Folk song games have specific forms.

For the next few days, we are focusing our attention on building knowledge and gathering information towards our summative assessment. (Using garage band, the children will make their own music sequence that describes a thought or a feeling. They will use objects or musical instruments. These will be played at a collaborative performance at the end of the unit). 

Sparked by Alexis', Maddi's and Sofia's interest in singing folk songs, we will focus our attention towards different folk songs and their form. 

We started looking at the form of a song that helps us remember names: 

Bumpety, bumpety, yellow bus. 

Will you say your name for us.

Attached you can see the Song map for this song. 

The second song that we started studying is "Come and follow me". 

We discussed the words in the song and the ways that this song invites us to express ourselves (Come and follow me = follow the person that is singing; in a line - walk in a line; we will stop - stop your body; like this - copy the person that's in front).

Attached you can find a song map and the form sheet. We are also looking into the beat, syllables and rhythm of this song! 

 

We are definitely having fun exploring different ways of expressing ourselves!

"Music always makes me want to move around " Sofia 

"My feet always feel like moving" Roy 

Environmental Sounds can cause certain feelings to arise

What are the sounds we hear in our immediate environment? 

The key concept that emphasizes this inquiry is Causation. Through engaging this Concept and asking questions, the children gain an understanding that behaviours or actions have consequences and reasons.

Sounds can be perceived differently and can cause different feelings in each individual. 

 Trystan hears the "school bell"; its meaning is to inform the children that recess started or that recess is over. The children express their understanding of this sound by responding to the meaning by going outside or inside the school. 

Alexis  was able to hear sounds from the main area in the school. She heard, "Children singing the song, 'Oh, we are going walking'". This sparked an interest in Alexis to explore different folk songs and their specific forms. 

Jason heard "Instruments" making sounds and playing music in the cubbies. This took his thoughts on a ride back home, thinking of his "brother playing piano. It feels good to hear my brother play the piano". This idea will lead to another line of inquiry: Environmental sounds are used to express feelings and thoughts.

Roy heard "people talk and sing folk songs". People express themselves in different ways and one way is definitely through different SOUNDS that cause different meanings, thoughts and feelings. 

Maddi, Bela and Sofia hear Instrument sounds and Songs that caused their bodies to want to move. They all danced and twirled around the room. Happiness and Cheerfulness arose from this action. Maddi likes to dance and listen to the instruments from a song that she heard in Hawaii: "The Ulalena Rain Song". 

Formative week – How do we express ourselves – Sound travels

How do we experience sounds?  

Saddling ourselves on a new adventure we began our next inquiry. Our new unit is based on the sounds that surround us. We will explore ways in which to use sound in order to express our thoughts and feelings. In the formative week, the children share their knowledge about the new unit, "Sound travels".

The children experienced sounds in different ways:

Animals make sounds: 

Sofia "Squeak, squeak" (Mouse)

Maddi " neigh, neigh" (Horse)

Trystan "Chirp, chirp" (Bird)

Bela 'The hopping of a bunny sounds like somebody is stepping on some leaves" 

Alexis "Hoo, hoo" (Owl)

Roy "A squirrel moving around makes a scratching sound" 

Jason "Arf, arf" (Dog)

Objects make sounds: 

Blocks “when they crash down” - Trystan

Paper  “When you crumple it up” - Sofia

Bracelet "My bracelet makes jingly sounds when the beads touch each other"  - Bela

  

People make sounds:

“Our fingers tips walking up and down on a table” Sofia explained how that movement and sound makes her think of a dog walking on the road.

“Our mouth, tongue, and teeth make lots of sound” Trystan

“My belly when it is hungry”  Bela

Instruments make sounds:

Drum “bum, bum, bum, bum” – Sofia

Flute “ta-na-na-na” – Alexis

  

***How sounds are experienced is the line of inquiry that we focused on. 

The book that we read is called “The listening walk” by Paul Showers and the children got inspired to go for a walk and listen to all the different sounds that surround them and see how these different environmental sounds cause certain feelings to arise.

What a wonderful way of starting this new unit and how many excited and wonderful ideas we gathered right from the beginning. The children’s knowledge and interest in exploring different sounds sparked a desire to embark deeper into this inquiry!