Mid-winter Blues..

It has been a long week at the middle school.  Students complaining about erratic behavior in some teachers, everyone coughing and sneezing with the terrible virus that is going around, some bad behavior that made students weep, because they thought they would never get caught.  Let's just say, it is the doldrums, the mid-winter blues!

 I am happy that it is Friday, but I am also happy that despite the doldrums we got a great deal accomplished as well.  I had the other teams for fifth grade music for the beginning of third quarter, and we did the same project as the groups last week did, on "DYNAMICS"- pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, and fortissimo!  There were many delightful performances this week using these different dynamics, and every single one was unique.  I told them they could not use any real instruments, only their bodies and things they found in the classroom for their sounds and their composition.  Today I had a group of three girls and a boy doing ballet moves as a part of their composition.  Their pirouettes were pianissimo, their degages and tendus were piano, there was a boy in the back pounding with his feet for mezzo forte, and then they did a pas de deux with yardsticks and then arabesques and when they moved closer to a chair, they made forte sounds with the yardsticks hitting the chairs.  It was a delightful and entertaining performance.

Another performance we had were all boys, I called them the bathroom buddies, because they had been practicing out in the hall.  (The other day they were so loud, they got the attention of the principal and assistant principal walking down the hall, who moved them into another room, where they added more fuel and imagination to their performance piece.)  They enter from the bathroom making lots of noise, singing, "Whey-o" several times.  It magnifies the sound, coming from the bathroom, that is why they were getting called out for it.  They returned into the classroom, answered the phone, hit walls and doors and tables along the way, and then one of them ran down the row of chairs with a metal stick and did fortissimo that way.  It was a moving performance, not moving as in emotional, but moving as in, you had to move around to watch the whole thing.  Pretty clever and innovative!

The last performance I will share with you was written down as well, so I will share their composition papers.

PP-Pencil, Kristen drops it.
P-marker- Abby drops it.
MP-Ruler-Brittney drops it
MF-Wipes- Abby slams on the ground
F-Wall- Brittney hits it.
FF-Basket-Kristen slams it on the ground
subito Piano-Heart tin-Maryem
Subito Forte-Kristen
Trash bucket slamming-Maryem

I called them the Dumpster Divers, because they needed, they said, to use the trash can, and had to take the little bit of trash out of it before they could make it work.  Quite delightful!!

               

This week in Music Class

First week with fifth graders.  Much smaller and shyer than the 6th graders.  Quiet and thinking, and wanting to make a good impression.  I want to make a good impression as well.  So I give them a very fun project to show me how they understand dynamics: pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte fortissimo!  They wrote down their compositions and here are some I was privileged to witness at the end of the final class for the week!

1.) Everyone taps pencils on book. mp
2.) Kade and Tim drop book for subito forte
3.) Drum pencils louder for mezzo forte
4.) Everyone taps books on table loudly.  fortissimo
5.) Everyone taps pencils softly piano
6.)Everyone flips pages through book pianissimo
7.) Everyone slams book shut. mf
8.) Everyone flips through pages of book. pianissimo
9.) Tim and Kade drop one book each. subito forte
10.) Lucy and Antonio tap books on table loudly and then we stop and just hear page flipping.

Some just divided up instruments and then played in the different dynamic levels:
Dingaling: Claire
Door: Kateri
Chair: Emily
Pipe: Ella
Rap: Carlie
ALL INSTRUMENTS PLAY LOUD, SOFT, LOUD, SOFT MEDIUM!

Some were quite short: Book Slam, cabinets, chair, dee-dee, snam, light cabinet bang, spoon tap ..with their names attached to whatever they were doing.  Very minimalist, some of them.
Quite impressive! Can't wait for the next week's groups!

Last Week Reflections on Music Class for two years..

This is my last week with sixth graders, and it is bittersweet.  I have grown very attached to these children and they have grown, every last one of them, immensely throughout the two years.  They have grown physically, emotionally, intellectually, and I have been part of this process.  I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful children, and I want to share some of their reflections about their experiences the last two years!

In music class over the past couple years I have had lots of fun. I enjoyed singing and doing the fun motions with some songs. I wish i could do it next year. One of my favorite things was on literacy day, when we sang the banana boat song, and we had to make a dance to go with it. I listened to that song a lot as a kid, so it was very familiar. In this class I learned many things, from how to conduct 3/4 time, to playing the piano. At my house I got a keyboard for Christmas, so now I can play songs and practice at home. I also learned how to determine what a song means. I sang and danced to many fun and enthusiastic songs in music class, and I can’t wait until I can play the piano or keyboard as well as I can play the saxophone. Music class has helped me play the saxophone better too. I wish I could do this next year.

In music we sang many songs, danced, and played. I did and still do not like singing that much but Mrs Frank makes it fun for me. Mrs. frank is a very nice woman that cares about every single one of us and I look forward to her classes every day. I'm sure everybody is going to miss her because we will not see her in the next couple years. Mrs. Frank has always been there for me when I need her the most. But next year you will have my sister.. So I wish you luck, and I thank you for an Awesome 1 ½ years of fun.

