#18 HALLOWEEN - Updated 7/20/15
TOPICS (Just click on the title you want to view)
Web Sites--Books----Activities----Movement----Background Information----Programs----Games----Songs
Peer Gynt (See also: #36 Peter and the Wolf/Peer Gynt) Other Halloween Listening, CD's----Jokes----Recipes
(For "Phantom of the Opera" ideas see: #18 Opera and Musicals)
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HALLOWEEN WEB SITES
07/11 Halloween scale song: http://www.musicbulletinboards.net/downloadspage.htm--------------------------------
SONGS, CAROLS, PARODIES:
http://childfun.com/index.php/holidays/fall-holidays/halloween/650-halloween-songs-poems-a-fingerplays-halloween-crafts-and-activities.html
LOTS OF STUFF ! Halloween Online http://www.halloween-online.com/ Carving pumpkins, articles, interviews, much more
CAROLS: http://www.swil.org/FILKS/Old_format/Halloween_Carols.html
ICE CREAM: http://www.benjerry.com/halloween/index.html
http://members.aol.com/aactchrday/music/halloween.html
Application type: Activity
Halloween Links http://childcare.about.com/sitesearch.htm?q=halloween&boost=3&SUName=childcare
See also the file #36 Peer Gynt/Peter & Wolf
BACK to Holiday topics
*************************************************************************HALLOWEEN BOOKS
GHOST-EYED TREE Bill Martin--poetic telling of a boy who ain't afraid of no ghost!----------------
06/06 HALLOWEEN IS A VERY UNUSUAL NIGHT from the old Silver Burdett series. Rhythm instruments, one for each 'character.' -- Stacey DeVaney
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11/08 “THE LITTLE OLD LADY WHO WAS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING” - I just read this story with instrument assignments already in place. We had a quick practice first. I read the first part of each phrase (two shoes go, etc.,) and instruments play on the sound words (clomp, clomp, etc.,)
two shoes go clomp, clomp - drums (Rhythm: syn-co-pah tah, tah)
one pair of pants go wiggle, wiggle -triangle (tah, ti-ti, tah, tah ti-ti ti-ti)
one shirt goes shake, shake - maracas (as drum)
one pair of gloves go clap, clap - tambourine (tah, ti-ti, tah, tah, tah, tah)
one hat goes nod, nod - woodblock (as drum)
one scary pumkin goes boo, boo- cymbals (tah, ti-ti, ti-ti, tah, tah, tah)
As the items are added into the story, we did them simultaneously with no loss of beat. I consistently used the above wording for each time rather than the wording used when each item is first introduced. --- Sandy Toms
I read the same story but I like to have "Hall of the Mountain King" playing in the background. Doesnt matter how many times we've read the book, the students still get really into it. --- Matthew Flynn
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12/03 "MOANS AND GROANS AND SKELETON BONES" by Cheryl LavenderRenee! I use this book so much it is in tatters! Contributed by Patty Oeste
06/06 ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT: I put it to a little tune in minor and on the "ooh" part, they pass around that metal plate instrument that sounds like a cartoon. (This could probably work with any repetitive book.) -- Stacey DeVaney
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PUMPKINS by Mary Lynn Ray--the story of a man who loves the land around him and doesn't want to see it change so he grows pumpkins to raise the money to buy it;
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12/07 PUMPKIN SOUP: It's a cute story about pumpkin soup made by the cat, squirrel and duck who live in the old white cabin in the forest. One day the duck decides he wants to stir the soup (although that isn't his job.) The cat always slices the pumpkin, the squirrel always stirs the soup and the duck always adds the right amount of salt. This leads to a terrible fight.
RHYTHM INSTRUMENTS:
Old White Cabin: wind chimes
Pumpkin: log drum, Cat: guiro, Squirrel: temple blocks, Duck: vibraslap
ORFF usage:
Rhythm: (with a swing on the 8ths) (in 4) ta ta ta titi/titi titti ta rest/ta ta ta ta/titi titi ta rest/ta ta ta ta/titi titi ta rest/ta ta ta ta/titi titi ta rest/
Melody (G pentatonic, highest note is B) B A G DD/EG GE D rest/B A G D/EG GB A rest/ B A G D/EG GE D rest/B A G D/BB AA G rest/
I had already read the story to the 2nd graders and promised them that I would have a song for them. I introduced the song to them yesterday. They liked it and learned it quickly (which is always a good thing.) After learning the song, I decided to have the kids learn to play the repetitive part ("pumpkin soup" B A G) on the xylophones to help work on their mallet practice. I demonstrated the part to them on the BX. I put the 6 alto xylos in a "squarish" formation and had the students form lines behind each xylo. I played the recorder, the children sang the song, and the students at the AX played "pumpkin soup." I then had those students move to a drum and they played the same rhythm on the drum. --- Christopher Saraga
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RATTLEBONE ROCK, by Sylvia Andrews, Harper Collins Publishers
Cute and colorful illustrations. Cover describes it this way: Clacka-Clack! Booma-Boom! Rappa-Rap! These are the sounds of ghosts and things as banshees sway and witches swing. Spirits in the graveyard rock and bop as the rattlebone rock begins to hop. The whole town joins in all the fun and everyone parties till the morning sun. Come snap and clap - join the syncopation for a best-ever Halloween celebration!
I use this in 2nd and again in 3rd. First I just read it through and show the illustrations. Then I assign one or more students to each page with a particular rhythm instrument, such as castanets on the page where ghosts enter. The rhythms are created by the students and the texture thickens throughout the book until reaching a climax towards the end. Then everything fades away to nothing as daylight comes. I read through a small p.a. system in my stereo to give a little different color to the narration. Musical growth comes through creative use of instruments, following a directors motions, and listening carefully and watching for cues. Instruments used are: hand drum & beater, castanets on a handle, *green thing* you twirl in the air to make howling sound, sticks on chair, autoharp & mallet (sort of like *Banshee*), sandblocks, guiro, maracas, cabasa, claves, jingle sticks, finger cymbals, cat and owl sounds (vocal). Lyrics: (This is where it had changed - we've added on!) Sit in scatter formation, in the pumpkin patch. All close eyes and sing. During the song, a chosen student, the "scarecrow" walks through the pumpkin patch and gives a pumpkin to someone. The person who was given the pumpkin sings the solo, the class guesses who it was. Whoever sang the solo is next to walk through the patch. Remind the scarecrow to listen carefully and choose someone who is doing their best singing. Someone else also added tapping drum beats between turns and everyone gets up and walks the beat to a new space to sit. This gets them up and moving, and makes guessing a bit harder.-- Contributed by Kristy Hewitt This has become my favorite solution for the laryngitis music teaching problem. I play sensitively and the children are responding in the character of what they hear.
I have a mime routine that I do with icons on the felt board:
You get the idea. That is what I do for teaching ta, ti-ti, and ti-bi-ti-bi. In December I can do red stocking for ti-ti-bi, snowman for ti-ti,
Christmas present for ti-bi-ti-bi, Christmas tree for ti-bi-ti, Gee, I can't remember what ta was. After they've done it with icons for a while I put up a note head for each syllable in the icon word. Then I change each one to its symbolic representation. Then I hand out instruments with metals for ta, woods for titi, and drums for ti-bi-ti-bi. This is all mimed. I use to wear a clown suit while doing it. Kids love this.
06/15 PASS THE PUMPKIN: With 1st and 2nd we use "Pass the pumpkin all around, listen to the minor sound..." tititi tititi/ ta ti ta ti/ ta ti ta ti/ ta ti ta ti/ ta ti ta ti ta ti ta A very simple accompaniment can be played on the BX = low C and G, alternating hands, dotted quarter rhythm, except play C above the low C in place of the clap: Students in Grades 4 and 5 broke into groups or individuals to improvise a melody using the notes E G A on the recorder. RULES OF THE GAME If they answer correctly: The team captain keeps the plate--OUTside the playing circle. AND, I carefully put down another plate for them to "add." IMPORTANT NOTE: I put a "cheat sheet" on the board for alternative and new kids, that has all beats and notes, etc. labelled. Any child may refer to the board all during the game. I've never used a more fun, successful game with music/math. They just go nuts! (I've been looking for Christmas plates and "in general" plates with cute characters on them that I can label so I can do this activity periodically all during the year. It's a shame to save that much fun only for Halloween.) -- Pat Boozer Game: Children in circle formation, with crossed legs. Paper pumpkin has one side that is a pumpkin and the other side is the jack-o-lantern. Students pass pumpkin on the beat with the jack-o-lantern side facing themselves. On the word "that" the child with the pumpkin turns it around to reveal the jack-o-lantern side. - Contributed by Cak I made up a melody so that the students could also keep the steay beat on the x-phones. Those who gave up the ghost role went to play the steady beat before becoming pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. X-phone: Play F & C Melody: Sing it jazzy - based upon the word rhythm. Lowercase represents notes between middle C and third line B. Uppercase is above third line B. ab = A flat, etc.
I¹M DREAMING OF THE GREAT PUMPKIN
PUMPKIN WONDERLAND 7Dashing through the streets In our costumes every way
THE TWELVE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN
GREAT PUMPKIN IS COMING TO TOWN
We talk about high and low sounds, basement and attic voices and then decide how bat and ghosts would sound. We use ekkkkk for a high bat sound and boo for a low ghost sound.
Chant: (Leader/students follow and repeat)
Lots of fun....drop the motions and add these instruments:
B'rrr! The water's chilly. (Put hands to arms and shiver.)
First, 3-4 kids are grouped together and collaborate on their poems. We spend one class exploring all instruments throughout the room, trying to make unusual sounds with each instrument. I circle the 10 most expressive words of their poem, encouraging words that can be enhanced with instrument...drip/wood block; howl/flexatone; chill/autoharp, etc. The kids then select the 10 instruments they want to accompany their poem. The performance includes reading the poem into the mic with their best Dracula voice while the instruments are accompanying. The shadow screen idea posted this afternoon would be a great addition! It's amazing how many ideas can be spawned from this sight!
Every little swallow, every chickadee, Every little bat in the old dead tree;
A pretty little ghoul on the graveyard gate,
This was my inspiration for my own speech rondo 'witches stew'
Have the children pretend they are holding a big pot and stirring with a large spoon. It is good for keeping the beat. Discuss some things a witch may include in her stew. Say the first two lines of the poem again. The next two lines are changed to..
Boiling hot, boiling hot, ______ will put ____ in the witch's pot.
Let each child in turn make a suggestion of what to put in the pot. Ms. Bragg has extended this activity by introducing a pot and items such as spiders, bats, or carrots for the next lesson. She gives one item to each child and they put it in the pot on their turn. For the last class, she has a picture of a pot with various ingredients around the pot. She makes worksheets of them and they go around the circle allowing each child
to choose an ingredient. Each child circles the chosen ingredient and draws a line to the pot.
We do it in unison for a few times, and then in canon. Students stand in a circle and watch the movement go around in groups 1-4. Then I number 1-2-3-4 so the canon is more difficult.
Miss White had a fright In the middle of the night
I have a chart with only the rhythm symbols and a few pictures on it. We say ta's and ti-ti's to the poem also. I demonstrate doing the rhythm with mallets, alternating hands for each sound (saying the poem again as I do the mallets in the air). Then have the class do the same (in the air). We go to the instruments, set up in a pentatonic scale. I used F pentatonic so that two students could work on the same instrument at the same time. Each had 5 notes to play (CD FGA). Starting on a single note (tonic) I have the class perform the rhythm on that one note, alternating mallets. After that, Idemonstrate improvising using that rhythm - several different melodies. Then I give them instructions to make up their own tunes and go through the poem several times giving them a chance to experiment - everyone playing their own tunes at the same time (sometimes playing with handle ends instead of the regular way). Sometimes I suggest that they try to end with tonic. After group improvisation, I went down the row and had each child share their tune. Many students had the basic rhythm pretty much intact. Then everyone plays together.
K.S. tells us that the story is a good listening activity which is repeatable for a few times before the novelty wears off. The children are to recite word-sounds when they hear certain words in the story. K. S. sometimes writes the word-sounds on posterboard strips which she uses to provide cues. You can eliminate this prop, however, if you think that your group is capable of acting more independently.
"There are many other things that could be added to this story, such as instruments with the recited words or instruments instead of the recited words, or you might want the class to demonstrate a movement that represents the character's sound or action. Experiment with this fun activity and let me hear from you if you use it in a different way than how it's presented here. Have Fun!!
Once upon a time, there was a walking casket. It was at least a trillion years old! The casket walked by day and the casket walked by night. Whenever it came upon an unsuspecting victim, the door sprang open and out popped a Frankenstein-like monster. The monster was horrible. So horrible, the monster spread goose-bumps up and down and all over his victims. And you know how that feels. This monster was a towering creature, at least a hundred feet tall. AND, he always carried a flickering candle, that burned on and on and on.
Upon spotting a likely victim, this monster would wail and shriek something awful, paralyzing his victim with fright! Everyone was horrified. The monster actually turned his victims into mummies, big papa and mommy mummies. This terror went on for years and years. Would it ever stop? It seemed doubtful. Then one night a strange thing happened. The casket was making it's regular rounds through the cemetery at the stroke of midnight, when the casket came upon still another innocent victim and it was a leprechaun, of all things! "Well," thought the monster, peering from his casket, "Here's a leprechaun that I can take care of in a jiffy!"
All of a sudden, the monster popped out of his casket and he began making a BIG commotion! Do you think the tricky little leprechaun was frightened? You bet your boots, he was! However, the determined little leprechaun wasn't about to be scared off by this ghastly monster. No, Siree! The leprechaun was going to out-smart the monster. The leprechaun raised himself to his full two foot, 7 inch height, (the leprechaun was a real shorty!), and with one mighty blow, (What did he do?) Did the leprechaun strike the monster in the stomach? NO! Did the leprechaun kick the monster in the shins? NO! Did the leprechaun clobber the monster over the head? Nope.The brave little leprechaun, with one mighty blow, blew out the monster's candle! That did it! The monster was finished! The monster vanished in a puff of smoke! From that midnight on, no one ever heard from the walking casket again. Everyone was happy!
