Music Around the World--Session 3--Latin America

What a fun day we had in our third day of Music Around the World! We learned about Latin America and the exciting music that this country has to offer. We were introduced to two of their favorite instruments the guiro and the maracas. We also enjoyed two of their favorite songs, "La Raspa", and a traditional Latin American song, "De Colores." Check out our video from our fun day and some of our favorite pictures.

                                                         https://vimeo.com/328782636

Measurement Rocks!

In math this week, we studied all of the different ways that you can measure items. This included measuring by length, weight, and capacity. Here is a show of our experiments from this week and some pictures of us using everyday objects to measure length. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

                                                            https://vimeo.com/328779862

We have been busy this week exploring nature, while learning about the different ways that you can measure an item. After going on a nature walk around our school, we used the rocks that we collected to investigate size, by sorting our rocks.  Here are some pictures of our rock sort. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! We love hearing from you! Thanks!

Interesting Insects

This week we have been studying about insects. We learned that an insect has three body parts: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. They also have two antennas, two wings, and six legs. Ask us to sing our song about insects. It is sure to put a smile on your face and help you to never forget these facts about insects! During our lessons this week, we read a lot of fascinating books about insects. We were especially impressed with Eric Carle's collection of insect stories. One of our favorites was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  

After hearing this story, we also learned about the life cycle of a butterfly by reading some nonfiction stories about butterflies. In order to help us remember the different stages of a butterfly's life, we used pasta to make these butterfly life cycle plates. Aren't they neat!

Music Around the World--Session 3--Africa

We had so much fun in our Music Around the World Class on Friday! 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. After a quick review, we jumped into learning all about our new country of the day--Africa!

We were introduced to a child from Africa and learned about a day in her life 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, tambourines, and shakers. Finally, we learned an African chant and our own rousing rendition of "This Little Light of Mine" complete with African drums, tambourines, and shakers! 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! :) 

                                                            https://vimeo.com/327642136

3D Shapes

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 sorted some familiar foods by 3D shape, and we also went on a shape hunt around our school taking pictures of our 3D shapes using our iPads. Here are a few pictures of our fun shape sort and iPad hunt. 

Color Mixing

After enjoying the story, White Rabbit's Color Book, we had a chance to explore color mixing and see how you can combine primary colors to make a secondary color. We used vanilla icing and food coloring to first create primary colors, and then, we used these colors to make our secondary colors. Check out our video of this cool experiment:

https://vimeo.com/326923109

Music Around the World--Session 3--Australia

Welcome to our Music Around the World Club! I am so very excited that your child is joining me in this journey as we travel around the world exploring different countries and their unique music. I have two loves in life—music and children— so I could not be more thrilled to share this experience together with your child. We are going to learn to play instruments and sing songs from different countries. Then, we will share our music with you all at a Music Around the World Celebration Night in May. It is sure to be a night that you will not want to miss! Thank you again for allowing me the privilege to work with your child. I can not wait to share this experience together!

We began our musical tour around the world today by talking about the universal language of music and how it can touch all hearts and help all people. Then, we enjoyed singing "It's a Small World" together before flying around the world to Australia. 

The land down under had a lot to offer us! We learned about everything from koala bears to kangaroos and spent a "day in the life" of a girl from Australia on the National Geographic for Kids website. We were also introduced to two of Australia's favorite instruments--bilmas and digeridoos. After listening to one of Australia's traditional songs featuring these instruments, we made our very own bilmas and digeridoos. Boy were they cool too! Finally, we began learning the Australian song that we are going to perform, Kookaburra. It is a silly song that will make you giggle and laugh, while allowing you to soak up the unique sounds of the digeridoos and the bilmas. Here is a show of our first day together. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our first week in Music Around the World!

https://vimeo.com/325970574