For this year's I.D.E.A. (Interpreting Diversity Education through Action) Day, our school-wide theme was about how we at TCS care for ourselves, our peers, our families, our community, our country, and our world. Every teacher in the school participated through the teaching of different workshops that covered topics from mindfulness to global beauty. Visitors came to help broaden the perspective of this day and contribute to the workshops, through sharing their personal stories and journeys with us.
I am so proud of the hard work that all our faculty, admin, and staff put in to make IDEA Day such a special, important, and impactful experience for our students. We closed the day by singing Matisyahu's "One Day" with the entire school community, which further solidified our collective desire to care for ourselves, each other, and the world around us!
It's finally spring here at TCS, so in addition to working on choral music for the spring concert, 4th graders embarked on a jazz trail, traveling throughout the United States to visit places where famous Jazz musicians began learning, playing, and performing. Our first stop, New Orleans, LA, introduced the students to Louis Armstrong, an artist known for his stellar cornet, trumpet, and unique vocal abilities. After hearing "Heebie Jeebies" last week, this week they got to hear and see Satchmo himself sing and play an energetic rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Every time the students hear a song, they complete a listening log that asks two basic questions:
1) What do you hear?
2) What does the music make you think about?
Both of these open-ended questions are designed to encourage students to listen and respond to the music, offer ideas about what they hear, start to recognize musical instruments by their distinct tones and timbres, and think critically to make connections between the music and their own personal lives.
One of my favorite units in the spring involves first graders listening to and analyzing Camille Saint-Saens' The Carnival of the Animals. It's a great way to make connections between what you hear and how music makes you feel, all while imagining different animals! From the cuckoo to the swan, every movement provides a new entry point for a musical discussion, and it's fascinating to get inside first grade brains to hear about how they interpret what they hear.
