After we spent a few weeks reviewing the rhythms we know from first and second grade, third graders were ready to add sixteenth notes to their repertoire! We learned the song games Biddy Biddy, Old Brass Wagon, and Pawpaw Patch then listened for places in the songs where the lyrics made four equal syllables in the space of one beat. Once we learned that we can use sixteenth notes to show four sounds in a beat, we performed a chant called States and made up our own chants with sixteenth note rhythms using state names with one, two, and four syllables. Check out some of the sixteenth note songs and activities we did in the pictures and videos!

Observe: I can identify four 16th notes in a song or chant.

Develop Craft: I can read a rhythm pattern using four 16th notes.

Envision: I can compose a rhythm pattern using four 16th notes.

Develop Craft: I can play a rhythm pattern using four 16th notes on a percussion instrument.

Understand the Art World: I can work productively with other musicians in a group.

Once we learn five solfege pitches (Do, Re, Mi, So, and La), we spend some time in third grade really reinforcing what those pitches sound and feel like in our ears, our voices, and on instruments. 

Observe: I can identify Do, Re, Mi, So, and La in a melody.

Develop Craft: I can play a melody using Do, Re, Mi, and So on the xylophone.

Develop Craft: I can play a 2-part arrangement with my classmates on the xylophones.

Engage & Persist: I can demonstrate focus and grit in working through challenges and mistakes while learning a xylophone arrangement.

Understand the Art World: I can work productively with other musicians in a group.

In second grade, AACA students began to encounter time signatures in music class. We learned that we can find time signatures at the beginning of a song, and they give us information about how many beats each measure of a song will have. Most of the songs we have explored used 2/4 or 4/4 time signatures, but in the 2nd trimester we encountered a time signature that divides the measures of our songs in a new way. 

Third graders took on their most challenging xylophone song yet this trimester with Boom Makaleli! This song is our first five pitch melody that we've learned to play, using Do, Re, Mi, So and La. It's also a longer melody than we've done before, which challenged students' memory when putting the song together. Watch the video to see both classes play their version of Boom Makaleli!

Observe: I can identify Do, Re, Mi, So, and La in a melody.

Develop Craft: I can play a melody using Do, Re, Mi, So, and La on the xylophone.

Engage & Persist: I can demonstrate focus and grit in working through challenges and mistakes while learning a xylophone arrangement.

Understand the Art World: I can work productively with other musicians in a group.

Third grade musicians have been excited all year to learn recorders, and the time has finally come! During the third trimester students mastered the recorder basics and learned to play several songs with the notes G and E. Recorders are a great first wind instrument because they lay a foundation for skills that will eventually translate to more difficult wind instruments that they may choose to play in the AACA Band in a few years. Watch the videos to see them playing some of their first recorder songs in music class!

Develop Craft: I can use correct posture and air technique to create an appropriate sound on my recorder.

Develop Craft: I can play songs using the notes G and E on my recorder.

Develop Craft: I can read the pitches G and E on a five-line staff and translate them to my recorder.

Reflect: I can  thoughtfully and appropriately critique my own performance and the performances of others.

Understand the Art World: I can work productively and cooperatively with others in a group music-making experience.