Birthday Cake Rhythms

Everyone loves birthday cake - especially 1st graders! A few years ago, I was using a visual included in our textbooks to introduce quarter and eighth notes. It included pictures of 1 or 2 pies per beat to demonstrate a rhythm. We began to come up with types of pie or cake to represent the two-sound beats, i.e. "ap-ple" or "lem-on." The most popular choice for the two-sound beats was "birth-day," because it paired perfectly with "cake" on the 1-sound beat. 

This year, I decided to kick it up a notch and create a set of bright, engaging, PowerPoint slides for the intro to quarter and eighth notes. The slides introduce students to the concept of 1 or 2 sounds per beat and also lead them into reading and playing rhythms with quarter and eighth notes. The slides logically progress in the following sequential manner:

Step 1:

The introductory slides include pictures of cakes with text below to lead students to read the rhythms using "cake" and "birthday."At this point, I used students to physically display these rhythms by having 1 or 2 students stand in an area designated for each of the 4 beats. My tile floor has a checkerboard pattern with 3 foot squares of white and tan, so we use each 3 foot box to represent a beat. I've also seen this done by having students share a chair or a polyspot on the floor (each person puts a foot on it when sharing). The bottom line is that you either have one student or two on each beat, and then the class reads the rhythm using whatever words or syllables you prefer. We begin by saying "cake" and "birthday." Students absolutely LOVE being part of a rhythm!

Step 2:

After we physically demonstrate and read the introductory slides, we move to the next ones that do not include text. As I work my way around the circle, I point to the beat the student is about to represent and ask, "Do you need a partner for your beat, or should you be alone?" The child figures it out and either comes alone, or brings the next person in the circle. After the rhythm is complete, we all read and pat it.

Step 3:

Once the students have all had a turn to be a part of a rhythm, and they also demonstrate the ability to read and pat the rhythms, we move to instruments to read and play them. You can use whatever you want. Pitched percussion can be set up in a pentaton to allow them to explore the bars and play whatever pitches they choose. We like to rotate after each turn.
For each turn, we follow this procedure:
1. Say It: Just say it, do not play it.
2. Say & Play It (twice): Say it while you play it. Students often forget to speak the rhythm while they are playing, and they do not play accurately. I tell them that their mouths "boss" their hands, which helps them play accurately. I also demonstrate what happens when they don't speak, and I start out playing correctly and then fall into playing a random pattern. We play it twice to give them extra practice, the opportunity to correct themselves, and a little more time with each instrument before they rotate to the next one.

Step 4:

The slides begin to include notes below the cakes. First, they are introduced with the text included, but that quickly disappears. I simply tell the students to start paying attention to the notes, because the cakes will be going away soon.

Step 5:

Finally, the cakes disappear, and students are reading actual notation. It happened so gradually that they didn't even realize how much they were learning while they were so busy playing instruments and having fun!

At this point, students are still saying "cake" and "birthday" for the quarter and eighth notes, but we will switch over to ta and ti-ti shortly.

If you are interested, my "Birthday Cake Rhythms" file is available at my TpT store. It includes a digital file with both PowerPoint and PDF versions.

Birthday Cake Rhythms

Happy Birthday to All!

Kicking it with Recorder

My 4th graders are always SO excited to receive their recorders at the beginning of the school year. They can hardly control themselves when they hear that the shipment has arrived. They begin by working on basics (more info in Recorders Rock) and then start earning belts as they progress through a series of songs. 

Over the years, the pattern has been that MOST students earn white very quickly and yellow fairly quickly. Then some students take off and fly, while others hover around blue and green. (There are always a small handful of students who really struggle with passing the lowest levels.)

All of my students have their own recorder that they purchase in a packet with Artie Almeida's Recorder Express method book. All music for their belts can be found in their book. We also have a class set of books, so they don't have to travel back and forth. 

During class, I have always projected the music on the screen to track and keep students' focus where it should be when they are playing. ("Always" translated: ever since I got a document camera and projector!) I used to cover up parts of the song and zoom in to a couple of measures at a time while students were learning a new song. This year, I decided to create something with more visual appeal and ease of use. I broke down each song into chunks and notated them with large noteheads to help emerging music readers identify the pitches more easily. I used some cute graphics to foster excitement. I have all 10 belt levels (15 songs) in one PowerPoint presentation with 72 slides.

There are slides that introduce each piece in small excerpts. We work through each slide together by reading the rhythm, reading and fingering the pitches, and finally by playing it. The final slide for each song has the entire piece.

