I love this time of year in my classroom because it signals the beginning of a delightful string of holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! The music of Halloween is especially fun̷…
Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! I know a lot of you are still in school so here's a fun song to use with your 1st graders . .. . and 2nd graders! I found it in Holidays and Special Days by Grace Nash and Janice Rapley during my college practicum classes and have used it every year. The kids eat it up! Here's the song: Now, this is NOT a folk song. But over the years I've accidentally changed the melody. Here's the way I sing it with my kiddos (and we sing it with swung eighth notes): I use this to aurally identify/reinforce quarter rests with my 1st graders. Other than that, we use it for expression and FUN. Here's the game: Formation: circle, with one student (the "farmer") on the outside of the circle and 2-3 turkeys in the middle. Action: as the song is sung, the farmer walks around the outside of the circle while the turkeys trot around the middle of the circle. At the end of the song the farmer chases the turkeys. Depending on where your students are in your movement sequence, you can have the students in the circle walk the beat while the song is sung with their arms acting as a fence. At the end, the students can choose to make their joined arms gates or leave their section of the fence closed. You can also add instruments. In Holidays and Special Days there are more elaborate Orff parts. I simplified it so my 1st and 2nd graders can play is successfully and independently. Here are a couple of my 1st graders playing it this year. It's a lot of fun and it's great to get some of those pre-holiday wiggles out: Liza Meyer's wrote a post that included this song a couple years ago. She notates it as la,-do at the beginning but my source uses so-mi. You can read her post by clicking here. This post also has a fun Thanksgiving song to the tune of Zum Gali Gali- it's a must do! Your older kiddos with LOVE it! Have a GREAT week everyone!
Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner? Here is a Thanksgiving song I love to use in my classroom with 1st and 2nd graders. Thanksgiving Day is a song I saw in the OAKE Western Division newsletter a number of years ago. It was submitted by Verla Boyd and Kathleen Bassett. (I've also seen a few variants of this song around the internet.) We sing this with autoharp accompaniment. In the 1st grade classes students pair up and one student presses buttons for chord changes while the other strums the steady beat, (the autoharp sits on the floor and the strummer strums away from their body.) I bring this song back in 2nd grade for fun with one student per instrument, strumming and pressing buttons for chord changes. This year I'm adding singing solos by having two students acting out the Turkey and Pumpkin roles. You could easily add bordon accompaniment on Orff instruments if you want to avoid autoharps. I know that autoharps have fallen out of favor in most music classrooms and I understand why: many teachers inherit a few clunky, dusty autoharps that haven't been tuned since the 80s. However, autoharps can be a great addition to the music class allowing students to practice the steady beat and easily play full chord accompaniments. (It's exciting to hear the 3rd in the chord for a change!) It's worth remembering: for a song with 2 chord accompaniment you only have to tune the notes in those chords. That certainly saves time when you're faced with 6 out-of-tune autoharps! If you are interested in a better autoharp, you must see Evo Bluestein's line of autoharps, especially the Sparrowharp. Evo came and presented a few sessions for the OAKE Western Division mini-conference in 2008 and he is a wonderful musician, teacher, and champion for traditional american folk music. His Evoharps have a beautiful sound and appearance and are so much easier to hold and play then the awkward Oscar Schmidt black and reddish autoharps in my room. I don't own a Evoharp yet, my school music budget is not that healthy and I'd rather buy it for myself and not have it belong to the school. Maybe I need to ask Santa!
