Songwriting Tips, Tools & Free Printables!
Mrs. Tanenblatt's personal teaching blog, filled with songs, games, and activities for the elementary music room.
In Elementary School my favorite part of "Music Class" was when we drew. You're not seeing a typo - drawing in music class was something we did often, and I loved it. Our teacher would
So, I figured out what I’m going to get all my students for Christmas this year. A framed copy of this: Anyone else with me on this?! 🙂 Visit the Odd Quartet website to print out your own pdf of the poster. (HT: LaDona’s Music Studio)
Singing games are a great way to teach musical concepts, incorporate movement, and give children an opportunity to sing alone and with others. They're perfect as gathering activities, ice-breakers, or a quick change-of-pace in the middle of rehearsal. A few months ago, I shared seven fun
Inside you’ll find: picture books about composers, full of living ideas perfect for a Charlotte Mason picture study. Have you ever met a person that hated all types of music? Yeah, me either. Unfortunately, I know far too many people that don’t appreciate classical music. Maybe because they weren’t exposed to it at a young [...]
Forming a practice habit will set your students up for success in the long run. What better way than challenging students to 100 days of piano practice?
Music education blog, K-8, teaching ideas & resources, advocacy, quotes, Kodaly, Orff, bells, Boomwhackers, integration, & home-made instruments.
We plan on traveling all over the world this summer… …without ever leaving home. That’s right, this summer we embark on a journey around the world and discover where we fit into it!Xander already has my love of maps. Sometimes I wonder if it can be genetic. Afterall, I am the daughter of a cartographer dad and […]
Last week, I taught my beginners how to play C natural. This is one of my favorite skills to teach because it is so fun! After demonstrating where and how to play the note, we play our first tune using C natural. I tell the class that something terrible has happened to Mary's little lamb. It was trying to cross the road and it got hit by a car. Mary feels terribly sad, so we have to change her song. We play 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' with the notes C natural, B, and A. Students are amazed at how the song is transformed by only changing one note. We then try some other easy rote tunes and make them sound sad. My students like to call out tunes to see if I can play them 'sad' by using naturals. The next day, students need to drill the new note, but also review C# to make sure it stays where it needs to go. There are so many intonation issues that can be fixed if students can develop solid finger placement from naturals to sharps. Stories work well to demonstrate this point. One time, I needed to head to the grocery store and my 2 youngest children wanted to come. Because I was in a hurry, I told them they couldn't come. As I drove away, noticed my children weeping and wailing at the end of my driveway because they wanted to come so badly. I tell students that they must be firm with C# and even D. Sometimes, when we play a C natural, the C# and D notes want to come down, too...but you can't let them! I don't know if you've ever heard of a 'Yea/Boo story,' but my dad used to tell these stories when I was little and I thought they were great fun. This is a story that requires audience participation as the plot unfolds. The story teller develops a story one line at a time. After each line, the audience says, "Yea!" if the story is happy, and "Boo!" if anything bad happens. This is how I drilled A, B, C sharp, and A, B, C natural with my students. I told a story - and if my story was happy - students played A, B, C#. They played A, B, C natural when anything bad happened in the story. Here's an example: "Guess what!? I get to take my high school orchestra to Disneyland!" Class is happy and plays A, B, C sharp. "And we get to ride on a fancy bus with built in TV's!" Class plays A, B, C sharp. "But the bus gets a flat tire and we have to stop." Class plays A, B, C natural "And we get stuck in the middle of nowhere!" Class plays A, B, C natural Etc. etc. -- I just made this up as I went. I ended up telling my students about a tour experience they could have at a Disney studio once they reach High School. After the story, many students said, "Wow! I'm staying in orchestra for sure!" What a great little retention strategy - and we drilled our new note. At this stage, students really enjoy trying to play double stops. Another fun drill is to have them play the A string notes with open D - fiddle style.
Easy March Music Class Lesson Ideas for music in our schools month are just ahead in this blog post. Sometimes you just need a quick and easy lesson to use with multiple grades. I like to use visuals because over 70% of students relate better to a graphic or an object during a lesson. I […]
Improvisation is one of the best methods we have for figuring out how our students are working through musical materials. That’s because the cognitive process in improvisation requires students to build upon previous knowledge to create something new. Improvisation is also spontaneous, so students g
With the school year and the piano lesson year about to begin in many places, I thought it would be fitting to share some new printable for...
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
Where music and fun "play" together!
Fun and simple ideas for classroom management from the best resource available to teachers: other teachers! Top hallway procedure transitions and ideas.