If there are challenging passages in a song, I might start the song sequence with that portion. In "Hop, Old Squirrel," beginning recorder players usually have the most difficulty with this passage:

If there are two parts of a song that are similar, I might have a slide that highlights the difference to help them prepare for the change:

If there is one particular pitch that tends to give students trouble, I might highlight it blue: (In this instance, we stop and practice moving from e to a several times before trying the whole excerpt.)

Often, there will be slides that combine two of the shorter introductory slides before moving on to the complete piece:

Finally, there will be a slide with the entire piece:

I love having all of the visuals so accessible. We can zip through different pieces at the touch of a button. There is no more looking up page numbers, flipping pages in a book, and then adjusting the document camera to zoom and focus right where I want. Now, the PowerPoint has everything ready to go at the push of a button. 

It took quite a while for me to get all of the slides done, but I was able to stay one step ahead of my students. That reminds me...they are ZOOMING through their belts. My 4th graders have already passed the majority of my 5th graders that didn't get to use these visuals. They are reading so well, that I almost feel like I have a beginning band sometimes. I think there are several factors that have led to their success:

1. We really focused on learning the pitch names at the end of 3rd grade.
2. We used newly created graphics (Swingin' into Treble) for learning music notation.
3. They love playing Around the World, which improved their ability to identify pitches even more.
4. "Kicking it with Recorder" takes what we were already doing and makes it easier to see, identity, and break down songs, which increases their success. It doesn't hurt that they enjoy looking at the graphics.

If you use Recorder Express and would like to check out my reward system for this book, you can access it for free through my TpT store, Make Music Rock. The following products are beneficial for recorder players and are also available for purchase:

Kicking it with Recorder

Swingin' into Treble

Around the World Treble Staff Game Bundle

More products for the elementary music classroom are listed and described on my Resources page.

I hope this post has inspired you to start Kicking it with Recorder!

Around the World - Treble Staff Game

My fourth graders traveled around the world this week. Okay, it's not what it sounds like. We didn't leave home, but we did have a passport to an entertaining way to practice identifying treble note letter names! Around the World is a game many teachers use to review, practice, and assess various skills, and I thought it would be a great way to make identifying notes exciting for the students.

I created a game using PowerPoint and tried out two versions of play with my students this week. They had a blast and begged for more when it was time to go.

Game Play

Version 1 - Basic Play

• Class sits in a semi-circle.
• Student 1 stands behind Student 2.
• Teacher counts down 5-4-3-2-1 and changes slides to reveal a new pitch.
• Student 1 and 2 compete to identify the letter name of the pitch displayed on the screen.
•  The first person to call out the correct pitch name is the winner. If the first answer given is not correct, the other student wins the round.
• Teacher changes slide to reveal the correct answer.
• The winner moves on and stands behind Student 3.
•  The other student sits in spot 2.
•  Play continues with the winner moving forward and the other student sitting in the spot.
• The winner of the game is the first person to make it around the world and back to his/her “home.”

Version 2 - All Play

•  Class sits in a semi-circle, grouped in pairs. Each pair needs 1 set of A-B-C-D-E-F-G game pieces.
• Students must work silently.
• Students must place both hands on their knees as the teacher counts down 5-4-3-2-1 and changes the slide to display a new note.
• Pairs of students compete to identify the letter name of the pitch displayed on the screen and pick up the correct letter piece. (Both students can pick up a piece if they select different answers.)
• Students hold their pieces in the air to signal they are done.  (They should not let others see their choice.)
• When each group is ready, the teacher changes slide to reveal the answer.
• The winner moves left to the next set of pieces, while the other student remains in place.
• If neither player selects the correct answer, they remain in place and the person moving toward their group gets to skip over to the next set.
• The winner of the game is the first person to make it around the world and back “home.”
• Gameplay may continue.

"All Play" Tips

During the "All Play" version, I put a chime tree in the center and let the students quickly step forward and play it to signal when they had made it around the circle.

The "All Play" version requires a set of game pieces for each pair of students. I wanted to use different colors for each letter, so I could sort sets easily if they got mixed up. The pieces can be made out of anything that is durable and can withstand students grabbing. I considered several options and decided to use poker chips that I found online in a rainbow of colors. I used a permanent marker to label them. They are heavy and the perfect size for students to pick up and hold in their fists without others seeing the color. Bottle caps would also work as durable game pieces.

I gave specific instructions about playing safely and fairly. An important rule for them to remember is to keep their hands on their knees until the note is displayed and it is time to pick up a piece.

There were a couple of instances when I had to have a play-off for one set of students for different reasons. Overall, students played nicely and enjoyed the competition. I have to absent next week, and I know what my 4th graders will be doing while I'm gone!

