A Peek At My Week

Hi everyone!  I hope you're doing well.  I'm heading into my last week of school, yikes!  I have two days of teaching (crowd control), then all school field day and then the last day where there's a 5th grade continuation, all school picnic and then the kiddos that don't go home watch a movie in the gym for their "specials time."

So, while I don't have that great of a week to link up with this linky party I thought I would anyways:

A special thanks to Mrs. Laffins Laughings for hosting this party!

My kindergartners actually had their Spring Sing and Continuation Program last week so we're playing a lot of games that we'll use at the beginning of next year: Bee Bee Bumble Bee, Cobbler, Cobbler, 1, 2 Buckle My Shoe.  Just to kick things up a notch we're getting out the "big drums" (a.k.a. the tubanos) and playing the beat on the drum head and "the way the words go" on the rim.  I don't usually get these out for these guys so they've been super excited!!

My first graders are also playing a lot of the early second grade games:
Here Comes a Bluebird, Who's That?, Mouse, Mousie, etc.  We've been starting class with this singing game that I learned from Susan Brumfield (it'f Creole from N.O.):

There's a couple ways to play it:
Version 1 (the way my 1st graders are playing it):
Formation: single circle, facing partners.
Actions:

1. phrase 1 (first 3 beats + the pick up): shake right hands with partner
2. phrase 2 : shake partner's left hand
3. phrase 3: 1st "bonjour mes amis" shake right hands, 2nd "bonjour mes amis" shake left hands, 3rd "bonjour mes amis bonjour" trade places with partner.
4. phrase 4: slow turn around so that you're facing a new partner.

Version 2 (they'll learn this later in 2nd grade)

Formation: double circle, facing partner (one partner in the inside circle, one in the outside circle)

Actions:

1. phrase 1: same as version 1
2. phrase 2: same as version 1
3. phrase 3: join hands and complete a full turn with partner, returning to original spot.
4. phrase 4: slow step to the left, waving goodbye to your partner and facing a new partner.

This has been our opening activity and they have been having a blast with it!

With 2nd grade we're playing lots of singing games that they'll use next year: "Fire on the Mountain", "Rosie, Darling Rosie," etc.  We've played Rhythm Wars so I brought out my Rhythms of the Deep file for them to read.

This is an MP4 file and instead of having them just clap and say the rhythms we're using these wooden fish paddles that I got from Oriental Trading:

I bought these originally to use with the Crawdad song.  Oriental Trading use to have rainbow fish but they don't anymore.  I borrowed the paddles that my good friend and colleague Loretta had use for a concert to play a rhythm pattern on the Crawdad Song when my 3rd graders sang that song at their concert this year.  I didn't think there would be enough of her paddles so I bought the sharks so everyone would have one.  With the Rhythms of the Deep file what we did was play the rhythms that they saw in the MP4 file with a chopstick on the back of the wooden paddle (****NOTE: the ball and string was removed from the paddle!! :) ).  The kids had a great time but now they want me to make files that have "Shark Patterns" so they can play it like poison!

My third graders are, you guessed it, playing games that we'll use next year at the beginning of the year.  So, "I Have Lost the Closet Key", "John Kanaka" are a couple we've done.  We also got out the lummi stick and played this song that I learned from Janet Montgomery during my undergrad at CU Boulder:

There were three basic patterns that I taught them:

1. floor, click own stick (repeat) ** we talked about playing the stick vertically as opposed to horizontally to the ground.  One creates a bass sound (the vertical playing of the stick) and that's the sound we want.
2. floor, both (click both stick of partner).  I give them a couple seconds to figure out the logistics of this, as one partner needs to angle their sticks in and one needs to angle their stick out.
3. floor, right (click right stick with partner's right stick), floor, left

After this I had them take their partner and find another set of partners to work with.  They were given the task of creating their own four beat pattern to perform with the song. They LOVED this! :)

With 4th grade we're playing some songs for 5th grade next year and then with them and 5th grade I'm letting them pick some of their favorites.  They love revisiting this one:

With 5th grade we're playing favorite singing games but we're also playing Music Baseball.

Our Rockies have been doing well and the kids have been really engaged playing the PowerPoint games in this file.

It's hard to believe that summer is almost here!  I do have a lot to do this week with end of the schoool year stuff but I've also got to get ready for my session for the National Dalcroze Conference which is at the end of June and level 2 Kodály at CSU in July.  We're going to Disneyland in about three weeks with the kids and it'd be nice not to have that weighing on my mind. . . yeah, right?! :)

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week!!!