We started our day with Afro Funk, a dance experience led my Miss T, who had eight names! She taught us how to calm and settle ourselves and how to energize ourselves, all to an African beat.
In class we had a fun time combining music and math as we were introduced to the recorder. I provided each student with a cheap plastic recorder from Dollar Tree to keep, but you can purchase a very good quality plastic recorder for under $10, should your child be interested in pursuing it. Students also brought home a booklet called Karate Recorder with nine songs, a fingering chart, and more! See the next to the last page to learn how to hold and play the recorder --- proper mouthpiece placement is the difference between a pleasant sound and a headache (haha). We also watched two videos. Click here to watch a short introduction to playing the recorder. Click here to watch a Discovery video showing how a wooden recorder is made, which also includes some history of the instrument and some lovely playing. The math came in when we looked at the sheet music to Hot Cross Buns. We noticed that the measures in 4/4 time are quarter notes (one-fourth) and half notes (one-half) which made us think about the fractions that we've been studying in math.
After lunch, we got to paper-folding as we explored the art of origami. Through trial and error, we learned that precision with our folds is critical to the finished product. We practiced first with plain white paper, then made the same object with origami paper, which is colored/printed on one side only. Students came home with a packet of directions for nine paper folds, along with a couple of extra pieces of origami paper. You might want to check out the website I used, which includes an animation of each object being folded. Everything looks better when made with real origami paper, but my source, Michael's, no longer carries it. Abigail told us all that you can buy origami paper on Amazon (is there anything that you CAN'T buy on Amazon?)
We ended Arts Day in the traditional way --- a concert by the Hoover HS Jazz Band. Those kids are amazing, as is their director, Mr. Rhees. He really knows how to engage elementary students has he teaches about the various instruments, and we found that we already knew a lot from our preparation for, and visit to, the Hollywood Bowl a couple of months ago.
A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who made Keppel Arts Day possible!