Monday April 6 - First Day of Lesson Plans

Hello families and Vista Heights students!

Wow I miss all of you and seeing your lovely faces. 
I wonder if everyone has had enough of screens and is looking forward to some sunshine and fresh air. Over at our house, we have been playing board games and wishing we had purchased more puzzles at Christmas! We've also been cooking a lot and singing along to the soundtrack of Henry Danger, the Musical. 

Now, down to business:  alongside your teachers' lesson plans there will be a short Music component for you to do. This first week, as we are just getting used to all the technology/software we will be using, we'll take it easy. Learn to sing a math song with me here.

Next week we'll go on Musicplay Online and try a few Music games and exercises as well.

Looking forward to see you all again,

Mrs. Lim

Dear families,

The teachers at Vista Heights School are thinking about you. Our hope leading up to Spring Break is that you take this time to focus on your health and well-being. Focus on spending time with family, enjoy the spring weather, stay active and well-rested!

For the time being, your child has access to Raz Kids and Mathletics. In addition, CBE has emailed all parents a great list of learning activities that families can do together at home.

You can also continue to receive updates and information here at the CBE website.

Miss you guys already! Stay healthy and safe!
Mrs. Lim

Mid March Update

Kindergarten is marching and dancing to some Irish dances in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.
We are learning song forms (in our Connaughtman's Rambles song's case, it is AABBAA) and choreographing appropriately for each section.

Grade 1/2 is playing rhythmic patterns using alternating hands on the xylophones, and they are also practicing accurate note-playing. We also listened to some soundtrack music to decide what kind of movie we see playing in our head when we listen to this music.

Grade 3/4s are working on perfecting their songs. Students can practice through youtube videos:
It's Raining
Old MacDonald Had a Farm
O When the Saints Go Marching

Grade 5/6s are still in the midst of Genre Presentations using Google Slides and learning new songs.
Students can find links to practice videos here:
Jolly Old St. Nicholas
This Little Light of Mine

March 3, 2020 Music Update

Kindergarten continues to learn disciplines around how to behave while sitting in front of an instrument. They are also practicing orchestration for a song that requires wood block, tambourine, metallophones, bass xylophone, and glockenspiels. Students work on glissandos, rolls, double stops, and maintaining steady beat. They also are required to sing while playing and waiting for their cues! 

Grade 1/2s are also practicing playing as an ensemble with orchestration for a song. They also continue to work on waiting for their turn to play, and playing the correct rhythm at the right time!
We also are playing a listening game that requires one student play a beat on the bongos and the class guessing which posted rhythmic pattern it corresponds to.

Grade 3/4s are steadily progressing in their note reading abilities and their speed at playing the correct notes on their recorders alongside an accompaniment. It means a lot of brain processes happen at the same time, and it requires steady hard work and practice! Most students have now earned their orange belts for our recorders! We will be continuing to earn our green, purple, and blue belts this week and the next.

Grade 5/6s are starting to present their Google Slide Genre Presentation. So far some classes have learned about Broadway music, K-pop music, Jazz, and Disco! We have some very interesting genres coming up, and I"m excited to be hearing about them!
Grade 5/6s are also working on mastering reading unlabeled notes D, E, G, A, & B to play certain songs. Our next few songs we will work on will include high C and high D.

Pink Shirt Day this Wednesday Feb 26, 2020

Pink Shirt Day

February 26, 2020 is Pink Shirt Day.  Students are encouraged to wear a pink shirt (this is not mandatory) to celebrate friendship and kindness.  Students will meet with their buddies for an activity.

And to end this post, a fun few words from Youtuber Kid President!

Learning Highlights

K- gr 2 continued working on rolls, glissandos, and double stops with mallets on the xylophones within the context of a rhyme that they spoke aloud while playing. We also focused on maintaining beat to a pop song in a game called Beat Detective. For our music literacy, Kindergarten students are learning to write sixteenth notes in a group of four in preparation for our music dictation. Grades 1/2 are writing four-beat patterns which contain sixteenth notes by dictation. They also have to play and identify four beat patterns that they hear each other play.

