Kindergarten Finding Our Voices!

 Today Kindergarten recorded their songs for Light Up Our Hearts!  It was really neat to hear their voices get louder and louder as we recorded more and got more familiar with our parts.  Thursday we will be recording the music videos to go with our songs.  We can't wait for you to hear them. 

This is Ms. Felstrom's last week with us.  She taught PM kindergarten how to do some cool poses that we are going to us for our music video. 

On Thursday, Dec. 3rd (which is also crazy sweater day) the kindergartens will be filming their music videos for Light Up Your Hearts.  We are very excited.  If you have not signed the CBE use of student information form OR sent Mrs. Coulson an email with consent to have your student filmed for this project and you would like your student to participate please send an email to jabaine@cbe.ab.ca. 

 

PM kindergarten - if you have Santa hats please wear them! 

Important Filming Dates and information!

Mr. Kai's Class

On Tuesday, Dec. 1st,  Mr. Kai's class will be filming their music video for Light Up Your Hearts.  We are very excited.  If your student would like to wear something special they are welcome to! If you have not signed the CBE use of student information form OR sent Mrs. Coulson an email with consent to have your student filmed for this project and you would like your student to be in the video please send an email to jabaine@cbe.ab.ca.

Ms. Day's class

On Tuesday, Dec. 1st,  Mrs. Day's class will be filming their music video for Light Up Your Hearts.  We are very excited.  If your student would like to wear something special they are welcome to! They are playing Frosty the Snowman on the BoomWhackers. Even a scarf and earmuffs would be amazing to add on. 

 

If you have not signed the CBE use of student information form OR sent Mrs. Coulson an email with consent to have your student filmed for this project and you would like your student to be in the video please send an email to jabaine@cbe.ab.ca. 

Ms. Wauthier's class

On Wednesday, Dec. 2nd,  Mrs. Wauthier's class will be filming their music video for Light Up Your Hearts.  We are very excited.  If your student would like to wear something special they are welcome to! They are representing Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Bright colours are encouraged. 

 

If you have not signed the CBE use of student information form OR sent Mrs. Coulson an email with consent to have your student filmed for this project and you would like your student to be in the video please send an email to jabaine@cbe.ab.ca. 

Mrs. Campbell's class

On Thursday, Dec. 3rd,  Mrs. Campbell's class will be filming their music video for Light Up Your Hearts.  We are very excited.  It is crazy sweater day that day and your student is encouraged to wear that.  Also if they have wrapped an empty box, please ensure they have brought it by then. 

 

If you have not signed the CBE use of student information form OR sent Mrs. Coulson an email with consent to have your student filmed for this project and you would like your student to be in the video please send an email to jabaine@cbe.ab.ca. 

Kindergarten

On Thursday, Dec. 3rd (which is also crazy sweater day) the kindergartens will be filming their music videos for Light Up Your Hearts.  We are very excited.  If you have not signed the CBE use of student information form OR sent Mrs. Coulson an email with consent to have your student filmed for this project and you would like your student to participate please send an email to jabaine@cbe.ab.ca. 

PM kindergarten - if you have Santa hats please wear them! 

All other classes - your videos will be filmed the following week! Stay tuned for more information!!

Kindergarten/ Neily and Campbell

 We are moving right along with the winter celebrations.  The Special Events Committee met today to ensure that December is going to be so much fun for everyone.  The winter celebrations are all moving along as well.

Kindergarten started the day creating our own movements and having our classmates copy them.  We are working on building confidence and increasing our ability to take risks.  Each class began recording the vocals to our carols.  I am including the links to our carols with hopes that you can practice them at home.

Mrs. Conley's class is working on the song Decorate the Christmas Tree.  Here is a link for the song... Decorate The Christmas Tree.  

Mrs. Mask's morning class are working on the song Jingle Bells.  However we have added a new verse that isn't quite the usual. We do the Dashing Through the Snow verse, then the chorus and then we sing this:

                                Now the ground is white, and the night is young.

                                Take your friends tonight, and sing a sleighing song.

                                Just get a bobtail bay, get ready for a run.

                                Then hitch him to an open sleigh, and now we'll have some fun. 

If you could practice that verse with the kids that would be amazing!! 

Mrs. Mask's afternoon class has been working on the song Must Be Santa.  Here is a link for the song...

