#29 Melody & Rhythm + #30-37

#29 MELODY & RHYTHM IDEAS - Updated 12/16

TOPICS (Just click on the title you want to view)

Beanbag Ideas----Beanie Babies---Books----GENERAL TEACHING OF ELEMENTS----Notation----Dynamics
Ear Training----End of Year Activities----FIRST Day of School----Floor Staffs, Floor Keyboards----Inner Hearing
Intervals---- Just for Fun----Hand Manipulatives----Key Signatures ----LAST Day of School----Legato, Stacatto, Slurs
Marker Boards----Pitch, Melodic Direction, Step-Skip----Meter----Moving Rhythmically----Note Names
Puppets---- Pitch Matching----Phrases----Rhythm Games----Rhythm Values
Scale Songs, Chords, etc.,----Sharing Instruments----Sight Reading----Sixteenth Notes----Steps, Half Steps and Skips---Steady Beat
SYMBOLS----Syncopation and Off Beat----Tempo/Meters---- Transposing------Two against Three
General Ideas for Upper Elementary----Worksheets, Flashcards, Video-Creating----Writing - No Desks
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BEANBAG IDEAS
06/09 TAKE FIVE: Since the meter is in 5, each beat has a motion:
Beat 1 - pick up
Beat 2 - touch left knee
Beat 3 - touch right knee
Beat 4 - pass to right
Beat 5 – clap
This is all during the A section. Off the top of my head, I think we improvised our own movements with our bean bags during the B section.............. then we got ready to start the pattern again when A came back. ----- Raeanna Goss
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06/07 I use dried POPCORN KERNELS in my home-made bean bags. I've had one set for 12 years and still going strong- then again, I live in a dry climate. I made another set with the foam beads for bean bag chairs. I've had fun with different shapes and sizes. One of the kids favorites is a brown corduroy bag in the shape of a bone- perfect for Doggie, Doggie Where's Your Bone. Also, the pre-made appliques make easy designs- just sew one on a simple round or square bean bag. Once in a while I add ric-rac, but that takes a lot more time -- as posted by Camille Page on (date) in the MK8 archives
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06/07 CD: I have bean bags and a CD called Bean Bag Rock & Roll by Georgiana Stewart (I ordered it from Music In Motion a few years ago). Greg and Steve also has a couple of bean bag songs. My K's LOVE doing bean bags. -- Sherry Stahl
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12/03 PASS THE BEANBAG: Sit them in a circle and have everyone tuck their left hand beneath their left thigh. The left hand must stay tucked away. Place a beanie in front of each child. On beat 1, pick it up with the right hand, on beat 2 place it in front of the person on your right. Play any 2/4 or 4/4 song that has a moderate tempo. After they master this, I have them do something on each of 4 beats, like pick up on 1, tap beanie on left knee on 2, right knee on 3, plunk it down in front of person on your right on 4. I stay with the right hand only for a long time. When they are very solid, I bring in patterns using both hands. - Contributed by Priscilla
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09/03 VINYL BEANBAGS: Last year at an adaptive ed. preschool workshop, I loved the colorful vinyl bean bags we used for several of our activities. The ones I purchased from AbleNet and include frogs, turtles, gorillas, dinos, and ladybugs in an assortment of bright colors. I have also seen similar bags in the Constructive Playthings catalog. Theirs come in sets of turtles (6 for $15). frogs (6 for $15) and ladybugs (6 for $16). I've included their address below but don't have AbleNet at home
www.cptoys.com
I have dozens of Beanie animals but don't want them in preschool hands, and these vinyl bean bags seem to be the answer for me. Now we can do activities like "Beanbag Boogie" from Kids in Motion. It directs students to tap bags on their heads, which I would not let them do with Beanies. We'll use them in K and 1st as Beat Buddies, which several others have already written about. - Contributed by Connie Herbon
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09/03 BEANBAGS: Sometimes Dollar Stores have vinyl beanbags
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06/02 BEADS: I haven't made these before, but I would suggest small to medium plastic beads.. they're washable.
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MAKE BEANBAGS: I made bean bags from the pockets of old jeans. VERY CUTE! I also used legs etc. I stuffed them with beans...The kids love them. Pretty durable.
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CORN CHIPS: I made my bean bags 4 inch squares. I also used corn chips that you feed chickens. You get a 50 lb. bag for about $5. They will never go bad!!! But I haven't tried washing them. We only used them a few times and it was for body movement/dancing. Greg and Steve C-d's have some bean bag songs on them for mobility.
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GREG & STEVE: My students love Greg and Steve's bean bag songs!!! In fact, one of our Fine Arts day themes was recycling. I made "recycled" bean bags out of plactic snack bags filled with various beans of all colors. Amazing how well they held up!
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BEANBAG ANIMALS: I use little bean bag animals. I asked my families at the beginning of last year if they had any non-collectible bean bag animals that they would like to donate to the music room. I got many! I have also picked up several for .50 at local thrift stores. I have over 50 at each school. They kids LOVE to pick out their favorite bean bag animal for the activities that we do. Some kids like to trade with me throughout the year.
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05/21 LOOBY LOO
Here we go with our bean bags (3x) On a ___________ _______________.
We hold our beanbags in, ...out. we throw them in the air and catch them all about.
Here we go........
We toss the beanbags up, we drop the beanbags down,
We hold the beanbags over our heads and turn them round and round.
Here we go......
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04/02 PASSING: Like several of you, I am frustrated by the students' inability to pass bean bags around a circle to the beat. I tried something different this year and it worked!
Here's the plan:
Bunny Jump; A funny little bunny; Sat upon a stump;
Flipped his floppy little ears; And then he gave a jump.
BUNNIES: I used a set of bean bags that looked like bunnies. The bean bag bunnies are used for lessons in both form and beat. Arrange in various order to represent form... AB, ABA, Rondo, etc.
For beat passing with the Primary grades: Seat children in a circle on the floor. Teach the Bunny Jump verse by rote, then hand a bunny to each child. By placing the bunnies in a pattern (AB or ABC, etc.) I can do a quick visual check to see which bunny jumped out of order. Repeat the verse and when you say "Jump" each person places their bunny in front of the person to their right.
Since the concept of right and left is difficult for some students, I marked a circle on the floor with Velcro. I used 2" hook velcro and cut the arrows and letters with scissors. (First I tried practicing by holding up our hands and looking for the L on the left hand, then put that hand down. Use the right hand to point to the person on the right.) That is too abstract for some kids, so have them point in the direction of the arrow right in front of them. Then try the verse with bunnies jumping to the person on the right. As proficiency increases, speed up the verse. Check to see if the pattern is still in order and adjust your help as needed.
For beat passing with the Intermediate grades: Same as above, but pass on each beat. aFUNNY little BUNNY (rest) SAT upon a STUMP(rest). FLIPPED his floppy LITTLE ears and THEN he gave a JUMP. I still leave the arrows on the floor... believe it or not, even some adults have difficulty with right and left.
If this is as clear as mud, I put pictures and patterns on my web site at
http://kibesd.org/CPage/bunnyjump.html
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03/02 USING BEANBAGS: [They] work for well for mirroring, beat, duration, anacrusis and meter activities. An example of a beat activity that I did at the beginning of the school year when I had a lot of new students was take Music K-8's"I Like School". Students were to create a beat/movement pattern on the verse, and then copy my pattern (0r another leader's pattern) on the refrain.
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KINDERGARTEN:
~used [beanbags] to do beat patterns while listening. kept each movement going several measures before switching. ex: 4 beats on foot for a while, then 4 beats on hand; then later 2 beats on shoe, 2 beats on head; then 1 beat on hand, 1 on floor, etc...
~then played follow the leader with one kid (sitting in "teacher chair") choosing how to do the beat, then switching leaders until all had gone.
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TO ASK A QUESTION: I use beanbags to toss at kids to answer questions. I ask a question, they raise their hand, I say their name and toss the bean bag, they answer and toss it back. Great for reviews - and for keeping them on their toes!!!!!!!! You can also get a cheap piece of felt at Wall Mart. It comes 60 inches wide, so a yard at $3.00 is plenty. Hang it up on the board with magnetic clips and draw whatever on the felt: target, baseball diamond, football field, staff, etc. Wrap stickey back velcro around some ping-pong balls and kids throw at the felt. I think I saw this in K8.
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INSTRUMENT BINGO: My classes like to play instrument bingo. I also bring a small treat for everyone to eat on reward day. They get about 4 of them a year for good behavior. With the older group, since I teach K-8 I allow them to bring a soda or treat to eat during class. This has worked really well. It's amazing how much the kids enjoy just bringing a treat to class. They usually eat their treat while playing instrument bingo. With the younger grades, I tried a beanbag game which they loved too. This consisted of paper plates( draw the pictures of the different notes on them) and beanbags. They throw the beanbag at the paper plates which I tape on the floor. They get whatever points that are the value of the note (ex. quarter note =1, half= 2, etc.) They really liked this. I divided the class into two teams, and had one student be the scorekeeper and keep track of the points on the board. I also tried to stress that each team did excellent so neither felt bad if they didn't win.
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ACTIVITIES: I share the vinyl bags the P E teacher uses and have the K-1/ 2 do steady beat activities. ( I use The Eenie Meenie beenie a song from last year's Music K8. I also use Phyllis Weikart's instrumental CD.) For the Weikart ( or any instrumental piece you choose....Hey a lot of MK8 instrumentals would work too!)We first play alone, tossing each their own beanbag in the air; then from one hand to the other; then they figure other ways to move w/ the bean bag. I then have the kids couple up having the blue bean bags find one w/ a red bag etc. ( I often choose a piece in ABA form for this ) On "A" they toss and catch their own beanbags, on "B" they toss the beanbags to each other. ( So red catches blue etc.) Very basic I admit...and I'm watching for other ideas.
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MICE! Watch out for mice!!!!!!! I had one get into my beanbags filled with popcorn at my last school district! What a mess. It chewed holes in all of them. You might want to put them in a Rubbermaid or Tupperware containers to store them in.
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POPCORN: My beanbags are filled with unpopped popcorn. I figure there's probably something that could go wrong with them, especially if they were exposed to moisture, but it's cheap, works well, and is readily available. I made my beanbags round to fit on my tablecloth staff, so that my first and second grade choir could do note reading on either clef. They're just the right size to fit in the spaces, and they look like whole notes. (I made them from black fabric.)My choir and the children's hand bell group that I help with all enjoy them. My husband helped me make the staff with black electrical tape on an inexpensive vinyl tablecloth. I cut out my Treble and Bass clefs from black poster board and stick them down with a little masking tape so that they can be removed easily. I've been surprised at the durability of the tape on the tablecloth. This is the second year I've used it, and it's been folded up, used on the table, used on the floor, and has been part of a Music Ministries display and is still going strong!
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WEEVILS: Look, folks. Forget the beans - - they get weevils. And a great deal of kitty litter is made of clay. I don't even want to THINK about putting that stuff through the wash. Let go of the dollar and get on down to the fabric store and buy that pellet stuff they use for home-made beanie babies. You will not regret it. I always have my student teachers make bean bags - - some for them, some for me! I have them in dinosaur fabric, music fabric, I don't know what all. A few heart-shaped ones in red velour for Valentine's. And what I'd like to have more of - - some round, black ones for when we toss notes onto the floor staff or floor keyboard. Big DON'T for bean bags: years ago when Bart Simpson first came out, I found a bargain in Bart Simpson bean bags. Big plastic head on beanbag body. Well, I haven't thrown them out yet, but they are totally unusable. The head is so heavy it just nosedives whenever the bag is tossed - - sort of like being dive-bombed by Bart Simpson. Also, if they hit somebody, they hurt. Moral: No hard plastic cartoon characters! ! !
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SOURCE: I found inexpensive and small square bean bags from Music in Motion. They are not very "beany", like a beanie baby would be, but are very good for what I wanted to use them for. They are about 15.oo dollars for 12, so I could buy two packs and have enough for my classes, because I only use them for little ones. If you want a nice CD to use bean bags with that gives you some options, Bean bag and Me, (or Me and my bean bag) is a good one...with 9 or 10 songs and fun Greg and Steve like instructions and songs to do with the bags. Like tossing, balancing, hiding ...stuff like that for preschool or K classes.
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ANIMAL BEANBAGS: I use animal beanbags, most are not collector types, that I get on sale or at garage sales. K-mart used to have some cute ones for 2.98. The max I'll spend is $3.00 per animal. I've built up a collection of over 35 animals over a couple years. The kids liked these so much better than a plain old square bean bag that I made myself when I first started. Also, check Oriental Trading Co.
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KITTY LITTER: If you plan to make your own beanbags, try filling them with kitty litter. I know, I know, it sounds strange, but I got this suggestion at a workshop a gazillion years ago and mine are super! The reason for this is that you may wash and dry them by machine. Beans have a tendancy to go to mush when they are washed and I don't know about y'all, but I wish I could find more washable manipulatives for my classroom...if you know what I mean! The kitty litter is a good weight and has a nice feel to it in the bags. This is a good summer sewing project. (Which I promptly farmed out to my mom...) I also made some stuffed multicolor balls for movement from a pattern I got at a movement workshop. They kind of look like a squishy beach ball made of all kinds of pretty scraps of material. Very handy with the little guys.
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HOMEMADE: I made my beanbags out of broadcloth in bright colors and filled them up with beans. Have lasted a long long time and were cheap to make.
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SOURCE: I got my beanbags from a company named Classroom Connect.com. Their catalogs come to my school fairly frequently. I found that beanbags and scarves were much cheaper with them than in music catalogs. My beanbags are probably 4" squares, several different colors, and made of some sort of sturdy fabric.
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MATH LESSON: I just did a wonderful math lesson with my first graders that could be used on up to about third to reinforce odd and even numbers, division, etc. It was one of those spur of the moment things. I use beanbags to inspire individual singing and help me learn names. I probably got the original from the pitch matching thread. I was using colors with K and 1 - Who has the blue? (on so-mi-la sequence), child answers - I have the blue. We all sing - ____ has the blue. Kind of non-challenging beyond singing for other than K. Bags had numbers on them - 10 bags. I sang numbers 1 -3-5-7-9 first. and we talked about patterns. I asked if they knew what even numbers were and used 2-4-6-8. Next week we labeled odd numbers and many could tell me which ones to call. When I called even I had them tell me why they were even by having them divide their amount if they were cookies between them and a neighbor. Many could name the even numbers but did not understand the concept - a weakness in elementary math teaching that has long existed - these steps will hopefully help them understand, contribute to test scores, and we had so much fun in the process without paper and pencil - and made music. Let you know as I have this other inspirations. I am certified in math and language arts up through middle school.
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ACTIVITY: Susan Ramsay did a wonderful BEAN BAG ACTIVITY with SSB in Tampa. The directions given were:
A. Pass the bean bags in a circle using the words, pick, touch, pass. Pick up the bag with one hand, touch to the right leg or knee, and place in front of the person to the right.
A. Repeat the movement in the first A section.
B. Turn and face a partner. Partners toss their bean bag to their partner in the places where there is usually a cymbal crash (at the end of each two measures)
C. Working alone, touch the bag to the floor, toss and catch in one hand, and then toss to the other hand. Touch, catch, catch. Put in the fermatas.
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BEAT BUDDIES/BEANIE BABIES
Also see Pre-School/Kindergarten Ideas/Beanie Babies
10/04 RHYTHM PATTERNS: Use them to create rhythm patterns. Depending on the age of your students use 8 -12 beanies. Place beanies in a covered basket or other container. Have 1 student pick a beanine with out looking and name it. It's more fun and challenging if they make up their own name. Continue until all beanies are named. After all the students can say each name, put them back in the basket. Choose 4 students to pick out a beanie. Stand in a line. The rest of the class can say, clap and /or play the names. example- cat, 2 bears, dog - names: Purry Kitty, Fuzzy Sky Bear, Rainbow Sue, Bow Wow Now. clap or play ti ti ti ti , ti ti ta ta, ti ti ta, ta ta ta. Then you can have them switch places - new pattern, choose different beanies - the possibilities!! Combine with a song or poem to create AB, ABA, or Rondo Form. -- Sandra Raff
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BOOKS
11/01 BOOK: "1,2,3 ECHO ME": Melody Echo for Upper Grades:
My kids really like "Mountain Man" from [this book] as well as some others from that book. That would be a great place to start. She even has them divided into appropriate grade levels.
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01/02 LAVENDER(Cheryl) RHYTHM RAPS: The clicks are for setting the tempo. I use the material strictly in 3rd, although there is plenty for use beyond the one year. I usually count off the clicks until the kids get used to the entrances, and we often practice the rhythms alone before adding the track. We read the rhythms with syllables and clap them. It takes a while for 3rds to get used to staying with the drum track, but they do like the sound and quickly get used to the format. We do the full track at first then switch to the accompaniment split only. I think you'd find this material well within the reach of your 3rds and perhaps even your 2nds if you begin slowly and stick with it. My 1st graders read only quarter, 2-eighths, and rest, and I don't do reading at all with Ks, so I would never use the material with these grades. If you don't want the background drummer, why not just do your basic rhythms in speech, clapping and other body percussion plus unpitched percussion if available. Denise Gagne has a set of rhythm flash cards that are sequenced and nicely done. I've laminated mine with clear contact paper to take lots of use. Maybe something like this would meet your needs better than a recording.
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01/02 LAVENDER (Cheryl) RHYTHM RAPS: The beginning clicks are to set the tempo. I use it for 4th graders and have them learn about numbering measures, counting etc. before I start the recorder unit. It has worked for me and the older students enjoy the different sounds of the music and when they can create their own rhythm to a small section of music.
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04/02 ROCKIN' RHYTHM RAPS
This is a sequential approach to teaching rhythm reading that is accompanied
by a very "hip" soundtrack (not at all cheezy!). The whole book is reproducible too! My fav. part: every other page includes an activity- assessment and/or a "compose your own" activity to be performed with background track. Very cool.
Rockin' Rhythm Raps by Cheryl Lavender (Hal Leonard, 1996, cd and bk. $19.95).
Only drawback = they clap half notes which sound exactly like quarters followed by quarter rests. What I'm going to do is have my kids do halves vocally (ta-a) with a clap-rub for two beats.
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I find that my younger kids are more successful with this series. I'm not sure why. I think my 4th-6th graders just feel it isn't all that cool to be clapping rhythms. I'm going to try something I learned at Artie Almeida's session at MMEA. She uses drum sticks with kids for rhythm practice rather than clapping or using rhythm sticks. I just ordered 30 pairs. I found them for about $2.00 a pair. I plan to try it sometime soon to see if rhythm practice is better received by the older kids.
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10/02 THEORY TIME I use "Theory Time" by Karen Wallace & Heather Rathnau. I got them from Friendship House. In the catalog there is two formats to buy. The "Theory Time" Music Theory Library, these are individual books you can get for grades K-12. However, they are not reproducible, but they do teach piano theory too. You have to get one book per kid ($7.95 each). They also have Theory Time Fun sheet (these are reproducible). I like the Theory Time fun sheets the best.
I also do "Candy questions" at the beginning of class for grades 2-5. I put 5-8 questions on the board, I call students by pulling a stick out of a cup (each student has a stick with their name on it). We answer the questions until all are answered. Those that give a correct answer get a piece of candy. Each day is a different group of kids that get to go. I have a system of keeping track of who went and who didn't.
Once everyone has had a turn everyone's stick goes back into the cup. This activity takes about 5-7 mins. I sometimes will have more than one go at a time, they have to write their answer on the board (I ring a bell if they get it right). They also have a time limit to answer the questions (We sing the "Jepordy" song, when we get to the end their turn is over). All answers to the questions are on a bulletin in my room.
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RHYTHM READER I love Rhythm Reader--I do one or two exercises per class period--the cd accompaniment is EXCELLENT--my students really like it
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LET'S LEARN MUSIC I came across a wonderful resource a few years ago that I use. It is called Let's Learn Music by Adelaide A. Hascall. Published by Hayes School Publishing. It is broken into 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6. It is wonderful and does quite a bit of theory. It is reproducible as it is a workbook. I really like it and it seems to do the trick.
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08/02 "RHYTHM GYM" is an idea I got from a piano practicing website for teachers, parents, & students. It's basically an online series of progressive rhythmic patterns for students to master. It's laid out so that when you've mastered one, you're ready to go on to the next, and so on. Here's the web address:
www.practicespot.com
Just dig around and you'll find it. Anyway, this year I want to establish a "Rhythm Gym" for my 3-5th grade classes whereby I will prepare a series of pattern sheets in progressive order utilizing specific rhythm values I want them to master (that is read, play, and notate correctly) during the year. They will each get a copy of the various pattern sheets to keep in their music folders. That way, we'll have handy access to the patterns (I'll also have a transparency of each to use on the overhead).
What I have done successfully in the past is kind of what is done in the "Rockin' Rhythm Raps" book (check catalogs) where the rhythms are patterned after familiar songs. I'll take patterns from song material and then use the piano accompaniment as anaccompaniment for small groups of kids who perform the rhythms on various unpitched instruments. For ex. last year I took the song Goober Peas. I derived the rhythm pattern of the refrain (Peas peas peas peas, eating Goober peas...), wrote it out like a percussion exercise.
Then after practicing it across a few sessions with the whole class, invited groups of 4 students to play the pattern on different unp. instruments (I made sure the instrument sounds were quite distinctive so I could hear who was/was not playing correctly). I'd just play along with the group on the piano using the song's accompaniment. It easily established the pulse, meter, and provided a good intro too.
This made the activity much more interesting. If they knew the song, so much the better (they'll no doubt play correctly). Even if they didn't know the song, it made playing the rhythms a lot more fun. I would then use this activity for rhythm assessments.
BOOK: Hayes Children Should Know Music- 4 volumes I don't think this is the one that Sheryl was talking about. Mine are old, but the price on them was $3.75. Available from most any music company
Lyons Music Fundamentals for Beginners- this covers staff, lines and spaces, keyboard, notes and rests, rhythm, time signatures, key signatures. I really like this book. I can't find the price for it. It is from Lyons
Lyons Music Fundamentals for Intermediates-a little more advanced, bass clef, leger lines, octaves, triplet, sixteenth note
Introducing the Treble Clef and Notes- Mary Lou Walker published by ESP Inc. $5.00 nice book a little simplistic, a nice supplement
Introducing the Bass Clef- Mary Lou Walker same publisher. simplistic also, but a nice supplement $5.00
Exercises in Bass Clef-Mary Lou Walker same publisher a little more difficult than the first one, mostly a supplement $5.00
Maestro Moderato's Theory Workbook Books 1,2,3 by Carolyn Heitman published by Schoolhouse Productions I really like this book. It has puzzles, is challenging, covers a lot of material in an appealing manner. I use the different rhymes for the lines and spaces of the treble and bass that she uses. My kids seem to remember them better because they are silly. Each book gets a little more difficult.
Ready to use Music Activities Kit- Audrey Adair- Sheryl has already written about this one.
10/04 Abramson's “Rhythm Games” and his “Feel It!” Both come with instructions and CDs. Feel It! starts out with finding your heartbeat. “Rhythm Games” starts out with simple passing games. I've used wadded up paper because it won't roll away when you drop it, but the bean bags would be perfect for that, too. Start out with partners-2 students to a bean bag. Pass it around a square, putting it in each hand on the beat. Passing games are wonderful ways to assess which student has trouble feeling the steady beat, because the game will mess up with that student all the time. I like to join in and stand next to them, Or stand behind them and gently tap their shoulder to help them feel the beat. I used the beat buddies with my Ks and 1s today and we started working on the passing game like someone mentioned here about a week ago. Pass, rest, rest, rest. . . (only we did hug instead of rest). I spoke the rhythm because they weren't ready for a recorded beat yet. My voice is tired tonight. Better take it easy at choir practice! -- Jerri Shuman in KS
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GENERAL TEACHING OF ELEMENTS
08/14 Worksheets for Music Theory Fundamentals: https://www2.lawrence.edu/fast/BIRINGEG/media/theory_funds/index.html
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MUSIC ELEMENTS QUIZ: Make a table with two sections across and 16 down. Size it to fit about 2/3s of your page. Insert the words on the left (quarter note, sharp, etc). Insert the symbols in random order in the table on the right. Make all the symbols left-justified. Add "Name" and "Teacher" and "Date" at the top.
Add "Draw a line to the symbol which matches the name." ---- Martha Stanley
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10/13 Some great colorful posters by Cara C. including pitch, tone, form, rhythm, melody, tempo, dynamics, timbre, staff, articulation, mood, careers & texture.
http://miscellaneousme.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/not-quite-anchor-charts/
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NOTATION
06/15 TEACHING NOTATION: Learning to read notation is a process that begins in Pre-K (for me). Basic concepts of beginning and ending, steady beat, reading left to right, etc. This expands in Kindergarten (pictures, colored spots), then first grade (quarter notes, eighth notes, quarter rests, and patterns using do, mi, so, and la) and they begin to see words under notation, then it gets bigger each year.
So...to answer your question...I realize you may be in a situation where you have no idea where your students are. I have a rule about these things: I NEVER show "a song" without seeing it as it is - with lyrics and notation. But...that being said, remember that your goal here is "getting it done." At the age of 6 or 7, reading words is actually a step in the process that bogs them down. You need to get them to learn the songs and you need them to learn them quickly. For this reason, with your first and possibly second graders, I would work on rote learning of the music. You may prepare "cue cards" with pictures of single words to help jog their memories, but I wouldn't bother getting into the whole deal of reading words to learn songs.
Your third, fourth, and up students can probably handle the reading part - but, as I said, present it to them in its entirety. Since you'll be projecting it, you can point out where they are to be following (whether you actually deal with the notation or not - if you see small opportunities, take them). ---- Norm Sands
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07/11 Heart/Rest Bingo - http://www.box.net/shared/47b5brmxcr
Robot/Droid/Rest Bingo 3x3 - http://www.box.net/shared/nm3ve7l6xp
Robot/Droid/Rest Bingo 4x4 - http://www.box.net/shared/7zoudhutub
They are pretty self explanatory. I plan to print them out, glue them to construction paper and laminate them.---- D. Brian Weese
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07/11 Notation History
http://www.thisisgabes.com/images/stories/docs/musicsymbol.pdf Brief history with photos
I have a ppt showing the treble/bass G/F transition..... you have to kinda talk it through, but it works well.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3431420/treble%20and%20bass%20clefs.ppt ----Martha Stanley
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Music Notation- Mary Lou Walker published by ESP Inc.notes, rests, sharps, flats $5.00
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02/04 I cut boards from shower board material (disadvantage: they’re heavy) and supply a dry erase marker and small piece of paper towel to each student. The board’s are marked with 4 stickers across the top (4 beats) and underneath the empty lines (for notation) there are 3 stickers (3 beats). At the bottom of the board I drew a staff for melodic notation. The ‘permanent lines’ are drawn on with permanent marker. The lines are fairly durable. - Contributed by Sandy Toms
07/05 DICTATION I have used the plastic rings from the empty milk jugs for the half notes/whole notes. Easy to find and replace if lost and FREE! (Students will be happy to collect them at home.) Michelle Ehlers
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10/04 Well you HAVE to try my version - I get the glow-in-the-dark variety of slinkies from Oriental Trading company, get the black lights out...and enjoy being the BEST teacher..at least for that day!!!! I also use slinkies to describe whole notes, dotted halves, halves and quarters...depending on how far you stretch them...and I always make it a team effort - 4 kids to a team...let them figure it out! -- Marilyn Lake Bonjour Elementary - Shawnee Mission, KS
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08/04 MAGNETIC NOTES: I've been working at creating some magnetic "notes" that suit my needs and are cheap, sturdy, and easy to use. I've come up with the following: I purchased packs of counting tokens at Walmart last year for a game. I paid $1 per pack, with about 75 in a pack. (I think this was a special sale.) The tokens are brightly colored and are flat and smooth, about 1 1/4" in diameter. I get the 50-packs of 3/4" round magnets for around $5. A drop of hot glue holds a magnet solidly to a token. Because the tokens are bigger than the magnets, there is room to get a hold on each one for easy manipulation. For a staff, I made the lines 1 3/4" apart, and this seems like a good size by the time you actually get them drawn. I tried washable Crayola markers, and they *can* be removed from the white board, but they also smear easily. I know Vis-a-vis (sp?) markers hold up pretty well until washed off, but I don't know if they come in anything but fine point. Finally, I tried a permanent marker, and it held up well. I removed it from the board with alcohol. ome have mentioned using detailing tape, so that is another option for the staff lines. -- Connie Herbon
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09/03 ABC NOTATION: I have just recently been introduced to a VERY cool way to do notation. It is sooo cool. You WANT to know about this.It's called ABC notation and in the world of folk musicians, it is THE thing. If you do an internet search, you will see lots of stuff.
I've found it especially useful for two things:
1 -Using my computer keyboard to send a tune to someone USING ONLY THE COMPUTER KEYBOARD.Now get this:
There is an shareware/free (I forget which - look at the site I mentioned below)program which will also..... get ready - this is COOL - translate your ABC notation into guitar tablature, mandolin tablature and more - PLUS recorder tablature!!!
It prints out the staff notation and under every note is a little picture of the recorder with the fingering done! My little guys learned to play Aura Lee in G by reading the fingering - and they learned fast! I was shocked. - Contributed by Martha Stanley
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09/03 NON-TRADITIONAL NOTATION: We talk about rhythm and melody and Western notation, take a look at Chinese cypher notation, guitar tablature, contemporary music scores etc.
Then I have them create a SHORT motif, melodic or rhythmic or both, and notate it in any way other than the standard...and then we sing or play through the "piece" in class together. (often to great hilarity)
Some have brought weavings, others arrangements of shells or varying sizes, others small tiles of different colors, some an arrangement of stones in sand, others color coded shapes with a key, some edible examples, some to put on the floor and walk through. It was a great lesson, and everyone enjoyed it. -- Contributed by Judith Cook Tucker, Publisher-World Music Press (ASCAP) 10/02 GLASS STONES ON STAFF/PARTNERS: I found some decorative glass "stones" at BigLots for 1.99 (approx. 150 per container). They're round on one side and flat on the other, so they sit well on staff boards. They're also slightly see-through, so the kids can see the staff lines through the note-stones.
Here's what we did with them today.
I got some film canisters from Walgreens photo dept. and put 10 stones per container.
Other materials: laminated staff boards (just large sheets of staff paper laminated) and a melodic instrument of some kind (Songflutes, glockenspiels, piano, etc...).
Practice notating one note. Everyone put 8 stones down on the G line, for example.
Play the notes as a partner either points to them or takes them off the board (left to right of course). Now the other person plays. Make the song more interesting. Add another note. At this point everyone's song should still be the same as the teacher's on the board, for example: GGGG CCCC.
Play while partner points to the stones on the staff. Switch.
Now write your own 8-10 stone song using any combination of the G and the C. Have your partner play your song. Switch. -- Sandra Elder
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STEM PLACEMENT: I have been teaching stem placement, and in my frustration I came up with this: I drew a staff on my board and made "waves" on the middle line. Then I put stem-less half notes "under water" with smiley faces and stem-less half notes on and above the "wave". I told my students that if you are under water in a lake, swimming pool, ocean etc., you are going to need a snorkel. "up on the right." If you are on or above the "wave", you are swimming and I draw arms and feet off of the stem. "down on the left" The kids loved it and really seem to have "gotten" it.
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10/01 HEAD (note)/ARMS (lines) !: The best thing I've come across for teaching line/space is to use your head as the note and your arms as the lines. This works especially well for grades 2 through 4. I say "show me line notes!" "show me space notes!" and they transform themselves for me with 100% accuracy.
I used polyspots in the past also. I had a staff taped to the floor (used some red tape from the art teacher). We used the spots to learn spaces, lines, note names, etc. For the younger ones, learning how to identify lines and spaces, they tossed the spots and identified where they landed. For note names, we divided into teams. I would "pull" a card that had a letter name on it and they had to "race" to the staff and try to place their spots first. Of course it's easy to identify winners by using a different color for each team.
One fun activity I did a few years ago combined note reading with finding your way around a piece of music. I took a song - I think it was the Ghost of John, but many would do. I made a list of words the students could spell with the notes of the song. I would say "1st letter is 2nd line, 3rd measure, 1st note" and continue this way for each letter of the word. Students wrote down each letter until they figured out the word. They loved it. I hope this makes sense.
I also used an idea that appeared in music k8 last year, I think, using index cards or tag board with a staff, and sliding a paper clip up and down to point to note locations. The note names are written on the back of the card, so students can test each other. I can't remember which issue this was in, but I'm sure you could look it up. Students really liked that one. I'm sorry this is vague, I'm a bit tired right now. I'd be happy to look it up another day if you'd like, or maybe someone out there knows right where that info. is.
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HAND STAFF SONG:I trace around my hand on the board and then draw lines out from the fingers to make a "Hand Staff" in order to show the kids just what we are identifying. Hold up your right hand for the treble clef, in front of you, thumb up, palm facing you. When we sing the bass clef song, we hold up the left hand.
Touch the lines and spaces as you sing them.
To the tune of "The Alphabet Song" ~ Treble Clef
1. A, B, C, D, E, F, G______ The musical alphabet stops at G.
2. If you want to name a line: Every Good Boy Does Fine (Touch these lines ~ tips of fingers.)....the next line is a repeat of the melody of the 2nd line.
3. If you want to name a space: Just remember they spell Face (Stop singing and touch the spaces between the fingers and say F A C E)
4. A, B, C, D, E, F, G______ The musical alphabet stops a G.
~ Bass Clef ~
1. A, B, C, D, E, F, G______ The musical alphabet stops at G.
2. Bass Clef lines go this way: Good Birds Don't Fly Away (Touch these lines ~ tips of fingers.)
........the next line is a repeat of the melody of the 2nd line. 3. Bass Clef spaces are first class: All Cows Eat Grass (Sing and touch the spaces between the fingers while singing.)
4. A, B, C, D, E, F, G______ The musical alphabet stops a G.
It sounds just like the alphabet song with a repeat of the 2nd line melody on the 3rd line. My second graders trace their hands and draw the lines and learn the song at the end of the year. Then... I start most 3rd and 4th grade recorder classes with this song have a hand-staff quizzes. I point to the line or space and the students name it. I can do this individually also and test the students on their knowledge. As they get good at it, we point to the letters at the beginning of the song on the hand staff as well.
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12/09 HOW TO USE IN MUSIC: I'm having a ball right now with Laurie Zentz's heart chart which I converted to a flipchart. We move those hearts on and off for all kinds of things.
Today - with Laurie's idea ringing in my mind - I put bat and spider on there (her idea). We moved those around. And clapped the rhythms with beat, rest and "beat and." Did some dictation - let the kids move the bats and spiders around to identify what they heard. Fun. How many claps in bat; in spider?
It's also good for getting the kids to create vocal pathways; they draw a line and then we sing it.
Put up part of a composition - leave out some parts. Have the kids fill in the blanks and then play it. Or have them move the notes or pitches up and down and sing/play them.
Put up a scanned example from a score. Have the kids come up and circle the..... (whatever) - treble clef; two bar lines; two quarter notes; the syncopa patterns; etc.
Put up a list of tempo terms. Have kids come up and arrange them in slow to fast order.
Or - (this was real interesting to me to watch) - put up a list of tempo and dynamics words. Have them come up one at a time and move the top word into the section designated for tempo or dynamics. So "fast" would go into the tempo pile; crescendo would go into dynamics.
Play games and have the answers hidden under pictures of some kind. Touch the picture; answer appears. --- Martha Stanley
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DICTATION: This year, I made a class set of beat bags. Each bag has about 20 craft sticks to use for note stems, 4 or 5 round plastic curtain rings to use for half and whole notes. I also made laminated hearts and put in about 20 of those also so the kids can first figure out how many beats, and then "write" the rhythm of the song with their sticks.
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04/02 DICTATION:
*Materials: kids are in partners. each pair needs: one large paper with eight hearts drawn across the middle of the paper with bar line dividing into two measures, large handful of plain popsicle sticks, one drum and stick, and one triangle or cymbal with striker. teacher needs: one drum and stick, one triangle with striker, music stand, drum and triangle parts notated in pencil on seperate heart-paper (do not let anyone see this paper).
*Curriculum Objectives: ability to (hear) identify and notate rhythms played by one and later two instruments (more added for older students) by only listening (not seeing); ability to maintain a steady beat; terms used: measure, heartbeat, tempo, bar line, rhythm, cymbal, triangle, striker, drum, drumstick, etc...
*Procedures:
~ set up: prepare papers ahead of time. at back of room = music stand with song notated on it, drum, triangle, drumstick and metal striker.
~ beg. of class, kids enter and sit with partner next to them, cross legged, facing black board. distribute papers and sticks only. papers go on floor positioned equally in front of both kids. sticks in a pile above the bar line on the floor.
~ practice tapping the heartbeats left to right (both kids tap same hearts) all moving at the same tempo. repeat as necessary. demo. on board by drawing and finger-walking eight heartbeats across.
FIRST INSTRUMENT:
~ students' job = listen to the drum while tapping heartbeats across and figure out on which heartbeats the drum is playing. WHEN SONG'S OVER, put a stick on all the drum heartbeats, and leave the silent heartbeats blank.
~ teacher stands BEHIND THE KIDS' BACKS and plays the drum on all eight beats. kids walk their fingers across hearts while teacher plays. then lay sticks down ABOVE heartbeats.
HINT: my kids had trouble getting started and we took a couple false starts. their inclination, no matter how many times we practiced finger-walking the hearts, was to panic when the drum actually started and freeze on one of the earlier hearts. just alert them and begin again. they will get the idea pretty early on. this also shows you who is really struggling with listening skills.
~ teacher moves to the blackboard. ask kids to raise their hands if they "think" they heard the drum on beat one. if any hands are raised (even one), draw a stick above that heartbeat. continue for all eight beats (be sure to call beat 5, "beat 1, measure 2," etc...).
~ now, check your answers: choose a student to tap the heartbeats on the board while teacher plays drum again behind their backs. all students watch the board hearts.
~ teacher moves to front again and asks for responses on errors that need correcting. students make corrections on their own song-boards and leave the sticks in place.
ADD A SECOND INSTRUMENT:
~ choose a student (someone working alone would be a good choice) to play the drum part. show him/her the notated drum part, practice with both instruments using fingers instead of strikers. Triangle part -play on either beats 1 of both measures or beats 4 of both measures.
~ repeat previous procedures, students listening this time for the sound of the triangle. notate with sticks BELOW the heartbeats this time.
~ check answers the same way.
ALL-CLASS BAND:
~ distribute triangles/cymbals and drums to pairs.
~ teacher leads them in a sectional practice first. triangles practice once. fix any errors (playing on silent heartbeats, etc...). drummers practice. fix.
~ whole band together, teacher pointing to hearts on board.
ADAPTION FOR OLDER STUDENTS:
~ add other instruments: piano, shakers, etc... but clear the notation-sticks away each time on indiv. boards, leaving them notated on blackboard as in an orchestral score.
~ assign parts, distribute instruments, practice in sections, play together, all reading the blackboard score.
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CONCENTRATION: Decide what system you will use - (numbers, solfeggio fixed or movable do)
1. Flashcards with only 2 lines help to get the kids going. (sol-mi) I recommend the Choskey book: The Kodaly Method 2d edition or better. It has a chart of goals for each grade level well thought out and a wealth of pedagogial songs for teaching sight singing sequentially plus many ideas. 2. Kids can use their hand to practice 'skip,step' and sol-mi-la-do patterns. 3. I made a concentration game (older kids) in which the pairs were things like: 5 line staff, 'do' clef, mi and sol [whole notes] and it's match had the words mi-sol on it. I included rhythms & concepts in the same manner. I used poster board, 3" x 3" cards and put animal stickers on the backs and laminated them. You could make several sets with larger classes. 4. On a worksheet, I put the words of a simple song such as in the Chosky book, and the kids wrote the melody (with letters s,m,l for solfeggio) over the words. You could do the same for rhythm. They should do this as a group first.
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RHYTHM CARDS: (Quarter, eighth, rest) Use stems with no note heads for easier reading) For early introduction (you could vary this according to skill) to rhythm, melodic and dynamics, I made a set of manipulatives (7 X 11 for me and 2 X 2" pieces of different color poster board) for each child, I them laminated them) including four different rhythms (4 beats using quarters, eighths and quarter rests)and four different 2 note patterns (using sol and mi on staff as whole notes).
The routine varies:
1. Teach the rhythm or melody (hand signs help) with only the large card.
2. Have students use their own cards practicing; then do activities 'finding' the correct pattern. (The kids love having their own set and are anxious to have a turn to 'show' their correct card.) It's almost 'too' simple but more of them do seem concerned in learning the concept when they have their own set in front of them. You can vary games using this activity and vary the level.
Note 1: on the four patterns (whether it's melody, rhythm or dynamics) I colored a different small shape at the top of the card for each of the 4 patterns of that set, (ex.: green triangle, red circle, blue square, gold star) and that way they are easily identifiable and it's easier to separate the sets.)
Note 2:For the melody on staff, I drew one set of mini staffs with whole note patterns and xeroxed it, but and pasted to cards.
Melody: I use is large cards with colorful ascending and descending lines, steps, 'squiggles' (for glissando) etc., At the elementary level, I use a bingo game (I made) with rhythm patterns ( I have 64 patterns to choose from on each card that only has 16. The student who gets bingo performs the next round of 'calls.'
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YOUR ROW IS QUARTER NOTE ROW: I created a neat procedure this year that has helped a lot in note recognition. At the beginning of the year, as I was setting up my classroom seating charts, I decided to name each row with a name of a note value. I have four rows seated on the floor, and beginning at the front of the room, I named them eighth note row, quarter note row, half note row, and whole note row. As the kids entered on the first day, I passed out a shuffled deck of index cards with about 6 of each note in the stack. (I tried to pass out eighth notes to all the confirmed wigglers - I've enjoyed my private personal prank all year . . .) I then taught a lesson about the note values. My first lesson involved using a drum for steady beat and having all the students "walk and talk" each note value (i. e. WHOLE NOTE-HOLD IT) . Then, I had them locate other students with their same note value, and had each group walk to their assigned row at the appropriate pace.
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RHYTHM BASKETBALL: I have used baseball for rhythms by having the students clap a rhythm and if they get it right on the 1st try they get a home run, on the 2nd try they get a double, and 3rd try they get a single. 3 strikes=1 out and 3 outs or getting through the entire batting order means that the students can switch teams. I am the pitcher holding the rhythm flashcard and I also choose students to play the bases. Those basemen/women relay the beanbag ball around the room and try to beat the runner to home plate, only if this is a homerun. My kids love this game and ask for it, again and again. I use real bases from gym class and even play in my room without chairs. It can also be played outside!!
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STRAWS: I have cut plastic straws into about 3 inch lengths and given a baggie with 12 or more straws in it to each student. They made a Z for a rest and put horizontal straw above two vertical ones for a pair of eighth notes. It was cheap and the kids really enjoyed it.
For rhythmic dictation, my mentor made about 30 laminated sets of rhythm cards, each with a different note on them, and each color-coded. For example:
quarter note = yellow
quarter rest = pink
eighth notes = blue
sixteenth notes = green
half note = white
half rest = white
The half note and half rest cards were also longer! (And no I don't know why she didn't make the quarter note/quarter rest cards the same color but when I *finally* make my own I think I will). Anyway, she made *tons* of these cards, and there are four quarter notes, four quarter rests, four sets of eighth notes, four sets of sixteenth notes, one half note and one half rest in each clasp envelope. (Lots of work! But soooo useful!)
She has graciously allowed me to use them, since she made TWO sets! :) Each student gets their own envelope to manipulate themselves. I will clap a four beat rhythm and ask them to write it. Sometimes I will say "Ta ti ti ta ta", or sometimes I will ask a student to say it for us. Sometimes we say nothing, only "write" it. Sometimes I ask someone to place their answer on the music stand for everyone to check, other times I just do it myself, and have them kind of keep track of how many they get right.
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FOOD RHYTHMS: In my K-1 classes we use pretzel sticks and M& M's and cherrio's for an end of the year create a rhythm pattern. It's fun and there's nothing left to clean up except the empty baggies!
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DART BOARD RYHTHMS: Ok, here's one...it's kind of messy, but the kids sure do like it. Laminate a piece of poster board with a staff on it. Tape the staff to your chalkboard or other wall. (Outside would work, also) Then, get a bowl of water and some cotton balls. Have the students (1 at a time) dip the cotton balls into the water and throw them at the staff. They really do stick...sort of a splatter, really. Then have them identify the note. You could change the clef from Treble to Bass. Feeling lucky, try alto clef...just kidding. (I'm a violist)
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STRAWS/CRAFT STICKS/PIPE CLEANERS: I have cut plastic straws into about 3 inch lengths and given a baggie with 12 or more straws in it to each student. They made a Z for a rest and put horizontal straw above two vertical ones for a pair of eighth notes. It was cheap and the kids really enjoyed it Pipe cleaners or chenille wires also work well for making notes. The kids make the notes out of the pipe cleaners and then make a class rhythm composition.
For ta, ti-ti and rest I have used popsicle or craft sticks. The students each have a set and try to create the notation for what I have clapped. The stick is laid straight vertically for ta and slanted for a rest. It takes three sticks to make a ti-ti. They love to combine their measures and make a class composition. I I / I (Clap that one) Over the river and thru the woods is a Thanksgiving song. I have the K-2 group gallop in a circle and change directions at the ends of phrases. The concept is long and short phrases. --- Martha Stanley
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07/11 I begin teaching the concept of 'phrase' in preschool. ("a phrase is 'part' of a song") When introducing a new song after the initial hearing, for each phrase, the children listen to me sing one phrase while holding their palms together on one side of their body, then sing it after me while they 'open the phrase' by lifting the top hand and swinging it across their body. The second phrase closes the arc.
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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DYNAMICS
10/12 Divide the class into 4 or 5 groups and sit them around hula hoops. Place NP percussion in each hoop - maracas in one, sticks in another, tambourines in another, etc. Give them a set of cards with p,pp,f,ff, etc. They decide on the order of their Dynamics Piece and choose a conductor. As the group's conductor points, they perform their piece for the class. ---- Lee Cain
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt (or Smith in some places nowadays, I've heard) is a great song for dynamics. ~Ann in NC
I do movement definitions with the song Forte Piano. I let my 2nd graders work in groups of 2 to define the meaning of the words by creating silent movements. We show them to the class and then we perform with the music forte piano. The kids come up with some pretty genius movements! It is a ton of fun and they leave the class knowing what the words mean. ---- Summer in AR
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12/07 In my experience, ALL my students loved anything that was on the Ella Jenkins recordings--everyone from K through 6th (when we had 6th). Many if not most of her songs are echo or call/response. The kids never seemed to outgrow them. -- Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana
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06/06 BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH - Second Movement: We're showing the dynamic levels as follows: -pp/lay on the floor -p/crouch down (so you can stand when it gets louder) -mp or mf/stand w/hands on knees -f/stand - ff/jump up and down -- Dan Fee
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06/07 CRESCENDO/DECRESCENDO: I've noticed that the kids can tune into the word "decrease" in "decrescendo" and then it's easy for them, if I purposely teach the two words. They always think of the alligator mouth and the math concepts greater/lesser than. - Martha Stanley
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10/05 Haydn's "Surprise Symphony " is always good. The tune is simple and quiet. Then comes the surprise. Kay in GA
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07/05 LISTENING pieces: Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony No. 94 in G (andante)
Ravel’s Bolero
Grieg’s "In the Hall of the Mountain King"
Confutatus, from the Mozart Requiem. The men are bellowing their part, then the ladies enter with the serenely peaceful "Voca me" section.
MK8's Forte Piano 13:1, Plank Rd. Pub. http://www.musick8.com/
Stravinsky's "The Firebird Suite - Infernal Dance"
"Gavotte" by Bach
"Galliard Battatlia" by Samuel Scheidt and "Minuet" by Handel
"Triumphal March of the Boyers"
"Galliard Battatlia" by Samuel Scheidt
Gershwin’s American in Paris, Mussorgsky’s “Bydlo” from Pictures at an Exhibition (gradual change); also in ‘Pictures’ the Great Gate of Kiev”
Paul Hindemith called Pisque Tout Passe that is a very short choral piece. Starts out piano, then subito forte, then subito piano - very good illustration with no crescendos to confuse the issue. Less than 1 min. long.
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6/01 PLASTIC SHOPPING BAG: We have two classrooms of first and second graders studying the rainforest. So, in order to "integrate" (and not be stodgey), I met withboth rooms at once.....talked about volume. Decided some dynamics to known songs. Saw the symbols for forte and piano, crescendo and decrescendo.
Then I took a plastic shopping/grocery bag. (you know.....the ones youhave hundreds of?) and showed them how, by just messing with it abit.....crinckling it up and back out again, it really sounded like rain. (Actually, I didn't just tell them. It was they who "discovered" that itsounded just like rain falling!)
Then I asked the kids to spread out and gave them each a plastic bag. We experimented making rain sounds. We followed the signs on the board to match volume. We used students at leaders at the board showing us whether to "crinkle" forte or piano. We did the same w/the cresc and decrescendo signs.
Then I made a cloud. Called up a student and told the rest of them to "make more rain" as the student colored in more of the cloud. W/o telling them, after she had colored in the whole cloud and it was raining like crazy, I began to erase what she had colored in. You guessed it! They got softer. As I got almost all the inside cloud chalk erased, I teased them a little, erasing just a tiny bit at a time....seeing if they'd getjust a little bit softer each time. They did.
It was lots of fun. I did have to give REALLY specific directions since there were about 35 kids in there and take a few bags away now and then. (Funny how punching a bag just doesn't sound like little raindrops!)
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03/03 LITTLE RED CABOOSE to teach loud and soft. We talk about how when it's far, far away, a train sounds softer, then when it gets closer, it gets louder and louder. We practice "chug, chugs" on the beat, starting softer and gradually getting louder and then go into singing the song. When the song is over, we "chug, chug" and get softer and softer. I also have a group of about 4-5 children make a train by standing one behind the other. The leader (engine) puts their hands out, bending their elbows so their forearms are parallel to the floor. Everyone else puts their hands on the elbows of the person in front of them. When the leader moves their arms in a steam engine fashion, everyone else's do too, and it looks like a train - very cool for the kids.Contributed by Becky Luce
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04/02 PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: "Bydlo-The Ox-Cart" from --by Mussorsky. Great for CRESCENDO AND DECRESCENDO study - 2nd or 3rd grade. First I tell the story very dramatically while the music is playing softly. Here is a simplified version if you're interested. If not, delete now. Embellish wherever: In an old castle at the top of a high hill in a place far away, lived and old count named Dracula. Now Dracula looked forward to Halloween every year because it was his favorite day --- oops I meant his favorite night. This was the night that he went to town in his ox-cart. Yes, it was the night that he was the most thirsty.
Well, when the clock struck midnight, Dracula rose from his coffin and stretched and yawned (add motions here). He combed his hair, put on his cape, and brushed his fangs until they shone. He suddenly realized that he was VERY thirsty (ha, ha, ha-cackle) He went out to his stables(he had no car because he never learned how to drive because no driving school stayed open after dark) to get the oxen ready to hitch to the cart. The oxen were stamping and blowing. They were anxious also to get to town. Dracula unhooked the reins and cracked the whip and the oxen slowly rolled the cart down the road. MEANWHILE, out on the road, were two trick-or-treaters (just about your age). They had full bags of candy and were walking home in the moonlight, ringing doorbells along the way. SUDDENLY, the clouds blew over the moon and they shivered in their shoes, etc. They heard an old ox-cart coming down the road. They looked but couldn't see anything. They were scared!
They ran and hid behind a rock(This is the apex of the CRESCENDO) Their hearts were pounding so loud in their chests that you could hear them BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM drums beating-ff .(I beat my chest) SUDDENLY, the moon appeared again and they could see Dracula's fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Slowly the ox-cart rolled by, They held their breath. Whew! Dracula had not seen them, which was a good thing because he was VERY thirsty. DECRESCENDO -- The ox-cart rolled and creaked down the road toward town and the trick-or-treaters crept out from behind the rock and tip-toed softly home.
After telling the story as dramatically as possible. You need to be a bit of an actor---then assign parts for Dracula, oxen and trick-or-treaters. Use chairs for rocks etc. if you have enough room, they can all act out all the parts. This is the favorite of my classes-I teach on a big stage. Too scary for 1st grade, but 2nd and 3rd love this and have asked me to repeat this activity. Just had a boy the last week of school in June that wanted to do it again. Really gets across the idea of crescendo.
My second graders love "The Oxcart." We use it for crescendo/decrescendo, too. My approach is much simpler: An old man with an oxcart is off in the distance, we can barely see him approach us from the edge of the playground. We keep track of where "he" is by using familiar landmarks. At the peak of the crescendo "he" is passing through the music room. We "watch" him walk off for the rest of the piece.
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We did John Jacob Jingleheimer....and discussed dynamics. I made flashcards from 6x6 colored index cards with the Italian terms (piano, etc.) and another card with the english (quiet, etc).. I put magnets on the back of them and we put them on the board in order as they sang. They also matched the Italian with the english. My kids 1-5 LOVED doing it....very hands on.....it was new for 1st graders and review for 4 & 5. I also wrote a simple recorder countermelody with half notes to play when they got to the "Be Kind to your Web footed...." section. We pulled out a review of this concept with The Groundhog Gallop...used the cards all over again. Northern Lights was a great song to practice not just singing, but good vocal technique (LAH-ts). Also, I added rhythm ribbons to the performance and used the concept of phrases to change the actions.
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DYNAMIC CARDS: I sat all my 3rd graders in a circle and gave each kid 1-2 different dynamic cards. As the hokey pokey accomp. was played, I'd call out "medium soft" and the kids with "mp" cards placed them on the floor. I could easily check students, knowing I needed 6 correct answers displayed. During the music for "That's what it's all about", the kids passed their cards to the right, I'd call out another dynamic level and ooala...6 more correct answers were presented. I programmed my keyboard to accelerate, making it quite a challenge. Kids loved it!
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DYNAMIC CARDS: Kindergarten:
I made several cards with 12 pictures on them (in boxes); one side had pictures of soft and loud things (lawnmower, waterfall, feather, baby bird, etc.,) and the other side had 12 pictures of slow and fast 'things' such as: old man with cane, race car, etc., These cards are laminated and each child has own set of fards (in baggies) They love to handle these manipualatives (Kindergarten). The cards say: f and p (The 'f's are one color and the 'p's are another) On the opposite sides of those cards is printed: andante and allegro. Each set of cards is bound in a rubber band. The children have to put the appropriate small cards over the pictures. Then we talk about them. No brainer but it certainly brings the idea to their attention. They love having their 'own' set of cards to work with.
The first thing I do is ask them to take out the " " cards (red, blue, or whatever) and put the rubber band IN THE BAG. Kids sit on the floor and put the cards in front of them and their bags behind them. I have a larger set for myself to use. (There are also sets of rhythm and melody cards to use on other days.) These are all made from poster board and laminated.
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11/01 SURPRISE SYMPHONY - (in Share the Music gr. 3) Kids do a pattern of "tip-toe tip-toe tip-toe, look" to match the rhythmic pattern of ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta in the melody. Then we discuss the story of how Haydn wanted to "wake up" the prince at Esterhazy with the loud dynamics at the end
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11/01 RATTLING BONES (MK8 http://www.musick8.com/ ) 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.this is a great way to teach dynamics. 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.)
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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END OF YEAR ACTIVITIES
12/07 I stumbled on to something yesterday that is a work in progress. My 2nds wanted to use the streamers so I passed them out, put on the good ole' Idiot's Guide to Classical Music, and led them in movement that matched the 30-40 second themes. Next time I do this I'm going to have them freeze during the silence between themes. It was a great way to listen to a lot of different stuff. I shared little tidbits about what we listened to like "Oh, this is fire music. Make your streamer look like fire" and "Doesn't this sound like floating? Make your streamer float" and "Oh, this is opera. Show me how this makes you feel" It's always great when they RECOGNIZE something!
Another thing I like to do is go outside or in the gym (if available) and throw the frisbee around. We usually do a circle game so everyone gets a turn and try to name something related to music like a song, or symbol, or even sing a phrase from a song.
Call me crazy, but I like to do a lesson on paper airplanes. I'm still working on tying a musical theme into this one! I have several origami books and paper airplane books. Don't try it with 2nds or younger unless you have some extra adult hands (Mrs. Shuman could you help me with this? 24 times!). We usually listen to some space or flight related music while working on our creations. Then, of course, we have to fly them somewhere. I got my pilots license when I was 17, but don't fly anymore (kind of out of budget for music teachers). My dad is building a kit plane and owns a twin Travelaire (anyone interested in buying a plane?) so that is what gave me my start.-- Contributed by Jerri in KS
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STREAMERS: I stumbled on to something yesterday that is a work in progress. My 2nds wanted to use the streamers so I passed them out, put on the good ole' Idiot's Guide to Classical Music, and led them in movement that matched the 30-40 second themes. Next time I do this I'm going to have them freeze during the silence between themes. It was a great way to listen to a lot of different stuff. I shared little tidbits about what we listened to like "Oh, this is fire music. Make your streamer look like fire" and "Doesn't this sound like floating? Make your streamer float" and "Oh, this is opera. Show me how this makes you feel" It's always great when they RECOGNIZE something!
Another thing I like to do is go outside or in the gym (if available) and throw the frisbee around. We usually do a circle game so everyone gets a turn and try to name something related to music like a song, or symbol, or even sing a phrase from a song.
Call me crazy, but I like to do a lesson on paper airplanes. I'm still working on tying a musical theme into this one! I have several origami books and paper airplane books. Don't try it with 2nds or younger unless you have some extra adult hands (Mrs. Shuman could you help me with this? 24 times!). We usually listen to some space or flight related music while working on our creations. Then, of course, we have to fly them somewhere. I got my pilots license when I was 17, but don't fly anymore (kind of out of budget for music teachers). My dad is building a kit plane and owns a twin Travelaire (anyone interested in buying a plane?) so that is what gave me my start.-- Contributed by Jerri in KS
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RHYTHM RACE: 2nd-5th: best with small-medium class sizes. for large classes, divide into 3 teams instead of 2 and make floor markings for 3 teams.
Materials: tape to mark two X's on the floor (not nec. if you have 2 sturdy NON-FOLDING chairs that DON'T slide easily), small drum and stick, black/white board, chalk/markers, eraser(s), and (opt.) enough little treats for the whole class (little candies or whatever).
Procedures:
GETTING READY TO PLAY:

1. Choose two captains and divide into equal teams (ok if not exact).
2. Have kids sit as teams, facing the board.
3. On the floor (or using chairs), draw two large X's next to each other. this is where the players will sit when it's their turn. they should be positioned in front of the other players. on bare/carpeted floors, draw a T with tape and have each team sit on one side of the T. draw the X's just in front of the T.
PLAYING THE GAME:
4. Captains each pick one kid to sit on their X.
5. Teacher plays a rhythm (start easy and progress through the game) on the drum.
6. Entire class echoes (they will not do this automatically, but will instead be tempted to run to the board right away. this is an important step though because it keeps the entire class engaged and helps them remember the rhythm better)
7. Teacher says "GO!!!" and kids on the X's race to the board, write the rhythm and race back to their X's.
8. First one back gets his/her answer checked first. if right = 1 pt.; if wrong = check the slower kid's answer. pt. if right.
9. if both reach the X together, check both.
10. if no one gets the answer right, repeat it for the next 2 players.
11. play until end of lesson. 12. treat for all who are good sports (losers AND winners) and double treat for winners or just let them line up first.
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06/02 Thought I'd share something fun I tried yesterday. I always spend the last two classes of the year singing out of all the books they've had so far and the one they'll have next year. We sprawl all over the floor surrounded by books, just a-singin' and a-singin'. The classes I had yesterday ended up one day ahead of everyone else, so I needed something extra for them Here's what we did.
Since I have most of my things packed away by the last day, I always have a limbo contest. All I need is a pole and some limbo music. I use the "Disco Limbo" from Steve Traugh's Kiducation Collection. Everyone goes under several times and then I pick out 4 or 5 who did well and the rest of the class roots for them and they start again. I then declare the Limbo King or Queen. This has been successful year after year.
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I have Cubby Checker's "Limbo Rock" on CD. I think even my 6th graders would like that!-------------
06/02 REFLECTION(review) On of the things I traditionally do is an end of the year reflection with each grade level. It has a variety of questions including what performing organizations they belonged to - what their favorite concert was - the Arts in Education units of study they participated in - how many notes they learned on the recorder etc. I have them select up to 3 things from their music folder for the year that they staple to this reflection. This goes in their music cumulative folder.
I keep a cumulative folder for each child. They love to look at what they said and saved from previous years. At the end of 6th grade, I give them the folder to take home.It does take a little organizing of the folders - but it only took me a half hour to reorganize into this year's classes. I do this with grades 2 - 6.
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NAME THAT TUNE
1. I divided them into 4 teams. Each team chose a name, which they wrote on the board, for scorekeeping purposes. They sat in 4 lines on the floor. First person in each line stood and faced me.
2. I wrote a number on a scrap of paper, and whoever guessed closest could choose to pass or play to start the round. I, of course, gave them awful ranges of numbers in the billions and quadrillions, but they eventually caught on to my trick. They were a little slower to realize it was better to pass than to play, because the first person got only one note.
3. For each turn, I added a note. If they got it in 5 notes or less, their team got 3 points. If they got it in any number of notes, without help, their team got 2 points. After 10 notes (I counted like a golfer) they could consult with their team, but they only got 1 point. They could either name the song or correctly sing part of it. I only used songs we had sung this year. One class just could not get Grandma's Feather Bed, which had been their favorite song just a few months ago.
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05/21 PATRIOTIC SONGS: For quite a while now I have done all patriotic songs for the last few weeks of school. I spend quite a bit of time on The Star Spangled Banner, reading the book about it, and discussing the meanings of the words. We also do a bunch of verses from America the Beautiful and America (all of these depend on grade level, of course)
I use the Wee Sing Patriotic book as well as the MK8 stuff that I have. My students really seem to enjoy this, and they get to sing for the enjoyment of it, as well as learning all sorts of history/social studies stuff.
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05/21 BEETHOVEN: Today I used the book "Lives of the Musicians, Good Times, Bad Times and What the neighbors Thought" and told the story of Beethoven to my first graders----they loved it! We talked our way through it---(course, I left out some of the gory details), but they were very involved in the story!
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05/21 Even with all of the frustrations of end of the year concerts, etc., I WANT my kids on the last day of school. I want them to leave for the summer with a good feeling about music and anticipation for next fall. Years ago, when I started teaching at my present school, I came up with an idea that has worked well. I chose a song that I knew the kids would like, but something we hadn't ever sung. I chose the old camp song "The Second Story Window", where nursery rhymes get mangled and someone or something gets thrown out the window in each verse. I take each grade level as group for a 30 minute large group sing. We spend about 15 minutes singing favorite songs of their choice, and then it is time for "The Last Day of School Song!" The kids come up with nursery rhymes for us to insert in the song, and we all have a great time. I tell them that since this is "The Last Day of School Song", we can only sing it on the last day of school, and that no matter how they beg or plead, they won't get to sing it again until the last day of school next year.
It's great all year long to hear the clever and creative ways they try to trick me into letting them sing the song, but my reply is always a smiling, "That's the Last Day of School Song, and we only get to sing it on (everyone join in) 'The Last Day of School'". Everyone leaves for summer vacation with a smile, and the assurance that they can do it again next year.
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STRING INSTRUMENTS: This is one of my favorite times of year. I demonstrate the autoharp, the guitar and dulcimer, and we sing and sing - but I also bring out the title "folk instruments/folk songs" and we compare/contrast the instruments in classroom discussion. This is when I also share with them more about MY musical life outside of school - attending folk and bluegrass festivals, getting together with friends on the week-end to play music, what radio station actually plays this "old-time" music (for us, it is a public radio station on Saturday mornings from 10 to 12). I am in Western KY, and alot of this "front porch" pickin' still goes on, and many of my students have families that play these type folk instruments and they like knowing I do some of that too. That's when I can really get across that it's okay to like/perform MANY kinds of music.
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05/21 MICROPHONES: I just use the mics for their voices and use my big stereo to play the Cd. The students sing along with the original artists. Also, I hang golden stars up and down the hallway with signs that say "Star Week".
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05/21 TEAMWORK POINTS: I begin the week after Valentine's day counting the teamwork points toward a goal of going outdoors for the last music class, weather permitting (and in Mississippi is usually is). This year I modified the "mystery person" idea into the "mystery table" to make it more of a group effort. I made big charts for the grade levels so everyone, even the teachers, can see how the class is progressing. The goal for this year was ten points by the end of this week, and they had PLENTY of time to earn it, with room for a few "oops" days. The ultimate goal is a perfect score, which will earn the class popsicles when we go out. I have several boxes of popsicles to buy, but it's worth it! Some classes, sadly, do not make it, 'cause I don't cut any slack, but mor make it than do not
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SIDEWALK CHALK: I bought a bunch of sidewalk chalk when it was on sale recently. My plan was to take a class or two outside to do rhythm dictation on the sidewalk.
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05/21 GAMES: For the last week of school I like to do very active, fun music stuff. I use a "round-the-world" music game type theme. We do:
Limbo, Chicken dance, The Bunny Hop
African passing games, The Conga, Maori stick games, YMCA, Highway #1 (from Australia)
05/21 Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar
Camp Songs (they love the new book Take Me Out of the Bathtub!)
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05/21 GAMES: I intersperse these things with music theory review games. The games include:
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Jeopardy, Concentration
Whammo! (one of my music hammer games published by Warner Brothers)
Daffy Duck Passes the Buck (another of my WB games)
Tweety's Tic Tac Toe (WB)
They leave really having had a fun, energetic experience, and also a nice theory review to take them through the summer. There really aren't any behavior problems (noise-yes, problems-no) because I hold the limbo until the last 10 minutes and they ALL want to do that - so they try not to be taken out for misbehavior during any part of the lesson. Dangle that "Limbocarrot!"
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5/01 NAME THE INSTRUMENT: With K, 1 & 2 we go outside. Form a big circle on the ground, sit and get comfortable and then we play "name the instrument" game which someone posted here a few months ago. it's great. I take one box of instruments with me; triangle, tambourine, shaker eggs, vibra tones, wood blocks, music wand, afuchi, etc. etc. The kids love to go out and they're also doing instrument identification!
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5/01 KARAOKE: I do karaoke with my classes the last 2 weeks of school and they talk about it ALL YEAR!! I have a small karaoke machine which we hook it up to the TV and they sing their little hearts out. It's amazing how many of them get up and sing solos!!! I have a friend that owns a DJ business and he always gets me a "Hits of Today" karaoke disc. They actually sell some of them at K-Mart now. As long as it's got some N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilerra, Brittny Spears, etc.., they're happy.
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5/01 STREAMERS: Grades K-2 We play follow the leader with ribbon streamers, both inside and out. * Ribbon Wands = Cut streamers of various color from plastic flagger's tape (found at lumber yards and in hardware departments). Kids think longer streamers are more fun! (3-4 feet or more) Tape the streamers to a dowel, pencil, or loop around a metal ring or shower curtain ring. Put on some music and dance. Works well outside in the wind. Try imitating written patterns such as figure eights and circles. They also fit well with the "Chinese Ribbon Dance" in the second grade book of The Music Connection (Silver Burdett Ginn).
5/01 SEVEN JUMPS (recording: Phyllis Weikart) For Primary, (upper likes it too) I usually have them march to the beat until the fermata..the strings, I believe it is a guitar and violin, and then the children bend on the fermata, the first sound, and jump when it is released, once, the short tone. They march again until the second fermata where it happens twice and they bend and jump twice, and continues this way until seven jumps are completed. Primary loves this because some fermatas are longer than others and it "catches" them.
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5/01 STAR WEEK: They just love it. Teachers come to watch, the administration stops by, even the nurse! What I do is this: I bring in two large platforms that seem to be like a stage (about 8 x 8 ft., one foot high). I put them up against the wall and set up three sets of risers along each open side. I get out the mics. I bring in some flood lights from home (like spots), put black bulletin board paper over my windows, hang up about 20 glittering stars from the ceiling and off we go. Each student may pick a song from the list of 40 pop songs that I have available (they are all OK songs - I know them well before I add them to our list, believe me).
They may also pick a song that we have done at anytime during their music class at our school (and yes, SNOW DAYS gets played again and again....). They then may pick up to four friends to sing with them. Never more than 5 kids are on stage at once. The audience has to be polite. Everyone gets a chance (I fade the songs at about 2 minutes) to pick their own selection. Many kids get to be in several "numbers". Some of them take it really seriously. They practice at recess and the whole deal. Sometimes if it is bad weather outside, I let the PE classes join us! It is a blast! And, with all of the field trips, etc. interupting our schedule at the end of the year, it is an easier way of keeping things straight.
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5/01 SONG REQUESTS: We sit on the floor in a big circle. Actually, I sit, they lounge on their elbows. I give them all of the books they've had so far. (3rd gets 3rd, 4th gets 3rd and 4th, 5th gets 3rd, 4th and 5th) They also get three slips of paper to use as bookmarks. They have about five minutes to mark their three favorite songs. Then we go around the circle telling what we've picked. I make a list, tallying how many votes each song gets. Even songs with only one vote are written down. Then we start singing the songs, starting with the ones that got the most votes. We sing anything that gets at least two votes. This usually takes two full classes. They've already been reminding me that it's almost time. I save it for their last two classes with me.
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5/01 RHYTHM BINGO test/game:
Instead of making a 4x4 bingo card and numbering the bottom 1-16, I've found 3x3 (1-9) works better. 9 carefully selected rhythms works just as well for assessment as 16, and that should leave you time to play the game too.
Here are directions:
On a blank 81/2" x 11" paper draw a 3x3 bingo board (i added a fancy border) write Rhythm Bingo at the top along a side edge write "name" and draw a line. below the board list numbers in columns, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 leaving a blank next to each number where the kids will later notate rhythms that you clap, sing, or play. xerox one for each kid.
THE TEST
Distribute bingo papers, chips, pencils.
Rules: this is a test. that means zippo talko! you talk once, i'll snap and point at you as a free-reminder. you talk twice, i'll remove your paper, and you will have to finish your test after school.
tell them "pencils down"
teacher claps, sings, or plays a rhythm
kids clap or sing back
Kids write the rhythm at the bottom next to number one.
repeat changing the rhythm each time and getting more difficult as you go (use whatever rhythms you want to assess).
You can even stop after 8 and make number 9 a Free Space. kids fill in bingo card writing one rhythm in each box. encourage them to mix them up. "if you see your friend writing a particular rhythm in the corner, you write yours somewhere else."
THE GAME
teacher claps, sings, or plays a rhythm; kids cover it with a chip; 3 in a row = Bingo.
fun, fun, fun! and a great way to check their notation!
What if they miss a few rhythms? as long as they write something down, they'll still be able to play, because they'll hear you clapping and will cover whatever (right or wrong) rhythm they wrote down for it before.
(I say, give them a prize as if it's written correctly if you saw that they really did try their best but just don't "get it" yet)however, you'll be able to check his/her paper later and assess it as you would any other test.
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5/01 TALENT TIME: I have "All Favorites Days" during the last lesson rotation before Christmas break and the end of the year. Kids may perform (sing, play the piano if they take lessons, or dance), or they can bring in something musical for Show & Tell, or they can request their favorite song from our lessons throughout the year, or they can bring in their favorite song from home. BIG RULE: If they bring in ANY pre-recorded music from home they must have a note from a parent with 1) the name of the song(s) they have permission to play; 2) a statement from the parent that they have listened to this song and approve it as having no objectionable language or subject matter; 3)parent's signature. NO NOTE = NO PLAY!!! They have learned that I mean that and they bring their notes. In 5 years I've only had 1 incident of having to contact a parent for an inappropriate song brought in. Not bad! They love this day and look forward to it greatly. Plus, I can then start packing everything away and getting cleaned up for summer, except for cd's and boomboxes and piano. Works out great!
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BOOKS/Create MOVEMENT/SOUND: Books are lyrics to songs or poetry, ect. I started with movement activities and drama games. Then I moved my 6th grade students (who happen to be sooooo lovely at this time of year) into groups of 4 to 6. I then gave each group a book. Their assignment is to add movement, and/or sound. We are using scarves, streamers, hand puppets, rhythm instruments and of all things imagination! I had to remind many of them that they still possess such qualities! They seem to be enjoying this tremendously. The carrot that I put out for them is; the top performing "book" in each classroom will have the opportunity to go to the Kindergarten story time at our library and perform their book.
I did see some hesitation on their part in doing the movement, so I had them choose a portion of their book to perform today. I then had the rest of the class give constructive criticism. They did quite well and did not put each other down. They were striving to improve each others' performance.
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
01/02 ICE BREAKER: Here is a great game I found to fill a class period or to use as a great class community builder. It was originally called meaningful musical chairs, but one of my 5th graders appropriately named it "conversational musical chairs." Here's the instructions copied straight from Dave's ESL Cafe: A fun way for students to mingle and learn about each other the first day of class is to play this version of musical chairs. Arrange chairs in scattered pairs, semi-facing each other. Play some upbeat music. Instruct the students that they are to mingle around the room to the music. When the music stops they must find a chair. Beforehand a poster has been displayed listing by number 12 topics for introductory discussion ie. Home life, Jobs, Hobbies, Favorite person, Favorite food etc... Now, the teacher rolls the dice and whatever subject the number corresponds to dictates what topic each pair will discuss ( they must introduce themselves to their partner before discussing ). When the music begins again they know to get up and mingle waiting for the music to stop and the next round of discussion with someone new to begin. I made a rule that you cannot sit with someone 2 times in a class period. Also, here are my 12 discussion ideas: 1. Hobbies 2. Family 3. Pets you have or wish you had 4. Favorite food 5. Favorite famous person 6. Your house 7. Favorite thing to do at recess 8. Best friend 9. Favorite subject 10. Something new you've learned this year 11. Favorite music 12. Favorite thing about you I made an overhead of these for the students to see. I hope someone can use this! My 4-6th graders had a great time with it!
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EAR TRAINING
12/16 PITCH MATCHING - I made shoes out of construction paper (found the template on one of the Pete the Cat activities sites but no idea where - been a few years). White, red, blue, brown. Laminated & taped on a tongue depressor on each one. Pass them out to the kids. I sing "Who has the shoes?" - either Sol Mi Mi Sol Mi or Sol Mi La Sol Mi, depending on what comes out of my mouth at the time ("shoes" being held for 2 notes, if that makes sense). Kids answer on same pitches "We have the shoes." (Or "We has the shoes" - they're 4 & 5. It's cute.) Then I sing "Who has the white shoes?" Students holding white shoes answer. Sing all the colors. Not so scary because no one is singing alone. Then we listen to I Love My White Shoes & the students let their shoes dance in the air when it's their turn.
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I've been playing poison melody with my second graders and it is such a good activity for pitch matching and ear training!! ----- Gary Heimbauer
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10/12 www.musicteacher.com
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06/10 FUN: http://detrave.net/nblume/perfect-pitch/
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06/02 Etude Sight Reader is a music notation sight-reading trainer. http://home.global.co.za/~kbotha/etude For the best ear training software you should visit http://www.EarPower.com where you can download a little freeware program - EarTest, and the already famous - EarPower, very useful for children and adults alike.
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These are the first in a series of computer-aided instruction drills I'm writing for music majors at CSUDH. They are *FREEWARE*. At the present time they're in the "alpha testing" phase. (I'm aware of some bugs... I'm working on them!) Please feel free to download them. To decode this software for Windows you will need Winzip. To decode this software for MacOS you will need Stuffit Expander. They require Quicktime to generate sound. You must have Quicktime for Macintosh or Windows for them to work properly.
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Floor Staffs, Floor Keyboards
06/06 PIPE CLEANERS: I used glittery pipe cleaners this year. I could bend them into rests, bend the stems to join eight notes, form notes the right size to fit the yarn staff that was changeable. The pipe cleaners worked pretty well, the silvery color didn't show up as well as other colors might. I just laid down a yarn staff on the carpet and pulled it up when I needed to, had a child help me put it back down when needed. The yarn stayed better than I expected. -- Linda from Florida
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MAKE A FLOOR STAFF: http://colorinmypiano.com/2012/02/06/diy-floor-music-staff-for-10/
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BUY FLOOR STAFF: http://www.musictreasures.com/music/viewitem.asp?idproduct=22712
http://www.jwpepper.com/9541901.item#.VbQ5RvlDAaw
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FOOTNOTES RUG: If you ever get a grant or a windfall get the Wenger “Footnotes Rug.” I used some school recognition money to purchase mine and the kids do love it ! Before I bought it, I used electrical tape on the carpet.
http://www.wengercorp.com/productpage.php?product=34 -- Sonya in FL
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06/06 TABLECLOTH: I bought a cheap off-white plastic tablecloth with flannel backing and used black electrical tape to make the staff. I just fold it up when we are finished. The flannel backing keeps it in place. -- Monica in WI
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06/06 RUG/PAPER PLATES: I use paper plates for notes - I use them to show pitch, not rhythm, so don't worry about attaching stems to them. You can find black paper plates now, and they really look like notes. For those of you who haven't seen the Noteworthy Music Rug, check our website: www.musicplay.ca It's got a great floor staff, and has squares with symbols around the outside edge, that makes a great seating plan for a class of 24.-- Denise www.musicplay.ca
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LINES on STAFF: I use automotive electrical tape. It works the same as the gym floor tape. However, I believe it might be less expensive. I bought a roll (3/4" x 60 Ft.) for $0.47 at Wal-Mart.
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Gym floor tape works well on solid and carpeted floors and leaves no stick residue.
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I used good ol' silver duct tape last year and left it for several weeks at a time. it did NOT leave a residue but did leave ultra-clean lines 'cause it picked up all the crud from God-only-knows how many years! no prob peeling it off though, and i plan to do the same this year. MUCH cheaper than velcro.
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but painters masking tape works pretty well for me on tile. Mine happens to be bleu, but it is available in other colors. It doesn't leave the sticky mess and holds together better when you take it up. It won't last very long, though.
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05/21 TABLECLOTH: I bought a plastic tablecloth with a flannel back from a discount store and drew a large staff with a large, permanent marker. The flannel helps it stay in place on my carpet and it can be folded for easy storage. I actually cut mine in quarters for smaller units and use the round bean bags from West Music for the notes.
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Here's an idea i used with upper elementary to learn note names:
Make a giant staff on the floor using velcro or tape. be sure the spaces are far enough apart for a plate to fit without touching the lines. add treble clef and bar lines at each end.
As kids enter, give them one plate, alternating colors in a pattern. kids sit with same color plates together. have teams each choose a captain.
WALK THE NOTES Choose 3-5 notes to focus on (space notes, BAG, etc...)
Using paper plates, teacher puts down all the notes to be learned left to right.
Pick up one plate and teach its name. talk about where it's located, have kids verbalize it, etc...
Game: have kids in color groups play follow-the-captain across the entire staff, walking the note as teacher continually/rhythmically says its name.
If they touch any other note they're "out" and sit to the side. keep score: one point for each kid that makes it across. teach another note.
Play again but this time teacher can say either note and change while team is walking. score again.
Continue until all notes are taught and walked.
READ THE PLATES:
Kids sit together with in teams.
Teams take turns writing "songs" with their plates (left to right, spaced out evenly), for the other team(s) to read (sing, say note names, or play flutes/bells).
If three/more teams, have them rotate turns. ex. orange team writes, yellow reads. yellow writes next, red reads. red writes next, orange reads, etc...
Score: 5 points for accurate reading of notes. 3 points for full participation but not quite perfect reading. 0 if somebody wasn't participating.
SIT ON THE NOTE:
Still working on this one, but it'll be something where i'll say a note or pattern of notes and they'll have write it by sitting on the notes with their team mates.
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Floor Staff:
1. Talk about up/down
2. Do chords! Major/minor
3. Transfer sol/mi etc. patterns to it, basics at first (mi is lower than sol by a skip, la is above sol by a step). ETC.Then move onto melodies. They could jump as the others sing!
4. Then, transfer on to real piano perhaps?
5. Do scales, major and pentatonic, then minor.
6. Compose your own piece by jumping the notes. Then put words to it, then perform it, maybe?
7. Then NOTATE on the staff!
8. Take a well-known tune and figure out what notes it uses by jumping them. Then, transfer to recorder/keyboard/Orff instruments??? Write the notation like a pro? Perform for another class?
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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INNER HEARING
Have the kids sing their favorite song in their heart and brain, but not with their voice and lips. That's inner hearing. Another activity is the stop/go sign. Have them sing with their voice and lips when the green go sign is displayed and have them sing with their heart and brain when the red stop sign is displayed. That's inner hearing. Works well for beat work too. -- Cak
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When I’m teaching a Kodaly song (aimed at solfeggio), we not only sing, but clap the melody, sign the melody and when they know it well, I ask them to “hear” the song in their head while we do each of those things (clap and sign) silently. - Sandy Toms
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INTERVALS
07/13 Whenever I introduce the concept of melodic intervals, I compare them to measurement. I ask what kinds of measurement they're familiar with (length, volume, distance, weight) then introduce how we "measure" notes in a melody.
The ideas of whole, half, quarter, eighth fit with math really well. There is a cool Dalcroze activity I learned long ago where the students have spots on the floor. You beat a drum for four beats and they walk away from their spots to the beat, then you tell them "get back to your spot in two equal steps" (or 8 equal steps, or one step, whichever). This gives them a kinesthetic connection to the idea of notes of different duration. If you do this, you can also talk about the fractional division of the distance.
When looking at meter, I discuss (with my fourth graders) the "numerator" and the "denominator" in the time signature. I like them to understand more than just "numerator is 'north' and denominator is 'down'" - this is what is often done in regular classrooms but it doesn't really teach a true understanding of these two words. To "numerate" something, you count it. How many? In the time signature, the top number tells you how many beats are in each measure. The lower number "denominates" (tells you what sort of division there will be - halves, fourths, etc. the "denomination" you are dealing with). This means "What kind?" The lower number in the time signature tells you what kind of note gets the beat.
If you have a metronome (or app), sing a song at 60. Now sing it at 120. With fifth or sixth graders you can have them play with a metronome to find a tempo that is "one-third faster, half tempo" etc.
Geometry: there is a really cool song for younger kids - can't remember it at the moment, but it had movement for them to do when they saw certain shapes..."When you see a square tap the top of your hair..."
There is also a drumming program for multiplication. I think it's just called "Drumming Math: Multiplication" which I have tried out - it's kind of fun if you're going the "math instruction during music" route!
You can also connect measurement with pitch. A stretched string (on a guitar or other instrument) plays a pitch. Measure it. Press your finger down at the half-way point. The pitch will be one octave higher. ----- Norm Sands
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10/08 Every interval in the chromatic scale, set against a latin jazz backdrop. What more could you want? --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl2d4zS56cY --- Martha Stanley
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07/05 INTERVAL PROMPTS
m3 = Brahms Lullaby
M3 = Strauss (two S's?-too lazy to check spelling!)Blue Danube
M4 = Here Comes the Bride
M5 = Twinkle, Twinkle
M6 = NBC tones
M7 = Ba+High from Bali High
Octave = Somewhere Over the Rainbow
-----------------------------
07/05 ASCENDING:
m2 ascending - Jaws theme, M2 - Do, a Deer (stopping on 2nd note, obviously)
M3 - sing a triad, 2nd note
M4 - Here comes the bride, or Mexican Hat Dance
P4 ascending - Here Comes the Bride
aug 4th: Mari (a, I just met a girl named Maria)
P5 ascending - Twinkle, Twinkle
M5 - old Kalo Dog food commercial
M6th - My Bonnie Goes Over the ocean
M6 - NBC theme... m7 - There's A place for us
M6 ascending - "My Bonnie" and 1st 2 notes of "NBC" theme
m7 ascending - There's a Place For Us, from West Side Story
M7 - 1st and 3rd notes of Bali Ha'i
M7 - sing Bali Hai...3rd note...
DESCENDING:
5-3-1: Oh, say (can you see)
m2 - just down the scale
m3 - childhood chant
M3 descending - "Ding Dong, Avon calling
"P4 - eine kleine Nachtmusik
P4 descending - Mexican Hat Dance
P5 descending - Bach's Minuet in G
P5 - that Bach (I think) minuet - so, do, re me fa so do do (q, e,e,e,e,q,q,q)
m6 descending - opening notes of "Love Story" movie theme
P8 (octave) - opening notes of Vivaldi's "Gloria" (strings part)-- Pat Price, Becky in NH
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics

