2015 Term 1 Week 4: Mary Had a Little Lamb

This week's dance is the Sid Shuffle from Ice Age: Continental Drift.

Here's a tutorial to help you learn it step by step.   

And here's the Sid Shuffle in Spanish! 

Mary had a Little Lamb

This week we are practising  rhythms with crotchets and crotchet rests, and adding quavers.  

Here's a speaking rhythm to practise reading and playing crotchets, quavers and crotchet rests.

Can you keep up with this rhythm? You may need to practise  several times.  
Here's another crotchet and quaver rhythm with no rests.  Keep practising! 
Here's a real test of keeping up -  a Star Wars  crotchet, crotchet rest and quaver rhythm pattern.  You might get lost at the beginning of some bar changes, but listen to the rhythm, watch the pattern, and join back in when you think you've got it.

This is a recording of a metronome. It helps you keep a steady rhythm. You can make it go faster or slower. We will use this to help us keep in time with our clapping and percussion rhythms.

Thomas Edison invented the first machine that could record and play back sound. In 1877, Mary had a Little Lamb was the  first spoken recording by him on his newly invented phonograph. Listen very carefully  and you will hear a cornet (a brass instrument a bit like a trumpet), “Hello, Hello” and then the rhyme Mary had a Little Lamb. After that he recites the rhyme Old Mother Hubbard and then you can hear him laugh.

Thomas Edison with his second phonograph in 1878. What did he use for power to make the machine operate? 

Here's a short clip to show you how he recorded and played back sound.

Here's an animated clip showing  Thomas Edison making the first recording and playing back Mary had a Little Lamb.

It is believed that a man in France recorded sound in 1860 - but was not able to play it back. Here is a story about that. 

The nursery rhyme Mary had a Little Lamb is based on what is believed to be a true story of a young girl called Mary Sawyer, in Massachusetts, USA, who rescued and raised a new born lamb after its mother died (just as Mrs Fowler did last year). Her brother suggested she take it to school with her. There was a young man visiting the school that day, and he was very much amused by the incident of a lamb at school and wrote a poem about it. There are several versions of this story but Mary Sawyer was definitely a real person who believed this rhyme was about her.

This is the house where Mary Sawyer- and her lamb - lived.

William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Mary had a little lamb, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose.

 

 It is thought that another woman (Sarah Josepha Hale) added the extra verses to the poem in 1830 and published it. The music was added in 1830s by Lowell Mason. Some think that Sarah Josepha Hale wrote the whole poem -  but there are several versions of the origins of this rhyme. Sarah Josepha Hale is also the person who convinced the President of USA  to make Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863.

This is the real school that Mary went to.  What's the same and different about Mary's school and ours?

This is inside Mary's school. I wonder what Mary would find unusual about our school?

Here's a video to help you play Mary had a Little Lamb on the ukulele.

Juniors: Have a go at following these actions to go along with the song. 

Have a go at following this chart while you sing the rhyme.

Here's the Muppets Honkers performing Mary had a Little Lamb. Can you work out how many notes are in the tune?

Kermit the Frog meets Mary and her lamb.

Practise your air guitar to a live version of Mary had a Little Lamb by Stevie Ray Vaughan. 

Here's the Funky Monkeys' version of Mary had a Little Lamb. 

And here's a sing-along version with lyrics.

Here's a dance version of Mary had a Little Lamb.   

Here's another version of a Mary had a Little Lamb dance - with quite a different tune.

2015 Term 1 Week 3: Chinese New Year

 

This week is the start of the Chinese New Year festival. It is also known as the Spring Festival as it is the first day of their spring season.

Chinese New Year is special because it is everyone's birthday. If you are born between the first and last days of the Chinese New Year, you can add one year to your age. For example, if you are 9 now and your 10th birthday is in October, you can already say you are 10.

The Chinese New Year is 15 days long. Each day represents a celebration, and the final day is celebrated with a lantern festival - like the one in Albert Park, Auckland. 

Chinese New Year can be celebrated with a feast, fireworks, hongbao - red envelopes that contain money, new clothes (traditionally each person will buy new clothes for Chinese New Year), spring cleaning in the days leading up to it,  and visiting family.

Each year is represented by one of the 12 zodiac animals.   This year is year of the sheep/ ram/ goat.

2004 was the year of the monkey

2005 - rooster

2006 - dog

2007- pig

Here are some traditional Chinese instruments being played  with some modern backing instruments. Can you identify them using the chart below?