Grades 3-4 continue their recorder unit. They are developing fluency in playing and a gentle warm tone. Those of us with skinny fingers have to work harder to ensure we are covering the holes of our recorder with our finger pads, not our finger tips. We have seen our recorder karate belt songs and we are working on our fourth Belt Song. Soon we will be testing to receive our belts. We will be graded based on the following rubric.

NAME OF STUDENT: BELT:

Skill	Descriptor	Always	Mostly	Sometimes	Not Yet
		4 points	3 pts	2 pts	1 pt
Tone	Plays with a gentle, beautiful tone
Tonguing	Starts the note with “doo”
Legato	Connects notes
Fingerings	Uses correct fingerings
Finger Position	Covers holes completely, uses fingerpads
Rhythms	Plays rhythms accurately
Fluency	Plays complete example on the first attempt
Rehearsal Skills	Student quietly waits turn to play

32 possible points Students Point Total : _____

Comments from teacher:

Grades 5-6 simultaneously continue on recorder skills and learning new notes while also preparing a google slides presentation on a music genre of our choice. Mrs. Lim gave a sample presentation so we would know what was expected of our slides. We have also seen our recorder belt list of songs we will be learning, and we also watched a video of our gold belt song (Happy Working Song, Hedwig's Theme) so we could have an idea of tempo, rhythm, and tone. We are also going to be marked based on the above rubric.

Grades K-6 update for mid February

Earlier in the week, we had Sound Kreations come and do a Slam Poetry residency with students. They worked on their poems of self-expression and introducing the self, and all the poems were finished with a performance by the instructors themselves - what a treat!

As Valentine approaches, students in grades K-2 get to sing a song about making friends. They also coordinate hand clapping patterns and dance movements!

VALENTINE VALENTINE

Valentine, valentine,

Won’t you be my valentine?

Valentine, valentine, 

Won’t you be my friend?

Will you be? Will you be?

Will you be good friends with me?

Will you be? Will you be?

Will you be my friend?

Grades 1/2 have been working on keeping steady beat as an accompaniment for a song called "Lemonade". It is actually harder than it seems! Sometimes we are tempted to play the rhythm instead of a steady beat because we are singing at the same time.

Kindergarten has also been singing old and new songs, all which require executing dance choreography from memory! Our songs require students work on finding a friend or a partner - all social skills adults have internalized and don't need to think about! Younger students must remember eye contact, smiling, looking for a partner, and then immediately dancing the moves!

Kindergarten also continues to work on recognizing instrument families by just sound, and later we will be identifying non-pitched percussion instruments by sound and then grouping them into their families (drums/metals/woods/shakers and scrapers).

Grades 3/4 have been learning different songs using the notes B, A, and G, and they are memorizing notes on the musical staff without labelling them! Students are allowed to take their recorders home to practice their new songs.

Grades 5/6 beginners have started their recorder lessons, and intermediate/advanced students will start next week. At the same time, students are working on a Google Slides presentation where they will introduce three different genres of music to their class. I'm excited to learn about some of the new genres out there!

Families, have a wonderful long weekend!

Mrs. Lim

Genres Research Assignment for Rooms 5 & 6

Students research their genre and put their information into a Google Slide presentation. They will have a chance to present their genre and share one song from that genre as well. We are looking forward to learning about some new music!

K-2 January Update: Dancing and Playing

Grades K-2 have been diligently learning to move to the beat and recognizing changes in musical form in order to execute certain choreography.

Students first sing, dance, then move their song onto the xylophones, where everyone learns an accompaniment that requires growing in dexterity, perseverance, and paying close attention while the teacher teaches the notes.

Kindergartens have worked on playing glissandos and trills, and they are enjoying improvising on a pentatonic scale to a particular beat.

