At my house each year for Halloween, my husband and I set up a light show using pixel lights. These are special lights that can be programmed to coordinate with music. Mr. Scannell is a computer programmer, and I’m a music teacher, so he does the computer stuff, and I program the effects sequence to the music. We have the perfect combination of skills to work as a team to make something really cool! Check out a few videos of our past shows:

Kindergarten

We have started the year learning procedures and routines for music class. Students have been working on learning where their circle spot is, how to safely move in the classroom, lining up, and following directions (move, freeze, when to play, when to stop, taking turns, etc). We have been learning about the 4 voices: speaking, shouting, whisper, and singing voice and when it is appropriate to use each one. Students have also been working on singing their names in the song “Hickety Tickety”.

Kindergarten students can go to www.musicplayonline.com and use the following information to log in and sing some of their favorite songs from class:
Username: falling
Password: leaves

1st Grade

1st grade students have been reviewing concepts covered last year in kindergarten in addition to reviewing routines and procedures for music class. We have practiced musical opposites such as quiet/loud, high/low, and fast/slow. Students have been singing several echo songs (where the teacher sings and they sing back) and are just starting to practice question and answer songs (where the teacher sings something and they sing something different back).

1st Grade students can go to www.musicplayonline.com and use the following information to log in and sing some of their favorite songs from class:
Username: falling
Password: leaves

2nd Grade

2nd graders have spent the first months of school reviewing routines and procedures for music class in addition to concepts covered in 1st grade. We have also played unpitched percussion instruments (drums, shakers, scrapers, metals) in addition to pitched percussion (xylophones and glockenspiels). They have also learned two hello songs, Jazzy Hello, and Good Morning. To celebrate fall, students have learned the song “Apple Tree” and played a game and used instruments to accompany it. Here are the words, ask your child to sing it for you!

Apple tree, apple tree,

Will your apple fall on me?

I won’t cry, I won’t shout,

If your apple knocks me out!

Traditional Folk Song

3rd Grade

Students in 3rd grade started the year with lots of snapping, clapping, patting, and stomping! We call this body percussion in music class. They learned a piece called “Alpha Four” and were able to transfer it to unpitched percussion instruments. Ask your child if they can play it in ABACA form! Form is a word to describe how music is organized into sections. Here is a link to a slightly different version of the piece. See if you can spot the differences!

4th Grade

4th graders have been working on lots of ostinati since the beginning of the year. An ostinato is a short melodic or rhythmic pattern that repeats. We’ve practiced layering ostinati in many different ways. Ostinati are especially important in music because they are often the basis for instrumental parts. We typically learn them first by speaking them, then playing them with body percussion (snaps, claps, pats, and stomps) and then finally transfering the patterns onto instruments. Check out this short video that describes (and uses!) ostinati!

5th Grade

5th graders have started the year learning a spoken piece that includes body percussion. See if you remember it!

If you’ve come to * * sing, *
If you’ve come to * * dance, *
If you * * have come * * to
Make a little music, don’t delay!
If you’ve come to * * move,*
If you’ve come to * * play, *
Then you * * have come * * to
Where you need to be today!

Matthew McCoy

They are also working on singing in a round (see youtube video below), and will soon start working in small groups to arrange instrumental parts for a poem.

Check out our sneak peek of our 5th Grade promotion songs with the links below! You can search for other videos from music class by searching “2019 William Ford” on youtube!

Our students will be performing in their annual Spring Concert on Friday, May 31st, 2019.

3rd and 4th Grade: 9:00-9:45am

1st and 2nd Grade 10:00-10:45am

1st Grade will be performing favorite songs from the year.

Each class from 2nd Grade will perform a song using a book that corresponds to a season of the year. For the first time, 2nd Graders will also be accompanying themselves using xylophones and other classroom instruments.

Our 3rd Grade students will be performing several folk songs, and everyone’s favorite “50 Nifty United States”. This song teaches students all 50 states in alphabetical order. 3rd Grade will also be accompanying themselves for several songs, improvising melodies and rhythms, and singing in two parts.

4th Graders have been studying the recorder during the 2nd semester. They will perform several pieces they have learned such as Hot Cross Buns, Closet Key, and Merrily We Roll along.

5th Grade will perform at their Promotion Ceremony on June 13th at 2pm. Some of our students will join us playing guitars and drums for their performance as well!

Be sure to mark your calendars for all these exciting upcoming events!

Welcome back to music in 2018! I was on maternity leave most of first semester after I welcomed my baby girl, Samantha in July. Now that I have returned to William Ford Elementary, I wanted to share with you some things that each grade level is working on:

Kindergarten:

Students are beginning to work on musical opposites such as high/low, loud/soft, short/long, and fast/slow. We are also continuing to work on steady beat and beautiful singing.

1st Grade:

Our 1st graders are working on beautiful singing, steady beat, musical opposites, and are beginning to read rhythmic notation.

2nd Grade:

Second graders have been learning about the macrobeat and the microbeat. They are also practicing half notes, and will soon start learning some solfege notes, Do, Re, Mi, Sol, and La.

3rd Grade:

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, 3rd graders are learning a song about him. They area also starting to learn about musical phrases and song form. They will start learning about the new rhythm “tika tika” and continue to improve their understanding of solfege pitches.

