Props always seem to help make learning fun for kids! My kindergarten and grade one students, as well as all of my choirs, begin each music class with vocal exploration type sounds. This might include slides, waves, spins, animal sounds, and random noises that I’ve made up. In order to keep things interesting, I sometimes bring out the SOUND CUBE for these vocal warm-ups. Thanks Ms. Cornish, my student teacher, for making this one! WHAT YOU NEED: · poster board · pencil · yard stick · permanent marker · masking tape · clear tape WHAT YOU DO: 1. Have a look at the cube template from History Tech. Your cube outline will be similar to the template, but with different dimensions. The squares you draw will be 6.5” x 6.5”. 2. Using a yardstick and pencil, draw your outline onto the poster paper by looking at the template provided and measure each line so that you have 6.5” squares. 3. On each square, draw a line or shape that you can see your students creating a sound to. 4. Go over your drawings in permanent marker. 5. Cut your cube outline out. 6. Laminate your outline (if you choose to do so) and then fold along each line to put your cube together. 7. Using making tape loops, tape the paper tabs to the inside of the cube. 8. Once the cube is assembled, cover all corners with clear packing tape to ensure that the cube stays together. ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR CLASS: Use the sound cube as a warm up tool for your choir, using motion and sound to match the drawings. Begin Music class by having a student toss the cube and the class must produce the sound indicated by the drawing. After a student rolls the sound cube, have him/her choose a partner to sound out the drawing with. Roll the cube and have students draw the sound in the air with their index finger without using their voices. Have students move the sound cube drawings silently and with their whole bodies. Have fun! - Steph

Summary: This lesson will enable Year 2 learners to construct an understanding of instruments in Program music and to immerse them aurally and visually in music appreciation. ACARA (2013) assert that developing aural skills is a necessity for all listening, composition and performing activities. This is the first lesson in a sequence focusing on Peter […]

A fun and simple musical theory and rhythm game to teach the difference between finding the beat and the rhythm of a song to kids.

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.

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…

This set of worksheets is an easy way to gather feedback from your kindergarten through third grade students after a music concert. Each worksheet asks students to evaluate their performance through writing. It includes 9 print-and-go worksheets that vary in difficulty, perfect for differentiation ...

Aside from an appreciation for music, I have no other knowledge of it or possess any talent myself. My son's music teacher’s “tee tee ta...

It's taken a while but my students are fairly skilled at using reflection in various forms in art class. A few weeks ago an assignment ...

Jacob Ochtervelt, 1671

Here is my first composition for the Boomwhacker Mystery game! Can you guess what it is? Update: Here are two more Mystery Songs!

Starting Arts has always had a very close partnership with parents in the community. Parents have the power to change their school culture in amazing and effective ways. For example, Starting Arts…

Today's lesson combines Common Core literature reading standards and visual art standards. pairs Robinson Crusoe and NC Wyeth's illustrations to explore point of view. It's titled "Reading the Art", come check it out!

In advance of our upcoming Crash Bang Wallop! family concert all about the weather and featuring Vivaldi’s glorious Four Seasons, we created a quick go-to guide to use to introduce your littl…

How to Do Charlotte Mason Picture StudyCindy, The Art Curator for Kids, 2015-06-26 02:50 I am a contributing writer over at the blog, Real Life at H...

