Lower Octaves

Wednesday= chapel.  Before we walk over to church, we do a hymnsing from the 'old' red hymnal.  Last year I was really bad about doing it because first there was the detour so we had chapel at school right away, no time for it (plus the keyboard had to be in the gym). And after the detour was over, it was winter and we had chapel at school again.  When we did go to church for chapel, the keyboard was always in the office for piano lessons.  So this is the first time my 6th graders are experiencing a hymnsing.  

I don't think they understand the concept yet, which is strange because they're not hard to understand at all.  Pick a hymn you want to sing from the hymnal, write the number on the board, then we sing those songs.  Granted, this is only the second or third hymnsing we've done this year.  

Today everyone asked if I could lower the song an octave so it would be easier to sing... we all have colds.  I did, and I was pleasantly surprised by how low everyone could sing!  It was fun.  They have the hang of it now, so next week should be even better.  Some pick random hymn numbers, others actually flip through to find a familiar one.  Some songs I pick.  It's great when they recognize a melody, "Hey! We sang this in church before!"

My kiddos are in love with weaving.  We're doing a paper plate weaving project that involves using different colors of yarn (if they want), so there are little schniblets of yarn scattered all over the floor.  I keep seeing the dark colors out of the corner of my eye and think they're Joe, out of his tank!  Last night he almost spent the whole night out of his tank.  Someone had taken him out after they fed him, and they forgot to put him back.  Thankfully it's my habit to look in on him one last time before I go home for the night, and when I didn't spot him in his tank, I had to scour the room for him.  He was wedged under the beanbags in the reading corner.  Whew! That was a close one!