Making sound

Hello all and happy Wednesday! We had a great morning here in the Birch room, full of learning and exploring. The students continued their instrument making and performed for the class. We had a trumpet and violin along with different instruments! Their instruments were combinations of percussion, string and horn instruments. Others experimented with stones and shells to create sound! The students placed a stone between two shells and used it to keep the beat in songs they were singing. Some students also discovered how to rub and hit the shells together to add a variety of sounds to their music. They shared with one another which sound was higher and lower pitch.

 

 

After experimenting, we had a class meeting to share and celebrate our discoveries. The students decided to sing some songs together and use their new instruments! Later on, some friends played in the gym while others continued to play in the classroom. We had a dance party before lunch and enjoyed yummy chicken nuggets. Have a great day!

Let's make some instruments!

Good afternoon, everyone! We began our morning with our usual morning routines of washing hands, singing our "down by the bay" song and sharing what we ate for breakfast. The students began to make choices in the classroom and one of the choices consisted of loose parts. These materials included beads, rubber bands, different sizes in boxes, and paper towel and toilet paper rolls. The students began to create their own instruments! We had a guitar, trumpet and some drums. They were very creative while making these instruments! The rubber bands were the strings on some of the instruments while others cut the beads to represent the buttons on trumpets.Other friends played in our dramatic play area with people and created scenery with loose parts. We had more pattern drawing at the art table and some students created designs out of light table shapes.


We joined Dogwood in the gym to exercise with bikes and build with magnets and blocks. Some students did some stretching with some Dogwood students and yoga moves! We returned back to the classroom and participated in a tornado drill with the school. The students remembered to stay quiet, follow their classmates and teachers to our severe weather location and to cover their heads in case of an emergency. Great job, Birch friends! We continued our morning by reading Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown. This story was about a famous trombone player, Melba Liston and her journey becoming a famous musician. The author portrayed her pure musical talent, as well as her struggle with learning how to play the trombone. The students noticed how she practiced really hard and a lot to become good at playing her instrument and they made connections about the instruments they saw in the story with the concert we saw yesterday at school! Stay tuned to read more about our study with music, sound, and instruments!

St. Louis Brass Quintet

Hello everyone! We hope you all had a great weekend and are finding warmth during these cold days! The students were very excited to share what they did over the weekend. A lot of students played in the snow! Several students shared how they built snowmen and had snowball fights with their siblings and/or parent.

We began our morning by singing our "down by the bay" rhyming song. While singing, the students have to keep the beat of the song. We have been talking about how a beat can be a pattern and you can create a pattern with your body (clapping, patting) to keep the beat. The students were given a challenge this morning to create patterns out of loose parts and/or draw patterns at the art table. After creating their pattern, the students were asked to create their built pattern using body movements.

 

After these morning activities, we prepared for the St. Louis Brass Quintet! We talked about what it means to be a good audience member and we also discussed some of the possible instruments they would be playing. It was such a wonderful concert! We recognized and sang a lot of the songs, such as Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Baby Shark, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and many others! One of our Birch students asked one of the musicians how they read the music and he showed us some of his sheet music.

The concert inspired some of the students to build instruments out of blocks. Several students built drum sets while others catapulted beanbags. Some students wrote their own music and designed at the light table.

Make sure to ask your child about today's concert!

Fun Friday

Good afternoon! The students are excited to be back at school! We have been busy sharing with our friends about what we did during our "stay home day" yesterday. We began our morning by playing with play-doh, building with loose parts, and drawing things that make noise. Several students drew people yelling, cars, trains and animals.

        

 

We continued our morning by playing and exercising in the gym. The students built tracks, rode bikes, built castles out of blocks, and played with the dollhouse. We returned back to the classroom and played with loose parts. Some friends began to bake things using loose parts, containers and spoons. Others built with blocks and catapulted beanbags. We read the book The Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt. While reading, we observed the illustrations. We noticed how several characters were playing different instruments and we added a beat to the words of the book! The students enjoyed their cheesy pizza for lunch. Have a good weekend!

 

Happy, happy Wednesday! The Birch room is full of happiness and energy today! We began our morning with our usual morning routines. The students built with loose parts and continued to write their own music by observing different music sheets today. A group of students went to build in the collaboratory and experimented with fabrics and the wind tunnel. Other friends explored in the tinker room. Here, the kids were busy making designs on the fabric wall and deconstructing an old computer. We talked about the importance of wearing the goggles and using the tools in a safe way. We discussed the different pieces of the computer and their purposes. Some said the pieces are important so the letters that people press can work the right way. Other students talked about how all of the wires send messages through the computer so the computer knows what to do.

 

Back in the classroom, students played at the sensory table with sinking and floating materials. Before lunch, we read one of our new books called Squeak, Rumble, Womp, Womp, Womp by Wynton Marsalis. A little boy talks about all of the sounds he hears throughout his day. Some of the sounds come from instruments while other sounds he observes comes from everyday life situations, such as noises you hear in and outside your house. We talked about walking around our neighborhood to observe some sounds that we hear. Our class talked about how we might hear some sound we usually hear, such as kids talking and cars driving. Some students shared that if we are quiet, we might hear birds, squirrels, dogs barking and wind blowing. Maybe we will be able to go outside within the next few days to take a "sound walk!"

 

Exploring music

Hello all! Today, the Birch friends began their morning with a few songs and rhyming games. We built withs loose parts and used stamps to make letters and words. Some friends experimented with new materials in the sensory table. The students discovered what materials float or sink in water. 

Other friends played with our new play-doh and explored with new materials at the light table. Our class later went down to the gym and exercised with bikes and played with loose parts and puzzles. When we returned back to the classroom, we studied some sheet music and talked about what the music looks like and how people use the music. Some friends wanted to write their own music! 

They wrote their own music notes and researched pictures of instruments to draw. 

 

We played a few games before lunch and had a fire drill immediately following lunch. We had to exit the school a different way and the students did a great job following their teacher, staying quiet and listening to directions. Way to stay safe, Birch! 

Monday Fun

Happy Monday! We hope you had a great weekend with your child. All of the stories they told about their "stay at home days" sounded like an eventful weekend for a lot of families! There were several playdates and families going out to dinner. One of the student's shared how her baby sister is now holding a rattle and that sparked a conversation about what a lot of their siblings are doing, such as working on crawling and potty training! How exciting!

After our morning meeting, the students began to play and experiment in the classroom. We practiced signing in our names while others made a design with loose parts on the dotted carpet. Others made designs with the shapes at the light table. A group of students took a trip to the kitchen and made pink play-doh for our classroom! Others built in the collaboratory. Some students began to make paper airplanes and wanted to see how far they could fly them across the classroom. The students figured out how to use the yardsticks and rulers to measure the distance of their paper airplanes. They wanted to use loose parts to create a hoop or tunnel for their paper airplanes. The kids eventually figured out a way to hold the round loose part and the basket in air. They tied two tape measures to either side of the round loose part and basket to a chair and the sensory table. Their creation turned into a trap and then a catapult. It was very interesting to see the students create this contraption and work together to solve their problems. Way to work hard, Birch friends!

 

    

 

Before lunch, we sat and observed our art piece we created as a class. The students painted their feelings while listening to jazz music. This masterpiece is hanging in our hallway and some of the students described their paintings. Please take a look at our art piece!

Hopefully we will be able to enjoy some warmer weather and the sunshine tomorrow!