A Few Fun Slides

I love summer! I must admit that sleeping late is one of my favorite things to do. Another joy of summer is that I now have time for fun projects that sometimes slip by during the school year. I need a creative outlet, so I thought I would work on a few PowerPoint lyric slides to some fun traditional songs that I plan to add to our repertoire at school. I have included a link to the PowerPoint file for each, in case you are interested:

I Bought Me a Cat

I Bought Me a Cat PowerPoint Download (Free)

Shoo Fly

Shoo, Fly PowerPoint Download (Free)

I Fed My Horse

I Fed My Horse PowerPoint Download (Free)

All Around the Buttercup

All Around the Buttercup PowerPoint Download (Free)

That's all for now!

Musical Madness

Wow! The end of the school year is always crazy in the life of a music teacher. We always have two large programs scheduled for the end of our school year: one for 4th grade and one for 6th. Typically, our 6th graders perform a musical in May. It is a tradition that the students look forward to from the time they are in kindergarten.

Memories from last year's musical, "Disney's The Jungle Book Kids":

This year, our state testing was moved to May, which put a kink in the works for our musical. In addition to regular testing, our 6th graders participated in pilot testing for the state. When the testing schedule was set, our principals made the decision for us to change from a traditional musical to a  simpler choral program. The only prerequisites were that it couldn't require a lot of extra rehearsal time, and it had to be "fabulous." 

It took a while to decide on a plan, but we finally decided on a choral production that focused on the sixth graders' time at our school and the fact that they were moving on to the junior high school. The theme of the show was about reaching for dreams. Although the students were disappointed that they weren't doing a musical with drama, they worked hard on challenging choral music and enjoyed learning choreography for several songs. 

One of my favorite choral numbers was Rollo Dilworth's "The Dream Keeper." We did the two-part version, which you can listen to below. Our kindergarten students even loved it and asked to sing it in class the next day. :)

Other choral numbers included Schram and Staggers' "Dreams that Children Dream" and "The Beat of a Drum," arranged by Jay Althouse. Choreographed numbers included "Anything is Possible," arranged by Althouse, "On My Way," by Phil Collins, "Reach," arranged by Roger Emerson, and Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten."

The program was called "On My Way," and we used brightly painted doors as stage decorations. At the end of the Phil Collins song, students exited the auditorium, changed from dressy sequin tanks and white dress shirts, and later returned in their "On My Way" t-shirts to complete the program. One student said that changing clothes was her favorite part of the program. You just never know what will be important for each individual!

While the rest of the grade level was changing clothes, a few students performed Philip Phillips' song, "Home." They did a great job!

Every student completed a questionnaire prior to the program. We used their answers to create a script for videos and live spoken parts to bring the show together. Every student had a spoken part, either live, or in a video.

One of the biggest issues we had was finding room for 117 students to have space to dance and be seen on the stage. We set up risers on the stage and two sets on the outer edges of the floor. We assigned each student one choreographed number for which they would leave the risers and perform on platforms in front of the stage. Although it wasn't perfect, it allowed the students on the risers to have enough room to move, and it gave each student a chance to be featured in a dance.

The choral production was a success, but most people missed the traditional musical. Our principals have agreed to let us bring it back next year. I'm looking forward to it, but for now I am going to enjoy my break!

Happy Summer!

Poisoned Rhythm Fun

Last month, I posted a few of my favorite finds through Pinterest. You can read about them here. I also mentioned an activity I planned to try that was shared by Amy Abbott, who has an amazing music education blog that you must check out! (Music a la Abbott) A few weeks ago, I introduced her  St. Patty's Day Poisoned Pattern Game in my 2nd and 3rd grade classes. The basic premise is that the students read and perform rhythmic phrases, but they have to watch out for the "poisoned" rhythm. If they play that one (which is introduced prior to playing the game), then they are "out."

I'm sure there are a million different ways to play the game. As we played the game in class, it evolved into the following:

• Students began the game by playing barred instruments in a pentaton.
• After the poison rhythm appeared, I announced "Fruit Basket Turnover."
• All students who accidentally played the poisoned rhythm moved to the next level of instruments. Level 2 was large drums and temple blocks. For level 3, I used several bins of unpitched percussion instruments such as triangles, wood blocks, guiros, etc. Level 4 was a bin of rhythm sticks.
• Students who did not play the poisoned rhythm were allowed to switch instruments within their level.
• I began the game by counting before each rhythm. Students spoke and played each rhythm two times in a row.
• I was able to increase the speed of the game in some classes by changing the slide on beat 3 during the repeat of the rhythm. I didn't need to count each time, they simply continued playing. They enjoyed the faster pace of the game.

