LISTENing

JLPS students and I are focusing on listening to music and each other. And each other about music. On our green poster, students wrote the word “music” in as many languages as they knew. Also…mallet instruments are back! We have some on loan from the TDSB Arts Department (thank you!) and they sound so so beautiful.

What you might hear and see in our JLPS Music Room

We’re back! This fall I asked JLPS students what people walking by our music room might hear or see happening inside. “Cool instruments making cool sounds, kids being kids, this list, disco ball, thunder tube…” The two-sided poster is a hit. I have to add that my Gr. 6 ukulele class amazed me yesterday with their music reading decoding skills and determination!

Online Music Smiles

PLAYING music online can be fun. “Incredibox” was a huge hit and resulted in this Gr. 3’s huge grin. Another student in her class said, “Whenever I am so sad, this might help to cheer me up.” I will miss jamming online with my students. We used sound makers and learned to listen to each other. Never before have I improvised music with a piggy bank, sea shell, grinding teeth, vacuum, or crackers.

“Sir Duke” Online Flash Mob

All of the students and I dreamed up a plan to surprise and bring joy to the JLPS teachers. In our May assembly when Stevie Wonder’s song started we all turned off our cameras, grabbed our props, and waited for our turn to go/turn on! Dancing and lip syncing and general silliness made us all smile. There was no good way to document everyone at once but what I will remember (and want to bottle up) is the Kindergarten/Grade 1 students’ bubbling excitement about keeping the secret from their teachers!

Smart little fingers

My junior students are progressing so well on ukuleles, guitars, and violins/violas – their smart little fingers know where to go! As one student casually commented: “Ms Fraser, I’ve evolved from sounding like a dying cow to a dying rat.” 🙂

Music Tech

Chrome Music Lab

Students in online school are getting tech-ier by the hour. In 2020 I shared Chrome Music Lab with my Junior students. In 2021 my Kindergartens picked it up and now my juniors are composing with SoundTrap. I introduce the programs and ask the students to show me what they discover. Then I listen and learn.

3 Positives about Online Lessons

We’re learning online and we’re staying safe. Three things I do enjoy about teaching online: I can see my students’ smiles – some I’ve never seen before because we met masked! We can sing “together” – there’s no singing in school buildings during COVID times. AND when I sing a story to little ones, an old familiar one like “Puff The Magic Dragon,” my students’ faces look calm and mesmerized, like they always do.

Domanique Grant’s “Till We See the Sun” music video…with us!

Above is a picture of one of my gr. 7 students with his aunt, Domanique Grant. He and his sister introduced me to Domanique’s music and got us in touch with one another. We started a collaboration. In Music classes all of Jean Lumb PS’s K-gr. 4/5s learned a dance to Domanique’s song “Till We See the Sun” and 3 classes of older students learned to accompany her music on bucket drums, ukuleles, and guitars/violin/violas. We gathered footage, with the help of Mr. Li, and sent our efforts to Domanique and her producer. Here’s the music video we helped to create!