5th Grade Fun

I finally finished the 5th-grade composition project – finally finished compiling all of the songs and putting them on CDs for the kids. The project made me smile so often that I decided to share a few of the songs with y’all. Below are my three favorites. Before you listen though: a word of explanation.

I had the kids start by discussing the elements of a song. I then divided them into small groups and had them come up with a song idea. They composed lyrics and organized the ideas. We then started work on GarageBand – they listened to and arranged loops to form a background track. For the final step, I recorded their voices singing or rapping the self-composed lyrics over the background track. I did very little censoring. I checked on all groups regularly to make sure they were progressing (occasionally made suggestions), but for the most part, I tried to stay out of the way. I wanted these compositions to reflect their own creativity – and wow were they creative.

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Zero Gravity
I love the vivid lyrics! And he built in his own applause. Nice.

Sporty Panda
Once again, fun lyrics … this time about a big panda. Remind anyone of a certain cartoon?

La-De-Da
These girls aren’t remotely old enough to fathom the 70s … but this song is pretty trippy. “Cakes, candy and fun … flying turtles and can-can kitties … rainbow fireflies …” You do the pshyco-analysis on this one.

That’s the cream of the crop, but there were lots of smile bombs in the batch. Like the group that did a punk/techno piece about all the things you can do with a “Robo Chicken.”
Or the group that sang about the world’s latest invention “the new Pen-Sword.”
“The pen that can write, the pen that can fight. When aliens invade, use it to fight – homework intruding, use it to write. Comes in colors red, black and blue, and it’s perfectly new.”

Yes these kids make me smile often. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into their 10-year-old world.