create something out of them. Teamwork was crucial too. As a matter of fact, one team couldn’t pull themselves together and had nothing to show when the time was up. Thus only four teams presented their creations and we voted for the best one.
Then the teams were given unlimited amount of Lego pieces, which included people, windows, doors, flowers, trees, wheels and more. Again they were given 5 minutes to come up with an award winning creation. This time the dysfunctional team pulled themselves together and created something. Each team presented their creation and they told why the second one is superior to the first. The students used terms like better, awesome, hotter, more details, clever, cooler details, bigger, and has an environment. The last one I wasn’t sure of at first, but after questioning the team, I suddenly realized they meant setting!!
Afterward we spent a few minutes relating their Lego creations to writing. How, when we use a limited vocabulary, our writing is boring, which was the exact word they used in describing their first creations. In order to make our writing better, cooler, hotter, we have to include details, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases and, of course, a setting. Sometimes we have writer’s block, like the team that couldn’t work together, but we should not let that deter us from writing. We need to push forward and do it. The next day, a student brought in his war cycle from home that he had built with Legos. He told me that he had to make six drafts (that was his exact word) before he settled on this final design. I loved it and told him to write down the drafting process to create this war cycle.
In the upcoming days, the third graders will be collecting Lego Blocks of Words. For now, there will be two strips of paper on the classroom wall – one titled Lego Blocks – Grownups and another Lego Blocks – Children. Underneath you will find all kinds of adjectives for that category. If you have a Lego block for these categories, let us know. We will add them to our collection. You never know, your block might appear in one of the student’s writing.
Mrs. Work
States of Matter Jell-O
We made red raspberry Jell-O cutout hearts which showed us the changes of matter. Powder is the solid; the steam from the boiling water is a gas; mixing the powder with water creates a liquid; and finally, cooling the gel not only creates a solid again, it also made a yummy snack! Happy Valentine’s Day!
State of Mind
Your State of mind reflects attitudes about yourself, about others, and about God.
We learned the Earth has three states of matter (Liquid, Solid and Gas). Just as Earth has different states of matter, we can have different states of mind. Your mind can be in a state of forgiveness or unforgiving. It can be in a state of pride or it can be humble. It can be willing, or grateful, or prayerful. The more time we spend thinking about Jesus, the more we become like Him. A mind filled with Jesus’ love is in the best state of all!
Ms. Calma
We LOVE to read
February is Black History Month, so we have been reading books about important people and events from the Civil Rights Movement. From leaning about Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to recording facts and opinions about the Greensboro sit-ins, we recognize how blessed we are to be in a school where we can have friends of all sizes, shapes, and colors!
Ms. DiGiovanni