Teach your students all about Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens with a variety of fun lessons. Dance Macabre is the ...
"I Have a Little Dreidel" is an elementary general music class favorite. This resource has a huge variety of activities for grades K-6. This resource has Kodaly and Orff applications along with the dreidel game and a dreidel template. This is a traditional holiday music lesson you'll be able to use every year. CONCEPTS: Sing Read and Play Notes Solfege-Key of C-do, re, mi, fa, so Ostinato RESOURCE INCLUDES: Presentation and PDF Files KODALY Singing do, re, mi, fa, so GUITAR- C F G7 ORFF - Piano Accompaniment Teaching page about Hanukkah Game Directions Printables-Game and Instrument parts Mp3 Piano practice track Hannukah Vocabulary Dreidel Template USE THIS RESOURCE: You can use this product to teach a variety of skills and it's set up easy to differentiate for the various levels of skills you might have in your classroom. KINDERS: Steady Beat FIRST GRADE: ta and ti-ti rhythm practice SECOND-6TH GRADE- Read and sing the solfege, orff parts and play in an ensemble. Use all skills in a classroom presentation. Use the "Hanukkah is..." poster and coloring sheet to help students understand the holiday and teach it to another class. Have your Kinders come and visit your 4th graders. Let the Kinders sing and play the Steady Beat as your 4th graders play the xylophones--bring in some 2nd or 3rd grades and have them play the OSTINATOS for a multi-grade sing-a-long. Perform this song in a music concert MORE HOLIDAY MUSIC RESOURCES SING OF PEACE AND JOY ACAPELLA IT’S THE SEASON TO SHARE 2 PART THE HOLIDAYS 2 PART SONG RING THE BELLS RECORDER OR 2 PART SONG RED WHITE AND GREEN SONG RUDOLF RAP CHRISTMAS SONGS AND PROGRAM CHRISTMAS SONGS AND PROGRAM KWANZAA SONGS AND MUSIC PROGRAM *********************** ABOUT SING PLAY CREATE LLC. All products and works are copyrighted by Sing Play Create LLC. Buyers may get Free store credit by going to "my purchases" and click on "Provide Feedback". Ratings and helpful feedback are welcomed. Want a Freebie every month? Subscribe to my Website Newsletter. SING PLAY CREATE NEWSLETTER QUESTIONS? Please use the "Ask a Question" section of my TpT store. Or, you can email me at [email protected] CONNECT WITH ME HERE: Sing Play Create YouTube Channel Sing Play Create Blog Sing Play Create on Instagram Sing Play Create on Facebook Sing Play Create on Pinterest Let's Move and Learn with Music! Sandra
I am linking up with Organized Chaos Fermata Friday for a linky party about some of our favorite activities, songs, tips, etc. I am going to link back to a few of my FAVORITE FALL songs and activities my kiddos can't get enough of right now! You can see all of them here! Apple Tree: Pass the Pumpkin:
Download a free rhythm worksheet and learn how to use stickers to reinforce rhythms in your elementary music classroom.
An update to everything happening in the world of Musicplay, MusicplayOnline, and Themes & Variations directly from Denise Gagne!
