Learning and Creating

Music Classes.....exploring the orchestra

Second and Third Grade music class is enjoying an iPad app called Piano Carnival as I project it on to the SmartBoard.  Piano Carnival is a narrative that accompanies Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals. Attached to each page of this story is a video of the appropriate piece of music as well as additional drawings AND a movie of those drawings being created in Photoshop!  SOOOO cool!

What really impressed me was the website for educators ) that is linked in the "grown ups" area. This site has lesson plans and activities to accompany the book AND Common Core Standards are listed that apply to each lesson! 

There are many ways to use this app with your classroom. Project on a SmartBoard, just use your iPad to present the story, or put on a classroom set of iPads for individual use. Another great thing about this app is that it is FREE!  Check it out music educators!

We are talking about the Instruments of the Orchestra in Kindergarten and First Grade.  Students have listened to and watched the classic story of Peter and the Wolf ( Петя и волк, Petya i volk in Russian)by Sergei Prokofiev. 
Peter and he Wolf was written in 1936, capturing the personality of each character with their own special instrumental sound.
Prokofiev actually visited the Disney studio when Disney was creating his animated version, released in 1946.
We enjoyed the Disney version very much!  The Russian film by Susie Templeton provides a great contrast to the animated version.  

Another great resource is the video of Peter and the Wolf with characters created by Chuck Jones, starring Kirstie Alley and Lloyd Bridges.  It's a unique approach to the story.  The added bonus to this DVD is an introduction to the instruments of the orchestra as well as a game.  There are 25 different combinations in the game to match instrument sounds with animals.

We have also watched the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra perform the piece, which gives great visuals of the musicians playing the instruments.  Of course, the Jim Gamble puppet version is a favorite as well.  Each version is a little different from the other in style, setting, and even characters.  Students compare and contrast those differences in our discussions.

Technology Classes....blending skill with creativity!

Younger students got creative while practicing our navigation and mouse skills this month with Easter egg decorating from the ABCya site. Each student had their own style, it was amazing to see!  

We have been creating Interactive Google Drawings in technology for Grades 4-5-6 these past few weeks.  The students were given a topic to research, depending upon their last name.  Countries of Asia, Symbols of South Dakota, Horse Breeds and Towns in South Dakota were the topics.  We learned how to use the tools of Google Draw, and how to link a photo or graphic to more content to tell more about it.  The content could be a video, a website, or the students' own Google document with information that was gathered.  Click on the photo below to see Olivia Lyon's Interactive Google Drawing.  She created her own slide show for South Korea.  When you get to the actual page, click on each country's photo to see the link to explore!

Second and Third graders have been using their skills to create word clouds.  Since we are studying the instruments of orchestra in music, we created designs using the various families of instruments, printed them out, and they are now on display in the music room.  

This project was not only fun, but integrated many different subject areas:  technology, music, spelling, art and design, and math (did you wonder why some words are bigger than others??).

All students continue to work on their typing skills regularly with TTL4 and online typing games.  One of the students' favorite games is "Words Per Minute."  A cool feature of the game is the tally of best scores for the day.  The competitive side of typists comes out when we play!

 

Redeemed

We are Redeemed!  All of us.  All of the time.  Jesus Christ died so that we might have life!  Today we celebrate His resurrection!  Rejoice and feel the joy!

"Eyes of Grace," March 27

God has always been a God of grace, but no other day points to this as much as Resurrection Day. May you be blessed by this new video devotional from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young as you celebrate Christ's finished work on the cross.#Easter #Grace #RisenSavior

Posted by Jesus Calling by Sarah Young on Saturday, March 26, 2016

Now The Green Blade Riseth

Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,

Wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain;

Love lives again, that with the dead has been:

Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love who had been slain,

Thinking that He never would awake again,

Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:

Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,

Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain;

Quick from the dead my risen Lord is seen:

When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,

Jesus' touch can call us back to live again,

Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:

We sang this song tonight at Mass. Several things touched my heart as we sang.....
"Wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain:"......When I married my farmer husband almost 20 years ago, I didn't even know that there was winter wheat as well as spring wheat! The winter wheat is planted in the fall, sprouts, and then is dormant until the sunshine and rains in the spring. I've always marveled at the dying and rising of the wheat seed. The faith of the farmer is not to be downplayed in this scenario. Seed, fertilizer, time, are all poured into this labor of planting a seed which will soon die, with no sign of life for many months after. Early spring comes, the ground starts to thaw, and then miraculously, the green rows start to appear in the field! And it is wheat! Of course, this is only another beginning for this leap of faith for the farmer. Rainfall, storms, diseases, are all part of the story yet to come. Yet, hope is found in the spring, when that green blade is seen! And so it is with our Jesus..."laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen." But a marked difference as well. With Jesus' Resurrection, there is no doubt that Jesus is alive, and remains so to this day...no storm or drought can change that fact!
"When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,"....Our area of the state is expecting snow late tonight and tomorrow! Yes, TOMORROW, Mother's Day, May 11!! Our hearts yearning for springtime will once again be wintry! There are many who are also grieving the loss of ones they love. I know many are in physical or emotional pain. The promise we have as Christians, however, is that these times of desolation, sorrow, or pain, are the EXACT times that Jesus calls to us.LIVE again! The fields of our heart are made lush with joy, freedom, love, and peace! Jesus, the Shepherd whose voice we KNOW, brings us to the fullness of life that he has waiting for us. All we need do is listen.

Indescribable!

How would you describe God?  Amazing! Unstoppable!  All-powerful!  Unchangeable!  Uncontainable!  Holy! All-Knowing!  Forgiving!  Life-Giving!  There's not a single word to proclaim the total awesomeness of our God!  

As I contemplate the gift of the Resurrection, it is both humbling and amazing to me the Love that God has for all of us, that He sent his Son to redeem us!  As I think about the apostles when Jesus appeared to them after His Resurrection...wow, their hearts must have been so totally overwhelmed with thanksgiving, love, praise!  The total joy they  must have felt!

This song by Chris Tomlin, "Indescribable", is a beautiful song of praise to our God...who is my Everything!

Christ Is Risen by Matt Maher

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake, come awake

come and rise up from the grave

CHRIST IS RISEN!

   Christ The Lord Is Risen Today is one of my all-time favorite hymns!  I absolutely LOVE to play this for worship!!  I grew up singing the original version "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today," a 14th century Latin hymn, translated into English, published in 1709 in Lyra Davidica.  Many hymnals include both hymns separately.

Most of the stanzas of Christ The Lord Is Risen Today were written by Charles Wesley, and the hymn appeared under the title Hymn for Resurrection Day in Hymns and Sacred Songs by Charles and John Wesley in 1739. 

   This is a very upbeat version, performed by PraiseCharts Band. 

Melting Bunnies!

I LOVE showing this video to the students each Easter!

On My Father's Side....

I just heard this sweet song.  Very appropriate for this week.  Sung by the Barn Again Gang, there are several other of their videos on You Tube.