More January School Happenings- Honor Choir and a Penguin Project

I showed you Bryce performing in the District Honor Band a week ago, and now I have some things to show off for Beth & Carissa and Brenna.

Beth and Carissa have been participating in Honor Choir before school since nearly the beginning of the year. Twice a week they have rehearsals starting at 7:15A. Most of the kids in the Honor Choir are also in the regular choir, but there are a few who aren’t for various reasons. Beth & Carissa aren’t able to take the regular choir class during the school day since they are taking band this year as their art elective. It’s been a good opportunity for them to learn more about music in general, singing as part of a choir, and they have begun learning to sing parts. Some of the kids were selected to learn the Star Spangled Banner as part of a smaller group, and they have had a few opportunities to sing the song as the opening to basketball games at UCCS. We missed the first time (not sure why), but another chance came up Saturday evening Jan 23. It was a small group that showed up- only 7 girls- but they all knew their parts and sang very well together. Beth and Carissa were the two girls singing the second soprano part. They did a great job. The first video is them actually singing in the gym. They weren’t miked, so be warned that you will need to turn your volume up once they start singing (and be prepared to quickly turn it down at the end of the song when the crowd starts clapping and cheering LOL). Beth is right behind Ms. Depew in my line of sight unfortunately. I’m also including a recording of them going through the song during their warmup beforehand. You can see both of our girls in this video and since it was a much smaller area the sound is a bit better.

direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEjQ0ltIrwQ

direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj37ubiPdTI

Brenna has been learning about the arctic and the animals that live there in their science unit. She was assigned a project on penguins; she had to pick a penguin- she chose the macaroni penguin- write a small report about it and then make a diorama. The macaroni penguin is the one with the bright yellow feathers on their heads, which is where they get their name from as they resemble the large feathers that young men in the 18th century wore on their hats- they were known as ‘macaronis.’ Most people are familiar with the song Yankee Doodle Dandy: Yankee Doodle went to town a-riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni….. I know you were singing along with me! We made penguins out of Crayola Model Magic dough and then used bits of yellow pipe cleaners for the yellow feathers.

 
journaling: January’s big project in first grade was to pick a penguin to research and then build a diorama about it. Brenna chose the Macaroni penguin. The macaroni penguins are the largest of the plumed penguins. The bright yellow feathers on their heads are where they get their name from as they resemble the large feathers that young men in the 18th century wore on their hats- they were known as ‘macaronis.’ The live in the Antarctic, they eat krill, fish and squid. They need to stay away from seals, sea lions, Orca whales and shore birds such as gulls.
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