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Just for Fun Oh a grasshopper sittin' on a railroad track: cross arms over chest Singin' Polly Wolly Doodle all the day:
pat-pat-clap-clap-snap right-snap left-clap
A pickin' his teeth with a carpet tack: pretend to pick at teeth
Singin' Polly Wolly Doodle all the day:
pat-pat-clap-clap-snap right-snap left-clap
REFRAIN:
Fare thee well: wave right hand
Fare thee well: wave left hand
Fare thee well I'm on my way: wave right hand
For I'm goin' to Louisiana: hitchhike with left thumb over shoulder
yes and looks around, Singin'...
Oh I went to bed: Hands folded under head like you are sleeping
But it was no use: Cross hands in front of you
Singin' Polly Wolly Doodle all the day:
pat-pat-clap-clap-snap right-snap left-clap
My feet stuck out like a chicken roost:
flap elbows like a chicken three times, Singin'...
REFRAIN
INSTRUMENTAL SECTION: whistle or hum while adding movements to REFRAIN
Behind the barn: point thumb over shoulder
Down on my knees: hands on knees
Singin' Polly Wolly Doodle all the day:
pat-pat-clap-clap-snap right-snap left-clap
I thought I heard: right hand cups ear
A chicken: flap elbows two times
Sneeze: pretend to sneeze with both hands, Singin'....REFRAIN
He sneezed so hard: pretend to sneeze again
With a whooping cough: pretend to cover mouth while coughing, Singin'...
He sneezed: pretend to sneeze
His head: hit head with one hand
And tail: hit backside with one hand
Right off: hands in the air! Singin'....
REFRAIN
And we finish it up with a Hey! on the end (it just came out and stayed!) This was so much fun that I almost forgot about teaching the song, and probably went into the movements too early, but I couldn't help myself - its just *so fun*! :) But then I figured perhaps learning both at the same time would help them memorize it...which they have, and it should be a fine performance next Tuesday!
--------------------------
I'm using a very simple patcsh/clap rhythm during this song for a performance. My third graders will be on risers so movement is limited. During each short instrumental part after each refrain they do this: Clap (half note) Clap (hn) Clap (hn) Clap(hn) Patsch(qtr. note) patsch (qn)RH on L shoulder (qn)LH on R shoulder(qn) Hands out (qtr. rest) clap (QN)clap (QN)
Then for the long instrumental section in the middle we go through this 4 times, alternating the clapping above our heads and down at our knees. It's pretty simple (although we did have to work on the rest!) and the kids have a ball!!
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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HAND MANIPULATIVES
10/01 I teach general music in 3 Montessori schools. Yes they like hands on but my staff understand that music is a very active kind of participation. There are however, some activities you can do that the kids love that give them a chance to use hand manipulatives.
1) I have a ziplock bag for each child with the following sets of laminated cards. (plus a much larger set for myself I use for demonstration before I put the bags in their hands) Each set of 2-4 cards (3" by 3") is a different color to easily tell them apart made from poster board and marker, then laminated. It took a while to make them but they're on their fifth year and still going strong.
a. On blue cards I have 2 different sets of rhythms(one group on each side) (only 2 beats per side, ex. 2 quarter notes) using quarter notes, rests, and eighth notes (we use Kodaly terminology tah, ti-ti, etc.,)
These can be used to identify Rhythms, create your own and play rhythms, or play games with (What order did I clap the cards in, etc.,) Mix-up game, etc.,
b. Orange cards one side has 'p', 'f', crescendo, decrescendo (the symbols) and we use them for identifying sounds as well as practicing singing the sounds of piano, forte, etc., other side 4 beats of a 4/4 meter using tah, ti-ti, rest
c. Green cards one side an idea from Musicgarten distinguishing between continuous sound and broken pitches one card is a series of 5 dots in a slanted line (up to right) and 4 more coming down forming 2 sides of a triangle, second card 5 dots up to right then a smooth curved line coming down to right, third card bell curve, fourth card a snaking horizontal line
I sing what these pictures look like and ask kids to repeat the sounds, then we play the identification game (This is pre-reading I do with Kindergartners) Then I ask them each to choose a card and sing it for me)
d. Yellow cards Melodic shape; one side upward notes (all whole notes), downward, up/down/up and down/up/down Other side same using notes with rhythmic values (You could also do cards distinguishing skips and steps)
e. White cards up/down There are 2 (larger) cards with one arrow on each (different colors for up and down) I put a blue dot at the base of each card for them to cover with their forefinger and thumb to make sure they get the arrows the right direction. When they are holding cards correctly and resting their hands on their knees, I sing patterns up and down asking them to raise the correct arrow. (I begin with many pitches up or down and graduate to 2 pitches using a variety of ranges)
f. Popsicle sticks for tah, ti-ti and rest (I have them place on stick horizontally for rest)
Note important to structure the using of the bags. Kids are told to remove ___ cards, put rubber band back into bag and place behind them or under chair) When they pack the bag up, have them leave the zipper on ziplock open so air isn't trapped. They pack into your bag more efficiently that way.
The manipulatives above are only a small part but they do like having their own set even if it's only for 10 minutes.
I do standard activities like song, dance, movement, Orff (where there are instruments), sight reading (I made my own charts); With the older children (I have grades 1-3 together), I do units alternating years on composers/history/instruments then American Song History. Glad to share. BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics ***********************************************************************
KEY SIGNATURES
06/15 SHARPS: "Fat Cats Go Down An Elephants Back" for the order of sharps and "BEAD G-C-F" ( Not very creative) for flats. OR:
Give Dad An Empty Box For Christmas
--------------------
06/15 I tell them that it's shorthand for which black keys to use. (elem) HS - we differentiate among pitch, scale and chord. Then when they've played a few scales, they realize that it's shorthand for how many "accidentals" (no longer using "black keys" vocabulary) are needed to play the major scale. Or later...minor scale. -- Martha Stanley BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics ***********************************************************************
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
06/09 Our end of the year song traditions are as follow. We sing them in class and as a whole school at our last day of school assembly.
1. Ready To Go
2.Forever Friends
3.See You Later, Alligator
4.Sail On - a song composed by one of our parents.
5. Sometimes we sing "Bonse Aba", because all of my students LOVE that song!
6. Our School Song
We are a K-6th grade school, so on "See You Later, Alligator", the 6th graders stand up and sing the echo back to us on the repeat. --- Kristy Hewitt
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SCAVENGER HUNTS (one each for grades 2-5)
2nd Grade Scavenger Hunt
1. Find 3 songs about 3 different holidays:
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
2. Find a song from Africa: __________________________________page:______
3. Find a song in Spanish:_________________________________page:_______
4. Find 2 songs in a language that is not English or Spanish:
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
5. Find 2 patriotic songs (about America)
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
6. Find a picture of an instrument: page:________________
7. Find a picture of a painting by an adult artist: page:_______________
by a child artist: page:______________
8. Find a picture of someone playing an instrument. page:______________
9. Find a picture of a dinosaur. page:_______________
10. Find a song about a season. page:______________
--------------------------------------------
3rd Grade Scavenger Hunt
1. Find a patriotic song (about America). page:_______ title:____________________
2. Find 3 songs about 3 different holidays.
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:_______ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
3. Find 2 songs in Spanish.
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
4. Find 2 pictures of instruments. page:_____________ page:______________
5. Find 2 songs in a language that is not English or Spanish.
page:________ title:__________________________________________
page:________ title:__________________________________________
6. Find a song from Africa. page:__________
7. Find 3 pictures of animals. page:__________ page:_________ page:_________
8. Find an American folk song. page:________ title:__________________________
9. Find the glossary. page:___________
10. Find 3 pictures of people playing instruments. page:_______page:_____ page:_____
11. Find 2 pictures of paintings or artwork. page:__________ page:_________
12. Find a picture of children dancing. page:_________
13. Find a picture of a Native American. page:___________

--------------------------------------
4th Grade Scavenger Hunt
1. Find songs about 3 different holidays.
page:_________ title:_______________________________________________< page:_________title:_______________________________________________
Page:_________ title:_______________________________________________
2. Find 5 different pictures of different instruments:
page:_______ page:________ page:_________ page:________ page:_________
3. Who wrote the music to “America the Beautiful”?_____________________________
Who wrote the words? ________________________________________
4. Find 3 songs in Spanish:
page:_________ title:_______________________________________________
page:_________ title:_______________________________________________
page:_________ title:_______________________________________________
5. Find 3 songs in a language that is not English or Spanish:
page:_________ title:______________________________________________
page:_________ title:_______________________________________________
page:_______ title:_______________________________________________
6. Find 3 listening lessons:
page:_______ page:___________ page:___________
(over)
Find 3 pieces of music by famous composers whose pictures are on our wall:
page:______ composer:_____________________________
page:______ composer:_____________________________
8. Find 3 pictures of people playing different instruments.
page:_____ instrument:_______________________________
page:_______ instrument:_______________________________
page:_______ instrument:_______________________________
9. Find 2 American folk songs.
page:_______ title:____________________________________________
page:_______ title:____________________________________________
10. Find 2 African American folk songs.
page:_______ title:____________________________________________
page:_______ title:____________________________________________

