Grade 1 - Assessments

Summative Assessment - Melody and Vocal Expression - Grade 2

Concepts :- Form, Function

Musical skills:- Solo singing, Pitch Matching, Voice exploration, listening skills, Memorisation

Rubrics for Solo Singing

Mastered - Sings the correct pitches and rhythm

Advanced - Sings most of the correct pitches and rhythm

Competent - Sings a few correct pitches and rhythm

Beginner - Does not respond/sing

Rubrics for Group Singing

Mastered - Participates in the singing throughout the activity

Advanced - Participates in the singing most of the time

Competent - Participates in the singing rarely

Beginner - Does not participate in the singing at all

Task - Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone?

Doggie, Doggie is an activity wherein one student is chosen to sit with his/her back towards the class. An eraser or marker is designate as the doggie’s bone and is kept behind the person. The whole class then sings the song and one person from the rest of the class is chosen to steal the ‘bone’. The person who is right in the front taking the turn, then has to sing “Who stole my bone?” and the person who stole the ‘bone’ has to sing I stole your bone. The person who has stolen the bone is allowed to use his creativity to explore his voice and sound different to be not caught.

Area of assessment	Beginner	Competent	Advanced	Mastered
Solo Singing
Group Singing

Grade 2 - Assessments

Summative Assessment - Melody and Vocal Expression - Grade 2

Concepts :- Form, Function

Musical skills:- Solo singing, Pitch Matching, Steady Beat, Memorisation

Rubrics for Solo Singing

Mastered - Sings the correct pitches and rhythm while keeping a steady beat

Advanced - Sings most of the correct pitches and rhythm while keeping a steady beat

Competent - Sings a few correct pitches and rhythm while keeping a steady beat

Beginner - Does not respond/sing

Rubrics for Group Singing

Mastered - Participates in the singing throughout the activity

Advanced - Participates in the singing most of the time

Competent - Participates in the singing rarely

Beginner - Does not participate in the singing at all

Task - Charlie Over The Ocean

Charlie Over the Ocean is an activity wherein the leader moves around the outside of the ring, He sings each line of the song, which the group repeats responsively. He taps a students at the end of the singing, and that individual so designated, chases the leader around the outside of the ring and tries to catch him before the leader gets to the vacated space.

Area of assessment	Beginner	Competent	Advanced	Mastered
Solo Singing
Group Singing

Grade 3 - Assessments

The Summative Assessment for Melody and Vocal Expression is pasted below. The students have been informed this week during class about this assessment and have been explained about the rubrics being used.

Summative Assessment - Melody and Vocal Expression - Grade 3

Concepts :- Form, Function

Musical skills:- Solo singing, Pitch Matching, Steady Beat, Memorisation

Rubrics for Solo Singing

Mastered - Sings the correct pitches and rhythm while exploring the voice with creativity

Advanced - Sings most of the correct pitches and rhythm while exploring the voice with creativity

Competent - Sings a few correct pitches and rhythm while exploring the voice with creativity

Beginner - Does not respond

Rubrics for Group Singing

Mastered - Participates in the singing throughout the activity

Advanced - Participates in the singing most of the time

Competent - Participates in the singing rarely

Beginner - Does not participate in the singing at all

Task - Who’s that tapping on my window

The students are all ask to sit together as one person is chosen to be the leader. The person sits separately with his back towards the rest of the students. The entire class sings, “Who’s that tapping on my window? Who’s that knocking on my door?” 2 students are chosen by the teacher as the class sings this. The first one is supposedly ‘mummy’ and the second ‘daddy’. The ‘mummy’ then sings “Mummy’s tapping on the window” followed by the daddy singing “daddy’s knocking at the door”. The students are asked to explore their voices as they sing this as a solo. Exploring their voices to sound different but at the same time matching the pitch and rhythm as they sing.

