February is the African-American Heritage Month.
The African-American Heritage provides us many unique and different genres of American music: Ragtime, Jazz, Spiritual, Gospel, Hip-Hop to name a few. I'm looking forward to dancing a Hip-Hop song/dance called "A Cupid Shuffle" with 3rd graders!
Along with African-American music, we also learn some fun songs
from Africa. Kindergarteners and 1st graders learn a song from West African country, Ghana, called “Kye, Kye, Kule.” This children's song
not only has exciting drum beats but also has dancing parts which
are very similar to our singing game: "Head, Shoulders, Knees and
Toes." Each student has an opportunity to play our big African
Tubano Drum while singing and dancing to this tune. This song is
always a big hit among younger students! It is good to know that the children in the world have similar songs and games to play. We always find more similarities among us than the differences.
3rd graders continue to study how to sing in Canon/Round. They will learn a new song called “A Ram Sam Sam.” "A Ram Sam Sam" is a folk song originated from Morocco. The phrase "A Ram Sam Sam" is a chant and has no real meaning. But "Guli" means "tell me/you say to me" in Moroccan Arabic. "A raffiq" means "friends/traveling companions." Ask your 3rd graders to teach you how to sing this song in Canon/Round at home!
Happy Valentine's Day!!
There are a plenty of songs and games to celebrate Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day music selections include:
Valentine's Day music selections include:
Kindergarten: Will You Be My Valentine?
Valentine Heel-Toe Dance
1st Grade: I Hope I Get a Letter!
Valentine Dance
3rd Grade: Love Somebody with Orchestration
Cupid Shuffle Dance
What a busy month February is !! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Chinese New Year 2019 is Tuesday, February 5. There is a wonderful Chinese New Year story about the Monster called "The story of Nien."
Here is the YouTube video you can enjoy and learn about Chinese culture and tradiion for New Year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1AKwg7Ng2s