Music Monday #4 (I Don't Know My Name by Grace VanderWaal)

"I Don't Know My Name" by Grace VanderWaal

 *Here is another new song for myself and my students.  I'm having such fun adding new selections to our musical repertoire.

*My class fell in love with Grace and her song "Clay".  They ask me to play it everyday.  When I saw that there were some videos for another original song of hers, I knew it had to be shared with my listeners/writers.

*Today is our fourth Monday together and that means it is time for another 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 this 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 Monday Selections for 2016-2017 
Week #1 - "What I Am" by will.i.am                                            Click Here for Week #1 Music
Week #2 - "Clay" by Grace VanderWaal                                      Click Here for Week #2 Music
Week #3 - "One Voice" by Billy Gilman                                      Click Here for Week #3 Music