----------------------------------------------
5th Grade Scavenger Hunt
1. Find songs about 3 different holidays:
page:______ title:______________________________________________
page:_____ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
2. Find 3 African American folk songs.
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
3. Find 3 American folk songs.
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
4. Find 3 songs in Spanish.
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:___ title:______________________________________________
5. Find 3 songs in a language that is not English or Spanish.
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
page:_______ title:______________________________________________
6. Find 5 pictures of different instruments:
page:______ page:_____ page:________ page:__________ page:________
7. Find 3 listening selections by famous composers whose pictures are on our wall:
page:_______ composer:______________________________
page:________ composer:______________________________
page:_____composer:______________________________
8. Who wrote:
Star Spangled Banner:_____________________________________
This Land is Your Land:____________________________________
America the Beautiful:______________________________________
9. Find 5 pictures of people playing different instruments.
page:________ page:________ page:_________ page:_________ page:_________
10. Find 3 songs from other countries.
page:______ title:_____________________________country:__________________
page:______title:_____________________________country:__________________
page:_____ title:_____________________________ country:__________________ ---- Contributed by Pat Price
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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POWERPOINTS
06/09 Music Patterns, Graphic Scores, Exploring Pentatonic Scales, Pitch Notation
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/music/music.htm
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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LEGATO, STACATTO, SLURS
07/11 LEGATO is to connect the sounds and to articulate them, recorder players say loo (I avoid the t sound for legato).
SLUR is connecting two sounds like it's a compound word. Don't tongue the second one.---- Martha Stanley
For SLUR you articulate the first note and then play any subsequent notes in the slur without tonguing, using one continuous stream of air. Legato is long, but separated (tonguing each note). ---- Stephanie in Tacoma
06/06 STACATTO: "Popcorn"! , “Kangaroo” from Carnival of the Animals
"Playful Pizzacato" a listening activity in one of the Silver Burdett
LEGATO: “Aquarium” from Carnival of the Animals; Music by Debussy, Eric Satie
Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings
LISTENING RESOURCE KITS: In the Level 2 kit, I would use "Kangaroo"(stacatto) and "Aquarium"(legato) from Carnival of the Animals.
In the Level 3 Kit, the following examples would be excellent staccato/legato. staccato / legato: 27 “La jongleuse, Op. 52/4”, Moritz Moszkowski 18 “Sarabande”, Johann Pezol The Listening Resource Kits 1-5, are available from Plank Road Publishing http://www.musick8.com/ -- Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay - the Sequential Text Series
-------------------------------------------
02/03 I do a simple warm up, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do moving up chromatically with "Ha", "he", "ho." first legato with one long "ha" up and down, then repeat singing staccato"ha"on each of the same pitches. It gets the point across, even with 1st and 2nd. -- Contributed by Priscilla
----------------------
02/03 Legato vs. Stacatto: I think Yankee Doodle is perfect for teaching it. I am doing this with my 3rd graders this year. We have patriotic hats and are doing some fun choreography. These will be my words of the week for the next 2 weeks and we will experience through our warm-ups and in 3rd grade...this song. I plan on having my students hang onto hands to show legato and have hands apart for staccato. Connected and detached.
---------------------
02/03 How about jumping versus walking? I just tried it and I found I sang staccato while jumping and legato while walking.
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
***********************************************************************
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
06/09 Our end of the year song traditions are as follow. We sing them in class and as a whole school at our last day of school assembly.
1. Ready To Go
2.Forever Friends
3.See You Later, Alligator
4.Sail On - a song composed by one of our parents.
5. Sometimes we sing "Bonse Aba", because all of my students LOVE that song!
6. Our School Song
We are a K-6th grade school, so on "See You Later, Alligator", the 6th graders stand up and sing the echo back to us on the repeat. --- Kristy Hewitt
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
***********************************************************************
POWERPOINTS
06/09 Music Patterns, Graphic Scores, Exploring Pentatonic Scales, Pitch Notation
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/music/music.htm
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
***********************************************************************
LEGATO, STACATTO, SLURS
07/11 LEGATO is to connect the sounds and to articulate them, recorder players say loo (I avoid the t sound for legato).
SLUR is connecting two sounds like it's a compound word. Don't tongue the second one.---- Martha Stanley
For SLUR you articulate the first note and then play any subsequent notes in the slur without tonguing, using one continuous stream of air. Legato is long, but separated (tonguing each note). ---- Stephanie in Tacoma
06/06 STACATTO: "Popcorn"! , “Kangaroo” from Carnival of the Animals
"Playful Pizzacato" a listening activity in one of the Silver Burdett
LEGATO: “Aquarium” from Carnival of the Animals; Music by Debussy, Eric Satie
Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings
LISTENING RESOURCE KITS: In the Level 2 kit, I would use "Kangaroo"(stacatto) and "Aquarium"(legato) from Carnival of the Animals.
In the Level 3 Kit, the following examples would be excellent staccato/legato. staccato / legato: 27 “La jongleuse, Op. 52/4”, Moritz Moszkowski 18 “Sarabande”, Johann Pezol The Listening Resource Kits 1-5, are available from Plank Road Publishing http://www.musick8.com/ -- Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay - the Sequential Text Series
-------------------------------------------
02/03 I do a simple warm up, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do moving up chromatically with "Ha", "he", "ho." first legato with one long "ha" up and down, then repeat singing staccato"ha"on each of the same pitches. It gets the point across, even with 1st and 2nd. -- Contributed by Priscilla
----------------------
02/03 Legato vs. Stacatto: I think Yankee Doodle is perfect for teaching it. I am doing this with my 3rd graders this year. We have patriotic hats and are doing some fun choreography. These will be my words of the week for the next 2 weeks and we will experience through our warm-ups and in 3rd grade...this song. I plan on having my students hang onto hands to show legato and have hands apart for staccato. Connected and detached.
---------------------
02/03 How about jumping versus walking? I just tried it and I found I sang staccato while jumping and legato while walking.
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
***********************************************************************
LEGATO, STACATTO, SLURS
07/11 LEGATO is to connect the sounds and to articulate them, recorder players say loo (I avoid the t sound for legato).
SLUR is connecting two sounds like it's a compound word. Don't tongue the second one.---- Martha Stanley
For SLUR you articulate the first note and then play any subsequent notes in the slur without tonguing, using one continuous stream of air. Legato is long, but separated (tonguing each note). ---- Stephanie in Tacoma
----------------------
06/06 STACATTO: "Popcorn"! , “Kangaroo” from Carnival of the Animals
"Playful Pizzacato" a listening activity in one of the Silver Burdett
LEGATO: “Aquarium” from Carnival of the Animals; Music by Debussy, Eric Satie
Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings
LISTENING RESOURCE KITS: In the Level 2 kit, I would use "Kangaroo"(stacatto) and "Aquarium"(legato) from Carnival of the Animals.
In the Level 3 Kit, the following examples would be excellent staccato/legato. staccato / legato: 27 “La jongleuse, Op. 52/4”, Moritz Moszkowski 18 “Sarabande”, Johann Pezol The Listening Resource Kits 1-5, are available from Plank Road Publishing http://www.musick8.com/ -- Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay - the Sequential Text Series
-------------------------------------------
02/03 I do a simple warm up, do, re, mi, fa, so, fa, mi, re, do moving up chromatically with "Ha", "he", "ho." first legato with one long "ha" up and down, then repeat singing staccato"ha"on each of the same pitches. It gets the point across, even with 1st and 2nd. -- Contributed by Priscilla
----------------------
02/03 Legato vs. Stacatto: I think Yankee Doodle is perfect for teaching it. I am doing this with my 3rd graders this year. We have patriotic hats and are doing some fun choreography. These will be my words of the week for the next 2 weeks and we will experience through our warm-ups and in 3rd grade...this song. I plan on having my students hang onto hands to show legato and have hands apart for staccato. Connected and detached.
---------------------
02/03 How about jumping versus walking? I just tried it and I found I sang staccato while jumping and legato while walking.
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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MARKER BOARDS
07/05 MARKER/MAGNETIC BOARDS
For those of you that have magnetic white boards, office supply stores have rolls of "magnetic tape" that work great for any visual aids you may use in your classrooms. You cut small rectangles, peel the paper off, and stick them to the back of the card, poster, picture, or whatever. No clips to mess with! -- Norm Sands
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07/05 MAGNETS: I love those magnets with the stick man-shaped clips on them - the magnets really are very strong. I have clips on the top of my board, too, but I rarely use them because it's a pain to get the charts in there. I have the magnets like Norm is talking about on lots of my visuals, but the magnet clips are great for song charts and things. I got mine at School Box, don't know if office supply stores carry them or not. - Ann Wells
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MARKER BOARDS
02/04 MARKER BOARD COMBO: Try The Marker Board People at www.dryerase.com I bought their music marker board combo pack a couple of years ago and really like them. They're a good size and durable. The combo pack includes markers and erasers. I notice they've added some other music-related boards now. - Contributed by D’Anne in MI
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02/04 MARKER BOARDS: http://www.dryerase.com/ ---- I got these six years ago. I love them and so do the kids. I've replaced the markers but the boards and erasers are going strong. Kids love to write on boards.... Very motivating.-Contributed by Ardith Roddy
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02/04 USING MARKER BOARDS: I've used the dry erase kind and the chalk kind. Here's what I've learned:
1. Kids sniff the dry erase markers for sport. No, I'm not kidding. BUT some kids are allergic to the chalk dust.
2. Chalk breaks every time we use them. I had to replace the markers at the end of the year.
3. Chalk is cheap. Markers are not so cheap.
4. The dry erase boards are lighter and easier to transport than a stack of 30 dry erase boards.
5. The markers stained some clothing. No, I didn't TELL them too...they just thought that a shirt with horizontal stripes needed a few quarter notes on it to make it a "staff shirt". *sigh* The kids used their shirts to erase the chalk all the time. (Again...they came up with this on their own.)
I am much happier with the chalkboards in my current setting because of their sturdiness and how readily available chalk is. I haven't had any students complain or report allergies and I've used them with all classes.-Contributed by Tracy http://www.musicbulletinboards.net/
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02/04 HOMEMADE BOARDS: I cut boards from shower board material (disadvantage: they’re heavy) and supply a dry erase marker and small piece of paper towel to each student. The board’s are marked with 4 stickers across the top (4 beats) and underneath the empty lines (for notation) there are 3 stickers (3 beats). At the bottom of the board I drew a staff for melodic notation. The ‘permanent lines’ are drawn on with permanent marker. The lines are fairly durable. - Contributed by Sandy Toms
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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PITCH, MELODIC DIRECTION
06/16 KODALY SONGS (Sheet music, midis..) http://kodaly.hnu.edu/collection.cfm
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06/16 SOLFEGGIO POSTER at musicinmotion.com "solfege tones" $9.95
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09/13 HI/LOW: Jack and Jill is perfect for this. I've been doing this in first grade. It's in Denise's MusicPlay 1. We learn the words (some don't know it) then sing as we touch toes, ankles, knees, legs and so on coming up body, ending up above head by "water." Then come down our bodies on "Jack fell down," second part. I ask how did our voices sound on the first part. I tell them the high and low sounds are pitches.
Next I show the step bells. I sing part of the song "ABCDEFG, the musical alphabet ends with G." I ask them how the two C's look different. Yes, the high one is smaller. I also tell them another way to sing the scale is pitch syllables-and sing the Do, re, mi. I just want to expose them to it, as we do a lot of sol, mi songs.
Then I let them play the bells going up the scale. I tell them to pinch the stick so it can bounce. I tell them not to put their index finger on thestick because it is like you put your finger on your lip and say, "Shh,"the bell can't talk.
In the same book we have the Elevator Song and Autumn Leaves that are scale songs. ----- Wynne Alexander
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10/12 What about Beethoven's 5th for same/up/down? Check out this cool video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qglck7rpI3w&feature=youtu.be ----Dee Tiller
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10/12 REPEATED NOTES: Sabre Dance (Khachaturian) is great for repeated notes (and it has ups and downs, too). And it's fast. And it has really obvious contrasting sections, if you're working on form.---- Ann Wells
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07/11 DYNAMICS: - "BROWN BEAR" what do you see?" portion, then we use our whispering voices on the part that says, "I see a red bird looking at me!" We do this the entire way through the book. They have fun getting louder and louder on the loud "FORTE" parts. We also talk about our whispering voices being called "PIANO" voices in the music room. When we get to the part of "Mother, mother, what do you see?" we answer with a lovely speaking voice or indoor voice.
After we complete the book I talk about how we have several kinds of voices and we list, loud, whisper, speaking, but then I remind them that we also have singing voices and they sound different. I then have them help me "sing" the "Brown Bear" book. I'll sing the same melody on sol-mi for all the parts, then initiate someone being the various animals with the paper plate masks. This allows me to see who is matching pitch! ---- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
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TAKING ROLL USING SOL-MI: Mi EVERY class with Kinders. Yes, it takes a bit of time, but it's definitely worthwhile. When a child matches my pitch for their response, I give them a big smile and a thumb's up. Nothing else, just a smile/thumb and we move on. Those who don't match still get a big smile. This provides the child with immediate feedback. ---- Stephen Wight
I do the Echo Roll call from 1, 2,3 Echo Me. I don't really worry about close pitch match, per se, but want to make sure they're not "chanting" their names or make sure they're relatively in the same range (like my little girls who think opera singing is the way to go wayy up in the stratosphere!) Sometimes I give them this analogy: "OK, you're singing in the basement, but I'd really like you to sing on the roof". "Oops, you're supposed to sing on the roof, but you missed and hit Mars! Can you come back to the roof?" Those wonderful little pop-up puppets or a scarf tossed in the air is a good remedy to get those stuck in the basement a way out. --- Karen Stafford
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07/11 MAGNETIC NOTES: http://notelogic.com/mamano.html
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12/09 Find a chant. Teach it. Clap the rhythm. Assign small groups. Assign the poem to each group. Assign instruments (they could choose their own BW) and make sure to have one kid play a steady beat.
Give them 15 minutes to create a tune with their chant and then have performances. My kids LOVE this.
The first chant I use is:
2 4 6 78
Meet me at the garden gate If I'm late, don't wait.2 4 6 8. --- Martha Stanley
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10/08 SOL-MI - Purchase the so-mi books and use them as part of your lesson!!! (I think you can purchase them at www.christmasconcert.com My first graders love the stories!
Activities - hand games where kids stand with their own hands together, placed next to a partner. On So - hands clap their own hand. On Mi - hands clap their partners hand below. Then, when you add La, they clap their partners hand above their own hand.
Other so-mi activities: Using bingo chips on 2 line staff paper
Body levels - so is shoulders, me is hips --- RaeAnna Goss
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12/07 MYSTERY MELODY: I use a this each week to try to teach the kids older songs. Here are the songs by month:
September: Twinkle, Twinkle, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hot Cross Buns, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Polly Put the kettle On.?
October: Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Lightly Row, America, the Beautiful, America, Down By the Station.
November: Ten Little Indians/Pilgrims, She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain, Over the River and Through the Woods, We Gather Together.
December: Jingle Bells, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Deck the Halls, Frosty the Snowman.
January:? London Bridge is Falling Down, Did You Ever See a Lassie, Billy Boy, Are You Sleeping.?
February: Love Somebody, Oh My Darling, Clementine, Tom Dooley, Down in the Valley.
March: Cockles and Muscles, Goober Peas, Shoo, Fly, I've Been Working on the Railroad.
April: Sweet Betsy from Pike, Go Tell AUnt RHody, Camptown Races, Lavender's Blue.
May: While Strolling through the Park One Day, A Bicycle Built for Two, Oh Susanna, Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley.
June: My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean, On Top of Old Smokey, This Old Man, You are My Sunshine. --- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
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12/07 LINES AND SPACES! (How to get the concept across): We had just discussed and read about note head, note stem, and staff in the second grade books. They were supposed to decide if the notes in the book example were line or space notes, but they didn't seem to understand. So, I chose a girl, stood her up in front of the class and drew an imaginary circle around her head with my finger. I said, "This is her note head." Then I took out 2 yardsticks. I put one level with her nose. "This is a line note. See how it looks like it's cutting her head in half?" Of course they were laughing like crazy and saying, yes, yes...Then I put a yardstick above and below her head. "This is a space note, her note head is in between the two lines." Then I tested them by drawing notes on the board and asking if it's a line or a space, then which line or space. IT WORKED!! I know there are other things to do for learning this, but this idea worked well and easily, and not as messy as making the yarn staff). They got it! -- Wynne Alexander
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LINES AND SPACES! I tell the kids that the line notes look like giant Ruby Tuesday burgers being cut in half, and the space notes are meatballs in between the bread. It's so dumb, but it works. (Then they play "Around the World" with flashcards; just line/space, then eventually line one/space two, etc. before attempting a couple of notes at a time much later.) -- Mary Grebem Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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12/07 LINES: Note: “on the line” to a student often implies ‘on top’ of a line (from penmanship) so better to say ‘around a line’ for line notes (a line goes through the note). -- Sandy Toms
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12/07 SWAT THAT SYMBOL!! - This is another regular classroom game that I'm adapting to music. We called it "Smackdown". On your overhead, draw different notes, musical symbols, etc. Two students stand on either side of the screen holding flyswatters. You can either call out the name of the symbol or have the names written on sentence strips and hold them up for the players to see. The first player to get their swatter on the correct symbol wins the round. The winner of each match-up goes to the next round. Play until there is only one student remaining.
**To save time, I did a transparency that I could re-use. You could also play this game using instrument names, note names, rhythm patterns, etc. -- Kim Good
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12/07 BASEBALL SYMBOLS! - I drew each symbol on a paper plate and made 2 complete sets. (a different color for each set allowed for easier sorting later........). There were 4 teams-2 at each set. If each team has its own "batting order" and earns points for correct answers, the game goes rather quickly and students tend to pay closer attention. -- Linda Abbot 06/07 ONLINE GAMES: Piggy's Music Lessons: http://www.musick8kids.com/html/musicgame.tpl
"High/Low" Click and listen to two notes. Help Piggy figure out if the second note is higher or lower than the first note. (10 rounds)
"What's That Note?" - three levels Click and listen to the note. Help Piggy find that note by clicking to the correct note on the staff. (10 rounds)
"Copy Pig" memory game Remember and play back the order of the notes, one note added each round (like Simon). How many can you get correct in a row? (infinite number of rounds)
"Note Names" Can you identify the proper note and correctly place it on the staff? There is a hint button in case you need help identifying the note. (10 rounds)
You must have the Flash Player plugin installed to play the games.(There is a link on the page.) - Plank Road Publishing
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06/07 GAME: I collected a large pile of bright colored magazine pictures, most featuring children or families, or pets, or anything that had story-telling possibilities, and laminated them. I would pass the pictures out to each child. They could look at their own but then had to place it face down in front of them so others could not see theirs. Then we would all sing (on sol-mi) "knock knock who's there?" and I would sing a child's name. That child was to pick up their picture, look at it without showing it to the rest, and make up a singing-voice story about their picture. No rules except you HAD to sing. Any pitch (although sol-mi or sol-la-mi were most common). A typical story-song might be something like "there's a little girl, and her mommy is combing her hair, and she's crying" or "the little boy is playing with his dog." After they finished singing their story, then they would hand it to me and I would hold it so everyone could see the picture. Everyone took a turn. The children enjoyed doing that and it was one more way to help them develop the concept of their singing voices. -- Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana
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06/07 HUM A MELODY: You can hum the melody of a song and it gives you the title. There's GOT to be a fun teaching lesson here, right?
http://hsearch.nayio.com/ - Dan Fee
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01/07 BODY SOLFEGGIO: Do - knees Re - thighs Mi - hips Fa - waist So - chest La - shoulders Ti - top of head Do - arms straight up
My kids LOVE this! Becky in Lebanon, NH
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I start touching the toes for "do" (easy for them to remember: "toe" = "do.") "Re" is on the shins. "Mi" is, of course, the knee . . . "So" is hands on the hips. If you say it with attitude, "So?" with hands on the hips, it makes perfect sense! Then we play "Simon Says. I start with just do through so, and sing and touch simple melodies. So... "Simon says 'do-re-mi.'" They do: "do-re-me." "Simon says, "re-mi-fa." "Re-mi-fa." Eventually I'll do some sort of sequence and then leave out the "Simon says" part just as they've figured out the pattern. This year I want to try to get them to catch me if I do the wrong melody for the syllables. (Sing the words "do-re-mi" to the tune "so-fa-mi") - Julie Porter
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12/09 PITCH LADDER (Homemade)I have a "pitch ladder" that I use when I sing with the kids. The more they see "pitch ladder" and hear "pitch ladder" and see it in operation, the faster they'll understand the concept of "pitch" when I say it in isolation.
It's a concrete-filled coffee can. The can I painted blue; the dry concrete I painted white to match the board.. I inserted a 4 foot 1x1 board (painted white) with 12 equidistantly spaced cup hooks into it. Then I created and laminated small tags about the size of a post-it note that say.... do re mi, 1 2 3 and c d e for an octave and a half. I punched a hole at the top of each tag. It's a heavy thang, so it lives on a student chair and I shove the chair around to wherever I want it. This also raises the ladder up so that it's easier to see. Might I add that it's not likely to be stolen......... When I want to use solfege, I put on the solfege tags and right now I have numbers so we're singing with numbers. When I teach a song, I use my finger to go up and down the ladder, pointing at the pitch/letter/syllable. It's a real good way to show the distance between skip, step, leap and it's a strong visual for high/low and up/down. It has been fabulous for all sorts of things, but the big kids got an a-ha when I explained "octave" using the pitch ladder. Thought this might be something cheap someone else might want to use. ---- Martha Stanley
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01/07 PITCH, THE CONCEPT -- I think that we should start with the idea that there are high and low SOUNDS, but not called anything a pitch yet. Let them get the idea that sounds can be high and low. A PITCH is a particular type of sound. My definition is that you can hum a pitch. You can't hum a clap, for example, so that I can a non-pitched sound. I teach pitched and non-pitched in 2nd grade as an extension of high and low. Both pitched and non-pitched instruments can be high and low. Temple blocks take advantage of this situation. Non-pitched drums, as well. I think that it is appropriate to teach the word "vibration" in first grade. They can feel a vibration in their throats, except for a whisper. They can feel the vibration in an instrument like a gong. I tell them that there are 7 pitches and their names are Adam, Sequoya, DeMarquez and by then they are looking at me like crazy. Then I ask them if they think I'm serious. Some do, some are kinda wary. At that point, I say that pitches REALLY do have names and here they are.... A B C D E F G. And I have to really let them know I'm serious. "Hey, you guys, look at the letters on the Orff instruments. Those are pitches!! You can sing the sound they make." I do a an activity with them. I put a non-pitched instrument in between each bar instrument. We do a little chant with a steady beat accompaniment on each instrument simultaneously, then to the count of 8, we rotate to a new instrument. Kinda like Artie Almeida's Mallet Madness, except with ALL the instruments. Great review at the beginning of 2nd and 3rd up. -- Martha in Tallahassee
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06/06 PITCH Here is an online game to match pitches with the computer: http://www.engagingscience.org/games/
Go to the link that says Play Online. Then choose Science World. - Martha Stanley
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10/05 MYSTERY MELODY For [this game] I have just chosen some of the common songs that we want to use to get America singing again. For instance the first week of school I might use something really simple... Two measures, hand written on the staff, which is on my white board, of a simple song like "Twinkle, Twinkle." We talk about where the notes are located. We talk about intervals and jumps, whether the note is going up or down, etc. Then I play just the first measure on the piano. They raise their hand if they know it. Some of those simple melodies start with the same notes, so then I say, "Well that could be correct, but let's listen to the second measure with the first measure." They love this activity and guess their little hearts away.
They usually guess the songs, because they are easy at the beginning, but as we go through the year, I make the songs more difficult... even the first graders do these activities (but not the Kindergartners). For instance we will do, "Daisy, Daisy, " "On Top of Old Smokey", "In the Merry Month of May", "Down in the Valley" , etc. I try to follow the holidays a little bit and give them a flavor of songs that I don't have time to thoroughly teach. I would like to put all of these onto a CD and then include a folder with the words to make this songs that the substitutes sing with the kids, but so far I haven't gotten my act together! These two activities only take about 4-5 minutes a piece. You can make them as short or as long as you need. Some days we go through it really fast, while other days we draw it out, depending on what the lesson consists of. There is so much that can be taught in [this and the Mystery Rhythm activity] that [the entire lesson could be comprised of these two things.]
Sometimes when I'm having fun, I will make part of the rhythm of the week match the Mystery Melody and see if the kids figure it out! There is usually some little guy who will say, "Hey, that's the same as the Rhythm of the Week!" -- Carol Cantrell
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10/05 MELODY DIRECTION I took a page out of Denise Gagne's Listening Kits (Level 2, I believe) and made sets of cards for each student. The page I'm referring to is the "Notes can go up", "Notes can go down", and "Notes can repeat" page, complete with circles to show direction. To make my cards, I used neon colored 3x5 cards and cut them in half. Then I used my Dynamo LetraTag label maker and made the phrases I listed in the previous sentence. Then I took the circular notebook paper reinforcements and made the appropriate patterns on each card. The kids really enjoyed using them. After each listening example, I rewarded everyone with a correct answer with a poker chip or bingo chip. Everyone who got 3 out of 6 questions correct got a stamp. Definitely a "keeper" game for me! Karen in SE Nebraska
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07/05 MELODIC LINE: My little people follow Buster Bee while he goes up and down and stays the same..... he quivers, he swirls, he dives, and when I turn him around so that you see the swatter part, they have to stop. They love it. You can use pipe cleaners.....let the kids bend them up and then vocalize what they created. Put 'em in dyad and give them some poker chips or bottle caps to add to the curvy pipe cleaners. Where ever they put a chip along the pipe cleaner, they have to insert a different sound. Different colors caps could be different types of sounds. Clicks, trills, pops, sniffs ---the list can go on quite a bit until you finally get to burps........ -- Martha Stanley
PIPECLEANERS - SING THE DESIGN: . They make a "design" with the pipe cleaner and when called upon, come up to the front. They hold up the design and after I give them a starting tone, we "sing" the design on a neutral syllable with the child tracing the design with his/her finger. I don't remember who submitted this idea but it is a winner. -- Contributed by Kathleen Bragle
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07/05 MAJOR/MINOR Sing Frere Jacques in major then in a minor key
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07/05 MAJOR/MINOR You might want to review "Frere Jacques" and then do a listening lesson with Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 Third movement, in which you get to hear the tune in the minor. -- Nancy
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07/05 MAJOR/MINOR One of the most effective tools is having them listen for "major or minor?" I play a chord in both modes and then have them determine which they are hearing. I use solfeggio so it's an easy skip to show on the staff do-mi-sol and la-sol-mi. MK8 has a song called the Turkey Tango which has both modes. Try having the kids sing a song in major then adlib the same song in minor with accomp. support from you. -- Sandy Toms
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02/04 MITTEN SONG: (activity)
We've been doing Jan Brett's Mitten book in the first grade class that I co-teach. My fabulous co-teacher had me teach the kids a song to "Through My Window"
(sol-mi-sol-mi-sol-la-sol-mi,
fa-re-fa-re-sol-la- sol-mi; repeat 1st phrase;
sol--sol-fa-me-re-do--do).
Words are something like this; Little mole, little mole, crawls in the mitten (repeat 2 more times) Oh, mitten's getting bigger. Repeat for each animal that crawls in the mitten. For the last verse about the mouse the last line is Poof, the mitten's empty. We made little paper mittens with cutout characters from the story. The students would insert each character into their mitten when we sang each verse. Then at the end they would try to dump them all out. It was cute to watch. Contributed by Jerri Shuman
-------------------------------- lots of short singing gimmicks - sirens, elevators, ball tossing, greetings to stuffed animals, train whistles, etc. I do at least one vocal exploration in addition to s-m greetings with K during each class session.
- lots of high, light singing on songs with limited range, basic rhythms, and repeated patterns
- little singing in low (below F) range
- use material that begins high and requires head voice before carrying this voice downward.
- lots of echo singing, modeling child-like sound of teacher, other students, or *selected* recordings - lots of unaccompanied singing so children can hear their own voices. I'm partial to the key of E on guitar because it has a pleasing sound, is an easy key to play in, and fits the melodic needs of many of our songs. Children can hear their singing over the sound of an acoustic guitar, yet it gives them a harmonic structure for support.
- little use of piano, at least until songs are learned and a singing sound can be maintained.
- little use of recordings, at least for the purpose of developing the singing voice. We sing with recordings, but I don't use them when development of the singing voice is our goal.
- singing games, singing games, singing games!!! - Contributed by Connie Herbon
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11/03 RACE CAR MATCH: Each student has a set of four race paths. I have the word "start" written at the beginning and "end" at the end. Kindergarteners can learn to sight read these words quickly. The four race paths are laminated and held together with metal rings, so students can flip to the next path. They only drive their cars on their race paths. I've never seen them trying to do otherwise. They are entranced with the idea. We sit on the floor and "drive." The first path is straight from low to high. The second path is a straight from high to low. The other two paths go up and down (roller coaster style)... one ends up high, the other down low. I do warn them that if they feel the desire to do anything else with their car, I have to take it away. Believe me, they don't want me to do that. It really is a simple activity, and just aimed at getting my little ones to move their voice. - Contributed by Monica Autry
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09/03 I use Dr. Seuss books to sing so-mi songs to K's and 1's. They rhyme, they're lyrical, and they're fun to do. The kids love them. - Contributed by Monica in TN
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02/03 WEBSITE:I stepped into a situation like that also some time ago. Try this web-site: www.sfskids.org & click on the thing on the right that says, "Meet the notes, the basics" Excellent resource. If you have access to a computer lab or better yet, a projector to throw the image on the wall it is of great help. GREAT TOOL, check it out!
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02/03 COMPETITION: I also made a competition- had the floor staff, divided them up, gave each team a note card with a word on it. They had to assemble their team on the proper lines and spaces on the floor. They were timed. Next team, new word, timed. Lots of fun and they got VERY competitive! -- Contributed by Di Park
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GAME: SKITTLE STAFF: I have a game I play with my students to help reinforce the notes called "Skittle Staff." It takes some preparation and is difficult to explain, but I'll do my best! I have a staff for each student (about 6x17) that is laminated. I think they are from the series Music and You? Each student also gets small bag or cup with Skittles. I usually give each student about 15. Then I have decks of cards made up with the music alphabet letters (eg. A, B, C, D, E, F, G) three of each letter, two cards that say "Any Space", two cards that say "Any Line", two "Lose a Turn" cards, and two cards that say "Eat a Skittle." I divide the class into groups with about four or five in each group and give the group a deck of cards. The students take turns drawing a card from the top of the deck and placing a Skittle on the correct line or space. If they get a repeat of a letter, they don't put anything down. They can choose any space or line if they draw those cards. And, of course, their favorite is to draw.
Contributed by Beth Haugland
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02/03 One the students get familiar with the staff, I have them toss a bean bag onto the floor staff then they name the note. I do this as a team game. Each round is more difficult.
Round 1: I leave the answers on the board. (That way you know who REALLY isn't getting it)
Round 2: Erase the answers, but leave the notes written on the lines and spaces on the board.
Round 3: Erase the whole board
Round 4: Give them a 7 second limit to give their answer Round 5 Give them a 5 second limit to give their answer. If incorrect the opposite team has a chance to steal their point for that note.
Round 5: Give them a 3 second limit and the opposite team can steal if incorrect. You get the idea.
Contributed by Deaetta in NY
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02/03 MINOR KEY: I presented minor tonality to my 1-5ths. I know, you're probably asking, "Why have I never presented this before?" Well, I don't know, but I just never formally worked it in. Maybe I wasn't really sure how. BUT, here's what happened today.
First I wrote my Solfege ladder in a Left-Right diagonal beginning with La up to La. Usually the kids see my ladder beginning with Do up to Do. Then I simply led them in some solfege echo singing on La Ti Do, Do Ti La, La Mi La, La Ti Do Re Me, etc. And I tried to make my voice softer, darker, and spookier.
I asked them if the solfege warm-ups sounded a little different to them today, to which several responded, yes, sadder and a little scary. WOW! Some even noticed my solfege ladder being out of order. I showed them how it really wasn't out of order, but that it was just starting on the La pitch. We even sang the entire ladder (using the natural form of the minor scale).
Then I simply explained that the solfege pitches we usually warm-up with have a bright, happy sound called Major (I played some pentascales in Major and asked them to raise their eyebrows high and smile). Then I played some in minor and asked them to scowl, and called them minor, and explained that the Major solfege ladders begin on Do, but all the minor ones begin on La.
Finally, I had them close their eyes and listen while I played various major and minor pentascales. If they sounded major, they were to raise their eyebrows/smile. If minor, scowl. Nearly everyone identified all of them correctly. It was neat.
This of course led beautifully into my introducing them to some songs that use minor pitches...and thus we began our Halloween unit. It was neat how it all flowed.
Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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10/02 OREO COOKIE GAME "Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar". I ordered these cute rubber Oreo cookies. The kindergarten kids heard the book, which I sing to them. The tune is inside the cover. Then we pass the cookie on the beat (which we try to keep)After singing the first 2 phrases the cookie stops and we sing the name of whoever has it at that moment. "Johnny took the cookie from the cookie Jar" He then goes "Who me, couldn't be" Then he starts the cookie around the circle again. This is my way of getting to know their names and hear them, even if it is just speaking. For some, this is enough of a response for the first time meeting me. And holding the "cookie" gives them courage. I ordered the cookies from MUSIC IN MOTION catalog. They're really teething toys for babies.
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You can get plastic oreo cookies at Wall for a buck that are really snack containers. They screw apart. I used them with "You Gave Me Your PB Chocolate Chip Cookie," MK8.
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05/21 HIGH/LOW - (BOOK) "UP, UP, DOWN" - Munsch recently wrote a book "Up, Up, Down" and I used that in 2nd grade to reinforce high-low. I placed them all on xylophones and we discussed which end played high vs. low. As we read the story the students would "walk" up or glissando down the instrument whenever the girl in the story goes "up, up, up....fall down" The kids really liked it and it led into a good discussion about what you might need if you were to live in a tree. His stories are great!
Website: http://www.robertmunsch.com/
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04/02 MR. POTATO HEAD: I wanted to let you all know that I finally bought my very own Mr. Potato Head and what a joy he was in kindergarten yesterday. He greeted the class with that goofy smile of his and they noticed him immediately! I will tell you that the tune I used was not the So-Mi-La-So-Mi that was suggested when singing, "Who has the eyes?" I was inspired to use the tune to "Who Built the Ark?"
The words are:
Who built the Ark? (Do-Do-down to...La-So) Noah. Noah. (up to...Mi-Re Mi-Re )
Who built the ark? (Do-Do-down to...La-So) Brother Noah built the ark. (up to...Fa-Fa-Mi-Mi-Re-Re-Do)
We sang:
Who has the eyes? (Teacher)
I do! I do! (Child)
Who has the eyes? (Teacher)
Look Kathryn has the eyes! (Class)
It was a HUGE hit! My kinders can't wait to sing it again! I had a mom and her son visiting the school that morning just to check it out. I was excited to show her some of what we do every day...enjoy each other while enjoy singing!
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04/02 CAPS FOR SALE by Esphyr Slobodkina and it comes with a tape. ISBN 0-694-70004-5. The tape is a narration of the story with some original music. I had seen this story acted out at a workshop years ago and it was great fun. She happened to have lots of the hats- just the same as the pictures in the book. She used sol mi for the chant Caps for sale, caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap.
The melody for the peddler talking to the monkeys who have stolen all his caps goes like this.
do'(half note)do'sol sol(two eighths quarter). sol sol sol la sol (quarter quarter quarter quarter whole) Words are: You monkeys you! Give me back my caps!
Them the monkeys go tsz tsz tsz(q,q,half) na na na na na na(dodo la re do la)
Two eighths two eighths , quarter quarter.
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Although I wrote it for preschool, I'm sure my first graders would be okay with it if they were doing the book in their classroom. For first grade, I'd change the tune in Part I to s m s m s m-l s m and add la to the pitch inventory.
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04/02 GAME for CAPS FOR SALE - Materials needed: Book, laminated paper caps modeled after the style in the story and in colors from story, small hula hoop or other item for "middle"
Pitch inventory: sol, mi, low do
Formation: students seated in a circle around "middle". Each is given 1 of the caps. Discuss/identify colors & "middle" as needed.
Part I - tune: s m s m s m-m s m (sung by teacher) words: "Red cap, red cap, who has-the cap?
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RHYTHMIC MOVEMENT
see also: #31 Movement, Dance & Drama
PAPER PLATES: Here's a lesson I came up with using paper-plate pizzas to teach note values to my 2nd-5th graders this week. What a blast we had (and they learned a lot!) at Papa Gino's Pizzaria this week!!! I have written the lesson in detail and in brief and the song I used is at the bottom. 'Hope someone with a little flair out there can use this idea. It sure worked with my kids!
LESSON: use paper plate pizzas to learn fractions, note values/names GRADE: 2nd-3rd using quarter, half, whole, and whole rest. 4th-5th adding eighth notes. Would work also with 6th-12th gds. who were trying to master 16ths.
MATERIALS: Kids need (in partners): enough small white paper plates for each pair to have 5 (4 will be returned to you at end of class), scissors and crayons for each pair (pizza colors) Teacher needs: one large white paper plate colored like a pizza and cut into quarters, a blob of poster putty, song written on board or large staff paper (song below), recording of some good Italian music (I used La Donna Mobile) optional materials: bell to "ding" when pizzas are done, chef hat, tinfoil covered paper plates to act as pizza trays, apron, anything pizzaria-ish, a few handy Italian phrases, and your best Italian accent.
PROCEDURES: in brief
1. play recording as kids enter and sit with partner 3. greet table one and take their order.
4. lay four plates in a row on desk/floor. give one piece per plate (left to right!)
5. read the pizza in rhythm pointing to pieces: "chomp chomp chomp chomp" 7. clear table/pizza
8. lay two plates for measure 2
9. give 2 pieces per plate
10. read it while pointing to pizza slices: "cho-omp cho-omp" (2 beats per note
11. sing it.
12. lay one plate for measure/table 3
13. all four pieces on plate
14. read it: "cho-o-o-omp" (4 beats) pointing to each piece or counting on fingers
15. sing it.
16. next measure is a whole rest. table is empty. take a rest for four beats (count it out while kids kick-back and rest).
17. last measure: kids do on their own. If using eighth notes, have them figure out other beats on their own then help them discover what to do about two eighths holding hands (cut left over piece in half and put both on plate one).
18. read and sing it (eighths: "ch'mp-ch'mp" said in rhythm)
19. review what you've learned: how many beats did each eat? Write number of beats on board next to notes as kids answer your questions.
20. using what they've learned teach note names: ex. (point to whole note) how much of the pizza did this guy eat? That's why we call him a whole note. ask if they can figure out other names.
PROCEDURES: lesson in detail
1. play recording while kids enter and greet them at the door with "Buon Giorno, welcome to Papa Gino's pizzaria".
2. Intro: "No doubt you've come in answer to our Help Wanted sign in the window. You see, all our waiters got mad and quit yesterday. We're a small place and can't afford to pay very well. I heard they all went down to Dominoes. I am Mama/Papa Gino, and today we're going to use pizza to learn how to read these music notes (point to song on board). Since this is your first day on the job, I'm-a gonna to let you work with a partner (kids organize themselves into partners)".
3. Indicate the song on the board: "as you see we have five tables at our restaurante (point and count out the measures together)".
4. "We serve all kinds of people here. Everyone loves our pizza. We serve guys-a like this (draw a quarter note), like this (draw a half note), chubby little guys like this (draw whole note)", if using eighth notes: "and sometimes we have these love-birds who come in and hold hands through the whole meal (draw them). You try to give them two plates and they say, 'oh, no. we're gonna share one.' oh, so sweet! and we even have empty tables like-a this one (draw whole rest or four quarter rests)".
5. Look at table/measure 1. Pretend to take their order. Kids and teacher together wave hands and say: "Bon Giorno. Welcome to Papa Gino's. May I take your order?" They want one large pizza and they're going to share it. "Notice they all look alike. They have the same face, the same body, and that means the same size stomach too."
6. Pretend like you're calling the order to Antonio in the kitchen. "Oh, no... Antonio has collapsed in the kitchen. My boy! Call 911. Who's-a gonna make the pizzas???"
7. Give each pair one paper plate and crayons. "With your partner make it into a pizza".
8. Draw cut lines and cut into fourths.
9. Indicate measure one: "how many plates do you need to serve this table?"
10. Give each pair four blank plates. Lay the plates on floor/desk. "Notice how these guys are sitting (use hand to indicate direction of notes in measure one). Make sure you put the plates down straight across like that."
11. Going left to right have them serve the pizza, one piece per plate.
12. Using tacky stuff put one piece of teacher-pizza directly under each quarter note of measure one on board. Hint: for easy reading, put all pieces the same way. example: with points of pizza pointing up at the notes.
13. Read the pizzas together left to right in rhythm. Might want to demo first. "chomp chomp chomp chomp" while pointing to each piece of pizza. Kids now do it pointing to their own pizzas.
14. Now sing it in rhythm together this time pointing to the notes ("la").
15. Kids do alone while teacher points to notes.
16. Table 2. Take the order. Lay out the plates. Divide up pizza.
17. Stick teacher pizza under notes. Two pieces per note with points going up toward note (I overlap the pieces so both are visible and both pointing up).
18. "Now these guys have pretty big mouths and they don't chomp one piece at a time like these other guys (point to quarter note). They eat both bites in one chomp. Like so: cho omp (count on fingers while saying)."
19. Read pizza together in rhythm. "cho-omp cho-omp" pointing to each piece.
20. Kids do on their own pizzas.
21. Sing it on "la-a."
22. Clear area.
23. Table 3. Take order. "I think-a you pretty smart kids and able to try this one on your own." Lay out 1 plate. All 4 pieces on plate. 24. Stick teacher pizza under note so all pieces are stuck together but visible and all pointing up toward note.
25. Read together "cho-o-o-omp" pointing to pieces.
26. Kids do on their own. 27. Sing it "la-a-a-a"
28. Clear the table.
29. Next table: "Finally we get to take a break. You deserve it; you've been working so hard. Put up your feet and take a little 4 beat rest." Count four beats of silence. "Boy, that felt good. Ok. Back to work!"
30. Table 5. "Notice we have different kinds of people sitting together at this table. Remember these guys (point to quarter)? Remember how much he always eats? How 'bout this guy (point to half)?" If using eighths: "oh, look...here we have a couple love-birds. Remember them? So, how many plates are we gonna need?"
31. Lay 3 plates down. Working backwards this time, lay pieces ABOVE plates three and two (never let them put pieces ON the plates right to left).
32. "How many pieces are left for plate one? (one piece left) That's right. They're so in love, they're gonna share a piece." Cut piece in half and lay both pieces on plate one.
33. Cut one of yours and stick teacher pieces under notes as before. Read together while pointing to pieces "ch'mp-ch'mp chomp cho-omp."
34. Kids read their own.
35. Sing it while teacher points to notes.
36. Chomp and/or sing the whole song.
37. Review: indicate each note and ask the kids to hold up fingers for the number of pieces if pizza each one ate.
38. Reword it to ask how much of the pizza each one ate starting with whole note. "Notice he also takes up the whole measure of music by himself. That's why we call him the whole note." Repeat for other notes. 40. Play music and say "Arrivederci" to students as they exit.
THE SONG: (pitches can be whatever you want)
ta = quarter ta-a = half ta-a-a-a = whole ti-ti = eighths
2nd/3rd gds. 4/4 ta ta ta ta / ta-a ta-a / ta-a-a-a / whole-rest / ta ta-a ta //
4th/5th gds. 4/4 ta ta ta ta / ta-a ta-a / ta-a-a-a / whole-rest / ti-ti ta ta-a //
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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METER
See also file #31 Movement and Dance 06/06 CHANGING & IRREGULAR METERS Dave Brubeck has a number of jazz pieces in irregular meters; his most famous is Take Five.-- Joan Bell Dakin
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06/06 Dave Brubeck's Greatest Hits CD has "Unsquare Dance" in 7 and "Take Five" -- Becky Ventura
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06/06 IRREGULAR METERS: If you have access to _Share the Music_ there is a piece in grade 2, Parangsai (Bluebird), in 5/4;in grade 5 a piece called Suite for Wind Quintet, First Movement, in 10/8; In grade 6, a piece called Garifalia in 7/8. There are other folk dance pieces on Gary King's CDs that use irregular meter also. -- Barbara Williams
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06/06 IRREGULAR METERS: How's about Pat Metheny's "First Circle." 22/8
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12/16 7/8 METER: A lot of Greek music uses it. I used the song "Samiotissa" because it was in the fifth grade Spotlight text. I only taught unusual meters in 5th grade, never lower.
Meter is separated into four groups: duple, triple, compound, and unusual (7 is the latter). I tell them, "Regardless of the number, music is always in groups of 2 and 3." Then we come up with possible combinations of 2 and 3 that will equal 7 (2+2+3, 3+2+2, 2+3+2...discovering that the latter just ends up sounding like the other two). We stomp on the strong beats and clap on weak beats. Then we decide which pattern matches "Samiotissa", add instruments, etc. I believe I added a guitar ostinato at one point (one group played the 2's one played the 3's).
Finally we listen to "Santorini" from the Yani album "Live at the Acropolis" and decide the subdivision. Singing, reading, playing, and listening...I used to know a Greek folk dance (to add movement) but dropped it when my time got so squished.----Norm Sands
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7/8 METER: How about listening to Dave Brubeck?s ?Unsquare Dance?. He does it 1-2, 1-2, 1-2-3 ---- Dr. Penny, in GA
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With language. ?EG: ?chocolate, chocolate pudding. ? ? Or maybe blueberry, blueberry cobbler. ?---- Cak
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06/06 "Tanz" from Orff's Carmina Burana is one of my favorites. -- Judy Schneider
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06/06 IRREGULAR METERS: I suggest "Unsquare Dance" and have your students move to the 2+2+3 pattern, or match the clapping (with drums or sticks, too!). "Take Five" is part of our culture...it's almost lost its allure as an irregular meter piece. You might consider some works of the minimalists - Glass, Adams - how about Reich's Music for Clapping? (I'm not sure thats the title), --- Christopher L. Saraga
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08/04 HEARING DIFFERENT METERS
The most important aspect of this concept is teaching to distinguish first between heavy and light beats then to move to distinguishing different meters.
When you clap a pattern with heavy and light beats, have them clap on the "heavy" beats only and say "One" each time.
Then teach them to add add'l numbers for other (light) beats.
Use Rhythm instruments for each step: some kids on "heavy" beat and others on "light beats"
When they can figure the numbers to count such as: "ONE, two ONE, two", then they'll know the meter. (in 2, 3, 4)
Later add triplets, 6/8
Still later: sixteenths. -- Sandy Toms
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METER UNIT The meter activities were not always the entire lesson.
LESSON 1: 1. Vocab Intro: To elicit a definition of meter I ask them how else they have heard the word used. They come up with meter (centimeter, millimeter, etc.) in math, parking meter, etc. We come to the conclusion that Meter is also a form of measurement in music. Measures how many beats are in a set; how many beats are in a measure. I show a variety of meter signatures and we talk about what the top number means. (I don’t address the bottom number yet.)
2. Body Percussion Patterns: We practice doing duple (pat-clap) and triple (pat-clap-snap) meter body percussion patterns while singing Yankee (2) and Take Me Out to the Ballgame (3).
3. We take a song in duple meter (Jingle Bells or Hush Little Baby) and start it in duple meter with the body percussion. Then in the middle we stretch it into triple meter, changing the body percussion to fit. Then we put it back into triple before we finish.
4. Tambourine Charts in various meters: I display a chart of four-measure rhythm patterns in 2/4, ¾, 4/4 time. I prep the patterns, looking for note values, practicing difficult measures, etc. We clap each pattern, then pass out tambourines. We play the patterns with repeats, rolling on half and whole notes.
5. When the children entered the room I gave them a 2 inch square of fluorescent poster board that had a note or rest written on it and magnetic tape on the back. They were to put it face down on the floor in front of them while we did the beginning portion of the lesson. They now pick up that card, turn it over and determine how many beats their note or rest gets.
6. Measure Building Activity: They then turn and face the whiteboard that has four big, empty measures on it. I draw a 2/4 meter signature and point to the first child in the front row. He brings up his card and sees if it will fit into measure one. If it does he places it there and sits down. If it won’t fit in (perhaps a dotted half note), he has to go to the mush pot (sits off to the side looking forlorn). The second student comes up to the board to see if he can finish the measure, or starts a new one. Etc. etc. until the four measures are filled. Whenever it is possible to get a kid out of the mush pot the class shouts it out and we parole the mush pot person to place their note or rest. I then remove the cards, change the meter signature to ¾ and we play the game again. Then 4/4 and 5/4 time signatures. A great exercise for measure building and note values.
7. Students get a partner and a pair of cups for each person. They spread out around the floor. For this activity I use the Phyllis Weikart recording of Yankee Doodle (6 times instrumental) on Rhythmically Moving Vol. 2 and ask them to create an individual duple meter pattern that just involves them, not their partner. Then they are to create a duple meter pattern that connects somehow with their partner. I start the CD and they do their individual pattern on the A sections and their partner patterns on the B sections.
LESSON 2: 1. We review the Yankee Doodle cup game, but using student created body percussion patterns.
2. Ma Coo Way: Maori Song & stick passing game. Triple Meter.
3. I have 4 or 8 measure rhythm patterns drawn on the whiteboards with no bar lines. Students have to come up and draw the bar lines. Other students vote yay or nay.
4. Meter Rabbit Assessment Game: I have 3 large rabbits on the board. They have a meter signature (2/4, ¾, 4/4) drawn on their tummies. They have paper clips all over their body that will hold pieces of paper.Each child gets a small clip art carrot with a rhythm pattern drawn on the back. When I call their row they have to go over and place their carrot on the correct meter rabbit. We check them as a class, witheachcorrectcarrot earning a point for the kids and mistakes earning a point for the teacher. I record all class scores on the board so they can see how they did compared to other classes.
5. Kickballs: We make a circle and give a kickball to every other student. We bounce the kickballs to an Irish Jig (2) and La Cucaracha (3) recordings. When the first group has done 2/4 time, they pass the kickball to their right and the second group of students bounces. They pass them back to the left and the first group does triple meter. Group two takes their turn and we collect the kickballs.
6. We sight read easy recorder pieces in various meters. (Just B, A, G pieces I created.) We accompanied it with duple and triple meter patterns on G and D on the Orff instruments. This was so hard for the children in triple meter!!
LESSON 3: 1. Discuss the role of a conductor. We learned theconducting patterns for 2, 3 and 4 and conducted with chopsticks to Yankee, America, Don’t Worry Be Happy. Then we conducted to soundtracks. ET, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, etc. Short excerpts.
2. Reviewed the recorder pieces with Orff patterns from previous week.
3. Meter Spoke Game. Put four pieces of yarn down on floor to make the spokes of a huge wheel. There are now 8 pieces of pie on the floor. Stand in one piece of pie, just in front of a yarn piece. Start a recording in 2/4 and step 2 steps in each segment around the spokes of the wheel. Then stand a little farther out from the center and step three times in each segment to a 3/4 recording. Do again in 4/4 time, then choose students to take turns. I usually only have 3 or 4 students up at once. This is difficult for children!
4. Discuss the various activities we’d done with meter. 5. Written Assessment: Had to draw barlines for patterns in 2, 3, 4. Had to fill in incomplete measures in those three meters. - Artie Almeida
-------------------------
METER UNIT The meter activities were not always the entire lesson.
LESSON 1: 1. Vocab Intro: To elicit a definition of meter I ask them how else they have heard the word used. They come up with meter (centimeter, millimeter, etc.) in math, parking meter, etc. We come to the conclusion that Meter is also a form of measurement in music. Measures how many beats are in a set; how many beats are in a measure. I show a variety of meter signatures and we talk about what the top number means. (I don’t address the bottom number yet.)
2. Body Percussion Patterns: We practice doing duple (pat-clap) and triple (pat-clap-snap) meter body percussion patterns while singing Yankee (2) and Take Me Out to the Ballgame (3).
3. We take a song in duple meter (Jingle Bells or Hush Little Baby) and start it in duple meter with the body percussion. Then in the middle we stretch it into triple meter, changing the body percussion to fit. Then we put it back into triple before we finish.
4. Tambourine Charts in various meters: I display a chart of four-measure rhythm patterns in 2/4, ¾, 4/4 time. I prep the patterns, looking for note values, practicing difficult measures, etc. We clap each pattern, then pass out tambourines. We play the patterns with repeats, rolling on half and whole notes.
5. When the children entered the room I gave them a 2 inch square of fluorescent poster board that had a note or rest written on it and magnetic tape on the back. They were to put it face down on the floor in front of them while we did the beginning portion of the lesson. They now pick up that card, turn it over and determine how many beats their note or rest gets.
6. Measure Building Activity: They then turn and face the whiteboard that has four big, empty measures on it. I draw a 2/4 meter signature and point to the first child in the front row. He brings up his card and sees if it will fit into measure one. If it does he places it there and sits down. If it won’t fit in (perhaps a dotted half note), he has to go to the mush pot (sits off to the side looking forlorn). The second student comes up to the board to see if he can finish the measure, or starts a new one. Etc. etc. until the four measures are filled. Whenever it is possible to get a kid out of the mush pot the class shouts it out and we parole the mush pot person to place their note or rest. I then remove the cards, change the meter signature to ¾ and we play the game again. Then 4/4 and 5/4 time signatures. A great exercise for measure building and note values.
7. Students get a partner and a pair of cups for each person. They spread out around the floor. For this activity I use the Phyllis Weikart recording of Yankee Doodle (6 times instrumental) on Rhythmically Moving Vol. 2 and ask them to create an individual duple meter pattern that just involves them, not their partner. Then they are to create a duple meter pattern that connects somehow with their partner. I start the CD and they do their individual pattern on the A sections and their partner patterns on the B sections.
LESSON 2: 1. We review the Yankee Doodle cup game, but using student created body percussion patterns.
2. Ma Coo Way: Maori Song & stick passing game. Triple Meter.
3. I have 4 or 8 measure rhythm patterns drawn on the whiteboards with no bar lines. Students have to come up and draw the bar lines. Other students vote yay or nay.
4. Meter Rabbit Assessment Game: I have 3 large rabbits on the board. They have a meter signature (2/4, ¾, 4/4) drawn on their tummies. They have paper clips all over their body that will hold pieces of paper. Each child gets a small clip art carrot with a rhythm pattern drawn on the back. When I call their row they have to go over and place their carrot on the correct meter rabbit. We check them as a class, with each correct carrot earning a point for the kids and mistakes earning a point for the teacher. I record all class scores on the board so they can see how they did compared to other classes.
5. Kickballs: We make a circle and give a kickball to every other student. We bounce the kickballs to an Irish Jig (2) and La Cucaracha (3) recordings. When the first group has done 2/4 time, they pass the kickball to their right and the second group of students bounces. They pass them back to the left and the first group does triple meter. Group two takes their turn and we collect the kickballs.
6. We sight read easy recorder pieces in various meters. (Just B, A, G pieces I created.) We accompanied it with duple and triple meter patterns on G and D on the Orff instruments. This was so hard for the children in triple meter!!
LESSON 3: 1. Discuss the role of a conductor. We learned the conducting patterns for 2, 3 and 4 and conducted with chopsticks to Yankee, America, Don’t Worry Be Happy. Then we conducted to soundtracks. ET, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, etc. Short excerpts.
2. Reviewed the recorder pieces with Orff patterns from previous week.
3. Meter Spoke Game. Put four pieces of yarn down on floor to make the spokes of a huge wheel. There are now 8 pieces of pie on the floor. Stand in one piece of pie, just in front of a yarn piece. Start a recording in 2/4 and step 2 steps in each segment around the spokes of the wheel. Then stand a little farther out from the center and step three times in each segment to a 3/4 recording. Do again in 4/4 time, then choose students to take turns. I usually only have 3 or 4 students up at once. This is difficult for children!
4. Discuss the various activities we’d done with meter. 5. Written Assessment: Had to draw barlines for patterns in 2, 3, 4. Had to fill in incomplete measures in those three meters. - Artie Almeida
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
***********************************************************************
RHYTHMIC MOVEMENT
See also file #31 Movement and Dance PAPER PLATES: Here's a lesson I came up with using paper-plate pizzas to teach note values to my 2nd-5th graders this week. What a blast we had (and they learned a lot!) at Papa Gino's Pizzaria this week!!! I have written the lesson in detail and in brief and the song I used is at the bottom. 'Hope someone with a little flair out there can use this idea. It sure worked with my kids!
LESSON: use paper plate pizzas to learn fractions, note values/names GRADE: 2nd-3rd using quarter, half, whole, and whole rest. 4th-5th adding eighth notes. Would work also with 6th-12th gds. who were trying to master 16ths.
MATERIALS: Kids need (in partners): enough small white paper plates for each pair to have 5 (4 will be returned to you at end of class), scissors and crayons for each pair (pizza colors) Teacher needs: one large white paper plate colored like a pizza and cut into quarters, a blob of poster putty, song written on board or large staff paper (song below), recording of some good Italian music (I used La Donna Mobile) optional materials: bell to "ding" when pizzas are done, chef hat, tinfoil covered paper plates to act as pizza trays, apron, anything pizzaria-ish, a few handy Italian phrases, and your best Italian accent.
PROCEDURES: in brief
1. play recording as kids enter and sit with partner 3. greet table one and take their order.
4. lay four plates in a row on desk/floor. give one piece per plate (left to right!)
5. read the pizza in rhythm pointing to pieces: "chomp chomp chomp chomp" 7. clear table/pizza
8. lay two plates for measure 2
9. give 2 pieces per plate
10. read it while pointing to pizza slices: "cho-omp cho-omp" (2 beats per note
11. sing it.
12. lay one plate for measure/table 3
13. all four pieces on plate
14. read it: "cho-o-o-omp" (4 beats) pointing to each piece or counting on fingers
15. sing it.
16. next measure is a whole rest. table is empty. take a rest for four beats (count it out while kids kick-back and rest).
17. last measure: kids do on their own. If using eighth notes, have them figure out other beats on their own then help them discover what to do about two eighths holding hands (cut left over piece in half and put both on plate one).
18. read and sing it (eighths: "ch'mp-ch'mp" said in rhythm)
19. review what you've learned: how many beats did each eat? Write number of beats on board next to notes as kids answer your questions.
20. using what they've learned teach note names: ex. (point to whole note) how much of the pizza did this guy eat? That's why we call him a whole note. ask if they can figure out other names.
PROCEDURES: lesson in detail
1. play recording while kids enter and greet them at the door with "Buon Giorno, welcome to Papa Gino's pizzaria".
2. Intro: "No doubt you've come in answer to our Help Wanted sign in the window. You see, all our waiters got mad and quit yesterday. We're a small place and can't afford to pay very well. I heard they all went down to Dominoes. I am Mama/Papa Gino, and today we're going to use pizza to learn how to read these music notes (point to song on board). Since this is your first day on the job, I'm-a gonna to let you work with a partner (kids organize themselves into partners)".
3. Indicate the song on the board: "as you see we have five tables at our restaurante (point and count out the measures together)".
4. "We serve all kinds of people here. Everyone loves our pizza. We serve guys-a like this (draw a quarter note), like this (draw a half note), chubby little guys like this (draw whole note)", if using eighth notes: "and sometimes we have these love-birds who come in and hold hands through the whole meal (draw them). You try to give them two plates and they say, 'oh, no. we're gonna share one.' oh, so sweet! and we even have empty tables like-a this one (draw whole rest or four quarter rests)".
5. Look at table/measure 1. Pretend to take their order. Kids and teacher together wave hands and say: "Bon Giorno. Welcome to Papa Gino's. May I take your order?" They want one large pizza and they're going to share it. "Notice they all look alike. They have the same face, the same body, and that means the same size stomach too."
6. Pretend like you're calling the order to Antonio in the kitchen. "Oh, no... Antonio has collapsed in the kitchen. My boy! Call 911. Who's-a gonna make the pizzas???"
7. Give each pair one paper plate and crayons. "With your partner make it into a pizza".
8. Draw cut lines and cut into fourths.
9. Indicate measure one: "how many plates do you need to serve this table?"
10. Give each pair four blank plates. Lay the plates on floor/desk. "Notice how these guys are sitting (use hand to indicate direction of notes in measure one). Make sure you put the plates down straight across like that."
11. Going left to right have them serve the pizza, one piece per plate.
12. Using tacky stuff put one piece of teacher-pizza directly under each quarter note of measure one on board. Hint: for easy reading, put all pieces the same way. example: with points of pizza pointing up at the notes.
13. Read the pizzas together left to right in rhythm. Might want to demo first. "chomp chomp chomp chomp" while pointing to each piece of pizza. Kids now do it pointing to their own pizzas.
14. Now sing it in rhythm together this time pointing to the notes ("la").
15. Kids do alone while teacher points to notes.
16. Table 2. Take the order. Lay out the plates. Divide up pizza.
17. Stick teacher pizza under notes. Two pieces per note with points going up toward note (I overlap the pieces so both are visible and both pointing up).
18. "Now these guys have pretty big mouths and they don't chomp one piece at a time like these other guys (point to quarter note). They eat both bites in one chomp. Like so: cho omp (count on fingers while saying)."
19. Read pizza together in rhythm. "cho-omp cho-omp" pointing to each piece.
20. Kids do on their own pizzas.
21. Sing it on "la-a."
22. Clear area.
23. Table 3. Take order. "I think-a you pretty smart kids and able to try this one on your own." Lay out 1 plate. All 4 pieces on plate. 24. Stick teacher pizza under note so all pieces are stuck together but visible and all pointing up toward note.
25. Read together "cho-o-o-omp" pointing to pieces.
26. Kids do on their own. 27. Sing it "la-a-a-a"
28. Clear the table.
29. Next table: "Finally we get to take a break. You deserve it; you've been working so hard. Put up your feet and take a little 4 beat rest." Count four beats of silence. "Boy, that felt good. Ok. Back to work!"
30. Table 5. "Notice we have different kinds of people sitting together at this table. Remember these guys (point to quarter)? Remember how much he always eats? How 'bout this guy (point to half)?" If using eighths: "oh, look...here we have a couple love-birds. Remember them? So, how many plates are we gonna need?"
31. Lay 3 plates down. Working backwards this time, lay pieces ABOVE plates three and two (never let them put pieces ON the plates right to left).
32. "How many pieces are left for plate one? (one piece left) That's right. They're so in love, they're gonna share a piece." Cut piece in half and lay both pieces on plate one.
33. Cut one of yours and stick teacher pieces under notes as before. Read together while pointing to pieces "ch'mp-ch'mp chomp cho-omp."
34. Kids read their own.
35. Sing it while teacher points to notes.
36. Chomp and/or sing the whole song.
37. Review: indicate each note and ask the kids to hold up fingers for the number of pieces if pizza each one ate.
38. Reword it to ask how much of the pizza each one ate starting with whole note. "Notice he also takes up the whole measure of music by himself. That's why we call him the whole note." Repeat for other notes. 40. Play music and say "Arrivederci" to students as they exit.
THE SONG: (pitches can be whatever you want)
ta = quarter ta-a = half ta-a-a-a = whole ti-ti = eighths
2nd/3rd gds. 4/4 ta ta ta ta / ta-a ta-a / ta-a-a-a / whole-rest / ta ta-a ta //
4th/5th gds. 4/4 ta ta ta ta / ta-a ta-a / ta-a-a-a / whole-rest / ti-ti ta ta-a //
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NOTE NAMES
10/12 I have had TREMENDOUS success with "Mr. E's Apartment" books. I teach it in 2nd grade, for about 4 weeks, and most of them get it really quickly. Remembering it for a long period of time -- well, that doesn't always happen -- but when I say, "Crazy Cat and Dumb Dog", they usually have good recall. ---- Nikki Febinger
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10/12 We are really big on Staff Wars here. You can google it and download it for FREE! Its awesome and the kids get really competitive which is sometimes agreat way for them to learn/pay attention.
I also use a big at which has the staff on it and we do relay races with bean bags. The kids toss the bean bags on the staff and we practice the notes names over and over again.
We also use the "hand staff". We hold up our hands and turn them sideways. The pinkie is the e line, thumb is the f line. The spaces are in between each finger. If a kid is struggling with the staff I remind them that they always have their "hand staff" with them and to pull it out and count it off.
All my kids know the staff by the time they get into 4th grade. I start in second grade and increase difficulty and activities as the kids get older. I usually have 75% of my fifth graders in band so everyone really needs to know the staff so I don't have to spend time worrying about it then. Though I did have a fifth grade band member ask me yesterday if we were starting at the "filled in note". Everyone laughed but obviously we need to review our note names again!! ---- Julia
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10/12 One thing I discovered over the years is that not all my students understand what a line note is a what a space note is. Before I move into the letter names we spend the first lesson just working on identifying the note as a line or space. I use just note heads (black circles). I don't bother with the different notes until much later. I also use the visual with your hands where you put your hands on the side of your head to show a line note and then one above and one below to show space note.
I am really big on using lots of hands on stuff and manipulatives. I printed the music staff on card stock and put them in a plastic sheet protectors. Each student gets a music staff, a bag of magic notes (round plastics chips that you can see through and they have a metal ring on the edge of them), and a "Magic Wand" (magnetic stick). I call out things like "put a yellow magic note on the second line", "put a purple magic note on space 3, etc. We like the magic notes because you can quickly clean them up by using the Magic Wand. Magic notes are from Music Mind Games. I use them for everything.
After they work with their own music staff I have some activities on the Promethean board. I call students up and they do things like: highlight the line or space, drag the music note to the correct line or space, circle all the line notes. Then we finish up by taking a quiz with the ActivExpression (classroom clickers) which helps me to see if they understand it..
Once they master identifying lines notes and space notes, then I move into the letter names of the lines only. When the have masters the letter names of the lines then I add the spaces.
I start teaching the music staff in 1st grade usually the last month of school. They just learn what a music staff is and what a line is and what a space is. I don't go into letter names with them. 2nd grade reviews what a staff is starting in the second quarter. Then they move into letter names. We apply it to the barred instruments. They learn to play the recorder songs on the barred instruments. 3rd-5th grade review the music staff during the 1 month of school every year. They also learn the letter names and we apply it to recorders and to the barred instruments all year long.
I do a daily music theory review every class lesson. We call it Music Mania. I usually have 5-8 questions on the board and call students up to answer the questions. Music mania covers all sort of things: rhythm reading by giving the syllable sounds, naming the notes by their real name, naming instruments, giving the letter names, music vocabulary, and any concepts we are working on. The weekly practice really does help them to learn it and to retain it. ---- Tami in CO
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10/12 With third grade this year, I am really working on intervals in relation to solfege and helping them grasp this concept (which also reinforces space note and whole note). When the kids get the concept of interval (I liken it to two kids being two floor tiles apart and having to stay that way whether they're in my room or the cafeteria) and they work with cookie sheet staves and grasp that, it will make it easier for them to figure out notes on the staff when they know where one pitch is and have to figure out where other pitches are. Really work on the Curwin! The kids who imitate my Curwin admit it makes it so much easier. ---- Karen Stafford 06/09 PUZZLES(pdf): http://www.box.net/shared/r28yd01hgz
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01/07 GAME: We do a game with the floor staff: I divide the class into teams (8-10 on a team) and get one team member to stand in front of the staff with their back to it (staff) A member of another team puts down 3 bean bags on various lines/spaces When I say "go" the guesser turns around and has 10 seconds (or less depending on your group's ability) to guess the 3 notes (only one guess per note) However many they get right before the timer goes off is how many points they get for their team. Then, that person puts down the bean bags for the next team (just make sure the person's back is to the staff before they put the bean bags down!) Of course, team with most points at the end (once everyone's gone) wins! My kids usually have a lot of fun with this! -- Lisa Wiggins
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02/03 HAND STAFF: When teaching the staff, I always use my hand turned sideways (5 fingers, 5 lines, and in between, the spaces) and tell the little ones that God knew we'd need five fingers to count UP the staff (good kinesthetic learning!) For the lines I use this: Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips--this came from a boy who took piano from my own kid's teacher. I'd never heard it before and assume he made it up. The kids love it.
Contributed by Susan
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02/03 JUMP ROPE STAFF: Another tool I used to use is a jump rope staff. I'd take 6 jumpropes, have the students put them on the floor like a staff, and take the 6th to make a treble cleff. The students can "be" the notes! After we've used flashcards, worksheets, etc. I have the students spell out words on the staff for their classmates to read. Good practice for all! A side note: I used part of my Oscar Mayer money to get a rug, 18' x 18' with a staff inlaid. A GREAT investment; less work than the jumprope staff and permanent. Another idea about the notes: Mr. Everybody's Apartment ROCKS! The students love it and it really helps them to memorize the notes.
Contributed by Judy in Oregon
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02/03 MR. EVERBODY'S MUSICAL APARTMENT: I purchased Mr. Everybody's Musical Apartment to use this year and I have been AMAZED! My kids are really learning their note names like they never did with EGBDF and FACE. And the poor kids that were lost in the past are getting it....even the special ed. kids. It was mentioned on this list numerous times so I decided to give it a try. I would HIGHLY recommend it! It comes from www.mylesmusic.com
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05/21 NOTE NAME GAMES: A B C D E F G, Use these letters musically.
When we sing or when we play,
Let these letters show the way.
A B C D E F G,
Use these letters musically.
I have the letters laminated in sets on 15 different colors of construction paper, and we play all sorts of games to arrange the letters, find the missing letter, etc., a la Music Mind Games. I always have a staff made from floor tape on the floor of my room, (replaced often in different colors.) My kindergarten and first grade students sit on the lines, and in second grade, when they graduated to the adult sized folding chairs, they find out that they have been sitting on a staff for the last two years. In second grade we play a lot of line and space identification games. Their favorite is throwing beanbags onto the staff and telling by number what line or space it lands on. Sometimes we play teams for points, and sometimes just for fun. For introducing the letter names on the staff, I don't think there is ANYTHING better than the song "Gee, Mr. Treble Clef" from the Sing and Learn Activities book. Even my 8th graders still sing the song when they need to figure out a note!
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: 05/21 I don't use any of the sentences, at least at first. I used them the first year I taught and on the test, the kids labeled the spaces EGBDF and the lines FACE. Now, I start with the grand staff and associate it with the piano (starts on A, goes low to high). I teach low G last. I draw LOTS of lines on the board (maybe 20) and call it a staff. You need one line or space for every white key on the piano. But wait, that's a lot of lines and spaces. Well, some brilliant person said, Hey, we usually use just a few, so lets just use those; we can draw the others in if we need them. Then I erase the top and bottom lines until we have eleven left and I add the clefs (YOU HAVE TO HAVE CLEFS BEFORE YOU CAN NAME THE LINES AND SPACES). I label the lines and spaces starting with A on the bottom. Notice that our eyes make them run together, . in the middle. Well, if we made the top and bottom lines invisible, why can't we do that to the middle line (C). I erase that one. This explains (for some) why the treble staff doesn't start with A.
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01/02 A NOTE RELAY is just something I am developing right now to work on reading notes on the staff with third and fourth graders. I was thinking of teaching so many notes and then making quarter notes and putting the letter name in the middle. There would be two teams...could be three or so if you have room. each team would have a box or bag to choose notes out of so they can't see what notes they are choosing. The first player from each team would go first and pick a note. They would run to the board to place it on the staff and then run back and tag the next person on their team who would pick the next note. The team would just keep going until all the notes were chosen and displayed correctly on the staff.
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01/02 GAME: ---1. Put students in a circle.
2. Sit on the floor, legs crossed.
3. When you receive the ball, you will stand and bounce the ball 5 times. You will say one of the five note names of the treble clef lines as each bounce is made. (Show them how: On first bounce "E"; second bounce "G"; third bounce "B"; fourth bounce "D"; fifth bounce "F."
4. You may bounce the ball as fast (and fancy)as you can, just as long as you say the note names along with each bounce.
5. Once your turn is completed, sit down and roll the ball to someone else in the circle.
6. Girls roll towards a boy, boys roll towards a girl. Here we go...
Let every student have a turn.
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11/01 I play a STAFF CONCENTRATION GAME. I take my pocket chart and make 4 X 4 inch tagboard squares. Then I write the note name, "B" for instance, on one, and put a quarter note on the B line of the treble clef staff on another. For the fourth grade (playing the recorder), I also make a card with the B fingering. Do this for as many notes as you like. (I started with BAG for recorder) . Then I split the class into 2 teams. They take turns turning over 2 cards per turn, trying to match any two of the note name cards. If a team gets a match, they get another turn. The class loves this and learns at the same time.
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11/01 MUSIC MIND GAMES: I use the Music Mind Games system of giving them "bottom line is always E" and having them do their alphabet up from there. I have found this to be more successful with my ESL students than memorizing a saying for EGBDF. We use cards and practice putting them in order on the floor and then on the floor staff.
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11/01 I like to use LINES and SPACES, a rhyme submitted by Lora Parker, MK8, vol. 10-4, as a starting point. We do this after we're comfortable using the hand staff and the printed staff and counting lines and spaces.
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11/01 MR. EVERYBODY'S MUSICAL APARTMENT: It's a whole little story in three books, with Crazy Cat on the clothesline in the basement, and Dumb Dog hanging on the basement ceiling, Mr. Everybody living on the first floor. . . Funny Face (a ghost) living in the first space. . . .
Anyway, I read about it on this list, met the guy who created it at the North Carolina music conference last year, bought all his stuff, and my kids simply eat it up alive. I have virtually had done with Elvis, Good Boys, Trash, and Dad's frustration level. I just teach Mr. E. I have a big staff made of electric tape on the floor, and have added a "roof" over it to create the house. Take a look at it at http://www.mylesmusic.com/
It is awesome!!!!!! I can't tell you how much I love it. I purchased it last year after meeting the author at convention. I started the year using it with my super low fourth grade class as a preparation for recorders. In terms of standardized test scores, this class is lower than any class we have had for years. They are known around the school as the class that has nothing going on upstairs, yet 95% of them can name all the notes from middle c up to b with 100% accuracy. After just two months!!!! I am not kidding! This set of books is great and worth every penny. I can't tell you how much easier it has made my life in terms of using recorders. The kids really identify with the characters. I just told them that 1 finger was bad boy, 2 fingers was always awful, and 3 fingers was good guy and they were off and running. This is the first year I have actually had students tell me it was easier for them to READ THE MUSIC rather than learn things by rote, because they really recognize the notes and can transfer it immediately to their recorder. The books are very reasonably priced. You can go to www.mylesmusic.com or you can email him at mylesmusic@aol.com There are books as well as teachers manuals which are reproducible (which we all like!)
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11/01 NOTE NAME NONSENSE: I went to a workshop with Laurie Zentz, as the presenter, a year ago and purchased her "Note Name Nonsense". It is great! I used it and have a few music teacher friends who used it and this has been the best thing so far that I've used with my students. The chants and rhymes are a little corny but they remember them! I got it at the workshop but you may also purchase the book through West Music. You also have note quizzes and the students enjoy taking them.
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11/01 MR. TREBLE CLEF - we have talked about him on line before. You might try the archives. It's funny you should ask today because I just barely today stated this year's 4th grade on the note names. The kids have loved Mr. Treble Clef over the years. I also have a contest to see who can come up with the funniest saying for EGBDF. We also play note frisbee - where you throw a frisbee (margarine lid) onto a staff on the floor (I use a white cloth shower curtain cut in half, with a staff drawn on each half so there can be two teams).
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11/01 GAME: If you have a drawing program on your computer, design a game board with spaces, writing some instructions in the spaces (such as "go back one space") and label certain spaces with a treble clef and others with a rhythmic symbol. Make 2 sets of cards that set into the middle of the board and write instructions or questions on each card. With color printers, it can look pretty slick! Then laminate everything. If you are just concentrating on note names, perhaps the 2 sets of cards can be note names for treble and bass clefs?
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11/01 WALKING THE NOTES: Using masking tape on the carpet (can't afford the velcro yet), i wrote a staff with treble clef and bar lines at each end. and yes, i have to peel it up at the end of each week and start over Monday to appease my custodians.

