I love using Boomwhackers in my elementary music classes! Not only are they fun and accessible for even the youngest students to play, but they are a really helpful tool for exploring some key musical concepts that make them useful well into the upper grades. Today I want to share some of my favorite ways to use Boomwhackers in the elementary general music classroom. 1. Melodic composition Boomwhackers are a great tool for melodic composition in elementary music because students can use the color-coding of the notes to add pitch to rhythms. My favorite way to do this is with "solfege stickers"- adding stickers to the note heads in the colors that go with the Boomwhackers. The nice thing about that is there is no writing required, and if I want them to use a limited set of pitches (like the pentatonic scale, etc) then I just give them those colors. You can read more about how I make and use them in this post- it's super easy and so much fun! Another way to use the colors to have students compose is with the Chrome Music Lab Song Maker. It's set up so you click on different squares to add pitches, and the colors match the Boomwhackers perfectly! This is a great way to get them practicing and experimenting with melodic composition, because there's no rhythm or traditional notation involved at all but they can hear the notes as they click them. 2. Practicing scale types Boomwhackers are also a great way to reinforce different scales. I use them in my classes to teach pentatonic scales and minor scales- I find the visual is really helpful for many of my students to practice and understand which pitches go in what order when they use the Boomwhackers as a visual / manipulative to put together the scale. I'll give a small group of students a set with 1 of each diatonic pitch, and have them pick out the ones they need and put them in the correct order on the floor, and/or play a scale in order. 3. Practicing chords I use Boomwhackers to introduce the concept of chords and help my students practice building triads to help them understand how to start with the root of the chord, then skip every other pitch to find the other two notes they need. They're also helpful for looking at chord functionality and "translating" between roman numerals and letter names of chords (in C major) because they can use the solfege and letter name labels to help them remember which is which. 4. Centers Boomwhackers are perfect for centers because they are easy to play without supervision and they're not too loud. Sometimes I'll have students "notate" a melody using matching colored bingo chips (see picture) that they lay out on the floor, or notate in Chrome Music Lab and then play the song on the instruments. I've also printed out melodies from Chrome Music Lab for students to practice playing. 5. Play along videos One of my go-to lessons on days when I know I can't continue with my normal sequenced curriculum for whatever reason is play-along videos. They're a great way to keep students engaged and mix things up while keeping it low-key, and it's still a valuable musical experience! I use the diatonic play-alongs by Musication on YouTube, but there are plenty more options for play-along videos around, especially if you have chromatics in your room! I hope you find some new ideas to use in your music classes here, and if I missed any of your favorites, please share them in the comments below! If you love Boomwhackers as much as I do but hate trying to keep them organized, be sure to check out my previous post where I shared my storage solutions. If you're looking for tips and lesson ideas for teaching other instruments, like ukulele, recorder, keyboards, xylophones, and more, head to this post:
Do you love to add science lessons into your music class? Or a science teacher and want to use music to help students understand sound? Use Boomwhackers!
Check out these 4 awesome boomwhackers lesson plans to use in your music room right away. [DETAILS]
My student teacher and I recently designed two lessons inspired by the Despicable Me movies. Both flipcharts are available for free down...
Do you love to add science lessons into your music class? Or a science teacher and want to use music to help students understand sound? Use Boomwhackers!
