Mrs. Walker's Top Ten Christmas Songs!

I think the best way to spread Christmas Cheer is through MUSIC! Here are my top 10 christmas songs! My Christmas songs are all over the place: some from when I was younger, some from now, some from my college choral concerts, everything!

10. Angels We Have Heard on High, Pentatonix

9. Prologue from Hodie by Vaughan Williams 

8. O Holy Night, Glee Cast

7. What Christmas Means to Me, Stevie Wonder

6. Happy XMas, Adam Levine

5. Wintersong, Sarah McLaughlin and Ingrid Michaelson

4. The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole

 

3. O Magnum Mysterium, by Morten Lauridsen

2. White Christmas, Bing Crosby

1. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Diana Krall

I can't believe we are in our final week of school for 2013. What an awesome year! December (as always) has flown by. I am so thankful and grateful for my wonderful kids here in Forest City. Have a merry, safe, and fun Christmas! See you in 2014 :).

November is flying by!

We are having fun in music during the month of November!

In 4th/5th grades, we are learning all about musicals through watching Annie. We will sing songs from the musical and learn about what makes a musical different from other movies. It is really fun to get to watch the musical on the Smart Board- it's like a movie theater!

We are busy in 1st/2nd/3rd/Primary getting ready for our big programs! Be on the look out for an information sheet to come home this week!
As a reminder:
2nd Grade- December 5 at 6:30 PM
3rd Grade- December 5 at 7:45 PM
1st Grade- December 12 at 6:30 PM
Primary- December 12 at 7:45 PM

Kindergarten and Early Primary are spending time on Thanksgiving music and learning about high and low.

Happy Monday!

Happy Halloween!

As an elementary teacher, Halloween is such a fun day! Costumes, candy, and trick-or-treaters: so fun!

In honor of Halloween, I came up with my top 5 must-have Halloween songs. 

5. 5 Little Pumpkins: This is our FAVORITE Halloween song in Kindergarten.

4. Purple People Eater: We have been freeze dancing to this goofy Halloween tune!

3. La Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens: The perfect song to set a spooky mood!

2. Dies Irae from Requiem, Mass in d minor by Mozart: One of my favorite pieces from when I sang with the Central College A Cappella Choir and a perfectly spooky song for Halloween!

1. Thriller! This Halloween light show is a fun way to watch this spooky song (a little less scary than the music video).

Have a fun and safe Halloween! 

-Mrs. Walker

Mood

Music can effect the way you feel. We have been learning this in 2/3 music the past couple of weeks. 

We have asked ourselves:

How does this music make me feel?

How did the person who wrote this feel?

How does the music I sing make people feel?

We have done a fun activity- here is the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/music/mm/mood01.shtml

Have a great week!

Presto/Largo

We have been learning all about presto (fast) and largo (slow) in kindergarten and early primary music! We remember presto and largo with this fun movie!

How it's made

We have been learning about the instrument families in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade music! We finished the mini-unit up last week with a great "How it's made" video all about the piano. Did you know that the main thing that hold a piano together is glue?! Neither did we :).

Here is the video if you'd like to see it or see it again!

Have a great week!

What a great September!

September has been so much fun in the music room! It has been a joy to meet all of the new students and see everyone. We are finally getting settled back into the swing of things.

In Kindergarten and Early Primary, we have been doing interactive activities with "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and now "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (if you're in the school, stop by and see our life size palm tree). We have also been learning the percussion instruments and voting on our favorite ways to play them: shake, strike, or scrape.  Our favorite new song is "Forte, Piano" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUYEvCly8Fo).

In 1st and 2nd Grades, we started the year off with some fun smart board activities. We are now starting our PROGRAM! Yay for Christmas in September :). This year, we are performing THIS OLD GINGERBREAD HOUSE. If you haven't gotten notes and scripts at home yet, you will this week! We have also gone on explorations to find out about instruments at www.classicsforkids.com.

In Primary and 3rd Grade, we have been talking about instrument families. We have used the smart board to go on explorations learning about different instruments (www.classicsforkids.com). The smart board is really fun! We are now starting our program HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! This is a fun show. Since the third graders did Nutcracker last year, we get to try an all new third grade program! This program has a lot of 2 part singing... and it's not easy! If you haven't gotten notes and scripts at home yet, you will this week!

In 4th and 5th grades we have been working on our recorders! They are starting to sound pretty good! We can play simple three note melodies and all have our blue Olympic ring (for the recorder Olympics)! Next week, we will get our yellow rings by learning to play MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB and by being able to identify all of the notes on the treble staff. 5th grade has also started a POP music unit!

