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Spring is one of my favorite times of year - each morning on my walk I hear birds singing and see rabbits hopping on fresh sprigs of green grass. And the flowers! Well, if you know me at all, you know how much I love flowers and especially irises. I have so many flowers planted around my house and particularly love the 20-something varieties of iris I currently have! This is a perfect rhyme and fingerplay for spring. Fingerplays are so underrated! Teach them to younger students as a fingerplay but bring them back to teach or reinforce rhythmic elements in first grade and as a canon experience for second grade, or add a So Mi or So La Mi melody, eventually adding in an ostinato or two. Transfer the rhyme and ostinati to non-pitched percussion, add timbre changes for each line and allow the students to decide how to perform it. For older students, use these as a basis for melodic improvisation or to walk the beat while clapping the rhythm or add a B Section with the names of egg layers - birds, fish, insects, turtles, platypus, echidna, reptiles, and lizards. Or have small groups of students create a movement story of one type of animal and perform for other groups to guess the animal. So many possibilities! For a better image, click here. Enjoy!
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Sarasponda
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I saw this wall chart online and thought it was too good not to share. It’s simple and effective. You can purchase it by clicking here: you can make your own version.
Yup... kids come back Monday- am a *little* in denial at the moment.. you'd think after 4 days of meetings (!!!) that I would be ready, but ...
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The following is a primer that I give to parents of beginning piano students. When parents do not follow this advice, they tend to spend buckets of …
I've seen several posts on FB pages about what to do at the end of the year. If you've been here before you know I started a tradition a fe...
Folk song based on pentatonic scale with lesson plan ideas for elementary music
I don't remember where I learned this from and my process probably differs a little or a lot from the original but my students love this game and it's been so fun for a "brain break" when we are in the middle of some serious work on instruments to just say, "Crazy 8th's" and watch 'em run to get drums and tambourines (my fourth graders are such great kiddos!!). I'll start by keeping a rhythm on a djembe or the bongos and then, once i've established the steady beat, they'll start to count to 8 and march around the room. Each pattern of 8 you put an accent on one number; the first time it's going to be ONE, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, then 1, TWO, 3, 4, 5,6, 7, 8, then 1,2, THREE,, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc. They only play on the accented beats; march each beat. The first time will go slow- they'll need to simply march and count to 8 several times, marching on each beat; then stop the class and say, OK, let's emphasize the number 1 and still march on every beat, then stop the class, demonstrate the accent on beat 2, then beat 3, etc. It helps to project or write the numbers 1 through 8 then you can point to the next accented beat as the students progress through. Once the students can do this up to 8 smoothly,(which takes a little while), go backwards.. yikes! Fun!!! Once they get comfy with this, continue to only play the accented beats but change the marching (locomotor) to standing (non-locomotor). in other words, step and play ONLY on the accented beats. Much trickier! Have fun with this!
New Year. Every 365, sometimes 366, it rolls around like a mirrored ball on speed and suddenly, whamo, it's here! Resolutions: Mine are short and simple: Personal: I began a Whole 30 Jan. 1 (very stict whole, clean eating plan) and am so very thankful for the Facebook group of First Timers who have been so helpful with recipes, support, and encouragement! I am trying to lose the 20 pounds that crept back on while I was in the middle of moving, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! Yikes!!! Need to stick to Paleo- it has worked for me but the minute I go off I gain!! I have also gone back to working out 4-5 days per week. Amazing how much better I feel when I do. Professional: This has been an awesome school year!! The last two school years were not so hot as I had 4 surgeries during those two and was out a total of almost 6 months of school!!! So glad to be healthy again. Edit, edit, edit! I am in the midst of a book and my publisher and I will begin edits soon- I've already started editing and I am so excited about the book.. and leery of all the work during editing! The book has clapping songs and games from around the world! It's been so fun chatting with people in Johannesburg, South Africa, Indonesia, Scotland, and all around the globe. So thankful for email; this project would have taken years otherwise. Now to the goody, well, I hope it's a goody: Happy 2015!