Okay – first of all, if you’ve never heard of Chrome Music Lab – you need to check it out! It has tons of FREE tools that are great to use for various things in your classro…
In the past, I have posted about my Boomwhacker storage, but have acquire many more sets since then. Here is a look at my previous Boomwhacker Storage. I created these dividers out of hand drum boxes. I would slide the box right into my wall of cabinets. Since I have purchased more diatonic, bass, and chromatic sets, I needed a new storage system. For the diatonic treble sets, I took an adjustable shelf off my short metal bookcase. I went to Big Lots armed with a post-it with measurements of the height, width, and depth of my shelf and the width of one Boomwhacker or 2 side by side. I took some measuring tape with me to the store. After much deliberation, I purchased 8 vertical file holders which cost $2.50 each. At first, I was going to spray paint them to match the Boomwhackers, but getting custom colors would be expensive very quickly. So, I decided to make some labels. This shelf used to store textbooks which I rarely ever use. Those books are now in my wooden cabinet and are available if needed. These Boomwhackers are now easily accessible and visually pleasing. To store the bass and chromatic sets, I used grocery bag holders from IKEA. These were only $1.99 each! They are mounted with 3M Velcro strips. I have left room to grow my collection and plan on purchasing some more bass and chromatic sets this year. I love how this useless space behind the door now serves a purpose! My custodian has sent a work order for maintenance to install a doorstop on the tile to prevent the door from squishing the Boomwhackers. I'll add a picture when it is installed. If you would like a copy of my Boomwhacker labels, I have added them to my store on Teachers Pay Teachers. They include labels for treble, bass, and chromatic sets. There is an option for labels with solfa hand signs or with staff notation. There are bass labels with single notes, or with combinations of notes like you see above in my picture. This set has lots of options for you to customize for your own Boomwhacker collection! Click To Download
This little invention has been a hit with kids as well as teachers. I first created a Bop-o-phone out of desperation for additional xylos. The frame/box costs basically nothing, and it adds some versatility to a set of Boomwhackers. Here are easy instructions and pictures. Please post additional ideas or feedback. Enjoy! Materials needed: an empty, sturdy box that contained a case of 8.5" x 11" copy paper (usually easy to find in the faculty workroom), wide tape, a meter stick, a marker, sturdy scissors, and a about six feet of yarn or soft string. For each mallet, you will need a pencil or 10" length of 1/4" diameter dowel, a small rubber ball (party favor or from 25 cent vending machine), and glue. Step #1 (1) Begin 2 cm from the left side of the box and mark along the top edge 4 cm wide by 1 cm deep arcs, 1 cm apart. Repeat markings on opposite edge. Cut out the arcs. (Cutting from each side and meeting in the middle will give cleaner results.) Step 2 (2) Gently pull the glued seams on one side of the box apart and lay the end flap flat. Mark a line through the center of the bottom of the box from the open edge to 7" from the opposite side. Then mark a "V", extending from the center line to each corner of the box. Cut along these lines. Step #3 (3) Fold the bottom sections over each other with the "V" on top (inside), narrowing the width of the open end of the box to about 8". Then fold the end flaps up, trim/square them up, and tape your seams. (4) Place Boomwhackers in the 'cradles' in diatonic order. (You can leave some off for pentatonic activities). Tie two lengths of yarn around the box and tubes lengthwise as shown in the top picture. Tape yarn in place on bottom of box to keep it from sliding around. The yarn will keep tubes in place, and it doesn't really inhibit tone. (5) Make a mallet by carving/drilling a hole in a rubber ball, applying glue to in the hole and on the end of the dowel or pencil, and inserting the stick into the ball. (Soft rubber balls actually sound better than hard ones.) You can use the Bop-o-phone as an Orff-type instrument for ostinatos or as a melody instrument. It's very easy to convert Boomwhackers to and from this mallet format. Here's a link to my digital song collection of color-coded melodies (with ostinato suggestions), which you might find very useful and versatile: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-BIG-BOOK-of-FOLK-SONG-FUN-for-Bells-or-Boomwhackers-466033
I'm joining up with one of my favorite bloggers, Aileen Miracle (Mrs. Miracle's Music Room) to blog about my favorite pins of the month of January. I have been on a pinning rampage as of late, so get excited! 1. I loved this pin about using monster manipulatives to guide students into composing rhythmic patterns. I have a monster recorder station already, and thought something like this could be added in nicely. The die cuts used are great, but I'm sure computer graphics and notation could be done all on the computer. In fact, maybe I'll make them today on my snow day! 2. What Does the Fox Say for Orff Ensemble: My kids love, love, love "What does the fox say?" There's an arrangement here that has some good application for the classroom. I'm not sure which kids will be the lucky ones to get to perform this, but I know whoever is chosen will love it! 3. I loved this PVC/Noodle four measure composition idea. What a great way to compose and perform quickly as a beginning of class warm up, or for use in stations. My dad has made me a ton of stuff out of PVC, so I'm sure he'll be thrilled when I show him this idea! 4. Though I'm not a big boom whacker fan, I have found them to be a great tool for working with my part time learning support class. Many of these students are not very verbal, and motor skills are difficult. Boom whackers allow them to make music very simply. I found this pin and have been doing this activity during our snowman music unit with the part time learning support kids. They've loved it! 5. Speaking of boom whackers, check out this great way to organize them. I always have trouble keeping them organized and neatly stored!