Some Native American tribes believe the owl to be harbinger of illness and death. While some writings emphasize the fear owls inspire, some poems relate gratitude to owls for maintaining a balance of health in the tribe. Owls are believed to do the necessary work of helping escort the dead to the spirit world. Jack was a man who was so mean that he not only couldn't go to Heaven, but he couldn't go to Hell either; the Devil was afraid to take him. So he was destined to spend the rest of eternity walking the earth carrying a lantern. So he came to be known as "Jack o'lantern." To ward themselves of this evil man, every household now puts out a hollowed pumpkin, carved with the ugliest possible face and with a lit candle stuck inside. These hollowed pumpkins are called "jack o'lanterns." Most families have
never even heard this story, but they put out jack o'lanterns anyway, because they think the custom is fun. No explanation of the origin of Halloween is complete without mention of the Wicca cult. In ancient times, there was a religious group which only admitted women. They had one holiday for each season of the year, and Halloween was their holiday for autumn--the only of their holidays to survive to this day. I am not clear on whether Halloween was the invention of the Wicca cult, or whether they were merely instrumental in promoting the holiday. The Wicca believers always kept brooms in their places of worship as a symbol of cleanliness. However, the Wicca cultists, or "witches," were feared and ridiculed by the rest of the population, and it came to be believed that witches used those brooms for transportation. Hence the myth of the witch riding the broomstick. The spirits of the dead were believed to return on Halloween night. Pranks were pulled on that night, because the pranksters realized that their misbehavior would be blamed on the returning spirits. The custom of Halloween pranks has survived to modern times, even though most of us have forgotten about the Celtic god of death. One of the greatest pieces of orchestral music celebrating Halloween is Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre", complete with xylophones for skeletons. Recommended if you're sick of "Night on Bald Mountain" which was wrecked by slipping Schubert's "Ave Maria" in for the end of "the" movie. The 'Trick or Treat' style childrens' songs are mostly to jolly along the little dears as they trudge from door to door. Used to be apples, now it's mostly pure sugar with flavoring and coloring. Oh, and plastic masks from Toystores. The dinos would be ashamed of us.
1. Imagination - Two students worked out soft-shoe and tap routines to the separate parts. I did not think the Chorus was going to make it on the two parts, so I extra-rehearsed small groups for the microphones - - but the Chorus knocked me out and sang the whole thing with verve. Best two-part presentation I have ever had in 29 years.
2. The Comet - Lights out. Small group with flashlights flicking back and forth. In the silence, a large beam in an arc around the sides and back of the auditorium.
3. The Sounds of the Night - Led by an ensemble of about seven students who demonstrated and led the audience in various sounds and actions, concluding with a student with learning and behaviour problems who paraded back and forth across the stage doing all kinds of neat dance steps.
4. Do The Igor - A line of students in each aisle who raised their forward shoulder and dragged their back foot on "Yes, Master," high-knee tip-toed back down the aisle at the appropriate spot in the accompaniment, and did assorted motions and sounds in between, ending with the shoulder/foot thing on the way back to their stage places.
5. Jaws of the Jurassic - Small groups holding flashlights under their chins led the verses at the microphones. My Visual Art colleague created a couple of nice cardboard dinosaurs with handles on the back, which a Behaviorally/Emotionally Handicapped student helped her paint. One wheelchair-bound student and four able-bodied students carried these slowly back and forth across the stage in the inner sections of the music. (I am still working on figuring out how to do a really large dinosaur head with moving jaws, behind which we can put a small slide, to have the younger brothers and sisters of the chorus members be "eaten" by the dinosaur - - jump in the mouth, and slide on their tummies down the slide. For this year, the regulation cardboard dinosaurs had to do. I found them on a Jurassic Park website. . .)
6. Scarecrow - Didn't have time to do this technically "right," but it was a great success anyway. Had two students stand up on chairs holding a king-size white sheet. One student held a giant flashlight behind. Another student in jeans and straw hat created the scarecrow shadow and shimmied and shook at all the right places. Big hit with the audience. . .
7. Hallowe'en Rap - Easy and funny and VERY effective: Had a group of 10 - 12 girls who learned all the rap parts. They would run out in small groups to a mike, do the rap, then run (with high knees, exaggerated steps, but running) off stage to the other side, screaming where appropriate. They were configured in "random" groups - - not really, but to appear random. They concluded by running, screaming hysterically, back to their places on stage.
8. Dweller of the Cave - The piece de resistance. Borrowed the pea-souper fog machine from a colleague. Got myself out to the dry ice place at the crack of dawn. CO2d those little buggers within an inch of their lives! Had two ruffians who would rise up from behind a "rock" wall (thanks again to the visual art teacher) on every upward movement of "Dweller of the ca - a- ave, beyond the light of da - -a - - ay", swaying in contrary motion, and then back down on the downward movement of "Dweller of the Cave." In the inner parts of the song, some "creepers" came through covered in sheets and trash bags, shining the occasional flashlight and sinking down when the rock wall boys rose up. (By the way, Paul of Plank Rd. Publishing, if you read this - - my best friend made an immediate connection with the writings of Plato - - please tell Teresa that at least SOMEBODY appreciated her literacy!)
9. Bat Dance - Everyone who did not have another part and who wanted to "be something" got to be a bat, complete with trash bag wings, and swoop down on the audience up one aisle and down the other.
Curtain Call: The Chorus took its traditional three-bow curtain call, wherein they bow from the waist, look at the floor, count silently to three, and stand back up. I "lead" them through these bows by motioning when they should bow. Traditionally, at the fourth bow, I turn with arms extended toward them, and then take the final bow along with them. This time, when I turned to the audience and bowed, the Chorus all made ugly faces and menacing gestures at me, and as I turned back to them, they quickly straightened up and assumed angelic postures. The students didn't really get it - - it was late and they were being hurried out - - but the teachers and parents just howled with laughter.
It was all great fun. Nearly killed the visual art teacher and me, but all in all, it was worth it. The few kids who have never "liked" music before absolutely love it now. I'm getting smiles from VERY unexpected sources.
To make a SHADOW SCREEN....I took a full size white sheet and hemmed a 2" pocket along the sides and top into which I slid PCV tubes the length of the sheet( 3 tubes, one for the top, two for the sides and two elbow PCV Joint tubes to connect the 3 long pieces) I then used the bottoms of 2 band stands(I took the top part off) to put the PCV tubes down over to hold up my screen. The first graders say what they want to add and we make up an ostinato with motions to go with it. For example, today someone suggested "candy corn." So we said - Drop, Drop, Drop, Shh! Once they got going with the motion the "cook" stirred and sang the song while the class did the ostinato under. They had so much fun! -- Elizabeth Tummons
Kindergarten - Fourth Grade Music Specialist, Southern Boone County Public Schools - Ashland, Missouri There's an arrangement of The Monster Mash that's a lot of fun. My choir has insisted on performing it at our Halloween parade assembly for many years now. No one gets tired of it as everyone waits to see who will have the solo parts eash year. I many small solos rather than one big one.
Pumpkin patch, pumpkin patch, I'm looking for a pumpkin in my pumpkin patch, Here is one - nice and fat Simply make a game board with spaces around the edge and a blank space in the middle for 2 sets of small cards. Then on 1/3 of spaces put a picture of a cauldron, on 1/3 a treble clef and on the other 1/3 leave blank. Use one dice and buttons for markers (or you could get clever and get Halloween things but I'll bet these might disappear with upper elem. kids) song:
K/1st: give them a simple melodic phrase to sing. for example (sol
mi-la sol mi)
2nd: give a phrase but make it more challenging. for ex. i wanted to
challenge them to use their upper range, so my phrase was: sol,
sol-sol, do' do' (high do).
They did just great. including some who usually find high notes
difficult if not impossible.
3rd-5th: the leader may sing the question using any notes he/she wants,
simple or fancy pattern. two rules only: he/she must SING (not talk)
and he/she must use his/her proper singing voice (no weird sound-effect
singing. if you don't know what i mean, play once without these rules.
you'll hear some very creative but not so healthy singing!).
Who wins? EVERYONE who sings! give treats to everyone after all have
taken a turn.
This game's a great way to check their singing. i haven't had a kid yet
who wouldn't sing when it was his/her turn. even my chronically shy
have sung alone (some of them for the first time!). also a great way to
check the listening of the others.
It's also a good kill-a-few-extra-minutes kind of game. Here’s a slighty altered version: My first graders can't get enough of this game. The suggestion someone made about having the scarecrow listen for a good singer to hand the pumpkin to has gotten the most wonderful results in my room. Kids are singing beautifully for a chance to be chosen. Otherwise, they tend to have the "let someone else do all the work" attitude toward singing - particularly after the game has gone through several repetitions. -- Leslie Ritter 1. Teach Pumpkin rhyme: Explore size while saying the poem. Use small voices and shapes for the small pumpkin, medium volume and middle sized shapes for middle, and big voices and shapes for the big one. 2. Explore big, medium, small movements in the room by sectioning it off -- whole room for big, half for medium, 1/4 for small. Use drum accompaniment with appropriate volumes for each size. 3. Play "In the Hall of the Mountain King". The melody repeats 3 times. During the first time (quietest), move using small movements and shapes (in a sneaky fashion). the second time is medium, and the final is loud. At the very end, freeze during the big chords, and the small and medium each get a very short opportunity to make an appearance again. Make a final BIG shape on the last chord. 4. Assign 1/3 of the class small, 1/3 medium, and 1/3 big. Only move when it's your group's turn. At the end, bigs freeze while smalls get a little solo, then mediums, then all turn big on the last chord. -- Mary Evans After 4 times through the song, everyone had gotten to hold a skeleton, and after the 5th all had gotten to play rhythm sticks. So, since they all had sticks, I challenged them - I told them I was going to play my rhythm sticks. When I changed the way I was keeping the steady beat, they were to play however I was playing to begin with. When I changed to a third way, they were to play the second way, etc. (so sort of a canon, except that they were just supposed to move on to the next thing when I switched, not after the same number of beats) We practiced first with 8-beat patterns, to make sure they understood, and they did, so we did it with the music and they really got into it. We did it a second time, they enjoyed it so much, and then someone said, can we do it in pairs? So they did - everyone found a partner and one was the leader and the other followed, and half-way through the song I told them to switch and the other person got to be the leader (I would have let one person lead one time through the song and played it again to give the other person a chance.) -- Ann in GA This is the tune I use: We then had the idea of when we practice in the bathroom at home to make up a vocal warmup in front of the bathroom mirror using all the objects you find in the bathroom....soap, deodorant, shampoo, towel, toothpaste, etc...... The kids really enjoyed this activity and asked if they can create their own for next week. -- Sue Michiels Materials needed: rhythm slips for students to select from (opt.), assorted classroom percussion or found sounds, chart of all parts (Each part is notated, with words added to fit notation.) 1) ta ta ta Z (pump-kin pie Z) drum Teach individual speech and rhythms to the whole group using body percussion and instruments. Layer as time and abilities of group allow. Overall goals were: 1. S clap galloping rhythm (6/8 meter) as T plays drum to galloping rhythm in 6 different to illustrate 6 dynamic levels Lesson 2 (The ideas for Ghost of John came from Alice Pratt at an Orff Workshop on Multiple Intelligences) Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Phrase 1: (8 beats) Take 4 slow steps fwd, crouching lower with each step.
Refrain: Oh, my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Frankenstein,
Birds are flying in the sky, way up high, in the sky Birds are flying in the sky with sunlight on their wings
Leaves fall down to the ground below, watch them blow, down they go Leaves fall down to the ground below autumn is here!
The leader asks, "Are you my children?"
Chidren sit in a circle surrounding one standing child and act out the words of the song. At the end of each round the leader spins around with eyes closed to pick the next leader.
Juan Linterna, Juan Linterna Quien eres tú, quien eres tú?
The words mean, "We are the skeletons. We are here.
q e e q q h h q e e q q h q q h q q q (2 beats rest)
h q q q (2 beats rests) q q q q q h q q q q q q h (1 beat rest)
q q q q h q q q q q q h q
q q q q q q q h q h. h. h q h._h
She lived down by the old graveyard Ooo, ooo-oo-ooo
(The song is in 3/4 meter with an upbeat. q stands for quarter, h, stands for half, h. stands for dotted half, and h._h stands for dotted half tied to half.) The singing game is played in a circle with the teacher in the center. The first time, speak the words. At the end of each line, pause while the children lower both hands from above their head, wiggling their extended fingers and softly wailing "ooooo" in a very high voice. After they have done this they should next push their hands forward and whisper the words "skin and bones" before you resume telling the story each time. Suddenly shouting "boo" at the end can give everybody a fun scare but has been known to make some kindergarteners cry. The next time, try singing the song but first have everyone sit in a circle with legs extended, arms folded, and leaning back as if lying in coffins. Every time you finish singing a line, they sit up while wiggling their fingers and wailing as before. Right after the last line, they help out with a nice, short, loud "BOO!" The children can then move on to singing the song while doing their "sit-ups" and love to give their own classroom teacher a scare.
I love the tune that goes with this. I throw an old shawl over my head, pull out my gnarled-stick cane, get into an "old and stooped" frame of mind (not too hard any more!), turn out the lights, and perform the song for the 1st graders. (I think it's too scary for my K's.) The first time, they just about jump out of their skins when I swing around from "opening the door" and scream "boo," but that's their favorite part. Then I teach them the descending "oo" pattern. We use "b__a_ge__" for pitches. Good for bringing that head voice down. In later classes, the kids take over the oo's until they have the narrative words learned, then they can join on that too. Also works for steady beat strum on a Dm autoharp chord. (Lower key of course.) Older kids (4th) play a steady beat full Em strum on guitar as their first guitar experience. They know the "boo" is coming, so they knock once on the guitar body on that. Keeps them on their toes. One year, after the 1st thought they were too experience.
For those of you who teach recorder - and can do Halloween - I teach my students the ooooohs on recorder (bag-e) and half of the students play the oooohs while the other half sing. Then we switch - they really like
doing this.
