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!