I started with A (seemed to make sense alphabetically), introduced "him" to the class standing in the A space of course. Then i had each row of kids come up and "walk the A" while the class clappedand chanted, "A A A A..."
Optional: gave points if all made it safely across without touching either the G or B lines.
Introduced another note and repeated the process but with a twist. this time as they walked across the floor staff I chanted alone and switched back and forth between the two notes they'd learned. the kids had to do some pretty fancy foot work and occassionally one would slip and move to the wrong line/space. opt: points again but only if the entire team made it across follow-the-leader style.
The next week they still remembered those notes and were able to add another.
PAPER PLATE SONGS:
Note: my kids aren't quite ready for eighth note melodic patterns (though they can do them rhythmically) so we stuck with quarter note/rest patterns and didn't worry about putting stems on the plates. this will come later in the year. preparation lesson: teacher writes a simple (using only one or two notes initially) two measure song on the floor staff using paper plates for notes and rhythm sticks laid diagonally (tried X but they kept rolling apart) to rep. quarter rests. bar lines were masking tape or 3-4 vertical rhythm sticks end-to-end. establish a very slow beat by counting 1-4 while all pat their legs.
Teacher walks (to the beat) behind notes and rests while kids say the note names and make a gesture of silence for the rests (i have my kids do silent karate chops for the rests).
Find actual pitches on an instrument and give pitches to kids. sing the song a couple times trying to increase the tempo a bit. change some of the notes OR (not both) rearrange the rests. sing again, change again. etc...
Next lesson: PAPER PLATE SONGS: the game!!!! review what you've learned so far by singing a teacher-written plate song (keep it simple).
Divide in teams. each team gets six plates and two sticks (rests). round 1:
Each team composes a two measure song using their plates and rests while other team(s) turn their backs.
Next team must stand and perform the song written by the other team. they get 2 tries to get it right and may huddle together for a practice first. take turns until all teams have written a song for the others.
Round 2:
Each team writes a song but may exchange any of their plates for more rests still equalling 8 beats total.
Play this game again after they've learned to sing or play (on bells or recorders) more notes and revert to it if a class needs a review day.i'm still exploring the wonderful world of the floor staff (ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME!). it's definitely revolutionized the way i teach note names.AFTER the kids have learned and interacted with the notes this way, i'll do a lesson on note-name acronyms for those who still struggle.
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11/01 TWISTER: It's called Staff Twister. I use tape or yarn and make a giant staff on the floor. Then I have the class divide into two groups, usually a boys group and a girls group. I'll call out a note by saying put your right foot on line E, put your left hand on A, put your left foot on line F, etc. The kids enjoy this. It's a fun way to review the notes on the staff.
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NOTE NAMES: Every Good Burger Deserves Fries
Elephants Got Big Dirty Feet
Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips
Even Garfield buys dog food!
Elvis' Ghost Buys Dental Floss
Expensive Gadget Breaks Down Frequently
Enormous Green Blob Devours France
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NOTE READING: Echo clap and sing rhythmic and melodic patterns as a warmup; Rhythm: 1. Using charts (posterboard w/patterns of Kodaly rhythm syllables in 4/4 and 3/4; have kids do as a group and individually; can use rhythm instruments; they will enjoy this as it challenges them)2. Make cards (enough for everyone) with the rhythm patterns for each of their names (+ a few extra) Such as Sar - ah would be I I (2 ta's) I use my "paint" program to keep the stems uniform and just keep them on file.
An - tho - ny would be / / I (ti-ti ta) etc., Then after saying each of the kids names with them, allow each child to come up and find "their" rhythm. Then each child holds up their card for all to see (in a circle) and we recite the kids names while viewing the cards in order. Another activity would be to mix and match the rhythm cards or allow small groups to arrange and practice their grouped patterns. 3. With elementary students, I've made a series of charts that take them thru the entire gamit of rhythm values and solfeggio notes. It took a year to complete them but it has really paid off. To dress them up, I used clip art from inexpensive software. I whited out most of the color (I don't have a color printer) and colored them with markers. The kids look forward to the next picture on the next chart. 4. First and second graders can do simple notation with ta's and ti-ti's. 5. Make a bingo game for them just to identify rhythm patterns.) 6. Popsicle sticks work well for notation practice. (I play a pattern and they form the sticks into ta's, ti-ti's and rests(I use a horizontal stick to make it simple.)

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PUPPETS
12/11 I've purchased ghost puppets and use them to hold conversations in "spooky voices" in October. Great way to get kids using head voice. The ghost puppet was $1 at my favorite dollar store last October.
I have a pop-up puppet (clown) that I use to get kids solo singing. The class sings, "Where is Fuzzy?" and one child sings "Come out!" (so-do) My clown pop-up came from one of the global village stores, I think at an AOSA.
I use my Three monkeys and crocodile puppet with EVERY K-1 class to work on low-middle-high voices. It's hard to describe, but I got a video of it in a preschool class(age 3-6) and you can see how the kids respond.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mlpD28QU-E
----Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay – the Sequential Text Series tvmusic@telusplanet.net 888-562-4647
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1. The gift box Folkmanis puppets are a great way to work on singing with kinders. I tell them "Toby Doo Music" (our puppy puppet) will come out of the box for those kids who sing to him. If they want, they can whisper sing to him.
2. Thom Borden has a great activity to "Aquarium", based on John Feirabend's activity in Move It! using fish puppets.
3. I choose two kindergarteners who come into the room in the proper manner who get to hold a puppet throughout class.
4. My older kids use them for skits and other fun things in their own activities.
5. The pop-up puppets (clowns in cone) are good for vocal exploration
6. I use insect finger puppets with an activity on Vivaldi's "Spring".(Workshop handout available on request. ---- Karen Stafford
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See also file #38 Preschool/Kindergarten
12/09 SUGGESTIONS: I used my puppet dog ‘Bingo’ to introduce the 4 voices and lead the students in using them (talk, sing, whisper, shout (I say "calling voice"). Bingo greets each child and they sing "hello Bingo: (so mi so mi) and get to pat him, Then he passes out a basket of egg shakers (I have him hold the basket in his mouth and walk by each child in the circle and they take an egg.) Bingo holds an egg shaker in his mouth and we shake them to this poem I made up.
Shake em up high, shake 'em down low.
Shake 'em around and around you go.
Shake 'em by your ear, shake 'em by your toe.
Shake them fast and shake them slow.Hold them now in a little nest. (make nest out of hands.)
After that I use MK8's Shakey Shakey Egg song to move to and in the instrumental part I repeat the poem. Then we shake and move to Hola Amigos. Kids LOVE the eggs! Bingo then collects the eggs in his basket and goes to rest while we do another activity..... Dianne Park, San Diego, CA
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12/09 BEAT BUDDIES- Just make a really big deal about how the puppet wants the children to do something or learn something. It is amazing what they will do for a silly puppet or stuffed animal. My older students always beg for them too. I always threaten my older students with "Don't make me bring out the puppets". Of course it's not much of a threat because they want the puppets too. I didn't think my 4th and 5th graders would like the Beat Buddies (little stuffed beanie babies), but they were upset last week because we didn't have time for them. They made me promise that we will use them next week. I've been introducing lullabies to my students. Originally, I was only going to do them with K-2, but then after reading through John Feierabend's material (as inspired by the list) I decide to give it a try with my older students. It turned out to be a big hit. They loved rocking the beanie baby to the lullaby, even the boys.--- Kathleen Bragle
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12/09 I have Coconut. He's a gorilla with very loooong arms. He LOVES the beat. It is his favorite thing. He keeps the beat on his knees, head, shoulders, etc. The kids have to keep the beat right with him. I put Popcorn on and we all keep the beat together. The kids BEG for him. And I can see immediately who really has a handle on beat and who doesn't. --- Alison in IL
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12/09 The first one I bought was a brightly colored bird with a mouth that opened very wide. This was Goldie, our singing bird. BTW, Goldie ONLY liked to sing, and NEVER talked. It was a wonderful way to help the little ones learn the difference between their singing and speaking voices, because if they "forgot" and spoke instead of sang, Goldie would just press his mouth closed and shake his head from side to side. And they WANTED to make Goldie sing with them. Goldie also led on echo songs, singing lustily when it was their turn, and hiding behind my back when it was their turn to wait and listen... The next one was a beautiful rabbit I got in a toy store in Germany. This of course was John the Rabbit, whose major "niche" of course, was with that song. Mouth didn't open/close as did Goldie's, but he popped out of his rabbit hole each time (during "his" song) that it was time to sing, and then popped back down when it was NOT their turn... --- Louise Eddington
------I use puppets to introduce echo vs. call& response. (First having the puppets echo what my puppet says, and then having them answer what my puppet has said..)--- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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12/09 I have a trash can raccoon named Sparky who sings the warm-up song for K-2. He goes on "trips," takes "naps," eats apples, and watches his big screen tv that is in his trash can. If he doesn't show, the kids ask for him. Now he has a big brother named Rocky who has a huge tail. He thinks he can fly, so I tell the students the story of the bumblebee that I learned when I sold Mary Kay makeup---the bee doesn't know that its body is too big for its wings, so it flies anyway..... I have a big bucket of puppets that we use for vocal exploration.. Share the Music has a wonderful echo song in the K book--Hello There... I show them the difference in holding a puppet with a mouth and one that doesn't. There is also a rule that if the puppet starts to bite or fight, it goes back in the bucket, because now it is "too dangerous." --- Margaret in GA
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I have a Crush turtle from Finding Nemo. I use him to sing our hello greetings in 5K and 1st grade. We sing on SM, and Crush will say "hello boys and girls" and the kids sing back "hello Mr. Turtle." Etc. He always sings to the kids, but will sometimes whisper things to me. He'll whisper that they're not really singing and some of them are talking instead. He'll whisper that someone is not singing at all, or that someone is using a low singing voice and I should ask them to try to match him better. They love Mr. Turtle, and he'll sometimes give them a "noggin" if they sing especially well. --- Jennifer Schroeder
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12/09 [From a Kodaly workshop with Julie Swank]: 1) Bee Bee Bumblebee: circle game. Teacher has bee puppet and it "flies" over the students' heads to the beat. 2) Snail Snail: use snail puppet to "chew" on a student's hand while class is singing the song; demonstrates the rhythm in a tangible way 3) Turtle puppet: use for inner hearing; when turtle's head is out, class sings song out loud; when turtle's head goes into its shell, class sings the song "inside" until turtle's head comes out again. Can also use Eastern European "cone puppets" for inner hearing. And a rabbit in the hat puppet. 4) The coolest puppet she had was an OWL whose head swiveled. I don't remember how she used it, but I have it under "vocal exploration" so am guessing maybe some echo "hooting"???? --- Julie Jones in Williamsburg, VA
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12/09 BOOK: Puppet Power: Grades 1-4: Teacher Resource: Parent Resource by Laughlin, Nancy, and Street Level Studio (Paperback - Mar 1, 1999) (Can find both new and used at Amazon.com
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10/08 A favorite with puppets is the story "The Boy Who Lived with the Bears" from the book "Songs From the Singing Sack." You can add as many different animals to that as you want. --- Camille Page
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10/08 I've gotten some wonderful puppets from Mary Meyer. Think I just found them on-line, but now our local Hallmark carries them. --- Julie Jones
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01/07 Just discovered the neatest thing on the Folkmanis site - a recommended list of books to use with the puppets. Check it out. http://www.folkmanis.com/ I particularly enjoy two of my Folkmanis puppets. Grandma could get the kids' attention better than I could. She could reprimand them in her Granny voice and they really listened and took her to heart. She would whisper things to me and the kids' eyes would get bigger and bigger. They didn't want to disappoint Grandma. I also love my large horse puppet. He wears bells around his neck and leads kids in Bell Horses, among other songs. After seeing Lynn Kleiner do this I just had to have him!! I have loads of puppets from Costco. They are perfect for letting the kids come up with creative verses and ideas. -- Ardith J. Roddy
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01/07 www.folkmanis.com has a wonderful lamb which I use when working with kinders and 1st grade as he can't say "ba "yet as he doesn't know how to blend. My other favorite Folkmanis puppet is the a dog which is just a head (with big mouth) and he doesn't know how to sing properly but loves catching a ball so we all practice catching an invisible ball when we sing. I have others too such as a wiggly dragon, a ladybug and a bumblebee. They are worth every penny even if you bring them out for two lessons each year. -- Sue Michiels
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01/07 Cracker Barrel has an awesome parrot puppet that repeats everything you say (yes, EVERYTHING- boy, do my own kids have a great time with that....).- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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I have a 2 sets of multicultural puppets from Oriental Trading Co. Now...I've been burned on some things at this company...but these puppets are GREAT! They have hands and legs too! I think they were $25 - 29 for 12 of them. I bought 2 sets so I'd have enough and the kids LOVE them!-- Rhonda Schilling, Madison WI
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01/07 I have Piano the Penguin and Forte the Frog along with a finger puppet penguin named Pianissimo (Piano's little sister) and a larger frog Fortissimo(Forte's big brother). I also have Adagio the snail and Allegro the field mouse. These are puppets I use all the time to teach & reinforce those dynamic & tempo terms. In addition, I have tons of other animal puppets that I use for whatever song they fit in -- like farm animal puppets for Grandpa's Farm, an alligator puppet for Here's a Little Alligator & Alligator in the Elevator, bird puppets for One Little Bird, etc. Once in a while a student will say, I know it's you talking! but for the most part, they are all pretty mesmerized by puppets! I'm the only one who uses Piano, Forte, Adagio & Allegro, but I let students use the various other puppets. I've bought them at many different places over the years -- Costco, Diddams, teacher stores, gift shops. -- Sunny Ahrens Campbell Christian School, Campbell, CA
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08/04 I use many different types of puppets and stuffed animals with my kinders and 1sts, and I have never had a problem with even the most active class. I have approximately 30 puppets that I have purchased over the years, and each has a particular purpose, a personality, a special song that it goes with, or something that makes that puppet special and unique. They come out one at a time for their particular purpose. In addition, I have a box of handmade puppets known as the "Silly Singers." There are enough for each child to have one, and we use them together to sing solfeg syllables.
Here is how I set it up....
Early in the year, when I am ready to introduce the first puppet, I start the lesson as usual. After we sing our Hello Song, I start talking to them about whatever...and stop suddenly in mid sentence. "Did you hear something?" I ask them, very dramatically. They are all absolutely silent, looking around. "I thought I heard something. Did you hear it?" Some will say no, but most will nod or tell me that they heard it, too. I begin looking around the room. I look under my desk, on the shelves in plain sight, all the places they can see just as well as I can. Finally I go to my cupboard and open the door just a crack. I quickly shut it again and tell the kids that I think I may have found what made the noise.
Of course, by this time they are dying to know what is in the cupboard, so I make a big deal out of making sure they won't be scared to see it, all with a smile. I reach into the cupboard without opening the door very wide and put my hand in the puppet, making soothing "It's ok...come on out..." noises. They are entranced when the see the puppet. I introduce them to the puppet by name, and then I talk to the puppet. He whispers back in my ear because he is too shy to talk out loud to the children at first. I tell them what he says, and we have a conversation this way for a while, with me "translating" for the kids.
My first puppet of the year is _always_ a puppet who sings songs that we can echo. When I get around to asking the puppet if he likes to sing, he always answers in the affirmative. I ask if he will sing a song for the children, and he agrees in my ear, if the children will sing an echo back to him. The first time they hear the puppet's voice is when he sings, and by this time I have them all in the palm of my hand. Even the most reluctant singer joins in to avoid disappointing the puppet. I sing for the puppet, of course, but the kids are so focused on the puppet and his moving mouth that they could care less that it is my voice. We sing the song through several times with them echoing. Then I ask them if they know what this animal is. They know it is a puppet, although a few are sometimes reluctant to admit that it is not a real animal. This is where I stop the act and tell them that I have many puppets who would like to visit us in the music room, but that there are two rules that they must follow with all the puppets.
1) NEVER put their hand in the puppet's mouth. I explain that puppets have cloth mouths and they can be ripped and ruined and then we won't be able to play with the puppets at all.
2) Only gentle petting is allowed, because my hand is inside the puppet and I don't want to be hit or treated roughly. Then I ask them if they can gently pet the puppet as I come around to them. They assure me they can, and I work my way around the group, allowing each child to pet the puppet. We may sing the echo song again after this, and then it is time for the puppet to go back in the cupboard. They anxiously await the next time the puppet comes out, and I will bring out the same one several times.
When I introduce a new puppet for a new concept or song, we quickly review the "Puppet rules" again, and I never have a problem. They would be delighted to use puppets every class period, but I space them out so that it continues to be exciting rather than routine.
There's a different routine I go through with the Silly Singers. I will be introducing them after we learn the body scale in the next few weeks. -- Contributed by Becky Union Grove, WI
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I have bought from Folkmanis before - I have a beautiful five foot long red and gold dragon who attends music class once in a while. He LOVES good singing and can get quite feisty if he is pleased. His name??? Puff, of course! -- http://www.folkmanis.com ---Contributed by Patty in AR
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01/02 Here is the website for Ability Plus to get the Plastic eye Puppets.
Talking about puppets, I have the most fun year with shadow puppets in my class. I made a shadow puppet screen and we did a Halloween assembly with the jack-o-lanterns and flying witches, we spelled H-A-L-L-O- W-E-E-N with cut out letters as we sang the song. The kids and I are doing the song story now of Abiyoyo with the shadow screen. As you move the puppet closer to the screen , of course the Abiyoyo creature becomes gigantic. I use an overhead projector behind a white sheet and the students manipulate the puppets behind the sheet. It's a lot of fun!
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I ordered a video "Making Giant Puppets" and a booklet 68 Ways To Make Really Big Puppets from Sara Peattie. $12 This year, I've started using puppets (thanks for the idea!) to do sol-feg warm-ups. "Melody", my lead puppet, has a pointing wand attached to her hand. At first, the kids echo her combination of notes as she points to each house on "music street". Then the real test is for the students to sing the pitches as she points to the houses. I also have a staff with 4 tonal patterns. After "Melody" sings a sol-feg phrase, the kids choose the correct tonal pattern.
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We used shadow puppets to act out stories like the "The Three Little Pigs" "Billy Goat Gruff" etc where the students write their own scripts and arrange their own music to accompany the stories..it was a huge success. With the older students, we explore other world cultures where shadow puppets are used like the Indonesian shadow puppets and the great epic..the Ramayana...The students really enjoyed doing the research, making the puppets and even imitating the music of the gamelan
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The Saratoga Springs 6th graders from the Dorothy Nolan School. They had a chime choir that played 4 songs as a group and the 5th piece on the concert was a performance of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. A narrator at a microphone told the story as the puppets pantomimed the story, and the tone/chime bell choir played instrumental pieces in between scenes. The puppet stage was metal pipes ( I'm going to use PVC tubes) about 8' tall and 8'across. They had two students who opened a front curtain(a white sheet cut in half) in between scenes. There was an 8' table covered with a white sheet where the puppets would appear from underneath and another white sheet on tubes as a background. Bright lamps were also focused on the puppets which really was nice. It was simple and effective. All together maybe 25 chime players, 4 narrators , 3 puppeteers and the 2 students who opened and closed the curtains. The group also had matching t-shirts. Their puppet group meets once a week before school. Instead of tone bars, I think a recorder group would work as starters if you don't have the tone bars set.---------------------
Both: Folk Tale Plays for Puppets Plays for Young Puppeteers (available in paperback) from Plays, Inc. Boston, MAAA Books by Nancy Renfro available from Puppeteers of America store, go to their website some may be out of print "Pocketful of Puppet Activities for the Special Child" "Puppet Shows Made Easy!" "Pocketful of Puppets" Mother Goose "Pocketful of Puppets" Plump Fish by Mary Mazzacane (may be out of print) Music Education Through Puppetry Keynote Publishing, Hamden, CT lots of great musical activities incorporating puppets By Barbara Rountree, Melissa Shruptrine, Jean Gordon, and Nancy Taylor, "Creative Teaching with Puppets" 6 units with music, directions, and patterns for making puppets in the book. FANTASTIC! Suitable Music : "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (for hand bells or chimes) by Kirtsy Mitchell available from High Meadow Music Pub. PO Box 40486 Tuscaloosa, AL 35404-0486 By Ruth Watson Henderson "and a Glass Slipper" 8 playlets for primary grades piano and Orff accomp. Waterloo Pub, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada by Alice Olsen, "Storytime" Stories arranged for Orff instruments by Kay Umansky "Three Rapping Rats" A and C Black, London If you sew!!!!!!!!!!! Puppet patterns Books 1-6 a wide variety of lg. people and animal puppet patterns Publication of Children's Outreach 210 Tracy Road New Whiteland, IN 46184-1024 some really neat puppets, not easy, however!!
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PITCH MATCHING
12/11 SING WITH KIDS? You will be surprised how much the kids lean on you when you sing with them and how much strain it causes your voice singing so many hours per day. Definately let your students find their own voice and learn to lean on each other. At first the kids will be surprised that they aren't singing as strong as they thought, but the your lead singers will become stronger and the other kids will step it up.
Most often the song will fall apart because they don't focus on the words and they do what I call "micro-singing". That's when they "think" they are singing along with the recorded song, but when in actuality they are just following along and singing micro-seconds behind the recorded melody. So I point out to them how they need to focus on the first words of a phrase or line because once they can remember those, then the rest of the words will naturally follow without much effort.
Another thing I highly advise is to raise or change the key several times during a song. By changing the key of the song, this will improve their matching pitch and sense of tonality. I used to accompany with the guitar a lot because it was the easiest instrument for me to use for instant transposition plus there are no recorded lead parts to micro-sing behind. ---- Ms. Cathy Vandendoel
12/11 SING WITH KIDS? Every since I attended a John Feierabend workshop I have always followed his saying "Sing for the students not with the students". It is hard not to sing with them, but what I have found by not singing with them is that they learn to have the confidence to sing out. They also get better at carrying a tune (being tuneful). When you don't sing with them the students are forced to take responsibility to sing. I also notice that more students will sing and not just sit there because usually when I am not singing I am looking around or moving around listening to them. They realize that they can't get away with not singing anymore. I do sing with them from time to time because after all I am the music teacher and I like to sing. ---- Tami in CO
I sing with them until they are confident with the song. I also think it is good for them to hear a good singing model. ----Deaetta Szulis
12/11 SING WITH KIDS?? John Feierabend rules and what he says/teaches not only makes sense but works! I used to always sing with the kids AND play. Now, I am really do much more unaccompanied pieces or pieces without the piano. Then when they are secure, I might add the piano accompaniment. Please understand that I LOVE to play so this was hard – but he is right! ---- Kathleen Bragle
I sometimes sing, but mostly don't. I have noticed that if I am singing and stop, at first the sound is weak till they realize that THEY have to carry the song. Then they sing so much better. Same thing with voices on a CD track. I get rid of them almost immediately. ---- Tari McKee
I sometimes harmonize when my kids are singing melody - I have such a big voice that I can outsing everyone without much effort. If I'm trying to get a melody line strong, I'll tell them they together have to match my volume. I don't usually sing with them otherwise unless vocal training is not part of the lesson. Sometimes it's just plain fun to sing together. ---- -Kriston in VA
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12/11 FLY SWATTER GAME : where I put on the board maybe 5 examples do-sol-do-sol sol-sol-do-do mi-sol-mi-sol and dividing the room into two teams and seeing who can get the most right...also telling them that they get one choice...they can't keep swatting away. ---- Gary Heimbauer
I did a lot of silly echo stuff - swoops, sirens, etc., some sol-mi stuff, which I always ended with body percussion echos. They needed both really badly but I could make the BP echos a lot harder which satisfied their older selves. I almost always had to do some sirens or vocal (brief!) warm-ups for them to get the vocal placement before we sang. I also stopped and started and restarted a lot. They were just not used to actually hearing themselves and matching with others. I also showed them that they were singing in their talking voices and modeled constantly. And I celebrated with them every time I heard them using those singing voices with no reminders. When I "called" them on it (nicely and in a supportive way), they gradually got better. And like I said, they are MUCH better this year. I've actually complimented whole classes on singing in their "singing voices."It may take a little while, but by December, you may be surprised at theimprovement. --- Gary Heimbauer
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12/11 FOOTBALL WARMUP (Matching Pitches) Materials needed: small NFL football (about 5-6 inches long / ours are sold in grocery stores, but any small f. ball could probably be used)
Level 1: Teacher toss ball in air and sing "football" on sm. Teacher toss / students sing. Send ball around class for all to toss / sing. (Keep a recorder/bell/tuning fork etc. at hand if needed for your own reference.)
Level 2: Brainstorm 2 syllable team namesto fit sm. (Ex: Pack-ers, Cow-boys, Steel-ers) Students sing team of choice on their turn.
Level 3: Like level 1, but sing "NFL foot-ball" onssl_s_m_. Takes 2 tosses to get through pattern.
Level 4: Brainstorm 4 syllable names. (Ex: Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos) Sing through whole list together. Students sing team of choice on their turn.
Level 5: Students create a warm-up. The following works well for us: team1 on slsm / team 2 on slsm / team 3 on smd. (Ex: NewYork Jets) (slsm/slsm/smd) Keep track of each "composition" for future class reference. Ball is not tossed for this level / not usually done in solo form.
Level 6: Start level 5 warm-up at a low pitch (eg. sol=G) Repeat 1/2 step higher until class limit is reached. (eg. sol = D') Small basketballs and soft-sculpture baseballs also work when each sport is in season. Change team names, of course. ---- Connie Herbon
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TEACHING THE CONCEPT OF PHRASE
10/13 TEACHING: When teaching songs, I remind the children that phrases are parts of songs. To 'act out' the phrases as we learn them, we hold both hands (palms together) on one side of our bodies and as the phrase unfolds, one hand makes a semi-circle up over our heads then lands on the other side. (I actually sing w/o this action then when they echo me, we 'make' the phrase together.)
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RHYTHM GAMES
07/11 CLAP/PAT: All in a circle. The moves are:
Beats Movement
1 Pat your legs
2 Move hands one leg to the right (one hand one your own leg, one hand on your neighbor's leg) and pat
3 Pat your legs
4 Move hands one leg to the left and pat
5 Pat your legs
6 Cross your hands and pat your legs
7 Uncross your hands and pat the legs of your neighbors' on both sides
8 Pat your legs
9 Clap your hands
10 Clap your hands
11 Clap the hands of your neighbors' on both sides
12 Clap the hands of your neighbors' on both sides
13-16 Step around in a circle in place