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Books Part 2 Wonderful book with great illustrations of the varied ways vegetables grow.. up, down, and around. Explore various ways to move arms, legs, whole body, etc., then teach song: Begin with exploring moving up and down; play slide whistle and have students move up and down, vary playing slowly, quickly, legato, staccato, etc. Then ask them to move one arm ONLY, then elbow only (very funny), hand only, thumb only. It's an interesting thing to observe! Teach song; every time students sing "up" they will move higher, "down", lower, and they can choose HOW to move "'round and round". Perform movements and song with book, then divide into small groups to create rhythms in 6/8 based on words like: seeds, grow, plant, flowers, sunshine, and various names of veggies. Develop first as a class and display. One rhythm possibility: Eat your veggies.. ta, ti, ta, ti. Play around with creating these ostinato, transfer to UPP (unpitched percussion) and add as a "B" section to song. Perform again with book. I LOVE this book!! The pop up version is the best.. truly! I used this to teach and label rest with kindergarteners last year and it worked so very well! My lovely friend and fellow music teacher, Noreen Hofmann wrote this song to Mortimer.. it is my favorite of the many "Mortimer" songs I've heard. Divide class in half once orchestration is learned; half will play/act the characters from the book, other half will play orchestration, switch. Spring Is Here is a cutie patootie book your kids are sure to LOVE! A great lesson from fellow teacher and blogger, Thom Borden! Recorder lesson, too!
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I am trying a new thing this year. I want all my fifth grade classes to play a pop song on Orff instruments in the talent show. We’re starting this week! Last summer, I started sketching ou…
I am originally from Maine, an original "Mainah". As much as I love my home state, and miss many parts of it, I am much happier weather wise here in North Carolina, especially now.. they were just hit with a massive storm and my parents have 2.5 FEET of snow in their yard and are set for more snow this weekend. My kiddos here at school are wanting just a few inches of the white stuff, and I would love to go out and play in the yard with my daughter and enjoy some snowy moments! Not to mention having a Snow Day. Here is a song for younger grades, Snowflakes Falling Down. We used it as a B section to the Snowflakes song from Gameplan, Grade K. After playing a few times, we let our mallets "dance" (alternate hands quickly) to play high sounds after "dancing high" and low sounds after "dancing low". Great fun.. Add some finger cymbals, whirling tubes (wind sounds) and chimes and you'll have a blustery blizzard of musical fun. Oh, and white feathers.. got to have them to blow around, too.. Cheers!!
My third grade classes have been focusing on folk songs. We have added Orff accompaniment, learned the cross-over technique, and performed line dances. They really enjoyed our activity with the song John Kanaka! First we talked about the history of the sea shanty: Then, we learned the song and discussed how the steady beat of the song might have helped sailors get their work done more efficiently. As we listened, the students identified the macro and micro beats and we practiced by using a pat-clap-pat-clap pattern. Next, the students transferred the macro/micro beats to a hand clapping game. First we practiced with paper plates: Holding the plate flat with their left hands, students pat the plate with their right. Then, they clap their right hands beneath and plate, pat the plate again, and clap their hands above the plate. They continue this pattern throughout the song feeling the macro beat (patting the plate) and the micro beat (clapping hands below and above): plate, below, plate, above, plate, below, plate, above. After they had a the movements down, we added tambourines and turned it into a circle dance! We got really fancy and rotated our outer circle on the fermata! Great job, third graders!
I have posted about this before, but I REALLY love the Pass the Pumpkin song/activity. This year, I came up with a new powerpoint for my first graders and I used it just this morning and am really happy with how well the students sang and played. One thing I love about this song is that it is "safe" for schools that do not celebrate Halloween; there is the word "spooky" but that is, technically, NOT a Halloween word. I hope you enjoy the slides below.. save each one and put into a ppt. or email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the pdf! The directions and song are on slide 2, slide 3 is a beat slide and then subsequent slides show the progression from iconic rhythms to actual notation. The final slides show what instruments play on the various parts of the song. Happy Fall!
