#02 October 2013

Post date: Oct 23, 2013 6:24:56 PM

Halloween is quickly approaching. To fit the mood of this popular holiday, this month I chose a song called I Shut the Door to sing with grades K-3. The song allows us to work together to tell a story about exploring a haunted house. Each child gets to describe something spooky or scary that they find as we open doors in the haunted house. I can't believe how wildly popular this activity has been with all the lower elementary grades! It has brought out the most enthusiastic singing and hand motions of any activity so far this year.

Here are some other highlights of the Music class activities for the month of October:

  • Preschool: moving to and reciting nursery-rhyme-like poetry. Our seasonal poem is called Basket of Apples and encourages students to recite rhythmically and expressively, capturing two important aspects of musical performance.
  • Kindergarten: reading music notation! At least, reading a developmentally-appropriate, inventive type of notation called mapping. After a few weeks of playing a game called Sally Go Round The Sun, students figured out how to read a map (visual representation) of this song.
  • 1st grade: enjoying live performance and audience participation in our first Song Tale, called The Crabfish. I sang and acted out this centuries-old story for students, then in a later week sang to them out of the picturebook version, connecting Music class to literature.
  • 2nd grade: discussing partner dance protocols (appropriate hand holding, appropriate partner communication) and doing the folk dances Alabama Gal and Down the River.
  • 3rd grade: singing in rounds with Are You Sleeping? and the Birthday Round.
  • 4th grade: playing recorders! Students have been practicing at home and already played their first performance quiz.
  • 5th grade: fluently reading rhythms from half notes through eighth notes, and dancing up a (figurative) storm.
  • 6th grade: reading music while playing xylophones, metalophones and glockenspiels. Most recently they began working in self-directed groups toward an upcoming in-class peer performance. This lets them build the collaborative skills required of all musicians while also building on their musical performance skills.

Soon our first quarter report cards will be sent home. Grades for Music class are fairly limited in what they can convey, since grades 1-6 get only a single mark to represent everything that has happened in the grading period. I consider two main things when designating grades: demonstration of musical skills/understanding, and effort/conduct.

The effort/conduct factor mostly rests on input from the children themselves. First grade through sixth grade students always conclude Music class by reporting their "self grade," considering "did I do my best? Was I safe, respectful, and a responsible learner at all times?" If they knew that they gave 100% in these areas, they earn a check-plus. Most kids on most days earn a check because really, it's hard to be perfect! If a child was either engaged in learning less than half the time, or behaved in a way that prevented other children from learning, their grade becomes a check-minus. Occasionally these daily grades are determined by classmates if small group work was done, or by me if we run out of time for students to grade themselves. When considered together, they form a useful reference tool at grading time.

The skills grades mostly just apply to grades 3-6. Skills grades may come from written work (ask your 5th or 6th grader about the weekly Mad Minute) or from solo performance. My philosophy when it comes to performance-based skills grades is this: when a child has the skills to earn top marks, he or she should earn top marks even if they can't demonstrate it on their first try. This means that if a child performs a skills grade solo, a chanted rhythm for example, I will give him or her feedback about where errors were made, then immediately give a chance to redo the performance. This is exactly what the music learning process looks like: perform, get constructive feedback, practice/refine, and perform again. Our limited Music class time makes it difficult to give much individual feedback, but our quiz time does create a micro-music-lesson for each child.

If you are interested in receiving these monthly newsletter updates in your email, please use the link in the left hand sidebar where it says "Subscribe to HES Music." If you have any other questions or feedback for me, I welcome you to send me an email (jcorwin [at] hatfieldps [dot] net) and we can set up a time to chat.

Musically yours,

Mrs. Corwin