Music is a great tool for teaching English. It allows us to hear words in context and feel the actual rhythm of the language itself. Here I share my reasons why music should be incorporated in teaching and a lesson plan
Teaching elementary music? Learn all about classroom management strategies to control those fifth graders in the blog post!
The 6th graders have just finished up a unit project on Musical Styles. The goal of this project was to get the students to explore music outside of the country/pop/rock bubble that we tend to be in in our small town. I also wanted them to listen to music more closely to analyze things like the meaning of the lyrics, why & how music is used in different situations, and where they hear music. I gave the students 4 projects to choose from. The project was to be done mostly at home, but after starting the project, I realized that I could do the project in school next year using the classroom tablets each student has a putting music into a Dropbox (something new I'm just learning how to use). After starting the project, I realized there were a lot of things I wanted to change for next year or just make more specific. I have listed those things in red. Overall, I really enjoyed the project and for my first year trying it, I think it went pretty well. The projects options were: Soundtrack of My Life (lesson from TeachersPayTeachers-my document is a slightly modified version of the download): Students created a soundtrack of songs that had lyrics that related to their lives. They had to explore the meaning behind the lyrics and label what style of music each song was. After doing this project, I realized that it didn't really expose students to any new styles of music, so it didn't really fit the theme of my project. However, it was still fun to see their answers! Musical Interests Survey Students created a 10 question survey about musical styles and had to survey 10 people from at least 3 different age groups. When they were finished, they graphed their findings. Most students created very simple graphs on notebook paper (I realized we needed to have a discussion about using a ruler!) and had questions that were open ended so they were hard to graph. Next year, I'll tell them to make their questions multiple choice or keep their answers to one word so they are easier to graph. One of the most creative graphs I received! Music Journal For one week, students kept a journal of all of the music they heard each day. They were supposed to record music in stores, businesses, on commercials, or in classrooms. I encouraged them to record at least 3 per day (the problem with saying that was every single student turned in ONLY 3 examples for each day). At the end of the week, they had to write a one-page reflection on what they noticed. Some students were very observant, and noticed that the dynamics of the music being played differed by the size of the store. They also noticed that the style of music was generally selected to fit the overall likes of their desired customers (ex: a punk clothing store in the mall played loud, punk music. Not country or jazz!) Although a few good recordings were made, several of the students just recorded the music they heard on Pandora or the radio, not music they heard by chance. Something to make more specific next time! Explore 3 New Styles This was probably the best project for accomplishing my main goal: exposing students to new music. Each student had to pick 3 styles of music they don't normally listen to and then find 3 songs from those styles that they liked. They then researched the song and presented it to the class. This is where I used the Dropbox and had several different examples of music on there for them to listen to if they couldn't find new music on their own. The songs presented were very original and it was fun to hear what they had picked. The only change I would make to this project is teaching the kids how to better articulate "why" they liked a piece of music. Most of them could only come up with answers like, "it had a good beat" or "I liked the way he sang it". I realized I haven't really taught them the vocabulary words to explain what they wanted to say. As I said, overall I felt it was a fun project, it just needs a bit of tweaking before next year. I tried to create a rubric that met all 4 projects. Here is the one I used and I just made some modifications as I was grading. I will post a copy of the rubric so you get a general idea, but just know that it is not a perfect rubric and definitely needs some changes.
