Trying to understand how to teach solfege? Solfege is an essential strategy for teaching pitch but can be confusing for non-specialists. These solfege lesson plans will make it easy.
Teaching blog with lesson plan ideas (and free downloads!) for music teachers looking to use Gordon's Music Learning Theory into music classes!
Today I'm giving a glance into my first day of school lesson plans, from TK - 5th grade. In the first day of music class, students are arguably the most attentive they will be all year. This puts a unique pressure on the first day's lesson plan to set the tone for the rest of our time together.
When I first began teaching 23 years ago (yikes!) I didn't keep track of song repertoire the way I do now. I also often felt pressed to sing lots of songs (still do) but would only sing them once or twice and then be done with that song. Now I keep a list of repertoire learned and frequently revisit songs. I also try to "double dip" concepts and skills and repeat songs learned in previous grades but with a focus on a different concept. That So Mi song that has Do, Re, Mi at the ending may be great for SM in Kindergarten, but also works beautifully in first for DRM. I have a lot of different ways to start music class, see the post here about Musical Moments to Start Class, but one thing I really love to do is a "Song of the Month" (SOM) for each grade level. I have found SOM also helps students to "change gears". Opening songs set the stage for musical learning, provide a warm-up for the voice and the brain, and offer a predictable, structural transition to music class. The song we sing may or may not be connected to the specific concepts or skills we are working on. An opening song is not the focus of the lesson and should not take up more than a few minutes. I see my students on a 4 day rotation, so 1 to 2 times a week depending on the week. You could certainly sing these for 6 to 8 weeks, depending on how frequently you see your students (and how sick of the song they or you get!). Here are a few ideas for grades K-1: Hello, Hello Thanks to Katie Traxler for introducing this one to me. I am not sure of the source, but it is a familiar tune to all of us music folks! It is performed in a circle with partners facing each other and is a changing partner song/dance. Hey, There, Friend (Another thanks to Katie for this one on her youtube channel, I changed the word "glorious" to "wonderful". My kindies LOVE this! I am not sure of the source, if you know, please let me know. Hello This is one I wrote late last week for my littles. Grades 2 through 4 Bow Wow Wow My 2nd graders love this song and dance. I love the giggles each time they turn around to find a new partner! Chocolate, Chocolate Third graders enjoy this song about chocolate! We often add a "B" section with composed rhythms created from, what else, chocolate! Kit Kat, Hersheys, Peanut butter cup! Boom Snap Clap Fourth graders love this as it sounds like "beat boxing"! They love the challenge of it and that there are "levels" of play. This is in my book, Hands to Hands, available here. To Stop the Train Another of my favorites! Love the way Rob Amchin processes this with movement first!
Folk song based on pentatonic scale with lesson plan ideas for elementary music
It inevitably happens to every music teacher at some point in their teaching career: you have to call out absent. Whether it’s to attend a conference,
Sakura, Sakura | Free Sheet Music Orff Orchestration (Digital Print) - Visit MakingMusicFun.net for more free and premium sheet music, music lesson plans, and great composer resources.
These two barline worksheets give music students some practice understanding basic time signatures so they can comprehend rhythm structure better.
Update: July 13, due to overwhelming interest (and overwhelming my email box) the full collection will only be available until Monday, July ...
So we’ve decided what we want to teach . We’ve chosen our musical materials . Now it’s time to plug it all in. Today I’m sharing how I’ve planned the first month of Kindergarten.
One of my all-time favorite multicultural teaching pieces, Funga Alafia inspires pentatonic improvisation, synco-pa rhythm exploration, cultural awareness, drumming, singing and playing. I'm including an original rhythmic chant which can be combined with this piece and performed as a rhythm canon section or broken into ostinatos. A suggested performance sequence is included. Three-page teaching guide (at least four engaging lessons and more if you create a performance, adaptable to a variety of skill levels) and nine pages of printables/projectables. Your students will love this! Please visit my blog at: http://mymusicalmagic.blogspot.com/ Key words/concepts: high do, synco-pa, drumming, singing, rhythm canon, pentatonic, ostinato, multicultural song, ostinatos
Today I'm giving a glance into my first day of school lesson plans, from TK - 5th grade. In the first day of music class, students are arguably the most attentive they will be all year. This puts a unique pressure on the first day's lesson plan to set the tone for the rest of our time together.