I LOVE the music from The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky! December is one of my favorite times of year in music class because I can listen to The Nutcracker all month and do so many fun activities with the various songs. It also gives me an excuse to buy more Nutcrackers for my collection. (This year December is also extra special because I am getting married! My fiancé proposed with a Nutcracker after seeing The Nutcracker last year, so it is only fitting we are having a Nutcracker themed wedding complete with the Pas-De-Deux played as the recessional AND a "Land of Sweets" Table at the reception.) Here are some of my favorite ideas for the Songs from the Nutcracker. Some are my ideas, many are shared. If they are shared, I have done my best to provide a link to the original idea. ***NEW IDEA ALERT*** Check out this AMAZING pop-up Nutcracker Book by Jenni Fleetwood and Illustrated by Phillida Gili. It is the most wonderful pop-up book I have ever encountered. It is perfect for kids with multi-layered illustrations that feature pull tabs, lift the flap, pop-ups and more. Dont have a book? This is a GREAT, but short, synopsis on Youtube from the South Georgia Ballet. OK, now check out these ADORABLE felt masks I got from ETSY for the photobooth at my wedding/ classroom. They are a little more expensive than I would normally spend using my own money for my classroom, but I just couldn't pass them up. I plan on letting kids wear them when pointing to the heartbeat at the SmartBoard, when demonstrating an activity with me (esp. the beat swords), and maybe even when acting out certain scenes of the show. Trepak Plate Routine: This one I actually came up with this past Thanksgiving because my 3 year old cousin handed out plates and demanded we bang them together and sing. I went through all my Thanksgiving/ turkey songs (Shoo Turkey, There was an Old Woman who Swallowed a Pie, Over the River and Through the Woods, No More Pie, etc.) and he still wasn't ready to be done, so I launched into the Russian Dance and had the whole family following my impromptu plate routine. Watch the video to get a better idea of how the plate routine looks :) I apologize for the false start at the beginning! Here is a Basketball Routine to Trepak as well: Trepak Cup Game: This one I found on Pinterest and I love it (especially spinning the cups on their sides for the Bridge- so fun and great reinforcement for whole note if you are showing the graphic for the students). Thanks Eric! Be sure to also check out this blogpost from Kelly Reily that she wrote last year about Nutcracker Cup Games she did in her classroom- each class made up their own to the March- SO fun! Now, Cups and plates can be tricky for the littlest of kiddos so for my 1st graders I use a great activity from Lynn Kleiner for Trepak where the kids are "painting their house." On the accents they are splattering the paint and then they get to rub it around, make special designs, or think about their creation during the other sections of the music. Get more detailed info and other great listening activities by getting her awesome book: Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move! March Beat Swords: This year I plan on using "Beat Swords" (Cut in half pool noodles) where students march to the beat, tap their swords to the beat, or sneak around (like when Fritz sneaks up on Clara to steal the nutcracker from Her). I got this idea from Mrs. Kings Music Room and adapted it to fit with the Nutcracker March. My first graders have just named the beat and this will be perfect for reinforcement (I don't see them in Kindergarten). Form: ABACABA A Section: March 16 beat, Tap sword with Partner 16 beats (2x) (tap the tips of the swords together) B Section: March around a partner C Section: Fast Tiptoe around the room Waltz of the Flowers- Simple Movement for the littles! Check out this fun video with simple movement to the beginning of Waltz of the Flowers. My kiddos LOVE to practice balancing on one foot! For other great Nutcracker Based Active Listening Ideas check out this book: Nutcracker Suite Active Listening Strategies. It includes Lesson plans and ideas for 8 of the most popular Nutcracker Songs as well as Reproducible Activity sheets on things like The Story of the Nutcracker, The Life of Tchaikovsky, the History of some of the instruments used, the History of the Suite, etc. In addition to listening to the songs, I also, (of course) love to share the story of the Nutcracker with my students. The older students watch a short video every class to get them to the room so all through December it will be clips of various scenes from The Nutcracker. (I teach in a modular classroom and some students used to like to take their time getting to me so I start the 2-3 min video when class should start and they are getting to me much quicker now!) There are so many great listening maps and short clips on youtube! One of my favorites is "The Nutcracker in less than 5 minutes" It hits on all of the important plot points and fun dances, but doesn't take class times to show! Various versions as story books have made it into my collection over the years and just yesterday, I downloaded an app for my Ipad which has beautiful pictures called "The Nutcracker Musical Story Book". I got it for free on a special, but it is only 2.99 normally. The homescreen is a pretty Christmas Scene and you click on ornaments to get to the various scenes if you do not want to watch the whole thing in order. Act I is on one tree, Act II on the other. I can't wait to show some scenes to my students because the artwork is incredible. Want to teach more about Tchaikovsky?? There are a lot of great ideas on TPT, but one of my favorites is the Facetime with Composers Series by Music Man of Steel. My students LOVE these silly videos! Get them here:Facetime with Tchaikovsky Want a great listening map or play along video? There are so many great ones on Youtube- but these are my favorites. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Playalong: March Listening Map: Dance of the Line Riders: Trepak Dancers from SYTYCD: Don't forget to also check out Kodaly Corner- Karla from C Major Learning just posted a great Nutcracker Post as well! There are so many great ideas on pinterest as well- I made a Nutcracker Pinterest board you can check out here! There are listening maps, movement activities, lesson plans, printables, and more. New stuff will be added as I find it as well! Enjoy! It truly is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Share your favorite Nutcracker Activities below!