Must Be Santa.

Mr. Neily's class was the last class to watch the Mickey Mouse Haunted House that we created.  Everyone was really proud of the work they have done and we are excited to share it.  I will be making a Google Classroom assignment soon so that the students can share it with their families. We also had some fun creating some sports scenes.  Every student was proud to present what they had come up with. 

The song that Mr. Neily's class has been working on is called December Around the World.  It is probably one of the hardest songs because they will be singing in 4 different languages as well as English. I am really hoping you can spend some time at home listening to the song and getting it into your head so that we can record it.  Here is the link... December Around the World. 

Mrs. Campbell's class was lucky to have Mrs. Felstrom teach them today.  We warmed up out body with some dancing and then we played some fun carols on the Boomwhackers.  We finished the class by practicing I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.  We almost have all of the lyrics down and are ready to record next week.  It would be helpful if the students could practice the song though before then. Here is the link... I Want A Hippo.

We were also talking in class about the video we were going to film and I was hoping that you might have a small box (one that the students can dance with) or gift bag that you wouldn't mind wrapping and bringing in (empty of course) for your student to dance with.  I do have a few at school we can use but not enough.  It would be great if we could have those in by next Thursday. Thank you so much!

Zwack/Cox/Wauthier and Low

 Today we began or revamped our Christmas/Winter assembly songs.  I am really excited by how quickly this is all coming together.  

Mrs. Zwack's class will be representing Hanukkah.  Today we spoke about the celebration a little bit and began our song.  Here is a link for if you want to practice at home.  Miracle of Lights. I think this is going to be a very cool piece that we will use little tea lights for.  We also watched the Mickey's Haunted House that we created.  After all classes have seen it I will put it in a Google Classroom assignment so that students can share it at home.  They really did a great job.  

Mrs. Cox's class began handbells.  They are playing the song Up On The Housetop.  I was not sure how this would go but I was so impressed with the students and how responsible and respectful they were.  They were also very focused. By the end of class the song was really coming together!

Mrs. Wauthier's class was excited to be taught by Ms. Felstrom today.  We played a great movement activity focusing on dancing with different body parts.  We then were introduced to playing the Boomwhackers. We played through Frosty the Snowman.  Later we began our song for the winter celebration, Light Up Your Hearts.  This class will be representing Diwali.  We spoke about Diwali today and began a song.  The link for the song is here for you to practice at home.  Diwali Song.

Mrs. Low's class was also taught by Ms. Felstrom today.  We followed the same class plan as Mrs. Wauthier's class. Please read above.  Mrs. Low's class will be representing Chinese New Year.  We have been working on a song called Happy New Year.  Here is the link for you to practice at home. 

Happy New Year

Kelly, Huebner, Day and Kai!

 Today we began a lot of our performance pieces for the winter celebration!!  We also were able to view the Mickey's Haunted House piece that we put together over Halloween.  After all the classes have seen it I will make a Google Classroom assignment so that you can share it at home with your family.  

Mr. Kelly's class started the handbells today. I was so proud of them.  They are playing the Huron Carol.  By the end of class there were bits that started to sound exactly like the song.  I am really excited to continue this with them.  Yes, every grade 3/4 class will get a chance to play the Handbells just not at the same time.  There is a lot of washing of gloves and sanitizing that needs to happen before another class plays.  I will make sure that every class gets to play at some point. 

Mrs. Huebner's class has begun working on the song Jump at the Sun.  Here is a link so that you can practice at home.  Jump At The Sun.  I am hoping that we can learn this in the next few weeks.  The plan is to then record it and film a music video.  This particular song is about Kwanzaa.  Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture which is held from December 26 to January 1, culminating in gift-giving and a feast.  The principles, which are noting the song are: Unity, self-determination, faith, responsibility, creativity, purpose, and cooperative econamics.  We will also be singing in Swahili!

Mr. Kai's class has been working on a Boom Whacker piece with Ms. Felstrom.  They are playing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. We are so impressed with how quickly they learned and played the piece accurately.  We are ready to create our music video! 

Mrs. Day's class is also working on a BoomWhacker piece.  They have been working on the song Frosty the Snowman.  We just started it today and they were amazing. Ms. Felstrom has been teaching this class and we are so proud of what they have accomplished so far.  Today they brought home some art that they did a month or so ago. Their art was representing a piece of music where the notes are going up and one going down.  