As the year draws to a close and the holidays are behind us, it might be difficult to find musical inspiration for the new year. Well, for me, sticking with what has stood the test of time is always a good start. I remember years ago watching the movie White Christmas. Aside from the title song, the one song I always look forward to is "Snow." It was probably deemed a "throw-away" song back in its day, but the overlaid harmonies and jazzy swing rhythms have stuck with me, kind of like a good snowfall! Though I don't get much snowfall where I live, I do like to bring the notion of snow to my students and offer these two bits of Snow Business for you to enjoy! Snow Business #1 Here is a variation on the song Let Us Chase the Squirrel. I have changed the title and lyrics to Let Us Pass the Snowball: This can be a fun warmup activity at the beginning of a lesson: as students sing the song, they pass a "snowball" (pom pom, bean bag, etc.). The student holding the snowball at the end of the song then throws the snowball in the air while classmates sing a vocal glissando following the up and down movement of the snowball. The range and duration of the glissando is, of course, determined by how high the student throws the snowball. I also add in that if the student drops the snowball (whether by accident or on purpose) then their pitch should follow the snowball all the way down. Repeat as many times as you wish. Snow Business #2 I offer here an interpretation of a piece from Music for Children, Volume II, p. 45 #4 Andante by Orff/Keetman (Margaret Murray edition). I came across this piece many years ago as I was looking for a piece to teach at my Orff Level III practicum. I ultimately used a different piece, but always had this little gem in the back of my mind. I ended up writing lyrics for it and slightly changing one of the ostinatos and used it with my 4th and 5th grade chorus for our winter concert a few weeks back. I hope you enjoy it!
November is a time for post-Halloween candy, blustery days, and, of course, Thanksgiving! This week, my students are playing a fun Thanksgiving (assessment) game to get them in the spirit of the holiday. This song/game is called Turkey, Turkey, Turkey! To play the game, students sit in a circle. One student sits outside of the circle, facing away from students. Students sing the song and pass a turkey around the circle. I used a Turkey printed on a paper but a stuffed animal would work great as well! Whoever has the turkey on the word day "hides the turkey before Thanksgiving Day" by putting the printed or stuffed animal Turkey behind their back. The student who is sitting outside of the circle remains facing away from the rest of the class and sings "Turkey, where are you?" (sol mi mi sol mi). The student who is hiding the turkey sings "you'll never find me" (sol mi mi sol mi). The student sitting outside the circle has three tries to guess who sang "you'll never find me" without looking. The individual singing responses gave me a chance to assess my students' singing.
Valentine's Day is almost upon us again, so I decided to post some activities I've done this week and last week that could be used for a Valentine's theme. If you look at the Kodaly Corner blog (linked on the right...a collaborative blog I contribute to), there are some more Valentine's activities if you're interested. I have no idea where I learned this song, but my students love it! I've been using it this week, and I plan to link it to Saint Saens Carnival of the Animals Aquarium movement and the book Swimmy. The game is simple. On the first day I discuss with the class what the name of a group of fish is (school) and why do small fish travel in large groups (to not get eaten by big things like sharks). The first time we play, I lead, walking around the room with my hands swimming like fish fins and singing the names of students in the song (in place of Suzy). Each new student joins the line behind me (hands on shoulders or just walking) until the entire class is part of the school of fish, and for the last time through the song we sing, "Oh, everyone, everyone, we love you!). My students today spontaneously started giving each other hugs. Feel the love, people. On another day when we play, the newly called student becomes the leader and must stop at their chosen person when we sing the long "Oh" so the class knows whose name to sing. If you want to, you could have each new leader be in charge of singing the last phrase of the song as a solo to assess singing voices. After the game was over, students froze with a shark fin on their heads. I then played the half step Jaws theme at various tempos and pausing at different times. Students put the notes in their feet moving when the keyboard was playing and stopping when the music stopped until all had returned to their carpet spots. One little boy today said, "I LOVE this part!" Either the same lesson or another lesson the same week, I use the book, Swimmy (which shows the idea of a school of fish and different predators). I usually read the book the first time with the Aquarium music as accompaniment in the background. Then on another day when I introduce the Aquarium music, I ask where they've heard the music before and students can usually tell me from the Swimmy book. I then introduce briefly the idea of the Carnival of the Animals piece in which the composer wrote small songs to represent different animals. So what animals does this song represent do you think? Then I introduce a listening map for Aquarium. Here is a simple one. To further familiarize the class with the piece, we make our own Aquarium. Half of the student use blue scarves with partners holding opposite ends to make the water waves, (you could do green seaweed as well if you need to) and the other half use bright, colorful scarves to pretend they are the fish swimming in the aquarium. Then they switch parts and the water students become fish and vice versa. We, of course, talk about moving like the music sounds. This will lead to learning about legato (and then staccato when we move on to doing the Kangaroo). So, you could use these activities during Valentine's week, or not. It doesn't have to be Valentine's themed. By the way, my meyersmusic visuals website I used to have set up is now defunct, but Blogger doesn't have a good way to post full-sized visuals for you to print out and use. I'm in the process of changing the visuals website over to a Weebly website which allows me to post not just picture files, but also other document formats. Check back and you'll find some of my older blog visuals reposted to the new site soon. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. "Oh, Kodaly, Kodaly, we love you!"