This is a round, with entrances on every other measure:
q q q q q q q (rest) q q q e e q q e e e e
h q q q q q e e e e e e q q q q
One little, two little, Three little witches
On the first day of Halloween My true love gave to me
Bats can fly around and make such spooky sounds,
Full Moon, Full Moon (Sway left, sway right) All movements are done in twos: Procedure:
This is such a scary place. It's so dark! It's so cold!
(After repeating this a million times as the music increases into a frenzy, say:)
Ai yai! Ai yai! Run and run and run and run and run and run away!
End with a silent scream. The children loved this! I made up simple (and I mean simple!) movements to go with this. They ended the lesson by internalizing the words and doing the movements while listening to the music. Success!!!
Actually it doesn't repeat only this rhythm. My seventh graders have been studying this piece and right now are in the
process of creating a listening map of their own design to show everything they have discovered in the piece (synthesizing the information), which includes the following:
There are two themes, the first has the same rhythm as Mary had A Little Lamb. The second theme has changes (variations or contrast?? we can't decide) in the rhythm, and the theme is played higher (a fifth)
THEME 1 apple apple/ apple pie/ apple pie/ apple pie/ apple apple/ apple apple/apple apple/ pie(rest)/
The themes are grouped in three sets of six: 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 1st
The instrumentation of the first two sections follows a pattern: string, woodwind, st., ww, str, ww. We use the Microsoft Musical Instruments CD-rom to identify the specific instruments. Great for timbre discrimination.
For background information on the music I use excerpts and pictures from Ibsen's play Peer Gynt and we also listen to a recording of the piece in which the actors sing and speak in the very last section. Pupils may also do a composer profile of Grieg. This piece is also a mystery tune for students to work on.
In the Hall of the Mountain King - (movements)
"Own" means to pat your own legs with both hands.
It's a short pattern, but because of the crossing and patting other people's legs, the kids are challenged. Another tricky part is that they want to watch me...but when they are on the other side of the circle, all of a sudden it looks backwards and they go left instead of right etc.... I
always try to warn them of this ahead of time.
What's It like to be kissed by a vampire? (It's a pain in the neck.)
A GROANER for Your Kids: Second graders do Grieg's "In the Hall Of The Mountain King" from Peer Gynt. I adapted the script from an older version of SBG. Directions for presenting: Tell the story with background music. I only concentrate on "Morning Mood" and "In the Hall Of The Mountain King." Then let the children reenact the story using props while I narrate the story, or let them improvise. I always do a unit in October on Phantom Of The Opera with my third graders. I found a wonderful cartoon version (ISBN 4100-96057-3). After that, I show clips from the 1925 Lon Chaney version and the 1945 Claude Raines version. We talk about how movieshave progressed from the B&W silent films to today. Then we look at pictures of the Paris Opera House (as mentioned in the story) and also pictures of the Broadway version. For fourth grade, we do Rossini's Ghost (ISBN 7464-66717-3). We talk about the things that went wrong when he wrote the Barber Of Seville and how superstition can be misconstrued. Then, there are the ever popular Music K-8 songs, Dweller Of The Cave, The Sounds Of The Night, and Bat Dance. My kids ask for Dweller ALL YEAR LONG! It is a good piece for dynamics. They also love "Chicken Lips." I also use a plastic skeleton and sing Dem Bones. I made labels with the names of the bones and taped them in the appropriate places on just one side of the skeleton. Then... I made labels with the scientific names and attached them to the other side. We sing the song. After that, we play Simon Says for a while using the scientific names. (Simon says, "Touch your patella, touch your scapula, etc.") Then we try singing Dem Bones with the scientific names. Then you can do a variety of steady beat and rhythm activities. That leads in to: (I can't remember my source for this, but it was an Orff workshop. It sounds good with creepy sound effects in the background) IN THE DARK ppp - It's dark in my room and it's late at night. It's the first time I'm sleeping without my light. What if it's a dragon? (Maybe two or three or four!) fff - It's coming in my room.* Oh, what will I do? fff>>>pp - Oh... Hello, Mother... It's only you!Of course there are also wonderful commercialproducts available, such as "From Hay Rides To Sleigh Rides," a great collection of Orff activities. I agree that October is a great time for minor music. Last year, I actually had to conference with a parent who feels minor modes are "Satanic." I used this as an opportunity to teach a little music history, specifically Bach's composition "Toccata & Fugue in D minor." (You know Bach, the guy who played organ at church!) I must admit, my principal found the whole incident quite humorous and had a hard time keeping a straight face as I explained it. Then I play "Clementine" to the class in a major key, followed by the relative minor. I explain that lowering some little notes by 1/2 step is what makes the difference.
1. I start with the book:
tocatta - a showy piece - lots of extra ornaments to show off the skill of the
performer
The listening map illustrates each of the above very nicely.
1 pkg. (6 oz) blueberry jello mix; 1 carton (16 oz) small curd cottage cheese; 1 can (16 1/2 oz) blueberries, in syrup; Blue food coloring
Prepare jello according to package directions. Chill four to five hours or until firm. Scoop the cottage cheese into a bowl, then drain and set aside the syrup from the blueberries. Add the berries to the cottage cheese and mix well. Add three drops of food coloring to turn the cottage cheese a nice grayish color. To serve salad, place a few spoonfuls of firm jello (congealed brain fluid) onto individual serving plates. Top with a scoop of cottage cheese mixture (brain tissue) and serve. Serves six psycho surgeons.
Use two Ritz Crackers: spread peanut butter on each one, put four pretzel sticks on each side of one of the crackers for legs, and close the crackers together. Dip two raisins into the peanut butter, and put on the top for the eyes of a Creeping Eating Spider!
Make green Jello. Put some of it in a clear bowl and put aside. When the jello starts to solidify, add various gummy bugs. Beat the
rest of the jello to a froth and add to the top of the slime. Let it set up and serve.
Prepare a box of instant chocolate pudding according to instructions. Mix the pudding with 1/2 container of whipped topping. Line a shallow, clear dish with crushed chocolate wafers (Oreos work well, also). Mix GUMMY WORMS with the pudding mixture and layer the dish, alternating crushed cookies and wormy pudding. Top with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with finely ground cookie sand. Chill til serving time.
Tired of burning your fingers when lighting jack-o'-lanterns? Try this: Instead of carving the pumpkin from the top, turn it over and carve out a circle on the bottom. Scoop out the pumpkin innards. When it's time to light your lantern, simply set the carved pumpkin over a candle. If you make a big enough hole in the pumpkin botton, you'll be able to put the candle in a votive or on a small, plate (don't use paper!). Save the piece of pumpkin you cut out to fill in the whole when you're not burning the candle.
This is both a yummy treat and a great decoration to scare your friends. Use a clean rubber glove. Make a strong cherry or other red jello by using 3/4 of the recommended amount of water. Hang the glove over the sink by using clothes pins attached to thin strips of wood. When the jello has cooled pour into glove and place in the deep freeze. Be careful not to have the hand pressing against anything or it will ruin the shape. When the jello is frozen cut the glove off using small scissors. Keep your masterpiece in the fridge until ready to display.
1 lb. icing sugar; 1 egg white; peppermint essence; black liquorice
1.Place one half of a canned peach on a plate, flat side down.
In a bowl combine 2 cups of washed and dried green grapes and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Pour into 1 prepared graham cracker pie crust. Right
before serving sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar.
2 cups plain yogurt 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 package frozen strawberries or raspberries, thawed ice cubes
Apples Water A deep pan or a half barrel Lots of kids
You can blindfold the players or not. Put the water and apples in the barrel. Without using hands the players must pick up an apple with their teeth! (If you wear glasses then don't forget to take them off.)
Contributed by Connie Herbon
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RATTLING BONES - This week we did "Rattling Bones" (MK8) and the kids have been loving it!. We imagine we are in a series of interconnecting underground tunnels, but we're not
worried, at first, because we have our flashlight and compass. Then we hear these
rattling bones, and the sound is coming closer. So, we have to get quieter so they
won't hear us and come after us. But, our compass is directing us to go closer to
where the sound is. And our flashlight is getting weaker and weaker. By the third
verse the flashlight goes out (I turn off the lights) and we can't see our compass
any more. But, in the darkness we can see a dim light from the tunnels' exit (the
light of my computer screen or light from the tiny window I have in my door). Oh,
NO! That is right where the sound of rattling bones is coming from! So, we have to
get super quiet and try to creep past the bones. But, they hear us! So we make a
mad dash for the exit, shouting "rattling bones" as we go! This scenario fits right
in with the volume markings for the song.
Paul - this is a great way to teach dynamics. Thanks for this song. By the way, the
kids are all convinced that some of the "bones" must be from dead horses because
they don't just rattle - they gallop! (ti-ti ta, ti-ti ta, ti-ti ta, etc.)
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06/05 "SHAKE DEM HALLOWEEN BONES" by Nikola- Lisa. (I think it's a Scholastic book) I wrote a simple minor melody for the "shake, shake, shake dem bones now..." refrain that repeats throughout the book. I give the kids shaker eggs, and they shake to the beat and sing whenever those words appear in the story. It is about various fairy tale characters attending a Halloween ball. The kinders love it and 1st and 2nd graders ask to do it each year.
---
Here's the melody I made: Text: Shake, shake, shake dem bones now, shake shake, shake dem bones now, shake, shake, shake dem bones, at the hip hop halloween ball.. D F GFGA, D F GFGF, D F GFG G#G# A G FF E D. Each note goes with a word above. Barbara Williams
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06/05 "13 SONGS FOR HALLOWEEN"Celebrate, Sing And Play About Special Days," and "More Songs For Little Singers". They all have Halloween songs that can be used with young children. The first two have songs for older kids too.
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12/07 THIRTEEN NIGHTS OF HALLOWEEN - by Rebecca Dickinson [This is] the cutest bookfrom one of the Scholastic book fairs.... with the most adorable pictures. The kids want it sung every year. - Mary Grebe
BACK to Holiday topics
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HALLOWEEN MOVEMENT
1. I wrote the words on a chart, sang through the song, then did this:
2. Wrote the following terms on the board:
Pantomime/Character/Scene/setting stage action
3. We discussed all the above terms:
A. I asked the kids what pantomime means, and let them guess for a minute, then defined it as "acting something out".
B. I asked what a character is, then asked who is the character in this song?
C. I asked what scene and setting are, and where this song takes place (the kids came up with: at night, by a graveyard, at her house, in her closet)
D. I asked what "action" means, and we decided it is something you do, then we defined a stage, and then we said stage action is something you do on a stage. Then the kids decide what is all the stage action in this song:
i. she took a walk
ii. she saw the bones
iii. she went to the closet
iv. she opened the door
v. she got scared We then discussed the order in which all these happened.
4. Finally, I chose a student to be the old woman and we acted out (pantomimed) the stage action while we sang the song. The students who weren't the old woman were the graveyard, either as gravestones or as bones. We also decided to do the same motion on each repeat of "ooooh".
There was an old woman all skin and bones - ooh!, She lived down by the old graveyard - ooh!
One night she thought she'd take a walk - ooh!, She walked down by the old graveyard - ooh!
She saw the bones a-lyin' around - ooh!, She went to the closet to get a broom - ooh!, She opened the door, and BOO - Beth Miller, Mt. Diablo Unified School District, CA
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12/03 SCARECROW IN THE GARDEN - singing game
ti ti ti ti ta ta ti ti ti ti ta-ah
S S L L S M, S S L L S
Scarecrow in the garden, scare away the crows,
ti ti ti ti ta ta ti ti titi ta-ah
Class:Who has the pumpkin?(S M L S M)
Solo: I have the pumpkin.
Class:(Jenny) has the pumpkin, Everybody knows! S F M R D
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10/01 MONSTER MASH
Verse 1: Motown Temptations move every refrain: the twist
Verse 2: the swim
Verse 3: the boogaloo
verse 4: the jerk
verse 5: the monkey, then shaking fists when music says to do so
verse 6, the swim
fade out: the jerk again.
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CLASSICAL MUSIC: I've been using classical pieces from Elsa Findlay's book on Dalcrose. There's a nice piece for marching, one by Prokofiev for running, Schumann's Wild Horseman for galloping, a Sicilienne for skipping, Schumann's March Militaire for
hopping and jumping. It has Londonderry Air which I've had them plant their feet and do flowing nonlocomotor movements to and a Chopin waltz that I've been having them do step, step, step, pose.
ghost, black cat, jack-o-lantern, ghost
black cat, ghost, jack-o-lantern, ghost
ghost, black cat, jack-o-lantern, black cat
ghost, black cat, jack-o-lantern, ghost BACK to Holiday topics
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HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES
11/13 I found some plastic eyeballs at Dollar Tree and some skeleton
plates at Walmart and created this game. I put various notes on the
eyeballs and numbers on the plates. After a review of note values, each
student pulled out an eyeball. They had to put two eyeballs on each plate
whose note values equaled the number on the plate. Not so easy as I
thought. I made them go one at a time and the first ones had a pretty easy
time but the later ones really had to think which ones made the right
number. ----- Robin Lavinder; music teacher, Franklin County Public Schools.
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11/08 I've written one for Musicplay 4, and have a rhythm game with it.
Pass the pumpkin round the room ss ls dd d
Keep the beat while passing rr ss m d
When it stops you take a turn ss ls dd d
Clap it if you can! rr ss d
I put our rhythm flashcards in the pumpkin, and pass (sort of to the beat) - where it stops they choose and clap a rhythm. It's fun to make a rhythm chain. The students who get the rhythm go to the front of the room, and each time you sing and add a new rhythm, the chain becomes longer. It's fun to see if anyone can remember the entire chain when it gets long! --- Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay – the Sequential Text Series [email protected] 888-562-4647
With K we chant "Pumpkin patch, pumpkin patch, looking for a pumpkin in a
pumpkin patch. Here is one, round and fat, turn into a jack-o-lantern just
like that!'---- Lisa McDonnieal
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12/07 "PUMP-kin, PUMP-kin, Round and fat,
Turn into a jack-o-lantern, just like THAT!"
Children stand in a circle, facing outward, reciting poem. On "THAT" everyone jumps around and displays a face that has been pre-arranged, e.g. a scary, sad, wacky, angry or (I always try to end on) happy face.
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To "Did you ever see a Lassie":
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin, Have you ever seen a pumpkin that grows on a vine.
