HAPPY WORLD READ ALOUD DAY!

Today North Stars in many different classes are reading "Be You" by Peter H. Reynolds and doing some great activities that go along with the book. Here are two great options for you today! You can draw yourself in action being Brave or Curious or Kind or one of the many awesome words in the book. Or you can choose a word and colour the picture of the child that is already drawn.

If you missed Mrs. Lateef reading "Be You" during our morning meeting OR you want to watch again, here is a video of her reading.

Did you know that there are LOTS of different pages on our Music website you can visit? Why not try practicing some of the cool music note writing that you see on our Beginner Notation page? We are exploring RHYTHM in music class and note values. Find a wipe board or an old piece of paper or anything you like really to practice writing music notes! There's even fun video demonstrations from Mrs. Lateef! In this video you can also listen to our friend Mrs. King tap and say rhythms!

When you watched Bleekie going to the Orchestra the other day, she was going to hear this piece called The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten. Here's a short cartoon version of the piece of music. Can you hear the difference between all the families of instruments?

Take some time to choose a instrument that you like from the different families of instruments. Do you know which family the instrument you chose comes from? If you have a printer, you can print one (or even two or three) of the colouring sheets in this Colouring Book and then colour them. https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/globalassets/documents/education/tco-coloring-book.pdf

I know we love talking about animals in our class and this is a fun story about a pet dog names Harry. Imagine that you got SO dirty that you didn't look like yourself? Can you draw a picture of a puppy dog like Harry who gets dirty and messy in the mud? Bring it with you to share at our meeting.

Remember our friend CJ who has been teaching us ballet? She has a fun video that you can do EVERY day to warm your body up and stretch. It is good for us to move every single day. Try CJ's video today and tomorrow in our morning meeting we will do some fun moving together too.

After you have finished warming up, how does your body feel?

Imagine swapping places with your pet? Or if you don't have a pet, imagine switching places with an animal? What would your day be like?

Can you draw a picture of the animal you could imagine being and then brainstorm an idea of "a day in the life" of being either your pet/an animal?

Was it fun to review our ballet dancing poses yesterday? Are you ready to add some NEW ballet learning and poses. Here's a video demonstration of MORE ballet poses like Rond de Jambe and Sautes! Are you ready? Make sure to stretch it out carefully and watch the dancers as they show you their moves. If you want to see some amazing ballerinas from the real ballet, here is a link to a two minute video from the ballet Swan Lake. Do you think the dancers move gracefully like a Swan? Swan Lake: Dance of the Little Swans

Skating and playing hockey are a favourite Winter activity for many kids across Canada. It's so fun to glide across the ice, wearing skates and sometimes even pick up a stick and shoot a puck. I know Hockey is one of Mrs. Hurt's favourite activities!

In "Henry Holton Takes the Ice" Henry's entire family LOVES playing hockey so everyone expects him to love hockey too. Play the book, read by Ray Romano, and ask yourself, "What is something I love doing " When Mrs. Lateef was a little girl she loved to sing and play the piano and now she gets to sing with her K6 friends and write songs for kids. In the book, Henry has to find what his special talent is. Do you have a talent or something you love to practice over and over again so you can become awesome at it? Can you draw a picture of you doing that thing you love? Maybe it's music like Mrs. Lateef. Maybe it's hockey like Mrs. Hurst. Maybe it's knitting like Mrs. Bryans. Maybe it's dancing or drawing or building. It can be ANYTHING! Bring your picture to Thursday's morning meeting so we can share with one another!

Have you ever had a really bad day? Irene is having that kind of day and the snow and the wind seem to be fighting against her. Sometimes the weather seems to be on our side but sometimes the weather can make things difficult and in this story, Irene has to be extra brave. Has the weather ever made things difficult for you? Have you ever had to be brave? William Steig is both the author and illustrator of this book. That mean he wrote the story AND drew the pictures. Can you imagine a story like Brave Irene but instead you put your name in? So Brave Henry! Or Brave Sophie. Or Brave Mrs. Bryans. Can you take some time to draw some pictures and tell your own story about being brave?

Today is a GREAT day to listen and respond to music by creating something else! You could use crayons, pencil crayons or markers to draw something. Paint a picture if you have paint at home. You could sketch something with a pencil or use playdough to mould a creation.

Whatever you do, listen to the music and make something! Maybe it's what you are imagining when you hear the music. Maybe you can picture an animal when you close your eyes or something in nature like the snow! Maybe you are just inspired by what you hear to create something new.

Parent Extension: This piece of music by Johann Strauss was used in the opening of the film "2001 A Space Odyssey". It obviously reminded the film's creator of Outer Space. NASA has a fun website for children with some great colouring pages if you want to learn more about planets today. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/coloring-pages/en/

While your child colours you could put on some more music inspired by Space like Gustav Holst's "The Planets"! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isic2Z2e2xs

A new day and a new piece of Music. Today, while you listen to this piece of music called Rhapsody in Blue, let your body move. Do you hear how the music changes and different instruments create different sounds? Let your body parts move in different directions and do different actions. If you want to, let your parents film your dance moves so we can watch how the music inspired your body to move.

Parent Extension: Disney created a 12 minute short movie that goes along with Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin as part of their film Fantasia 2000. Here is the link if you would like to show your child the animated film inspired by the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie-TS-BitnQ

Do you love doughnuts? Most of us think they are pretty yummy! Watch this fun read aloud of the book "Arnie the Doughnut" by Laurie Keller. Arnie loves being a doughnut and is excited when someone chooses to take him home. He is surprised and upset when he realizes that part of being a doughnut means that people want to EAT HIM! As you finish the story, choose your own name for your dream Doughnut and either draw or colour them using the colouring sheet that Mrs. Lateef has inserted in this link A Doughnut Colouring Sheet. You can even use this how-to video to help you draw your doughnut! Do you think it would be cool to have your own pet doughnut?

Remember when we listened to "Carnival of the Animals" and "The Nutcracker"? How much fun would it be to meet the people who play the instruments we hear when we listen to music. Watch this video and see how fun it is when George gets to visit the Orchestra. What instrument would you like to meet?

Here's a fun way to practice your printing. You can trace the letters of the names of instruments from various families of instruments. You can choose the String family, the Brass family, the Percussion family or the Woodwind family. www.tlsbooks.com/stringinstruments2B.pdf www.tlsbooks.com/brassinstruments2.pdf www.tlsbooks.com/percussioninstruments2.pdf www.tlsbooks.com/woodwindinstruments2.pdf

This is a great way to learn the names of all the instruments and also practice our letter printing skills!