Virtual Sheet Music® Premium High-Quality digital sheet music for recorder quartet, collection 1, Full Score & Single Parts. The balance is good, the arrangements sound nice, and the bass player even gets some fun parts. The alto part goes high enough to be tricky for most players. Some of the pieces are quite difficult, and suitable for high school or college, while others are appropriate for elementary and junior high school students. This is an excellent selection for any recorder player to have on hand.
CUPS are an amazing resource. You can drink out of them, they hold things (like popsicle sticks for one of my favorite games- BUSTED), and they make music! I don't know about you, but especially last year with the popularity of Pitch Perfect, my students LOVE cup games. All classes from 3rd grade and up have mastered the basic cup pattern most of us know and love so I have to up my game and introduce many more variations on that pattern, or new cup games that get progressively more difficult. Pitch Perfect 2 is coming out soon- so I am sure CUPS will be popular for a long time- but even if they aren't in the movies, CUP games are so fun! I always find it hard to remove myself from the game because I love them so much and my students are always asking to play as a reward because THEY love them so much. I have compiled a list of some of my favorite cup games and activities- sound off in the comments about your favorites! CUP MAGIC TRICKS! ABRACADABRA! Students start to see cups early on when I do rhythm cup magic tricks. I learned this at a work-shop a few years ago and students love it! Unfortunately, I searched high and low for who taught this to me and I could not find the handout! If this was you- so sorry you aren't credited! Let me know if this sounds so familiar, that you think you may have taught it at a workshop in Ohio 4 or 5 years ago :) Basically I have four cups on a table (or music stand)- each representing a beat. Hidden underneath all of the cups is a cup cut in half to represent ti-ti. We tap the cups, think of "magic" words that only have 1 sound (Bam!, Poof!, Trick etc.). We do this for a little, moving the cups around- stacking and unstacking them, etc. and then I tell them its time for the magic trick. We say A-bra-ca da- bra! and the Ta Ta ti-ti Ta pattern is revealed! They then come up with a few "magic" words that have 2 sounds and we practice more patterns. (Poof! Poof! Magic! Poof!) Sometimes the ti-ti half cups are revealed, sometimes they are covered up. This is great for Prep OR Practice of Ta and Ti-ti- with prep, you can just continue to use magic related words when reading the cup patterns, but once they know the rhythm names, you can reveal a pattern and have them read it on rhythm syllables then notate it with manipulatives. They love this activity! The teacher does have to practice a little to make the reveal of ti-ti cups smooth, without cups or cup parts falling all over the place! My 1st graders are always impressed though- even if half a cup gets stuck... If you do not want to deal with actually cutting some cups in half, I am sure a thick black line drawn down the center of the cup would work just as well. This would be less parts that could fall on the floor- though the kids are always super impressed when I slice the cup in half without scissors :) CUP RHYTHM/ MELODY WRITING You can also have the younger students write out their own rhythms or the rhythm of a song using cups as well. Use big beat strips with hearts for each beat and then have students use BIG cups for quarter notes and smaller cups in a different color for beamed eighth notes. I have also seen using clear cups for rests. This idea I found on pinterest so check out the original pin HERE. Rhythm writing can be done in a different way as well- by writing 1 beat patterns on the edges of foam cups and then having students spin the cups until they find the pattern they want (great for dictation too!) and then writing in on a worksheet. You could also having staff cups with the musical alphabet written on the edges of the cups and they spin the cups to write a song. Take it up a notch by combining the two. This also comes from pinterest so check out the orginal pin HERE. CUP CIRCLE PASSING GAMES As for cup passing games, I start but just teaching the typical pattern I learned at camp when I was 10 (and is the same pattern from the Pitch Perfect Movie). Once the Pattern is learned on it's own I add it to I've Been to Harlem (AKA Turn the Glasses Over)so students can practice it continuously. When we are good we get