We have been busy! Enjoy this beautiful fall weather!

Forte and Piano

We have been having fun learning about our four voices in kindergarten, first grade, and early primary music class!  Our four voices are whispering, yelling, talking, and SINGING! We are also learning about loud and soft (or forte and piano). Check out this movie to see how we remember forte and piano! Have a great week!

Welcome back!

Happy first day of school! :)

Im am so lucky to be back at Forest City Elementary for my fourth year of teaching. We have a lot of exciting things happening this year...

2013-2014 Program Dates:

December 5

6:30- 2nd Grade

7:45- 3rd Grade

December 12

6:30- 1st Grade

7:45- Primary

April 24

6:30- Kindergarten

7:30- Early Primary

April 25

9:00- Grandparents Tea

May 8 

6:30- 4th Grade

7:45- 5th Grade

Have a great week!

-Mrs. Walker

Winding Down....

WOW! I can't believe that another year is almost over... and what a great year it has been! I have had so much fun. The kids in Forest City have to be some of the best kids in the world.

I'll be back next year with more posts, tech music tools for home, pictures, and videos from the music classroom. This is also one of the first places to check for 2013-2014 program dates! :)

Have a safe and fun summer! See you next year!

Just DANCE!

We are having a lot of fun this week! With the help of youtube, we are learning lots of fun dances to our favorite songs! We just follow the dancers on the big screen. We have been sticking to Just Dance Disney,  Just Dance Kids, and Just Dance Kids 2. It's so fun! :)

Have a great week!

Reminder that the 4th and 5th grade programs are rescheduled for this THURSDAY (May 9) at the Middle School. 4th Grade at 6:30 (arrive at 6:00) and 5th Grade at 7:45 (arrive at 7:15)- thanks for your flexibility!

BRAVO!

Last night was just as wonderful as we had hoped! Great job to all of the kindergarten and early primary students! :)

To celebrate, we're having a gum party and reading the Goldfinch Award winning Zoozical by Judy Sierra (Zoozical to celebrate the Moosical!)! Then, in the coming weeks, each class will get to have a small pizza party to continue the celebration.

Remember, tomorrow night the 4th graders will be presenting Ross Sutter and the Forest City 4th Graders at 6:30 PM in the Middle School Gymnasium and the 5th graders will be presenting Rock and Roll Forever at 7:45 PM in the Middle School Gymnasium. They are both really fun, upbeat programs!

See you there!

Today's the BIG DAY!

Tonight is truly one of my favorite nights of the year... the KINDERGARTEN and EARLY PRIMARY programs! It's so fun to see the kids perform for the first time. I thought this was a great time to THANK YOU, the parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles/supporters, for such wonderful kids. They have worked so hard and put in so much time- for many of them, this is one of the biggest, hardest things they've ever done!

You will see tonight how much they've grown... and we can't wait to show you!

See you tonight!

Kindergarten: arrive at 6 PM, program at 6:30 PM
Early Primary: arrive at 7:15 PM, program at 7:45 PM

A good goal for this busy week :)

Kindergarten/1st Grade Sites!

The kindergarten and early primary students (who are waiting for their program on April 30th!) have been having fun exploring www.dsokids.com/games. This site is run by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. We really like the matching and coloring games.

Have a great week!

Early Primary Program Rescheduled!

A BARNYARD MOOSICAL!

As a result of the early out because of weather on Thursday, April 18, the EARLY PRIMARY program is rescheduled for

TUESDAY, APRIL 30 at 7:45 PM

Students need to arrive for the program at 7:45 on the night of the performance. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you so much for your flexibility during this crazy spring weather!

-Mrs. Walker

Kindergarten Program Rescheduled!

A BARNYARD MOOSICAL!

As a result of the early out because of weather on Thursday, April 18, the KINDERGARTEN program is rescheduled for

TUESDAY, APRIL 30 at 6:30 PM

Students need to arrive for the program at 6:00 on the night of the performance. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you so much for your flexibility during this crazy spring weather!

-Mrs. Walker

1st/2nd/3rd/Primary Sites for April

Play your way around all of these fun games! You may pick as many as you like to explore today. These are your only options. Have fun! :)

Compose a song!

Musical Mysteries

Travel to the New World Map

Rhythm Drummer

Storm Chasers!

Music Memory

The Musical Staircase

Coolest thing this week.