Poisoned Rhythm has become a favorite activity among my students. They ask to play it constantly. Although I can't let them play it ALL the time, it is a great activity for the end of class when there are a few extra minutes. The benefit of the game is that it can be tailored to include any rhythm you are teaching. If you want a quick and easy way to vary the game, you can purchase Amy's rhythm bundle that includes many different versions of the game.

I also used the PowerPoint presentation of rhythmic slides with my first graders after they learned ta and ti-ti. Students sat in a circle, read the rhythm once, then spoke the rhythm and played auxiliary instruments twice. Between each slide, they passed their instruments to the next person. 

Have fun, but watch out for that poisoned rhythm!

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!

Patriotic Fun

February is a great time to brush up on patriotic songs and American folksongs in the music classroom. It's also a fun chance to work on steady beat with kindergarteners. "Yankee Doodle" and "You're a Grand Old Flag" present wonderful opportunities for playing drums or rhythm sticks and marching around the room.

Today, I had two kindergarten classes in a row. The first class did an amazing job with rhythm sticks. They paid attention, worked on their steady beat, and used self-control with their instruments. They even marched around the room and played in a parade. I was so proud of them and was pleased with how well the lesson went. My next class would be a breeze!

As my next class entered the room, I noticed a boy carrying a tiny stuffed animal. Children do not typically come to class with toys, but for some reason I didn't feel the need to take it away. This was an active boy, but the animal was not causing a problem. Instead, it inspired me to try something new with the class. I know... I said the lesson had just been a success. Why would I want to change it? I think I can always improve upon a lesson. Also, variety helps ME enjoy the lesson more, which makes it more fun for the students. Therefore, I am constantly tweaking and trying new things. I also look for innovative ways to engage the children, and I believe that novelty is a great way to keep students actively involved in the learning process.

We have tons of stuffed animals in the music room. We use them for rewards quite often, and we use some of the animals, like Winnie the Pooh, with specific songs and lessons. Children LOVE the stuffed friends. Even 6th grade boys beg to hold them. So, today, after being inspired by the child with a tiny elephant, I handed each child an animal to bounce on the steady beat while we sang.

The children bounced cats, dogs, bears, and bunnies to the beat of "Yankee Doodle." They passed the animal to the next person between the verse and refrain, and then passed again at the end of the song. Smiles were everywhere, and the animals made it all the way around the circle.

As much as I enjoy using rhythm sticks with kindergarten students, I have to admit that the quiet bouncing of a stuffed animal on the steady beat was a welcome change, and the students had a blast.

We also used the animals to show the melodic direction of pitches in the song, "Mr. Lincoln." Children would lift their animal high then touch the floor on "picture", "penny", "Lincoln", and "penny" to show the do-sol interval.

Later, we will add Mr. Washington on the quarter.

If you do not know this song, here is the melody & rhythm:
     la ti | do sol la sol | do sol     (ti-ti; ta, ta, ta, ta; ta, to-o)
     re mi  |  fa sol mi re  |  sol     (ti-ti; ta, ta, ta, ta; to-o-o)
     la ti  |  do sol la sol  |  do sol    (ti-ti; ta, ta, ta, ta; ta, to-o)
     re  |  mi fa mi re  |  do      (ta; ta, ta, ta, ta; to-o-o)

Whether we used drums, rhythm sticks, or stuffed animals, we had a great time playing the steady beat with songs about America. Have fun as you find innovative ways to keep your lessons fresh and engaging!

Valentine's Day Songs

It's been a crazy couple of weeks! Of course, that's pretty common for music teachers. We just had our annual talent show. This year, over one hundred 5th & 6th graders were involved with 35 acts, announcing, and working stage and tech crew. Students presented three performances during the school day for the student body and parents. Although it required a lot of effort, seeing the students share their talents on the stage made it all worthwhile.

Now I'm looking forward to next week, when our first graders will travel to a local retirement home and perform on Valentine's Day. The students are very excited, and they are working hard to learn all of the songs. They even practice at home by going to our school music web page and looking at pictures of the PowerPoint slides that we use in class. Since I am a visual learner, I can relate to the way some students find it easier to learn lyrics when they can visualize how they looked in a picture. I also try to find clipart and photos to make the presentations engaging for the learners.

Here are a couple of songs that we will be performing this week. You might already use some of these for Valentine's Day activities. Feel free to copy and paste the images into your own Powerpoint presentations.

You Are My Sunshine/Valentine

Mail Myself to You (By Woody Guthrie)

I hope your Valentine's Day is filled with fun!