Grade 1-2 have advanced from a straight bordun to a levelled bordun to a cross-over bordun. Now we are working on building speed playing up and down a penta-scale.

We also are continuing to work on recognizing instruments (or instrument families) that we hear in a song.

Recorders and Homework Link

Students grades 3-6 have received their new recorders (or brought back their ones from last year) and have started our new unit.

Students have been briefed on:
1) how to hold the recorder (Left hand on top three holes, right hand for the bottom four)
2) how to tongue a note (blowing gently with a "doo" sound)
3) how to read and play notes B and A on the musical staff for our first songs

More advanced students had a quick review and then tried their hand at the opening line of an electronic song called "Faded" by Alan Walker.

Students will be earning "belts" as they progress through a number of levelled songs appropriate for their years of experience on the recorder.

Your child may wish to bring home their recorder to work on creating a smooth tone or reading notes. Click on the link below:

https://musicplayonline.com/
login: snowpassword: 2020

Click on "RECORDER" in the left hand column.

Select the 3rd tab, "Kit1Kids".
-Practice songs #1-8.

Select 2nd tab, "Kit1Highlight"
Practice songs #1-8.

You are Invited to a Celebration of Learning

Students will be performing their own creations on Friday, February 7th afternoon at 1:30 pm. All parents are welcome!

The SLAM! Poetry Program is an exciting course that aims to re-frame the world of Language Arts and give the power of poetic expression a contemporary spin. The program invites students into a new understanding of poems and poetry, works through the misconceptions of poetry, introduces dynamic writing exercises that will include, reading, writing, grammar, context, imagery, metaphors, and similes. The program includes a focus on how to read dynamically through use of space, body language, vocal projection, and breathing.

Mallets and Note Reading

Kindergarten:
Students are working on holding the mallet with proper grip and at a proper angle in order to play glissandos on their xylophones/metallophones.
We once again practice listening and counting in our songs, and we add actions to help us remember the words to our songs. This week we are singing "I Go Up the Apple Tree" and we are reciting the poem "Swing, Swing, it's a Beautiful Thing".
We are also watching different clips of brass instruments to learn about the Brass Family.

Grade 1/2:

Students are using listening logs to convey what they can "observe" about the mystery music piece. Students are asked to circle their answer, but grade 2s get a bit more practice writing their answer too. 

We're also singing a famous Sesame Street song called "Sing, Sing a Song". Feel free to play it at home for your child to sing along with!

We also continued with 'Lucy Locket' - writing its rhythms and copying out its lyrics.

Grade 3/4

After dancing and singing the song 'Tideo', students are learning how to play the melody on mallets. 

We also did two rounds of "Mad Minutes" for recorder notes, getting ready for our recorder unit. Students found themselves vastly improving in how long it took them to label every note. 

RECORDER UNIT is coming. If your child has found their old recorder, please have them label it with a sharpie or tape and pen and have them bring it to school (in a ziplock or original cloth case.)

Grade 5/6

This week students challenge the Mad Minute, where they label 30 notes (that they will be using in recorder songs) as fast as they can. Most students, because of our prior practice in our note naming game, can label all thirty in less than 2 minutes. We will challenge a second Mad Minute to see if we can improve our speed! 

We also learned a new word regarding music tempos: accelerando. It means to gradually increase speed. We watched a video of a song and dance that employed accelerando, and we learned a song to sing, dance, and play on xylophones that gradually increases in speed. This song requires playing three separate parts and maintaining the beat in order to match everybody else in the ensemble. It requires more than just skill in hitting the right notes, but skill in listening to those around you!

RECORDER UNIT is coming. If your child has found their old recorder, please have them label it with a sharpie or tape and pen and have them bring it to school (in a ziplock or original cloth case.)