Are you looking for ways to integrate composer lessons into your curriculum? John Williams is a fun and easy composer to teach about in music class. In fact, thanks to the “Star Wars” saga, I’ve noticed a lot of enthusiasm and relevant learning going on right now during music class. And, if the kids are […]
What’s the best thing about December? I think you know and it’s more fun to give than to receive- right? As a music educator I get so excited about all the possibilities for fun lessons, that it’s hard to choose which ones to use each year. What I’ve found though, is that my students love […]
Here is another one of my favorite Thanksgiving themed songs. It's perfect for my 2nd graders right now as we're preparing "re." This is a wonderful "re" song because the "res" are in a prominent place, (the 3rd beat,) in the 1st and 3rd measures. The rhythm includes tas, ti-tis, and toos (half notes) in a simple to decipher form. This allows students to focus on the melody and not get hung up on a challenging rhythm. I am a proponent of many uses for one song but we are zoning in on hearing/singing/feeling that pitch between "mi" and "do" with this song. Naturally, the song is enhanced by a great, active game and this one is a favorite of my students. Before introducing the game, we hear and practice imitating the turkey gobble. (Share real turkey sounds with your class by going here.) By having a couple of minutes of "Turkey Gobble Choir Rehearsal" this is a good opportunity for students to practice watching a conductor for cut-offs, growing louder and growing softer, (and all with our head-voice gobbles! Hurray for more vocal exploration!) Once we've "got our gobble on," it's time for the game. Game: Standing circle, one farmer is chosen, one turkey is chosen. The farmer is blindfolded. I have a turkey hat for the turkey to wear, (thank you again, Target dollar bin!) Sing the song as class, then the farmer tries to find and tag the turkey by calling "Turkey!" Turkey must respond with "Gobble! Gobble!" (high-pitched, head voice gobble.) If farmer gets to close to the standing circle (the "fence") students simply call out "fence" to prevent the farmer from running into them. If the action goes on too long, I show a silent 10 second count down with my fingers. Both the farmer and the turkey choose new players. Happy late autumn! P.S. Amy Abbott recently posted this song with a different game and reading activities. You can see her post here. (Great ideas from Amy!)
Incorporate movement into your music lessons with these fun singing games for "The Telephone Rings", "Ring Around the Rosie", "Shoo Fly", and "Pumpkin Patch".
I love this time of year in my classroom because it signals the beginning of a delightful string of holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! The music of Halloween is especially fun̷…
Are you looking for ways to integrate composer lessons into your curriculum? John Williams is a fun and easy composer to teach about in music class. In fact, thanks to the “Star Wars” saga, I’ve noticed a lot of enthusiasm and relevant learning going on right now during music class. And, if the kids are […]
March and St. Patrick's Day Educational Resources for Preschool and elementary School teachers. March and St. Patrick's Day music education resources.
There has been some great discussion on the Yahoo Piano Teachers list about games for Halloween. Well, thinking up games is much more fun than completing the homework for the class I need to renew…
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Ready for some winter lesson ideas for your elementary music classroom? I'm sharing 4 of my favorite winter elementary music lessons!
Kids love balls and I use them to teach concepts, in team building, during rehearsals and more! Here's my ten ways to use balls in the music class room.