My district is one that is implementing Student Learning Objectives...which are basically large-scale goals for each student in class based on their ability levels. Teachers have to set target scores/learning outcomes for lower level learners to higher level learners. That means there has to be some sort of pre-assessment in order to determine the level of the students. I really have struggled in attempting to create pre-assessments for orchestra. It has been hard to wrap my head around giving a test to see what I know students don't know yet...since I haven't taught the skill, yet. Anyway, I am focusing my learning objective on rhythm. I want to be sure my students are fluent note-readers and rhythm readers. For my pre-test, I will use the 'I Got Rhythm' form that I created. This can be used many different ways and can be a useful tool in a variety of rhythm exercises. For my pre-assessment, I will perform the rhythm from one box on each line...and I will have students circle the rhythm that they think I played. This will help me see if students are already recognizing these rhythms. The rhythms get progressively more difficult as you move down the page, so I will be able to set some learning targets for individual students. Eventually of course, students will demonstrate the ability to perform these rhythms on their own - by the end of year 1. I can also use this form as a rhythm exercise...students can perform the rhythms across and down each line. They can cut them up to make flashcards. You can use the different rhythms for warm-ups and scales.
These sound lesson plans focus on hands-on inquiry. The physical science unit includes hands-on activities, review, and assessment.
Fun and engaging hand clapping game to teach your kiddos!
I'm starting to ease into Halloween themed lessons now, and I had a lot of success with this Rhythm Monsters activity today. My first graders have been preparing half notes for a few weeks and this was the first time they saw it and had practice writing it down. For the rhythm monsters lesson, I created this page with 20 different rhythm examples. I'll be honest: the rhythm content really had NOTHING to do with monsters. All I did was put a picture of a monster above each rhythm example and the students were hooked right away. I had each student select four cards and practice clapping/reading their pattern, and then copy it onto their worksheet. I like this activity because the students are being eased into the concept of composition. They are still making aesthetic decisions regarding what order to put their monsters, but without all the stress that comes with having to create rhythms from scratch. Click here to download the entire lesson (includes SmartNotebook file, worksheet, and monster cards) for free!
Today I'm giving a glance into my first day of school lesson plans, from TK - 5th grade. In the first day of music class, students are arguably the most attentive they will be all year. This puts a unique pressure on the first day's lesson plan to set the tone for the rest of our time together.
I am one of those people who cannot work in silence. I have always incorporated music into my classroom whether it be just for background noise, or to enhance our lesson plan. A few years ago I sub…
I wanted to do something for my choir kids as a thank you for all their hard work this semester. This was a relatively affordable "gift" even though I ended up getting the giant sized Symphony bars (since Walmart didn't have enough of the XL bars stocked....) I conned my sister into helping me cut out the tags and tie up the ribbons. Here is the finished product. I designed the tags in powerpoint. Here is a closer picture and a PDF if you'd like to print your own.
One of my absolute favorite lessons each year goes along with the children's book, The Mitten, by Jan Brett. I got this idea from my mentor teacher years ago and have adapted it and tweaked it over the years. I use it as a way to culminate the major units that my first graders have been studying throughout the year - rhythm patterns and basic mallet skills. It is also a great way to ease them into preparing for their Spring Musical. First, I read the story to the students and we discuss the various characters in the book. For each character, we learn a rhythm pattern and I have the students practice playing the rhythms on various percussion instruments. Then, I teach the students a song that goes with the book. We add a simple bordun and an octave glockenspiel part at the end of each phrase. Finally, we add some actors! I choose students to represent each character and they follow the narration of the book. I created some masks that I printed from Jan Brett's website, laminated them, and added some elastic bands. I used a cheap white sheet and cut it into the shape of a mitten for the actors to sit on top of during their performance. After the students have practiced all of the parts, we put together a performance that we show to their classroom teacher. As the story is read, one student plays the rhythm pattern on the percussion instrument while that character "gets into" the mitten. When the bear sneezes in the story, the actors toss the mitten up into the air and pretend to fall into the snow while the percussionists play all together. We begin and end the performance with our mitten song accompanied by the mallet instruments. If you have larger classes, you can add actors for Nicki and his grandmother, Baba. You can also double instrument parts and even add sound effects on the sneeze part (think: crank, vibraslap, slapstick, etc.) This activity makes a great "informance" piece at PTO meetings or other school events. The students LOVE it and it is definitely a crowd-pleaser for teachers, too. Fun and learning - that's how we roll at HSES! :)
Folk song based on pentatonic scale with lesson plan ideas for elementary music
What do you like to do when you listen to music? Practice writing sentences by answering this question and more about music in this creative writing worksheet.
