Music – Page 2 – Toftwood Infant and Junior School Federation

Music KS2 Spring 2 2023

Children in Year 3 have continued to gain more ukulele skills and are now playing the chords of Am, F and C and moving between these chords to accompany songs. They can strum and pick different rhythms. Baboushka (not the Kate Bush song, unfortunately) and Tab Tango really put their abilities to the test!

In Year 4 this half term, we have been following the Charanga English Model Music Scheme and looking at the unit “Creating Simple Melodies Together”. The children have used recorders and glockenspiels to play songs such as Let Your Spirit Fly and Frère Jacques. They have been working hard on their recorder technique, in particular focusing on how to hold the recorders in the correct position when playing.

Year 5 Have been the first to try a new feature on Charanga – Yu Studio. This online sequencer allows the children to build electronic beats, basslines and melodies in much the same way as most professional producers do. They have been guided through this process and have made their own Hip Hop tracks!

Year 6 have been focusing on the key question: ‘how does music teach us about our community?’ as a link to the social theme ‘music is a builder of community and guardian of cultural identity’. We have been listening and responding to a variety of songs such as ‘Let’s Rock’, ‘Simple Gifts’ and ‘Friendship Should Never End’. This has helped us to sing along by clapping and moving to the rhythms we have heard. We have developed our performance skills by working together in groups to perform parts of the song.

Music EYFS KS1 Spring 2 2023

Year 1

In year 1 the children have explored wide range of musical styles and have had an introduction to learning about the beat of a song. They have experienced listening, singing, playing as well as performing their ability to find the beat. The children enjoyed learning the songs, ‘Hush Little Baby’ and ‘Upside Down’.

The children also enjoyed a visit from ‘Rocksteady’ where the children got to experience live music and some even got the chance to play instruments like the drums, electic guitar and keyboard to make part of a band!

Reception had lots of fun joining in with the drumming workshop. The children enjoyed dancing to the music and Miss Gold showed us how to play the drums!

Year 2 This half term the children in Year 2 have been exploring lots of different music styles that link to community. They have listened and appraised different genres of music such as swing and classical. They have learnt different songs and performed these in class. One of their favourites was ‘The Music Man’. They have worked on listening and responding whilst learning these songs and performed these in groups.

Music Key Stage 2 Spring 1 2023

The term got off to a great start with an interactive online performance from the highly entertaining Tim Brain, introducing children to instruments from around the world! Some Year 3 children said:

Scarlett – I loved hearing Tim play the ukulele, he was really funny!

Jessica – I liked it when we flew to Japan to play the drums.

Immy – I liked him playing the samba whistle, it was amazing!!

Children in Year 3 have been very excited to start learning to play ukulele as a whole class ensemble, building up from the basics of learning to name the parts of the ukulele and how to hold it correctly, to beginning to pick and strum the open strings. We particularly enjoy, ‘That thumb brush strum’ and a great version of ‘It’s raining, it’s pouring’ which includes a rap and dance breakdown in the middle!

In Year 4 we have been learning to play the Glockenspiels. The children learnt a new song and how to keep in time with the rhythm of the music.

Once they were confident they used these skills to learn how to play the song on the glockenspiels. The children loved learning about tempo and particularly loved challenging themselves with increasing the tempo of the song from 50% to 100%.

At the end of the module, the children rehearsed their song and performed it to the class.

In our music lessons, Year 5 have been answering the question – How does music improve our world?

We have listened to and considered three songs during the topic; Freedom, All Over Again, Do you ever wonder?

The children enjoyed learning and performing the songs as well as developing their ability to improvise and play along to the songs.

Year 6 have been focusing on the key question: ‘how does music improve our world?’ as a link to the social theme ‘music is a changemaker’. We have been listening and responding to a variety of songs such as ‘Disco Fever’, ‘La Bamba’ and ‘Change’. This has helped us to sing along by clapping and moving to the rhythms we have heard. We have used the glockenspiels to play along with the music which was a challenge at certain points! We have developed our performance skills by working together in groups to perform parts of the song.

Music Key Stage 2 Autumn 2 2022

The term running up to Christmas is always a great time for Music in school and this year has been no different.

Parents of each Year group were treated to performances of Christmas Songs and poems with all children participating. In Year 3 a group who had been practising at lunchtimes also performed ‘O come all ye faithful’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ on ocarinas!

Children joined the online pantomime provided by the Norfolk Music Hub – This year it was ‘Peter Pan’ and children had spent some time learning the songs so they could sing along!

“I loved the booing and the singing.” Olivia

“I liked that I had learned some of the songs.” Daniella

“I liked doing all the actions.” Lexi

“I liked the singing.” Amy

Year 3 have been using there ocarina skills to learn some Christmas songs and Carols in their Music lessons and all made fabulous progress reading notes from music and becoming more proficient players.

Year 4 have been looking at how Music acts a storyteller from the past connecting us with history through songs such as ‘Perdido’ and ‘Scarborough Fair’, and how use of dynamics and change of tempo can affect that story.