A round one, a tall one, a fat one, a small one, Have you ever seen a pumpkin that grows on a vine.
Pick 4 solos to sing and act out the 4 types. Use different voices and postures to describe. Pick out the rhyming pumpkins. -- Sheila W.
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12/07 IMPROVISATION: Introduce students to the following chant (6/8):
"Halloween night is a spooky night, A time for tricks and treats. (clap clap)
Be careful as you cross the street, And if, by chance, a goblin you meet
then run away run away fast (clap clap) run away run away fast (clap clap)"
(r)/ tititi ta ti/ tititi ta ti/tititi tititi/ta ti ta (r)/ tititi tititi/ta ti ta (r)/
Students should accompany the chant with an alternating knee pat (dotted quarter note) and clapping (ti ti) where appropriate. This sets them up to learn the accompaniment (if you so desire to have students accompany.)
First line: C G/ C G/C G/C cc
If you use Bass Bars, leave out the "clap clap" I had these words printed out for the students to see. I posted them on the board. Underneath the paper I wrote "GG E GG E GG EA GG E (repeat)" After the students learned the chant I played the notes on the recorder.
I asked the students to identify what the song might be (think Halloween).Some students identified it as "Trick or Treat.smell my feet.etc." Students learned to play this on the Xylophone (younger students, Gr. 3) or the Recorder (Gr. 4 and 5). Students broke into groups. Grade 3 broke into 6 groups (6 AX) and took turns improvising using the C A G E bars only.
Initially the 4th graders were attempting to use the C pentaton, but by the end of the session I sensed it was too much, so I shortened it to the 3 notes for the 5th graders (the 5th grade session was definitely successful and the kids came up with some interesting melodies.) To perform, the children say the chant together, and then the teacher continues to play the BX while the selected group plays their melody.
For the fifth graders, I told them to use the first two lines of the chant as the rhythm for their melody. I played an example on my recorder. I used only E G A. Many were impressed.but I digress, that wasn't my goal. That instruction helped some, others paid no attention to it, but still improvised a melody - some were short and some were long. One 5th grade boy, who never played much on his recorder, or wanted to, for that matter, rose to the challenge and improvised quite well. I was very impressed! -- Christopher Saraga
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06/06 FLASHLIGHTS: I have a couple of little flashlights with light-producing fiber optics extensions. We sit in a circle on the floor. First, I talk about how we can respond to music with movements. Then I show them, without any music playing, how I can make motions with the flashlight to show how the music flows and changes. We talk about big movements for exciting sections and loud sections, we talk about smooth movements for lyrical sections, we talk about short, sharp movements for "jumpy" sections, etc. We then turn of the lights and listen to Danse Macabre. I show movements for the opening section, and then I pass the light to the student next to me in the circle. If a student can't seem to decide how to respond to the music, I add a quiet commentary about what the music is doing. Of course, I talked about careful use, own space, and being responsible for the object! Everyone from K-5 really liked it. I think the 6's did, too; they just wouldn't admit it! I can see doing this again at Christmas. If I could find some with red, white, and blue, I could use them at various patriotic times of the year. -- Monica in Tennessee
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06/06 FLASHLIGHTS: WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE http://www.musiceducationmadness.com/lesson_plans.shtml
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06/06 FLASHLIGHTS: Denise Gagne has a wonderful flashlight activity in her Listening book (I think it's grade 5), for William Tell Overture. My 4th and 5th graders loved it! I used it after showing the video Rossini's Ghost, which is not spooky at all, and would be good for October. -- Julie Jones
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06/06 MOVEMENT: for Halloween that I went out, purchased black and orange cheapo Party Factory tablecloths, cut them all up 2" wide, 4' long, and made "ribbon" scarves. I used elastic pony tail holders for "handles." Got 52 ribbons. -- Martha Stanley
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06/06 DANCE I do a Monster Mash dance every year. Here are the movements: There are 4 "dance" moves -- the Mummy Walk, the Igor, the Mash and the Knee Cross. Mummy walk: hold hands straight out in front of you, stare straight ahead and walk four steps forward and four steps back. the Igor: Lift up right shoulder so it is higher than left shoulder, hunch over and slide right, together, right, together, the reverse to left shoulder and do step together to the left back to original place. the Mash: Mashed potato, hold hands out in fists in front of you and pump up and down. Knee cross: put hands on knees, lean over slightly, then cross hands to other knee and then uncross, like a Charleston move. -- Kathi in CA
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06/05 PAPER PLATES Third-Fifth Grades:
I found these wonderful "ghost" plates with smiling ghosts all over them (several ghosts per plate). I draw a note or a rest on some of their bodies (usually about 5-7 ghosts, in the place that a T shirt logo would be).
I add the total number of beats and jot it down in pencil on the underneath side of the plate. (So it won't show through.)
I seat the kids in circles on the floor (about 5-6 per group) and carefully sit a plate down in the center (carefully so they won't see the bottom).
1. Keep hands OFF of the plate!,
2. Add and AGREE upon the total number of beats that are on their plate,
3. RAISE their hands when they have an answer and wait for me to come to their circle. (If they give 2 answers, I swipe up the plate and tell them "too bad, I told you only one answer", at which they grown, fuss at the kid who answered the 2nd answer, and do it right the next time.
If they answer INcorrectly: I show them the correct answer and take the plate away, putting it on the bottom of my stack that I'm carrying around from group to group. The plate will then be used with another group (or even that group--if it is the top plate next time I come to them)
Then, I carefully put down another plate for them to "add." IF I CATCH anyone cheating (which I never have--there are too many eyes!) they would be out of the games.
Playing continues as long as there are plates to put down (or, until a specified time, if I don't want to play that long.)
AT THE END: I decide when to stop the game (either when plates run out or "Time" is called. I instruct each team to count "their" plates. The "winning" team with the most plates at the end of the game gets to ...O.K., get this... "line up first." They don't care what the prize is. The magic is in the winning!
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12/03 "Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat!
Turn into a
jack-o-lantern just like that!"
Melody: Do Mi Do Mi Do Mi So Rest, So So So La So Mi Do Re Mi Re Do!
Rhythm: Ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta rest, ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ta ta ta
rest!
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11/03 HALLOWEEN GHOST: Make four little pumpkins. I made them to fit into a child's palm. (I used clip art and ran them off that way.) Put one music symbol on the back of each pumpkin. I used a sticker of a trumpet, drum, sax, and a violin (instrument families is what we were studying.)
All the students find a spot on in the room. They sit down. Anyone who received a pumpkin is a ghost. The ghosts are to take flight and fly around the pumpkin patch. Each ghost gives his pumpkin to a "pumpkin/child" in the pumpkin patch while the class sings:
The Halloween ghosts are out tonight
To give the pumpkins a little fright!
Then I sing "Ooo...Ooo... Who has the trumpet?
Whoever received the pumpkin with the trumpet on the back sings: "Ooo...Ooo... I have the trumpet."
[Once the students knew the game, I assigned someone in the class to sing the question/s.]
Those who received the pumpkins from the ghosts now become the ghosts and the game continues.
The Halloween ghosts are out tonight: c-f,f,g,ab,bb, high C, high F, high C,
This will be an easy game to adjust for any concept at anytime of the year. Use different music symbols and something other than pumpkins. - Contributed by Pamela Rezach
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01/03 SKIN AND BONES I do Skin 'n Bones in e so the recorders can play the 'oohs' - B A G E. The rest of your orchestration looks a lot like mine. Add some spooky percussion - suspended cymbal, wind chimes, light guiro, sand blocks for blowing wind, etc., and you've got a great piece.
---
I had a 2nd grader today change the BX part, on his own!!!, to E B E C (dotted quarter/steady beat). Blew me away!
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10/02 Holly Hedeen has contributed a study guide for The Magic School Bus: Inside the Haunted House. You can download the study guide by going to http://www.hearttoart.com/brmusic. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Resources for Music Teachers
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10/01 I tried a fun Halloween activity this week and the kids really enjoyed it. I've never gotten around to trying the cup game yet, but I tried my own Halloween version. I bought 24 little plastic pumpkins at the dollar store. They came 6 to a package. Every year I do some kind of activity where the kids get "treats" at Halloween time, so I put little spider rings, candy, stickers, etc...in a each pumpkin. We sit in a circle with each child having a pumpkin on the floor in front of them and we practice a pattern. With the younger kids I did "grab, clap, clap, pass." We did it to the "Monster Mash," which was a nice tempo to start. They really enjoyed it, and they loved the anticipation of not knowing what they'd have in their pumpkin at the end. I've been varying the pattern, adding a "boo" and reverse here and there. It's really been bun. I have 2 CD's of Halloween songs, so we've been varying the songs, too.
There is only ONE thing in each pumpkin. That gets expensive enough with 500 students!! "Grab" is when they grab the pumpkin in front of them, "Clap" is them clapping the pumpkin in the other hand, and "pass" is them placing it on the floor in front of the person to their right. When I say reverse. We do the same pattern, just change the direction. They also "Shake" nicely with the little trinkets inside, so I've added shake as a part of the pattern, too.
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10/01 If you don't already know about it, you might enjoy this site. The
accompaniment and words are ready and waiting for you now. Admittedly, I
have a bit of a problem with singing creepy words to sacred tunes, but
"Jingle Bells" and other secular tunes work for me. I thought they were
fun.
http://www.night.net/halloween/halloween-carols.html-ssi
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10/01 DECK THE PATCH
Deck the patch with orange and black Fa la la la la, la la la la
Take along your goody sack Fa la.....
Don we now our strange apparel Fa La...
Troll the ancient pumpkin carol Fa La....
See the Great One rise before us Fa la ....
As we sing the Pumpkin chorus Fa la .....
Follow him as he ascends Fa la .....
Join with true Great Pumpkin Friends Fa la ....
I¹m dreaming of the Great Pumpkin Just as I do this time each year,
When he brings nice toys To good girls and boys
Who wait for him to appear.I¹m dreaming of the Great Pumpkin
With every Pumpkin card I write. May your Jack-o-Lanterns burn bright,
When the Great Pumpkin visits you tonight.
Screech owls hoot, are you list¹nin? Beneath the moon, all is glist¹nin -
A real scary sight, we¹re happy tonight, Waitin¹ in a pumpkin wonderland.
In the patch we¹re watching for Great Pumpkin. We¹ve been waiting for this night all year,
For we¹ve tried to be nice to our neighbors And grow a pumpkin patch that is sincere.
Later on, while we¹re eating What we got trick-or-treating,
We¹ll share all our sacks Of Halloween snacks, Waitin¹ in a pumpkin wonderland!
To each house we go Laughing all the way. Halloween is here,
Making spirits bright What fun it is to trick-or-treat And sing Pumpkin carols tonight!
Oh, Pumpkin bells! Pumpkin bells! Ringing loud and clear.
Oh what fun Great Pumpkin brings When Halloween is here!
On the twelfth day of Halloween my true love gave to me
Twelve bats a-flying Eleven masks a-leering Ten ghouls a-groaning
Nine ghosts a-booing Eight monsters shrieking Seven pumpkins glowing
Six goblins gobbling FIVE SCARY SPOOKS!
Four skeletons Three black cats Two trick-or-treaters And an owl in a dead pear tree.
Oh, you better not shriek, You better not groan, You better not howl,
You better not moan, Great Pumpkin is coming to town!
He¹s going to find out From folks that he meets Who deserves tricks
And who deserves treats, Great Pumpkin is coming to town!
He¹ll search in every pumpkin patch, Haunted houses far and near,
To see if you¹ve been spreading gloom Or bringing lots of cheer.
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10/01 I stick to pumpkins and avoid witches before Halloween because conservative
Christians often have objections to witches and spirits. With the older
kids I have fun with "Rattling Bones" and "Do the Igor" along with
"Rattlebone Rock" book - never had any objections because they are active
songs and any Halloween images are soft peddled. My church has a harvest
festival and costumes are Bible characters rather than anything about
Halloween. There are plenty of pumpkin things for the little ones, thanks
to MK8 and this list, so I don't have to use other stuff.
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I also have a chart I use in the Fall with kindergarten. It has bats and ghosts on it. Four rows with four pictures in each row. It looks like this:
Bat bat bat bat
Ghost ghost ghost ghost
bat bat ghost ghost
bat ghost bat ghost
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to Wheels on the Bus:
The wings on the bat go flap, flap, flap
The skeleton's bones go rattle, rattle, rattle
The feet on the monsters go stomp, stomp, stomp
The witches on their brooms, they fly, fly, fly
The goblins in the dark go creep, creep, creep.
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SQUISHY WITCHES
(snap) Squishy witches (quarter, quarter, quarter, quarter)--repeat
(clap) Tinga-linga Ghosts
(eighth/eighth...eighth/eighth....quarter....quarter rest)--repeat
(patsch) Grima--cing Jack o Lanterns
(eighth/eighth...quarter...eighth/eighth..quarter)--repeat
(Triplet...eighth/eighth/....quarter....quarter rest)--repeat
Witches: Hand drums or scratch heads Ghosts: Triangle tap
Lanterns: Guiro Bones: Temple Blocks
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APPLE BOB (Action rhyme)
Halloween apples. (Bob head)
Bobbing in a pan. (Bob head)
Grab 'em with your teeth, (Snap teeth)
Don't use your hands. (Put hands behind back; shake head "no.")
Ooooh! My head is wet. (Shake head like a dog shaking water off.)
Watch! Here comes an apple. (Put finger up.)
And.... I've...got it! (Bend down and come up with an apple in mouth)
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A Halloween version of "The Farmer In the Dell" using "The Witch On Halloween".....Photocopy on colored construction paper the list of pretend characters you wish to use (I used witch, goblin, bat, monster, skeleton, black cat, and ghost). Mount on poster board, laminate, punch holes and tie enough yarn onto the picture to fit around a child's neck. Have the children take turns being the characters while marching around the outside of the circle. Repeat as necessary.
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"DWELLER IN THE CAVE" is always a hit with 5th and 6th. Years ago, someone's network idea included assigning students to write a poem or story about "who the dweller is". I take that idea one step further and create sound poems with their literary creations.
