Week 2 Music Review Centers

This year, since we have two weeks of school I August, week 1 was a classroom procedures review (with lots of singing, instrument playing, dancing and more!) and week 2 is a Music Elements review so I can gauge what my students remember from last year. I know where I left off and where they were at the end of last year, but there is always a little bit of regression over the summer. Each grade (3-6) will have their own stations to review the concepts they are working on.

Typically my centers all "center" on one theme- all have something to do with musical terms, note names on the staff, or a particular rhythmic or melodic element that we are working on. However, just for beginning of the year review the centers will include worksheets, SMARTboard games, manipulatives and more covering various music topics.  Some stations all 4 grades had in their rotation and some were saved for just one group.

Centers I had This Year:
Do You Hear What I Hear? (3 and 4) OR Koosh Quest (5 and 6)

-Do You Hear What I Hear? is an aural practice game where there are 3 patterns shown (typically staff notation) on the SMARTboard. Students press a symbol (in my case a circle with eighth notes in it) and it will play a pattern for them. They must match the pattern they hear to one of the patterns shown.  If they are right- balloons appear and they get to move on.  If they are wrong, a frowny face appears and it sends them back to the same question to try again.  I got these in grad school- shared from my wonderful methods teacher, who got them from Aileen Miracle.  They are free on SMARTexchange and you can get them HERE.  There are many other great versions on TPT.

-Koosh Kwest, which I also learned in grad school, is where students toss a koosh ball at the SMARTboard which is covered in circles- all of which are linked to a page with a 4 beat rhythm pattern. Students read the pattern then return to the main circle page.  Similar games are all over Teachers Pay Teachers!

Staff Twister (5-6)- Exactly what it sounds like- A human-sized staff was taped on the floor (using painters tape!) with a spinner that says things like "Right foot on A" or "Left hand on F" - I used the DECIDE NOW Ipad App for the spinner and it was super quick and easy to set up. {It is only .99 for the full version where you can make your own wheels and you can use it for so much! I use it for class rewards and fun tempo games as well} You can also use the website Wheeldecide.com :)

Treble Clef Staff made out of Painters Tape for TWISTER!

DECIDE NOW- you fill in the blue with your own lables









Fly Swatter game (4)- Draw a bunch of Music Symbols on the board and have one student in the group pick a symbol from the given sheet- then the other 2 or 3 in the group race to find and swat the symbol on the board! Check out a previous post on this game HERE :)

Song Sort (3-6)- I got this Idea from Aileen Miracles Sub Plans set you can get HERE on TPT.  For this game, there are 12 (or more) songs on cards.  Students sort the cards into two piles- songs that have a specific element and those without (my students are doing re in 3rd, tika-tika in 4th, low la in 5th and ti in 6th as review from the previous year).  If they finish correctly and show me their answers before time is up they then get to write a story using the song titles.  For Example- Ebeneezer Sneezer was shooing a fly away from him while riding a white horse to Charlotte town... etc.   I love this because students work hard to sort the songs- just so they can get to writing a story, but- at least in my class- they must be correct before their silly story can start.

Two of the Songs in my Half Note Song Sort Set

Pop Song Rules (3-6)- Students change the words of a favorite song (could be any song really) to be about our school-wide Wilson Way.  ~Take Care of Yourself. Take Care of Others. Take Care of our Wonderful Wilson School.~  They love this because they get to sing the tune of a favorite song.  They always turn out really fun (some usually have really awesome beat-boxing or harmony).  Some kids use pop songs but every year some also choose a song from music class to change the words of!
This year my example was changing the words of the chorus of FANCY.  We read the song from Handsigns first (s-m-r-d  s-s-s-l-s-m  d-s-m-r-d  r-r-r-r-d-l,)  and then I sang my Wilson Way Version: We love Wilson, It's a Great School, We take care of ourselves, others, and our Wilson School. Super simple :)

My Musical Summer (3-6)- I got these super cute mini books from Sara Bibee's TPT store HERE.  Students just fill them out and it gives me info on what music they like, how they like to experience music, what musical activities they did over the summer and more. 
I tried to have a station that reviewed rhythm, one with melody, one with the staff or other vocabulary/ musical symbols, and then some that just let the kids be kids but still are related to music.  These stations have been going very well so far!

Mend My Broken Heart (3)- I got this great stick to staff matching game from Jaime Pitts Parkers TPT Store HERE.  Students must match a stick rhythm with solfa written underneath on the left side of a heart to the staff notation written on the right side.


*****Other Things that make really good centers and I will FOR SURE use either as centers or during Large Group Instruction later this year- Many are super inexpensive from Teachers Pay Teachers so if you haven't tapped into that awesome resource yet- I highly recommend it!*****

Fortune Tellers- instrument family and music terms review - Get your own for instrument families HERE.  There is even a template for students to make their own! Love this product made by Jenna Hudson at Sew Much Music!

