Center Time in Music

Center time is a special treat in music class! As a reward for our good behavior and excellent choices, we have centers. One of our newest centers is the rhythm  creation center in which students can build and create a rhythm pattern using instruments. This center along with the puppet center and the keyboards are some of our favorite of late!

For example, to make quarter notes and pairs of eighth notes, this student used egg shakers for the note heads and then wood blocks and claves for the stems.  He used round hand drums for the whole notes. So creative! 

 Then students record in a journal especially for this center what they created. This helps us practice our composition skills as well as our rhythm reading and writing skills.

Do You Do A Didgeridoo?

This week, many of our music friends have enjoyed reading the book, Do You Do a Didgeridoo? This colorful, rhyming story tells the tale of a character who visits Mr. Music Man's Marvelous Music Shop looking to purchase a didgeridoo. We learned that a didgeridoo comes from Australia and makes a low "wahoo" sound.
Our friends then drew pictures of what their didgeridoos would look like and some even composed a melody that their didgeridoos would play. Here are a few beautiful examples!

Viva Valentine!

We have been singing Valentine's Day songs in the music room today! Some of our favorites include, "Viva Valentine", "I Love You Little, I Love You Lots", "Wouldja Be My Valentine", and "Under a Shady Tree, You and Me". Mrs. E. Jones' class helped me spell the word 'valentine' on our dry erase boards so that we could hold up each letter at the appropriate time in "Viva Valentine". Here's the video!

Hokey Pokey Okey Dokey

We really don't remember the last time we could go outside to play for recess!! Due to the extreme cold, or the rain we've had lately, we just have been a little cooped up. We have been looking for ways to use some of our energy inside, especially in the music room. Usually, we dance to some of our favorites, "Freeze Dance", "Bop Till You Drop", or  "Rocketship Run". Today, Mrs. Pittman's class had a great time doing the "Hokey Pokey"! This song also helps us learn our right from our left, which is something we are always working on at AEEC! We thought we would share in case you are cooped up, too! Feel free to dance right along, wherever you may be! :)

Sing Me a Song About Fairy Tales

On Monday night, February 7, at 6 pm our friends from the Blue Pod will sing for everyone at PTA. Their program will include a clever collection of songs celebrating what they have learned about fairy tales both in their classrooms and in the music room. This sneak peak is Mrs. Mitchell's class, singing 'Wouldja Sing Me a Song About Fairy Tales". We hope that you will all join us Monday night at 6 o'clock for much more fairy tale fun!

Something Fishy

This week, my friends in Mrs. E. Jones' class were kind enough to share with me about fish. They had a visit from Mr. Jones who brought a very lovely fish for everyone to feel and learn about that once was alive and swimming, but at the time of its visit to our school, was not able to swim any more... :)


Mrs. E. Jones asked each of us to guess what we thought the fish might feel like before we touched it and then after we touched the fish, we each gave a report about what he really felt like. It was so nice of my friends to invite me to this slimy learning experience!

Thanks to Mrs. E. Jones for letting me borrow this excellent photo, capturing my true thoughts about the fish!

After our time this week with Mr. Fish, we decided it was only appropriate to sing and dance to one of our most favorite Laurie Berkner Band songs that tells a story about what fish spend most of their time doing. We'll give you a hint...it's not taking a shower or riding their bikes! You might notice that we are very busy acting out all the parts of the song, which is something we do often in the music room to tell a story. We hope you enjoy!