December Music/ Winter/ Christmas Celebrations

 This December we are hoping to make it super fun for the kids (and staff).  The theme is going to be Light Up Your Hearts!  Mrs. Kinsman has asked for donations of Christmas lights if you happen to have extras lying around.  

Some of the exciting events will include carolling and Christmas songs.  We also recognize that our school represents many cultures and we will be celebrating those through song and dance as well.  Your student will either be involved in creating the carol portion or the multicultural portion of the celebrations as well as many other events throughout December.  

Please email me if you have any questions or would like specifics.  If you HAVE NOT given consent to have your child filmed and are ok with that, please email me consent.  jabaine@cbe.ab.ca. 

Stay tuned for more exciting examples of what we're up to! 

Diwali and Other Holidays

 It is that time of year when many different cultures celebrate many different things.  Music is such a great avenue to explore and educate ourselves on the celebrations that are important to the students in our community.  

Diwali begins on Nov. 14th.  This week we spoke about Diwali, The Festival of Lights.  Many students were interested in sharing their own experiences and how they decorated their houses.  We were imagining what it must look like in India right now with everyone decorating.  We sang a song to the tune of twinkle twinkle that spoke to some of the customs that happen at this time of year.

Next week you will receive information about our upcoming Christmas celebration.  Please make sure to read it!  

Thank you to everyone for your amazing responses to the Remembrance Day ceremony.  It was so meaningful to us in so many ways.  

Remembrance Day Assembly

 Today is the Remembrance Day Assembly.  

You will find it in two parts on the schools Youtube Channel for a short time.  Please find some time to watch it today or tomorrow.

Here are the links 

Part 1

Part 2 

How Many Sounds Do You Hear Kindergarten?

 This week in Kindergarten music we have been trying to figure out how many sounds we hear on each beat.  We learned a song called Bow Wow Wow and used popsicle sticks to mark out the number of sounds we heard on each beat.  We connected the shapes made with the popsicle sticks to the rhythms ta and ti-ti.  We were also introduced to a quarter rest (one beat silence). After we figured out the beats we played the game that goes with the song. 

We also learned a new peace song called Peace in My Heart. 

The P.M. kindergarten had a guest teacher today, Ms. Felstrom. She is going to be student teaching in music in the afternoons.  We loved her movement activities and name games. She also started a number with us that we will be using for the Christmas/winter assembly!

Can you feel the beat? Gr. 1/2

 This week we had some fun in music playing basketball!! Yes that's right... We used the basketballs to try and bounce the rhythm and bounce catch the beat.  We also tried to discover the difference between the accented beat and the unaccepted beats.  It was nice to do something a little differently.  

We also learned a new solfage hand sign.  Today I introduced la.  We now know doh, mi, sol, and now la! Ask your student if they can show you the hand signs for all of these. 

We have been learning some new peace songs as well, which you will get to hear in the future peace assemblies.

 

Remembrance and Silent Movies - Grade 3/4

 This week has yet again been a whirlwind! The students have been working so hard on their Remembrance Day pieces.  They have all been busy recording their work for the assembly on the 10th.  I am so impressed with everyone. These kids have put so much work in. 

Along with Remembrance Day, we have also been working on creating and videoing an original musical score to a silent movie.  We have been experimenting with different instruments and how to make different sounds.  We have discovered how much focus it takes to play every instrument and sound effect on cue. 

Do You Know What Hibernates Kindergarten?

 This week we have moved away from Halloween!  I hope everyone had a spooktacular weekend. I know all of the kids were excited to share their Halloween stories with us today. 

We started music with a game about a grumpy grizzly bear! I hope none of you felt like a grumpy grizzly with this time change! Normally this is a chasing game but I adapted it a little bit so that we could still play and remain distanced. We get to tiptoe up to the sleeping bears and scare them awake! We loved using our piano (quiet) voices as tiptoed up to the bears and our forte (loud) voices to wake them up.  Of course we always love when we can run back to our spots. 

This week we also did some action song and poems - we even did some addition as we added more and more lady bugs! 

We finished off the class playing the rhythm sticks to Gavotte by Bach.  We listened for the forte and piano sounds and tried to copy this with our sticks.