Music in the New Decade 2020

Kindergarten

Kindergarten continues to explore what it means for a melody to go up high or go down low - we sing melodies and move our hands and bodies up and down to match the melody. We also are working on mallet technique. Are we gripping the mallets properly? Holding them at the proper angle? Playing on the correct part of the bar? Can we alternate hands?

Grade 1 & 2

Not only do we continue with mallet technique, but now we work on melodies beyond a repeating two-note bass-line (bordun). This week we are playing and singing two games: Strawberry Shortcake and Lucy Locket. We have just learned the mallet accompaniment for Strawberry Shortcake, and we'll learn it for Lucy Locket next! We'll also work on recognizing the BEAT and the RHYTHM of every song we sing.

On the music literacy front, we always practice reading and writing rhythmic notation. Sometimes we use popsicle sticks to do this, sometimes it's done with a whiteboard, or sometimes we clap and pat the rhythms we hear and see. Grade 1 & 2 are still working on the eighth notes, quarter note, half note, and quarter rest.

Grade 3 & 4

After many classes of practicing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", we are laying this song to rest until we get our recorders.

Students are being asked to search their homes for their recorders from last year so they can bring them to school again for this coming week. We will start recorders at the end of January.

Meanwhile, we are furthering mallet technique and speed of play as we practice more complicated three-part accompaniments for singing games such as "Close the Garden Gate". Please ask your child to show you how to play. You'll find it is actually a very sneaky math game!

Grade 3/4s also have been reading the (sixteenth note) rhythms and notation for the song "Tideo". Once we finish reading and clapping it, we dance it! There is a simple folk dance that requires students to sing and dance with steady beat, and then audiate (think the melody, hear it in your head) the tune so they can dance with just instrumentation, without words nor teacher cues!

Students have also studied two new genres: the march ("Radetzky March", by Austrian composer Richard Strauss I), and the waltz ("Blue Danube Waltz", by Richard Straus II (the equally talented son!)) We got to practice conducting with several time signatures as well.

Grade 5 & 6

Grades 5 and 6 are just getting acquainted with rhythms using sixteenth notes and eighth notes in combination. We've decided that we would use the term "newspaper" (or "nose picker"!) and "cherry tree" for our opposite rhythm. Can you guess which term goes with which picture?

Students have also studied two new genres: opera (Bizet's "Toreador Song" from the opera Carmen, and swing (Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing") and watching videos to see which instruments are in play and what clothing, buildings, cars, and interior design looked like in those eras.


Once again, recorders are on the horizon. We have been practicing reading notes and identifying their names as fast as we can in preparation for all the note-reading we'll be doing with an instrument in hand! Grade 5/6 also learns about notes on the ledger line...we'll be playing "middle C" in some melodies, and it'll be useful to read it on the musical staff!

Recorder Goals: 

The unit goal for students studying recorder for their first year (typically grade 3) is to play songs using the notes B, A, G, and E without labelling notes. 

The recorder goal for students in their second year of study (typically grade 4) is to play songs using the notes B, A, G, E, D, (bonus: high C, and F#).

The recorder goal for students in their third year of study (typically grade 5) is to play songs using B, A, G, E, D, low C, high C, high D, F#, and F. Students should also be able to play multi-note songs (with note names labelled). Students should also be able to read recorder diagrams and independently figure out how to play any note written on their music. Students will also be working on two-part songs. 

Recorder goals for students in fourth year of study (typically grade 6): playing B, A, G, F, E, D, C, C', D', E', F', F#. Students should also be able to read recorder diagrams and independently figure out how to play any note written on their music. Students will also be working on two-part songs. 

On Listening:

Listening with an ear for analysis is a skill that needs to be constantly developed. It involves recognizing the sound of every type of instrument, remembering which instruments are used in a musical genre, and then being able to articulate how the composer or artist has created a certain mood for the song. Students need to be able to speak to a song using Italian musical terms, and they need to be able to express this all within a short time frame. When you listen to music at home, consider asking what instruments your child hears. Ask what mood the song creates. If you're brave, ask how that mood was created!