This is a pretty easy piece to learn; start by teaching the A section ONLY with fingertips on drums. Once successful, add B section, then...
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I have posted about this before, but I REALLY love the Pass the Pumpkin song/activity. This year, I came up with a new powerpoint for my fi...
I've been wanting to get this one done for a while. Thanks to pinterest- someone had the brilliant idea to use clear spoons and white (or c...
Miss White had a fright In the middle of the night Saw a ghost eating toast Halfway up the lamp post! Here's a fun arrangement to use with your young students, just in time for Halloween!
O' The Train's Off the Track | Free Sheet Music Orff Orchestration - Visit MakingMusicFun.net for more free and premium sheet music, music lesson plans, and great composer resources.
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I am linking up today with Elizabeth from Organized Chaos. We're hoping... and wishing... and dreaming of snow here in North Carolina! I am from the snowy state of Maine and living here in NC for the past 18 years I can honestly say I don't miss Maine in the winter. But, ah, the summer!!! LOVE it and miss my ocean terribly! Good thing I get to visit there almost every summer! Here is a snowflake song for younger students. I actually planned it to use with kindergarten and re-wrote it today to use with my kindies. We use the song with snowflakes (white feathers) and ice skates (paper plates.. yup- they work GREAT).! Process: Teach song, half the class at the glockenspiels with F's and B's (franks and beans or burgers and fries or buffalo's and flamingo's, however you say these bars) removed, practice singing and playing in the appropriate places. Other half of class performs the skating on paper plates while singing, each holds a white feather and when the song is over students blow feathers into the air while glocks improvise (as quietly as a snowflake!) as long as the "snowflake" (feather) is in the air. Once the "snowflake" is on the ground they stop improvising. I award "snowflake kisses" (extra feathers) to each student who stops as soon as the feather touches the ground. That way they get more than one feather to blow into the air when it is their turn. It's so funny to see them try to stop at the exact moment of "touchdown"! Switch jobs and perform again! Enjoy!
My kiddos love this game and BEG to play it again and again. The beauty of it, well.. it's also a great informal assessment! I use this with my Junior Kindergarten (ages 4 and 5) up through first grade. This is based on a similar one in Gameplan. The song and graphics are my own and so I am not stepping on Jeff and Randy's toes by sharing it with you but will give them all the credit for the game!! :)
It's back to school time! Yay! I am so happy to see all of you again! I am looking forward to a fun school year with you! Here's what's up so far! Grades 4 & 5 (Rooms 13, 17 & 19) are starting the year with the song "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. We began by watching a cover of the song by the group Walk of the Earth, where each member plays one part on the guitar. From left to right: Player 1: Uses the guitar as a percussion instrument Player 2: Plays the ostinato (a repeating pattern) which is actually just IIV to I chords Player 3: Plays the guitar melody Player 4: Plays the off-beat chords (on beats 2 & 4) Player 5: Plays accent chords Then we watched another version of the song: Gotye saw that so many people were doing covers of his song that he made a compilation video of a whole bunch of YouTube videos from around the world! Next week we will be learning to play this song on the Orff Instruments: From: http://musescore.com/user/24296/scores/49627 Grades 1/2/3 are learning the Tritsch Tratsch Polka by Johann Strauss. We have coupled it with Deborah Ziolkoski's story and movement about the ringmaster and tightrope walker from Fun With Composers. We are learning about ABA form in music (same/different/same), and a little bit about the life of composer Johann Strauss. Here is a recording of it - ask your child to show you the story and movement! Did you know that the Tritsch Tratsch Polka is also used in the video game Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games? It can be found in the Synchronized Swimming section! Pretty cool, huh?