This video is from one of the main TV stations in China. It is the New Year’s celebration filled with many traditional songs, dances, instruments, clothing and so on.

Here is a Chinese New Year song. You might want to watch it several times to follow the words and characters.  By the end of it, you might be able to remember how to say "Congratulations".


Here's a poster of many different kinds of traditional musical instruments from China. 

Traditionally, Chinese instruments fitted into 8 main categories: silk,  bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide.

You can hear the pipa played here. The pipa is a pear-shaped stringed instrument which traditionally had strings of silk.

The erhu is a two-stringed instrument played with a bow.  Here is some more information about the erhu.   You can see and hear the erhu in this video, and learn a bit about its background.

You can hear the xiao played here.  The xiao  is a type of flute and is made of bamboo or wood. Look how he blows across the hole of the xiao - it's like blowing across the top of a bottle. (Try that for homework!)

The tanggu is a big drum. You can see it played here.  Here's more information about it.

Here's  a group of young people playing several different types of traditional Chinese percussion instruments.

Seniors:
This week we are learning about crotchets and crotchet rests. Crotchets are also known as quarter notes.
Use the video to practise reading and beating crotchets and crotchet rests.

Here's our listening game from last week. Let's try the harder levels this week.

This is quite a tricky listening game of matching the same sounds, but with a bit of practice, I'm sure you will be able to master it.

Juniors: We are learning about nursery rhymes this term.
Hickory Dickory Dock  first appeared in a book of nursery rhymes in 1744.  Hickory is a tree growing in America, and dock is a weed. There is no particular story behind this rhyme, its just a fun way to start to learn to tell the time using rhyming words. 

Hickory Dickory Dock. 

Hickory, dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

Actions for Hickory Dickory Dock

 Print by Margaret Tarrant- 1940s

Here's a  dance for Hickory Dickory Dock 

 Kermit has a bit of fun with Hickory Dickory Dock.

And this is a short cartoon about Hickory Dickory Dock with a different ending.

2015 Term 1 Week 2: Valentine's Day

      Valentine's Day (or Saint Valentine's Day) is February 14th. There are many different stories about the background of Valentine's Day, and here is one of them. Is it true? Well, the facts have been lost or confused over time, but it's  a good story anyway. 

     Valentine is said to have lived in Rome during the third century, when Rome was ruled by an unpopular emperor named Claudius. 

Valentine

    Claudius was having trouble getting men to serve in his army because they did not want to leave their wives and families. He thought that if men were not married, they would join the army. So Claudius passed a new law which did not allow any more marriages.

Claudius II - it was said that he once punched out a horse's teeth!

Rome in the third century

   Valentine, who was a minister, did not support the new law and he kept performing marriage ceremonies secretly. He was caught and thrown in jail and told he would be put to death. 

   Many young people came to visit Valentine. One was the daughter of the prison guard. On the day of his death Valentine wrote a note to the daughter, signed, "Love from your Valentine". This was on February 14, 269 A. D. 

    Some say this started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day.

Here's a short video telling one of the stories about Saint Valentine.

  

One of the greatest love stories is Romeo and Juliet - a play by William Shakespeare who is regarded as one of the most important playwrights in English. Several composers have told the story of Romeo and Juliet through music, including Tchaikovsky.  

This is one of the most well-known pieces of his music from Romeo and Juliet. It's called the Fantasy Overture.  Here's a short part of it. 

- can you identify the sections of the orchestra? 

- what instruments can you name?

- can you hear where it starts to get louder (crescendo - getting louder) and softer (decrescendo or diminuendo)? 

- what are the words we use for loud and soft? 

- how does the conductor communicate with the musicians?

Here's a very short part from the musicians' view of the conductor.

- have a go at copying him.

- what changes does he make in his movements, and how does this show in the way the music is played? 

 Vocabulary:

overture: a piece of music played before the start of a ballet or opera. It usually includes parts of the music of the performance so the audience will know what to listen for. 

crescendo: gradually becoming louder. It uses the abbreviation cresc.  This symbol   means getting louder. 

Decrescendo (decresc.)/diminuendo (dim.) both mean gradually becoming softer.  This symbol means getting louder. 

Here's a short video to help you learn the difference between crescendo and decrescendo.

Learn how to say happy Valentine's Day in Spanish. 

Here's a funny song about love by Kid President, Lennon and Maisy. 

Seniors: 

Here's a funny Valentine's song about a boy who gives a Valentine card to his friend by mistake. 

Here's another song by the same song writer; it's called "I love U". 
 

