"Welcome everyone – Music has begun!
Singing, Saying, Moving, Playing, 
Gather ‘round we’ll have some fun!”

Music has begun and will continue for our Kindergarten classes with new learning’s galore –

We start our classes with song – and Improvisation – or creating new material alongside the familiar – as we enter the day and room.  Our improvisations include our names, favorite animals, food, and ice cream all set to a familiar patting knee and clapping hand pattern to the steady beat of music – an important skill to develop and pay attention to!  We work on this body awareness as we also practice focused attention to our Move-It series where listening and movement are combined to exercise attention to detail and increase our awareness of body parts and rhythm, our hands, arms, legs, being the first parts to localize while listening to musical phrases.   

During our Move-Its we also practice creativity – finding new body parts or ways to move while listening and reinforcing concepts of form.  We have look at directionality – up/down and left/right – and shapes – circle, square, triangle, line, oval – in our creative movement.  In moving we have also worked to solidify the beat in our feet while using walk, tip toe, jump, hop – both locomotor and non-locomotor movements. 

As we continue our musical journey in Kindergarten we will explore many musical concepts that will be reinforced and made more concrete in later years of school.  Our beginning classroom experiences are meant to give a taste of the many types of music that can be made by people – singing, playing, reading, writing, moving and listening being just the tip of the iceberg of our musical experiences.  We will look forward to seeing where our musical journeys will take us in the year!  Some special events we share with the classroom will include study of Kings and Queens, Bugs, and Dinosaurs!

ABRSD KINDERGARTEN MUSIC LEARNING GOALS 

SINGING - 
Students will Sing: 
Sing simple songs using limited range 
Match pitch in appropriate range 
Sing in tune with them-selves 
Use healthy singing voices 
 
PLAYING - 
Students will Play Rhythm Instruments: 
Demonstrate Steady Beat 
Demonstrate “Echo” Rhythms 

MOVING - 
Students will Move with Music: 
Demonstrate Fundamental movement (Walk, March, Step, Tap, etc ) 
Stretch and Release 
Respond to Musical Cues 
Use upper and lower body 

MUSIC READING/READINESS 
Students will demonstrate music reading readiness: 
Recognize basic music symbols 
Use visual symbols and cues 

LISTENING 
Students will engage in active listening: 
Exposure to a variety of styles and cultures 
Identify Elements of sound (fast/slow, loud/quiet, high/low, mood) 

CREATING 
Students will improvise and compose: 
Singing – melodies/lyrics 
Playing simple accompaniments, instrumental sounds 
Body movements