Music this week-Jumping Beans

We had a wonderful week moving and jumping and playing and singing together! Welcome to our Lipman families and to Kenneth and Kiersten at PAC!

Keyboard skills-This week we explored the black and white keys of the piano by finding groups of 2 and 3 black keys and exploring these. As Kenneth showed us, you can play many songs using just the black keys, including the start of Amazing Grace. This is because the black keys fall in the pentatonic scale, which is commonly used in children's music and folk music, and is a great place to begin piano exploration. If you have a piano or keyboard at home, consider trying it this week!

Music theory-We also worked with the quarter note and quarter rest symbols, Ta and Shh, making and reading rhythms, exploring an imaginary rainforest,  and practicing moving and freezing. Your child took home four rhythm cards which can be cut apart to make quarter notes, quarter rests, and two eighth notes (we haven't introduced this last symbol in class, but we'll get there). Try having your child make a pattern of four note and rest cards and read them by tapping, clapping, or using Ta and Shh.

Theme exploration-Our theme for this first unit is the music of Latin America, and we explored several songs from various Latin American countries, including working on some Spanish vocabulary. The children were thrilled to share their prior knowledge with the group.

To continue this, here is a printable book in Spanish
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Spanish_Teacher_Version_At_the_Farm.pdf

and in English

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Teacher_Version_28_-_At_the_Farm.pdf

Some of you who registered early received home materials today. If you registered later, your home materials have been ordered, but have not yet arrived. We will get you these as soon as possible. If you did get home materials today, I suggest copying or backing up the CD to your computer or Mp3 player. The more you listen to the CD (in the car is often a wonderful place for this) the more your child will be able to participate in and enjoy class, and it always seems that the CD that is most liked and used is the one that vanishes or is damaged beyond repair. Your home materials also include a home activity guide with a story to share, activities to do, and a panpipes instrument to explore.

Have a great week and enjoy making music together!