Monkeys, Snow, Dinner Parties and Rhythms

Students in EDC had nothing but monkeys this week! We practiced our counting with puppets as we played the classic game Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree. Then we traded our puppets for instruments, like the shaker eggs, jingle bells and a new instrument the “spoons” as we sang The Jungle Beat song.

Kindergarten students continued to add new elements to the story The Snowy Day. This week, we added some small xylophones to represent the idea of falling snow and some large xylophones to make the sound of sledding. Soon the story will be fancy enough to share with our families at the upcoming Celebration of Learning!

Grade One students are adding the finishing touches to their Celebration of Learning song, Come in My Friend.  This week we learned the final verse of our song and we discussed how to blend our voices together, especially as we begin singing louder. This important work was overshadowed, though, by our experience with the risers!  These stairs help us to sing and look our very best, but it is very important to use them safely.  I was so proud of our students as they figured out how we can use them as a team, caring for the safety and comfort of everyone in our group! 

Grade Two and Three students continued to practice their rhythmic notation this week.  Each small group of three or four students played a different phrase on a different instrument – all at the same time – and without any teacher support! All I did was sit and play the piano as our students read and played beautiful music. How wonderful to share this experience together, not as a teacher and students but rather as musicians playing together!