My kinders and 1st grades, love playing instruments. Above is a photo of a first grader, who is singing, playing, reading, and reading numbers, all at the same time. How many parts of her brain are working at the same time? Dr. Charles Limb, associate professor of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Johns Hopkins University, say this about music: "It allows you to think in a way that you used to not think, and it also trains a lot of other cognitive facilities that have nothing to do with music." You can read the article here: lhttp://www.cnn.com/2012/05/26/health/mental-health/music-brain-science/index.html
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I have loved using Artie Almedia's Mallet Madness this year. The students are so excited when they enter the classroom, knowing that we do, Mallett Madness. They enjoy getting to play ALL the instruments. Mallet Madness consist of activities for mallet percussion instruments that promotes learning in the concept areas of beat, rhythm, melody, harmony, form and expressive qualities through the use of songs, poems, music-to-literature connections and reproducible flashcards. The students love the unique rotation system, so they get to play all of the mallet percussion instruments in the classroom as well as many of the non-pitched instruments. 1, 2, 3, 4, mallets down get off the floor, 5, 6, 7, 8, hurry don't be late. We use this chant when transitioning from the different instruments.
I love Dr. Seuss. I love this time of year when the students get to play Green Eggs and Ham on the Boomwhackers, perform the Seussical Cannon, keep the steady beat to Dr. Seuss's books, and sing the Dr. Seuss, We Love You song.
My third and fourth graders loved creating their own song, by using Brian Weese's worksheet. Not only did the fourth graders play the song on recorders, but they also played their composed song on piano.
I had the privilege of attending the CMA event, where they presented the Nashville Public Schools with this check. WOW! It was such an inspiring night to be honored in such an amazing way, and hearing some of the wonderful, talented students attending Nashville schools! The check was presented to Dr. Jessie Register, the director of the Metro Nashville Public Schools. No Tennessee elementary school should allow their students to go without music lessons at least once a week. I also believe that every elementary school should have Orff instruments AND a piano lab. How many of you will write CMA and ask them to give my school a piano lab? This is scientific research, people; Music HELPS kids cognitive development!!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081104132916.htm ScienceDaily (Nov. 4, 2008) — A Harvard-based study has found that children who study a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no instrumental training—not only in tests of auditory discrimination and finger dexterity (skills honed by the study of a musical instrument), but also on tests measuring verbal ability and visual pattern completion (skills not normally associated with music). The study, published October 29 in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE, was led by Drs. Gottfried Schlaug and Ellen Winne. A total of 41 eight- to eleven-year-olds who had studied either piano or a string instrument for a minimum of three years were compared to 18 children who had no instrumental training. Children in both groups spent 30-40 minutes per week in general music classes at school, but those in the instrumental group also received private lessons learning an instrument (averaging 45 minutes per week) and spent additional time practicing at home. While it is no surprise that the young musicians scored significantly higher than those in the control group on two skills closely related to their music training (auditory discrimination and finger dexterity), the more surprising result was that they also scored higher in two skills that appear unrelated to music—verbal ability (as measured by a vocabulary IQ test) and visual pattern completion (as measured by the Raven's Progressive Matrices). And furthermore, the longer and more intensely the child had studied his or her instrument, the better he or she scored on these tests. Studying an instrument thus seems to bring benefits in areas beyond those that are specifically targeted by music instruction, but that is not the end of the story. Although this research sheds light on the question of whether connections between music and other, unrelated skills do exist, more studies examining the causal relationships between instrumental music training, practice intensity, and cognitive enhancements are needed. Our art teacher, Janet Malone, asked all of the teachers to decorate a snowman for the holiday season. The snowmen were numbered and the students had to guess which snowman represented each teacher.
How many musical symbols, or musical instruments can you identify on my snowman? Even the sides of the snowman are something used in music. Are you all familiar with the national non-profit company called, Little Kids Rock?They are an amazing company; LRK transforms children's lives by restoring and revitalizing music education in disadvantaged public schools.
They partner with school districts, training public school teachers with innovative curriculum, and donating all of the instruments and resources necessary to run music programs. LRK does this because they believe that playing music is more than just ‘fun’ for kids - it is transformational and vital. I have been certified to teach using the LKR curriculum and they have donated 30 acoustic guitars, 1 electric guitar and 1 electric bass for me to use in the classroom of my choice. Here is a photo of one student getting his hands on an electric guitar for the first time! It was SO exciting. |
WELCOMEWelcome to Mrs. Folsom's music web site. Did you know that by being involved in music class, you can learn several things that can help you in real life? When you study music you learn math, language, history, reading skills and science. Music teaches teamwork, discipline, responsibility and helps build self esteem. I hope this site increases your knowledge in music, math, science, history and reading. Archives
March 2020
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