In Roman mythology, Cupid was the god of love and affection. He carries a bow and arrow, and whoever is hit by one of his arrows falls in love. Cupid is a popular symbol of Valentine's Day. 

 Cupid is also the name of an American singer who holds the Guinness World Record for the most people line dancing his song the Cupid Shuffle. Here's a link to the dance steps.
And another link.   We will work on this over the next few weeks. Here's the official video of the Cupid Shuffle. 
 Here's an animated version with a few  advanced moves to try out. 
And here's a Kid's Bop Shuffle version of the same song.

And just for balance - here's a song called Dumb Love .It's in the key of D if you want to play along on the ukulele. 

 

Some songs and activities for Valentine's Day:

Here's a fun dance called Accidentally in Love from Shrek. 

My Valentine Heart  (echo - tune of Hokey Tokey )

When I say I love you

(Point to lips)

It comes from my heart

(Hand on heart)

You hear it in your ear

(Point to ear)

And it sounds very smart

(Point to head)

I love it when you're proud of me

(Stand very tall)

You say it all day long

(Stretch arms wide)

And when I hear you say it

(Point to ear)

My heart sings a happy song

(Hand on heart)

Ohhhhhhh my  Valentine (make a big heart)

Oh  my Valentine (make a big heart)

Ohhhhhh  my Valentine (make a big heart)

Won’t you be my Valentine  (Clap on the beat)

Be My Valentine
Sung to Mary Had A Little Lamb

You're a special

Friend of mine

Friend of mine

Friend of mine 

You're a special

Friend of mine

Be my valentine!

H-E-A-R-T

Sung to: Bingo

 To show you like your special friends,

Just give them each a red heart. 

H-E-A-R-T, H-E-A-R-T,

H-E-A-R-T,

Each read heart says I like you!

 

2015 Term 1 Week 1: The Treaty of Waitangi

 It's the first week back at school, and we get another day's holiday on Friday for Waitangi Day on February 6th.  This celebrates the day the Treaty of Waitangi was signed 175 years ago.

Here's a few basic facts about the Treaty:

What is a treaty?  

 An agreement between two or more groups of people. 

Who was it between?

The Maori chiefs and the Crown (the Queen of England) represented in New Zealand by William Hobson.

 Where was it signed?

At Waitangi at the Bay of Islands. 

When was it signed? 

On the 6th of February 1840.

Why was there a need for a treaty?

There were about 2000 British citizens already living in New Zealand, and more were arriving. There was no way of maintaining law and order without an agreed system that all could follow. One  law was needed to protect both Maori and Pakeha, and their their property, and Hobson was asking the chiefs to accept Queen Victoria as their Queen and the British system of law to protect them.

What's the treaty about?

Article 1: asks the chiefs to give the governance of New Zealand to the Queen 

Article 2: promises to protect the chief's property and possessions; and organises the sale of any land the chifs want to sell

Article 3: gives Maori the sames rights as British citizens 

 

 Here's a song about Hone Heke who was the first to sign the Treaty of Waitangi.  Heke lost faith in the benefits of the Treaty after Hobson moved the capital to Auckland. One way of showing his anger at the British was to cut down the flagpole flying the Union Jack at Kororakeka in the Bay of Islands.

Here's the New Zealand National Anthem in Sign Language, Maori and English.

¡Buenos Días! Here's a song help you learn  to say Hello in Spanish.
Here's another version of ¡Buenos Días!

Dances this week:
The Chicken Dance 

I'm a Gummy Bear 

Listening: This is called Chopin's Sonata Number 2. (3rd Movement). This was composed in 1839  (about the same time as the Treaty of Waitangi draft was getting prepared to send to New Zealand) by Frederic Chopin who was a Polish composer.  Listen for where the music changes from loud (forte) to soft (piano).

This is a fun video to experience sudden changes in dynamics. Listen for the changes between piano and forte. The performer is Bjork, a singer-songwriter and musician from Iceland.

 

Vocabulary from this week's topics:
treaty - agreement
Crown - king or queen
alert - careful, cautious
lofty - high
Union Jack - the name of the flag of the United Kingdom
dynamics -  the volume or sound of a note in music - how loud or soft it is played
forte - loud
piano - soft
Poland
Iceland 
Waitangi 

Here's a listening game. Are the two tunes the same or different?  

This is another listening game where you can compose a tune, play it back and identify your tune from a selection of three tunes. One will be yours, the other two will be different. You will obviously need the sound on.