Resources

You can play this game by simply drawing notes on the board, but I loved the ease of having the PowerPoint presentation. The graphics also make it more festive. If you would like to purchase a PowerPoint version of the game, you can head over to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store that I just opened. Two versions are available: one with basic treble notes from line 1 to line 5 and another with extended treble notes ranging from middle C to G above the staff. There is a discount for a bundled set of both version available, as well. You can access the items below.

Around the World Basic Treble Staff Game

Around the World Extend Treble Staff Game

Around the World Basic & Extended Treble Games - BundledSet

Happy travels!

Two-Toned Tip

I haven't written a post in a while, and things are crazy with preparation for our K-3 winter concert. So I thought I would share a quick idea that I have implemented with my students as they notate music on whiteboards.

First of all, let me share my new setup for whiteboard supplies. There is a little space right outside my door, and I wanted to have the materials in the hallway for students to gather as they entered the room. I also needed a mobile station, because there are times when older grades meet next door with the other music class. 

I found this two-shelf cubby at IKEA, which can be put on casters (sold separately). The shelf unit is from the Expedit collection. I can't find the two-shelf model online, but it was in the store in Atlanta.

Markers and erasers are kept in clear bins. I typically hold the marker bins a few feet in front of the supply station to help with traffic flow.

The eraser bin is placed on top of the wooden crate that holds the boards, so they are close together and easy to pick up quickly. 

A bin of my classroom set of recorder books sits on the lower shelf. 

I am loving my new station! It keeps things neat and organized, and the mobility is a plus. 

Now, back to the tip I promised. Some of my students were struggling with differentiating between line and space notes at the beginning of the year. Also, some students seem to be able to identify B-A-G most of the time, but I found they were unable to transfer music from the board to their whiteboards. 

I decided to have students use two markers: one colored and one black or brown. They use the colored marker for line notes, and the black or brown for space notes. I believe it helps them focus on the precise location of the pitches, and they seem to have better accuracy. I can also assess how well they are doing very quickly.

I keep the markers in two separate bins, so they can pick one out of each bucket on their way into the room.

So, that is my quick and easy tip. Use two different colored markers to notate line and space notes. It's helpful and more fun. Let's face it: two markers are better than one! :)

Enjoy!

Bingo!/Bongo!

Last week, I shared a Step/Skip game which reinforces upward/downward steps and skips on the staff. In third grade this week, we transferred the game to individual white boards. These boards allowed me to check each student's progress while the entire class worked. I wanted to make sure they were able to place notes on the appropriate lines and spaces and move them the correct direction and distance.

Rather than draw from two stacks of cards as we did in the game last week, I decided to look for an app to do the job of telling the students where to place their next note. I found a free app, Make Dice Lite, which allows you to customize your own dice. It added a cool factor to the game that the children really enjoyed. I simply placed my phone under the document camera and rolled the dice to see where the next note needed to be placed. If you have an iPad that you can connect to your projector, that would be ideal. I was excited to find this app, because its possibilities are endless!

The students began by drawing a whole note on line 3. I thought it would be more fun to practice drawing steps and skips if the students had a finish line as a goal. Therefore, I told them I wanted to know when they reached the top line or the bottom line. I spontaneously told them to call out "Bingo!" when they landed on line 5, and "Bongo!" for line 1. Since this was our first time to draw steps and leaps on the white boards, we actually checked our work as we went. Later, we may play without stopping for each note. The students will know they are on the right path if they reach Bingo, or Bongo at the appropriate time.

When the students came for their second lesson this week, they wanted to play again. They asked what the game was called, and I decided that "Bingo!/Bongo!" was its name-oh. :)

I hope these ideas spark your creativity as you plan your upcoming lessons.
Enjoy!

Pinterest Picks

I love using Pinterest as a resource for finding new lesson ideas. So many music teachers have blogs and share their plans and materials, and Pinterest is a place to find many of these ideas in one centralized location. Click on a pin that interests you, and poof! You are taken right to a web page to explore further.

I have about 300 pins on my "Making Music" board on Pinterest. I only pin links after I click on them and make sure it is something that I would really want to refer to again and possibly use in my classroom. This past week, I utilized two lesson ideas that I found through pins on Pinterest. They were both a hit with my students, so I thought they were worth mentioning.

Fruit Loop Rhythms

Mrs. King's Music Room blog is a wonderful resource for engaging music lesson plans. I am a follower, but noticed her latest post through a pin on Pinterest before I had even seen her blog post on Fruit Loop Notation. I recently started teaching rhythmic notation to my first graders, and I immediately knew they would love this method of differentiating between one or two sounds per beat.

I enjoyed finding a cute font to create a Fruit Loop worksheet. You can download a copy below.

