Play Some Tunes by Janette Coggeshall

Having a casual conversation with our school grounds maintenance person I discovered she plays the guitar and her husband plays the harmonica. She expressed how much she loves music! One thing led to another and I asked her to come into our classroom to play. She seemed delighted and asked if her husband could come as well. We agreed. It is particularly meaningful to have members of the community share their talents with the students.

Throughout the unit I will be teaching my students the basics of recorder, with the goal of a performance at the end. We will also be exploring rhythm instruments and the xylophone and the basics of musical notation.

I will be exposing my students to various major works by the Masters...including "Carnival of Animals", Bach, Handel and others as well as some folk music, jazz, early Rock 'n Roll, music boxes etc. We will also recite some poetry, noting its similarity to present day Rap.

by Diane

For a closing activity, I'm having the class research the Lost Tribe of Ethiopia as a theme connection to the Social Studies unit on Judaism. We just happen to be studying Aida in OC and Judaism in Social Studies at the same time. While I'm having a difficult time finding Ethiopian ceremonial face masks (or any art pictures to color) I'm using one from the Duma tribe from Gabon.

The students will draw a part of the Aida story in each of the mask's four sections. For the Lost Tribe of Ethiopia, we will draw a map of their incredible journey and report on their current struggles.

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