HAPPENINGS the Lower Campus @ December 2016
ter n i W rt e c n Co ing! Com 6th . Feb
The whole school has been working hard, preparing for the Winter concert which will be held on Monday, February 6th, 2017 at the Upper Campus Theatre. The concert serves as a forum for students to shine on stage and share their musical experiences with families. We will do a practice run on stage the week prior. Stay tuned for more details...
In other Musical News... The 3rd-5th graders have been continuing work on the 12 Bar Blues structure including writing lyrics. The Albatrosses have completed their original “Migration” composition which they look forward to performing for you at the winter concert. All the elementary students have been perfecting their transcribing skills on staff paper, working on note recognition with acrostics and acronyms, discussing which instruments use the treble and bass clefs, writing musical symbols and learning about half steps. And of course mixing up hard work with (interpretive) freeze dance and musical chairs at the end of lessons once in a while. There will be more composing and improv skills in the new year, as well as adding drama to the curriculum! The Snowy Owls and Humming birds (Pre K -K) have been adjusting to the move to the big music room in Emerson, with more access to musical instruments, games and percussion. We are also working on basic notation, with the help of the magical, musical rug which also doubles as a lake to go fishing in as we sing in a circle! We have been doing some warm up exercises with children's yoga and animal imitation dances. More fun musical activities to come. As well in the month of December, we all enjoyed adding percussion accompaniments to various holiday songs, such as: Deck The Halls, Rockin' around the Christmas tree, Let it Snow, We wish you a merry Christmas and of course, Jingle Bells!
Hard to get a still picture with all the movin’ and a shakin’ happening in the Music Room!
Artists Flitting, Ideas in Flight... Flocking to the Art Room! Students in the Hummingbirds and Snowy Owls have been working together in mixed groups in the big art room exploring painting, drawing, and sculpting materials. Before break they created magical tree sculptures adorned with jewel-like elements. The process included mixing dough for a base, engineering their branch forms to stand upright, mixing up custom majestic paint colors and carefully threading beads onto the branches. Make a wish on a tree for the New Year! The Albatrosses are nearing the end of their long sculptural journey of transforming trash (recycled materials) to treasure. The likes of boxes, bottles and cardboard tubes, softened with newspaper curves and paper mache are ready for the final stages of personification with the aid of paint and feathers. Wow! The Purple Gallinules have applied their observational skills and their knowledge of contour lines to a chosen bird form turned wire armature. The students have been carefully manipulating wire, no easy task as they have discovered, into birds from reference images, and observing the transformation from 2D to 3D forms as the process unfolds. The flock includes a chickadee, quail, raven, purple gallinule and more! Next they will continue to breath life into these sculptures with mixed media exteriors incorporating items such as colored wire, yarn, pipe cleaners, paper and feathers.
The Mountain Bluebirds completed their up-cycled bird sculptures before heading to the Tinker Lab for a S.T.E.A.M challenge: In 30 minutes, create a bird sculpture with a moving element using all materials! Engineering minds awesome teamwork, and pure determination fueled the process.