4th Grade:

I think the most exciting part of 4th grade music is beginning the study of the recorder. Students in my class will soon be bringing their recorders home to practice the Recorder Karate songs. Music can be found on my website in the section titled “4th Grade Recorder Resources”.

5th Grade:

This year’s 5th grade has the special opportunity to study the guitar! At the end of last year, I received a very generous donation of a classroom set of guitars through the non-profit program called “Little Kids Rock”. We will be learning how to play chords on the guitar, strumming techniques, and how to play several songs. Students will learn traditional songs along with some modern band music. More information about this program can be found at www.littlekidsrock.org.

How to join Mrs. Scannell’s Google Classroom

1. Download the Google Classroom App on your tablet or phone, or go to https://www.classroom.google.com
2. Log-in using your school email account.
3. Tap the + in the upper right hand corner and choose “Join Class”
4. Copy and paste or type in the class code that matches your teacher
5. Select the belt you would like to test on and use your device’s camera or webcam to record yourself playing.
6. Submit your assignment so I can score your playing and give you feedback.

Cercone: y2v3jk	Cibasek: 5snk2qs
Hamid: lqo8lmj	Fakhreddine: jczjetd
Mroczka: n8kirvs	Ferrante: 47uf3x
Cojei: zxmpmg6	Luckow: tx65frr
Currie: l0j93sw

 

Kindergarten:

Kindergarten students have been practicing songs using shorter and longer sounds. They are learning to copy and echo rhythms by clapping and playing instruments.

1st Grade:

First Grade students are working on identifying higher and lower sounds. They have learned songs that use higher and lower sounds, and are also practicing showing them using their hands and bodies to indicate higher and lower. They have loved playing the game “High High Hill” to practice singing and guessing using higher and lower sounds.

2nd Grade:

Second grade students are working on a dance called “Shake the Papaya Down” and are learning another singing game called “Closet Key”. They are preparing to learn the name of another new pitch!

3rd Grade:

Third grade students just learned a song about Dr. Martin Luther King in honor of his birthday. They have also been learning another song called “Throw it Out the Window” that uses silly nursery rhymes, then “throws them out the window”! It has been fun coming up with variations for this singing game.

4th Grade: 

Fourth grade students are about to start playing the recorder, and have been practicing labeling notes on the music staff. They learned to remember the line notes with the sentence “Every Good Boy Does Fine” and the space notes by using the word “FACE”. 4th grade students will also be attending a special concert with the Dearborn Symphony on the morning of February 9th.

5th Grade:

Fifth grade students have been working on songs for the spring concert which will likely be scheduled for May. This year, they are focusing on songs with instrumental ensembles. One of the songs they are working on is called “Sweet Guava Jelly” that features of recorder part and several drum and xylophone parts. They are also starting to learn another song with drum and recorder parts called “Pat Works On the Railway” in addition to a song about Harriet Tubman. We will start exploring harmony by singing the song “Give Light”.

On Tuesday, December 13th, the 5th grade has the opportunity to go Christmas Caroling at Henry Ford Village and spread some holiday spirit. Students can practice by clicking the link below for the lyrics.

 

Youtube Playlist:

PDF of all the Lyrics:
Christmas Caroling Lyrics 2016

Kindergarten and 1st Grade Students:

William Ford Kindergarten and 1st grade students had fun singing about traditional Thanksgiving foods by singing the “Thanksgiving Feast” song.

Kindergarten students are also working on moving and singing songs to a steady beat. They learned “The More We Get Together” and “Mr. Sun”, and several songs and rhymes about bees!

1st grade has just begun to learn about short and long sounds in music. They have practiced singing and moving to a steady beat, and are ready to start learning how to read and perform rhythm patterns!

 

2nd Grade:

2nd Grade has been practicing singing with pitch syllables. So far, we have practiced Do, Mi, Sol, and La. We have also been practicing quarter notes, eighth note pairs, and rests using the rhythm syllables “ta,” “ti ti” and “shh.”

Can you sing this pattern?

How about this one?

…and a hard one!

 

 

3rd Grade: 

The 3rd grade has been working on a song called “Tideo” and learning a double circle dance that goes with it.

We have also just learned how to say 16th notes, using the rhythm syllables “tika tika”. We have practiced finding 16th notes in songs, and saying rhythm patterns using rhythm syllables when playing different games in class.

Can you read these patterns using syllables?

 

 

 

 

4th Grade:

4th grade students have just started working on songs that have more than one part. We have learned the song “Dance of the Nations,” which we will eventually learn to sing as a round. The song “Sitting Around the Campfire” is a partner song. This means there are 2 different songs that can be sung by themselves, or you can sing them together at the same time! We have also started learning a funny song called “Turkey’s United” that is about turkeys trying to convince us to eat something else on Thanksgiving.

See if you can sing the melody for part 1:

Sitting around the campfire,
Watching the fire glow.
Gazing at twinkling stars from down below.

Sitting around the campfire,
Everyone is my friend.
Wishing this lovely night would never end!

5th Grade:

William Ford’s 5th grade students are working on songs using the notes B, A, G, and E. Students are practicing reading rhythms using “ta” and “ti ti” and playing patterns on their recorders. They are also reviewing how to read these notes on a music staff. Students have just started to practice several songs for the holidays, and are working on learning how to read those new pieces.

What is the sentence that helps us remember the notes on the lines?