Our prayer song for the month was "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)."

In December, we put the finishing touches on our Christmas Concert music. The students did so well at the concert! They really seemed to love both of their songs. It was so much fun to work with them on learning the songs. We watched our Christmas Concert videos during class.

After our concert, we learned about The Nutcracker ballet. We learned that a ballet is a story told on stage through dance and music. We did activities with the pieces "Trepak" and "The Sugar Plum Fairy."

Students have been focusing mainly on their Christmas Concert songs. We are continuing our rhythms unit as well. Students composed "pizza rhythms," meaning that each pizza had four beats and they got to fill the four beats with their choice of toppings (which were various rhythms). At the end of the month, students rotated through various rhythm centers (see pictures below). At one of the centers, they performed their pizza rhythms on the xylophones.

Our "prayer song" for the month was "My Country, Tis of Thee." 

We started the month reviewing the quarter note, eighth note, quarter rest, half note, and half rest rhythms. We practiced clapping rhythm patterns, listening for patterns, and notating them. Students took a quiz on these notes. 

Then we added the dotted half note, whole note, and sixteenth note rhythms.

We have been working on the melody notes so, la, and mi. We practice singing the notes, listening for patterns with the notes, and writing them on the music staff. Students took a quiz on these notes. After the quiz, we did a "Write the Room" activity. Students had to find various patterns with the so, la, and mi notes around the room and write them on their sheets. They love doing this!

Our prayer song for the month was "We Are One Body," which is our school's theme song for the year.