Improvisation is one of the best methods we have for figuring out how our students are working through musical materials. That’s because the cognitive process in improvisation requires students to build upon previous knowledge to create something new. Improvisation is also spontaneous, so students g
African Folk songs
Some of you are "lucky" and are still on winter break. . .. I'm not one of those "lucky" ones. But, it's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?! It was a really fun first day back. The kiddos were really excited to share about their break and ready to get back into the swing of things. Speaking of getting back into the swing of things, we brought this favorite back in 4th grade today. We used it in 3rd grade for low la but are bringing it back now to prepare syn-co-pa (feels like I've been prepping this forever. . . . .). Here's the song: This is a fun boomwacker part that we added with it in 3rd grade: And here's a really EASY Orff accompaniment that my 3rd graders this year did for our Parent Engagement Night: As I mentioned, we're prepping syn-co-pa so here's a new PowerPoint that I made: First, we have lyric slides: Then there are some low la prep slides that I included for next year's 3rd grade: After preparation comes practice, so here are a couple of the practice slides we'll use for review with 4th grade as a warm-up when prepping syn-co-pa: Here are the rhythm preparation slides: And here are the practice slides: After syn-co-pa is presented we'll sing it on solfége, using the stick rhythm and maybe even play "Remote Control" with it: And we'll practice reading the solfa on the staff, with the rhythm. Again, we might use an inner hearing game for this: I mentioned in an earlier post that I know I need to do a better job practicing reading Absolute Pitch Names, so here are those slides: Once we've read syn-co-pa in numerous songs we'll finally get to these cards. I made them for the Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer game but never got to them. Things happen and the kids we're prepared enough, so we "rolled with the punches" and had to change our pacing: I'm presenting at CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Conference) at the end of the month: one session called "Upping the Ante" and another one called "Manipulative Mania". This is for the "Manipulative Mania" session, sponsored by ROCKE (so, all you Colorado folks, you can buy this at CMEA this year!). I LOVE the way this turned out and we'll be using this as an assessment in a few weeks. Here's the beat board, the oars act as barlines: The students will have four canoes and they must put them in the correct order to match the song: Using the back side of the canoe, they can compose their own 4-beat rhythms on each canoe using a vis-a-vis marker. The boards can also be used with other die cutes such as fish, boats, seashells. Here's a couple fish thrown on: If you would like a copy of the PowerPoint above, it's available at my Teacher Pay Teachers store and includes the non-holiday song sorting game from the Rudolph file. I hope you all have a GREAT weekend!!
This poster illustrates the different components of the inside of the nose. This is an inside view of the nose with a description and definition of each component and their functions. An excellent teaching tool for health and science classes!17 in. x 11 in. posterFind over 330 different activitie...
I didn't play ukulele until just a few years ago, and even then I was not really playing anything beyond a C chord. This is probably true f...
This free printable Do Re Mi staircase is a brilliant visual aid and teaching tool for introducing small children to Do Re Mi and interval recognition.
One of my goals for my students is to teach them the skills needed to accurately read and perform printed music at their level of ability. Students can learn so much more music if they have high notereading fluency and are able to sight-read. I also teach music by rote, but I recognize that students need good ears and good music literacy skills. Many students try to tackle sightreading all at once and they can get frustrated if the music seems hard. I am teaching my students to first look at the rhythm and practice only the rhythm. After that, students practice the notated pitches with the rhythms. The next step is to add the bowing and after that, reading the music as printed. I believe students will experience more success if sight-reading is broken down into these smaller steps. This is an example of a sight-reading exercise that follows this process: You can download this assessment for violin, viola, cello and bass HERE:
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Explore in-depth reviews and savvy recommendations of the best and latest educational web tools.Discover how these tools can transform education and inspire innovative teaching.
One of my favorite things to do is create DIY instruments with kids. It's easier than you think and provides hours of exploring music with kids.
After three music degrees, there were still many things I didn’t know when I started building my portfolio career. Here's what I've learned.
Effective elementary music teaching techniques help you talk less and teach more by streamlining your lessons and engaging all students.
Dollar store loot! I bet you just hate the dollar store, don’t you? Nope, me neither. There is a Dollar Tree right across the street from my school. In fact, it is on my way home. Every day as I drive by it, I have to make a conscious decision NOT to go to the dollar store. Needless to say, I go to the dollar store A LOT. It is a treasure trove for things that I can use in my classroom! Pool Noodles Why are pool noodles awesome? Simple: Steady Beat Light Sabers. They are very similar to the steady beat swords featured here. For mine, I decided to go all out and use silver duct tape and electrical tape to make them look like they came from a galaxy far, far away. I use my Light Sabers to teach steady beat to 1st graders. 3rd-5th graders use them as giant batons. Holding something so long in their hands helps them to use their wrists and not conduct like a crazy person. Foam The Dollar tree has rolls of foam! Rolls of it! They also have packets of foam. Similar packets or rolls of foam at Wal-Mart cost $5, and who knows what craft stores would charge. Why foam? Why, dear reader, because die-cut machines can cut foam. The foam is more durable than paper, and doesn’t require lamination! I went the paper-laminate-cut route for large quantities of small manipulatives once, and NEVER AGAIN. I learned my lesson! Using foam is so much easier. Students use these shapes to identify the form they hear, or create their own form. Clinging Shelf Liner I love this stuff more than I can tell you. A few years ago, my room made me wince with an ugly scarred table, ugly scratched brown file cabinets, and ugly large bright yellow storage boxes. Now those babies are covered, washi taped, and looking good! I used the same kind throughout the room to make it look unified. Wash-tape Speaking of washi tape, I found some at the dollar store. This is incredibly exciting to me, since most other places are trying to sell them for $3 a pop. The texture is a bit different, but it still comes off with no residue. Count me in! I’m using washi tape to organize my orffatorium. Each instrument has tape, and the matching mallets have the same kind of tape. Using different colors and patterns also allows me to put kids in groups more interesting than woods and metals. Stay tuned for another post on awesome things from the dollar store and how I use them! BONUS: I love these matched cards from the dollar store so much, I wrote an entire post about them.