Credit- Raymondsanti Students in grades K-4 began the Lion King unit this Monday during Arts Enrichment time. Arts Enrichment is an extra music/art time a week taught by the Art teacher Mrs. Divis and the music teacher Ms. Moon. Photo Credit The Lion King on Broadway Trailer For the next two Mondays students will be learning a fun dance to "The Circle of Life" and making African necklaces. Students will wear the necklaces while showcasing "The Circle of Life" dance at an upcoming school assembly. Photo by: Swiss.frog After those two weeks students will explore The Lion King theme more through various art projects and music activities. Some of the music activity videos are shown below: Hakuna Matata: The Lion Sleeps Tonight Music Video Lion Sleeps Tonight- Just Dance 2 Video I made two different arrangements of Lion Sleeps Tonight (and found the ukulele online) for grades 2-4, to align with what instruments they are learning in general music class. Grade 2 will learn the song on boomwhackers, grade 3 on the barred instruments, and grade 4 on the ukulele. I will also give a brief description of some common African instruments and add appropriate percussion parts (likely only one or two per grade of the percussion parts listed below). Below is a video from a 2nd grade class of students playing the boomwhacker part and some African instruments. Here is a 3rd grade class practicing the mallet accompaniment to "Lions Sleeps Tonight". Although the Lion King takes place in Kenya, the theme of the unit opens up the wonderful opportunity to explore musical activities from all parts of Africa. Obwisana is a folk song from Ghana. Students will play a rock passing game while singing the song. The words of the song mean "The rock has crushed my hand, grandma." I found this description in a book I have: "A child singing this song is repeatedly receiving a message of security and comfort, even in the context of a phrase and game which tells of injury. The injured child can take comfort in the fact that he or she can turn to "Nana" for sympathy and assistance- the ever-present circle of relatives supports Ghanaian children and adults during times of misfortune and celebration both." Che Che Koolay is also a folk song from Ghana. The words have been said by some to be nonsense words. But the movements to the song lean toward this translation: Hands on your head Hands on your shoulders Hands on your waist Hands on your knees Hands on your ankles Hands on your ankles Hands on your ankles, hey! Notation found here Students will learn a dance similar to the popular American song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to Che Che Koolay.

Dit schilderij, Model in het atelier van de schilder, olieverf op doek, van de kunstschilder 'Maurits' Joseph Niekerk was voorheen te koop. Bekijk de informatie, biografie, signatuur, prijs en waarde van het kunstwerk van de kunstenaar Niekerk M.J.

“The prime value of the arts in education lies, from my point of view, in the unique contributions it makes to the individual’s experience with and understanding of the world. The visual arts deal with an aspect of human consciousness that no other field touches on: the aesthetic contemplation of visual form.” – Elliot Eisner, […]

Discover the impact of arts education on our children's future with Bette Fetter, the author of Amazon's #1 bestseller, Being Visual.

Young readers will love digging into this passage's cool guitar facts, and they'll get a nice reading comprehension workout in the process.

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Si eres profesor de música, esta infografía te resultará muy útil para enseñar a tus alumnos 14 importantes términos musicales que les ayudarán a mejorar como músicos.Esperamos que os result

Where music and fun "play" together!

Oh no! It's the big A word. ASSESSMENT! While it can be scary and intimidating to create numeric grades for an entire student body, there are simple tools that I use to make my job a little easier. I do not believe in grading an elementary student based on how well they can draw. That's so.... subjective! For the past several years, I have been a member of an elementary art PLC (professional learning community). Last year, we met once a month to discuss teaching strategies, assessment, evaluation, and a slew of other fun topics. During one meeting, we decided to design a basic rubric that could be used across the board in an elementary art room. Here is the result. Now, I know that this a VERY simple rubric. However, I have had a beneficial time using this skeleton to create worthwhile assessment of student work. The rubric basically scores being on task, craftsmanship/ creativity, and following directions and meeting goals. When it is time to assess student work, I will review the objectives for the lesson and write the goals on the board. Students are required to self assess as to whether or not they completed all the goals. In essence, we create a checklist. For instance... Did you... *Create an animal with shapes and textures *Fill the space with a habitat for your animal *Show foreground, middleground, and background Using a 10 point system makes grading simple and easy. I post the rubric and the grading scale in a highly visible place in my room, so as to familiarize students with the process from the beginning of the year. It also enables me to remain transparent when discussing my grading practices with colleagues and parents. I want everyone to understand that my class is a standards based class, with true numerical grades and assessments.

If you're not familiar with Harvard's Project Zero and Visible Thinking Routines , I highly recommend you check it out. This par...

I say just in the nick of time because, as I’ve mentioned recently, I feel like I’m losing some focus. In preparing for Miss Weber to join us next week I got out our curriculum flow ch…

The Mobile Music School offers high quality music programmes for primary schools. Our music lessons are curriculum-based and also use the Kodaly Method.

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.