Most of us teach multiple grade levels. I teach 4 year olds through 94 year olds. I skip 12 year olds through somewhere in the 60's, though. I think that probably needs explaining, right? I teach Junior Kindergarten through fourth grade and also facilitate music and drum circles at an assisted living center every 2-3 months. The youngest were probably my most difficult age to plan for starting out as a brand new teacher and I continue searching for great material to add to my "collection". We all know how it is - in a singular 30 minute lesson with the younger kiddos we might go through 10-15 activities! Interestingly, my oldest sometimes seem the same! I seek materials from various sources; blogs, bools, fellow teachers, and websites. Several years ago I found a childrens music performer named Nancy Stewart. Each month she posts a Song of the Month! You can search by category, year/month, and alphabetically, and even better - all her songs are downloadable, some have visuals to download, and most have the sheet music to download - all for FREE! YES! There are songs for Eid, Christmas, St. Patirck's Day, Diwali, Valentines, seasonal songs and everything in between. Most of the music is original and I have found some really wonderful material! One of my favorites is the Rhythm Stick Song. Nancy so kindly gave me permission to share the song with you here - the mp3 is available on her site - click the link above. Hope you enjoy it - my kiddos do! We also make up additional verses - "With my sticks I run...", walk, hop, etc. My favorite rhythm sticks are the Basic Beat Combination Sticks pictured below. I love these - perfectly sized at 8" long, no splintering, and one is smooth and the other ridged. They are about $3.00 a pair, and an awesome investment! You can get them here from West Music. Have fun with these! Happy New Year!
Sarasponda
Pentatonic Songs
Clap! Snap! Pat! Stomp! Join in the body percussion fun with these worksheets for your youngest learners. Included in this download are: 2 worksheets that ask students to match the picture of the body percussion to the body percussion word 2 worksheets that ask students to write the body percussion words 2 worksheets that allow students to compose a body percussion song by cutting on cards with body percussion icons and gluing them into a music grid. One of these activities includes 8 beats and the other 16 beats. This product comes as a PDF. Buy this as part of the Body Percussion Bundle and save 20%!
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A few weeks ago, when I posted my lesson plan template, I was asked to show how I would actually use this template in planning. With that ...
Many educators can fall into the trap of waiting for the “perfect” time to start planning for the year ahead. There’s never a bad time to think carefully and creatively about your goals for your students, and how best to implement them. I would suggest that wherever you are in your year, it is the
Write for the NAfME Blog SEARCH & FILTER Search Category Subscribe to NAfME Notes Subscribe to NAfME Notes, our biweekly e-newsletter, to receive highlights from the blog and other NAfME news in your inbox. Subscribe Now Write for the NAfME Blog Interested in sharing your experience with the music education…
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This bundle contains 5 ready-to-use Compare & contrast worksheets which are a perfect collection to help students to practice their knowledge and understanding of comparing multiple subject matters within text.
Little 1st grade Science Thinkers is a complete curriculum that includes scripted teacher lesson plans, read-aloud books in a printable or projectible format, easy-prep science investigations and activities, assessments, anchor chart examples, and more.
Song Index
Nefertiti Makeup? Venus of Willendorf fertility services? Ancient Egyptian Funeral Home? Your students will love coming up with commercials inspired by art!
Spring is one of my favorite times of year - each morning on my walk I hear birds singing and see rabbits hopping on fresh sprigs of green grass. And the flowers! Well, if you know me at all, you know how much I love flowers and especially irises. I have so many flowers planted around my house and particularly love the 20-something varieties of iris I currently have! This is a perfect rhyme and fingerplay for spring. Fingerplays are so underrated! Teach them to younger students as a fingerplay but bring them back to teach or reinforce rhythmic elements in first grade and as a canon experience for second grade, or add a So Mi or So La Mi melody, eventually adding in an ostinato or two. Transfer the rhyme and ostinati to non-pitched percussion, add timbre changes for each line and allow the students to decide how to perform it. For older students, use these as a basis for melodic improvisation or to walk the beat while clapping the rhythm or add a B Section with the names of egg layers - birds, fish, insects, turtles, platypus, echidna, reptiles, and lizards. Or have small groups of students create a movement story of one type of animal and perform for other groups to guess the animal. So many possibilities! For a better image, click here. Enjoy!
Don’t miss out on one of our favorite toys for targeting all kinds of developmental skills...while making music!