Music has been very fun this year. I love how we have fun and get a lot of work done. I love the projects we do because they can be very creative, like the story me and drew made. I had a lot of friends in the class and Mrs.Frank has been the best teacher. Mrs.Frank is always patient with our class even though we don’t always stay on task. I liked playing the piano. The days i had music went by really fast. Mrs. Frank taught me a lot about music, the piano and how to get ahead of people on a task. Mrs.Frank always listen to things I said to her. I would go to her room at the end of the day and we would talk about school and how to deal with some of my problems.

In the past two years we have done a lot in Mrs. Frank’s general music class.

For example, we learned how to play piano. We wrote operas with a partner or on your own. We also wrote songs for our operas and played them in front of the whole class. Many times we sung songs from the purple music books, sometimes we would even dance to the songs. We wrote songs on the piano and played them for Mrs. Frank. We wrote letters to people that we don’t talk to a lot, or if we had gotten in a fight with them. We re-wrote the song “Greensleeves” and changed it to a modern break-up song. We listen to songs from the “Magic Flute” and we talked about it. I had a lot of fun in Mrs. Frank’s music class.

I hope you enjoyed these reflections, I sure did! Have a great week, and keep looking back on my blog for new thoughts and reflections later this week or next!!

Greensleeves

Happy New Year!!  I hope you all had wonderful holidays!  Mine were fantastic, and I enjoyed my time off from teaching very much.  I am also very happy to be back in my classroom and doing some fantastic projects with the kids this week.  I introduced the song "Greensleeves" to them this week.  I used to sing this song with the kids several years ago when the sixth grade did a big Shakespeare festival, because it was written in the Shakespearean time.  However, I let it go for a while because we no longer do the Shakespeare festival.  I am so happy that I brought it back.  I shared the song with them, and asked them what they thought the song was about.  They got it right away.  It is about a man whose girlfriend has broken up with him.  What does "cast me off discourteously" mean in today's terms?  "Text Dumping" they all told me!  Wow, and I thought a writing a Dear John letter was hard!  That is definitely the meanest way to break up with someone.  "Delighting in your company" might mean what in today's society?  "It would mean playing video games, or going skating, or chilling, or hanging out" they all said.  It was a great discussion, with many fun exchanges, and rapid fire dialogue.

Greensleeves on youtube

The next step was for them to re-write the lyrics to "Greensleeves" and make it a modern version of the song.  Here are some of the results from this assignment.  Some of them made me laugh out loud!! (LOL!!)

1. Come on, girlfriend, why did you leave, you ripped my heart cruelly. It was completely out of the blue, but you tried to hurt me.

Chorus: My Betsy left me and she was all I needed. She left me for a handsome man, more than I would ever be.

2. My life was perfect until you broke my heart forever. When you were with

me I felt whole then you broke me meanly.

Chorus: My Betsy left me and she was all I needed. She left me for a handsome man, more than I would ever be.

3. We went to Yong’s, a chinese shop and got a knickknack or two, and we had so much fun, but you went and ruined it.

Chorus: My Betsy left me and she was all I needed. She left me for a handsome man, more than I would ever be.

One day you sent me a snapchat saying its over with a picture,
I miss you so much I bought myself some kitties to replace you.
I remember when we went to Starbucks Coffee and you paid,
Now I know why you left me for that jerk Gronkowski
I remember when we went to Dunkin Donuts and dunked them in coffee,
Now to cheer me up I eat donuts and watch George Clooney movies,
I remember when we went to Starbucks coffee, and you paid,
Now I know why you left me for that jerk Gronkowski.

You broke my heart the day you changed your status to single,
we used to have so much fun hanging out at starbucks and the movies
You were all the fun in my life, the wifi to my phone,
You were the one who made me smile even when other laughed.
I've left you a hundred texts but you still haven't replied,
I've left one thousand voice mails but you still haven't called me back
You were all the fun in my life, the wifi to my phone,
You were the one who made me smile even when others laughed.

The day you left me at that Starbucks you broke me
and you unfriended me on Facebook and you also left a mean comment on my page.
Amanda you broke my heart why would you leave me,
Amanda you were always there for me Come back I still love you!
I have instagram so do you but you left e on that too,
I'm the bird that tweets for you and now your status is single.
(refrain)

she dumped me on my birthday, I looked at her snapchat status and it was single,
I was very angry I got so mad I went to her house and wrecked her garage door.
Why did you dump me? We watched the Martians so many times
We watched it in the regal fancy recliners chairs and to think your name is J. Lo.
We had so much in common how could you dump me on my birthday
We went for coffee every day you like espresso now I will never drink coffee again.
(refrain)

More to come next week on this subject as well! Have a great week!