Excuse our noise... musicians at work! :) After reviewing rhythm patterns at the beginning of the year, 3rd grade classes began working on layering rhythm patterns together. This is one of the more di
Do you love to add science lessons into your music class? Or a science teacher and want to use music to help students understand sound? Use Boomwhackers!
Teaching music with fun, tried & tested lessons, DIY classroom projects & ideas your students will love with Tracy King, the Bulletin Board Lady.
Behold! The Wall of Whackers! Boomwhackers are great for the elementary music classroom, but they are such a pain to store. For the past six years I have kept my large Boomwhackers in laundry baskets and my smaller ones in buckets. It looked messy and was hard to find the tubes I needed. I just moved to a new classroom with a very long, empty wall. I knew I wanted to use the large space for a word wall (which as you can see is still on the to-do list,) but then I found this.... The original inspiration for my wall. This picture (above) was the inspiration for my Wall of Whackers. How simple! What a great idea! I had searched all over the internet for Boomwhacker storage ideas, and this was the only picture I found that really got me excited to try something new! After figuring out how much space this whole thing would take, I ordered 14 feet of 1-inch bulletin board strip through my school. The maintenance crew installed the bulletin board strip. I used long strips of self-adhesive Velcro (prickly side) on the bulletin board, and put short, 2-inch strips (fuzzy side) on each Boomwhacker. It took about an hour of my time to complete. The pitches are much easier to find now, and are very easy to grab! The tubes also give me an easy visual/auditory reference to show students that large instruments make low pitches and small instruments make high pitches. They also provide some much needed color to my new classroom! I plan on using the remaining top half of the wall for a word wall or musical timeline. The black things on the top of some of the tubes are the Octavator caps. I would love to get enough caps to put on each tube! I also have another few feet of space to put more Boomwhackers! Because I use this blog to share interactive resources, I thought I would share a useful (and free) Boomwhacker program called "Boom." Boom is a program (yes, you have to download it) by The Music Interactive that you can have students use on individual computers, but I recommend using it on an interactive whiteboard. You can drag and drop virtual Boomwhackers into melodic patterns or chords. It also has a writing space at the top of the page where you can write rhythmic notation or anything else you may need. The beauty of this program is that you can use it in whatever way works best for you. You can click here for the link, but will need to scroll down a bit to find the program. Make sure you check out some of their other great music programs, too!
In the past, I have posted about my Boomwhacker storage, but have acquire many more sets since then. Here is a look at my prev...
Clever ideas for storing Boomwhackers in your music classroom are highlighted. Boomwhacker storage can be inexpensive and beautiful with these ideas.
Kindergarten through 5th grade Elementary Music blog. Complete with resources, ideas and technology for those in the elementary music classroom.
Brighten up your musical space with colorful posters featurig solfege, bells, recorder finger positions, rhythm characters & more.
Clever ideas for storing Boomwhackers in your music classroom are highlighted. Boomwhacker storage can be inexpensive and beautiful with these ideas.
In 5th grade we are still getting ready for Recorder Karate! (see previous post on Treble Clef Centers) Today in 3rd -5th grade we started the class with a Boomwacker activity! I love the boomwackers and am always trying to find fun new ways to use them. I found this slide on Mimio Connect that had Twinkle Twinkle Little Star color-coded for the boomwackers. Here it is, but the class had already assigned the hand-signs. We use John Armstrong's chart (you can see it written in black to the right) to assign the hand signs.. I put the chart up in the correct key and they follow it over to each note to assign the hand sign. We then played the boomwackers and sang the hand-signs: Then we erased the handsigns and assigned the treble clef note names. We discussed how the treble clef note names don't change no matter where the handsign chart is- they are always the same! In Fifth Grade we also played Treble Clef Frisbee today!!! It is so much fun!
