What Will You Be for Halloween?

Have I mentioned how much I love Jeff & Randy's GamePlan curriculum? I can't recommend it enough. The books are reasonably priced and provide engaging lessons that organize musical objectives logically. "What Will You Be?" is another great song/lesson from GamePlan (Grade One, p. 24). This song has a nice melody in d minor, and it works beautifully with a bordun on the barred instruments. As usual, I seem to be unable to follow a lesson exactly, so here are my changes/extensions:

1. Due to past experiences at our school, I felt that we needed to remove the word "witches" from the song. Here are our altered lyrics:

To use this image in a PowerPoint, open it, right click, copy, and then paste it into a new Ppt presentation.

2. Students pat the beat while they sing, and I add a solo turn for each student to sing into the microphone: "I'll be a _____." Then the student moves to a xylophone to play the bordun, and then rotates through the instruments. I adapt the number of instruments to the level of the class and what will make the activity run smoothly. I want to focus on the students' singing voices first, so sometimes I do not even use the xylophones during the first introduction of the song. I extend the activity on another day.

3. During another class period, I place a box of masks and animal headbands behind a large bush that is in my room, which was a prop in a play. The box could also be placed behind a piano or other large piece of furniture. One child hides behind the bush and selects a "costume" and pops out at the end of the song wearing what he/she selected. The child sings "I'll be a _____" into the microphone that is placed in a handy spot for the students to grab as they are exiting the hiding spot. I have an empty tub for them to place used items in, so no one picks the same thing. It helps to have one child selecting an item, while one is dressed and waiting to pop out. Then they are ready at the end of the song and the activity moves quicker. 

I have organized the game in different ways. I have set up xylophones and other unpitched percussion instruments in a circle and had the students move around the circle. One place has a polyspot, which indicates it is time to move behind the tree. Other times, I have simply used my regular instrument rotation, and have a certain position that goes to the bush. My barred instruments are set up in 3 rows. Children move to the right on row one, back to row two and then to the left, back to row three and to the right. When they reach the final instrument they circle around the front to the beginning of row one. I walk through the rotation pattern and call it "zig" on row 1, "zag" on row 2, "zig" on row 3, then "zooooom" around the room back to 1. The zoom is a great place to move to the bush.

I began using this lesson with kindergarten and first grade a few years ago. Now, my older children see the bush in position for the game and beg for this activity. I've promised my 3rd graders that they will get to play this year, and I'm sure they won't let me forget. This is one of those activities students will remember with fondness. Who doesn't enjoy dressing up and playing instruments? I know I do!

Macaroni

One of my favorite songs to use for introducing the xylophones to kindergarten students is "Macaroni." I love to use this lesson, because it offers several activities at once. Therefore, all students are engaged throughout the game and I can work with a couple of students at the instruments. This game is so popular, that we vary the lesson slightly and play it again in first grade.

"Macaroni" offers the chance for students to work on the following skills:

• Pitch-matching (sol-mi melody)
• Steady beat
• Galloping
• Playing a bordun on barred instruments

I introduce the song by unveiling the PowerPoint presentation pictured above with the funny picture. I think it is important for visual learners and emerging readers to see the text as we sing songs, so I create PowerPoint slides for most of the music we learn in K-1. Although I sometimes use PowerPoint slides with all grades, I usually display actual music for them to read as they get older.

Kindergarten Version

Learn the song

• Teach song by rote (demonstrating solfege hand signs)
• Work on the solo at the end. Really extend the notes, so that students will have time to hear the pitch and be more successful when they sing by themselves. Use hand signs to demonstrate the melodic direction.

Prepare for Instruments

• Explain (or review) proper technique:
• Hold mallets like bicycle handlebars
• Elbows out, hands a little higher than the bars
• Strike bar in the center (not too hard)
• Let mallets bounce like tennis balls (so bars can vibrate)
• If this is the first time students have ever played the xylophones, I remove the bars surrounding the ones they will play so they can focus on form, rather than trying to find and strike the correct bars.

Play the Game

• Class sits in semi-circle with two xylophones in front of the class.
• One student gallops on stick pony while everyone sings the song and pats the beat on their legs.
• At the end of song, student on pony stops in front of a classmate, who sings the solo part of the song. (Assess the soloist for pitch-matching and strive to at least get each child in head voice, rather than speech-mode.)
• The pony rider then hands Macaroni to the soloist, who becomes the new rider. The first rider moves to the first xylophone.
• Play game again with a student on the xylophone, and assist the student as needed.
• After the next round, the xylophone player rotates to the next instrument, while the rider rotates to the first xylophone, and the soloist becomes the new rider. (Oversee the instrument players and assist, as needed. Students are usually fairly independent on their second turn at the instrument.)
• Continue until all students have had a chance to sing the solo, ride the pony, and play two xylophones.

How perfect that today was Cowboy Day in kindergarten!