Children in Year 5 have had a concentrated unit on recorder instrumental skills. Using traditional Christmas carols, they have increased their knowledge of musical notation and focussed on the musicianship needed to play in an ensemble.

Year 6 pupils have used recorders and glockenspiels to play ‘Singing Swinging Star’ and ‘My Best Friend’ and have responded to these with their own improvisations and compositions.

Spring 1 Music 2022

Music in Reception

During this term, the children in Reception have been learning about Chinese New Year and enjoyed their online lesson from Miss Helens from Music and Movement. The children experienced dancing with ribbons, listening to instruments they like to use in China and pretending to feed a Chinese dragon wanting to eat cabbages!

The children have also enjoyed our topic this half term called ‘Fantasy’, having the opportunity to listen and dance to sea shanties during Pirate week and ‘Heroes Unite’ during superhero week!

Music in Year 1

In Year 1 the children have enjoyed introducing Tempo and Dynamics into their lessons and celebrating a wide range of musical styles. They have enjoyed listening, singing, playing, composing and performing to a variety of music, which has included familiar songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as well as new songs like Sparkle. The children loved performing music using the chime bars. The children also enjoyed incorporating their English work into their music lessons by creating a ‘jingle’ for their own weather reports that they have been writing and performing. Please see the video below.

Music in Year 2

In Year 2 this half term the children have been focusing on the theme ‘How Does Music Make the World a Better Place?’ We learnt to sing and perform the songs ‘Rainbows’, ‘Hands, Feet, Heart’ and ‘All Around the World.’ The children also learnt how to play the notes for these songs on the chime bars, focusing on learning A minor. The children enjoyed finding out about a steady beat, and following rhythmic and melodic patterns. They enjoyed listening to a range of songs from different genres and we discussed our opinions about these songs.

Music – Autumn 2 2021

Reception had a Bon fire night week and made their own firework music. The children learnt what it meant to be in an orchestra and have a go at lots of different percussion instruments. The children played along to Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird – Finale and watched their teachers closely, who were the composers to give them a sign to play loudly or quietly, exploring different pitches.

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On the 14th November Reception, children enjoyed taking part in Nursery Week. Every day for a week everyone got to listen to, discuss and enjoy different nursery rhymes and well known songs such as, ‘Twinkle Twinkle little star’, ‘5 Little speckle frogs’ and ‘BINGO’.

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For Christmas, the children practised singing and signing ‘Santa Shark’, ‘I’m a Little Snow Man’ and ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and developed their performance skills.

In Music this half term the year 1 children focused on finding the beat in different types of music styles, whilst continuing to find the about pulse and rhythm in songs that they had learnt in Autumn 1. The children also concentrated on their listening and singing skills also performing such songs as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Daisy Bells and Dancing Dinosaurs.

Year 1 have also mastered the signs and lyrics to ‘Sing up it’s Christmas’, which they then performed during their activity morning to their grown-ups.

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In Year 2, the children have been focusing on dynamics and tempo. They have been thinking about the question, ‘How does music teach us about the past?’ whilst listening, singing, composing and performing. The children have learnt several different songs including, ‘Sparkle In The Sun’ and ‘The Orchestra Song’.

They have started to use the chime bars to play the notes in these songs too.

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As part of our Christmas celebrations the children have learnt the songs ‘Sing Up It’s Christmas’ and ‘Must Be Santa’ to perform to their parents during our Christmas Activity Morning. All the children enjoyed learning these songs along with the actions for the different lines

At the very end of term, the whole Federation was able to be part of the audience for a pantomime performed for us and other schools across Norfolk. This musical version of Peter Pan was thoroughly enjoyable and a wonderful way to end the term. Children from Reception right through to Year 6 enjoyed being part of this event and demonstrated their listening, singing and signing skills whilst enjoying the traditional and quite silly jokes!

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Here are some of the comments children made after seeing the panto!

Aubree – “I like hook singing the Moana song!”

Herbie –“I like the crocodile song. It was funny.”

Arabella – “I like the sound of the crocodile.Tick tock, tick tock.”

Chole – “I enjoyed when they sang the songs”

Georgia – “I enjoyed when the crocodile kept coming”

Archie – “I liked when they said “I think it’s an imposter”

Lexi – “I enjoyed it when they were dancing”

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Music KS2 2022 Autumn 1

Ukulele Club is back on, after school each Thursday. It’s great to see so many children from across Key Stage 2 excited about making music and already getting the hang of Three Little Birds and Hound Dog.

The children in Year 3 have been having whole class ocarina lessons with Mr Hardy building on skills learned in Year 2. They have started to recognise the names of the notes on the treble clef stave and relate this to what they are playing. The music the children have been playing has been a delight to hear across the classrooms! We have also been able to have Yr3 and Yr4 group singing again in assembly time and the children learnt two African songs, one from Ghana and the other South African – ‘Tue Tue’ and ‘Siyahamba’- celebrating Black History Month.

Year 4 have enjoyed learning the song Hoedown this half term. We first learnt to sing it so that we were familiar with the melody and then we began to play it on the glockenspiels. The children have loved exploring how to get the best noise out of their glockenspiels e.g. by holding the stick loosely in one hand and not hitting the keys too hard or too softly! The children were also fascinated to learn that they could play an A# instead of a B♭!