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PASS THE PUMPKIN Key: D major Use cloth pumpkin to pass on the beat:
Pass the pumpkin all around Listen to the spooky sounds
D F D F D F A D F D F D F A
Ooo oo Ooo oo Will it stop with you?
D' A D' A F F E E D
The person left holding the pumpkin goes out, I let them play the steady beat on the bass bars. I use a soft sculpture pumpkin.
I used this song today in K-3 with great success. For 2nd & 3rd, I programmed a d minor vamp on my keyboard as accompaniment. The kids passed 4 pumpkins around the circle to the beat of the song. The end of the song,"Will it stop on you" determined which 4 kids played the bass xylos (D-F-A-D') with the keyboard vamp. The rest of the students snapped on the off-beats...way cool! For K & 1st, the 4 kids with the pumpkins led the class singing ghostly oos in their high register. I assessed their tone quality while class echoed the ghostly leaders.
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ROCKIN' GOBLIN
Chorus:
He haunts in the shadows, Halloween night,
Laughin' and a'screechin' with all of his might.
All the little ghosts on Black Cat Street,
Love to hear the goblin go "Trick or treat!"
Rockin' Goblin; Rockin' Goblin. Go Rockin' Goblin,
'cause you're really gonna haunt tonight!
The wise old owl, the big black crow, Flap their wings singin' "Go Gob, go"
Rockin' Goblin; Rockin' Goblin. Go Rockin' Goblin, 'cause you're really gonna haunt tonight!
Taught him how to do the bop an' it was great.
The jack-o-lantern told 'em they could be a smash,
They just gotta learn to do the.... Monster Mash!
Chorus
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"Stirring and stirring and stirring the brew, Stir 'til it's hot stir 'til it's stew"
We had a large kettle on a poster and we'd stir to the beat of the rhyme and the kids would tell us what to put in the stew: smelly socks , gallon of blood....You know ...kids:-)
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SPEECH RONDO: Lois Birkenshaw-Fleming workshop last year where she presented this. It was taught as a speech rondo, and the rest of the words
are made up by the children. (I use felt figures of food)
All say: Boiling hot, boiling hot, what will you put in the witches pot?
One child alone: Boiling hot, boiling hot, I'll put _____ in the witches pot?
All say: Boiling hot, boiling hot, what will you put in the witches pot?
One child alone: Boiling hot, boiling hot, I'll put _____ in the witches pot?
Black and blue, full of goo, what will you put in the witches stew?
Black and blue, full of goo, I'll put _____ in the witches stew!
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HALLOWEEN CHANT
Boiling hot, boiling hot, What shall we put in the witch's pot?
Boiling hot, boiling hot, What shall we put in the witch's pot?
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RHYTHM STICKS WITH DAY GLOW:I covered my rhythm sticks with glow in the dark paper and after we had studied the piece and the poem behind it we made up a routine with the sticks and turned out the lights to perform it. It was a creepy and fun Halloween activity for a school that has been "de-witched".
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SONG: WITCHES BREW There is a cute song by Hap Palmer called "Witches Brew" It has a catchy beat and the kids love to dance to it. I don't make a big deal out of the songs -I just use a lot of movement to them and get them to use their imagination.. With my K and 1 students I talk about sound effects in October and discuss sounds of Halloween as fake and help them create their own. I have a lot of children coming back in after Halloween telling me that they weren't afraid. I have a sound effect CD which the kids love with animals, home appliances, etc. that they like to explore. This leads to "Sound" pieces which they perform and I tape. This then leads to my week before Hall. project of "Sound" pictures
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Stand in a big circle around the "cauldron".
CHANT: Stirring, stirring, round in the pot Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling hot (stirring motions) Look to the moon (head back, looking up) Laugh like a loon (do witch's cackle) Stir something round in the pot. (each kid gets to say what they put in the pot. The grosser, the better)
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SONG: PUMPKIN STEW: There is a song in "Music and You" K (l988) on p. 42 called "Pumpkin Stew". The lyrics are "Pumpkin stew, Pumpkin stew, what shall we put in the pumpkin stew?" The children think of ingredients that might go into pumpkin stew. Sing the song twice and have 4 children add their "ingredients" into the imaginary pot. After each group of 4, sing the song again. Someone can be in charge to stir it after each addition.
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FULL MOON, FULL MOON (Stomp the beat)
BIG BLACK CATS, BIG BLACK CATS (Clap the beat)
RATTLIN' BONES, RATTLIN' BONES, RATTLIN' BONES, RATTLIN' BONES
(patsch the rhythm of the words)
HALL-O-WEEN, HALL-O-WEEN
(students bend over and bring hands down and up high, wiggling fingers)
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l' m m l' m r d r m Old mother witch, (echo) tell me how you fly,
m l' m m l' m d t t l "I fly on a broomstick, up through the sky."
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GAME: Old Mother Witch (Ta, titi, ta, rest--SMMS) Looked in a ditch (same)
Picked up a penny and thought she was rich (Ta, titi, titi, ta, ta, titi, ta rest)
xylos: F (on beat) & F + A on first, second and fourth phrases and F + B on third phrase
One student is the witch. Students are in a circle in chairs, with no extra chairs. Witch goes around and taps a student on each rest. Each student tapped gets up and follows along behind the witch. Witch stops and turns to the ones following her and says (in a "witchy" voice) "Are you my children?" They all say a hearty "no!" Song repeats and three more children are added behind the witch. Same question and answer. After the next time, there are nine children behind the witch and the answer is "yes!" All children, including witch, run to try to get a chair. The one left without a chair is the new witch.
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SOUND PICTURES: The week of Halloween I do sound pictures with K-3 children. I have a recording of the Haunted House which uses a story and sound effects. I have "Prepped" the K and 1st grade with lessons on sound effects, etc. (this also helps them to conquer their fears of the night itself) and the final lesson is a piece of drawing paper and crayons. They listen to the story and then create their own "Sound" pictures of the Haunted House. For those children who don't want to do this I ask them to create a Fall Walk Sound Picture. (I use sound pictures for subs too-for the different seasons and using Vivaldi's 4 Seasons as a base The older children - 2nd grade creates "Night on Bald Mountain" pictures using the music, filmstrip or video first and then creating their own. 3rd grade-we use Danse Macabre and they create their own pictures before we see the filmstrip. The kids love this project. For crayon holders I saved the "Baby wipe" containers that look like giant
legos. Those work great.
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HENRY COWELL'S BANSHEE: I do a little background on him, the Banshee and his prepared piano and explain to the children what was used to create the sounds. Then I shut off the lights (not completely). Do it as a SQUILT, let them imagine their own mystery and write about it.
(See also: *Composers/Cowell/Banshee)
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"MOANS & GROANS & SKELETON BONES" by Cheryl Lavender, a book of songs for the Halloween season with tunes the children are already familiar with. I have the book and the Show Trax cassette which is great fun to use. The publisher is Hal Leonard . It has the title song ( to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasle), Are You Creeping ( Are You Sleeping), I'm a Little Goblin (I'm a Little Teapot) and so forth...got the idea??? My kids have enjoyed this for years and ask for it all the way through the 5th grade.
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"SCARY SKITS"
Monster Mash arr. Emerson pub. Jenson/Hal Leonard
Purple People Eater arr. Billingsley pub. Jenson
Adams Family arr. Brymer pub. Hal Leonard
Them Bones Gonna Rise Again arr. Eilers pub. Jenson/ Hal Leonard
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FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS - (how do you feel?) Several years ago a very artistic friend made me 10 little jack-o-lanterns from oak tag. They are laminated and have cut out eyes and mouths. Each has a different expression. We use them each year for "Five little pumpkins, sitting on a fence..." when we do "Pumpkin theater". I choose five students to sing the part of each pumpkin. Each chooses the face that he/she thinks is just right for what that pumpkin is feeling. So we have a little chat about how each might feel and then students get to sing a tiny solo. The rest of the class has to sing all the parts that the pumpkins don't say. I make sure that every student has a turn to sing at least one solo. Kids love it and never want to sit out.
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MACBETH WITCH'S SCENE: Shakespeare ("Double, double, toil and trouble...") as a choral reading, paried with a simple minor instrumentalpiece. It was very effective--(you could find a minor piece in volume IV and V of the Murray editions)--and what a great way to introduce good literature to 4-5 graders.
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The Purple People Eater. One young boy spent a year planning his costume with his mom for the next performance so we could have the monster appear!
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Something that worked really well with my second-graders was a game that I (well, my cooperating teacher, anyway) got out of the book "One Two Three Echo Me!" called the "Monster Game." We played it around Halloween, although you could probably adapt it for all year using animals or something. The kids really liked it, because they had fun making goofy monsters (the parts don't have to match - as long as they got a head, arms, tummy, and feet, it was a monster), and they really wanted that prize! The monsters' body parts were printed on cards, and there were four parts to a monster. Because our classes were large, we gave each child two cards to start with. The object of the game was to make a monster. You went around to each child and sang a question on a simple pattern like 3-3-3-3-1-3. The question usually requested a noun, and went something like "sing me an animal" or a color, or a number, or a food, or something. Then, on the same pattern, the child would respond "I'll sing tiger" or whatever they like. When they'd done this, they could take a card out of the hat the extras were in. The kids who actually completed a monster (there were relativly few as most kids wind up with two heads or something) got a prize. In your case, I'd let them pick a card even if they whispered a correct answer - no singing involved, and then demand a little more each time - don't ever deny a kid a card; just make him/her do it until they do it up to your expectations.
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For example, this week I am using "Miss White" which has a Halloween theme.
Most of my primary classes learned it last year. The rhythm is:
Saw a ghost eating toast Halfway up the lamp post
After teaching the poem by rote, we do it with rhythmic speech, starting with a soft whisper first time, then a loud whisper, a "scary voice", a loud scary voice, then back to a whisper, then silence. The effect is somewhat dramatic.The rhythm is now pretty much engrained in their minds.
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HALLOWEEN STORY: THE WALKING CASKET
CASKET: EEK! EEK! EEK!
MONSTER: THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
VICTIM: HELP! HELP! HELP!
CANDLE: Flicker, Flicker
MUMMIES: OO-AH, OO-AH, OO-AH!
MIDNIGHT: BONG, BONG, etc. (12 times)
LEPRECHAUN: Ho-Ha-Hee! Ho-Ha-Hee!
EVERYONE: Yes, Yes, Yes
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Bats are an ancient Asian symbol of immortality. At Hallows, bats remind us that even though nature seems to die now, it will return.
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"Halloween" means "hallowed evening." Halloween was a holiday in honor of the Celtic god of death. (The Celts were a people who lived in the British Isles in ancient times. My Anglophone cousins and I are all part Celtic, part Norman, part Norse, and part Anglo-Saxon.) On Halloween night, it became the custom to put on costumes and go "a-souling." If you give a hot cross bun to an a-souler, the a-souler will pray for your soul. This is the origin of the custom of "trick-or-treating." Today, children put on costumes and go from door to door asking for candy with the words "trick-or-treat," chanted on the tones so so mi. The children today don't pray for their benefactors, though, because the origin of this custom has been largely forgotten.
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It is believed to have been the Celtish date for the New Year - this was celebrated as such 'recently' on the Isle of Man, a Celtish stronghold off North West England. Halloween Fires were lit in the same way as at Midwinter (Yule), Beltane (May Day) and Midsummer (St John's). Pumpkins are carved and lit to simulate evil spirits and these are placed in evidence in the windows of houses to convince ghosts and other spirits that these houses are already haunted, so that there is no point stopping by. A great work on popular superstition is Frazer's 'The Golden Bough', and usually available in libraries.
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HALLOWEEN PROGAMS & ASSEMBLIES
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We did a Halloween assembly last year for our visiting Japanese teacher. We did:
1. MK8 Bat Dance...every student made a bat cape out of a super large black trash bag. We choreographed the song swooping the bat capes over our faces to begin and end the song.
2. The Ghost of John..We wore white gloves and used blacklights. We sang it with hand actions (of course the balck capes were perfect, they covered up all of our clothes)
3. We sang the Danse Macabre Theme with HALLOWEEN letters appearing on a large shadow screen as we sang. On the verse we had bats, witches, skeletons on the shadow screen.
3. We sang 5 Little Jack-Lanterns using once again the shadow screen to display the fence and the little pumkins as they appear, then the witch, moon and her her broom appear at the end of the song.)
4. We sang Witches Brew, with a "Witch" stirring the ingredients of the song into a big black pot.
Then you get wooden dowels at Walmart and make cardbaord cut-out puppets to hold up behind the screen. to display the images. I use an overhead projector at school to project light from behind the sheet. I put little cut-out fences and moons and even colored transparency paper on the overhead projector. When it projects onto the back of the sheet, you have a picture to go along with your song. The kids can sit on the floor behind the screen to hold their cardboard puppets. I'm sorry this one email is long, but I have had more fun with this shadow puppet idea. We use it for reading month, to display pictures from books as sing songs to go along with the book. The kids love doing the shadow puppets behind the screen. It is great for assemblies.
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HALLOWEEN GAMES
12/11 PASS THE PUMPKIN
Song: Pass the pumpkin all around, Listen to the spooky sound, Ooooh Ooooh, Pass it all around.
-------- l’ d l’ d m m m__, l’ d l’ d m m m___, l (high) m l (high) m , m r d t’ l’ ---- Sand y Toms
I let the 4th graders do it, because they all said their younger siblings were talking about it. So picture this: I'm having the child who goes out play the gong at the end. With the next child who goes out, the gong child moves to boomwhackers--either a D or an A (The purple and orange even look Halloweenish!). Pretty soon we have a whole posse of kids playing D and A on the beat with BWs.
When we were down to two girls in the middle, the kids with the boomwhackers completely cracked me up. On some invisible signal, they all crawled on the floor--to the beat--toward the two girls, playing the boomwhackers as they went, until they were completely surrounded. They looked like a pack of wolves surrounding their prey. It was hilarious! ----- Julie Porter
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12/07 HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING: My kids love to play a ball-passing game with this song. We stand in a circle and pass a ball to the beat of the music. Of course, as it gets faster they get faster, and laughter ensues! Rules:1. Pass the ball with two hands to your neighbor.
