Music Monday #15: Carol of the Bells by The Piano Guys

"Carol of the Bells" by The Piano Guys

*Music Monday is HERE and I'm excited to share a year's worth of musical selections with you.

*I know it is going to be a GREAT year of music, writing, thinking, and sharing.

*This one is a special one for our last week of 2016.  I wanted to pick something for the "season" but have to be careful with the holidays and such.  Plus I wanted to chose something different to catch their attention in what could be a difficult week to concentrate.  I'm hoping this is the song that captures their "hearts" and "pens".  

*Today is our FIFTEENTH Monday together and that means it is time for our musical selection.

*I truly believe Mondays are my favorite day for our writer's notebooks.  

*Each Monday I present a piece of music to my fourth graders.  I usually present the song via a video so they are hearing and "seeing" the music.  

*After I share the video, we discuss the song/video for a few minutes as a class.  It is always a joy to hear what my young listeners have to say about the song.  

*They then get busy writing in their notebooks.  We start off at the beginning of the year writing for about five minutes.  This will gradually increase as the year progresses.  

*Here are some ideas I give the writers to think about during their writing time...

*Their opinions of the song.

*Their likes and dislikes of the song.

*What the song reminds them of.

*Any connections they may have to the music.

*What they think the message in the piece may be.

*What listeners can learn from the song.

*A fictional story about the music/video.

*These are just some ideas I give to the writers.  They are really free to write anything they would like as long as it connects to the song.

*After our silent reading, we spend a few more minutes sharing out what we wrote.  

*I keep a collection of the videos on our Schoology Site so that my students can always go back and rematch them anytime they wish.

Our Musical Selections for 2017/2018... 

Week #1:  "What I Am" by will.i.am                                                  Click Here for Week One MUSIC

Week #2:  "Hopeful" by Bars and Melody                                         Click Here for Week Two MUSIC

Week #3:  "Somebody" by Lemonade Mouth                                  Click Here for Week Three MUSIC

Week #4:  "Dream Big" by Ryan Shupe                                            Click Here for Week Four MUSIC

Week #5:  "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield                                 Click Here for Week Five MUSIC

Week #6:  "The World's Greatest" by R. Kelly                                    Click Here for Week Six MUSIC
Week #7:  "Candyman" by Zedd, Aloe Blacc                                   Click Here of Week Seven MUSIC
Week #8:  "Thriller" by Michael Jackson                                         Click Here for Week Eight MUSIC
Week #9:  "Clay" by Grace Vanderwaal                                            Click Here for Week Nine MUSIC
Week #10:  "I Don't Know My Name" by Grace Vanderwaal            Click Here for Week Ten MUSIC 
Week #11:  "Brand New Eyes" by Bea Miller                               Click Here for Week Eleven MUSIC
Week #12:  "You Will Be Found" from Dear Evan Hansen          Click Here for Week Twelve MUSIC
Week #13:  "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka                    Click Here for Week Thirteen MUSIC
Week #14:  "Rise Up" by Andra Day                                          Click Here for Week Fourteen MUSIC