During autumn 1, Year 5 looked at three songs: Ghost Parade, Words Can Hurt and Joyful, Joyful. The children have played the Glockenspiels, as well as working hard on performing as a class. In particular, Year 5 enjoyed Ghost Parade.

Year 6 have enjoyed investigating how music brings people together throughout this half term. They have played the recorder and glockenspiel to a range of songs. They have played up to 5 notes and also challenged themselves to read music. Their favourite song to sing and play this half term has been ‘It’s all about love.’

Children at the Junior School joined classes from all over Norfolk for a special online music assembly to celebrate Black History Month. Lead by the amazing Anna Mudeka, pupils were introduced to the culture and customs of Zimbabwe, through music, stories and song. Children learned about Anna’s childhood and joined in call and response singing. The sound of the Mbira (thumb piano) was mesmerising and Anna’s stories transported us to village life in Africa.

Autumn 1 Music

During the first half term back, the children in Years 1 and 2 have enjoyed our ‘Singing Assembies’. The children have enjoyed singing to song such as ‘Big Blue Tractor’, and ‘Harvest Tango.’ They also have been enjoying listening to a different piece of music every week that can range from modern pop to classical, movie soundtracks and music from different parts of the world. After listening to the music children spend ‘reflective time’ thinking about how the song made them feel.

Reception

In Reception classes, the children have enjoyed listening to and singing along to many songs with their class peers.

A variety of music has also been experienced in the classrooms, as well as created in the outdoor classroom. Children have been observed making music independently, singing and moving to the music experiences throughout this half term.

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We have also been learning about songs from Black history month, such as ‘3 little birds’ and ‘Dancing in the Street’, discussing what the children enjoyed about the music.

If you wish to watch the other episodes, here is the link :-

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000w8lj/magic-hands-black-history-songs-3-lean-on-me?seriesId=m000w6yp

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Year 1

Year 2

This half term the children in Year 2 have been exploring simple patterns in music. They have listened and appraised different genres of music as well as learning about different musical styles. They have learnt different songs and performed these in class.
At the end of the half term the children explored playing the chime bars alongside one of the songs they have learnt to sing ‘Music is in my Soul’. They learnt the notes C, D and E and performed these together as a group.

Music Summer 2

Reception

This term reception have been learning about different continents and during our learning of Africa, Reception got to listen to lots of African instruments and listen to how music in different area of Africa music changed. The children really enjoyed the South African music and used percussion instruments to play along to the beat. We also discussed what instruments we could hear and talked about pitch and tempo of the different music.

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Year 1

In music this half term, the children have continued to learn to find the beat and pulse. They have enjoyed moving their bodies to the music and have learned new songs. The children especially enjoyed singing along to ‘Alice the Camel’ and ‘Ten Green Bottles’. They were able to use percussion instruments to play along to the beat of the music.

Year 2

This half term in music, year 2 haven been learning about music that makes you dance and thinking about the question, ‘How does music make us happy?’ The children listened to a wide range of musical styles, including funk, hip-hop and calypso, which they listened and responded to, commenting on what they liked and what they didn’t like. The children also learnt the songs ‘I wanna play in a band’, ‘Music is all around’ and ‘Saying sorry’.

We all enjoyed the ‘Virtual Big Sing’ where children have been practising during assembles and in their classrooms songs from musicals, such as “The circle of life” from Lion King or “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2. On 21^st June, the children got to join in with singing with celebrities such as Claire Sweeny and Mark Feehily from Westlife! Year 2 really enjoyed taking part in the ‘Big Sing’. They sang along to all of the songs and particularly enjoyed singing ‘A million dreams’. In Year 1 the children also enjoyed watching and excited to hear the songs that were familiar to them.

In Reception, the children all enjoyed it and here is a few things they said after the performances:-

Mia – ‘I liked it when both ladies sang’

Leo – ‘I liked the man; he did good actions for the elephant and giraffes.’

Daisy – ‘When we sang let it go and into the unknown. ‘

Clara – ‘I liked the Lion King. He was a good singer.’

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KS 2 Summer 2022 Music

A very busy time for Music!

Summer saw the start of the Year 3 lunchtime ocarina club which gave some children a chance to experience these lovely little instruments which they had been unable to play at the in Year 2 due to Covid restrictions. Happily, ocarinas are back in use now in Year 2 and next year the children will build on their learning with a term of ocarina playing at the start of Year 3!

Children have continued to learn from the New English Model Curriculum, across the year groups using our online resource ‘Charanga’ as well as whole class instrument learning. The Year 3s are becoming more and more proficient ukulele players and playing a range of 3 chord songs. Year 6 students were able to try their hand at Samba drumming using a range of traditional percussion instruments to explore the rhythms of Brazil – Bateria Vai!

Summer also sees our Toft-o-vision Song Contest with each class vying to give us the best vocal and visual performance.

All classes were able to join in with this year’s Virtual Big Sing coming together with other schools across the county to join in singing some much loved Musical hits!