2. If you drop it, you pick it up.
3. Keep the beat in your knees (bend your knees to the beat as we pass the ball.)With older grades, we play it as an elimination game, too. I stop the music at random times and whoever is touching the ball is out. This is, hands down, the most requested game we play all year. It is so much fun! -- Emily Kelchner Lee
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01/07 “SPIDER DYNAMICS” Lesson: http://inclusivemusic.bravehost.com/spider.htm
Elizabeth Tummons, Kindergarten - Fourth Grade Music Specialist, Southern Boone County Public Schools- Ashland, Missouri
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BOOK & ACTIVITY Here's something for Halloween. I read my K's the story Big Pumpkin. I have a pumpkin candy bucket, a witch puppet, a ghost ratchet, a vampire beanie baby, a plush bat, and a mummy I created by wrapping a stuffy with toilet tissue. (Sheesh, I need a plush mummy or a puppet!) I read the story Big Pumpkin and use voices for the characters. I use a high voice for the witch and a higher one for the bat. The ghost gets a spooky voice, the vampire gets a deep voice, and the mummy gets a medium range voice. Before I read, I tell the students to listen for high, medium, and low-pitched voices. I read the story and then have them identify the characters with the voice ranges. Then I let them choose instruments to represent the voices. I read the story again, and, when their character speaks, they sound their instruments. Iusually guide what they pick by offering 2 choices. For instance, for thespooky ghost voice I demonstrate a slide whistle and something "less desirable" like wood blocks. Sometimes, yes, they choose the one I wouldn'tchoose, but I just go with the flow. They've enjoyed it this week. -- Monica in Tennessee
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PUMPKIN STEW GAME We sit in a circle, get a big wooden spoon so that someone can stir the pot to the steady beat and then continue to add "things" to the stew. The cook will choose a good singer / instrumentalist to jump in the pot (the middle of the circle) and say what they are - - carrots, onions - - as it gets close to halloween, the kids get very creative with what goes in the pot. Also when you are in line it is a great time filler and you can call on someone singing in line to add something to the pot. They love it and will sing it over and over!
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[email protected]
MONSTER MASH Movements
Mummy walk: hold hands straight out in front of you, stare straight ahead and walk four steps forward and four steps back.
Igor: Lift up right shoulder so it is higher than left shoulder, hunch over and slide right, together, right, together, the reverse to left shoulder and do step together to the left back to original place.
Mash: Mashed potato, hold hands out in fists in front of you and pump up and down.
Knee cross: put hands on knees, lean over slightly, then cross hands to other knee and then uncross, like a Charleston move. -- Kathi in CA
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MOVIE (online) http://www.rdimusic.com/movie.htm
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PUMPKIN PATCH GAME: All the children curl up on the floor like pumpkins and one person walks to the beat looking for the perfect pumpkin. On "here is one" they give them a light backrub -- then we add "poof" at the end and the chosen pumpkin jumps up as a magic jack-o-lantern. The game now continues with 2 "lookers" -- we continue till all are magic jack-o-lanterns and them I improvise a dance on the recorder for all my magic jack-o-lanterns. When they hear the descending d c b a g f e d they know to sink back to the carpet and start again!
And they turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that! POOF! -- Susan Will, Riverside Magnet School, Wichita, KS
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PASSING PUMPKIN GAME: We all know the lovely song- "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat." We stop right there and don't continue with the other famous line- "If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull..." The tune uses sol, mi and la, and the children know it so I decided to use it and make up a singing game. I realize that "smell my feet" isn't quite the proper the sing to say, but children love it. I printed out (colored ink) many different kinds of candy pictures and put them on index cards (snickers bars, cookies, m&m's...). I put the cards in one of those plastic pumpkins and we pass the pumpkin while singing. If you have the pumpkin on the last word, "eat," you take a card out ofthe pumpkin. That child must sing by themselves, "Thank you, for the snickers bar." (Or whatever treat that is on their card.) We keep going until everyone has a card. It doesn't take that long because the tune is so short. At the end, we all hold up our cards and sing the names of all the candy on the pitches sol mi and la. Another nice little note about this game is that children are reading words! Many young children who are just learning to read, will be able to look at the picture and associate the name. We talk about what letter their candy started with and how it sounds. It went really well and I thought perhaps someone could use it! -- Monica Autry
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06/06 GAME: This is the game that we play with Skin and Bones. My kids love it. I have students who are out of school come up and ask me if we still do this song and game. It is one of their favorites. I get the room as dark as I can. At one school I have sliding panels on the window that make it very dark in the room. At my other school I have to put black paper on the windows. I pick the first old man/woman. They go out into the hall. We don't want them to know who is in the closet. That makes it even better!
Next I choose the person to hide in the closet. Then I chose people (4) to pretend to be bones. They cup their hands and hit the floor as the old woman/man walks by. Sounds pretty cool. We turn off the lights and have the old man/woman come in. The kids are sitting in a circle. The old person goes around the circle while we sing the song.
When we get to "she went to the closet to get a broom", she starts making her way over to the closet. When we sing "she opened the door and", then she pulls the door open and the person inside jumps out and says boo! It is so much fun! Only the person hiding in the closet gets to say boo. It isn't fun if everyone says it.
The person who was the old person then chooses someone to take his/her place first. They go out in the hall. Then the person in the closet chooses. Then the bones. If a child does not want to be the old person or in the closet, I don't make them. But everyone has to be a bone. They are sitting there anyway. All they have to do to be a bone is lay down. I keep track of who has been the old person and closet person in my grade book. I don't keep track of the bones. The kids cannot be the old person and the closet person both until everyone has had a chance to be one them first. (bones don't count) Your kids will love this song! Robin in NE
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01/03 CAULDRON: A game with elementary kids that they really enjoy is "Cauldron." (I give them 15 minutes once a year and have several copies so that I can put 4 kids on each game.) It is SO EASY to make. You could do it on your "Paint" program.
The cards are of 2 kinds
a) cauldron cards have printed various instructions such as skip a turn, move ahead two spaces, go back to beg., hum a tune and have game mates guess the song (if they don't guess, go back one space), clap a rhythm pattern for others to echo, etc.
b) treble clef cards are all a staff with one whole note - kids have to say the note name (if incorrect - go back one space)
The kids have to roll the correct number to land on the last space and win the game.
Contributed by Sandy Toms
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01/03 PICK A PUMPKIN
Rhythm:
I = quarter, \ = sixteenth, / = eighth, b = half note, z = quarter rest, l. = dotted quarter
- (between words) = barline
\ \ \ \ / / / / I - \ \ \ \ / \ \ / / I
d' d' d' d' s s l l s / d' d' d' d' s l l m r d
Pick-a Pick-a Pumpkin from the pile / You can make his eyes and a great big smile.
Pick-a Pick-a Pumpkin round and clean, / Soon we'll be ready for Halloween. (As first phrase)
/ / I / / I
d' d' s / d' d' s
Halloween, Halloween,
Soon we'll be ready for Halloween.(As 2d part of first phrase)
---
All form a standing circle around the "picker" who is blindfolded and standing in the middle. All sing the song and walk around in the circle and the "picker". On the refrain "Halloween, Halloween, then we'll be ready for Halloween...", all stop and face the center (we do some little motions too on these words). At song's end, all stand still and I carefully turn the "picker" (who's arm is outstretched & pointing) around 2 or 3 times. When he stops, whoever he's pointing to gets to be the next picker in the middle for the next round.
Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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11/01 I made a pumpkin pillow from stuffing and orange (with brown felt stem)
fleece.
Even my upper els. like this game. it's still evolving, but here are
the basics.
Leader stands in f7ront of room holding pumpkin.
others stand in lines (floor staff works great) toward back of room.
object of game: to echo the leader in response to his/her question.
then catch the pumpkin and become the new leader.
Leader: Who wants the pump-kin? (ta ti-ti ta ta)
class echoes: I want the pump-kin? (same rhythm and melody)
Leader: says name of a student. all others duck. leader throws to
chosen kid.
Former leader goes to chosen kid's spot in line and sits. only the
standing kids sing.
OR
Former leader stands with the new leader up front but does not sing.
either works.
Chosen kid = the new leader who sings the same exact thing to the group.
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"ONE, TWO, THREE, ECHO ME" - MONSTER GAME: Something that worked really well with my second-graders We played it around Halloween, although you could probably adapt it for all year using animals or something. The kids really liked it, because they had fun making goofy monsters (the parts don't have to match - as long as they got a head, arms, tummy, and feet, it was a monster), and they really wanted that prize! The monsters' body parts were printed on cards, and there were four parts to a monster. Because our classes were large, we gave each child two cards to start with. The object of the game was to make a monster. You went around to each child and sang a question on a simple pattern like 3-3-3-3-1-3. The question usually requested a noun, and went something like "sing me an animal" or a color, or a number, or a food, or something. Then, on the same pattern, the child would respond "I'll sing tiger" or whatever they like. When they'd done this, they could take a card out of the hat the extras were in. The kids who actually completed a monster (there were relativly few as most kids wind up with two heads or something) got a prize. In your case, I'd let them pick a card even if they whispered a correct answer - no singing involved, and then demand a little more each time - don't ever deny a kid a card; just make him/her do it until they do it up to your expectations.
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If you're looking for holiday songs for Orff instruments, try "A Pentatonic Travelogue," which is written, composed, and published by Dwight Joiner. Some of the holiday songs have doctrinal words, some don't. So the book is handy either for public school or Sunday school. Besides the section on holiday songs, there is a section on other cultures and a section on the four seasons of the year.
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HALLOWEEN SONGS
12/09 THERE’S A SPIDER ON THE FLOOR, on the floor.
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
Who could ask for any more Than a spider on the floor?
There's a spider on the floor, on the floor.
It's to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It". It progresses chromatically up as the spider creeps up the old lady. I had the kids use their bodies to indicate how the music (and spider) went up higher. When I first read it, I use my Spider hand puppet on myself to show where the spider is. They love it when I cover my face up with the spider. Karen Stafford
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BATS & BALLOONS!: I have a Bats song that uses the squeaking sound of Balloons for the bat sounds. At the end of the song you let the balloons fly. Works well at Halloween with black balloons, but could be used anytime. I can send the song to anyone who would like as a Finale attatchment. If you don't have Finale I could fax it to you. It's another from the book "Sing & Play on Special Days", available from my website www.christmasconcert.com
You may be able to order this from Music in Motion as well. I also have a Christmas song "The Colors of Christmas" that uses balloon choreography. It's in the "Christmas Concert Idea Book". Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay – the Sequential Text Series [email protected] 888-562-4647
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12/07 A 3rd grader at my school wrote [this] at home and surprised me with today. -- Julie in IL
THE TWELVE NIGHTS OF HALLOWEEN
On the ___ night of Halloween, my spider gave to me:
1. A big bag of yummy candy.
2. Two scary masks
3. Three Jack-o-lanterns
4. Four spider webs
5. Five goblins singing
6. Six bats-a-flying
7. Seven black cats
8. Eight costume changes
9. Nine ghosts-a-booing
10. Tummy aches
11. Eleven witches flying
12. Twelve trick-or-treaters
1. A big bag of Mil__ky Ways
2. Two goblins singing
3. Three Jack-o-Lanterns
4. Four Scary Masks
5. Five Spider Webs
6. Six Bats-a-flying
7. Seven Black Cats
8. Eight costume changes
9. Nine ghosts-a-booing, etc.,-- Sandy Toms
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06/06 SONG: s s l l s m Scarecrow in the garden, s s l l s Scare away the crows
s s l l s m Or they'll steal your pumpkins, s f m r d Everybody knows.
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06/05 I use "Skin and Bones", but I have the children be the bones, laying around on the floor and singing the ooh parts. I accompany on bass metallaphone with an octave E drone. One student is the old lady, walking around and "checking out" the bones by bending over and lifting up a leg here, an arm there, etc. They love this. At the end, all of the bones get to sit up simultaneously and say "boo!" -- Mary Evans
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06/05 I created this lesson that I taught today. grade level: K-1-2 concept: size (creative dance)/dynamics (music) time of year: October
One little pumpkin, climbing through the pumpkin patch,
He went up to the spooky house.
A middle-sized pumpkin, climbing through the pumpkin patch,
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06/05 DRY BONES (Song) is in the 4th grade STM, so I had them stand and sing it. I got a bag of various Halloween stuff from WalMart a few weeks ago (mainly for the spider rings, which I used with Kindergarten) that included 8 rubber skeletons on elastic hangers. I looked for the 8 best singers, and they got to hold a skeleton and make it dance while they were singing the song. Let me tell ya, they all were good singers when I started doing that!! Not a non-singer in the bunch, and no one playing around and acting silly!
Then when the song ended, those with skeletons returned them to me and got a pair of rhythm sticks with which to play some sort of 4-beat pattern while we sang the song again, and I looked for 8 more good singers.
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06/05 Pumpkin carols:
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06/05 I use Pass the Pumpkin in a variety of ways, including:
1)assessing steady beat (kids play simple bordun)
2) in-tune singing check (I toss a plush pumpkin and have each child sing back the "ooh, ooh" to me as an echo" quick and fun!)
3)handing out treats - I have a plastic pumpkin (hollow) that I fill with treats for each class. This year, I am putting 5 mini pretzels and 1 Hershey's kiss in each baggie). Whoever is holding the pumpkin on the word "here," gets to take out a baggie.
ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti ta ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti ta ta-ah, ta-ah, ti-ti-ti-ti-ta
la do la do la do mi la do la do la do mi fa mi, fa mi, mi, re, do, ti, la
Pass the pumpkin all around Do not let it touch the ground Ooh, ooh, Ooh, ooh, Halloween is here. (I also slur from the 1st ooh to the 2nd ooh) -- Becky in NH
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10/04 WARMUP: From a Halloween container (I have a pumpkin bag) I picked out at random a Halloween article. starting on do they had to add an adjective to the article and then we gradually moved up the scale picking out other articles. EG squishy eyeball -do
leaping lizard - re
frantic frog -mi
crazy cockroach -fa
fleeing fly
sol mighty mouse
la slithery snake ti
skinny skelton do"
empty pumpkin - do
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01/03 PETER PETER PUMPKIN EATER - Contributed by Connie Herbon
Just got out my wicker pumpkin for "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" in K and found a rhythm activity I'd forgotten about tucked inside! With longer 2nd classes this year, I think we'll finally have time to do it. As I remember it, this is pretty much original, but it's been ages since I used it. I've suggested a possible instrument for each rhythm.