The kids love this. I start with a song with a slow beat. Then faster. Then we try it with In the Hall of the Mountain King, which is great. Just watch the boys...some of them have tried to hit each other in a sensitive area...gotta love puberty.
You can also do the above by using the Eurythmic calls of "Hip", "Hop" and "Home". Home = original beat Hip = twice as fast, Hop = twice as slow
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12/07 RHYTHM BALL:. We get in a circle and I have my stack of rhythm cards appropriate to their level and a playground ball. Each child gets a turn and the order is decided by rolling the ball from one child to the next. The only two rules for that are that the ball much be rolled and that they may not give the ball to one of their neighborsunless that is the only possible choice (at the end of the game). With the older kids (1st grade and up) I give them the option of reading a card or creating their own four beat pattern. If they choose to create their own pattern, the class echoes them. If the choose a card, they are the only one who does the card. I did this with my kids this week and it was a lot of fun. Many kids surprised me by choosing to make up their own pattern (some of you may remember my selective mute from a few years ago - yeah, she is one of those who created their own...and did it correctly!!!!!) --- Stephanie Menefee
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12/07 RACE TO FIND RHYTHM CARD: Teacher claps a rhythm and two kids race to find it from the cards (face up) on the floor. I did it using laminated pumpkin cut-outs, & called it pumpkin patch rhythm, but you could use anything. The cool thing was that it was very easy to differentiate (ie: the only kids left at the end were the top students, so you could add more rhythms or tougher rhythms...it worked like a spelling bee; get it first/right, go to the back of the line, get it wrong & you sit down). The whole game takes about 5 minutes. --- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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12/07 RACE TO CREATE RHYTHM: Hold up a rhythm card while the kids race to create that rhythm from popsicle sticks/craft sticks. The first person to get the rhythm "written" correctly gets a point for their team. We do girls vs. boys. --- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
CONCENTRATION: Two sets of rhythm cards, uncovering matching rhythms from face-down cards, and then having to clap it correctly to keep the pair. -- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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9/01 GAME: Get a team player to sing the melody back, each time getting harder, The last person at the end left is the winner. This game can be done with rhythm too.
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SIMON SAYS Lines and Spaces
Everyone loves playing "Simon Says Lines and Spaces" This game is played on the giant floor staff I have. My students sit on the lines and spaces every class. I made the floor staff out of wide black electrical tape. I made a giant treble clef next to it. Everyone stands on the E line. I call out, "Simon says hop to the G line." "Simon says skip to the F line" "Simon says walk to the A space" and so on. If they lag or obviously don't know where to land, they are out. They stand beside me and help "judge". The final winner is then Simon and gets to be the caller. They just LOVE this game and it is the BEST way for them to learn their lines and spaces. (I emphasize the treble clef because of our soprano recorder studies). They also like to play any of Cheryl Lavender's games: Rhythm Bingo, Instrument Bingo and so on. I don't do these very often, because like you, we are SO active we don't generally sit down to play that sort of thing, so they think that's a treat. I give prizes to the winners and then we do Blackout so everyone ends up with something (a licorice stick or sticker, whatever). Another thing they just love is to get to watch STOMP. They beg to watch this! This is such an exciting video. Then we pull out my box of "found sounds" and play rhythms. All ages beg to listen and move to The Hall of the Mountain King. ( I guess I do a good job of telling the story, they are always so excited by this music!). They also think its a treat to make trolls out of claydoh. I have individual balls of homemade claydoh , colored green, in plastic bags. I hand it out and we listen to the music and as we do so we get to pinch and pat our dough into a troll shape. Its very tactile and super fun! One final thing: everyone LOVES to play the percussion instruments. A drum circle activity would be good. Hope this gives you some cool ideas! Have fun.
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RHYTHM STICKS:
Using Irish Washerwoman - or any other AB form music - sit in circle. Everyone has a pair of rhythm sticks. (Can I just complain briefly about the quality of rhythm sticks these days? They just don't make 'em like they used to... so many have broken in the past couple of weeks.) During A section, everyone does whatever pattern I'm doing. During B section, they make up their own. The next week, they paired up and created patterns.
This week, they used 5' PVC pipes to try to create a routine. (2 pole holders, hold pole horizontally - at least one couple facing each other across the pole. during A section, do rhythm stick pattern - during B section, create a way to switch positions - either by having players switch, holders switch, or both. This will not happen in one class section - they're so carried away by getting to hold a big ol' pole that they don't listen to when the sections begin.)
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10/04 OBO ASI ME NSA My older kids enjoy "Obo asi me nsa" which is a rock-passing game from Ghana. You have to keep a steady beat and stay with the group or you'll mess up, and if you mess up you have to leave the circle! If they get good at passing, then you speed it up to make it more interesting. It's in the 3rd grade Share the Music, but there are probably other sources as well. Someone else may know where else to find it. Several years ago, when I first started doing this game, I bought a container of river rocks at Walmart and that's what we pass, but we start with passing a beanbag first, then two beanbags, then we switch to rocks, first just passing one around the circle, then everyone gets a rock and we all pass the rocks at the same time. My 5th and 6th graders really enjoyed doing cup-passing games last year, too. (Although one of the Special Ed parapros that came in with one class thought it looked like some kind of drinking game that I was teaching these kids! :) ~Ann Wells
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12/07 TIC TAC TOE: I use my flashcards to play tic-tac-toe. I place the cards face down in a 3 x 3 set up on the floor and use Xs and Ox that I cut out w/our die cut machine. During their turn, each team selects a card and must clap (or sing) it correctly to own the square. I also put them in a pocket chart and number them. (Again, we play in 2 teams.) I clap (or play) one of the cards. The first person to ring in and answer correctly gets the point for their team.
Another game that would be fun is "Inside/Out". Divide the class into 2 groups--inner and outer circle. The inner circle faces outward and each person is given a flashcard. The outer circle faces inward with each person standing in front of someone from the inner circle. Have them use a 2 finger clap to clap the rhythm of the card their partner is holding. At a signal you give (triangle strike, etc.), the outside circle moves clockwise so that they are standing in front of a new person. Continue until they are at the person they started with. Have the circles trade places and repeat. This is also a fun game to review vocabulary, instrument names, etc. --- Kim Good
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01/07 MAKE BINGO CARDS: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/bingo/
It says for make your own bingo cards. -- Linda in MD
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RHYTHM VALUES
12/11 SING SONG AND PLAY RHYTHMS: With first and second grade I am working on a piece called “Amaryllis” by Henri Ghys. The recording I use is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dev8RCEi3ws
With first grade I am using it a reading/play along exercise. That’s good for second grade as well, but my focus is more on the form of the piece with them, since that is what we were studying before Thanksgiving vacation. I put 3 play along sections on the board: (l = quarter, TT = eighth, Z = rest.)
A: l l l l l l l Z
l l l l TTTT l l
l l l l l l l Z
l l l l TTTT l Z
B: l l l Z l l l Z
l l l Z l Z l Z l Z
l l l Z l l l Z
l l l Z l Z l Z Z Z
C: TTTT l Z l Z l Z
TTTT l Z l Z l Z
TTTT l Z l Z l Z
TTTT l Z l Z l Z
The form of the piece is A A B A A C C B C A A . Once the kids have practiced all of the rhythms I divide them into 3 groups and assign sections A, B and C. With 2nd grade I make sure that they understand the form of the piece ahead of time. Everyone gets rhythm sticks, subject to the usual rules. (Sticks at rest against our shoulders when it is not your turn to play, play them appropriately.) Then I put on the music, and we play along. They actually ask to switch parts and do it again. My other rhythm/instrument/song for later this week will be “Jingle Bells.” The first phrase rhythm is played with jingle bells and is: TT l TT l TT l TT l
The second phrase is played with sticks, and is just a steady beat: l l l l l l l l
The 3rd phrase is the same as the first, and the last phrase, played with triangles is l Z l Z l Z l Z. (Have them mute the triangle on the rest.) It seems pretty simple, and it is, but it does get tricky when I ask them to sing the song and play the rhythms at the same time. ----- Jane Rivera
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12/11 PRACTICE Eighth and Quarter Notes: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/45307915/EighthQuarterDrawingPractice.ppt ---- Mallory in MN
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06/09 PUZZLES (pdf): http://www.box.net/shared/r28yd01hgz
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10/08 CARDS: I would suggest purchasing the Hal Leonard Rhythm cards. I use them every single day and they are great and hold up well since they come already laminated. -- Marti Rankin
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10/08 CARDS: I make mine on a PowerPoint slide and can print from there; save the slide as a jpeg and import it back into another PPT slide only smaller and then get small flash cards from that. I just sat down one day and copied a zillion rhythms from a card a friend made (thanks, Kathy) onto ppt. They are there forever and I can print them out over and over. Some of the smartest time I ever spent. -- Martha Stanley
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07/03 RHYTHM VALUES: I accidentally did something today - the last day - that turned out exciting! I asked four children to stand up. I told the class that each child was a beat. Next the four children were told to hold hands. Once that was done I said, "This is a WHOLE group." I then drew a whole note on the board. (As the lesson progressed I drew the appropriate note/s on the board.)
Next question: How many beats do you see in this WHOLE group? The class answered 4.
Next: I'm going to cut this WHOLE group in two sections. So I swiped my hand in-between the two middle students who were holding hands. I then stated:
I just cut the WHOLE group in HALF. How many groups do you see now? Class answered two.
Next: How many beats are in each of the HALVES? Class answered: Two.
Then I swiped in-between each of the HALVES of children/beats. How many beats are in each group now? Answer: One.
That's right! How many separate beats do we have now? Answer: 4. Yes, but when they were all together we called them a WHOLE group/note. Now that they are split in half, we call them a HALF group/note. When the halves are split, we call them QUARTERS - because four separate beats stand alone.
Statement: Now the fun begins. I'm going to saw each of these beats into two sections. (Everybody laughed.) When I did a sawing motion on each child, I told each beat to bend over at the waist - showing two sections: from the waist up and from the waist down.
Now, our quarter beats/notes are split into two sections. Pointing to one of the bent over children: Into how many sections is this beat sawed? Two. You see each quarter note was cut into two sections. We have a total of how many sawed sections? Answer: 8. So, our quarters turned into eighths because we now have eight sections. How many sections does it take to make one beat/person? 2.
The students liked this so much that I had to do the process with five different groups of children. They loved it and I know they understood it because during the assessment game (the children played my "music ball game") each child recited the following:
One whole note has four beats in it.
One half note has two beats in it.
One quarter note has one beat in it.
Two eighth notes makes up one beat.
I only had to help one of the children in second grade recite this! I know the percentage would not have been that high before this lesson.
My music assessment ball game: I throw a ball and when a child catches it he has to recite whatever I suggest. He then throws the ball to someone else until every child catches the ball. It's a fun way for the children to hear "over and over" whatever concept you want them to learn.-- Contributed by Pamela Rezach
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01/02 BEAT DIVISION: I sometimes use the analogy of an whole apple for whole notes, 2 halves of the apple for half notes, and 4 quarters of the apple for quarter notes. Also, a dollar, 2 -50 cent pieces, and 4 quarters. (You probably have to dig in your own coins to find 50 cent pieces.) That also is something that they can visualize. Sometimes we really have to oversimplify for it to make sense.
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01/02 BEAT DIVISION: This is similar to what I do: I draw a large circle on the board and ask the class "how many pies are there?" Then I bisect it and ask the question again. Most of the time they answer "2"!! Once they realize it's still just one pie, but two halves, they more easily understand the idea of splitting beat into 2 halves.
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02/03 BEAT CHAIRS: I like to use beat chairs. Set 4 chairs at the front of the room. 1 chair equals 1 beat.
1 person on a chair is a quarter note.
1 person on 2 chairs is a half note.
1 person laying down on 4 chairs is a whole note.
2 people on a chair are 2 eighth notes.
And empty chair is a quarter rest.
2 empty chairs in a row is a half rest.
4 empty chairs is a whole rest.
Have groups of 4-6 figure out how to notate a rhythm on the board. Have groups compose their own chair rhythms. We have a lot of fun with this and it is another fabulous idea gleaned from this list. The bounty never ends!
Contributed by Kristin Lukow
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05/21 RHYTHM BOARD: I use a 32 square "rhythm board" for grades k-3. They love it. It's much simpler. Clap on black dots and rest with pat on shoulder for empty square. I never heard of the concept of "zig-zag eyes". Now that you mention it, this is what I am doing as well. I see where I can do colors on the back of my charts which are squares left empty for me to fill in whatever I want.
I wanted to mention that I let the students arrange the dots on the rhythm board. I go down the list in each class, and each day one student gets to be "music helper". This student is responsible for placing the dots on the board. Then the music helper uses a conga to keep the steady beat while the rest of the class claps, pats, or snaps. Actually, with younger children I let them click their tongues instead of snapping. Just less frustration.
I have found that I can assess each student' beat competency that way...also, it allows the student to lead the class several times a year for a short period of time. I know it works, I was so glad on hearing that there was research backing up and explaining why it seems successful.
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01/02 Here's a lesson I did this week to teach rhythm reading, multiple parts, and note values. Written on black board:
4 measures of music written in four parts (stacked like music for multiple instr. or voices)
part 1 = quarter notes across (no rests). 16 notes
part 2 = eighth notes across (no rests). 16 pairs
part 3 = half notes across (no rests). 8 notes
part 4 = whole notes across (no rests). 4 notes
Distribute rhythm sticks (2 per kid). if no sticks, clap eighths, wave halves, and rub hands on legs (sitting) for whole notes (or do a vocal). one long rub while counting beats, stand in circle.
~everybody walk the beat (in place and later moving) while listening to song.
~add sticks but play eighth notes (while feet still walk the beat!)
~wave sticks in air to one side for two counts, switch to other side for two (halves)
~rub sticks together for four counts for wholes or add a vocal.
~move around in a circle "calling" out note names or beats, "beat," "half-beats," "2 beats," "4 beats," etc... always while keeping feet walking the steady beat!
~divide into three teams. lay sticks aside.
team 1: the dogs! they are the kings of the neighborhood and are in charge of the beat of the song and must have a strong dog sound. "ruff! ruff! ruff! ruff! etc..." while walking the beat.
team 2: the cats! in high pitched voice "miew" or "meow" the eighth notes.
"miew-miew miew-miew miew-miew miew-miew....." or "me-ow me-ow me-ow me-ow..."
team 3: the sheep! half notes. "baaaa baaaa, etc..."
team 4: the wolves! you guessed it, the whole notes! "owooooooooo...."
Starting with dogs, put all parts together one by one. teacher walking around to keep kids walking the steady beat.
ROTATE! to the left
Dogs chase the wolves out of their spots. all teams move left one spot and become the new animal. give them a few moments to practice with their teammates, repeat...
TAKE IT TO THE BOARD.
have them identify which lines of notes match the various animal sounds. if they have trouble, teacher plays on her/his sticks or reads with "ta" and "ti-ti."
READ THE DIFFERENT NOTES.
~teacher sets tempo and points to first note of measure 1 (quarters) while kids "bark" it.
~switch to eighths, "me-ow..." then halves, then wholes, kids doing the sounds while teacher points.
~teacher now switches pointing finger every measure or so while kids follow along with their animal sounds.
Later lessons: use instruments or singing to do the same thing, combining parts as able.
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01/02 RHYTHM ASSESSMENT (easy and fun) On a half sheet of paper draw a four x four blank bingo board. draw another one under and xerox enough for each kid to have one (cut them apart, of course).
On another half sheet, number 1 - 8 and draw a small blank box next to each number. same on bottom half of paper and xerox, cut apart again; distribute numbered papers and pencils to kids and give an eight measure rhythm test (clap or play a measure and they write it down in the blank).
Distribute the blank bingo sheets. kids fill in with their rhythms using each 2 times.
Play Rhythm Bingo with their sheets: teacher or student claps a rhythm. kids cover it on their boards. full row = prize
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01/02 BEAT DIVISION: As I try to continue the flow of teaching during this week, I accidentally did something that turned out to "turn the light on" in the heads of several of my students concerning "Ta's and Ti-ti's." Hurray!!As I pointed to "Ta's" on the board, I started moving my finger down and up on each "Ta" as the students followed the "Ta's" with their finger and said "ta." Then, when we did the Ti-Ti's, I explain that the first Ti was when our hands followed the Ta downward and the second Ti was the Ta when moving up. THEN:I got a piece of chalk. Asked: How many pieces of chalk do you see? "One." Let's make this like the Ta. Follow my finger as I "trace" up and down the chalk while we say Ta. They did. Then, I broke the chalk and said, "How many pieces of chalk do I now have? Of course, several said "2," but I said, "No, I have one piece of chalk that is broken." I then compared that to the Ta's and Ti-ti's. "Ta's are like the one piece of chalk. Ti-ti's are like broken Ta's.
It worked, I could tell in their eyes they understood for the first time why two ti-ti notes received only one beat Also, by having their finger move down and then up the Ta notes, they are not "cheating the length" of the Ta. It seems to get them ready for patting their foot to the beat, which will in turn help them with band.
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USING THE SENSE OF TOUCH
I use Kodaly rhythm syllables ta and ti-ti in 1st grade. We go from words to ta's by deciding how many sounds (syllables) are in the word. The children find this much easier if they 'put the word in their hand'. They tap two fingers in one hand and say the word.
We also write the rhythms with our bodies. In 1st grade I use four pieces of blue paper cut into puddles (beat) and the children write the rhythm for "Rain, Rain Go Away." One child stands on a puddle for a ta and two children together with arms ON, not over, each others shoulders stand on a puddle to make a ti-ti. We use also use dog bones for beat or whatever fits the song. By 2nd grade the students no longer need the beats and can write rhythms with their bodies using some pretty creative notation.
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KODALY SYLLABLES: When I practice reading and writing ta's & ti-ti's with my Kindergarten and First Grade, we draw only the stems and/or bars across the stems. After the children can successfully read and write the rhythms, we discuss that since the weather is colder outside we no longer go barefooted, so... why don't we put "shoes" (note heads) on our rhythms! After that discussion, when we read rhythms if I don't draw the note heads on the stems, the children become concerned that our rhythms are barefooted!
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11/01 I use a GRANDFATHER'S CLOCK to teach rhythm. I have the kids put their hands together over their heads and sway back and forth going tick-tock-tick-tock to simulate the sound of the clock. They keep this movement going while I play the song.
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5/01 I do a BASKETBALL UNIT with all my classes. Here is an easy routine to do:
If you have Jock Jams CD #1, try song number 20. It is perfect for a simple bouncing routine. I emphasize whole, half and quarter notes with this number.
At the beginning, bounce whole notes.
When the music changes, you will hear it, go to quarter notes.
Then, it's back to whole notes. When the voices come in, it's just hey hey stuff...that's when you move to half notes. Back to quarter notes, whole notes and end on half notes. You can hear it so clearly in the music.
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PERCUSSION PLAY ALONG: The package consists of an instruction book, and overhead transparencies of rhythm patterns that go with songs on a CD (included w/the package). In the book are other activities/movements/dances to add to the music. The package I purchased used the songs of 1969. ( Amazing how many kids still know "Sugar, Sugar"!) I believe I paid $27.95 for the package. My sixth graders used it this week, and really had fun with it. It's a fun way to review rhythms and the work is done for you. Thanks, Laurie! If any of you guys are interested, ask her where they are available.
From 'Laurie': The easiest way to order is to call West Music at 1-800-397-9378. If you have their 2000 catalog, look on pages 103 and 97 for pictures and descriptions. -- LaurieZentz
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RHYTHM DICE: Grades 1 through 5:
Cut soft foam into blocks, about 4 inches cube. You'll want between four and twelve for fun games. Each block represents one quarter note beat. On the six sides, glue felt shapes of the notes, one beat per side. I used a straight line for the "ta" (quarter note), two eighth notes (like an upside down U, squared at the corners) for the "ti-ti", and a quarter note rest. Obviously, you'll have to put more than one shape on twice. Several of the blocks include a triplet (shaped like an M), with the prerequisite slur over top. The game is to give each child one block. They may choose which side to show to the rest of the class. A pattern appears, shown by the students, which the rest of the class must "read" or clap. If you have four blocks, it is one 4/4 measure. If you have eight blocks, you have two measures, etc. Another variation of the game is to have the teacher say a rhythmic pattern and have the students match the patterns with the blocks.
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POPSICLE STICKS: work fine for rhythm. Each child gets a baggie with about 8 in a bag. They can form ta, ti-ti (3 sticks) and for 'rest' we use one stick horizontally place. Dictation, make your own rhythm, guess the rhythm and simply practicing laying them out are all good exercises.
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10/05 RHYTHM OF THE WEEK: Initially I just put the two measures up by hand, but then I purchased a kit of rhythm cards that are 8 x 11. I usually put two cards up at a time, but use more if I have room. They are exactly in the middle of my white board, in front of the teaching area where the students sit. The cards have small numbers at the bottom so I know how difficult they are. For instance at the beginning of the year, I start with all quarter notes.
The star student gets to hold the "Rhythm stick" which is a long pointer and I say, "One, two, ready, play." The students then clap with me and we say the rhythm. [in Kodaly syllables] Sometimes, if I have white boards out, we will pat the white boards.
With the older [students] I have them pat one knee and one shoe, since they are sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor. They will get to do this one rhythm about two times. I will say such things as, "Let's see if we lose the star student, or you!" Later in the year I add a repeat sign at the end. The star student has to tell us what notes are up there, such as "a quarter note and it gets one beat. This is a quarter note rest. Here is a half note and it gets two beats, etc.
The cards I use have dotted rhythms all the way up to dotted eighth notes and sixteenth notes. I usually add a melody with the rhythm, making the notes different pitch and we also talk about pitch, etc. Then I start adding dynamics, which they love. As the kids follow my voice, they are also getting some ear training as well because there are no pitches, just notes. It is a short, fun activity. Many of the beginning piano teachers have commented on the fact that these little people seem to understand the rhythms. I change this every Friday evening, so that the kids see the same rhythm for the entire week. -- Carol Cantrell
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10/05 BODY PERCUSSION: I have had a lot of success with a couple of body percussion resources: The Body Rondo Book by Jim Solomon And a DVD Body Music with Keith Terry Kid's creating their own body percussion pieces (8 beats, 16 beats) in small groups is also an idea (if they can handle small group activities.) Performing these for each other can be really motivating.-- Kim Markovich
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07/05 Heart Chart (Rhythms, magnetic board, instructions, games, cd)
Z & Z Publications 745 Austin Place, Jacksonville FL 32259, 904-434-7260 zentz@att.net
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07/05 BALL GAME: I just wanted to share an activity I've been having great success with lately. All you need is a playground ball and some rhythm flashcards (for the younger kids, don't need them with the older kids) Have your class sit in a circle. I then explain that we are going to do a rhythm exercise. I review the notes we will be using. I start with ta and rest, then add ti-ti, taka-taka, and two-o. I roll the ball to one person. In Kindergarten, they read a flashcard. Starting in 1st grade, they create their own four beat pattern and the class will echo. There are three rules: 1. The ball *MUST* be rolled to the next person 2. You may not copy the rhythm of the person before you (1st grade and up) and 3. You may not pass the ball to one of the people sitting immediately next to you. Even my kinders did a great job. They read the rhythms (tas and rests) beautifully. When a child is stuck on the composition version, I help them out beat by beat (what do you want for your first beat? second? third? fourth? ok!) -- Stephanie Menefee
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07/05 RHYTHM VALUES: I passed out a Reproducible Hundreds Board to each student. The hundreds board is basically a piece of paper with a grid from 1 to 100. Row one has the numbers across from 1 to 10, each in its own box, the second row is 11 - 20, etc. up to 100. We reviewed note values. Then, each student got a hundreds board and a button. I then gave them instructions.
For example: Put your button on number 55.
Now add a whole note (add 4).
Now add a dotted half note.
Now divide by a half note.
Now add three quarter notes.
Subtract 8 sixteenth notes.
Add 20.
Add two eighth notes.
Add a dotted whole note.
Subtract a dotted half/eight note.
Subtract four - sixteenth notes
Subtract two eighth notes
You should be back where you started: 55! We did this again and again. Then students came up and tried to stump the class. It was amazing how much fun we had and how many variations they came up with. It was great to see them figuring out note values and different combinations. Just thought I'd pass that on! -- Patti Oeste
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07/05 SIXTEENTH NOTES: Ding Dong Diggidiggidong from the Orff/Murray Vol. I? Instrument parts would be too difficult for K-3 but they could have fun singing and moving to it. I believe it's also in the Orff/Hall Vol. I -- Louise Eddington.
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Salamanca Market (You can find it in the 3rd grade Share the Music.)
Shanghai Chicken
Old Brass Wagon
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07/05 SIXTEENTH NOTES: Chicken on a Fencepost is one of my favorites for 16th notes. A game that I play with my kids is like a relay game. Split the class into two teams and place 4 chairs on each team's side of the room. Each chair represents one beat. Clap a rhythm example. The teams have to arrange their bodies in the chairs to show the rhythm you clapped. For example, if you clapped ta, ti-ti, ti-ri-ti-ri, ta, you would have one kid in the first chair, two in the second chair, four in the third chair and one in the fourth chair. If you clap an example with a half note then the person in the chair would have to stretch out so they take up two of the chairs! I hope this explanation makes sense! The team to get in order first wins!-- RaeAnna Goss
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07/05 Dr. Eisenbart in Share the Music grade 4 and in many camp song books, also have seen it in 5th and 6th grade series books.
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07/05 SIXTEENTH NOTES: For third, I usually introduce them after we sing and play Tideo. They learn it in second grade as a game/song. When we do it in 3rd, we derive the rhythm on the board and discover there's something "weird" in there! Four sounds on one beat, etc. Then later we do "I Got a Letter." We do a little improvisation with the things we get in the mail. The word "invitation" works perfectly. In my bag of mail, I have a "post-card" = ti-ti, "mag-a-zine" = tik-a-ti, "in-vi-ta-tion" = tik-a-tik-a and a "bill" = ta. This is actually toward the end of third as we know sixteenths pretty well, and we talk about how "magazine" is sixteenths and an eighth stuck together. -- Jennifer Schroeder
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07/05 RHYTHM FONT: I have a font that beams 8ths, and makes 2 sixteenths-8ths, and 8th-2sixteenths... and rests and all that. It must be free since I have it (lol) It's Bach. I haven't read all this thread, but to unlock the "secret" you have to use the Character map and the Alt commands. I don't use it often enough to have it all memorized, but I pull up the Character Map (from Start menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and it looks kind of like a key on a keyboard) Then select the font (Bach) and click on a symbol you want to make. It enlarges while the mouse button is down. In the bottom right it says "Keystroke: Alt+0165" for the treble clef sign. (To do the keystroke, go to Word and just hold down Alt and type 0165 (On the number pad!) and there ya go. For beaming 8ths.. find the opening 8th (Alt+0214) and the closing (Alt+0181) and it'll beam them together. It also makes time signatures. You put the top first, and then the bottom, or the other way around. :) It'll beam lots of things and it looks just like there's a character for it in the font. It's fun to play with the Alt commands. -- Gretchen in MO
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07/05 REVIEW RHYTHMS WITH DICE! Title - Musical Dice Grade Level - 4th-6th
This idea is more of a review for rhythm. You have two blocks (large dice) that you can cut out and make from poster board. On one die there can be different rhythms. On the other die there can be actions (clap, stomp, whistle... etc.) Children can be put in groups or you can do it as a class. One child can roll the dice and the class can do the action and the rhythm that is on the dice. This is a great way for children to have fun reviewing rhythms. -- Rebecca Wiater
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08/04 Lummi Stick Kids recording (recording, activities with rhythm sticks):
http://www.kimboed.com/
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08/04 DICE GAME I put note/rest values on the dice and play games of recognition. (Actually, my dice are LARGE - about 6 inches in all directions, made out of upholsterer's foam.) One person on one team rolls the dice, names the note value and how many beats it gets. If he/she is right, that many beats is added onto their team score. Example: roll a whole note (they love that one). Name it: Whole Note. How many beats: 4. If correct, that person's team now has 4 points. Etc. Etc. Etc. PattyO in AR
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08/04 RHYTHM CIRCLE
My idea is to create a "rhythm circle" where the students sit in a circle and each have some kind of rhythm instrument (including a few drums, stomp-like drums, and various other percussion instruments). I would begin with a purpose to review basic rhythmic skills first using the following circle playing activities...
1. Catching the beat. Here, I would start with a steady 4 beat ta ta ta ta pattern after which the player to my right would join me, followed by the player to his right, and so on all around the circle til all had "caught" the beat and were playing together. Then I would repeat the procedure with a lead in of 4 beats followed by a simple 1 bar rhythm pattern (ie. titi titi ta ta) which would be "caught" in the same manner around the circle. Then I was thinking of starting another 1 bar pattern, let it cont. being "caught" by the next 4 players in succession, but then I would change the pattern after 4 bars. So a new pattern would start going around every 4 bars simultaneously with whatever patterns were already going. Of course after the kids caught on to the activity, they could begin leading and I could simply keep a steady beat going.
2. Pizza Pizza Daddy-O. You might already know this chant/song (it's in STM 3rd grade?). Anyway, I would first teach everyone the response: Pizza pizza daddy-o which they would say and play on their instruments. Then, I would set a steady beat with all joining me, then I'd cont. with the following rhythmic lead-in saying/playing: "Susie's got a boyfriend" to which all say/play" "pizza pizza daddy-O", followed by me going: "how do I know it?", followed again by the "pizza...", then me going: "cause she told me", then "pizza...", then me going: "let's play it". Here all would break out into their own rhythmic improvisation for a while until I would interrupt the playing with a new statement: "Jimmy's playin' basketball"...and then the game would start again as before. Then, as a neat variation, whoever's name is used in the statement would be the next call leader. Like I said these are just brainstorms. And I'm going mostly from my gut instincts since I've never experienced a drum circle before. If you can follow my play by play descriptions, tell me honestly if I'm loosing it, or if this kind of thing could actually work. And this would simply be a starting point. -- Contributed by Gretchen in IL
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02/04 RHYTHM GAMES (contact Susan Michiels at: s3476728@earthlink.net)
Dr. Dread’s Crazy Scary Rhythm Bingo: ($9.00)
Concepts: Recognition of whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, two and four quarter notes;
Every two card calls…..there will be at least one winner. Winner howls with pain when he or she has Bingo.
Frightening Freaky Rhythm Bingo: ($9.00)
4 beat rhythms, 5 Rhythm Instruction sheets, 30 game cards, mini calling cards (2 sets).
Teaching flash cards ($5.50 - optional) for Frightening Freaky Bingo (similar to set # 2 General Rhythms Flash cards but with a ghostly graphic )
General Music Lotto: ($9.00)
Instruction sheet, 36 game cards, 2 sheets of mini calling cards, teaching posters.
Concepts: Whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, piano, forte, mezzo forte, mezzo piano, fermata, repeat sign, and treble clef (wild card).
General Rhythms Flash Cards (each set: $5.50)
Set #1: 3 beat rhythms including half notes, dotted half notes, quarter notes, dotted quarter notes and eighth notes.
Set # 2: 4 beat rhythms including whole note, half notes, quarter notes, dotted quarter notes and eighth notes.
Set # 3: 4 beat rhythms including whole note, half notes, quarter notes, dotted quarter notes and eighth notes, plus half, quarter and eighth note rests.
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01/04 One of my most successful circle games is spin-the-bottle. (Not what you think!) I have the students sit in a circle and give each of them a card with some sort of music notation on it. For 1st graders I use quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes. You can use anything you want. One student is in the center with a bottle. He or she spins the bottle, and the person that the bottle is pointing to has to identify the music object. If he or she is correct, then it's their turn to spin. The kids love this game. - Contributed by Kerry Weber
BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics
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SCALE SONGS, CHORDS, etc.,
12/11 LESSON: I wanted them to know "what is a scale"? And I ask YOU - at its essence, what IS a scale? My answer: it's a tone set. At the basic level, it's a tone set. Different sets have different ingredients and a resulting different effect. A song made from one scale will sound different if made in a different scale. A scale is ....
Kinda like..... ta da...... an artist's palette. A palette is that thing that artist's hold their paint choices on and they use it to put their paint on. They may have 200 paint tubes; the ones they use in a particular painting is also called a palette. (I drew attention to our lunchroom which is definitely red, white and black.) Short discussion: can you draw a picture with one crayon? Is it going to be a bad picture just because it has one color? Would an artist with an 8 color box - their palette - be better because s/he has more colors? How about a 64-color box of Crayons?
So while their brains are wandering around going "aaargh" with all this, I went to the website http://realcolorwheel.com/nightpainting.htm. I showed them the first picture - how many colors did the artist use in his palette --- and note: the paint box is sitting right there so you can actually see the colors. We worked through each - what colors did you see? Is it boring because it has only a few colors? When we got to the one with the trees and the moon - blue, black and white - I asked that again. Then when we see the banyan tree - wow - contrast!!
They WILL discuss this without much prompting. Eventually, pull them back. We did a Venn diagram comparing scale and palette. Noticed what was the same, etc. If you know what the art elements are, you can include that in your discussion (line, form, texture, color.....and I can't remember right off the others).
Tomorrow - create a scale...... use boomwhackers to create a tune. I'll give them the rhythm and a grid to write on and turn them loose. I think I'll ask them to name their scale. What's so serendipitousis that those colored boomwhackers will create a visual palette! ---- Martha Stanley
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07/11 THE ELEVATOR SONG
(low do, ascending) Step into the elevator
Going to the top
Tell the operator
Where you want to stop
People stand quietly
Some go in and out
Listen to the operator
Call-ing out.
Floor 1
Floor 2
Floor3
Floor 4
Floor 5
Floor 6
Floor 7
Floor 8
(high Do) Express to the first floor (slide to low Do) ZoomWhen I played it with first and second grade, I would have the studentsstart in a crouched position and rise up with each note. I draw a picture ofa house at the top of the scale and say, “this is home. This is where we aretrying to get.” I had them raise their hands in the air when we got home.----Stephanie Hunter

SNOWMAN
do - I made a little snowman (Go through motions of making a snowman.)
re - With hat and cane complete (Touch head & pretend to grip cane.)
mi - With shiny buttons on his coat. (Point to buttons)
fa - And shoes upon his feet. (Hands held parallel to represent feet.)
so - But I know when the sun comes out (Make sun w/hands)
la - My snowman will go away. (2d & 3d fingers "run")
ti - So I'll put him in out big deep freeze (Lower w/hands)
do’ - And he'll be sure to stay

MERMAIDS
do - On the ocean bottom (Fingers of right hand outstretched. Move L. to R.)
re - Deep and far away (Point downward with indexfinger of R. hand.) fa - Where mermaids come to play.
so - Down the slide the mermaids glide (Slide right hand down left one.)
la - Round they swim and then (Move hand to represent fish swimming in water.)
ti - Climb the ladder to the top (Make index & middle fingers of R. and climb "rung" of L.
do’ - And slide right down again. (Slide right hand down left one.)

MCDONALDS
do - Big Macs are my favorites
re - Eat em every day
mi - Pickles, cheese and onions
fa - Who cares what we pay
so - Special sauce & lettuce
la - Cooked no other way
ti - Take me to McDonald's
do’ - Leave me there to stay
You deserve a break today-ay!(do’ down to do)

FALL
C there was a little leaf
d lying on the ground
e picked up by the breeze
f blew up past the bushes
g way up in the sky
a high
b above the
c ground
What happened when the wind stopped? the leaves came
C down
b down
a yellow and
g brown the
f leaves are
e falling
d on the
c ground
Give them leaves to hold and you are set. Some kids play xylophones andsome have leaves then we switch. Of course we toss them at the end causewho doesn't like tossing leaves. --- PAM HALL

MY TURTLE
do - I had a little turtle
re - His name was Tiny Tim
mi - I put him in the bathtub
fa - To see if he could swim
so - He drank up all the water
la - He ate up all the soap
ti - He tried to eat the bathtub, but it
do’ - Wouldn't go down hit throat.
(Descending) Glug, glug, glug, glug.....(Do' to Do)
--- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY

EBENEEZER SNEEZER
do - Ebeneezer Sneezer
re - Topsy Turvy man
mi - Walks upon his elbows
fa - every time he can
so - dresses up in paper
la - every time it pours
ti - whistles Yankee Doodle
do’- every time he snores
Oh, Ebeneezer, what a man. --- Linda Barnhart in MD
HANDS ON KNEES
do' - reach up high
ti - hands on head
la - hands on shoulders
so - hands on collar bone
fa - hands on high waist
mi - hands on hips
re - hands on thighs
do - hands on knees

JACK IN THE BOX
(d') Jack in the box
(t) Still as a mouse
(l) Deep down inside
(s) His little house
(f) Jack in the box
(ritard.)
(m) Resting so still... (little fermata here, for effect)
(a tempo)
(r) Will he come
(s) out?
(s) Yes, he
(d') WILL!

Freddie Flea - ascending scale. and body!On my toe isFreddie FleaNow he's climbingup on me.Past my tummypast my noseon the top wheremy hair grows.(descending body and scale)On my head isfreddy fleaNow he's climbingdown off mePast my tummypast my kneeson the floorTake that, you flea! (spoken with a foot stomp)OATS AND PEAS
(s) "Do
(d') you or
(t) I or
(l) anyone
(s) know how
(f) oats and
(m) beans and
(r) barley
(d) grow?"

THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE
d - As I was going
r - Up the stair, I
m - Met a man who
f - Wasn't there! He
s - Wasn't there a-
l - Gain today? I
t - Wish, I wish he'd
d’ - Stay away.

PUSSY WILLOW
do - I have a little pussy, her
re - coat is silver grey, she
mi - she lives down in the meadow not
fa - very far away. Although
so - she is a pussy, she'll
la - never be a cat, for
ti - she's a pussy willow, now
do' - what do you think of that?

FAST FOOD
do - I like pizza
re - extra cheese
mi - Give me ta - cos fa - If you please,
so - Hamburgers and
la - French fries too,
ti - I like fast food,
do' - How 'bout you?
(do’ down to do – 1 syllable each) YUM-MY YUM-MY FOR MY TUM-MY!

SNOWMAN
do - Once there was a snowman
re - Stood outside the door
mi - Thought he'd like to come inside
fa - And run around the floor
so - Thought he'd like to warm himself
la - By the firelight red
ti - Thought he'd like to climb upon the
do' - Big white bed.
do' - So he called the north wind
ti - Help me now I pray
la - I'm completely frozen
so - Standing here all day
fa - So the north wind came along
mi - blew him in the door.
re - Now there's nothing left of him But a
do - Puddle on the floor

THE PUPPY
do - I have a little puppy, he
re – Hasn’t got a tail, he
mi – Isn’t very chubby. He’s
fa – Skinny as a rail. Al –
so – Though he is a puppy, he’ll
la – Never be a hound. They
ti – Sell him at the grocery store for
do’ – Half a dollar a pound. Hot (low do)Dog!
made a poster of the Hot Dog scale song - I think I learned it from Doris Hotaling. Draw the outline of a weiner on white posterboard.Make a puppy head, eyes, nose, ears, tail, legs, & one other part... can'tremember - maybe a tongue? - out of posterboard. (I used brown.)Use velcro to attach all the parts to the weiner so that it looks like (OK, KINDA like) a dachschund. As you sing the ascending scale, remove a body part until gradually all that is left is the weiner - the "HOT DOG!" at the end. Really really cute. Doris Hotaling had great visual aids. I remember one for Scotland's Burning but keep forgetting to find it to share with Sonia. ---- Tina Morgan