fast and faster and students who mess up move to another circle so we can see who can do it the fastest and longest without making a mistake! I also use it with Kodaly's Viennese Musical Clock. We do the cup pattern in a big circle on the A section and then students lead non-locomotor movements to the beat on the B, C, D, etc. to show the Rondo form. When teaching the pattern I use the following phrases to keep my students on track, but I have seen it a few ways in various resources such as Game Plan so use what works for you and your students! Phrases are in 4 beat patterns (beats are separated by a comma). After the 1st phrase, all actions happen on the beat- even if I say more syllables. I have indicated a pause with a z to show the rest. Clap, Clap, Tap-Tap, Tap Clap, Move-It, Over, z Clap, pick-it-up, hit-your-left-hand, down Switch, Tap, Pass, z I hand out the following half-sheet so students can practice at home- one side is just the words above and the other side (shown) explains each move in more detail. 3 other cup passing games I love are: la ti do ti do ti la, Chevaliers de la table ronde, and Ludaim One changes directions every other line or at cue of the teacher, one has changing meter (3/4 vs 4/4) and one has 2 cups (and a tricky time signature 8/8 broken down as 3/8+3/8+2/8). ALL are super fun and challenging! I have made videos of myself demonstrating the patterns for 2 of the games- slowing down and explaining each step. They are slightly awkward because I am by myself BUT hopefully they will help you figure out exactly what the directions below mean (as I know written directions can be confusing). I hope to be able update this post in the future with videos of student hands playing! 1: la ti do ti do ti la-This melody is really familiar to me but I can't place it. For this game, the ultimate goal is to change directions at every line OR at the cue of the teacher. Directions: Most beats have an action on the first half of the beat and the 2nd. These actions have been separated by a slash. Beat 1: Tap the floor to the right of the cup with your right hand (RH)/ Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your left hand (LH) Beat 2: Clap/ Tap the floor to the right of the cup with your RH Beat 3: Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your LH/ Pick up the cup with your RH Beat 4: Pass the cup to the person on your right, being sure to place it all the way in front of them. Once your students have mastered the above pattern- reverse it to be as follows: Beat 1: Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your LH/ Tap the floor to the right of the cup with your RH Beat 2: Clap/ Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your LH Beat 3: Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your RH/ Pick up the cup with your LH Beat 4: Pass the cup to the person on your left. Eventually students should switch every other line of music for a fun challenge.. A Super Challenge is to have the students switch at the signal of the teacher. The video shows how to do the motions both ways slow-mo style. 2: Chevaliers de la table ronde- This one has changing meter AND you can change directions for a challenge! Super fun and it has a beautiful melody! Translation: Knights of the Round Table taste to see if the wine is good. Taste see- yes yes yes. Taste see- no no no. (I usually just say this is about the knights of the round table when asked!) This first video is a YOUtube video of men singing the song on a street in France. Directions: When there are 3 beats in a bar the cup is passed as follows: Beat 1: Pass in front to the person on the right Beat 2: Clap Beat 3: Pick up new cup (passed from person to your left) When there are 4 beats in a bar the cup is passed as follows: Beat 1: Pass in front to the person on the right Beats 2 + 3: Tap the rhythm ti-ti Ta on the cup Beat 4: Pick up new cup (passed from the person on your left) Challenge! When the melody repeats, change directions! There is no slow-mo video for this one because the motions are fairly self explanatory but I do hope to upload one of my students singing and playing the game soon, as they are learning it right now! This is one the teacher has to practice before teaching A LOT to be sure they are changing at the right time. A tip is you are tapping "Ti-ti ta" in the 4/4 measures when you are singing "oui oui oui" or "non non non" so the words fit the movements really well at those parts. I prep this game by having students first just read the rhythm and show the changing meter by hitting the floor on beat one of