This has become one of my ALL-TIME favorite songs for Thanksgiving. It's great for right before break because the kids LOVE the game but it's also great for do-re-mi-so intervallic practice. In my Portland State University Kodály levels and in some of the SWOKE (Southern Washington and Oregon Kodály Educators) workshops we browsed each others collections and exchanged songs. So, this in one of the gems that I got from Melissa Roth (who's now teaching in Texas). Here's the song: Here's the game: Formation: students seated in a circle on in rows. Action: one student goes into the hallway and can't see into the classroom. The teacher or a chosen student hides a "turkey" somewhere in the room. The only condition is that part of the turkey has to be still visible to all the students in the class. (I have a fun stuffed turkey that we hide but there have been times when that turkey has "gone missing" and I've used a die cute of a turkey.) Once the turkey is hidden, the student comes back in the room and the turkey hunt begins. The hunter has the class helping them, as they sing the song more quietly as the hunter gets closer to the hidden turkey and louder when the hunter moves away from the turkey. As a warm up, I've made this turkey tone ladders. I will sing a solfége pattern and the class (or individual, if you'd like to use it an assessment) echos back while pointed to the appropriate solfa. Depending on the stage of practice that your student are in you can also sing patterns on neutral syllables, such as "loo" and have then echo back in solfége. For an extension activity, I have created a stick-to-staff game. The students work in groups of 2-3 and each group has a set of the following cards that are cut so that there is one turkey on a card. They must match the stick notation to the staff notation and put the song in order. Generally, they will put the turkeys with the stick notation in one row (in the order of the song) and the turkeys with the staff notation in a row below it (with the corresponding staff-notation turkey below the stick-notation turkey). This song and many more are included in my Songs for Thanksgiving set: I just visited my good friend, Tanya LeJeune's blog, and she too posted about this song! It's really a gem. For more great ideas and for a different singing game, check out her post by clicking here. I'll be posting some more Turkey ideas this week! In the meantime, have a GREAT Monday!
I'm hesitant to share this because I haven't "tested" it out yet in my classroom. I just thought of it after looking at a bulletin board down the fourth grade hallway. The teacher had used the three colors of the candy corns to have students write numbers in 3 different ways. I think my 3rd and 4th graders would do well with such a project. I'm working on getting them to see how songs are created, and how everything we are learning is incorporated. So I created these cute snowmen. Here's my plan for how to use them: •Lesson 1: –Project the song for the students. –Read the lyrics of Line 1. Chant the rhythms on syllables. Clap the rhythm while saying the text. Sing the melody using Curwen hand-signs. Sing the melody on the correct lyrics. –Repeat the above step for Lines 2-4. –The students sing the entire “song” (all the lines in order). –Divide the students into four group. Assign each group a line to sing. Switch lines until each group has sang each part. –Optional: Distribute laminated copies of the bars of the G pentatonic scale to the students. Assign each group a line to figure out on the keyboard. The students “play” the bars by using “air mallets”. –Assign each group a line to play on a metalophone (or any keyboards you have available). •Lesson 2: –Print out and laminate the snowmen, making as many copies as you want. For easy storage, I'll store the components in a gallon zip-lock bag, with the instruction page stapled to the front of the bag. –Have blank snowmen and pencils ready for students that finish early. Students will need to glue their snowman on a blue construction paper, indicate their name, a dynamic level (piano, mezzo forte, or forte) a tempo (andante - allegro), and a pitched instrument (glock, xylophone, metalophone). I think these will work out and be quite cute to put on a bulletin board/take home to decorate the fridge. Sometimes I wish I taught art...oh well. If you read this and have an idea or suggestion, let me know. I don't think I'll use them until early December.
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The Scary Witch Halloween rhythm game is a fun musical listening game for Halloween. It is both educational and also a bit daring too!