ON MY TOE THERE IS A FLEA
On my toe there is a flea / d d d d r r r
Now he's climbing up on me / m m m m f f f
Past my tummy, past my nose / s s s s l l l
On my head where my head grows / t t t t d' d' d'
On my head there is a flea / d' d' d' d' t t t
Now he's climbing down on me / l l l l s s s
Past my tummy, past my knee / f f f f m m m
On me toe / r r r
TAKE THAT YOU FLEA! / [shout ]
This one works well because you can walk your fingers up past all the body parts, scratch your head a lot when you get to the top, and of course, pound your fist against your toe when you get to the bottom. I often used this song when I was having group behavior problems (which of course, was all the time until I retired, just now). I would announce with great simulated consternation, "I think I see something I don't like at all. Yes, I see it now. Everyone stand up! It's on your toe. Wait, it's on my toe, too!" and then just run it down. Usually I would tell them that they missed him (the flea) the first time around and have them do it once or twice more so they all get a chance to pick up acting the song out, maybe with any luck even singing along, while I would grab a hand-held xylophone by then, striking the mallet loudly against the case, on the last line, rather than on bottom C.---- David Saphra
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SHARING THE INSTRUMENTS
I've done a variey of things to keep track of turns:
"IT" CAN (requires storage space )
Each student writes name on a piece of paper; paper is placed in a small can (container) with the classroom name on it. As students play instruments, etc., slips of paper are drawn out. Then those names are placed in a baggie until everyone in class has had a turn at being "it"
TAKING TURNS BY ROWS: TECHNIQUE 1 My students sit in 4 rows of chairs. If I'm using more than 1 instrument, each row gets a different instrument. Since I do have plenty of rhythm instruments, I can complete this in 1 day if needed. Song is done 4 times with each time a new person.
CIRCLE/PARTNERS TECHNIQUE: (good method of involving everyone) Students sit in partners (or small groups): one student plays while others "help" (keep beat, say rhythms, point to bars on bells, etc., etc., etc.); then another partner takes a turn, etc. I STRESS the fact that they work together to help each other and need to pay attention to directions so that repeats go quickly. THIS works especially well with Orff instruments.
PAPER RECORD: I have the secretary print off list of students by class and paste that list on a special form I've prepared. For some special game/song activities that I use all year, I keep track on that list who has had a turn. On the wall, I staple a paper for each class with those specials activities listed. The student who begins the activity the next time, has their name listed.
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I am a real 'stickler' about each kid getting a turn playing instruments. I believe that they all need the experience. I have built my instrument program up through the past 5 years to include 11 bell sets, 11 drums, and a lot of rhythm instruments. My plan was to have at least 25 bell sets so that most every child could have one, but I realized this year that 11 bell sets going all at once is enough noise for me. I have 35 kindergarteners in my morning class and we usually go through songs 6 times giving each child a chance to play 2 times. If I'm lucky 3 or 4 are absent and we don't have to sing it 8 times!!! When it comes to games I just tell them before we start that everyone might not get a chance today but we will finish next time. Sometimes I put the names of the children in a cup and draw them out. The kids do not whine because they know I have been fair and that we will finish in a few days or so.
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With the younger ones, I will have them in a circle, usually, and space out the instruments we are using every 5 or so kids. Don't have too many different ones, it'll create the "I didn't get that one" syndrome. Each child gets to play an echo pattern or written pattern on their instrument or play at random (They like that). We pass clockwise after a few seconds and can cover the whole class in about 15 minutes.
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I can ask particular instruments to play to reinforce learning the names, I can instruct on proper technique and have all of their attention, I can reinforce rehearsal etiquette and hand signals. I have students return instruments to crates by naming the instruments.
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I grade all students 3rd-12th grades on the MIE Keyboard. This Yamaha system contains little quizzes to give after each lesson. The computer keep tracks of the scores and attendance. The only problem with this is that during the quarters that we are preparing for a concert we do not spend much time in the keyboard lab. I'm thinking of creating rubrics next year that coincide with the new curriculum that we are writing. Each rubric will be like checklist for skills.
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I use round metal/paper key tags and print each student's name on a white dot and place on the key tag. The tag then goes into a margarine container, one container for each class. When it is time for student participation, I draw a name out of the container and that student gets to play an instrument, etc. The name then goes on a pegboard hook. Once all the names are out of the container and on the hook, they all go back into the container to start over again.
I used to struggle with a fair system for participation, and this way seems to work well for me. There is also no arguing from students. I'm sure there are many variations that could also be used.
At the beginning of the year I put all new names on the tags and sort the students by class. I teach K-5, so the outgoing 5th grade tags are used for the new kindergarten students and the rest are just moved up a grade level. It's a lot of busy work starting up the system, but once it's in place it just takes a little maintenance.
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Many times I have all of my students get a turn but sometimes it is not reasonable. I will sometimes start a class with 5-10 minutes of the same game until everyone has had their turn. My system for choosing is simple because I have so many classes. I have popsicle sticks numbered 1-30. Each student has a number in their class and I can use the same sticks for every class. I just mark in the book who went on that day. (often I am grading them anyway- on the concept or just participation)
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SIGHT READING
06/15 Cute story with pictures for DO-RE-MI: http://www.bettysmusic.com/melody-street-part-one.html
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01/07 NOTE READING: To teach note reading I'm using Jay Althouse's Ready to Read Music. It seems to be working alright so far. This is my first year using the method. -- Casey Clark
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01/02 VIA SONGS: I don't start reading notes of songs that are familiar. Today I used them with first grade - Lucy Locket. I split the class in half with one half patting the beat and the other half of the class clapping the words. Really reinforced the difference between beat and rhythm!
Often, we'll read the song, then play the game. For first grade, this is good reading practise as well. I've also made the grade ones a 67 page BIG BOOK - I included all the songs in Grade 1 Musicplay that they could read words or music to.
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10/01 RECYCLE: For transparencies that may be thrown away, I've been using the left over laminating film. There's an area about 10 inches wide at the beginning and end of each laminating job. I cut them about 8 inches wide. When I finish using them I toss them out - no need to wash and use over. They work quite well with the transparency markers.
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10/01 TRANSPARENCIES: I use a lot of transparencies instead of writing on the chalk board. It saves a lot of time, so instead of having to rewrite all of your solfedge drills on a chalk board, try using an overhead with colored transparency pens. I got a set at Office Depot. Store the prepared transparencies in the clear sleeve holders that are used for business presentations-I think they are called sheet protectors and have 3 holes punched in them (again, I got a large box at Office Depot). All of my transparencies are then filed in labeled by grade level and the month of the calendar when I use them.
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10/01 RAINBOW SOLFEGE: Has anyone tried the Rainbow Solfege that was highlighted in the last MEJ journal? It looks neat! I used a variety of colors today with a dry erase board when I was working with rhythms, and just the use of different colors to differentiate more easily among the words, beat, and rhythms really helps. I guess I need to get colored chalk for my other school, which still uses the good old fashioned chalkboard.........
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10/01 CHALK: I use different colored chalk differentiating the pitches for the first couple lessons then let the kids know that from now on only the new pitches will be colored. once pitches become familiar they are written in plain old yellow (i too have black boards and hope it stays that way). i do this because i found my students relying on the colors to "decode" and sing a song rather than pitch location on the staff. Just something to be on the watch for with your own kids. if they start to rely too heavily on the colors, it's time to fade the familiar pitches to "black and white."
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I'm going to use Rainbow solfege with my special needs kids to help them with note reading.
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8/01 My advice ----do whatever you can to secure small electric (battery) keyboards. They cost around 40-50 dollars each. Before I purchased mine, I had students bring them in to keep in the music room. They knew everyone would be using them and had no problem with that. Most of them were not in use at home anyway.
I am a BIG believer in using keyboards as much as possible to teach EVERYTHING! It is such a concrete image.
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8/01 BOOK: I have used a book called "Sing and Learn Music" (not 100% sure about the title, it's in school at the moment) for years. Each chapter contains a story, a song with movements and fun worksheets to reinforce the learnings of the chapter - the first is the treble clef, music alphabet, staff and lines and spaces, the second is beat and rhythm and note values, etc. The stories are connected to each other and it comes with recordings of each song. The book is huge, so I start in first grade with the first song only, and in second grade we continue with however much of the book they can handle.
I feel that some of the songs are too young sounding for the older kids so I only use it up to third grade, when they start to play recorder. I have found that the lessons from the book really help with recorder. The first song, "Gee Mr. Treble Clef" is a very catchy tune that the kids themselves use to help remember the lines and spaces in the upper grades. High school students that I've had approach me and tell me that they remember Mr. Treble Clef! And I know this is working because the high school teacher has told me that the kids from my school know their music theory the best. Not bragging here, really, this just has worked well for me over the years.
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8/01 PREREQUISITES: First, as preparation for the relationships between notes, students need to be able to manipulate the music alphabet. For example, I give students a set of music ABC cards and ask them to build a tower laying the cards in order like this:
C etc.
B
A
Then I'll have them start the tower on different letters but using all 7 cards in the set (this gets them over the hurdle from G to A).
Next, we'll do things like "which letter comes next" with a group of 3 like D E F ?, and "which one's missing". Also, it's important to have them go backwards but lay the cards down from left to right (D C B A G F E). This is very difficult for some.
Understand, that we're all on the floor for these games, often with side by side towers and such.
I then explain that the distance from 1 letter to it's neighbor on either side is called a step or a 2nd.
For school teaching, I usually present the concept of lines & spaces (no names yet) next. Then present the Treble clef discussing how it was originally a cursive G and show on the board how it evolved, where exactly it is placed on the 5 lined staff (because it's belly circles the G line), and then focus on this special landmark line and how any note living on this line is called Treble G. (We draw lots & lots of Clefs & G's).
From this point, I show them how to name the space above & below Treble G by thinking G up a step (or 2nd) is A and G down a step is F. When they can do this easily, I'll simply tell them the name of a different line or space on the staff and ask them to id the neighboring lines/spaces (C up a step is D, C down a step is B), etc. This is called "spot-placing". It is simply a tool for indentifying the note names based on their intervalic relationship to a starting note.
There are lots of games to reinforce this technique that can be devised (I'll share some later if anyone would like).
Then, just do the same thing with skips (3rds), 5ths, etc. until you've covered the basic intervals. But always start each new interval relationship with the letters alone. By working each interval up & down from G, you'll cover all the notes from mid. C to D. To go beyond D, simply name the C space as a new landmark and spot-place up & down from it. This will allow them to reach up to high G and also reinforce some of the lower notes. (With my piano students, we id 3 landmarks on the Grand staff: Treble G, Bass F, and Mid. C).
Just for fun, here's a neat game I did with my 8th graders last year!!! I do it at home with 2nd grade piano students. It's called intervals around.
Sit students in a circle. Players each have a set of 7 ABC cards. They are to arrange them in order from A to G on the floor in front of themselves with a slight curve so that the cards all make a giant circle (ABCDEFGABCDEFGABC...). If there's not a lot of room, put kids in smaller groups for several letter circles. Ok, the kids are sitting before their 7 cards. I then call out a letter and the kids place their left hand over that letter in their set. Then I call a direction (up/down) and an interval (G up a 2nd). Quickly, the kids find the corresponding card with their right hand and just hover it over the card (A) until I call out "GO". Immediately everyone slaps their right hand down on the card and shouts out the letter. Wrong answers will be obvious. After corrections are made (if needed), play continues. It's fun when you can really get going fast. Going down by intervals results in crossing the R hand over the L, and I always make sure I include some that go across into a neighbor's card set (A down a 3rd "GO" F!). It's great fun.
This and other games like it are all found in the Music Mind Games book (it's in most catalogs).
One other very important game I play is called interval dictation. On staff paper or laminated boards, I'll tell students to write a note on the Treble G line (with boards, they use bingo chips). Then I'll call out directions & intervals (up a step, up a skip, down a step, up a skip, what's the note?). They in turn write the interval path across their staff and must try and name the final note. It gets to be a race. I'll often have someone come up to the front board and do it. You can also have real people be the notes on a large floor staff. Of course as the kids get better at reading, I'll start on different line or space notes.
These drills are routine with me and really help to solidify intervalic reading skills (which really is how we sight-sing and play efficiently). Think about it, the only actual note you have to name is the one that starts the song or phrase. All the other notes are generally read intervalically.
Anyhoo, these and much more are all in the book Music Mind Games (in most catalogs). I've modified many of these games to fit my teaching needs with private and larger groups of students.
Speak up if you'd like more game ideas like these. I have lots (for reading, rhythm, and much more). Sorry for the length of this response, but I love this part of music teaching.
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SIXTEENTH NOTES
06/16 I used to introduce this as first four sixteenths (tira tira), then tie the first two together (ti tira), then tie the first three (I know everyone has their own "way" but we said, "ti-I-ra" for this rhythm.) ?We practiced reading and clapping 4-beat patterns with flash cards, then on to playing patterns on instruments (ostinati with various songs, student-created parts, etc.) ?For singing, there was a Spotlight on Music song in the fourth grade book - a version of "Frog Went a Courtin'" that I had never heard until we got that series. ?It has a call and response verse with the response being "ring tum body minchy cambo" and a refrain with "ki maniro down to Cairo, ki maniro Cairo. ?Shaddle ladda ladda babba ladda babba ling tum ring tum body minchy cambo." Then we danced the rhythm. ?Any "soft shoe" style song will work. ?It's VERY difficult to get students to feel the difference between the quarter-eighth triplet versus the dotted eighth-sixteenth, so we would dance it both ways using a "step ball change" soft shoe - pointing out that the ball change was "quicker" when moving to the dotted eighth-sixteenth as compared to the triplet feel (and also discovering the triplet version fits better with that style). -- Norm Sands
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06/16 SONGS: Betty Martin (2 sixteenths + 1 eighth)
Shanghai Chicken (4 sixteenths, eighth+ dotted quarter)
Fed my Horse on a Poplar Trough eighth + 2 sixteenths
Grandma Grundt (both 2 16's + 1 eighth *AND* 1 eighth + 2 16th's)
Jimmy Crack Corn (2 16's + 1 eighth *AND *dotted eighth+1 16th)
Paw Paw Patch (both 2 16's + 1 eighth *AND* 1 eighth + 2 16th's *and *4 16th's)
Draw a Bucket of Water (2 16's + 1 eighth AND one eighth + two sixteenths)
Chicken on a Fence Post.
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STEPS, HALF STEPS and SKIPS
8/01 STEPS: I continue with the recorders through 6th grade. We intersperse our learning with units on the recorder. I have my 5th and 6th graders write a piece for their recorder each year also. This seems to pull it all together for them.
I also put 2 measure of melody on the board at the beginning of "each" class..I don't do this every day as there are a few other things we do. I teach them how to find DO...I do these in the key of C primarily, but also G and F. Then we find the pitches together. As they get better at it, I have them sing it in their head and then we try to do it together as a class. When new music comes our way, we do the same thing. They get pretty good at it!
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STEP/SKIP/FLOOR STAFF: Use a floor staff big enough that the kids have to take a large step ('skip') when it is a skip. After walking thru steps, use frisbees or large notes to demonstrate and practice steps from one note to the next. Then follow a similar routine for skips. I ask my kids (when they identify a skip) what lines and/or spaces were 'skipped' from one note to another.
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8/01 I use my chromatic tone bells. They are black and white like a piano, but sit side-by-side. I play the chromatic scale for the kids and they tell me that it doesn't sound like a real scale. So, then I pull out all the black ones and leave the others sitting where they were. We identify this new scale as the "normal" scale. Then I point out that some notes are closer than others. That leads naturally to half/whole steps.
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8/01 I introduce all the notes on the treble staff at one time during the first month of 4th grade. I show them how to decode them all at one time. Over the years I have begun to think that teaching 1 - 3 notes at a time just makes the job harder. If they can understand that way to decode them, they can figure any note out, anytime. We go right to games, and drills to reinforce, and then we start recorder.
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8/01 Try ordering some paper keyboards (they come in like a notepad, enough for a class) and laminate them. Kids can use erasable markers, colored chips, etc. A good substitute for a piano--and each student has one to use.
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STEPS AND SKIPS
I used to do steps and skips with preschoolers using plastic hoops on the floor. I played a scale on step bells (resonator bells placed on a ladder) as they stepped from one hoop to the next - forward and backwards. They took turns stepping. Then do the same thing asking them to skip a hoop and play the skips on the bells. Eventually the kids can play the bells. Using resonator bells placed on a ladder makes it soooo visual.
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HOME to MUSIC ED RESOURCES IDEA LIBRARY!!!

