Today in MusIQ Club!

Hello again!

We had an even better class this week, although we missed William, who was feeling a bit sick. Hope you are feeling better soon William, and we’ll see you next week!

K-2: This Week in Class:

Today we used all 5 “rooms” of our CMJ software. You completed Lesson 3 with Mr. Beethoven, where he taught you about short and long sounds, which together make up the rhythms of our speech, and also our music. We spent some time as a group on the floor clapping some rhythms, and I must say you are a pretty rhythmical bunch! We also talked about Mr. Beethoven’s life and music. He was a real person that lived about 250 years ago, and composed several pieces of music that are still famous today! You wanted to explore in the Library, where you found some extra pieces to try out, and listened to some of Mr. Beethoven’s pieces. There was a new game in the Games Room called Bongo Boy, which is pretty tricky – you have to play the rhythm back that he plays exactly right, or your toe gets bitten by the crab! We finished of the day in the Improvising Room of CMJ, making up your own songs. Great work!

This Week @ Home

• Listen around you for the short and long rhythms in peoples’ speaking.
• Here is a worksheet about Mr. Beethoven for you to print and do at home.
• Can you remember the Musical Alphabet? What do we use those letters for in piano?
• If you have a keyboard or piano, practice finding high notes, low notes, groups of 2 and 3 black keys, and all the Cs. Take the “Speedy Cs” Challenge: How fast can you play all the Cs on your keyboard?
• You can also have some fun making up you own music!
• If you have CMJ at home, review Lesson 3 with Mr. Beethoven, then head to the Practice Room with Miss Melody. You can also play the 3 games in the Games Room, and make up your own music in the Improvising Room.

Miss Shelby: This Week in Class

Today we did a quick review of finger numbers and the names of the white notes, and Shelby played “Oh When the Saints”, which she had been working on last week. Great job! Then we moved on to learning how to read notes on the Grand Staff, using 5 landmark notes as our note naming method. We did Theory Thinker 1-2 to learn about whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes, and how long each one is held.

Shelby tried out the Bongo Boy and Rescue the Coconuts games from the younger students’ program. Then I gave her a Letter Name tune for Ode to Joy, which can be played by putting fingers 1 2 3 4 5 on the white keys C D E F G. We finished off the class in the CMJ Improv Room.

This Week @ Home

• Keep practicing your Musical Alphabet forwards and backwards.
• Practice a nice rounded hand position. Even if you don’t have a keyboard, you can do this on a desktop, and work on Ode to Joy to get your fingers used to moving independently. (This link also includes a pdf of Twinkle Twinkle if you want an extra piece, or an easier one to start with.)
• Print and complete this worksheet for some practice naming the parts of the Grand Staff.
• Print and memorize the 5 Grand Staff Landmark Notes.
• If you have Piano Suite, you can review Theory Thinker 1-2, including the playing examples, and play the Grand Staff Note Placement Game.

Thanks again for a great class, I’ll see you next week!

Filed under: Mapleview Heights Elementary Tagged: | Mapleview, Week 2