March Fun in Music!

The Toddlers are getting used to all of the instruments- scrapes, rhythm sticks, shakers, drums, and xylophones. We have all learned about ‘resting position’ where whatever we are holding to make music, is silent in our hand! It took a while, but we’re getting there! And how can we go into Spring Break without an Easter Egg hunt!

The Casa students are now learning about music notes and what they look like. Easter Rhythms are a great way to encapsulate everything we’ve learned so far, and make it practical.  We are able to practice long and short-short sounds such as: ‘Jelly Beans’ is short-short long. ‘Chocolate’ is long. ‘Easter Basket’ is short-short short-short. They are a great way to take what we know about words and practice the syllables.

The Lower Elementary students are practicing all of the different sounds their instruments can make.

*  The Grade 1 students are finding new places to whack with their boomwhackers!

*  The Grade 2 students have come up with something that I don’t think most of you have seen,                    and it’s a surprise so I will say no more!

*  The Grade 3 students are also using their creative minds to find new places on their body that                 can make music- some places even I hadn’t thought of!

The Upper Elementary students are now in full swing of practicing their Year-End pieces.

*  The Grade 4 students are getting used to playing in an ‘ensemble’ setting. They are also the                       ‘back-bone’ of the Upper El piece, so they are making their music solid.

*  The Grade 5s are getting comfortable with Rhythmic Notation. They are using the notes and                     rests they’ve learned, and they are creating a whole new section to their piece written all by                     themselves! It’s sure to impress even the skilled musician in the audience!

*  The Grade 6s had a surprise guest in our class the other day, learning to play the steel pan! We                had a blast with him, and now get to add the ‘fun stuff’ to our piece.

All elementary students are also now equipped with the knowledge of how to use the ‘Senteo Handheld Devices’, which are used for quizzes, tests, and on-the-spot assessments. They are a wonderful asset to Montessori By The Sea, and I’m really looking forward to doing some quizzes with them (and so are they, actually!).

Ms Ali

“What we play is life” – Louis Armstrong