Grade 1
Week of June 15th, 2020
Hey First Grade,
I hope you enjoyed the first half of Peter and the Wolf last week. Sorry for leaving you at a cliffhanger! You can start the video at 17 minutes and 50 seconds and watch until the end. I also recorded a Summer message for all of you. Please know that I am so proud of you for all you've done and the way you've handled the last few months. Have a safe and happy Summer!
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Week of June 8th, 2020
Hello First Grade,
Now that we've learned so much about the different families of instruments in the orchestra, let's see how they work together. Sergei Prokofiev wrote this music to accompany a story. Every character in the story is represented by an instrument from one of the four families. As you go along, the video will give you questions to think about in regards to the different instruments and melodies presented, as well as activities you can do. The video is long so today I'm only going to ask you to watch the first half. You can stop the video at 17 minutes and 50 seconds.
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Week of June 1st, 2020
Hello First grade,
We've covered all four families of instruments now. Today, we're taking a look at some more String instruments - ones that don't play in the orchestra. I can only show you the instruments I have at home, but watch the video and I'll share some of my favorites with you. Please take a moment to think about the questions below:
- Which was your favorite string instrument, both from here and from the orchestra? Why?
- What are some ways electric and acoustic instruments sound different from each other?
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Week of May 26th, 2020
Hey everybody! We're on to the second and final family of Wind instruments. This family is called the Woodwind family and includes instruments like the flute, clarinet, and saxophone plus a lot more. In the video, I walk you through how some of these instruments work. Please take a moment to think about the questions below:
- What do we call the the buttons on the saxophone that we have to press the change the sound?
- Did you hear any familiar songs? Which ones?
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Week of May 18th, 2020
Hey First Grade! Today we're starting part one of Wind instruments. That means instruments that we have to blow into if we want them to make sound. The first family of Wind instruments is called Brass and includes instruments like the trumpet. Please watch the video I made for you and think about the questions below
- What are some of the other Brass instruments besides the trumpet?
- What do you have to do with your lips when you blow into a brass instrument?
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Week of May 11th, 2020
Hello First Graders! Last week's instrument family was Strings. We learned how they use vibration to make sound and how the instruments in the family are alike. This week we are working on Percussion, a very different type of family. In Part One, I'll tell you about what make the Percussion family special and show you some instruments. In Part Two, we'll see how a drumset works. While you watch the videos, please keep the following questions in mind:
- What are some Percussion instruments we have used in class?
- Do big instruments make low sounds or high? What about small instruments?
- Instruments of the Orchestra - Percussion Part One
- Instruments of the Orchestra - Percussion Part Two
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Week of May 4th, 2020
Hello First graders, last week we started learning about orchestras and families of instruments. We began by learning a little bit about each family in the orchestra. This week, we're going to learn more about how the instruments in each family work - starting with Strings. Watch the video below where I walk you through what makes the String family unique and show you some of the different instruments that make it up.
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Week of April 27th, 2020
I hope everyone had a terrific vacation. We will spend the next 5-6 weeks diving into instruments. We will mainly focus on the orchestra, but we'll look at some outside of the orchestra as well (think electric guitar!) We're going to be focusing on how all the instruments you might know, and some you might not, are broken up into groups, or Families, of instruments. Those families include:
- String
- Percussion
- Woodwind
- Brass
Please watch the video below to get yourself familiar with how some the different instruments work, what families they might belong to, and how they work together in an orchestra. In the coming weeks, we will be looking at the families one at a time.
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Week of April 13th, 2020
Hello! We worked on singing syllables last week - Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. This week we're bringing them back and singing a song together that uses them all. The video where you can learn it with me is right below.
Optional: Since we'll be starting a unit on Instruments after vacation, you can also check out a video I made for my fifth graders about how to make a string instrument at home if you'd like.
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Week of April 3rd, 2020
Hey 1st Graders! We're going to be learning about something called Singing Syllables this week. You can watch the video to find out what they are, why we use them, and then sing and show them with me. Try and teach them to someone at home as well. We will be using them again in our lesson next week.
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Week of March 27th, 2020
Hello 1st graders! I hope you had fun with that listening to patterns game. At the bottom of the page there are 4 measures of music. Try and learn to clap them one at a time, then all together. Once you've put them all together, see if you can recognize the song by its' rhythm.
Give up? It's London Bridge.
Try singing and clapping some of the verses
London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down. My fair Lady.
Build it up with iron bars, iron bars, iron bars.
Build it up with iron bars. My fair lady.
Iron bars will bend and break, bend and break, bend and break.
Iron Bars will bend and break. My fair lady.
Build it up with silver and gold, silver and gold, silver and gold.
Build it up with silver and gold. My fair lady.
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Week of March 20th, 2020
First grade has been working hard on Quarter notes, Eighth Notes, and Rests (all pictured below). We have worked on hearing these rhythm patterns and identifying them, as well as playing written rhythms.
I've left you a game to help you practice this skill just like we would in class, like in the game Whacky Rhythms (not all first grades have gotten to this game yet)