Here's another Halloween song for you (surprise, surprise). This one I first taught during my practicum time with Cindy McCaskill in Boulder, CO. It can be found in Grace Nash's Holidays and Special Days book. (Grace Nash is very well known among Orff teachers. . .. some day I'd love to take a level.) Here it is: Verse 2: Halloween, Halloween, ghosts fly high. Halloween, Halloween, ghosts fly high. Goblins sit on fences, weating pumpkin pie. Halloween, Halloween, ooh, OH MY! To be honest, I actually forgot the second verse until I looked it up tonight. And Grace Nash has the last word of the first verse as "cats". Over the course of my teaching I accidentally changed it to bats. I do this with my 1st graders so I simplified the Orff part. In her book, Ms. Nash has a broken bordun, where as I have them play a straight bordun. I also have them add a triangle on the rests (as I'm using this to prepare rest right now.) Here's my Orff part: (The second line is the triangle and the third is a bass xylophone): Here's the slides of the PowerPoint that I use with this song: First, we sing it reading just the words of the song: Second, we sing it, keeping a steady beat and reading the words (aligned to the beats of the song): Third, we sing the song (text) while clapping the rhythm. I have replaced the text with iconic represtentation of the rhythm. As a class, we review that two small pumpkins on a beat are ti-ti and one big pumpkin on a beat is ta. We also talk about why there is a leaf (there is no sound on that beat). Next, we read the known rhythms of the song. Again, we talk about the leaf and how that is a beat of silence. We have not yet presented quarter rest so we leave the iconic notation there: Finally, after ta rest is presented, we revist this song and read it with the full rhythmic notation: I've got a "double-header" concert (4th and 5th grades) on Thursday, so we'll see if I can squeeze in another post before then. In the meantime, have a GREAT week everyone!
When I took the job at my school two years ago, I inherited this fantastic maypole: Apparently the maintenance people (who are amazing!) ...
Where music and fun "play" together!
December Music Class Stations are a great way to keep kids learning during the holiday season. See ideas and freebies from Sing Play Create.
Learn three songs you can use in your elementary music classroom to teach syncopation, all which include fun handgames.
These music therapy Halloween freebies include chants, rhymes, instrument activities, a song mix, and a resource list of Halloween song stories.
Looking for music activities to celebrate the end of the year and summer? Check out this post for lots of different types of musical fun!
Song Index
Song and movement activity for Valentine's Day.
This one I found yesterday on the AOSA (American Orff Schulwerk Association) Music Teacher Facebook page. MANY thanks to composers Trilby Jordan and F. Thomas Simpson for sharing and allowing me to share here! I LOVE this song and added a cup game composition using word chains of disliked Thanksgiving foods. Students performed them for their teachers when they came to pick up the class. LOVED it! Definitely going into my "keep" file for years to come!
The SOLAR ECLIPSE is happening on April 8, 2024. These engaging solar eclipse music activities will be just the thing to get your students excited and learning in music class. This bundle includes 3 solar eclipse music activities for elementary grades. I know your students will love each of them, and you'll love that there's basically no prep work involved in them! Read on to hear more. What comes in this bundle? Solar Eclipse Song with Orff Arrangement: original poem set to folk song melody ("Great Big House in New Orleans") with 5 rhythmic instruments ostinati and 3 melodic instrument parts Solar Eclipse Rhythm Game for Quarter and 8th Notes: an exciting, interactive review game for quarter/8th notes; any rhythmic syllable can be used; choose a picture and read the corresponding rhythm Solar Eclipse Rhythm Game for Quarter Rest: an exciting, interactive review game for quarter/8th notes; any rhythmic syllable can be used; choose a picture and read the corresponding rhythm What format does this come in? This product comes in Google Slides and in PDF. You can save them in your Drive or download the PDF for offline use. How can I use this in my classroom? This song and arrangement are a great review of musical concepts already learned. Also, you can use it as an introduction to ensemble playing and xylophone performances. The 2 games are a great review and practice of rhythm reading. You can use any counting syllable system you prefer. This game can work well in a whole class, small group, or music centers. In-Depth and Sequential Slides Rhythm Games The games are ready for you to start teaching with no prep work required. Here is the layout of this game: Choose any of the solar eclipse themed pictures. The whole class/group speaks, claps, or plays the rhythm shown. Click to return