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MARKER BOARDS
07/05 MARKER/MAGNETIC BOARDS
For those of you that have magnetic white boards, office supply stores have rolls of "magnetic tape" that work great for any visual aids you may use in your classrooms. You cut small rectangles, peel the paper off, and stick them to the back of the card, poster, picture, or whatever. No clips to mess with! -- Norm Sands
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07/05 I love those magnets with the stick man-shaped clips on them - the magnets really are very strong. I have clips on the top of my board, too, but I rarely use them because it's a pain to get the charts in there. I have the magnets like Norm is talking about on lots of my visuals, but the magnet clips are great for song charts and things. I got mine at School Box, don't know if office supply stores carry them or not. - Ann Wells
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MARKER BOARDS
02/04 Try The MarkerBoard People at www.dryerase.com - I bought their music markerboard combo pack a couple of years ago and really like them. They're a good size and durable. The combo pack includes markers and erasers. I notice they've added some other music-related boards now. - Contributed by D’Anne in MI
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02/04 http://www.dryerase.com/
I got these boards six years ago. I love them and so do the kids. I've replaced the markers but the boards and erasers are going strong. Kids love to write on boards.... Very motivating.-Contributed by Ardith Roddy
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02/04 I've used the dry erase kind and the chalk kind. Here's what I've learned:
1. Kids sniff the dry erase markers for sport. No, I'm not kidding. BUT some kids are allergic to the chalk dust.
2. Chalk breaks every time we use them. I had to replace the markers at the end of the year.
3. Chalk is cheap. Markers are not so cheap.
4. The dry erase boards are lighter and easier to transport than a stack of 30 dry erase boards.
5. The markers stained some clothing. No, I didn't TELL them too...they just thought that a shirt with horizontal stripes needed a few quarter notes on it to make it a "staff shirt". *sigh* The kids used their shirts to erase the chalk all the time. (Again...they came up with this on their own.)
I am much happier with the chalkboards in my current setting because of their sturdiness and how readily available chalk is. I haven't had any students complain or report allergies and I've used them with all classes.-Contributed by Tracy http://www.musicbulletinboards.net/ BACK to Melody and Rhythm topics ***********************************************************************
STEADY BEAT
06/16 RUSHING THE BEAT: I relate the beat to a representation of time. We show more space between the beat to not rush the time. Example: During hand drum piece yesterday they were rushing. I played the rhythms and asked the kids to watch for places where my mallet showed more space between the notes. Then, they performed it. It helped. ----Kelly in GA
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06/16 I learned from Jim Solomon (my Orff Level I instructor) and pull out the old cow bell to help keep the beat and sometimes we just have to put our mallets down and pat the beat on our knees.-----Penny Thomas
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12/11 BEAT CHANT: Beat, beat, feel the beat. Say your name, then take your seat. The kids all stand, and keep a beat (two finger clap is good). When you get to the child, the child says, "My name is ______" Form is: Chant 4 names Chant 4 more names First time I do this, I do it with clapping. Week 2 with a hand drum - explain how hand drum is played, classify it.
Week 3 with a tambourine - again, explain how it's played, classify it.
Week 4 with a woodblock -
This gives me the chance to reinforce steady beat (observe and assess how well they keep a beat), learn names, and gives an opportunity to demonstrate correct playing of all the non-pitched and classify them. This weeks Musicplay Newsletter was all about name games - this was part of it. If you want to get the newsletter, you can subscribe at www.musicplay.ca ---- Denise Gagne www.musicplay.ca Musicplay – the Sequential Text Series tvmusic@telusplanet.net 888-562-4647
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10/05 SONG SUGGESTIONS: Good ole Stars and Stripes Forever! I just finished my unit on John Philip Sousa, and with first and second grade, I had them march, perform body percussion, do paper plate routines..............very strong beat, familiar tune, and the kids love it! - Karen Stafford "The Music Education Madness Site" http://www.musiceducationmadness.com/
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06/06 STEADY BEAT: With grades k-2, I meet them at the door to the music room. We hold hands and walk into the room. I start walking the steady beat and wait until I hear their feet in sync with mine, then I start singing whatever song I am using that week. We've done Sammy Sacket; Engine Engine Number 9; Here We Go Looby Loo; Ring Around the Rosie; Yankee Doodle; etc. As I am singing and they are stepping the steady beat, I lead them into a circle. At the end of the song, I have them sit down.
In second grade and the second half of first grade, for some songs we step the beat on the verse and clap the rhythm on the chorus (like Ring Around the Rosie; Yankee Doodle). Ring Around the Rosie, when we "all fall down", we clap the rhythm while sitting down, then we "all stand up" and step the beat while singing it through again. Yankee Doodle, we clap rhythm on verse and step beat on chorus, just because the rhythm of the chorus is beyond what they are able to read in 2nd grade.
In singing games like Lucy Locket and Bee Bee Bumblebee, they step the beat in place in the circle initially. Once they have had a turn and are "out", they get a rhythm instrument and play the rhythm for the rest of the game. So you have children who are stepping beat and others who are playing the rhythm simultaneously. -- Julie Jones
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10/05 I've been using Bobby McFerrin's "Drive my Car" [from album: “Best of Bobby McFerrin”] all week and the kids love it! It has a good strong beat and the kids don't really know the words, so they get into the music.-- Lisa Wiggins
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10/04 One very simple activity I do is to pick 5 or 6 tracks on a CD such as "The Idiot's Guide to Classical Music" - short excerpts of a wide variety of styles. I start the music, then as soon as a student can hear the beat, he/she starts quietly patsching (pat on knees) that beat and the others join in. It's so easy - and they love it! I think you could do this in almost any grade. 02/03 Something like this might work with your 5th grade boys, especially if you use "cool" music. (I'm using "We Will Rock You," since it has such a slow tempo and the kids love it.)
The routine is: Sitting cross-legged on floor, hands resting on knees with palms up. Beanbag in left hand.
Beat 1 - beanbag is placed in right hand.
Beat 2 - both hands resting on knees with palms up. Beanbag in right hand.
Beat 3 - right hand places beanbag in left hand of neighbor on the right.
Beat 4 - both hands resting on knees with palms up. New beanbag in left hand.
Before using the beanbags, we practice the motions.Another idea is the Yankee Doodle hand jive - should be in the archives. If not, let me know and I'll try to find it. Or it might be in the Idea Bank. Anyway, it has motions where the hands cross to the opposite side of the body, and this type of activity is "supposed" to be good for the brain.
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06/06 STEADY BEAT: With grades k-2, I meet them at the door to the music room. We hold hands and walk into the room. I start walking the steady beat and wait until I hear their feet in sync with mine, then I start singing whatever song I am using that week. We've done Sammy Sacket; Engine Engine Number 9; Here We Go Looby Loo; Ring Around the Rosie; Yankee Doodle; etc. As I am singing and they are stepping the steady beat, I lead them into a circle. At the end of the song, I have them sit down.
In second grade and the second half of first grade, for some songs we step the beat on the verse and clap the rhythm on the chorus (like Ring Around the Rosie; Yankee Doodle). Ring Around the Rosie, when we "all fall down", we clap the rhythm while sitting down, then we "all stand up" and step the beat while singing it through again. Yankee Doodle, we clap rhythm on verse and step beat on chorus, just because the rhythm of the chorus is beyond what they are able to read in 2nd grade.
In singing games like Lucy Locket and Bee Bee Bumblebee, they step the beat in place in the circle initially. Once they have had a turn and are "out", they get a rhythm instrument and play the rhythm for the rest of the game. So you have children who are stepping beat and others who are playing the rhythm simultaneously. -- Julie Jones
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ACTIVITY: *Get a large string of fat elastic (10 yds?) and tie it into a loop. All children hold on and keep the beat to a recording.
*Attach pieces of elastic to a tambourine so that it looks like an octopus. Each child holds a string and bounces the tambourine to the beat. 10/04 OBO ASI ME NSA I am doing "Obo asi me nsa" with my 3rds right now! We use small plastic cups, upside down. Everyone has a cup and we all pass together. They must use the right hand and pass on the beat and do "thumbs up". Any mistakes and they are out. If they don't sing, or squish the cup, or throw the cup, or go too fast or too slow, they're out. Plus, 1 cup has a tiny hole, made by a push-pin, in the bottom. Whoever has the cup with the hole in it when the music stops is also out! They must pass correctly until I stop the cd. We play the game, eliminating mistake-makers and the "hole-holders" until we get down to one winner. The kids LOVE this game! -- Pat Price
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CUP GAME: Third graders loved doing this activity over and over again. In our new MacMillan series "Share the Music" the 3rd grade book has all 19 verses of "There's a Hole in the Bucket". (I have seen it other places too) Any way to make things more interesting the boys sing the Georgie part and the girls sing the Liza part. You can imagine the challenge this creates between the boys and the girls. By the end of the song they are singing with humongous vigor. (LOUD!!! the one time when I close my usually open door.) After they finished singing I had them sit in a circle and passed out our plastic cups I use for many cup games. (These red and yellow cups were bought at KMart for 10 for $1.) In the botom of two cups I taped a black construction paper circle. We started the song and passed the cups in front of the person on the right. At the end of the verse who ever had the hole was out. It is easier to go out by twos than one at a time.
Cups: up Down grab Down grab
Sing: There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,
Down grab Down grab and look
There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole!
The kids with the holes were out and gave their cups with the "Hole" to someone still in the circle. When there were three or four left in the circle we used only one cup with a "hole" inside. This game was used as a reward at the end of a other class times. They more we played the game the more creative the kids were that were "out". They created their own game in smaller circles. Our school kids are very creative...we just need to let do more.
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12/07 CUP GAME: (Spanish Song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft6Kg7S-LBE
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10/04 Rain on the green grass Rain on the trees Rain on the housetop but not on me! -- Leslie Bakkum
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10/04 I made up a little song to sing with my K's while doing the BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR (book)activity. BTW, they loved it, whoever had that original idea!!
Here is the song we sang: S M brown bear S M brown bear
S F M R what do you see F R R
I see a F R red bird F M R D looking at me Then change the animal until everyone has had a turn with their animal. -- Donna Sutherland Tatum Primary SchoolTatum, TX
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10/04 We read the book: Buzz and Ollie's Steady Beat Adventure by Donna Sloan Thorne and Marilyn Sloan Felts ~We made a list of all the things in the book that made a steady beat. ~We sang a known song or recited a known poem for each item (being sure to pat the steady beat throughout each) ~ Rain - Rain Rain go Away ~ Windshield Wipers - the wiper verse of Wheels on the Bus ~ Clock - Hickory Dickory Dock ~ Water - we couldn't think of one. If you know a good one, let me know. ~ Rocking Chair - Couldn't think of one, but one clever kid made one up to the tune of Row, Row, Row your boat ~ Hammer - Johnny Works With One Hammer
I found this VERY interesting site that mentions Handel's Water Music and using a drum to let the children walk the steady beat. At the bottom are other suggested pieces and it mentions Wade in the Water..... How fun and kewl would it be to bring a child's wading pool in your room and let each kinder or 1st step 9in and then wade across it to a steady beat? Ok for the older kids, bring four in and the first one they wade half notes. Then quarters in the second. Back to half notes in the third and q1uarters in the fourth one..... They get to take their shoes off (which will elicit some EWWWWSSSS, but they'll love it!). My kids would just absolutely have a blast doing this. Beth Jahn
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10/04 Giving them something to look at while you point, and asking for a clap or a stomp or what ever every time you point to the line on the chart or whatever you're using can help. Also, there's lots of fun music you can use to have them use different parts of their body to keep the beat...nod your head, flap your wings, knock your knees etc. (Bo-wo-wones comes to mind.) -- Jane Rivera
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10/04 STICKS: I like to do lots of steady beat at the beginning of the year; it's easy, engaging, and students can be successful right away. Do you have rhythm sticks? If so, I found a fun activity at an Orff workshop, courtesy of Emily Perlman, using Leroy Anderson's (of Sleigh Ride fame) Syncopated Clock music. Simply, you establish the beat with the sticks, and they "follow the leader". With younger kids, I change my action every 16 beats, with older, every 8, and I challenge them to watch and change when I change. You can hit them together, of course, but also hit your legs, the floor, your shoes, shoulders, etc. An extension of this is to Pass the Beat around the circle, with each student being the "Leader" for a pre determined amount of beats (I usually ask them to choose two ways to keep the beats, and do them for 8 beats each). They often have new and fun ways to keep the beat, and it gives each student a chance to do a small, non threatening solo. -- Joan Koontz
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10/04 STICKS: (or any other rhythm instruments you have) always work for me! Pick something popular that doesn't have questionable lyrics - (I know, it's often difficult to find THAT!). Change up the use of the sticks...tapping body parts, tapping each other's sticks, the floor, the chair, etc. I even did this with 7th and 8th graders just yesterday (first day of music for them...wanted to make sure we didn't have any "beat-impaired" in the group!) and they enjoyed it. (of course, it doesn't hurt that I'm standing in front of them doing it getting WAY too into it!) Norm
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03/02 This is an activity that I've been doing with my 6th graders.)I have 6 playground balls - all different colors, and I think they are about 8 1/2 inches in diameter. I ordered them last spring from Classroomconnect.com (used to be RePrint) and they were very inexpensive - and I've seen basically the same balls at Wal-Mart for less than $3 each.
Make a circle - distribute the balls fairly evenly. There will be anywhere from 2 - 4 students between each "bouncer," depending upon your class size and how many balls you have. I start out very simple - bounce on beat 1, hold and rest for beats 2 3 4. Do this for 8 4-counts, then pass to the person on the right and do the same thing. One day a little "chant" came to mind:
Hold 2 3 4
Pass it 2 3 4
Get ready 2 3 4
Bounce on beat 1.
That kind of kept the "flow." Other patterns I've tried: bounce on beats 1 & 2, beats 1 & 3, beats 1 2 3, and beats 2 & 3.
I know this sounds sooo easy - but my 6th graders (and you-all have heard me complain about some of my classes) have really enjoyed it. I think it's just the whole novelty of it - and many of them have seen the Stomp Out Loud video and remember the basketball scene. I'm going to try to do more complicated things with them, maybe combining more than one pattern. If we get something worked out, I'll let y'all know. We only spend about 10 minutes or so on this (out of 55- minute periods).
Words of caution: if inflating the balls yourself, be careful not to over-inflate. You'll end up with egg-shaped balls that crack the kids up - and they're hard to control, because you never know WHERE they'll bounce. (I did this for my observation Friday with a 1st/2nd grade level 6th grade class - their eye/hand coordination isn't as good as some of the other classes. Had to take out one of the balls 'cause it was WAY too lop-sided.) This morning I stuck the needle back in and let out some air - they work much better now.
Also... I have some classes that giggle when I say the word "ball." Last week Larry kept hitting his neighbor's ball out of his hand, so I stuck him in the corner. After a few minutes he begged to come back to the circle. I asked "Can you keep your hands off other people's balls?" MUCH laughter from my little gutter-minded children. (OK - I laughed, too. It did SOUND funny.)
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I have an exercise that I learned at a meeting somewhere that I do to Riverdance music. Its very simple. I give the kids rhythm sticks or chop sticks - depends on the class. I have a sentence strip chart with rhythms inserted in the pockets. The student perform the rhythms with their rhythm sticks (chop sticks0. They keep repeating a rhythm until I point to a different one. I go through each rhythm in order one time. Then I mix them up.
After the students feel confident, I put on the Riverdance CD. I use track 1, but I use the 2nd movement of the song, which is about 2:45 into the track. You can hear the dancers feet in the music and I try to match up the rhythms as best as I can. There is one section where the tempo speeds up considerably. I have the students rest until the music settles into the new speed. After we've done this about twice (they want to do it forever!) I let them watch just the portion of the video where this song is performed. They love it. It's a good activity for St. Patty's Day.
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02/02 My kids absolutely went bonkers over the large yarn ball I got from an Orff workshop in January! We passed it back and forth to "Siyahamba" and "Dance with your Hands" - we used half notes, quarter notes, eighths - even the big kids just LOVED it. It is amazing what a little thing like a yarn ball can do! I think because it wasn't a real "ball" - it was unique and really caught their attention.
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I'm going to put simple BAG recorder phrases on the plates and the kids will have to name and/or play them. Question, though - I'm wondering what to do if they miss the plates; did you give them 3 tries, or just go on to the next team? Did you put the plates pretty close together, or spread them out? Thanks for this great idea. Brain research shows we remember better when there is some emotion involved. This should get some excitement going! Kristy in Oregon With the younger grades, I tried a beanbag game which they loved too. This consisted of paper plates( draw the pictures of the different notes on them) and beanbags. They throw the beanbag at the paper plates which I tape on the floor. They get whatever points that are the value of the note (ex. quarter note =1, half= 2, etc.) They really liked this. I divided the class into two teams, and had one student be the scorekeeper and keep track of the points on the board. I also tried to stress that each team did excellent so neither felt bad if they didn't win.
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I use cheap yarn and paper plates. It takes about 2 skeins to make a yarn ball.Take two paper plates. Cut a hole about 4" across in the center. Keeping the plates together, wrap thread around the the plates through the hole and around. It works best to make "hanks" of thread several feet in length. This makes the job go faster. When you can no longer get thread through the hole, take your scissors and cut the thread at the edge of the plates. Take a piece of thread and tie securely around the yarn between the plates. Now you're ready to remove the paper plates and shape up your yarn ball.
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01/04 I have a Pooh's Corner in my room. It is a huge tree on the wall in the corner with Winnie the Pooh stuff all around. At the beginning of the year I have the Kindergartners come in and I play some Winnie the Pooh songs and bounce Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore on their heads. This may sound funny but it really breaks the ice because most of them are scared. I then let them get a stuffed animal(I have many) and we rock the animals to the beat. They really love it and they are introduced to steady beat their first lesson. - Contributed by Norma Ganucheau
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12/03 I give each student a drum, knowing that this will be a high-interest "hook" to catch the attention of even the quietest student. I just looked in my Children Sing, Children Play outline, and *playing* the beat is not introduced until December. Until then, it's clapping, patsching, tapping, and stepping. I choose to add the instruments earlier because I have a lot of unpitched percussion and see my K's too much to hold off that long. Other early beat instruments for us are rhythm sticks of assorted sizes and sounds and shaker cans. We just finished playing the "beat" on autoharp in K, and I use the term loosely, as the beat was definitely lost somewhere in the experience. The students really enjoyed doing it, however, and they will get better with practice. - Contributed by Connie Herbon
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12/03 I start students on steady beat the first time they come to my room. I start with patting then clapping. I then move to instruments that are easy to play such as rhythm sticks or woodblocks. I stay away from maracas and triangles for quite a while. - Contributed by Deaetta Szulis
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12/03 We do a lot of movement with the steady beat. Like someone else said, the children instantly go to patting their laps whenever they listen to a new song. My choirs at church (all ages) I always have them rock to the beat even when sitting. I've been doing this also with the children. I have something moving. I like the idea of alternating from lap to drum, maybe 4 beats on the drum, then 4 beats on the lap. I think I'm going to do that. I think that will help them keep from rushing. - Chandra Sadler
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09/03 RHYTHMIC POEM:
Little Tommy Tittlemouse lived in a little house
Someone's calling, me oh my!
Someone's calling, "It is I"
Rhythm: ti ti ti ti ti ti ta ta ti ti ti ti ta
ti ti ti ti ti ti ta ti ti ti ti ti ti ta
Melody: S S S L S S M S S L S S M
S S M M S S M S S M M S S M
This is a great little game that young children love. It's also a great game for tonal assessment.
Kids are seated in circle with a Tommy or Tammy in center with eyes closed. Class sings. Teacher points to player, who will tiptoe to Tommy who has his eyes closed and sing the last phrase, "Someone's calling, "It is I"If Tommy or Tammy guess who is singing, they are out of the circle. The new Tommy or Tammy is the child who sang "Someone's calling 'It is I'"Why do they like this game? Absolutely no clue! But it works! - Contributed by Cak
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PITCH MATCHING
12/11 Fly Swatter game where I put on the board maybe 5 examples do-sol-do-sol sol-sol-do-do mi-sol-mi-sol and dividing the room into two teams and seeing who can get the most right...also telling them that they get one choice...they can't keep swatting away. ---- Gary Heimbauer
I did a lot of silly echo stuff - swoops, sirens, etc., some sol-mi stuff, which I always ended with body percussion echos. They needed both really badly but I could make the BP echos a lot harder which satisfied their older selves. I almost always had to do some sirens or vocal (brief!) warm-ups for them to get the vocal placement before we sang. I also stopped and started and restarted a lot. They were just not used to actually hearing themselves and matching with others. I also showed them that they were singing in their talking voices and modeled constantly. And I celebrated with them every time I heard them using those singing voices with no reminders. When I "called" them on it (nicely and in a supportive way), they gradually got better. And like I said, they are MUCH better this year. I've actually complimented whole classes on singing in their "singing voices." It may take a little while, but by December, you may be surprised at the improvement. --- Gary Heimbauer
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12/11 FOOTBALL WARMUP (Matching Pitches) Materials needed: small NFL football (about 5-6 inches long / ours are sold in grocery stores, but any small f.ball could probably be used)
Level 1: Teacher toss ball in air and sing "foot-ball" on sm. Teacher toss / students sing. Send ball around class for all to toss / sing. (Keep a recorder/bell/tuning fork etc. at hand if needed for your own reference.)
Level 2: Brainstorm 2 syllable team names to fit sm. (Ex: Pack-ers, Cow-boys, Steel-ers) Students sing team of choice on their turn.
Level 3: Like level 1, but sing "NFL foot-ball" on ssl_s_m_. Takes 2 tosses to get through pattern.
Level 4: Brainstorm 4 syllable names. (Ex: Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos) Sing through whole list together. Students sing team of choice on their turn.
Level 5: Students create a warm-up. The following works well for us: team1 on slsm / team 2 on slsm / team 3 on smd. (Ex: NewYork Jets) (slsm/slsm/smd) Keep track of each "composition" for future class reference. Ball is not tossed for this level / not usually done in solo form.
Level 6: Start level 5 warm-up at a low pitch (eg. sol=G) Repeat 1/2 step higher until class limit is reached. (eg. sol = D') Small basketballs and soft-sculpture baseballs also work when each sport is in season. Change team names, of course. ---- Connie Herbon
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MUSICAL SYMBOLS
10/12 GREAT SITE COVERING ALL THE BASIC SIGNS: http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory24.htm
07/11 Freddie the Frog series – Sharon Burch[From Amazon:] Freddie the frog explores Treble Clef Island and discovers two big adventuresÂ—one with the inside of a crocodile! The treble clef staff comes alive as a map of where Freddie lives. Various lines and spaces represent each part of the story. Introduces 4- to 9-year-olds to six treble clef notes in a captivating way! Enclosed CD includes narration and two sing-a-long songs.
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I have assigned students to "home bases" in past years that were particular spots on my risers. Because of a folk dance unit that I do at the beginning of the year with 6th grade, and my desire to use Mallet Madness and have more space on the floor for instruments - I folded up my risers and stacked them against the wall. I used large Sharpie markers in four colors and put 30 different musical signs and symbols on the laminated part of my classroom floor (all of the ones in my Gameplan set of visuals and more). My seating chart (for myself and also subs) is drawn out to look like the floor and has each musical symbol in a box, which includes a small piece of Post-It with the child's name and 12 small squares for marking assessment (+, -, or check mark). The Post-It is very handy for changing a child's placement easily if the spot I chose for them "isn't working" (can't stop talking to their neighbor, or keep their hands to themselves, etc.) The most fun is all of the different activities we have done to familiarize students with the names, functions, and categories of the various signs and symbols. The first week with students in grades 1-4, I gave them a picture of one of the symbols and they found the matching symbol on the floor. Students in grades 5 and 6 were given a card with the name of the symbol, and they had to use the available posters and visuals in the room to locate their sign or symbol. These became their assigned "home bases". Since then I've been doing a short opening activity with most of the grade levels to further "cement" their knowledge of the signs.
1. I put down six pieces of paper around the perimeter of the room with the categories that the symbols fit into (notes, rests, clefs, tempo markings, dynamic markings, and other). With the younger students I told them which category their sign fit into and we all went to stand by the paper with the name of our category. Older students had to use the available resources in the room to find their category, if they did not already know.
2. We "introduced" our sign or symbol to 3 other classmates using a formal introduction "Susie, this is treble clef. Treble clef, this is Susie". (One boy went so far as to insist that the kids he introduced his symbol to "shake its hand". Very cute!)
3. We put our signs or symbols in order within the categories. Ex: Dynamic markings from softest to loudest. Tempo markings from slowest to fastest. Notes and rests from the shortest duration to the longest.
4. We found out which sign or symbol I call the "Queen" or the "King" of them all (depended on whether a boy or girl had been assigned that symbol.) It was of course the "staff". We all bowed to the king or queen. I explained that without the staff, the rest of them would all be without a home and without a job - because they all were located either on or near the staff.
5. We've divided into groups for games and activities based on the color of their symbol (red, green, blue or black). We've also divided up into the categories I mentioned earlier (notes,rests, etc.) to form smaller groups. -- Leslie Ritter
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SYNCHOPATION AND OFF BEAT
10/12 'Fugettabout' it till they can sing some, play some and move to some syncopation AND label it when they hear it. Lotsof pre teaching needed here before you start putting visuals to it. That said, I wrote out the stick notation to a rag on paper and passed each kid a copy, taught them the syncopa pattern, and then we said the rag with the rhythm syllables, but saying syncopa with the ti ta ti patterns. Then we followed along with a recording. They touched the paper, not just watched me at the board. About the second time, they nailed it. They did far better than I had expected. That was third grade. ---- Martha Stanley,
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10/08 PLAYING OFF BEAT: I have been doing ChopMonster Jr with my big kids. The first few activities are all about feeling and becoming really aware of the difference in feel between and3 and 2and4. If you have it, dig it out. The authors (real life teachers) make the point that it's so easy and so hard at the same time. So before we actually get into "jazz" study, kids just have to be 2and4 competent to get the feeling of "swing." That's a point I hadn't really thought of and I think they're onto a good idea. This book is totally excellent and the CD accompaniments and examples are really good. – Martha Stanley
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10/08 I count 4 and have the kids clap on 2 and 4 over and over, then transfer to the piece at hand. -- Jane Rivera
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10/08 I believe the key is to have them feel the strong 1 and 3 beats also. I called this an "un-clap" or "un-play" as in tambourine. Here's what I mean. You give a countdown, 1, 2, ready, go, then they start with an UN-CLAP, CLAP, UN-CLAP, CLAP, etc. Un-clap was done by pulling their elbows down strongly to their sides, so that the "un-clap" actually had more weight and intensity than the clap that followed it. I also always worked on kids clapping in a very relaxed, never stiff manner. Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana E. Luane Campbell Elementary Music Instructor & Talented and Gifted intervention specialist Mt. Gilead Schools, Ohio --
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01/07 My 4ths did "Turkey Shoot", a speech piece (I want to say it's by Lori Mitchell, 1992, in a Holidays & Special Days spiral book). The kids have to stomp/clap a steady beat while speaking a syncopated rhythm. I'm finding that if they start with simple speech pieces on a given skill, they are doing better when it comes to singing on that skill. Maybe it's my imagination. The chorus (another teacher directs) is singing "Winter Has Begun", which is all in syncopated rhythm. -- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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06/06 I did use the "Blake Snake" lesson last year and found it worked pretty well for basic syncopation. My favorite is "Hill 'n Gully Rider" from the old World of Music series. "Mister Ram Goat-O" is VERY similar, with the syncopated motive always falling as a "response."
Beyond clapping, stepping, and moving to the syncopation, my 3rds love to play it. We use an assortment of Latin percussion instruments and also add Boomwhackers. On "Hill 'n Gully," we can get by with just one chord, but for "Goat," I'd give each player and F and a G. This will work for both the F-G and the A-Bb motive. I'd also add these on the barred instruments, using 2 mallets per player. Some 3rds can handle playing both parts on all four syncopated motives in parallel 3rds. Also check out "Poco, Le' Me 'Lone" (folk song from Tobago, sister island to Trinidad) on p. 292 and "Limbo Rock." Nothing to sing on the last one, but there's lots of syncopation going on. My students have alwaysenjoyed the Limbo dance, and it's nice to have a textbook recording of the music. -- Connie Herbon
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10/04 I've got a great syncopation lesson that I'm doing right now with my 4ths. It uses the song "Stone Pounding" from 1995 Share the Music, 4th grade.
After learning the song, I have the kids sit in a circle on the floor. We take the rhythm pattern for the words "3 stone a stone" (ti ta ti ta rest) and practice clapping it over and over. Then we practice clapping that pattern through the whole song. It's easy at first because it matches the rhythm of the words, but then the challenge comes when the words change and they still have to clap the ti ta ti ta rest pattern.
After they try that, then I pass out hand drums to every other person (you can't have every person because they can't pass and receive at the same time). We then change the "rest" to "pass". They play ti ta ti ta and pass the drum to their left on "rest".
We practice a few times, then try it to the music. The object is to keep the same rhythm pattern going throughout the entire song: ti ta ti ta - pass ; ti ta ti ta - pass ; ti ta ti ta - pass ; ti ta ti ta - pass ; etc.
Now for the fun part! I then change the exercise into a game. I play the music and they play the patterns until I stop the cd. At that point, anyone whom I saw miss a pattern, miss a beat, pass the drum wrong, or mess up in any way is "out". They go sit in a chair and I take away 1 drum for every 2 people who go out. We then reset the circle and the drums and play again. This can go on as long as you want it to - usually I stop when we get down to about 6 kids left. The kids have a BALL and really get good at the feel of syncopated rhythm! -- Pat in Gwinnett County, Ga.
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10/04 When I've done syncopation lessons in the past, one good intro is to play "I Got Rhythm" or sing it or whatever. Have students first clap the beat, then the words. Then, either partner-up or stand in 2 lines facing. One partner performs the beat, the other partner recites the words. Do you and your partner usually clap at the same time or at slightly different times? Try it again and think about that... They seem to get the concept of how the rhythm doesn't "match up" with the basic steady beat and it gets them thinking along those lines. -- Stacie DeVaney
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TEMPO AND METER
10/12 "Great Locomotive Chase" by Robert W. Smith starts slow ... speeds up, then slows down at the very end. "The Little Train of Caipira" from Bachianas Brasileiras by Villalobos is great for tempo. --- Norm Sands
Tempo (& dynamics) - In the Hall of the Mountain King ---- Tina Morgan
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Hall of the Mountain King
I have the kids listen to Beep Beep
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01/07 I have done the macarena to "Hall of the Mt. King" - Cheryl Elder 12/07 I use animals to teach Presto, Allegro, Andante, and Largo. For Presto I have bunny rabbit and for Largo I have a tortoise. It is fun when we talk about trying to catch a bunny rabbit! The kids get it. This also allows me to tie in the "Tortoise and the Hare" story and song along with the song Teresa Jennings did called "Presto Largo"! For Allegro, I use a butterfly and for Andante I have a funky cat. I made up a tune that just says, "Allegro goes very fast! Allegro goes very fast! Allegro goes, Allegro goes, Allegro goes very fast!" I think Hap Palmer has a tune about walking rhythm, so I kind of sing something to that tune about Andante. "An-dan-te is walking, walking. An-dan-te goes walking 'round. An-dan-te is walking, walking. An-dan-te is walking 'round."
Staccato is a spider and Legato is a long centipede...Get it LEGato! I use Teresa's song, "Staccato and Legato". Pianissimo is a giraffe and Forte is a dog. I also use Teresa's song, “Piano/Forte” [Plank Road Publishing] with these two animals! These have really helped the younger students grasp tempo and dynamics, although I still have kids who say high and low interchangably! -- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
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12/07 According to the Alfred Dictionary of Musical Terms, the order from fastest to slowest is:
prestissimo - as fast as possible
presto -very fast
allegro - fast
allegretto - fast, a little slower than allegro
moderato - moderate
andante - moderate, walking speed
andantino - a little slower than andante
adagio - slow, between andantino and lento
lento - slow
(larghetto - somewhat faster than largo)
largo - very slow -- Connie Herbon
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12/07 ANALOGIES
Allegro - forgot your lunch money; go back to get it but don't run
Andante - taking a note to the office; want to be efficient and impress the teacher
Adagio - taking a note to the office or stopping at the restroom; you really don't want to go back to class, so you slow down and look at all the displays
Largo - teacher just had the class run laps -- Susan Simandle Music Specialist
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06/06 Go to MusicK8.com, and from the magazine index: http://www.musick8.com/html/indices.tpl choose "Music Theory/Notation/Rhythms" from the subject pull-down menu. There are several Music K-8 songs listed that should be just what you are looking for, including sound clips. -- Kristyn Johnson
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06/06 PRESTO/LARGO We talked about the story of the Tortoise & the Hare-basic plot and how each animal's movements related to tempo. Students moved like the animals to the appropriate tempo as the music was played (INSTRUMENTAL VERSION ONLY). They thought this was great (the voice saying, "One, two, three, four" still gets laughs!) On another day, we divided into 2 groups-one for each animal. When their music was not being played, students had to freeze and become trees so the others would be challenged to move & maneuver around them. The following class, we switched animal roles. They are STILL asking to do the activity! - Linda Abbotk
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11/01 IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING - TEMPO tiptoeing and looking around during the quiet first section (I tell them the story background of Peer Gynt looking for a troll), and then running in place as the tempo gets fast at the end. We end with a "silent scream"--hands up and a scream look on your face without making any noise
10/01 We were working on "downbeat/strong beat/weak beat" and I remembered this goofy site. We got the Rabbi beat-boxing and tried to hit a different icon (sound) on each downbeat. Turned out cool. I know, I know, but we really had fun with it!!!
http://ameba.lpt.fi/~tsuviala/rpsonc.html Christopher L. Saraga
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PLAYING ON THE RESTS ! When you clap and tap, etc., do you have them say "rest?" I found that to be a big problem. If you're teaching them to say something, they're going to want to play something. So a couple years ago, I made sure to start my little ones off knowing that you say nothing on a rest. You still feel the beat, but there should be no sound. This has made a HUGE difference, although they've yet to get to 3rd grade. Next year will be the big test when they start recorders. -- Jennifer Schroeder
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PLAYING ON THE RESTS ! When reading and practicing a rhythm, have the students hold their hands out (as in ‘stop!’and freeze their bodies) and feel the beat silently.
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RHYTHM SYLLABLES ALTERNATIVE: I developed "rhythm quenchers" - using drinks for each rhythm. Tah = coke; Ti-ti = pepsi; tika tika = dr. pepper; tika-ti = Mt. Dew; ti-tika = orange soda. It is so much fun watching the children put together rhythms (with rhythm cards) with these drinks. They can read them, write them, play them...and it makes more sense to them than all the "t" syllables. I begin this in 4th grade--before that they do the traditional. I even assign a 5th grade project where the students come up with their own thematic words (i.e. flowers, foods, clothes, stores, etc.) to fit the rhythms and make a 3D poster out of it--this shows their true understanding. Brenda Williams, Tennessee
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MOVEMENTS:
1-inflate/deflate cheeks-alternating
2-point right hand index finger toward upper left (Travolta style except crossing midline)-then point left hand index finger toward upper right
3-swim one hand forward then other
4-elbows out, then in
5-arms up, then down
6-diplay right elbow forward, then left -- Linda Abbot
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OFF BEAT CLAPPING I always had the kids do a strong "un-clap" on 1 and 3--bring hands apart and hit the air, then clap on 2 and 4. Doing SOMETHING on the beat they don't clap ought to help. We did the same when playing barred instruments--a whole note was play, then tap air 3 more times. Also I really stressed they needed their eyes on me, to mirror my own motions. They had grown up on mirroring since K so this was a familiar concept. That's about the extent of my ideas... Louise Eddington
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OFF-BEAT CLAPPING I've taught off-beat clapping successfully as low as 1st grade, and that is the way I did it. It's the strong separation of hands on the 1st and 3rd beats that seems to be the key for most children. My students also know from K on that watching me is the easiest way to stay together on any movement. We work on mirroring from the very beginning of K and even a bit in preschool. -- Connie Herbon
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TRANSPOSING
Have the kids play a simple little melody such as Hot Cross Buns. Then tell them to move their whole hand up a 2nd, 3rd, or whatever (preferably another key where you don't have to worry about accidentals) and play Hot Cross Buns with the exact same fingering. Voila-transposition!
Or, write out a melody, say in C+, and ask them to transpose it to G+. Write out both scales like this:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
G A B C D E F# G
Then write the numbers under the C+ melody. Say if the first 3 notes were C, D G, you'd write "1 2 5." Then all you have to do is find the 1,2, and 5 in G-G, A, D!
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I recommend starting out in 5-finger positions with hands in unison and concentrate on the vertical relationship (the transposition interval) and the horizontal relationship (reading interval to interval). Hope this helps someone.
TRANSPOSING CIRCLE
This is my idea. You need:
2 8 1/2"x11" sheets of cardboard or posterboard
a compass
a protractor
a felt marker
a pair of scissors
a metal pin fastener
FOR THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS:
With the compass, draw a circle on one piece of cardboard or posterboard. With the protractor, divide the circle into equal units of 30 degrees. Draw 12 equal pie slices. Label these pie slices on the edge as C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, Ab, Eb, Bb, and F. Cut out the circle. If you have access to a laminating machine, laminate.
You might choose to make one circle of fifths for each template, or you might choose to make only one circle of fifths and change the templates.
FOR THE TEMPLATE:
With the compass, draw a circle the same size on another piece of cardboard or posterboard. Cut out the circle. Place this circle over the circle of fifths and lightly outline where you want to cut out a recession for each of the labels.
The choice is yours what templates you want to make. If you are a Choksy fan, you might want to make sm, lsm, lsmd, and lsmrd templates. If you are a BAG recorder teacher, you might want to make a drm template. If you are teaching your students to transpose a particular song, you might want to make a template for scale tones used in that song. If you are teaching about chords, you might wish to make a template for the major triad, the minor triad, the augmented and diminished chords, and so on. On each template, mark the chord with the felt marker.
Before you laminate these templates, however, let me point out that a template turned over might be good for another template. For instance, if you turn over the major triad template, you get a minor triad template. If you turn over the dominant seventh template, you get a half diminished seventh template. However, the recessions will be equidistant for augmented and diminished chords, so if you flop either of these templates over, you will get the same thing.
Cut out these recessions. If you have access to a laminating machine, laminate.
Now take the pointed end of the compass and give each cutout a vicious stab in the center. Stick a metal pin fastener (or whatever the heck those things are called) through the center of a template, then through a circle of fifths, and fasten. You have now made a bona fide transposition wheel. If you go for the ludic approach, here are some game you can play after only a little more work:
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SO-MI GO FISH
Same apparatus. If so's are yellow and mi's are red, a player holding a yellow G would ask for a red E.
SO-MI OLD MAID
Same apparatus. Take one card out and the mate for that card will be the old maid.
MAJOR TRIAD CONCENTRATION
Same as so-mi concentration, except that you have 12 do cards in a third color.
MAJOR TRIAD GO FISH
Now that I think of it, there is now reason why major triad go fish couldn't be played. If one player has a C as do and another player has an E as mi and a G as so, the first player can ask for the E and the G. That player now has a complete set, so he or she can lay all three cards down. For this game, you need two wooden cubes and several markers. On one wooden cube, write do on two sides, mi on two sides, and so on two sides. On the other wooden cube, write the names of 6 different keys. For each player, make a lotto board with do-mi-so on one axis and the 6 different keys on the other axis. Each player takes a turn rolling both cubes and placing a marker on the resultant place on the lotto board. The winner is the first player who gets a row.
If you're a BAG recorder teacher, you can take these major triad games and apply them to BAG.
OSTINATO FUN MORSE CODE
Practice in Morse Code could help a student who has difficulty in distinguishing between long and short duration. Activities with Morse Code could include:
1. practice in spelling the child's own name
2. practice in spelling well-known Morse Code signals, such as SOS and the the "V for Victory" motif in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
3. using the Morse Code signal for a word as an ostinato
A Morse Code table can be found at:
http://terra.org/comm/morsecode/morsecode.html
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I HAVE USED the following books in my 6th grade general music class in connection with the students' writing a story, poem or play (usually they are stories) on the origins of music. We call it "How Music Began". After writing their legends the students may choose to read one, two or all three books and compare their legend with the one(s) they read. Their grade is dependent upon the number of books they read and whether they share with the class their legend and the ones they read (all spelled out in the rubrics). "Musicians of the Sun" "All of you Was Singing" "The Origins of Music
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TWO AGAINST THREE
We use fruit names: pineapple/apple, strawberry/lemon, etc. First I say and/or clap one & the class does the other, then we switch, then we split the class & do the same. I guess it's not technically the right way to do it, but it works for me. I love the stick/brush idea, but I'm not coordinated enough for that! --- Mary Grebe, Shenendehowa Central School Music Department, Clifton Park, NY
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I write the following in their notebook or on the board: (Fraction form: 3 over 2)
I then ask the kid/s what the lowest common mutiple is (math in music!!!). When they reply "6", I add x's so the chart looks like this:
3 x x x x x x
2 x x x x x x
Next, ask them to circle the x's that divide the line into equal parts, according to the number at the beginning of the line. I can't circle here, but will use camps instead. I also tell them that the first x in each line must be included in their answer. It would look like this:
3 X x X x X x
2 X x x X x x
I have them count it as 1+2+3+
I have them count and tap...the top line is RH, the bottom line is LH. --- Becky Luce
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I learned how to do 2 against 3 with the phrase "Not very hard" - Say it while patting your legs with both hands. Hands together on "not" then alternate for the rest of the phrase. One hand is doing threes and the other twos when you do this. Using two different sounds (stick and brush) like the original poster suggested would make the difference even clearer. --- Ann in GA
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GENERAL IDEAS
06/10 www.musictechteacher.com
Quizzes, Games, Music Help. Looks like lots of things that might be useful if you have a projector or IWB --- Beth Jahn
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06/10 TIMBRE: Timbre is the thing that makes the sound of something sound unique. I can hit the music stand with a pencil, or I could hit the floor with a pencil and you'd be able to tell which is which. I can call a student's name, or Billy Bob can call that student's name. You could tell, without looking, if it was me or Billy Bob who said it. That's timbre. It's just that special "something". --- Marti Rankin
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06/10 FLY SWATTER GAME: Write 4 to 6 words (music ones, of course!) on a large piece of paper (poster size) as the game board. (I suppose you could have the kids write the words needed on the game board.) Divide up the class into groups, 2 to 4 in a group. Give each group a game board and 2-4 colored fly swatters. When the teacher reads a definition, the players at each game board try to swat the correct word first. Obviously, the bottom flyswatter is the winner. Switch flyswatters around if half the kids in a group are watching. Keep score and play to a certain number. There are a multitude of variations, music symbols, composers, listening selections, etc - anything that has matching possibilities. Depending on how many flyswatters you have and the colors, will determine a lot of things.--- D. Brian Weese
We call this activity "Swat It!". I use flashcards and lay them on the floor in scatter formation. Then I call two students up and they are the ones to look for the card. The one who finds it first stays up and the other player goes and sits down. They try to see how many people they can beat. If they beat more than 4 they earn the title "Master". It's a great activity. --- Tami Mangusso
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12/07 BOOK: ELEMENTARY ELEMENTS by David Boggs ($15 book and CD: WestMusic) [The book]] finally arrived today and it's good! Mr. Boggs has created and self-published a short series (9 pieces) of speech pieces and/or songs to teach the elements (and more) of music. The contents include Rhythm Chant, Tempo Poem, The Staff Song, Phrase Poem, Form Poem, Meter Poem, Timbre/Tone Color, Melody and Harmony (a partner song), Dynamics (with piano accompaniment) and Dynamics (lead sheet). The lyrics use word, rhyme and phrase choices that are engaging and real-world ways of explaining the elements to the students. The rhythms of the words are well-chosen, they move right along and they scan very well, i.e., the words are not tortured into rhythms by misplaced word accents. He has provided movement ideas that you can use, but he also suggests that you let your students create the movements, which sounds like a fine idea. The movements provided are obviously usable in a classroom. All of the pieces are musically appropriate and satisfying. The Timbre/Tone Color piece especially strikes my fancy. The implementation will be familiar to teachers with Orff training - voice to non-pitched to bar realization. ..... It builds the spelling of the word "timbre" by using voice, then non-pitched/ Orff bar percussion ostinati, finally culminating in a vocal tone cluster that says "tone color." Very clever. In my mind, it sounds very cool. The CD bears that out and also shows some of the difficulty your singers may have in creating and sustaining the tone clusters.
A CD comes with the book. Each piece is well-recorded with a small group of children who know the pieces, who sing well enough, but aren't professional. They sound real. I would be comfortable using the CD to help teach the songs. Two tunes are accompanied by a well-played guitar.
"Melody and Harmony" works as a round with a vocal ostinato. Clever illustration of the concepts is done within the music itself, even as the words deliver the message. The third part, a vocal ostinato, has an odd rhythm that I haven't quite worked through yet. Seeing how well constructed all the pieces are, however, I am inclined to believe that he has probably chosen well and that I just don't "get it" yet.
I also really enjoyed "Dynamics." It's a fun minor tune that just rollicks along and makes its points about dynamic in a fun, perhaps even quasi-operatic or dramatic way. [This tune] is a little more complicated piece and the students sound as though they could use a little more confidence in some phrases. The synthesized accompaniment is well done. The last piece on the CD is an accompaniment track for "Dynamics." I found this to be a tastefully conceived and executed opus of material that would be engaging for my students. In our world of too much to learn, too little time, this book and CD could help make learning the music elements engaging and the learning long-lasting. I plan to use Meter next week since that's where my emphasis is right now. My rating? All my thumbs up (and may I borrow one of yours?). -- Martha Stanley
Website: http://www.westmusic.com/
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ACTIVITY: Last year, with grades 1 - 3, I began every class with a fun "beginning song" that had lots of movement. ("Let's Begin the Day With Music-Making..." - I think it came from an Orff workshop.) Anyway, I used it to teach elements like dynamics and tempo by letting the children choose how we would "change the song." It took about 5 minutes at the beginning, and was SO worth it.
We would sing the song once through. Then I would choose what we'd change - which element. (For instance, "We're going to change the dynamics this time.") I had a bulletin board that had various tempos and various dynamics listed, and I'd call on a student to decide how to change it. (For instance, "Forte" - oh, how they loved this one!) It was good for reinforcing, also, that loud does not equal fast and soft does not equal slow. :)
A couple of months into the year, I'd ask a student to choose (instead of myself) whether we'd change tempo or dynamics (and they'd have to tell us what it means), and one other child to decide how to change it. By the last trimester, I'd choose a "teacher" from the classroom to lead the whole thing. It worked BEAUTIFULLY... and the principal was impressed a couple of times when she walked by and saw that I was getting instruments out, or dealing with a behavior issue, and the students... yes, primary... were leading themselves!)
I'm sure you could do this with some of the other elements, too - maybe not harmony or melody. But, boy do my students know "tempo" and "dynamics" - or dy- "man"- ics as the little ones call it. :) -- Amy Taylor
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CHANT- I do these chants: Fast or slow - TEMPO! (Speed up as you say this phrase.)
Beat, beat - hear it repeat. (Clap a steady beat.)
Patterns, patterns,?red, blue, green.? Form is a pattern using ABC!
Melody, Melody each song has a melody.? (Sort of sung to the tune "Memories")
Two notes playing at one time, we have harmony so fine.?Harmony!? (Sung to "Twinkle, Twinkle.")
Ta, ta, ti-ti ta.? Rhythm can be heard in the notes you play. -- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
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12/07 Boom chick-a boom is just call and response - no motions that I remember..
I said a boom chick-a boom, I said a boom chick-a boom, I said a boom chick-a rock-a chick-a rock-a chick-a boom Uh-huh Oh yeah One more time _________ style!
The different styles that I remember are things like baby style (baby talk), he-man style (muscle poses and deep voice), underwater style (one of my favorites - move your index finger back and forth really fast between your lips as you say everything), Valley Girl Style (I said, like, a boom chick a boom...) --Ann Wells
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12/07 ONLINE GAMES FOR THEORY & EAR TRAINING: http://www.musiclearningcommunity.com/FreePreview.htm
The following games are free for preview:
Level One-A: Storm Chaser 1 (Hi/Low), Smiley 1 (Up/down), Page Turner Keyboard 1 (Staff not names-Treble clef), Meteor Match (Quarter/half-identify), Page Turner Keyboard 2 (Staff note/name-Bass Clef ), Music Darts 1(Symbol/Word name), Songbirds (Hear and identify “Do, Re”)
Level One: Page Turner 3 (Quiz/Challenge-Note Names), Bumble Keys (Piano keys/note names), Rhythm Regatta (Hear & complete R. pattern)
Level Two: Notes Flakes (note names on staff), Tumble Triad (major/minor - hear and identify), Rhythm Factory (Hear R./identify correct pattern), Sixty Seconds (See staff note & play on piano) Sandy Toms
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06/07 “KOOKABURRA” - I've had a great time doing Kookaburra in 2nd grade. Using a ppt, I highlighted the words kookaburra, gum, merry, bush, gay. Then I talked about each of these words. Kookaburra (how many syllables?) sounds a bit like "cuckoo bird." They are not the same. (hyperlink to pictures of cuckoo using my cuckoo ppt some of you may remember)
gum: the sap kinda sticks together and some people actually chew the sap of some trees. In some parts we have "sweet gum" trees and native americans did chew it, but I wouldn't..... It's not a Juicy Fruit tree.
Merry: if it were mArry, I'd have to get married. Merry is also in merry christmas. What do you think it means? (laughing, basically) If it is spelled Mary, then it's a girl!
bush: if the bird is in a gum tree, why is he the king of a little bitty tree-bush? Cuz bush means the country way outside of the cities where there aren't many people living. (close enough....)
Gay: has two meanings. We're gonna use the meaning that means happy and cheerful. (not a pin dropped for this) There are 3 references to how this bird is happy. Why do people say that? (his call sounds like laughing)
Show ppt: pix of birds; pix of gum tree, gum blossoms, and actually birds in a gum tree; pix of the bush country; (got all these from Google images) and then THEN a sound clip of a kookaburra.
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/animal/SOUND/DKMMNature-Kookaburra.wav
We practice laughing (silently) with the birds. THEN we learn the song.
Lesson 2: Review the song. Ask: is it important for musicians to be able to match and copy one another? Emphatically yes.There's another Australian bird that is a GREAT copycat....er.... copybird. It's called the superb lyre bird. No, it does lie. It's tail is the shape of a lyre, an old harp-like instrument..... draw quick lyre on board. The male (what's a male?) uses his tail like a peacock does - he spreads it out and it's gorgeous. He uses it to interest the girls. The girls think that the guy with the best tail and most songs is just too cool. Watch this! I saw this from David Attenborough - it's just plain jaw-dropping. I downloaded it so it's resident on my computer. The kids are awe-struck.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3433507052114896375
You HAVE to see this. The bird even copies a kookaburra (and more....won't tell you what else it copies. YOU MUST SEE THIS.)
Lesson 3: we work on an Orff arrangement of it. Kids LOVE this. -- Martha in Tallahassee
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10/04 MR. EVERYBODY’S APARTMENT: I used it 2nd semester with K-2. They remembered it all summer long, as I could tell in my review at the beginning of school this year. My new kids caught up easily. Take a look at http://mylesmusic.com/. This is a series of 3 books, with flash cards and reproducibles, which will teach the lines/spaces of the treble staff, using a little story which is short on plot but long on fun. It can be used on keyboards, xylos, Boomwhackers, or any other melodic instrument. The story begins with Mr. Everybody, or Mr. "E", who owns an apartment building and lives on the first floor. The pets, "Crazy Cat" and "Dumb Dog" live in the basement. Right there, you have C, D, and E. There are songs to play, ready-made tests, and flash cards for practice. I've extended its use up to 5th grade, letting the kids know that I know the story is a bit young for them, but that we'll breeze right through it because they'll catch on fast. And they're getting into it just like the younger kids (and moving along faster, like I saidthey would). This one is well worth the price. -- Kay Lovingood
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50's-60's MUSIC: I do a lot of projects with my fifth graders. I teach a unit on "Retro Music" where we study the music and events of the '50s and '60s, invent and create musical instruments, plan and perform a music video, do rhythmic drumming, write original sound poems, play guitars and keyboards, etc. I include singing wherever possible. The kids especially like the "retro" songs. I find in our school that the fifth grade students don't like to be treated like babies and tend to get more involved when we complete music projects with substance. We also have two concerts a year, so the students do get a chance for serious singing, too.
I developed a more "hands-on" approach with this grade level. We have units on retro music (the '50s and '60s) where students learn about the social issues and the way the music reflected those issues, (they're not too young to understand these issues), they create and make musical instruments (which has turned out to sometimes be a family project using wood, metal, etc. and involves their parents at home), students create, practice, perform and videotape a music video, they play keyboards and guitars, they create musical games for the class to play, they develop a lesson plan and teach their classmates for a day, and they create asound poem, complete with instrumental accompaniment. They are also participants in the two concert performances, so they do get their singing time in, too.
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BASKETBALL: Last spring we did a basketball routine. Basketballs are a great way to get the boys on your side. A few activities that I did with the entire class were:
Have the computer play eighth note beats @94. I also had the computer bang out each of the following while the students bounced along:
Students bounce ball on every other beat (Duple)
Students bounce ball on every third beat (triple)
Students bounce 8 in duple then 8 in triple (a little Gordon never hurt)
Students bounce 8 times on the beat and then change to bouncing on the off-beat. This was very challenging
We also have bounce and slap the ball patterns (B=bounce S=slap)
1 2 3 4
B s s
B s s s
We worked on the "Opening Rhythm" of the video also:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
quarter triplet
B S z B B B S S (this is a fun rhythm)
Try bouncing on the + of 1 or the + of 4
I then had auditions and anyone in the 5th grade who could bounce 8 on the beat and change to 8 on the off-beat did a routine on the spring concert. This was the easiest way to pick the students because only 6 could do it (3 boys and 3 girls - wasn't I lucky).
The routine was similar to the video. Everyone, one at a time, came out with the "Opening Rhythm"; then each person bouncing or slapping on a different parts of the beat; bounce passing the ball to each other in a circle both clockwise and counter clockwise; three bounce pass to each other while other three pass ball in the air; all six at front edge of stage bouncing together then boys bounce on off-beat/back together/girls on off-beat/back together; at the end I pushed out a wooden box the gym teacher keeps on stage and hit the side of the box while each student hit the side of the box with the ball which would then hit the floor to create a nice rhythm.
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CONCENTRATION: For older grades I use concentration - reviews sm and they love it and ask for it all year! Concentration, everybody ready, when you hearyourname the game begins! Mrs. Gagne, Steven.....Steven, Sarah, Sarah, Julian You say your own name, then someone elses. Each time someone goes out, we increase speed and review tempo terms. www.christmasconcert.com
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CREATE NEW VERSE: I did an exercise where my 4th graders had to come up with their own words for the song There's One More River To Cross. We worked backwards, first coming up with 2 words that rhymed and put them at the end of the line. Then we thought about the animal we wanted in the verse and worked it into the rhyme. Working backwards initially with rhymes was very successful. For instance- they came up with the words tree and knee. Then decided to use a monkey and a cat. So they came up with The big fat monkey ran up the tree, and the cat chased him hard but scraped his knee. It is a great way to get over the hump of kids saying they can't think of anything to write. You can go far with this- use rap, gradually write things that do not rhyme.
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BOOMWHACKERS! http://www.friendshiphouse.com/ I have a 4th and a 6th grade boy of my own and they love them! Can't you just see a whole class of boys whacking out a song. Maybe you could have them make their own with PVC pipe. Try this site: http://www.wenet.net/~jpgreene/music/boom_pipes.html (note: also see: Making Instruments
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JAZZ UNIT: The kids really enjoy all the kinds of jazz. They also seem to like different sounding instruments from around the world. Any time you can link a game or movement activity to what they are learning, the better. I use Cheryl Lavender's book- "Songs of the Rainbow Children". My 5th graders like the music, and the acconpanying rhythm games. (note: also see file: Jazz
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CRITIQUE VIDEOS: 1. Students view and critique music videos from the past years to get an overview of what works and what doesn't work.
2. Students work in small groups. They choose a song to use in their video. They have a choice to lip-sync or actually sing the song. Most choose to lip-sync. They need to make sure that they know all the words. The songs cannot have inappropriate words or subject matter. They know that I have "the power" to say yes or no. I also limit the song to approximately 3-4 minutes. Otherwise, some of them can go on forever!
3. Students use a planning sheet to plan their video (costumes, choreography, backdrops, props, individual duties, etc.)
4. Students make backdrops, line-up props, practice choreography.
5. Two students from each class are chosen to videotape the music videos. They work with the media specialist to learn how to run the camera and various techniques.
6. Students film their video. The rest of the class watches a video in the library while the music room is used as the stage.
7. Students watch all the videos. They are given a form to evaluate the videos...one thing that the group did well, one suggestion on how to make the video better. They cannot use negative comments. I also evaluate the video.
The planning, preparation and performance make this unit meaningful. The students get into it and learn a lot about what it takes to make a successful video. I have had some over the years that are classic!!!
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LISTEN: HOLST: In one of last year's Mk8's (help me anyone out there) there was a couple of paragraphs about a lesson where the kids listened to Holst "The Planets" and then created their own planet compositions. Just finished this with my 4-5's and they loved it. Even wanted to know where they could purchase the Holst.
See also: Composers
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DINOSAUR MUSIC: My 4-5thgraders love Jaws of Jurassic from MK8. I fact they love all those creature songs: Pterosaur, Thunder Lizard, etc; DOWN TO THE BONE Music K8 - "I CAN'T STAND STILL UNDER THOSE RAINDROPS
Music K8 (http://www.musick8.com/)
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COPLAND: I do Copland in November. We sing 'Simple Gifts', listen to the excerpt from "Appalachian Spring" and study theme and variations.
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CHICAGO FIRE: One dark night, when we were all in bed, Mrs. O'Leary lit a lantern in the shed
And when the cow kicked it over, She looked around and said,
It'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!(yelled)FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! ------------------
INSTRUMENT RESEARCH PROJECT: same kind of project as the composer research unit. You might want to assign a country to a group of students and their assignment would be to research the instruments of that country, etc. Presentation could be in poster format, any of the options in the composer unit.
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CREATE PARODY: In 5th grade our students learn about the Civil War. In the spring our music students study spirituals. We sing work songs, code songs, etc.. Then our students are assigned a famous black leader who has made a significant contribution to the slavery or civil rights movement and they rewrite the words of a spiritual to reflect the achievements of the black personality they have been assigned. (I inherited this idea from the teacher who had my position before I was hired.)
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EDVARD GRIEG and "In the Hall of the Mountain King." I did a mini unit on Peer Gynt. First, I wrote a narration of the story. Then I divided each class into 5 groups and assigned each group one of the "songs" from Peer Gynt: Hall of the Mountain King, Anitra's Dance, etc... Their assignment was to come up movement ideas for a 1-2 minute excerpt of that section of Peer Gynt. Our goal was to tell the story of Peer Gynt using the narration, music, and movement. We presented the finished product to parents on the night of parent teacher's conference. (I also required students to come up with some simple scenery for their section.)
See also: Peter and the Wolf/Peer Gynt
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CREATING WORKSHEETS, FLASHCARDS, VIDEO
12/11 There is a wonderful website that has video clips for all subjects. It is www.watchknowlearn.org.
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12/11 MUSIC THEORY WEBSITES: www.musictheory.net
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12/11 FLASHCARDS:
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Here's a great trick:
In your music writing program, click Alt/Print Scrn (Screen). This copies the ENTIRE picture you see on your monitor.
Open a blank document in PAINT. Click Ctrl/"V" (edit/paste) (if nothing happens, make sure the 'highlighting box is selected - this appears on my windows 98 as a broken lined rectangle)
Then select by left clicking mouse, holding and dragging over the portion of the page you want.
In MS Word, Click Ctrl/"V" (edit/paste). Voila! -- Sandy Toms
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WRITING - NO DESKS
06/06 STORING CLIPBOARDS: If you clip one clipboard the reverse way round you use up less space. I have an old concertina type expanding paper sorting rack that I sometimes use when I have several clip boards at home. I usually have at least three clip boards at each of my schools but in the summer they tend to end up like everything else at my house! Each clipboard has my name on it and the school where it should be! Sue Michiels
--------------------------------
06/05 WHITEBOARDS: I store small student erasable whiteboards in my cupboards instead of clipboards. (30), and they have a black backing on the other side. I mostly use them as "hard surfaces" to do worksheets with, and very INFREQUENTLY I use the markers that came with them to do some task on the white erasable side. -- Donna Mason
I store them (30) in 2 of those milk crates you can buy at office supply stores. Easy in, easy out. Jayne in MI I use clipboards on occasion and I have them in three boxes, each marked with a number. Then when the kids need them, they take them out of the box that corresponds with their row. (Row one takes from box one, etc.) They just sit in front of the room and don't take up a whole lot of space.-- Carol Cantrell
I know someone who uses a magazine display (you probably have them in your library) to store her clipboards. -- Tammy Levi
------------------------------
01/02 WRITE ON FLOOR: I do not use chairs. Whenever we need to write, I pass out markers or crayons and the kids just put the paper on the floor. I do let them lie on the floor if they wish. Markers and crayons don't punch through the paper, and the writing we do is never extensive. I just act as though our procedure is the most natural thing in the world, and no one complains.
I have individual dry erase boards, but when it comes to paper work, I still prefer the floor.
-------
01/02 WRITING BOARD FROM TILE BOARD: I bought tile board from Lowe's. It is a huge sheet - maybe 4 feet by 8 or 9 feet. You buy it for about $10.00 and then go and ask them to cut it for you. Some Lowe's will do it and others won't. It depends on the manager and who the cutter is! Fortunately I found the cutter to be helpful but the manager wanted to charge me 25 cents per cut! Anyway, they will cut the board in the size that you would like. I had mine cut 12" x 12". I got 30 boards out of the whole sheet. If I had to do it again I would have them cut to 9" x 12" or 10" x 12". If you are pinching pennies this is a cheap way to go. You may use dry erase cleaner or just wipe it off with a tissue.I tried to get the tile board at Home Depot but they said they didn't have a saw delicate enough to get it cut. Lowes might tell you that the edges might not be perfect but that's okay.
--------
DRY ERASE BOARDS: I have one of those cheap wash clothes you can buy in packs of 12 or 18 at Wal Mart. They work beautifully. When using dry erase, to keep things moving. I have them turn their board and show me their work. Much better for small learning activities than paper because it's immediate response.
--------
01/02 SIT ON FLOOR: I haven't had desks for years and love it! the first year my upper el kids complained off and on, but now no one gives it a thought.
Bingo/games: boards go on the floor in front of them. Written work: everyone grabs a text book to use as a "table." How they sit: cross-legged unless in a dress. then they cross lesK
open n front of them or bend them back to the side. stand for singing. sit for listening and for light singing while first learning songs. always(!) with "straight backs" and heads up for good breathing and sound quality. i always need to remind someone to hold the book/music in "singing position." otherwise some will leave it down in the "reading position." works great not having the furniture, esp. when we're doing dancing/movnt. lessons.
Group work/projects: divide in teams and spread out around the room. some assignments are done alone or with a partner. those are done usually with the kids sitting along the four walls, facing the wall to minimize distractions. they actually like that.
--------
01/02 CARDBOARD BOARDS: For boards I just use cardboard squares provided by the custodian as lapboards. They work fine.
---------------
01/02 TABLES: I had my husband make me ten 4 foot length "tables" that stand 8 inches off the floor. They are about 13 inches wide - I think. They easily seat two students and in some of my classes, I have 3 children per table.
I love this. The students sit on the floor, but now they have a table to help them hold their heavy books. We also use the tables for any written assignments and/or games. (When I have three at a table, I ask the middle child to get a clickboard and go somewhere else in the room.)
When we want the tables out of the way, they simply slide them to the side of the room. It's been wonderful! Even teachers have mentioned how nice they seem to be.
------
01/02 OLD HARDBACK COVERS FOR BOARDS: I made writing boards out of the covers of old books. I covered them with contact paper. They're light and small and work fine for writing. I've heard of others using old cafeteria trays, clip boards etc. For bingo, the kids sit on the floor. Some use the seat of their chair as a desk. For any construction, I would say the floor or again, the seat of the chair.
-----
01/02 CLIPBOARDS: I bought enough clipboards to supply my largest class, and keep them in a crate. When we do written work, my kids sit on the floor, and I relax my "rules" and let them lie down if they want. And yes, I spent my own money on the clipboards...
-------------------
01/02 I have my students sit on the floor and use the chair seat as a desk for written work/bingo etc. It works tolerably well.

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***********************************************************************
WRITING - NO DESKS
06/06 STORING CLIPBOARDS: If you clip one clipboard the reverse way round you use up less space. I have an old concertina type expanding paper sorting rack that I sometimes use when I have several clip boards at home. I usually have at least three clip boards at each of my schools but in the summer they tend to end up like everything else at my house! Each clipboard has my name on it and the school where it should be! Sue Michiels
--------------------------------
06/05 WHITEBOARDS: I store small student erasable whiteboards in my cupboards instead of clipboards. (30), and they have a black backing on the other side. I mostly use them as "hard surfaces" to do worksheets with, and very INFREQUENTLY I use the markers that came with them to do some task on the white erasable side. -- Donna Mason
I store them (30) in 2 of those milk crates you can buy at office supply stores. Easy in, easy out. Jayne in MI I use clipboards on occasion and I have them in three boxes, each marked with a number. Then when the kids need them, they take them out of the box that corresponds with their row. (Row one takes from box one, etc.) They just sit in front of the room and don't take up a whole lot of space.-- Carol Cantrell
I know someone who uses a magazine display (you probably have them in your library) to store her clipboards. -- Tammy Levi
------------------------------
01/02 WRITE ON FLOOR: I do not use chairs. Whenever we need to write, I pass out markers or crayons and the kids just put the paper on the floor. I do let them lie on the floor if they wish. Markers and crayons don't punch through the paper, and the writing we do is never extensive. I just act as though our procedure is the most natural thing in the world, and no one complains.
I have individual dry erase boards, but when it comes to paper work, I still prefer the floor.
-------
01/02 WRITING BOARD FROM TILE BOARD: I bought tile board from Lowe's. It is a huge sheet - maybe 4 feet by 8 or 9 feet. You buy it for about $10.00 and then go and ask them to cut it for you. Some Lowe's will do it and others won't. It depends on the manager and who the cutter is! Fortunately I found the cutter to be helpful but the manager wanted to charge me 25 cents per cut! Anyway, they will cut the board in the size that you would like. I had mine cut 12" x 12". I got 30 boards out of the whole sheet. If I had to do it again I would have them cut to 9" x 12" or 10" x 12". If you are pinching pennies this is a cheap way to go. You may use dry erase cleaner or just wipe it off with a tissue.I tried to get the tile board at Home Depot but they said they didn't have a saw delicate enough to get it cut. Lowes might tell you that the edges might not be perfect but that's okay.
--------
DRY ERASE BOARDS: I have one of those cheap wash clothes you can buy in packs of 12 or 18 at Wal Mart. They work beautifully. When using dry erase, to keep things moving. I have them turn their board and show me their work. Much better for small learning activities than paper because it's immediate response.
--------
01/02 SIT ON FLOOR: I haven't had desks for years and love it! the first year my upper el kids complained off and on, but now no one gives it a thought.
Bingo/games: boards go on the floor in front of them. Written work: everyone grabs a text book to use as a "table." How they sit: cross-legged unless in a dress. then they cross lesK
open n front of them or bend them back to the side. stand for singing. sit for listening and for light singing while first learning songs. always(!) with "straight backs" and heads up for good breathing and sound quality. i always need to remind someone to hold the book/music in "singing position." otherwise some will leave it down in the "reading position." works great not having the furniture, esp. when we're doing dancing/movnt. lessons.
Group work/projects: divide in teams and spread out around the room. some assignments are done alone or with a partner. those are done usually with the kids sitting along the four walls, facing the wall to minimize distractions. they actually like that.
--------
01/02 CARDBOARD BOARDS: For boards I just use cardboard squares provided by the custodian as lapboards. They work fine.
---------------
01/02 TABLES: I had my husband make me ten 4 foot length "tables" that stand 8 inches off the floor. They are about 13 inches wide - I think. They easily seat two students and in some of my classes, I have 3 children per table.
I love this. The students sit on the floor, but now they have a table to help them hold their heavy books. We also use the tables for any written assignments and/or games. (When I have three at a table, I ask the middle child to get a clickboard and go somewhere else in the room.)
When we want the tables out of the way, they simply slide them to the side of the room. It's been wonderful! Even teachers have mentioned how nice they seem to be.
------
01/02 OLD HARDBACK COVERS FOR BOARDS: I made writing boards out of the covers of old books. I covered them with contact paper. They're light and small and work fine for writing. I've heard of others using old cafeteria trays, clip boards etc. For bingo, the kids sit on the floor. Some use the seat of their chair as a desk. For any construction, I would say the floor or again, the seat of the chair.
-----
01/02 CLIPBOARDS: I bought enough clipboards to supply my largest class, and keep them in a crate. When we do written work, my kids sit on the floor, and I relax my "rules" and let them lie down if they want. And yes, I spent my own money on the clipboards...
-------------------
01/02 I have my students sit on the floor and use the chair seat as a desk for written work/bingo etc. It works tolerably well.
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