2) ta ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti (Let's make a jack-o-lantern.) wood block
3) ta__ ta__ (2 half notes) (seeds, seeds) guiro
4) ti-ti ti-ti ta Z (Carve a scary face.) jingle sticks or tambourine
5) ta ti-ti ta Z (Scoop out the seeds.) cabasa
6) ti-ti ti-ti ta ta (Set it on the front porch.) maraca/shaker
Contributed by Kim in NJ
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01/03 GHOST OF JOHN I have 4th graders for the first time this year and see them 2-3X per week. I had great success with Ghost of John. I decided to share what I did. It took 3 weeks. No, the kids didn't complain (I was surprised!)
Singing in tune, Developing/Using head voice
Singing a round(2 parts, could have extended to 3 parts), Mallet technique on xylophones (alternating mallets) with an ostinato
Playing rhythms, Selecting dynamic markings for a poem, Selecting non-pitched percussion for a poem, Improvising a melody based on a poem, Lesson 1 (S=students T=teacher)
1) f 2) p 3) FF 4) pp 5) crescendo 6) decrescendo.
2. S identify dynamic levels of all 6 examples. S also asked about MF and MP so we included those
3. S clap galloping rhythm as T speaks "Windy Nights" by Robert Louis Stevenson. (1st stanza only, I believe, it ends with "Why does he gallop and gallop about?") "Windy Nights" is written on easel paper and laminated so I can add dynamic markings, erase, and reuse as necessary)
4. S add dynamic markings above 1 for every line of the poem.
5. S perform peom with dynamic markings
6. S break up into small groups and add their own dynamic markings to this poem. I gave each group a paper with the poem typed on it.
7. S perform each others' interpretations as a class. I wrote their markings on my laminated Windy Nights poem poster. I collected their groups' papers to use next time.
1. Intro Ghost of John as S chant and patsch the ostinato "Skin Gone Cold with no skin on" (Rhythm is q rest q rest ee ee q rest). Repeat as necessary. (Tricky words on Gone and Oh)
2. S review "Windy Nights" poem with T dynamic markings
3. S break into same small groups as last class and practice the poem with their dynamic markings (done in last class)
4. S perform poem with their dynamic markings. If they wanted to add movement to the poem, they could but only after being able to perform the poem with their dynamics
5. S perform Ghost of John, ostinato, group poem repeating that process until all groups have had the chance to perform. I collect the papers again and they go in the students' portfolio.
1. S review Ghost of John. T sings 2 parts for the round.
2. S identify that T created the round and when T started.
3. 1/2 S sing first and 1/2 S sing with T to perform Round. Switch parts.
4. S add ostinato from last class "Skin gone cold with no skin on". I didn't have them sing the round when they added this ostinato. I just had them sing in unison
5. S play ostinato on big E on xylos, metallophones and glocks. I have enough Orff instruments for all to have their own. But you could certainly share if you have enough to pairs students. Or you could add non-pitched percussion and rotate.
6. S play ostinato with correct mallet technique (alternating hands for every note)
7. S perform ostinato pattern 2x, Ghost of John, ostinato pattern 2X, Windy Nights poem (T's dynamics), ostinato pattern.
8. Same as above but have them play and sing the song at the same time. No playing during the poem.
1. S review Ghost of John in a round. Add dynamics to each phrase
T reveals poem on easel chart
3. S reads poem (twice). S claps and reads poem. S claps poem only.
4. S as a class choose 4 non-pitched percussion instruments (1 per line of poem. I offered these parameters: woodblock, sandblock, triangle, drum, tambourine, egg shaker, bells, maracas. They choose and try to match the text if possible.
5. T divides S into 4 groups. Each group has an instrument for each line of the poem. People in each group have the same instrument.
6. S perform Ghost of John in round. (A section)
7. S play poem rhythm on non-pitched percussion and say poem (B section)
8. S rotate between instruments. Form is ABABABAB.
9. T can assess S ability to play the rhythm and S instrument technique on various instruments.
1. S review Scritch Scratch poem. S clap poem without words
2. S break up into small groups (different from Windy Night groups) and decide on which 4 non-pitched percussion instruments they would like their group to play for the rhtyhm of the poem. I had 5 groups with 4 in a group. Some groups had 5 people in which case one person doubled on an instrument.
3. S practice the poem with their instruments. T checks/assesses progress
4. S perform their versions of Scritch Scratch for each other.
1. T has rhythm values to Scritch Scratch without the poem text on an easel chart.
2. S read the rhythm on rhythm syllables or Ghost for q and goblins for ee (whichever method works for you) 3. S guess where this rhythm belongs (Scritch Scratch)
4. S clap the rhythm of Scritch Scratch
5. S improvise a melody on barred instruments to the rhythm of Scritch Scratch using DE GAB (low bars) -- it's G pentatonic.
6. S must begin and end on E (for minor mode)
7. If you have time, you could hear each S improvise. I plan on hearing them 4 at a time.
8. S play Skin Gone ostinato, sing Ghost of John, and play improvisation. Repeat the form above.
1. T review all the parts of Ghost of John: ostinato, singing of the round, Windy Nights poem, Scritch Scratch with non-pitched percussion, and improvisation on barred instruments to Scritch Scratch.
2. S select which part they would like to perform.
3. S decided on performance order.
4. S practice their part.
5. S perform their parts in performance order.
6. T videotape.
7. If time S view videotape, can critique or just watch for fun.
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10/02 There once was a witch (vibra-slap)
Believe it if you can! (slide whistle- up)
She tapped on the window (woodblock)
And she ran, ran, ran. (Kokoriko)
She ran helter skelter (boomwhackers)
With her toes in the air (wind chimes)
Cornstalks flying from the witch's hair (washboard)
Plop goes the hop-toad (timpani)
Sitting on her hat (ratchet)
Whee, chuckle I (finger beats)
What fun, What fun! (thunder tube)
Halloween night (flex-tone)
When the witches run. (ALL)
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10/02 Ghost of John movements:
Phrase 2: (8 beats) Reverse of phrase one
Phrase 3: (8 beats) Circle around in place, stepping
the 8 steady beats.
Phrase 4: (8 beats) Stand in place, shivering and shaking to illustrate the words of the phrase.
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01/02 At Halloween we did "THE MARTIAN HOP", it's a song from the fifties or sixties.
It's a cute song about Martians going to a dance. We did The Macarena for 16
beats, and then the basic line dance for 16 beats; just kept alternating the
two.
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11/01 Tune: Clementine (D minor)
You are lost and gone forever, dreadful sorry, Frankenstein.
I was working with my test tubes in my laboratory fine,
When one night I broke my glasses and I made a Frankenstein.
Refrain:
He was charming, he was handsome, and I nailed his head on tight,
Oh, his teeth were white and pearly and his eyes came out at night.
Refrain:
Well, his nose, I made it quickly from a rotten apple core,
And his tongue was nice and purple and it hung down to the floor.
Refrain:
Frankenstein helped in the kitchen. He was making up a cake,
When he fell in to the mixer and got whipped up by mistake.
Refrain:
Baking nicely in the oven, oh, the cake it turned out fine.
I told my friends that they were raisins, but those lumps were Frankenstein.
Refrain
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11/01 I've done LOTS of Halloween Sing Alongs in the past 12 years. This will be
the first year in a LONG time that I have not done one. New principal who
poo-poos Halloween fun! Bleeah!!
Kids love the Thirteen Days of Halloween. It's a little book with funny 12
days of Christmas song and Halloween lyrics -" On the first day of Halloween
my good friend gave to me, a vulture in a dead tree." etc. I made large
pictures and had kids hold them up as we came to each verse. I generally
only did first 5 verses in a large group (5 cooked worms, yum! yum!)
Also, depending on the age group- do "Looking for Dracula" by Charlotte
Diamond (10 Carrot Diamond tape).
Also dance to Ghostbusters and Monster Mash. Do Ghost of John and Skin and
Bones and have some kids act them out. Use Orff instruments with these-very
effective.
Definitely act out "My Darling Frankenstein". This is always the BIGGEST
hit! Everyone loves this Clementine parody.
Put on the Addam's Family music and have everyone snap and clap at the
appropriate times.
Do a shadow show. I have done this with a big sheet stretched between two
folded up cafeteria tables to make a life size shadow screen and acted out
songs (like Skin and Bones) behind the screen.
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11/01 Hokey Pokey Halloween Style
You put your bat wing in. You put your bat wing out. .......
You do the Spooky Wooky & the Halloweenie howl, & then we all say "Boo!".
You put your cat tail in....You put your ghost toes in....You do the Spooky Wooky........
You put your goblin nose in...You put your witch's hat in....You put you pumpkin head in....
You put your skeleton bones in....And then we all say "Booooooooo!"
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(Compound time with a pick up) Improvise in Em pentatonic. (6/8 meter)
The Hal - lo - ween fence, the Hal - lo - ween fence,
Glow -ing in the moon - light.
The Hal - lo - ween fence is a spoo - ky fence
It gives me such a fright. (!)
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One Pumpkin (One Bottle of Pop)
One pumpkin to pick, two pumpkins to pick, 3 pumpkins to pick,
Four pumpkins to pick, 5 pumpkins to pick,
6 pumpkins to pick, 7 pumpkins to pick, pick!
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OLD WITCH
(sung with sol-mi in 4/4)
Old witch, Couldn't sew a stitch,
Picked up a penny and Thought she was rich
Everyone else answers, softly, "Yes, ma'am."
The leader asks, "Are you my children?"
Everyone else shouts, "No, you old witch!"
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JUAN LINTERNA/JACKIE LANTERN
To the tune of "Frere Jacques":
Jackie Lantern, Jackie Lantern Who are you, who are you?
I am but a pumpkin I am but a pumpkin BOO, BOO, BOO! BOO, BOO, BOO!
Una calabaza Una calabaza BOO, BOO, BOO! BOO, BOO, BOO!
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SOMOS LOS ESQUELETOS
We are getting ready to frighten you!"
C C C D D E C C C C D D E C E D E F G E
Somos los esqueletos Somos los esqueletos E-stamos a-qui
D E F G G A F F A G E G F E F D C G
E-stamos a-qui Venimos preparados pa-ra asustar te a ti
A F F A G E G F E F D C X
Ve-nimos preparados pa- ra asustarte a ti. BU!
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SKIN AND BONES
D F F D F F D F G D A G F D
There was an old woman all skin and bones Ooo, ooo-oo-ooo
She thought one night she^Òd take a walk Ooo, ooo-oo-ooo
She walked down by the old graveyard Ooo, ooo-oo-ooo
She saw the bones a-layin' around Ooo, ooo-oo-ooo
She thought she'd sweep up the old graveyard Ooo, ooo-oo-ooo
She went to the closet to get a broom and BOO!
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HAVE YOU SEEN THE GHOST OF JOHN?
A G A C' A G A C' B C' E' D' C' B A B C' D'
Have you seen the ghost of John? Long white bones with the rest all gone
E' A G A E' D' E E' E' D' D' C' C' B A G A
Oooh ooh ooh Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?
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* * A G A wise old owl sat in an oak.
* * G F The more he sat, the less he spoke.
* * F E The less he spoke, the more he heard,
* * E F G A A A G F D * * Oh if we were all like that wise bird!
was taken and chanted playing 2 octave A's (slowly) [indicated by * *]. (pure minor key) Note names (to sing/chant)are above words in a descending pattern (until "if" which goes up then down to 'la' on 'bird') I did this on a music program (Mother Goose) and though they only play the octave A's, it was a very good exercise in getting the kids to follow me precisely
(I directed every "A") as there were several on xylophones.
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DECK THE PATCH
Deck the patch with orange and black Fa la la la ....
Take along your goodie sack Fa.....
Don we now our gay apparel, Fa....Troll the ancient pumpkin carol, Fa....
See the Great one rise before us, Fa...As we sing the pumpkin chorus, Fa...
Follow him as he ascends, Fa....Join with true Great Pumpkin friends, Fa....
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GREAT PUMPKIN IS COMING TO TOWN to tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Oh, you'd better not shriek You'd better not groan You'd better not howl
You'd better not moan Great Pumpkin is coming to town
He's gonna find out From folks that he meets Who deserves tricks
And who deserves treats Great Pumpkin is coming to town
He'll search in every pumpkin patch Haunted houses far and near
To see if you've been spreading gloom Or bringing lots of cheer.........
Repeat 1st vs.)
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IN THE GRAVEYARD to tune of O My Darlin' Clementine
In the graveyard, in the graveyard Where the moon begins to shine
There's a doctor, crazy doctor And his monster Frankenstein
Oh, my monster, oh, my monster Oh, my monster, Frankenstein
You are very, very ugly Oh, my monster Frankenstein
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ONE LITTLE, TWO LITTLE WITCHES
Flying over haystacks, Jumping over ditches.
One little, two little, Three little witches --
Hey, Ho, Halloween is here!
One little, two little, Three little witches
Flew over the fence and Ripped their britches,
Sewed them up with Fifty stitches --Hey, Ho, Halloween is here!
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TWELVE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN
An owl in a rotten oak tree Two trick or treaters and an...
Three black cats Four skeletons Five scary spooks! Six goblins gobbling
Seven pumpkins glowing Eight monsters shrieking Nine ghosts a-booing
Ten ghouls a-groaning Eleven casks a-leaning Twelve bats a-flying
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BATS
They chill my bones whenever I hear eee eee eee
(sound made by letting air out of balloons)
Bats can't see at night, so how can they take flight?
They listen for the echo of their eee eee eee
Bats can sleep all day, they don't go out and play,
Until the sun goes down and then they fly away! (let the balloons go)
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FULL MOON
Big, black cats; Big, black cats
(Snap on the words to the beat...there's a quarter rest after cats)
Rattling bones, Rattling bones, Rattling bones, Rattling bones
(patsch 3x on the beat then rest for each phrase)
Hal-low-WEEN! Hal-low-WEEN!