Area of assessment	Beginner	Competent	Advanced	Mastered
Solo Singing
Group Singing

Grade 3 - Concentration (Movements)

As we reviewed the Concentration activity, we decided to take it a step further by adding movements to the steady beat. The leader has to create movements which is followed by the class, the same class that is also focussing on their listening skills and waiting for their name to be sung and then will have to sing back their name on the same steady beat, as they still continue with the movements. And it definitely looks well co-ordinated too. The keyboard in the meantime is helping the students not only keep up with the steady beat but also match pitch. 

Grade 1 - The Chinese Fan

Rote learning, not apt in academics, but in singing, maybe yes. Here the students learn the melody of this tricky song which is sung over and over again because the actions demand the same. So as the students have fun doing those actions, they learn this song as well.

Grade 2 - I Have Lost My Closet Keys

Dynamics of loud and soft singing is what is required to help the person find the 'lost' keys.

A student is asked to go outside the room and then another student in the class is asked to hide the keys. Then the student who has been waiting outside comes back inside the room looking for the keys. The rest of the students who are seated in the class, keep singing "I have lost my closet keys, in my lady's garden" in a continuous loop. They sing loudly when the student who is searching for the key is close to the key and softly when that student is away from the key. Their goal is to help that student find the key. Usually its always found with the help of the 'dynamic' singing - lol, unless Mr. Cabral decides to be naughty. Find out more from your children about what is it that I am referring to.......................

Grade 2 - Grumpy Grizzly

Grumpy Grizzly - An evil, wicked, magical bear who doesn't like his sleep to be disturbed. And hunters who are looking out for this magical bear. Dynamics used are loud and soft while singing. And then a chase to save yourself from that magical bear who will turn you into stone. 

Grade 1 - Hill Hill

Understanding how dynamics affect singing, students in this activity are utilising their knowledge of 'forte' and 'piano' (loud and soft respectively) to sing the Hill song. A short song with a fun ending to it, has kids trying out different tricks to stay in the game. Sol, La and Mi are the notes used in this song.

In this engagement, after singing the song either 'forte' or 'piano', as decided by the one taking the turn, the students have to get across the hill in a manner as mentioned by the teacher. If you are out, you freeze there itself, thus making it difficult for the others to pass. Doesn't it sound like fun!!!

Grade 3 - An Austrian Went Yodelling

Yodelling is a tricky part in singing as you need to get to your falsetto and back to your normal singing range. The students have fun in this yodelling activity as it also tests their memorisation skills. There is a slight delay and mismatch between the audio and video output of this recording.

Grade 3 - Concentration

Focus and concentration, something we all need to work on. This call and response activity has one and all focusing on the steady beat and listening carefully to when their name is sung. The execution part requires that student to sing back on a steady beat while continuing with the body percussion. The person who gets out is usually asked to turn around and keep a steady beat and is asked to get back in the game in the next round.

Grade 1 - The Old Gray Cat

Dynamics play a very important role in music. In this activity, students understand more about loud and soft music and respond accordingly. Children love this game as it also has them running away from the old gray cat. Following instruction by listening is another important concept imparted in this song.

Assembly Grade 2 and Grade 3 - Happy Birthday with dance Grade 2 E

The students have been learning the birthday song and today they even sang it at the assembly. Grade 2 E had been working on creating simple dance movements to the music as well. Have fun watching our students dance to Happy Birthday in this video. The chorus is from a Disney Happy Birthday and the verse (melody and lyrics) have been composed by me.

Grade 2 A - The OIS Song

With beautiful lyrics composed by the students of OIS themselves, this song sends out a powerful  message about OIS. Melody and music arrangement by one of our very own music teachers, Mr. Stephen, this song also explores the vocal range spanning over an octave. Just the right thing for our Melody and Vocal Expression Unit as well. This has been taught to the entire primary. Here is Grade 2 A singing it during one of their regular music classes.

Grade 1 - Green Sally Up

Do our lyrics have to make sense all the time? Can we have fun with some words that do not make any sense. Here is a no-sense song that is also Modal (between major and minor keys) and has some beautiful African harmony in it. The students have to keep a steady beat as they concentrate on singing this beautiful song.

