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