Happy Independence Day, America!

This post was first published on July 4, 2010.

By Mrs. Yollis 

Buck says, Happy Birthday America!#doink @DoInkTweets #4thOfJuly pic.twitter.com/tALMm3BQFQ

— Linda Yollis (@lindayollis) July 4, 2016

July 4th is Independence Day in America!

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This document announced America's independence from Britain.

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Six years ago I was with my family on the Fourth of July, and we had a special event planned for the day.

My family had three old, tattered flags that needed to be retired. So on July 4th, we had a retirement ceremony.

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The United States Flag Code states: "The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning."

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First, we sang some patriotic songs!

Then, my cousin Jon gave a short speech. Finally, we retired the old flags to the fire.

Click here to learn how to fold an American flag. 

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How will you spend the Fourth of July?

Sing-a-long: Mr. B. and 3 Rs Song

Mrs. Yollis' class from California is friends with Mr. Salsich's class in Connecticut. These classes are blogging buddies and Skyped back in November.

On Friday, the two classes got together to share about their paperless classroom experiences  which you can read about here and here.

The classes also enjoyed singing some songs with Mr. B.

Three it's a magic number

Yes it is, it's a magic number

Because two times three is six

And three times six is eighteen

And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R

We've got three R's we're going to talk about today

We've got to learn to

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

If you're going to the market to buy some juice

You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste

And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes

You could try them on before you buy some more of those

Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse

And if the first two R's don't work out

And if you've got to make some trash

Don't throw it out

Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,

We've got to learn to

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Because three it's a magic number

Yes it is, it's a magic number

3, 3, 3

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36

33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, and

3, it's a magic number

We then enjoyed singing This Land is Your Land and You're a Grand Old Flag.

At the end, Mr. Salsich's class sang a solo with Mr. B.

  Mr. Salsich's students were on the Atlantic coast and Mr. B. was on the Pacific coast. 

It was difficult because of a slight Skype delay. But they did it!

The two classes enjoyed discussing what they liked about the paperless day:

• Both classes enjoyed using the whiteboards instead of paper.

• A student from Mr. Salsich's class liked that there was no noise from a pencil sharpener all day!

• Mrs. Yollis' class liked the idea of paperless homework!

Thank you to our scribes (Sydney, Jaxon, Kendall,  and Ben) and our photographer. (Ethan)

What did you like about the connection?

How did you like singing together from opposite coasts?

Sing-a-long: Chay Chay Koo-lay!

Chay Chay Koo-lay  

 This is a call and response song. 
Please echo back to Mr. B.!

Note: Today was Pajama Day! (We don't usually wear pajamas to school!)

Leader:  Chay chay koo-lay

Leader:   Chay chay Kofisa

Leader:   Kofisa Langa  

Leader:   Kaka Shilanga

Leader:   Kum Aden Day

Leader:  Kum Aden Day HEY! (all)

Leader: Hands on your head

Leader: Hand on your shoulders

Leader: Hands on your waist

Leader: Hands on your knees

Leader: Hands on your ankles

Leader: Hands on your ankles, hey! (all)

Do you like Chay Chay Koo-lay? 

Did you sing with us?

Our First Music Class With Mr. B.!

Today in music we learned the concept of

ostinato!

Mr. B. told us that means: rhythmic patterns played together

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The most important musician was our cowbell player. He kept a steady rhythm. A very difficult job!

Next, Mr. B. brought out...a bag of fruit?!

Wait a minute, that's not fruit! Those are shakers!

Third, came the rhythm sticks...Keep the rhythm... 1, 2, 3 and 4

Finally, Boom Whackers!
Each whacker was of a different length.
A different length gives the whacker a different pitch!

Beautiful ostinato, Mr. B.!

What part did you play?

Was it easy to keep the rhythm or not?
What part did you want to play?

The Hello Song!

Today we had music with the the wonderful Mr. B and Mrs. Ranney's class.

We recorded a special song for our new 2KM blogging friends in Australia.

The Hello Song! from mrsyollis on Vimeo.

Sing-a-long!

Hello, bon jour, buenos dias!

G'day, guten-tag, konichiwa.....

Ciao, shalom, do-brey dien,

Hello to all the children of the world!

We live in different places From all around the world.

We speak in many different ways!

Though some things may be different,

We're children just the same-

And we all like to sing and play!

Special thanks to Mr. B.! We hope you liked our singing!

Be Our Valentine!

"Fancy Nancy" Party Pictures!

Students created music on the Internet...

...and a conga line formed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mr. Mann Hits a High Note

By Clementine

About a month ago, the setting for one of our stories was Italy. Mrs. Yollis played some Italian opera in class. Mr. Mann, an opera expert, came to our class and taught us about the opera, La Boheme. It’s a story about four friends who were very poor and lived in Paris. One of them met a girl and fell in love with her. But she got sick and died. Mr. Mann played music from the opera for us and brought pictures of a few scenes.


Some of the songs were happy songs like when everyone was out at a parade. Some of the songs were beautiful, mushy, love songs. There were very depressing songs too at the end when the girl died. All of the songs helped tell the story and set the mood of the opera.



I interviewed Mr. Mann over the phone after the lecture and asked him a couple of questions.

C – “What did you think about coming in to lecture to our class?”

MM – “I was looking forward to it and I enjoyed it very much.”

C – “ How did you think the kids behaved?”

MM – “ I thought I would only talk for 15 minutes, but I went much longer because everyone was paying such good attention. They were so smart and so wonderful. This was my first time speaking to children and it was a treat.”

C – “Have you gone to a lot of operas?’

MM – “Yes, I have.”

C - “What was your favorite?”

MM – “La Boheme – the one I talked about.”

C – “ Is there really a fat lady with a hat with horns on it that sings in an opera?”

MM – “Sometimes.”

Thanks for reading!