Bubble Gum, Peas Porridge and Cereal

Kindergarten students began the week with the best word in the world - their own name.  To the accompaniment of a drum track, each student choose a percussion instrument on which to perform their name. It was a chance to practice playing the rhythm of language as well as to listen to other musicians. Then, after all this hard work we celebrated by singing our Sticky Bubble Gum song. In this silly game, students dance, keep the beat, and figure out how to stick themselves to others in more and more complicated ways. And to top it all off, our pretend gum is always delicious!




Grade One students began learning a greeting song called Hello Everybody. While playing this game our young musicians experience the true purpose of making music, which is to communicate to another person. Even though we have just begun to learn the piece, students are no longer looking at the teacher. Rather they are singing to a partner, shaking hands, and learning how to solve movement challenges on their own. 




Grade Two students reinforced the melodic pitches of so and mi by composing simple melodies and then adding silly, nonsensical lyrics. We then used these same notes to transcribe the traditional song Peas Porridge Hot. Unfortunately, the last note of the song didn't seem to be either a so or a mi. The students noticed it was even lower than the other notes and discovered it was a new pitch called "do". Now they have even more options to play with when composing!




Grade Three students have continued to develop their ability to perform music in two parts. We began with three flavors of cereal - Cheerios, Rice Crispies and Sugar Corn Pops. Students began by checking if they were moving and speaking at the same time as others on their team. Then they began to reach their ears farther to listen for the words spoken by the other team. If all goes well, each musician can hear how their own music fits in with the other piece of music, just like the pieces of a puzzle! Students also took some time to analyze another sample of music, Beethoven's Fur Elise. Click on the link below to listen while reading some of the student's comments.

Click HERE to listen to 
"Fur Elise".

“It feels in my  heart . . . romantic because it is piano and largo. I imagine two people dancing on a soft beach.”

“It makes me feel scared. . . I imagine a boy lost his family and be all alone.”

“It feels calm . . . I imagine petals from flowers flying in the air.”

“It feels peaceful . . . I imagine sleeping on a floating cushion of air.”