Oh my goodness, I so hate packing up my stuff at the end of the year. And I thought I was organized! Oh well. While I was cleaning, I took a few snapshots of some posters/anchor charts I've created for my room. If I can create them, you can create them. I've elaborated under the pictures in case you'd like to try it yourself! Category One: Anchor Charts/Posters for Listening Activities, Composers, and Musicians Here's a poster I based off of a Pin about "while authors write". It was pretty easy to draw everything and has been a great reference all year long. This is Maestro, our conducting elephant. Students of all ages love to use him when we try out a listening piece (it is a great motivator/reward for appropriate listening behavior). One student holds one end of the poster and another student holds the other. One student, the "conductor" stands behind Maestro and "conducts" through the whole. The conductor gets to use a long gray sock, just like the elephant's trunk. Here's another great reference poster for students to use when listening to a piece. Sometimes I ask for a specific question to be focused on, but usually I have the students prepare mental answers for at least one purple question and one black. I've used this poster as a reference for student-created posters (5th grade) during our Jazz unit. Students are supplied with the materials, a picture of the artist, a short bio, and 10 interesting facts. They need to create a neat, organize poster that includes at least 5 facts and present it to the class (working in groups of four or less). Category 2: Rhythm and Melodic Posters/Anchor Charts Here's a chant I created for K and 1 to help with our steady beat/rhythm lessons. There is a steady beat side (and we practice pointing to the hearts - I also have heart beat maps for this that they use individually) and stomping to the beat while saying the lyrics. I add some students to hand drums. And here is the rhythm side. Students practice chanting the rhythm on "ta" and "titi" while clapping, then using rhythm sticks. Here is a reference pocket chart the older students can use (it is up all year round): I love this music staff poster. The students can refer to it as they learn the lines and spaces on the music staff. Even my little ones know the poem: This is a poster I created for 2nd - 5th grades as we worked on sight-reading songs. It mirrors the format of most of my powerpoints. We often discuss things in the "cherry on top" as we go: Here's a simple poster for use in pentatonic Orff music (especially with Mallet Madness): This is a poster I use when discussing, well harmony, chords, and accompaniment (it does all three). You can use these in rock songs (or with your own or the students' own piano accompaniments) to discuss the harmonic progression of the song. Because there isn't "too much" here, 4th or 5th grade students can benefit from a mini-lesson on harmony, even if, like me, you don't delve into chords too much. Of course students can accompany a favorite song by following you as you point to each chord and playing their respective boomwhackers. I'm working with more of a specific lesson plan to use these chords with, hopefully including some favorite songs of the kiddos - will post soon! Category 3: Misc I did this lesson with my 4th and 5th graders two years ago, my first year at this school (they were going to see some live performances and needed to learn about the instruments - fast). First, I let them decorate their folder while listening to some instrumental works. While the works were playing, students could read about them on the screen at their leisure. In subsequent lessons, the students filled in the middle with facts, notes, pictures, and musings about the instrument families. I had a worksheet divide into four (one for each family) and the students were asked to write 3 facts, list all instruments in the family, and choose a favorite. I used sfskids.org as the main source of info, augmented with live examples and videos on youtube. On the back, the wrote about their favorite instrument out of all the families and reflected on the performances they saw. Best of all, they can take this with them and have a reference for their middle school band selections. This is "Brenda" (named after my own mom who always looks awesome when singing) and I used her as a reference during choir rehearsals. I attached her to my stand and all I had to do was point at a specific part of the poster to give the kiddos a reminder when something needed to be fixed. I told the kiddos, "This is why I don't teach art" but they seemed to love Brenda and I plan to give her a permanent spot in the room next year. I can't wait to create more over the summer!
Use this free listening map of Astor Piazzolla's Libertango to teach timbre to your elementary music students.
Elementary Music Beat and Rhythm Movement Activities. Get ideas on how to use movement to teach beat and rhythm.
Let's go to the sea! I love the ocean - I recently did a video on my facebook site - @ofortunaorff with the ocean in the background while I sang a beach song and used cockle shells! This is a lovely song from Guatemala and has a rhythm activity where small groups create rhythms using ocean animals. You can choose to have the students create the contrasting sections in Spanish or English and there are four different "sets" of rhythmic building blocks - colored, black and white, with rhythms, and without. Consider adding ocean drums and rainsticks. This is also a good one for ukulele - F and C7! Email me for the full pdf - [email protected]. Now make plans to go to the beach!
Students LOVE to use scarves and ribbons in music class and PE. This set of action cards can help students explore levels and pathways as they move to any music of your choosing. This is just what you need to take your creative movement activities to the next level. Sometimes when students feel a little shy during creative movement time they just need a little direction. That’s where these scarf and ribbon movement cards come in. Although the words and illustrations give students ideas of how to move with the scarf or ribbon, the students still get to interpret them however they like: one hand, two hands, high, low, etc…. Let’s get moving! Print the cards out and use them as you walk through your classroom. Students can use scarves, ribbons or ribbon sticks or even just their hands and arms. Use the included jpegs to create choreography to match any song that you would like to use by dropping them into PowerPoint or slides. The movement possibilities are unlimited! Included in this download you’ll get: ➡️ 15 full page cards with directions in pictures ➡️ 20 full page cards with words to inspire movement with scarves and ribbons ➡️ 1 blank page that you can print and draw or write on your own actions ➡️ jpegs of all the cards PLEASE NOTE: The jpegs should not be used to create your own product to re-sell. They are for use in your classroom only. Here’s what teachers are saying about this product: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I used this activity as a first day activity with my 1st and 2nd graders - I projected them on the whiteboard, put on a fun pop song, and my kids LOVED it!” – Emily G. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Great for a movement activity, open creativity, and free days when my students earn them! Even if there are no scarves or ribbons, students have used their arms and hands to make their own movement ideas.” -J.P. Teachers like you also purchase: Freeze Dance and Creative Movement Bundle