First Grade Version

• Review song, hand signs, and solo.
• Use classroom set of barred instruments (if there are not enough barred instruments, add some unpitched percussion instruments into the mix)
• My instruments are set up in 3 rows (I have 18 barred instrument). I walk through and demonstrate the rotation procedure prior to students moving to instruments.
• Students rotate through the instruments by moving down row 1, back to row 2, across row 2 in the opposite direction of row 1, then back to row 3, and across row 3 the same direction as row 1. 
• After the final instrument on  row 3, they move to the opposite diagonal corner of row 1. 
• I call it "zig, zag, zig, zooooom." (The pattern is a little like a Z, zigging and zagging back and forth on the rows, then zooming from the back corner to the front one.
• Use whatever configuration and rotation pattern works best for your space.
• In addition to the instruments, set up 2 stations for the pony and for the solo. After the final instrument on row 3, students move to the open area and ride the pony. After the pony, they move to a microphone for the solo. Then they move to row 1 of instruments.
• Play the game until students have moved through each spot.

Take a ride on Macaroni, the pony, and get with the beat!

Solfege Visuals

Solfege plays a large role in our music classrooms at Crestline. We begin teaching hand signals in kindergarten. Having visuals on display is very beneficial for the students. We each had a set of 8 1/2 x 11 posters that we purchased, but we were excited to find these hand sign printables through Pinterest. They originated from the blog, "Music with Mrs. Dennis." She has two sets available for free download. One set has the syllables printed on them, and the other signs are blank.

We started out with two sets of hand signals: green with syllables, and blue without. We printed them on cardstock, cut them out, and put magnet strips on the back.

We originally placed one set on the left side of the whiteboard, and the other set on the right. Then, one day when students were notating pitches on their small whiteboards and were struggling with lines and spaces, an idea came to life. We alternated the blue and green hand signs, so it was easy to see that if "do" is a line note, so are all the other pitches that are the same color.

Click here to visit Mrs. Dennis' blog post to download your own sets of hand signs. Scroll to the end of her blog post for the download links.

In addition to visuals that are always on display in our classrooms, we have a PowerPoint slide we show on our screens to demonstrate the relationship of the pitches. We call it the musical elevator and pretend to push buttons for the different floors, while we sing the syllables.

If you are not currently using hand signs in your music classroom, I highly recommend it. Start simple: sol and mi, then sol, la, and mi. Sing short patterns for your students to echo while performing the hand signals. You'll notice the benefit quickly.

"Sol" long for now. It's time for "mi" to go...

Getting to Know You

It's the beginning of a new year, and that means there are new names to learn and old names to review. We spend the first few class sessions playing several different name games to cement names and also work on different music skills.

Sing Me Your Name

This name game is useful for developing pitch matching skills in younger students.

• Teacher sings: "Sing me, sing me, sing me your name." (S-M-S-M-S-M-R-D) (ta, ta, ta, ta, ta, ti-ti, ta)
• While singing, teacher makes eye contact with a student and tosses a bean bag to the student at the end of the phrase.
• Student answers by singing the same melody, but sings his/her name twice, and then, "That is my name."
• Student tosses bean bag back to teacher.

Before we begin the game, we practice the question/answer several times. Sometimes we insert a silly name for the class to sing as the answer, such as, "Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter, that is my name." We also demonstrate correct answers and incorrect and have students identify whether the answer is right. 

Later, the game can be played to assess pitch matching with new lyrics. Teacher can change the question to "Sing me, sing me, sing me your food." Student answers with favorite food. The possibilities are endless: show, color, animal, etc.

Higglety Wigglety Bumblebee

This poem is good for working on steady beat with K-1 students.

• Teacher teaches poem by rote (lyrics can also be placed on board/screen for emerging readers).
• Students speak poem and pat steady beat.
• When students can speak poem successfully, game begins.
• Class speaks poem while patting the steady beat, then one student speaks name.
• Game can be played at different levels as students progress. The first time
• First student speaks name, then class continues with poem. Play continues with the next student.
• Later, student speaks name on steady beat and class answers back on the steady beat before continuing with the poem for the next student.
• Play can also take place with teacher using a bumblebee puppet. 
• Teacher walks around the circle and taps students on the beat. 
• The student which the bee taps at the end of the poem speaks his/her name. 
• Teacher says name, instructs children to say the name, then improvises a way for the class to repeat the name. ex: "Sal-ly. Let's all say it, Sal-ly. Let's all whisper it, Sal-ly." Other ideas: "Let's clap and say it," or "Flap your wings and say it."

Up the Ladder

This fun game was found through Pinterest. You can find the poem, as well as many other fabulous lesson plans in Jeff and Randy's 3rd Grade GamePlan.

We extended the game by letting students play the rhythm of the student introductions. 2nd-6th graders stood in lines behind 6-7 drums. After the poem, students at the drums introduced themselves (rhythmically) and everyone echoed and played the rhythm on the drums. Students waiting in line put the rhythm somewhere on their bodies. Students rotated to the end of the next line during the poem. They loved it!

Here's a video of our extension of Up the Ladder:

Do you have favorite name games? They are a great way to start the year for students and teachers.

Enjoy!