We've had an excellent start to the school year in the music room! Here are some of the things we have worked on so far.
3rd Grade
- Rhythm: We have learned about meter signs and ostinatos.
- Singing: We have learned about different singing voices, rounds and canons, and the musical alphabet.
- Melody: We have learned about the lines and spaces of the treble clef music staff and the direction of melodic movement.
- Recorders are in, and students will be getting their recorder(s) in the next two weeks. Lessons will begin full-time in January, for the recorder. Also, lots of information will come home for your child to use as a learning resource.
- Students will soon be preparing for their annual music concert. This year, they will be performing a holiday concert on December 7 at 6:30 p.m. We will be doing a movie Christmas, and it should be a really fun program for parents and students!
4th Grade
- Rhythm: We have learned all about performing and reading triplets and sixteenth notes.
- Singing: We have spent a lot of time learning about octaves, descants, singing triads, and part singing.
- Melody: Students have learned about ascending and descending scales, as well as, major and minor melodies.
- If your child ordered a new recorder, it is now in the music room. Some will be bringing their extra recorder home for practice. Recorder lessons will begin next week for 4th grade. All students should have their recorder ready for practice at that time.
- The 4th graders will be performing a mini-musical, titled "Goal," this spring. It is all about soccer and tons of fun! The performance for this musical will be on May 3 at 6:30 p.m. Please mark it on your calendars.
5th Grade
- Rhythm:We began the year learning about meter of 6/8, which is our first compound meter.
- Students have already began auditions for parts for the Veterans Day concert. The concert is scheduled for Tuesday, November 7 at 6:30 p.m. It is always a very nice time, honoring those who have served our country in the armed forces. Be on the lookout for a lyrics sheet in your child's take-home folder. It is SO helpful if you can encourage your child to practice at home. Most of the songs we sing are able to be found on YouTube, performed by other schools. I only see the students every 3 days, and sometimes even less if there are other daily interruptions to the schedule. Any help you can give from home is wonderful!
- Students have now had the option to sign up for beginning band. If you missed this opportunity, please contact mmoreland@mhs.org (Mr. Michael Moreland) for more information about joining. He is still in need of low brass and saxophone in the beginning band right now. If you have signed up for band, Mr. Moreland will usually stay in contact with you via email, regarding schedules and such.
- This week, 2 or 3 students will be selected for the first-ever elementary all-district choir for the Illinois Music Education Association District VI chorus. This is considered a great honor, and I look forward to nominating our first two or three students from our school.
I'm looking forward to the remainder of this year with your child! Please feel free to contact me at any time with any questions or concerns about your child in the music room or the music program, in general.
Tomorrow will be the first day I will get to meet students as a class. I've prepared this Prezi to guide us through the first day. I'm looking forward to a great year!
Mrs. Hanson's Music Classroom
Be on the lookout for information to come home soon! 5th grade will have info about beginning band and 3rd and 4th grade will have info on playing the recorder.
2017-2018 is going to be a wonderful year at Carruthers! Please be sure to sign up for updates from this page, so you may know what is going on. Students have music every 3 days. Updates will be posted here every few weeks, showing what new activities students are doing in music. Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions about what we are learning, beginning band for 5th grade, recorder playing for 3rd and 4th grade, any of our school music performances, or anything else involving the music program. Thank you for supporting your child in all their educational endeavors, and let's have a great year!
3rd Grade
- Third grade students have been improving tremendously on their recorder. Many students have an extra recorder at home to practice with, and many other students have been very responsible, taking their recorder home to practice and bringing it back for music class. I can really tell the difference. Many students have earned the white, yellow, and orange belts. Those who haven't, will very soon. So far, we have learned the following songs:
- Walk Like a Mummy (white belt)
- AAA (yellow belt)
- The Glue Blues (orange belt)
- Baba Ooh Lala (green belt)
- Perry the Sheep
- Hot Cross Buns (purple belt)
- The Recorder Shuffle (blue belt)
4th Grade
- Students have learned most of the songs for the fourth grade musical, Let's Eat. This week we began to learn choreography. The students are having a great time learning the dance moves. Next week, all acting and singing special parts will be distributed. In the coming weeks, we will clean up our songs, add in the special parts, and then clean it all up with choreography. As a reminder, all students will participate in all of the learning activities, even if they will not be able to attend the final performance.
5th Grade
- Most groups have performed their commercial for the class. Once we have all finished, grades will be given based on the performance and the teamwork during preparation.
- This week, we are beginning a unit on African-American Music History. This is a really fun unit for the students, as we explore spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, gospel, soul, Motown, rock n roll, rap, and hip hop music. We will spend about three weeks in this unit, finishing with a short exam.
Welcome back to school! We have had a busy school year so far, and we still have lots of fun coming! Here is what we are doing in each grade level right now:
- 3rd Grade: We are going to really jump into learning our recorders. So far, we have learned 3 notes, B, A, and G. Now we are beginning to put these notes into more complex songs. Students haven't had a chance to play for me individually yet, which will earn karate belts on their recorder, but they will have a chance soon. At the end of every 3 lessons, students will have a playing test day. On these days, we will move around the room in centers, and one of the centers will be playing individually for me. At some point in the spring, 3rd grade students will have an in-class performance for parents, demonstrating the skills they have learned so far.
- 4th Grade: We have been working hard on rounding out our recorder skills and getting everyone on the same page. The students are doing a great job, and we will begin working on some new songs soon, hopefully involving some other classroom instruments and singing. In addition, we will begin working on music for our upcoming spring productions. We will let you know as soon as we know dates and details.
- 5th Grade:
- Students have been put into groups to work on a class project, the Commercial Project. Each group has come up with a fictional product they would like to market. Now, they are moving on to writing an ad for their commercial, drawing an ad for a magazine, writing background music for the ad with classroom instruments, writing jingle music and lyrics using Quaver music and chrome books, and then adding any final touches, such as props, costumes, etc. It really is a fun project!
- In February, students will spend some time learning about African American music history. This unit will take students through many genres of music, including spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, soul, gospel, hip hop, rap.
- During late spring, classes will work on preparing some musical selections to possibly perform for parents in an in-class performance.
- All classes: Students continue to do monthly listening examples. Also, students will have the opportunity to audition for the annual talent show this spring.
Mrs. Hanson