Hello! In the midst of the craziness that is program week (remember! kindergarten, early primary, and 4th grade grandparent's tea this week!) we have come across a way cool video in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade!  We are working on our note reading and sol-feg (think do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do from The Sound of Music). We incorporated this video into our new notes and pitches! We think it's awesome to see something so current with a cappella music! Hope you enjoy! :)

Early Primary Program Information

All you need to know about

Barnyard Moosical

Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 7:30 PM

Forest City Elementary School Cafetorium

When to be there:

Please arrive at the elementary school by 7:00 on the night of the performance. Students will then go to their classrooms. All coats, purses, and personal items need to be left with family in the gym.

What to wear:

We are very loosely dressing up as farm animals. Some of the costume pieces will be provided or made in art, but the base of the costume needs to be sent from home. Feel free to be goofy!

Mrs. Brown's Class:

Girls: Pigs- All pink! As much as you can. Black leggings or pants

are fine, too.

Boys: Goats- All black, grey, and brown.

Mrs. Grunhovd's Class:

Girls: Chickens- All white with red accents. Black leggings or pants

are fine, too.

Boys: Goats- All black, grey, and brown

Mrs. Shirk's Class:

Girls: Pigs- All pink! As much as you can. Black leggings or pants

are fine, too.

Boys: Cows- All black and white. They can be in dress clothes, too!

Please contact me if you have any questions. Thanks in advance for all of your help! It will be a great show!!!

Mrs. Walker * ewalker@forestcity.k12.ia.us

Kindergarten Program Information!

All you need to know about

Barnyard Moosical

Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 6:30 PM

Forest City Elementary School Cafetorium

When to be there:

Please arrive at the elementary school by 6:00 on the night of the performance. Students will then go to their classrooms. All coats, purses, and personal items need to be left with family in the gym.

What to wear:

We are very loosely dressing up as farm animals. Some of the costume pieces will be provided or made in art, but the base of the costume needs to be sent from home. Feel free to be goofy!

Mrs. Brown's Class:

Girls: Pigs- All pink! As much as you can. Black leggings or pants

are fine, too.

Boys: Goats- All black, grey, and brown.

Mrs. Grunhovd's Class:

Girls: Chickens- All white with red accents. Black leggings or pants

are fine, too.

Boys: Goats- All black, grey, and brown

Mrs. Shirk's Class:

Girls: Pigs- All pink! As much as you can. Black leggings or pants

are fine, too.

Boys: Cows- All black and white. They can be in dress clothes, too!

Please contact me if you have any questions. Thanks in advance for all of your help! It will be a great show!!!

Mrs. Walker * ewalker@forestcity.k12.ia.us

Welcome to March

Even with the snow on the ground (and the snow in the future) we are thinking about spring in the music room!

A lot happens during the spring in the music room: kindergarten program, early primary program, grandparents tea, DARE graduation, fourth grade program, fifth grade program, and more!

The fifth grade girls group will be singing at the DARE graduation. Last year, we started a small group for fourth grade girls. Anyone could join, no tryouts!  Last year we had 14 girls in the group. This year, we have over THIRTY! WOW! We are really excited to perform for parents at the graduation.

We are excited to see and perform for you!

Where did February go?

Wow! Time sure flies!

We have been super busy in the music room during February with program prep, instrument building, song games, and preparing for a special guest!

The week after Spring Break we will welcome Mr. Ross Sutter for a week long residency. Mr. Sutter is a Scandinavian Folk Song Superhero and we are excited to work with him. While here, he will work with grades K-4, focusing especially on 4th grade. He will then return for the afternoon and evening of May 2 to perform with the 4th graders at their spring program. You can find more about Mr. Sutter at his website!

Fifth grade will not meet with Mr. Sutter this year, as they spent so much time with him last year :).

Rock and Roll

We are starting the next program season here in the music room!

5th grade is excited to do the program "Rock and Roll Forever" which includes lots of 50s and 60 rock and roll hits. This week, we've been doing an activity that has taught us a lot about the history of rock and roll, The Beatles, and Elvis.

We are so excited to perform this for you on May 2 at 7:45 in the middle school gymnasium!

Have a great weekend!

Pianos, Pianos, Pianos

The music room is full of (you guessed it) pianos!

Forest City Elementary has a long relationship with Clear Lake and West Hancock School through a piano share program. Each January, the music room here at Forest City Elementary is full of 26 electronic keyboards, headsets, and accessories.

Every grade level will use the keyboards for 4 classes. The first class is focused on melody, the second class is focused on harmony, and the last 2 classes are focused on note reading.

We love getting to try something new and create and improvise melodies and harmonies.

If you're in the building, stop by and check out the keyboards!

Hope you're having a fantastic start to 2013 :)