I kicked off my day with a little detective work with these two curious girls. After our pinecone search outside, we came in and they helped me write their thoughts during the process on the board so that we could share them with their classmates:
In the library, we read the book, "Music is for Everyone". This book fits right into our study of music, leading up to our Music Monday celebrations on May 4. Students were able to connect to the story, and were very interested in the instruments described in the story. Afterwards, Mrs. Yu asked the simple question, "What is music?" and here are some of the incredible answers:
- Music makes you happy- Dylan
- Music tries to tell a story- Isla
- Music is special because it's all around the world- Harlow
- Music is a lovely thing to have in your life and is a present to have- Erin
- You want to share it so everyone can hear it- Isla
- Music is for when people die or for dancing- Dylan
- Slow, sad music is for a funeral and fast, move-your-body music is for a dance party- Matthew
- Music is for marrying someone or for a ball- Katy
After recess, we headed outside. Since I try to follow student interest, we often do not have the same experiences outside with each group. With music on our brains, we immediately took the sticks we were collecting to the fence to see what sounds we could make:
We then took them to the leaves to see if the sounds might be different:
Then to the trees...
Then to the stumps, where we created a drumming band. We experimented with different beats, playing “Super Mario brothers theme song”, “Somewhere over the rainbow”, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer” and “let’s get ridiculous” on the stumps.
This led us to a huge discussion about different instruments we might be able to make ourselves, and the various beats we could create with them. We brainstormed a long list of instruments students are interested in making, and will now look for materials for our creations. Stay tuned to see what they come up with!