Fruit Loop Notation Worksheet

I used coffee filters to hold the cereal for the students. They are cheap and work perfectly! I measured out 1/4 cup for each student, which was usually just the right amount. 

As you can see, the students were engaged and enjoyed working on their rhythmic notation:

When I introduced ta's and ti's, I used 4 stools to represent 4 beats. As we spoke a phrase from a poem, the students determined if there is one or two sounds on each beat. If there was one sound, one student would sit on the stool. If there were two sounds, two students shared the stool. When two students shared, they put their arms around their partner's shoulders to visually represent the beam over eighth notes.

After we worked from text, I called students up to the stools to create different rhythmic patterns. We used words first, like "birthday" and "cake" for one or two sounds. Ex.: "Birthday, birthday, cake, cake." Then we moved to reading the pattern as "ti-ti, ti-ti, ta, ta."

I put a Fruit Loop Rhythm worksheet under the document camera, and demonstrated how to complete an example. If I didn't have the document camera, I would have put a worksheet on the floor and let everyone watch as I completed one pattern.

Since this was my students' first attempt at rhythmic dictation, I used the percussion setting on my keyboard and played two different sounds for the quarter notes and eighth notes. I typically used a higher pitched percussion sound for the eighth notes and a bass drum for the quarter notes. If students struggled, I added the words we had used (birthday & cake) or spoke the ti's and ta's. Most of the students were able to successfully notate the rhythms without the words or syllables.

The nice thing about this activity, is that I could sit at the keyboard and see how students were doing from a distance. I played the example several times. When most students appeared to be finished, I had them tap their boxes as I played it again to check their work.

We played a little game to check the students' work. Since I had numbered the beat boxes, I had used letters for each example. So I taught the students sign language for letters A-D. Then I played an example and they found it on their worksheet. They held up the letter for the pattern I played. I could assess how well they had done as they identified the examples. Of course, I had to try to trick them and repeat one before playing the last one. I got a few on that one when they immediately guessed the example I had not played yet. We had a good giggle over that. :)

The following lesson, we used bottle caps and mini craft sticks to represent notes. Although it wasn't as tasty as the Fruit Loops, the students still had fun as they practiced rhythmic dictation.

Next week, students will begin reading flashcards and playing rhythms. I will have them speak the rhythm prior to playing it. I use the phrase, "Say it, Say & Play, Play" They speak it first, then speak and play, then think the syllables while they play. We usually use the barred instruments set in pentaton for this activity, but any percussion instrument will do.

Thanks to Pinterest, I also found a game to use for reading and playing rhythms. I can't wait to try it with my students. It's a game from Amy Abbott, who has a fantastic music blog named Music a la Abbott. The game is called St. Patty's Day Poisoned Rhythm Game. Check it out!

Step/Skip Game

Last summer, I scoured Pinterest looking for ideas for music centers. I was reviewing some of my older pins and noticed one that would be perfect for my 3rd graders, since they are working on melodic notation. We have been using individual music staff white boards to notate line/space notes, scales, and solfege patterns. Some students were struggling with line and space notes, so I wanted a fun way to reinforce this concept.

When I am introducing line and space notes, I use my head and arms to demonstrate the difference. I put my hands on both sides of my head like an arrow going through my head for the line note. Then I put one arm over my head and one arm below my chin for a space note. I go back and forth and let the students call out which kind of note I am representing. I also tell the students that although we say a note is "on" the line, think of it as being stamped on, rather than sitting on the line. Some students may imagine that if a note were sitting on the line, it would actually be a space note. I find that stamping it on the line helps.

Okay, back to the game that I found! It came from Jennifer Fink at Pianimation. The games and resources that she shares are amazing. The game I used last week was Floor Staff Races. Follow the link to read about the game and scroll down the post for the link to the game cards.

Before playing the game, we practiced identifying space/line notes, steps/skips, and up/down. 

For the game, students drew skip/step cards and up/down cards and raced their toy from the ledger line to the top of the staff. I definitely recommend using more "up" cards than "down" in order to finish a game. I made two game boards and divided the classes in half to play and thought that would work well. However, that ended up being too many students per game, in my opinion. So the next time we played, I divided the class into 4 groups. Two groups played one game, while two groups played this one. We rotated halfway through class, so everyone got to play both games.

I even used this game with one of my 4th grade classes while I listened to individual students play for recorder karate belts. We took the game one more step by having the students identify the pitch name after they moved the animal. If they could not name it, they had to return to the previous position (unless they had moved downward, in which case they had to remain there).

What are you waiting for? Run over to Pinterest and plan your next lessons. If you need a starting point, you can check out my music board by clicking here.

See you on Pinterest!