Fun and engaging hand clapping game to teach your kiddos!
Printable treble clef and bass clef staff with noteheads the colors of which match Boomwhackers. Use these high resolution PDFs to create interactive display for your music classroom. Read our blog about how to make this product interactive in your classroom! ➤ Create your own interactive music staff display. (Blog Post) What’s Included With Your Download: ➤ Printable Treble Clef & Bass Clef Staff ➤ 4 Versions of Printable Note Heads: ➤ ➤ Boomwhacker Colors with Letters ➤ ➤ Boomwhacker Colors without Letters ➤ ➤ Black & White with Letters ➤ ➤ Black & White without Letters You may also like: ➯ Instrument Families Unit ➯ Let's Read Music: 45 Melodies for Orff Instruments ➯ Music Cultures: A World Music Unit ➯ Theory Experts: A K-12 Music Theory Curriculum ➯ Sub Plan Ideas for Band, Choir, & General Music Teachers ----------------------------------------------------- RivianCreative.com | Be sure to follow our store to stay up to date with new products! Please leave feedback on our product(s) and earn credits towards your next purchase! Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Blog | Newsletter | YouTube Copyright © Rivian Creative By purchasing/downloading this product, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
It's been such a great week in Kindergarten and First Grade Music! We've been experiencing steady beat with steady beat swords. The "swords" are actually swimming noodles that have been cut in half. First we listened to "Imperial March" from Star Wars and found patterns in the music that sounded like we should march, swing our steady beat swords and sneak around. Then we kept the steady beat by clapping one hand with our partner. Next we took that skill and transferred it to our steady beat swords. We clicked our steady beat swords together on the beat with our partner. As we listened to the song the next time we marched, light saber-ed to the beat and snuck around the galaxy in search of a new beat keeping partner. What fun! Read another blog post about steady beat swords HERE. Read another blog post about steady beat swords HERE.
I just love this book. The art is fantastic as well! One of the first things my kindergarteners do when they walk by my room is to point at my instruments and beg to play them. I don’t blame them one bit. That’s what music is when you are 4-5 years old; instruments in your hand, making noise. Enter a book I recently found at Goodwill and love: The Wide Mouthed Frog! I use the popup version by Keith Faulkner and Jonathan Lambert; you can get it from amazon here. (There is also a similar book here that uses different animals.) In the book, a wide mouthed frog (who eats flies) meets a bird, a mouse, and a big green alligator. The kids love the pictures, and it is a good opportunity to have them create sound effects. We read the book without sound effects, then read the book again with sound effects to compare and contrast the two versions. What I use in this lesson: the book, animal cards, and instruments After students have read the book and know it fairly well, I pass out cards that represent the sound effects we make during the story. The groups I used were the frog, the flies, the bird, the mouse, and the alligator. There is also a giant splash at the end of the story, which I have everyone do. We read the story again, with each group only making sound effects for their animal. This helps minimize mistakes later, when students get instruments. The next step is instruments. This was the first time my kindie kids had instruments, so we talked a LOT about instrument respect before handing out the goods. J We then did the book with instruments. We do the book several times and switch spots each time, so students have opportunities to try more than one instrument. With the instruments in my room, I use a frog guiro for the frog, shakers for the flies, triangles for the bird, sand blocks for the mouse, and castanets for the alligator. The final step is to record students playing during the book, and having them listen. Students get so excited! I will also make a big deal of e-mailing the recording to their teachers. Hope you and your kiddos enjoy this fantastic book! I love that it all fits in my big blue box!
Elevate outdoor music sessions with this versatile frame, perfect for play and lunchtimes.
What does it take to direct a preschool choir? How is working with preschoolers different from working with elementary-age children? What do you need to know? If you’re new to working with preschoolers or it’s been a while since you’ve been around this particular age group, here’s a quick guide to
Contraption 1: The Boomwhacker String- he most wow-worthy Boomwhacker lesson plan and contraption I've ever come up with. Your kids will be playing Boomwhackers like never before!