a measure and then clapping the other beats. Next we do basically the same pattern as the ultimate game, but on their laps before putting cups in their hand. When it says pass students would tap the floor to their right and when it says pick up new cup students tap the floor to their left. A clap is still a clap and when they would normally tap ti-ti ta on their cup, we tap our legs. Only once most of them have mastered this action do we add the actual cups in a circle- and even then, it still takes a few weeks for some to master but it is still super fun! 3: LUDAIM- This is the one with the funky meter AND 2 cups! Super fun! Translation: Geese, Geese. There were twelve. All of the twelve were white. (Note: this comes from google translate so it could be a little off, but I think I got the basic meaning). Directions: Hint- start with cups of two DIFFERENT colors (ex. everyone has a red cup in their left hand and a blue in their right), because you always keep the cup that starts in your left hand! This way you can tell if you are on track when the patterns always alternates colors. If you have two cups of the same color next to each other, something is wrong! 1st Eighth note: Pass cup in right hand to the person on your right while simultaneously passing the cup in your left hand to your own right hand. 2nd eighth note: Clap 3rd and 4th eighth notes: Clap the rhythm ti-ka ti (ti-ri ti) on the cups (Right-Left Right) 5th eighth note: Click (Snap) Fingers (this is always on the 2nd half of a quarter note in the melody so be sure to snap BEFORE you sing the next word!) 6th eighth note: Pick up both cups 7th eighth note: Cross hands and set cups down (cups switch places so cup that WAS in your right hand is now on the left and cup that WAS on the left is now on the right) 8th eighth note: Pick up cups to begin again! This one I start right away with cups (after knowing the melody and words of the song of course!) The visual of having the two colored cups really helps in figuring this one out. Of course we start slow, and without singing at the same time. They are always so excited when they get this one! I think this year I may make a recording of the students singing the song after they have learned it so that they can then play the game to the recording and sing along when they are ready. Update: I attended a workshop this summer (July 2015) and we used these same motions with the song Land of the Silver Birch. It worked really well and I can't wait to use it in my classroom. My students learned Silver Birch last year so we will be starting the year off right- with a cup game! The video just shows a slow breakdown of the movement so you can kind of get a visual. It is not as hard as it seems! I learned all 3 of the trickier CUP games in Hungary last year from Lucinda Geoghegan during her Singing Games Class and they are great for upper grades. All are challenging enough to motivate kids, but not so difficult that students will give up easily. I had a lot of fun learning them all! In addition to playing cup games, I love to share the HARVARD CUPS! Videos. 2009 is my favorite, but the Harvard Percussion Ensemble THUD makes a CUPS! video every year. Check them out on Youtube! I also just saw this other great CUPS video that uses the traditional cup pattern to accompany Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Super Cool! I may have my older students make up their own CUP passing patterns to a given song this year- It would be a great activity for a sub. Rhythms we use in class would be a must in their pattern, but other than that they would have creative freedom! Since it is currently winter (though I know... Christmas is past...), I have one more fun activity to share which I found via pinterest. This is a great Nutcracker Cup game made by Eric L. Young. So fun! My students loved this activity- and making up their own cup movements to other Nutcracker songs this year! Share your favorite cup game or way you incorporate cups into your classroom below! Do you use them for listening like with the Viennese Musical Clock by Kodaly or Trepak activity from the Nutcracker? Do you use them to practice steady beat/ rhythm/ mixed meter?
September is the perfect time to begin improvisation activities in the elementary music classroom. Download the free fall music lesson ideas.
Here are some more rhythm practice sheets (I've included a Springtime sheet in case you can't celebrate the holidays). Springtime Easter Rhythms These are really great activities for when you have a sub as well, or when you're working in stations.