to the main menu and choose another picture. Play continues until all pictures/rhythms have been chosen and performed. Orff Arrangement This presentation is ready for you to start teaching once you have the instruments out and ready - that's the only prep needed. There are pages for each of the following steps and procedures: Introducing the lyrics and melody. Practice reading/playing each of the 5 rhythmic instruments (hand drum, wood block, maracas, triangle, tambourine). Practice putting all of the rhythmic instruments together then with the song. Practice reading/playing each of the 3 melodic instruments (bass, alto, and soprano xylophones). Practice putting all of the melodic instruments together then with the song. Put all instruments together while singing the song. Take a peek at the video preview for this bundle to walk through each of the activities. **Solar Eclipses Coming Soon: October 2, 2024; March 29, 2025; September 21, 2025; February 17, 2026; August 12, 2026** *Looking for more digital music activities? Click Here! ………………………………………………………………………………….. Check out these products from my store: Ding Dong Diggidiggidong Orff Arrangement Kindergarten Music Activities Bundle Movie Meter - Interactive Time Signature Game ....................................................................................................... Want to earn TPT credits to for a future purchase? Just leave feedback on your ‘My Purchases’ page for each item. I’d love to hear how you used this product in your classroom. Also follow me for new products, sales, and freebies. Check out my other products atBeth's Music Classroom Stop by my blog:Beth's Music Classroom BLOG
Hello Teachers, I'm really excited to share 4-Valentine activities that work well in my music class. Valentine's Day is such a fun holiday and my kiddos look forward to celebrating it with fun activities in music class. Musical Candy Note Game: 3rd & 4th graders love playing this game while learning the names of their treble clef notes. I use candy hearts or skittles as game markers to play this game. They have to match the treble clef note cards from the music staff with the letters on the game board. The first child to get to the end of the game board wins the game. I let the children eat the candy when they are done playing the game. If you would like to play this game with your class click here to learn more about it. Line Dancing (grades 4-8th) My class loves dancing to the cupid shuffle and request this dance every year. My 6th graders had so much fun with this dance that when they heard the Cupid Shuffle music playing during one of their school field trips, they all decided to stop bowling and show their dance moves right inside the bowling alley. I was thrilled when the classroom teachers told me about the flash dancing at the bowling alley. If you want to try this dance with your class, you can get the dance directions and a Valentine mini-music lesson by clicking here. 6th graders doing the Cupid Shuffle! Valentine Games: Lucy Locket Lost Her Valentine My younger student (grades k-2nd) love this game. One student leaves the room as another student hides a Valentine card. The student in the hall returns to the room to find the hidden Valentine card. The class sings Lucy Locket Lost Her Valentine to help this student find the hidden Valentine. The class will sing the song loudly when the student is close to the Valentine card and they will sing softly if the student is going away from the Valentine card. Here are the words to the song: Lucy Locket lost her Valentine, Kitty Fisher found it. Not a single candy in it, only ribbon 'round it (use same melody as the Lucy Locket game). This game is a favorite with young children. Playing Candy Rhythms Valentine's Day is not complete without candy. I place different candy bars on the whiteboard (see picture below). Then I point to each candy bar on the beat and have the class tap out the syllable names of each candy bar on percussion instruments. Then I have them echo play ta and ti-ti rhythms. Now I have them end the music by playing the candy bar rhythms again. My class loves playing candy bar rhythms on percussion instruments and it's fun to move the candy around to create new rhythms for them to play. Candy Bar Rhythms If you are looking for more fun activities and ideas for your music class? be sure to Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim freebies and teacher tips & tricks, Sherry :) Check out some of my favorite games and activities!
I am doing some Christmas singing with the 20th Worcester Beaver Scout group on Friday. I wanted to do some Kodaly-based songs and needed them to be Xmas themed! So here are my alternative lyrics t…
Olympic Fanfare listening and movement lesson for elementary students.
Steady beat vs. no beat is a great concept for K-1st grade music. Combine children's literature, folk songs, and instruments in this lesson.
Music a la Abbott Amy Abbott Kodály Inspired Blog and Elementary Teachers Music Education Resource
