Music Class
Mrs. Johnson

Welcome to the Music Program at Challenge Charter School!  We learn many exciting things about music each year.  Here are just a few of the main concepts we cover:

Kindergarten and First Grade:  

• Moving responsively to music
• Discriminating between loud and soft
• Playing and singing simple rhythms and melodies
• Sing unaccompanied, accompanied, and in unison
• Recognizing and playing a steady beat
• Basic instrument recognition
  Simple notation using the treble clef

Second and third grade:

• Echoing short rhythms
• Recognizing and playing a steady beat
• Solfege and the major scale
• Basic notation including the Treble and Bass Clef
• Time signatures
• Rest Values and Note Values
• Singing songs by rote
• Basic keyboard skills
• Instrument families
• Finger numbers    

Fourth through Sixth Grades:

• Basic Notation including Note Values, Rest Values, and some expression markings
• Dynamics
• The Grand Staff
• Basic keyboard skills black and white keys, finger numbers, etc.
• Music history and lives of famous composers
• Instrument families
• Reading music and rhythms
• Finger numbers

In addition to our curriculum, we have been doing a lot of music listening so that we can become competent, active listeners that can understand and talk confidently about what we are hearing. Our goal is to be aware of what sounds are going on around us and how they affect us every day because whether we realize it or not, music is all around us!
 
We ask ourselves: 

• How does this music make us feel?
• What does this music make us think of?
• What kind of instruments or voices are making this music?
• Is it fast?
• Is it slow?
• Is it loud, soft, or does the sound level change?
• What do we like about the music?
• Have we heard this kind of music before and do we recognize it?

Music is not just background noise, it is an art form and we are learning to appreciate the art of music!
 
At Challenge, we hope that our students will be able to utilize their skills in music to enrich their lives and to spread the joy of music to others through their participation and growth.