Staying Warm with Some Cool Calypso

In learning about partner songs this quarter, fifth graders also learned how to dance the calypso to the melody "Mango Walk." "Mango Walk" is a tradition song from Jamaica.

Here is one class showing off their fancy footwork!

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Fa la la la la!

On Thursday, December 20, Ms. Kasab and Ms. Varga lead the entire school and staff in a holiday sing-a-long. It was awesome hearing nearly 900 voices making beautiful music together!

More pictures will be coming as soon as I get them!

Lines and Spaces

Students in Ms. Randles' class were practicing identifying the notes on the staff by playing a staff bean bag game. Here are some photos of students working hard to create, identify, play, and notate pitches correctly!

Digging Rutabagas and Parsnips

Ms. Wilson's class performed "Harvest" in class today. Here are the last two verses; look at yesterday's post to hear Ms. Dizelos' class sing the beginning of this song. Enjoy!

Time to Gather Harvest!

Autumn is about to turn to Winter! Ms. Dizelos' class sang and moved to the traditional folk song "Harvest" in class today.  They learned about different types of root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, rutabagas, and parsnips.  Later, they performed a bordun on the barred instruments for one of their assessments.

Practicing a sequence of movements to "Pata Pata"

Students in second grade are working on performing dances and other sequences of movement in the second quarter. Here they are dancing to Miriam Makeba's famous song "Pata Pata." "Pata" means "touch," which is why you may see students bending over to touch the floor during this dance!

Want to hear one version of this song?  Check out a recording of Miriam Makeba's "Pata Pata."

Perfecting a Bordun

Ms. Nydick's class was working on practicing and performing a bordun on the bass xylophones and a bass metallophone in music today.