This set of posters for the music classroom is an eye-catching tool to help your students remember their Curwen Kodaly solfege hand signs! Each poster clearly shows the solfege name and its corresponding hand sign using a variety of skin tones. The posters are rainbow themed and the colors correspond with classroom instruments such as Boomwhackers. Please note, this listing is for the hand signs only. The matching multicultural recorder fingering posters seen in the classroom photo are available separately. This set of posters includes Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, Sol, La, Ti, and Do. (There are two posters for Do in order to maintain the pattern of skin tones. There are two posters for So/Sol so you may choose the spelling you prefer.) Posters are each 8.5x11 inches and are professionally printed in full color edge to edge on cardstock. Free shipping in the 48 contiguous United States. For orders outside the USA, please contact me for a quote.
Do you teach elementary music to fifth graders? Are you struggling to teach fifth graders? Here are some tips and tricks to help you out!
I love using Boomwhackers in my elementary music classes! Not only are they fun and accessible for even the youngest students to play, but they are a really helpful tool for exploring some key musical concepts that make them useful well into the upper grades. You can see some of my favorite ways to use them in class in this post, but today I'm kicking things off by addressing the most common setback for teachers: organizing and storing them so they're not a pile of plastic hot mess! If you don't have a good way of organizing Boomwhackers, they can quickly become a major problem. They're too large to fit into nice neat bins, especially the longer ones, and they topple over easily. If you search the internet for Boomwhacker storage ideas you'll come up with some great ideas: some of my favorites include this idea to use plastic shoe organizers, this idea using plastic bag storage containers, and this idea using cardboard magazine holders. But for me, I have found hanging them on the wall with this type of strong velcro very effective (and fun to look at)! I always get questions about my wall-hanging Boomwhackers when I share pictures of my classroom, so let me start by answering those frequently asked questions: Yes, they have held up well. I've had mine up for 6 years and have never replaced any velcro. No, the velcro does not affect the sound of the instrument. I tell students to hold the velcro side in their hand and strike the other side on the floor/hand/whatever they're using. The only time we can't do this is when we're using octavator caps, which don't fit over the velcro- then I just have them tap the velcro side and it still sounds fine. You want to make sure to put the soft side on the instruments and the scratchy side on the wall so that they can hold the velcro without getting scratched. Besides being aesthetically pleasing and keeping the instruments from being a hot mess, I like having them on the wall this way because I often use them with small groups and I like having each octave set separated so I can tell each group to get the ones they need from one row, and they can clearly see the notes next to each other in order when they refer to them for musical concepts like solfege, chord functionality, etc. I've seen many other teachers hang them on the wall with all the same notes next to each other, but I think having one of each note together makes it easier for the ways I use them most. It also makes it easier to get out one set to use in a center etc by taking all of the ones in one row rather than having to go through and collect one of each note. If I had all the chromatics and extended octaves (bass / treble) and such (which I don't), I would not keep them together with the others because I wouldn't want to confuse my students when they're using as a tool to understand a concept- I would store them in one of the other methods I mentioned above off to the side, and pull them out when we needed them for a specific activity. I hope this helps you get your Boomwhackers in order so that they can be more of an asset and less of a headache for your classroom! Next week I'll be sharing tons of ways I like to use them to meaningfully and effectively teach specific musical concepts, so stay tuned, and if you have your own favorite ways to use them in your lessons I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!
Using instruments with young students can be a struggle if you aren't prepared. Get some great ideas for using instruments with Preschool and Kindergarten.
Digital Sheet Music for Star Wars (Main Theme) by Dan Coates, John Williams scored for Easy Piano; id:94990
Music education blog, K-8, teaching ideas & resources, advocacy, quotes, Kodaly, Orff, bells, Boomwhackers, integration, & home-made instruments.
See my earlier post about centers. Here's a few more center ideas and some visuals for you to right click and save as and print! Drawing...
Some calming activities for music class to help your students wind down before sending them back to the classroom teacher!
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Don’t miss out on one of our favorite toys for targeting all kinds of developmental skills...while making music!
