Dec. 4 - Time to make some beats!

Today we started into our music program. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be using Boomwhackers, a drum kit / percussion equipment and some music apps to make our own creations. Today we played some Christmas songs on the SmartBoard and guessed what they were. We also had some time to experiment with the website "Incredibox" that allows students to make their own beats.

Here are a few examples of beats that they have made. Check them out on our soundcloud page!

https://soundcloud.com/steps2music

Dec. 3 - Media / Art

Language / Google E-mails / Typing

In Language, students have been learning about Media and have been identifying examples for the 3 different types of media. Next week, the students will be creating either persuasive advertisements using print or creating a video advertisement for a product.

We also spent some time this week setting up our brand new school board e-mail accounts (expect to see students writing blog posts soon!), exploring Google apps (Google Draw, Google Docs, Read and Write) and some students spent time practicing typing. Considering the amount of time that students are using technology - both in and outside of the classroom -  it's incredibly important that they become proficient at typing and using two hands to type their work. We have been using the website BBC Dance Mat to have students practice their typing in a fun manner. We've also been playing some games to practice our typing speed. I highly recommend checking them out if you would like to have a student practice typing at home.

BBC Dance Mat: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3c6tfr

Free Typing Games: http://www.freetypinggame.net/play.asp

The Junior class has been working on using and differentiating between Warm and Cool colours in our art class this week. After having a discussion about the differences between the two, Mrs. B had the students creating landscapes that differentiated between the landforms and the sky using Warm / Cool colours. They turned out really nice!