Lesson planning for music teachers can feel overwhelming and tedious. Planning lessons in music education is easier than you might think.
Are you or your little one learning to play guitar!? Start them off right by learning the parts of a guitar with this fun and engaging printable memory game. Perfect for beginners of all ages. Music is such a great skill to have and guitar is one of my favorite instruments. My daughter loves this game and it has given her confidence as she begins to learn how to play the guitar. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do! ::: I N S T A N T ♥ D O W N L O A D ::: **This is a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. No physical items will be mailed to you.** After purchase you will receive an email receipt from Etsy with a link to download your purchase. You can also download your files from the “Purchases and Reviews” section of your Etsy profile. You will receive a PDF file for printing on regular 8.5”x11” paper. I recommend printing on heavy cardstock and laminating for durability. For a list of recommended products I use to assemble my printables (laminator, glue, Velcro dots, etc.) visit this page: https://arrowsandapplesauce.com/shop/supplies/ ::: Y O U ♥ M I G H T ♥ A L S O ♥ L I K E ::: Beginning Sounds Bundle--> https://www.etsy.com/listing/630092596/beginning-sounds-alphabet-practice-vowel Phone Number Activity--> https://www.etsy.com/listing/615448931/phone-number-kids-activity-phone-number :::S A V E ♥ M O N E Y::: Spend $30 or more in my shop ( https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArrowsAndApplesauce ) and get 25% off your total purchase! Use code LEARN at checkout. Subscribe to my blog ( www.arrowsandapplesauce.com ) and get a 10% off coupon code sent to your email to use on any purchase. As a subscriber, you’ll also receive access to my FREE Printables Library and updates on new blog posts. ::: S H O W ♥ O F F ::: I’d love to see you and your little ones enjoying your new learning activity! Be sure to tag me @arrowsandapplesauce and use #applesaucemama. ::: T H E ♥ L E G A L ♥ S T U F F ::: This printable is intended for personal use only. Not for resale. You may not copy, alter, or share these files. Thank you! See my shop policies for more info. ::: C R E D I T S ::: Graphics by Pixel Paper Prints
Distance learning stressing you out? Learn about some FUN Zoom music lessons that you can do tomorrow for your elementary music students.
These printable music games for kids can be used to reinforce music note names, terminology, symbols, instruments, and more.
Explore in-depth reviews and savvy recommendations of the best and latest educational web tools.Discover how these tools can transform education and inspire innovative teaching.
Classical Music Cutting Practice Sheets are perfect for classical music month. Teach the kids some music education while they're young!
A useful round up of some of the most popular Music Theory & Rhythm Worksheets here on Let's Play Music - free resources for young beginners!
Create a very inexpensive workstation to practice pitch names on the treble clef staff with a dip tray and this free download. FUN for your elementary music classroom.
Preparing for Your First Elementary Music Teaching Job. Organized Chaos. Top 5 suggestions to help you get ready over the summer for your first elementary music job.
These handy FREE Music Note Flashcards are a great way to help kids of all ages practice identifying music notes. Perfect for music education or piano.
Excuse our noise... musicians at work! :) After reviewing rhythm patterns at the beginning of the year, 3rd grade classes began working on layering rhythm patterns together. This is one of the more di
I had a realization recently. While the kids can play pieces on the piano, they cannot read music! So, the plan is to slowly but surely make sure they learn and build on those skills. I hope they learn at least two octaves of notes and their corresponding location on the piano/keyboard. I also want them to learn some of the basic music symbols and music notation. I gathered a...
Routines in the Music Room-- keep your classroom management in check by installing all of these routines in your music class!