(Clap "Hal-low as dotted quarter followed by eighth...when you clap the eighth, hands stay together for WEEN and go in a big moon shape...up and out...)
After learning the words, add actions, then get really tricky and leave out the words and only do the actions! Good for 1-3.
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HALLOWEEN: Peer Gynt
(See also file #36 Peter and the Wolf/Peer Gynt
10/04 MOVEMENTS: I've tried something similar with this same piece that doesn't involve any touching! I just thought I'd pass it along in case someone else wanted to try it. It's basically a hand jive of 16 beats. My 1st and 2nd graders are able to enjoy it, whereas the other pattern suggested is too complex. I originally teach it with the song "Waddaly Atcha" and then bring it back with the Mountain.King. They really see and feel the accelerando and crescendo with the hand jive. We do it while seated in a circle.
pat legs
"hitchhike" motion over 1 shoulder
"hitchhike" motion over the other shoulder
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Stand in a circle and pass one beach ball to teacher beating steady drum beat. When all students can pass on the beat, speed up the drum beats. When all have that, add another beach ball and practice with tempo changes. Now put on Hall of the Mtn. King and tell them not to quit no matter what! About 50 teachers did this with three beach balls going and made it all the way through and it was great! Contributed by Di Park
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10/02 10/02 Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King: http://www.waterloo.k12.wi.us/wes/music/mountan/donepgs/page2.htm
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Here's an idea you may be interested in using "In the Hall of the Mountain King" that really works. I did this last week with my first graders after exploring loud and quiet sounds. It also will serve as my introduction to fast and slow. Try out these words which fit with the melodic rhythm of the music:
This is such a scary place. I don't know where I am.
Should I find another place? Should I go? Should I stay?
And if I should go away, who knows what I'll find there.
Ai yai! Ai yai! Run and run and run and run and run and run away!
Ai yai! Ay yai! Ai yai yai yai yai yai yai yai!
THEME 2 apple apple/ apple pie/ apple pie/ apple pie/ apple apple/ apple pie/ apple pie/ pie(rest)/
1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 1st
1st 1st 2nd 2nd 1st 1st
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This year I chose Grieg as our composer of the month for October because "In the Hall of the Mountain King" has a creepy sort of Halloween flavor to it. I took a very easy Bastien piano arrangement of it, and had the kids play the bass line on barred instruments while I played the melody on the piano. Even the 8th graders were having the time of their lives. Kids really do love this piece. In fact, when I was playing it once at home when I was figuring it all out, my 18 year old rock 'n' roller exclaimed, "I want that CD!!" So Santa brought it--he was ecstatic!
Each movement is performed on a beat.
"Right" means to move your hands one leg to the right, your right hand will
pat the left leg of the person standing next to you and your left hand will pat your right leg.
"Left" means to move one leg to the left and pat left hand on the right leg
of your neighbor and right hand on your left leg.
"Cross" means to cross your arms and pat your legs.
"Out" means to uncross your arms and pat the legs of your neighbors...right hand goes right, left hand goes left.
"Side" means to clap your neighbors hands on each side of you.
Own Right Own Left
Own Cross Out Own (I say "Back" here to help remember to go back to own legs)
Clap Clap Side Side
Turn 2 3 4
The turn is right in place and then you start immediately over.
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HALLOWEEN JOKES
What do skeleton's eat for breakfast? (Ghost-Toasties)
Why did Dracula take cold medicine? (To stop his coffin)
What does a mother ghost tell her children? (Don't spook unless spooken to)
What monster helped found our country? (Benjamin Franklinstein)
What do mummies listen to at parties? (Wrap music)
What kind of insect isn't dead or alive? (a zom-BEE)
What do you call a witch who lives at the beach? (A sand witch)
When do werewolf children stay home from school? (on a howl-iday)
What is a ghost's favorite painting? (Moan-a Lisa)
What is a ghost's favorite food? (spook-etti)
What did one skeleton say to the other when he needed a loan? (I'm dead broke)
What do you call to mummies living together? (tombmates)
Where does Dracula keep his riches? (In a blood bank)
What kind of inning does a monster baseball game have? Frightening (fright inning)
Why did the owl make everyone laugh? Because he was a howl.
What is the favorite ride of ghost children? The roller ghoster
What kind of book does Frankenstein like to read? A novel with a cemetary plot.
What is a ghost's favorite carol? A-Haunting we will go.
What broadcasting company has the best horror shows? The Ghost to Ghost network.
Why do witches fly on broomsticks? It beats walking.
What game do ghost children play? Haunt and seek
What kind of girl does a mummy go out with? Any girl he can dig up.
Where do mummies go when they visit Arizona? The Petrified Forest
What do birds say on Halloween? Twick or tweet
What musical instrument does a skeleton play? The trom-bone
What is on a ghost's bicycle wheels? spooks (spokes)
What is a haunted wigwam? A creepy teepee
Why did the ghost kid measure himself against the wall? Because he wanted to know if he gruesome.
What kind of boats do vampires take when they travel? Blood vessels
What is a stupid mummy? A dummy mummy
When do ghosts have to stop scaring people? When they lose their haunting license.
What did the ghost want to do when he grew up? He wanted to join the Ghost Guard
Why was Count dracula glad to help young vampires? He liked to see new blood in the buiness
Why didn't the skeleton kid want to go to school? His heart wasn't in it
What do goblins and ghosts drink when they are thirsty on Halloween? Ghoul aid.
What do ghosts say when something is really neat? Ghoul!
Why did the game warden arrest the ghost? He did not have a haunting license.
What happens when a ghost gets lost in the fog? He is mist.
Why is a ghost such a messy eater? Because he is always a goblin.
Where do most ghosts live? In North and South Scarolinas.
Why did Dracula break up with his sweetie? She wasn't his blood type.What kind of car does Dracula drive? The bloodmobile.
What does Dracula get when he doesn't brush his teeth Bat breath.
Why did the skeleton cross the road?? To get to the body shop!
What does a ghost eat for breakfast?? Scream of wheat!
What is a ghost's favorite pie?? Boo Berry!!
Why didn't the skeleton want to go to school?? Because his heart wasn't in it.
What did the wicked chicken lay? Deviled eggs.
What do goblins mail home while on vacation? Ghost-Cards!
Q: How do fix a broken JACK "O" LANTERN ? A: You use a Pumpkin Patch!!!
A man was walking home alone one night when he hears a "BUMP...BUMP...BUMP..." behind him. Walking faster, he looks back, making out an image of an upright coffin banging its way down the middle of the street towards him..."BUMP...BUMP...BUMP..." The man begins to run towards his home, and the coffin bounces after him faster...faster...BUMPBUMPBUMP. He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, and locks it behind him. The coffin crashes through his door, with the lid of the coffin clapping BUMP BUMP BUMP on the heels of the terrified man. The man rushes upstairs to the bathroom and locks himself in, heart pounding. With a CRASH, the coffin breaks down the door, coming slowly towards him, the man screaming, reaches for something, anything...all he can find is a box of cough drops which he throws at the coffin...and the coffin stops!!!
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OTHER HALLOWEEN LISTENING & CD's
07/15 CURRICULUM: See “Musical Spooktacular” (Season 2014) at
http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/images/education/pdf/1415_spooktacular.pdf
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06/06 CD: There is an old Hap Palmer recording--Movin'--which contains an instrumental piece called "Haunted House"--that I have used for years in many different ways at this time of year. It would work great for creative scarf movement. It is basically ABCABCA. The A is staccato and soft (skeletons, etc), the B is legato (ghosts, etc) and the C has a louder, rock kind of feel to it. We move to it, play instruments with it, read rhythms with it, and even play easy recorder and Orff instrument/boomwhacker ostinati with it. I love the whole album, in fact! And--all of the pieces are instrumental! Donna Boylan
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10/05 CD album by Andrew Gold called "Halloween Howls.” Unlike the Halloween songs that try to scare, these are delightful little songs that will entertain and be fun for the kids as well as the teachers. Even the teachers enjoyed the ones they heard. I used one song "The Creature From the Tub" with all my classes even up to 6th grades. I played it a few times the weeks before Halloween but I never let it get to the end of the song where they find out what the "creature" in the tub really is. I had students try to guess what the "creature" might be up until the week of Halloween when we finally got to hear the end. It was a riot watching their faces when they discovered what the "creature" really was. I used some of the songs first as listening exercises where we would discuss what the text was telling us and at another listening time we would discuss the form of the piece.
After we heard the songs a few times, we would sing along with the refrain or selected phrases. "Gimme A Smile" is about a little pumpkin that wants to be carved with a smile. There are 12 songs in all, including familiar ones like the Monster Mash, The Addams Family theme, and Ghostbusters. The musical arrangements are very pleasing and each is written in a different style. As the teacher, I really never got tired of hearing them over and over as I shared them with my classes. -- Dale Poling
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06/05 I use a Laserlight CD called American Songs #12 180. (1993) It has the story "The Big Toe" that my kids just love. We listen to it w/ the lights out. Among other stories it includes music: "The Old Grey Goose is Dead", "Goober Peas", "Cumberland Gap", "The Deaf Woman's Courtship",etc. Some of the stories are: "That's Once", "The Split Dog", "The Snakebit Handle". I love this CD. I can't remember where I found it but I can't be without it. -- Susan Hanks
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08/02 For lower grades (K-1) we do apple and pumpkin songs. My favorite bulletin board is sort of Halloween, but no one has ever complained. I start with a very long banner that says, "When you wake up in the morning at a quarter to one and you want to have a little fun, you BRUSH YOUR TEETH." The actual bulletin board is a piece of purple fabric with a candy corn print. I cut out a huge pumpkin and gave it a happy face. Then I stapled candy wrappers around it. I have pictures of a cartoon tooth, sugar, and plaque that result in tooth decay. We do tooth songs, such as Brush Your Teeth and I Have a Loose Tooth, etc.
pp - There's something downstairs,* it's in the hall. Well, maybe it's nothing... nothing at all. p - But there it is again at the foot of the stair.
There's something in the house! *I know it's there! mp - It could be that tiger * I saw on TV. It's coming up the stairs * to gobble up me! mf - Maybe it's a lion or a big black bear. I can hear its footsteps at the top of the stair. f - Closer and closer now it's coming to my room.
Maybe it's a vampire who escaped from his tomb!
ff - It's turning my doorknob, * it's opening up my door.
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11/01 I talk about stories - beginning, climax, resolution or cliffhanger endings
How some stories are told through music w/ no words.
The Ghost of Sifty, Sifty Sam - resolves. Students provide vocal sound effects with words such as "wailing, moaning, screeching". ESL teachers use this book to teach about FOOD.
2. CD of American folk stories and music
The Big Toe (little boy eats sumpin's big toe & it comes after him) - cliffhanger
3. Skin & Bones - words added to music enhance the spookiness of the story. If time, we act it out and add sound effects. - cliffhanger
4. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt - I give the basic story, let them keep the beat w/ their fingers. - cliffhanger. I also tell them there are 3 basic endings - He got caught, he got away, and he woke up. Music allows you to choose your own ending. If time, they could write their own ending.
5. "Sorcerer's Apprentice" - resolves. I show the Disney "Fantasia" version. They can see what the music suggested to some imaginative minds.
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11/01 Here's a listening activity I did with 6th graders this morning
that worked really well!
First, we listened to Bach's Tocatta and Fugue, after discussing the terms
tocatta, subject, imitation and sequence. We followed the listening map found
in this year's Music Memory notebook. Then I had them each draw a haunted
house, and they had to illustrate their understanding of each of the musical
terms. In very basic terms, I used these descriptions:
subject - the main theme of the fugue
imitation - a musical idea repeated exactly
sequence - a musical idea repeated at a different pitch
For example, one student drew an ornate haunted house - lots of detail in the
shingles on the roof, designs around the windows and door, etc. She used ghosts
for the main subject - poking out of windows, going in and out the door, sitting
on the roof, etc. She used one shutter closed on each window to show imitation,
and used groups of 3 bats to illustrate sequences.
Of course, all the while they're drawing, they continued to listen to the
selection.
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10/01 I really love 'Fireworks' by Debussy - plan to do this as a listening
piece at Halloween. It's perfect - no witch words, but in keeping with
the season. I plan to give my students a variety of props - ribbons,
balloons and scarves and see what they can choreograph. I have it in the
Listening Kit 2.
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HALLOWEEN RECIPES
BRAIN CELL SALAD
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CREEPY SPIDER CRACKERS
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SWAMP SLIME
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WORM PUDDING
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PUMPKIN CARVING TRICK
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GORY HAND- Presentation is everything!!
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EYEBALL SNACKS
blue or green colouring
Beat the egg white lightly and blend with a small amout of icing sugar and a few drops of peppermint essence. Mix until you get a fine dry paste. Using your hands knead the paste adding small amounts of icing sugar until the paste will absorb it. Separate a small quantity to make the irises, adding a few drops of blue or green coloring and mix. Roll the white mixture into small round balls. Press a hole in the top of the ball with your finger and add some of the colored mixture. Cut a small piece off of the liquorice and place in the middle of the colored mixture for the pupil. Voila!
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SPIDER SALAD
2.Cut eight curls off of a carrot with a vegetable peeler.
3.Tuck the curls under the peach to make spider legs.
4.Put raisins on top of peach for eyes.
5.Put a small piece of marachino cherry under the raisins for the mouth.
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EASY INSECTS
1.Melt a 6oz. package of butterscotch chips over low heat, stirring constantly.
2.Remove chips from heat and stir in 1 cup peanuts and 3 cups chow mein noodles.
3.Drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper and cool.
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GREEN EYE PIE
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VAMPIRE'S BLOOD SHAKE
1 pint strawberry ice cream 1.Mix yogurt, vanilla, and berries in the blender.
2.Pour into tall glasses over ice cubes, or chill.
3.Top with a big spoonful of strawberry ice cream.
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BONE SANDWICHES
Cut the crusts off of some slices of white bread. Spread peanut butter and jam on the bread. Roll the sandwiches up. Ta da! You have bones with blood and marrow for dinner!
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THE CLASSIC APPLE DUNKING
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