Ms. Gray's Music Class: Kindergarten

June 7-11: More Fun with Folk Music! We will continue to explore folk music as we listen to songs that tell stories about everyday life in America. We'll learn about the instruments used in traditional american folk music and have the opportunity to see a wooden limber-jack dance and play the rhythms to our songs! We'll have fun dancing with our heels and toes!

June 1-4: Fun with Folk Music! We will explore folk music as we listen to songs that tell stories about everyday life in America. We'll learn about the instruments used in traditional american folk music and have the opportunity to see a wooden limber-jack dance and play the rhythms to our songs!

May 24-28: Students will continue to enjoy some time playing multiple rhythm parts as a class on a variety of instruments, this week to some folk music. They will also be introduced to a traditional folk limberjack.

May 17-21: Students this week will enjoy some time playing rhythm parts as a class on a variety of instruments. Students will also learn about tap dance and hear a story about Bojangles. 

May 10-14:  In music the students are doing a great job remembering what they have learned as we are circling back to review and add onto concepts we were introduced to at the beginning of the year. Will will continue to reinforce the concepts of steady beat and rhythm, combine pitch with rhythm, and listen, respond and connect to the music we hear.  

May 3-7: I hope you all enjoyed your break! In music we are circling back to review and add onto concepts we were introduced to at the beginning of the year. Will will reinforce the concepts of steady beat and rhythm, combine pitch with rhythm, and listen, respond and connect to the music we hear.  

April 12-16: Remembering Rhythm! This week in music we will circle back around to focus in on the rhythms we've learned. We will practice clapping, tapping and counting our rhythms. We will make connections as we begin to see how to combine rhythm and pitch together.

April 5-9: This week students will connect their knowledge of pitch to music they are familiar with. We will respond appropriately to high and low sounds. Utilizing our knowledge of pitches we will to be able to work together on a fun class activity.

March 29- April 2: This week in music we are enjoying the musical key game that we were introduced to last week to help us hear high and low pitches. We are also reading labeled notes written on lines and spaces while we play our instruments.

March 22-26: More Staff Fun! Students are doing a great job identifying high and low pitches through listening and reading! Students will practice finding the lines and spaces on the staff. We will also have fun playing a musical game to practice our high and low sounds.  

March 15-19: This week students will be introduced to notes on lines and spaces (the staff). We will practice writing and playing notes, and learn that high and low sounds are written on lines and spaces. 

March 8-12: I have been so impressed with how all the students are doing on their solfege signs and sight reading! We have had a lot of fun playing boomwhackers and learning about high and low sounds. This week students will have a chance to write some of their own notes! 

February 15-19: This week: Exploring pitch...continued! Students are doing a great job! We will explore pitch through the use of boom-whackers, solfege and songs. 

February 8-12: This week: Exploring pitch. Students will explore pitch through the use of boom-whackers, solfege and songs. 

February 1-5: High and low sounds- Students will have fun learning some new songs with high and low pitches and playing pitched instruments. We will show high/low and getting higher/getting lower with our body. 

January 25-29: With the guitar as an example, we will see that instruments with smaller, tighter, shorter, thinner parts create higher pitches; while instruments with bigger, looser, longer, thicker parts create lower pitches. We will also begin some of our solfege signs.

January 18-22: Pitch - Now that we know that some sounds are pitched and some are unpitched, we will start identifying pitches as high and low. We will explore how smaller things/instruments make a higher pitch and bigger things/instruments make a lower pitch. 

January 11-15: Students will be writing and playing music notes in 4 beat rhythms and reviewing pitch vs unpitched sounds. 

January 4-8: What is pitch? We will identify sounds as pitched or unpitched with a fun activity.

December 14-18: This week in music students will have fun listening and moving to songs of the season! We will practice identifying same and different parts and begin writing our own musical notes!

December 7-11: Students will continue identifying same and different parts in a song. Students will show understanding by responding to changes in the music.

November 30- December 4: Kindergarten and 1st grade students have been making great progress this year! I am really enjoying all of my classes. This week in music students will be introduced to musical form. Every song is built with parts. Some parts are the same and some are different. Students will begin to identify parts/sections of a song. 

November 23-24: We will review/assess some music concepts we've done since the beginning of the year and have fun dancing and moving in a steady beat to some favorite songs of the season!

November 16-20: Rhythm reading & writing. Let's remember what we learned about steady beat, uneven beat, and rhythm. Students will perform rhythms and learn how to draw their own notes to create a steady beat and rhythm.

November 9-13: We will continue to explore vocal timbre. We'll play a fun, new game to help us perform and respond to our own unique timbres. Students will think about sounds around them and analyze: How are some sounds similar? How are sounds different?

November 2-6: Students will discover that music can have an uneven beat. We will notice that some sounds are even, (like a ticking clock) and some are uneven, (just like a galloping horse). We will explore the feeling of these beats through song and movement. This week we will also begin to learn about vocal timbre. We will learn to identify our singing, talking, shouting and whispering voices. We will also discover that each one of us has our own unique voice! 

October 26-30: This week in music - Students will review Tempo (Largo and Presto) with "Five Little Pumpkins." In addition, we'll have fun practicing our Dynamics (Piano and Forte) with "The Shy Little Monster."

October 19-23: Students will review tempo as they play rhythms to music. We will add in dynamics. We'll begin to put both together as we explore how these expressive qualities effect the way music sounds.

October 12-16:  Tempo - What causes one song to be fast and another slow? Students will explore different tempos. We will see how tempo can affect the way rhythms are played.

October 5-9: In music this week Kindergarten students will learn about the importance of patterns in music. Students will try to find patterns and rhyming words in some new and familiar songs.

September 28 - Oct. 2: Kindergarten students are having a great time learning and practicing steady beat. We have been identifying things around us, playing and moving to steady beats. Students tapped a steady beat to songs and poems. This week we will learn a new song and have fun with fast and slow!

September 21-25: This week in Music we will learn how to echo sing as we begin our Hello Song. Eventually students will have the opportunity to lead the song! We will review steady beat and think about things around us that make a steady beat or move in a steady beat. We'll also have fun moving and playing a steady beat to poems and some of the familiar songs we've learned.  

September 14-18: Kindergarten classes are introducing themselves and dancing and moving to with a steady beat to some fun songs!

September 2-11: Welcome to Music! Kindergarten will participate in getting to know you games and have fun with steady beat!