I meant to update you on our Halloween activities on the day itself (apparently it's Christmas now), but I haven't had time to sit down at my computer until now. I hope the kids haven't forgotten the story they were going to retell to you!
One of the things I really enjoy doing, when I can make it fit into our class schedule, is telling classical musical stories. I chose a scary one for Halloween (although I don't think I really scared anybody). The song is called Erlkönig (or, The Elf King, in English). It's a German song with music written by Schubert in 1815. The Erlkönig is an evil creature, or spirit, who haunts sick children. In this song, a father is riding on horseback to get his very sick son to the doctor, but the Erlkönig is haunting the child and the son is frightened by visions of the evil spirit. The Erlkönig tries to lure the child away with promises of games, songs and golden clothes, but eventually threatens violence if the child will not come. By the end of the song, when they finally arrive at the doctor's, the boy has died in his father's arms.
Although the lyrics are in German, you don't need to speak German to get an idea of the story. When I told it to the children, I asked them to listen for several things in the music. In the piano, you hear a repeated triplet rhythm representing the galloping horse. This rhythm persists until the very end of the piece, when it slows and then stops as father and son arrive at their destination. Meanwhile, the male singer actually plays 4 roles, and you can hear how he changes his voice to play each character. The narrator introduces and concludes the story in a mid-range. As the sick boy the singer sounds panicked and the notes are in his high range. As the father, the singer is quite serious and sings in a very low range. As the Erlkönig the singer uses an almost sickeningly sweet voice and sings quietly. Interestingly, when the Erlkönig is singing, the music is in a major (happy-sounding) key because he is trying to trick the child, kind of like the witch we read about in another book (P'tit Jean et la Sorcière).
Anyway, I asked the children to share this story with you if they could. You might need to prompt them by asking them to tell you what it's about, or how the voices are different. Here's the music, if you'd like to hear it for yourself, or if they'd like to tell it to you with the music as I did. Hope you enjoyed your little music history lesson for the year!
Moving on, Friday you received the next Scholastic orders. Remember, they're always optional. If you'd like to place a secret Christmas order, feel free to send it in a sealed envelope and write me a note or email. I can make sure the order goes home with you at our upcoming interviews, and not with your child.
You also received our Field Trip information and permission form. The trip is scheduled for Thursday, November 14th in the afternoon. The cost is $10.05 per child, this covers the cost of the program as well as transportation for students and our supervisors. We will need 4 parents to come with us. If you'd like to volunteer, please check the box on the form. Unfortunately I cannot take more than 4, so I'll let get back to everyone that volunteers with a "yes please" or "not this time". There will be other opportunities to volunteer so please don't be disappointed if we can't use you this time.
The permission form (second page) and any Scholastic orders are due this Thursday, Nov. 7.
Friday is an optional pyjama day. Students that want to participate are asked to donate $1 to support snack program.
In classroom news, we have begun a unit on patterning. On our very first day of talking about patterns, I was blown away by students who already knew how to identify patterns using letters (e.g., AB AB AB). We have already experimented with human patterns, listening (clapping) patterns and colour patterns. We will move on to patterns with more than one attribute (e.g., colour and size or colour, size and shape). You don't need any special materials to practice creating or identifying patterns at home. You can use Lego (different colours, or sizes), cutlery ("big spoon, little spoon", or "fork, spoon, knife") or just your hands to create clapping and snapping patterns. Have fun!
Alright. I'll be back with our new words of the week before long. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!