Fourth Grade Folk Music

 Park Fourth Graders have been studying early American Folk Music, which is quite a large topic! We've performed and discussed different types of American Folk Music and we're even working on writing our own folk songs! Next week, we will finish our composing and begin making posters which show what we've learned!

One of the songs we discussed was a ballad called "Barbara Allen" which was brought to America by immigrants from England. We learned that a ballad is a poem or song that tells a story. The fourth graders created their own words for ballads. Each class decided on the same characters and setting for their poems and worked in group of 3 or 4. All of our poems had a love theme for Valentine's Day. Here is an example of ballad lyrics:


From Mrs. Schmittauer's Class

Allison and Spongebob

Allison did not love Spongebob so they broke up in Paris
Spongebob was so mad that he yelled "Why why?"
Allison said, "Because you are a sponge."
"I brought you here to Paris to be in love!" Spongebob cried his heart out.