Category: Hands-on Learning

Music Study: Learning the Brass Family

Tracy

We have been learning about the instruments in the brass family, since those were among the instruments of choice for Handel’s Water Music.

In addition to reviewing our instrument cards that I got for free off of CurrClick.com, I’ve also been using the kidsite from New York’s Philharmonic Orchestra: nyphilkids.org. The “Instrument Storage Room” allows the kids to click on the silhouette of an instrument, then the instrument appears with a brief history of that instrument, a musical clip of the instrument to listen to, and occasionally a video clip to watch.

My son had such a blast with this! I’d love for him to learn to identify the instruments by their sound, but I’m not sure that the clips they provide are distinct enough for that lesson. We’ll see how it goes: I’ll “play it by ear” (wink, wink).

More on Music

Tracy1 Comment on More on Music

The kids had so much fun sequencing the different changes in Handel’s Royal Fireworks music.

As you can tell, my son really got into it. As the music changed from loud to soft, they made a pattern with our fireworks cards: big fireworks, little firecracker, big fireworks, little firecracker, big fireworks. Then we counted how many times the music was big and how many times the music was small (loud and soft). The changes are very distinct, and both the kids did really well with the exercise, much better than I anticipated.

Another activity that we’ve added to our study has been identifying instruments. We’ve started with the brass family for now, since these and the wind instruments were the primary players in Handel’s original production. (King George I had said he did not want strings! But Handel stubbornly added the strings in later performances of the pieces.)

Anyway, my son especially got into this activity. He loves anything music related. And I got the kit of cards for free from CurrClick.com! The cards include instruments and labels for all the instrument families, including many instruments that I’ve never seen or heard of before.

After this week, we head back to Handel’s Water Music. We’ll sequence some of those pieces as well, now that the kids have a good idea of how to do it. We will also learn more from Handel’s bio, and study the brass, woodwinds, and strings instruments. My plan is to have the kids learn to identify the instruments by sight and by sound (as much as we can get through).

I can’t believe summer is almost over! We have really enjoyed our laid-back summer schedule. It truly has been a great success, very little planning and structure on my part and just enough structure to give the kids something to look forward to each day. That said, both kids seem eager to get the real school going with complete workboxes and even the timer!  So that, too, tells me that it’s been just the break we needed. I couldn’t be more pleased with how my summer experiment turned out.

Discovering Thunder and Lightning

Tracy

The next step of our weather study was trying to explain the idea of thunder and lightning—positive and negative forces, magnetism, moving molecules. I admit, it was a lot for a four year old mind to handle. But we managed through it with a little help from a library book and some sidewalk chalk.

Thunder and Lightning

Inside our school room, we read the book, looked at magnets, and talked about the idea of opposites attracting. Then, we headed outside for a little more hands-on approach. We talked about lightning jumping from cloud to cloud or from cloud to the ground. They both loved jumping from cloud to cloud and then crashing their molecules together into a mighty “clap” of thunder.

Was most of it lost on them? Of course, but I’ve learned that right now, I’m giving them landmarks. Later on, they’ll remember these little moments and will understand the details more readily (I’m hoping, anyway). If not, well, we sure had fun.

Discovering the Weather

Tracy

Our Nature Study from Harmony Fine Arts has challenged us to explore the weather, and I’ve had a lot of fun with books from our local library.

We learned the three parts of weather: temperature, wind, and water. I puzzled for awhile over the fact that I didn’t have an outdoor thermometer. Eventually, I just went to weather.com and checked our temperature. Then, I pulled my thermometer chart from A Beka Charts, added a construction paper ribbon for the “mercury,” adjusted the “mercury” to match the temperature from the Weather website, and had the kids read our make-shift thermometer—voila! We were in business.

The next day, we learned about rain. We learned that when warm moist air mixes with cool air, it makes rain or water that we can see in the air. (Water that we can only feel in the air is humidity, or “humility” as my son calls it.) So, to illustrate rain, I pulled out the faithful “condensation” experiment with a pan of ice water held over a pan of boiling water. The kids were duly impressed.

 

I love this age, where Mom and Dad are always the heros and everything looks like magic!

Around the World

Tracy

Some of my fondest memories are of my mom reading to us at lunch time. And I’ve relished being able to do that with my children. So far, we’ve read Pooh’s Corner, Charlotte’s Web, and Freckle Juice. Now, we’ve embarked on a different adventure: Around the World in 80 Days.

My son has loved Phineas Fogg’s adventure, and I’m figuring it will be a great introduction to our geography that we will start in the fall. Once or twice a week, I make pigs in the blanket from weiners and Bisquick (our favorite lunch!) and round up the book and our accessories: the inflatable globe (so we can scope out how far he’s gone) and our colorful Geo cards (to get a better look at the countries he’s headed to).

We’ve had so much fun with our stories—practicing narration concepts, increasing our vocabulary, and creating all the warm, fuzzy memories that I’ve cherished from my homeschool days.

Let’s Make Some Noise!

Tracy

We’ve been watching and listening to Handel’s Royal Fireworks music this week, in preparation for our own fireworks celebrations. And I wanted to share some of what we will be doing today, tomorrow, and Monday—in case anybody wanted some ideas.

In addition to watching the Youtube video, we’ve also done a lot of dancing and pretend trumpet playing. Today, we’ll be coloring a fireworks page from the Harmony Fine Arts download.

We’ve also been talking about the movements in the music as little fireworks and big fireworks, and I made these cards to sequence the movements (assigned for Monday).

On Saturday, I thought I’d let the kids play with sparklers as they listen to the Royal Fireworks music. And then, for a snack idea, I loved this “Firecracker Float”  from Mrs. Happy Homemakers blog. (Click on the image for the recipe.)

Have a happy 4th!