Grade 2 - PE In Music Class

Reinforcing the steady beat concept in music, which is such an important aspect, here is an activity that uses a ball to keep the steady beat. Care is taken to see that the students who are out, do not feel left out of the activity and asked to continue singing and given the responsibility of helping the other students keep the steady beat by clapping along. Sol La Mi and Do are the notes used in this song. 

Grade 3 - Who's That Tapping On My Window?

As we advance with the Melody and Vocal Expression Unit and understand more about using our voices in different ways, here is an activity where the students are allowed to use their creativity to explore their voices to sound 'different'.

Grade 3 - Landlord

Harmony - Not an easy thing in music. Is it really possible to sing in different voices at the same time. Can we really do more than just sing at the same time?? Here we have our students from Grade 3 who themselves had created this body percussion to go along with this jazzy version of the Landlord song. Its hard trying to do both together at the same time. But as we know our students don't give up. The students also get an opportunity to work with each other and help each other in their short comings to make it happen. 

Display Board - Grades 1, 2 and 3

There is a display board down on the 2nd floor near the pit area that is used as a common Music display board. It mainly features the following:-

1) Learner Profile of the month - How we use and follow our PYP Learner Profiles through Music.
For August - we understood about how we were COMMUNICATORS in Music. This month its PERSPECTIVE

2) Composer of the month - "You are never too young to create".
We get to know more about our composers through facts revealed out here, but the name is not put up. Students are expected to INQUIRE and find out about the composer. The students can drop in their names on a chit of paper in the box attached and at the end of the month the class that has attempted most is acknowledged on the display board.

Last month it was 4A

3) Interesting facts about Music - Did you know that Termites ate wood faster when exposed to Rock Music. Similar interesting facts displayed.

So if you have a moment, please stop by and take a look at the Music Display Board on the 2nd floor near the Pit Area. 

Grade 2 - Charlie Over The Ocean

Call and Response. Solo and group singing. This activity has a mix of it all. And a bit of running as well. Students advance with vocal activity as they find themselves singing a solo and the class responds back to the soloist. The students say they find this activity very similar to 'Duck Duck Goose'.

Grade 1 C - Doggie Doggie

A fun guessing-cum-singing game that promotes solo singing, group singing as well as creativity in exploring your voice to sound differently. 

At The Bottom Of The Sea

Sea weeds at the bottom of the sea. That's how this activity starts with all the students acting as sea weeds at the bottom of the sea. One person is chosen as the leader fish and he/she goes around looking for 'singing sea-weeds' to make them the next leader. A fun music way to get know names of students in the class as well. This is a short clip of the activity.

It felt awesome to have 187 page views just from last evening!!! Not sure if everyone who seen the page yesterday would be able to view it everyday, but I can assure you, you will have posts almost every working day from my end. I would like to clarify a few things about these posts:-

1) The students in this video are recorded during their normal music class schedules and so emphasis is laid on the activity and not the video recording.

2) Although the same activity is conducted in the entire grade, only one video will be uploaded per activity. I will try my best to upload atleast one video of each and every class engaged in a musical activity for every semester.

So keep reading and I will be glad to fill you in with more as the year passes by.

:-)

Grade 2 - Doe A Deer

Grade 2 singing Doe A Deer, a well known song made famous in the musical 'The Sound Of Music'. The kids here learn about the different notes in a major scale and what other words sound like them. Memorisation of words as well as being exposed and being able to sing in a wide range covering an octave in music are some of the learnings in this activity.

Grade 1 - Elevator

Apart from being exposed to an octave range in singing, students here also get acquainted with how pitch can move from low to high. The concept is helped by this activity wherein the students are asked to form teams of two or three to represent a floor in a departmental store and finalise on one product they would be selling on that floor. They prepare an advertisement of what they are selling as well and then at the appropriate time in the song take turns to sing their part. This way, they would be part of a 'duet' or a 'trio', thus being able to hear themselves better than they would as a class and focus more on singing.