Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Music Around the World Week 3--Native America
Wow! Where do I begin! We had a wonderful time in our Music Around the World class today studying some of the beautiful music that came from Native America. After reviewing "Kye Kye Kule" and "This Little Light of Mine", two of our songs from last week, we had the opportunity to learn about the legend of The Flute Player by listening to an old Apache legend. We learned that the flute is a special instrument to our teacher, Miss Todd, who plays it in a local orchestra. She had brought her flute with her to class today and shared a Native American song with us called "Wind Song". We also learned that the Native Americans used to play a sister instrument of the flute called a panpipe. Their panpipes were made out of reeds that had been cut different lengths and tuned to play various notes. Miss Todd showed us how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the panpipes. Then, she taught us to play them and allowed us to create our very own panpipes. We had so much fun exploring the panpipes and can not wait to share "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" with our families at our Music Around the World Celebration Night! Here are some pictures from our exciting day and a video of our experiences. We hope that you enjoy them! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Discover Dallas--Chuck E. Cheese/Reunion Tower/Klyde Warren Park
We were so lucky to have the opportunity to visit Chuck E. Cheese, Reunion Tower, and Klyde Warren Park this week thanks to the generosity of our PTA and our school admissions fund. This adventure provided us with an opportunity to discover a unique building that we have right here in Dallas! We were able to use this experience to revisit our Community Project Based Learning Project and our STEAM tower creation challenge. You can revisit these projects with us on our blog, if you would like to do so. Here are some pictures and a video from our exciting day!
Media, 3D Shapes, and Paper...Oh, My! :)
We have learned that media is something that can provide us with information. This week we had the opportunity to explore the way radio commercials use music and words to persuade us to buy their products through effecting our emotions and touching our hearts. We began our study by listening to different music samples and drawing how they made us feel. We included some pictures of our feelings below. Then, we decided to have some fun and created a radio commercial for our Kindergarten class. Check it out here and let us know what you think! Maybe we can entice you to want to join us one day in Kindergarten!
Finally, we talked about how television commercials add another effective means of communicating by allowing us to see someone's facial expressions and movements. These features can be especially moving. After watching some movie trailers and discussing their effective qualities, we decided to create our own commercials for some classroom products. Check them out here and let us know what you think!
In math, we enjoyed a study of 3D shapes. We learned about spheres, cylinders, cubes, and cones. We talked about how many sides, faces, and corners these shapes have. We also tested them to see which ones can roll, stack, or slide. Finally, we participated in a 3D shape sort where we sorting some familiar foods by 3D shape. Here are a few pictures of our fun shape sort.
Finally, in science, we enjoyed a study of paper. We were introduced to ten different kinds of paper (wax paper, corrugated cardboard, cardboard, kraft paper, toilet paper, paper towel, newspaper, construction paper, tagboard, and chipboard). Then, we tested these papers to see which ones were good for writing, folding, and which ones would absorb or repel water. Please check our our video from our paper experiments this week. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.
Monday, March 28, 2016
Music Around the World Week 2--Africa
We had so much fun in our Music Around the World Class today! We began our afternoon by reviewing our songs from last week. Ask your child to sing "It's a Small World" and "Kookaburra" for you! We are really working hard to learn the words for these two songs. We also reviewed the song, "La Raspa" from Latin America. We had a great time working on keeping a steady beat, while shaking our maracas or scraping our guiros. Wow do our kids have rhythm! After a quick review, we jumped into learning all about our new country of the day--Africa!
We were introduced to some special places from Africa and learned about a day in the life of a child from Africa on our Time for Kids website. Then, we were in for a fabulous treat--a visit from a real musician, Mr. Mark! Mr. Mark taught us about some of Africa's favorite instruments--drums! He played several different types of drums for us. We loved them all! Then, we enjoyed some traditional African music from the African Children's Choir. We were so inspired by these musical experiences that we decided to create our own African instruments--drums, shakers, and tamborines. Finally, we learned an African chant and our own rousing rendition of "This Little Light of Mine" complete with African drums, shakers, and tamborines! Here is a show of our afternoon! Check it out and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below. We have also included some pictures from another great day! We hope that you enjoy them! Today was so much fun! We can't wait until next week! :)
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