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…
Welcome to this week's installment of my weekly linky party, Fermata Fridays! This is a chance for music education bloggers to share blog posts with readers and bloggers alike, so we can all mingle and learn from each other. Readers, you are going to love all of the awesome blog posts that are out there- I hope you discover some new blogs to follow and get some new inspiration for your teaching! Bloggers, make sure you read the directions carefully before linking up to make sure we keep the party fun for everyone. Thanks! :) Here are the rules for the linky party: 1. Add the linky image to your blog post, blog sidebar, linky party roundup, or other similar location on your blog and link it back to the party. Copy and paste the code for this button, or use the image above and link to the label "Fermata Fridays". 2. Add up to two blog post links to the linky. The posts can be old or new (but no posts that have already been linked up to Fermata Fridays in the past), on any topic related to music teaching, but must not be primarily featuring a product. It's fine to have a link to a relevant product within a post, but that should not be the primary focus of the post. I reserve the right to delete a link that is too product-focused. If you're not sure, just ask! :) 3. Leave a thoughtful comment on at least two other links, including the one right before yours. Add #fermatafridays to your comment so bloggers know where you found them! 4. Pin at least one other link to one of your Pinterest boards. 5. Make sure you are following me on Pinterest. I will be pinning every link to the Fermata Fridays board each week. 6. Make sure you are following me on Facebook and check back next Friday- I will be featuring one of the links from the previous week's linky on my Facebook page each Friday! The linky will be open every Friday starting at 4:00am EST and will be open for links all day. An InLinkz Link-up
Here is my first composition for the Boomwhacker Mystery game! Can you guess what it is? Update: Here are two more Mystery Songs!
It’s that time of year when our lives are busy and we just want our studios to keep ticking without added pressure. Looking at my calendar I realize I only have 3 weeks of lessons before our …
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!"
I have posted about this before, but I REALLY love the Pass the Pumpkin song/activity. This year, I came up with a new powerpoint for my fi...
It seems that I have gone Boomwhackers crazy! And it also seems as if I'm arranging all my classroom tunes for instruments! I figured, why ...
Teach your students all about Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens with a variety of fun lessons. Dance Macabre is the ...
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Celebrate Black History Month by learning about the birth of jazz music, and the history of African-Americans in pop music.
Super Minds is a seven-level course for young learners. This exciting seven-level course enhances your students' thinking skills, sharpening their memory and improving their concentration along with their language skills. Super Minds develops language with creative activities including role play and project work, explores social values with lively stories and encourages cross-curricular thinking with fascinating 'English for school' sections. These Level 3 Class Audio CDs contain all the listening material to use with the Level 3 Student's Book and Workbook.
I love teaching my students all about Martin Luther King Jr.! We do *lots* of activities on acceptance, tolerance, and respecting each other...
A blog about elementary music education.
Five Fat Turkeys
Wow! In one week, we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day, seen the start of the Winter Olympics, and started Lunar New Year celebrations – including Chinese New Year on Feb. 15th! We’ve created an entire Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year celebration at www.musicplayonline.com. If you don’t subscribe to the online site, You can download the […]
The first time I taught a group of kindergartens I was pretty excited. This age is so fun! But as the group walked in I realized the HUGE struggle it is to get Kindergarteners to do anything on their first day of school. It's the most adorable little struggle to get them to sit on the rug
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…
It is a tradition at our school to have a school-wide Christmas Sing-Along on the last day before our holiday break. I had been looking for another fun activity to add to our festivities and this turned out to be the perfect choice! I got this lesson awhile back at a Randy and Jeff Conference but after seeing this video, I was inspired to teach it to the whole school! It is really geared more towards older students and some of the movement combinations are a little difficult but my younger students really enjoyed learning it as well. It also went along very well with our study on form this December. Here is my own version of the visual: Here are the students in action at the Sing-Along: Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
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December is CRAZY, isn't it? So much going on, so little time.. etc. I have two concerts that turn into four as the little kiddos come to watch the bigger ones and vice versa, then the concerts for the parents. We call them "Holiday Concerts" but I am very careful to be inclusive and not exclusive about singing songs from various perspective. Tricky, tricky! So, December is always extra busy with these concerts and sometimes, like this year, our final concert is the day before the Holiday Break, so I don't have too much time for other activities. But I try to sneak in a few between rehearsing music. Of course, I love the Nutcracker, so it goes without saying that it is a piece of music I love to have students get into. Sometimes we watch segments of the Nutcracker "The Motion Picture" version (sets designed by Maurice Sendak of "Where the Wild Things Are" fame). I almost always have students perform Trepak in a variety of ways, either using the Bucket Drum Activity: http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/search/label/bucket%20drum or using Artie Almeida's excellent resource, "Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My!". There is an AWESOME parachute activity my fourth graders BEG to do again and again in there on page 47 that goes with Trepak! Artie also has a ribbon wand activity to Trepak in the book. In the same book there is a paper plate activity (great for the littler musicians) to the Nutcracker March as well as a candy cane dance and a stretchy band activity to the same piece. An easily accessible song about Snowflakes with Orff accompaniment (very simple) is here: http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2012/11/winter-snowflakes-song-with-orff.html (original post). Here is the song: Another activity we use is the Elf on the Shelf piece I wrote last year.. dreamed it, actually.. original post here: http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2013/12/elf-on-shelf-speech-piece-with-ostinati.html Whatever you choose to do this season, keep 'em singing and keep 'em moving! :) Blessings and Merry Christmas!
I have posted before about the end of the school year and how I sing camp songs with my kiddos. They love it and can't wait for the end of April to start singing these crazy, silly, hysterical songs! It has become a much anticipated tradition! Here are a few I recently learned and my students love! 1. Alligator This is serious fun here, folks! Dramatize the first call and response part and then really let loose with the craziness on the "alligator" chorus part. You can see it in action on the youtube video below the music. 2. Big Camp Mambo I love (almost) anything with syncopation and this one has it in spades! 3. Boom Chicka Boom This is the first one I always teach them and I can't tell you how much they LOVE it. The sillier you are, the more they will love it! We start with the traditional while performing a patsch, clap pattern, then we do their favorite "styles": Girly style (high voice, pretend to fix hair, put makeup on, fan your face, etc.) Muscle Man (make bodybuilding gestures and use "Arnold" voice.. y'know what I mean!) Underwater (speak the chant and move pointer finger up and and down on lips very fast) Baby Style (a goo goo ga goo goo ga... high baby voice) Barnyard Style (I said a moo chicka moo... I said a milk chicka moo, chicka milk, chicka moo) Surfer Dude (I said a dude chicka dude.. I said a whoa, chicka, narly, chicka wave, chicka dude) Opera Style (use your imagination) Grandpa Style (use your imagination, yes, again) Parent Style (I said a room, go to your room... I said a room, go to your room, don't come out until next June) Star Wars Style (OH, they LOVE this one and I always end with it! I said a zzzzt chicka zzzzt... I said a Luke I am your Father, join the dark side chicka doom.. end with "Jedi" instead of "uh huh" and "Dark Side" instead of "oh yeah" and then I end with "The Force Be With You". WINNER!!!
First, We Sing! Songbook One is a collection of twenty children's songs, rhymes and games from around the world. Whether you are looking for new songs to add to your repertoire, or for new ways to teach familiar favorites, First, We Sing! is full of fresh ideas for the music class. First in a new series of volumes designed to bring delightfully singable songs and practical pedagogy together in one anthology, this book is perfect for use in both home and school. Teachers will find extension activities for the classroom, historical references, pedagogical indices and suggestions for including the songs in a literacy-based music curriculum. First, We Sing includes suggestions for Orff instruments and recorder, along with seasonal and holiday songs, singing games and songs just for fun. Ideally suited for teaching musical skills, this collection provides a "vocabulary" of music and play from which children can draw today. Adults and kids of all ages will discover the fun and enjoyment of listening, learning, singing and playing these songs for generations to come. Available: Book/CD. Suggested for grades 1-5.
This worksheet on Etta James celebrates the legacy of this African American singer of soul and jazz.
There is a Level 1 which is MUCH easier- students write in ONE letter to play for each beat of rhythmic values. Level 2 students have to write (and practice) playing different notes for EACH rhythmic value- much harder. It's a great way to differentiate for your "superstars".
I have posted about this before, but I REALLY love the Pass the Pumpkin song/activity. This year, I came up with a new powerpoint for my first graders and I used it just this morning and am really happy with how well the students sang and played. One thing I love about this song is that it is "safe" for schools that do not celebrate Halloween; there is the word "spooky" but that is, technically, NOT a Halloween word. I hope you enjoy the slides below.. save each one and put into a ppt. or email me at [email protected] and I'll send you the pdf! The directions and song are on slide 2, slide 3 is a beat slide and then subsequent slides show the progression from iconic rhythms to actual notation. The final slides show what instruments play on the various parts of the song. Happy Fall!
As I've stated before, my district requires us to use Kagan structures. You can visit the website at the previous link for more inform...