Music Boggle worksheet- Students form 4 beat rhythm patterns just like they would form words in traditional boggle. Love these sheets from Music-a-la-Abbot- get it HERE

Lines and Spaces worksheets- I will probably either use a great riddles set I found on TPT by Musical Staff Fun OR Treble Clef Treats by Jaime Pitts Parker.  Get them HERE and HERE respectively.  These I also had ready just in case groups got a little crazy with the Twister- so far I have not had a problem, but I have only had 2 classes for each grade with 2 more for each grade to go! I am hoping I don't have to use these worksheets JUST yet. 

Song Match (Snowman or other)- Name, Rhythm, and Staff notation match up- Buy my Snowmen HERE (other seasons will be made soon!)

Symbol ID coloring - Just like Color By Number sheets. I got my color-by-rhythm worksheets from Aileen Miracles Sub Set HERE

Headbands- Get the game HERE one student wears a headband with a music symbol or rhythm pattern on it and has to ask questions to others to figure out what it says! SO fun! 

Music Symbol or Instrument Family Matching Games-  Students match the symbol/picture, to the name, to the definition/ family.  Right now there is a Garden version, a Pumpkin version, and a Snowman version as well as Hearts and Back-to-School! Get the Vocab Games HERE and the instrument family games HERE

Listening Station- students will complete a squilt worksheet and then get to take turns silently rocking out with the foam guitar speaker I got from JoAnn Fabrics :)

I got the green and blue on in store- you can order online HERE

I am super excited to get the school year started of with great learning, in a way I can also informally assess exactly what the students remember and where we truly need to start for this school year! How do you start off your year??

2014-2015 Classroom Tour- WE are WILSON

So many teachers have been posting about their classroom décor ideas for 2014-15 so I thought I would link up with Aileen Miracles "My Music Room Set-Up" Linky Party and share what I have been working on! Check out Aileen's post and find links to many more great music room set ups HERE.

It took me a while to come up with a theme for this year, and I had a few ideas- Fairy Tale, Super Heros, etc.  However, our school just revamped our "brand" and got a new mascot (well new version of our old mascot), a new logo, and a new slogan so I decided to go with that!

Being Wilson Elementary, we decided on WE ARE WILSON: We Grow Together, We Learn Together, WE Play Together as our new slogan and our new version of Willy the Wildcat is AWESOME so I decided to make that my classroom theme for the year too.

Behavior chart and Wilson Way
Rules Posters

I made Rules that align with our Wilson Way, MUSIC behavior letters (I have the letters flipped backwards sitting on the board tray and as the class does something really well I will put a letter up in the corner of the board- if they get all 5 letters to spell the word MUSIC they get a star on my class behavior chart), Word Wall Letters, Instrument Labels, and a Solfa Ladder all utilizing our great clipart that COHO Creative Designs created for us!  I also hope to update my Elements of Music Posters adding a few Wildcats to those as well :)



The rules are posted right next to my behavior chart- HIT THE HIGH NOTE.  Each class can earn a star each week (by spelling the word MUSIC as mentioned above).  If they earn 4 stars, the class earns a prize.   I love this way of tracking because after the first few weeks, classes can't compare with each other because their class chart gets erased once they reach the goal of 4 stars and we start fresh.

Front of Room! Banner Says WELCOME TO MUSIC!

At the front of the room there is the SMARTboard, a mini bulletin board (still to be made!), the Dry Erase Board and a Class Behavior chart.  The solfa handsign cards and MUSIC behavior letters are magnetic (easy to add and remove for different age groups!) and are hung on the dry erase board.

Instrument shelves with Word Wall

I added the word wall above my instrument shelves.  My plan for the word wall is to put all the words up (soon!) and then add colored stickers as a grade learns a word.   Blue for 1st, Green for 2nd, Yellow for 3rd, Orange for 4th, Red for 5th, and multi for 6th (these colors correspond with our WILSON event shirts the students get each year).

As for the instruments- this is just their "put away" home.  Each day I will have about 10 set up in the "chorus room" which is adjacent to my GM room (both are in a modular classroom that is all mine). Students will be able to sit in their riser spots and easily go to instruments when it is their turn.  This way, instruments are ALWAYS ready, rather than students having to pull them off the shelves and put them back away when done so we have room to move and dance.

Chorus Room with Xylophones set up ready to play!

I am hoping I use the instruments way more because of this! I will have to teach these different positions (risers, instruments, circle, board work) in the first few weeks of school, but I am sure students will get the hang of moving quickly from one spot to another AND it will definitely be less time than having to pull them off the shelves each time they are used.

Boomwhacker Wall :)

I also added a boomwhacker wall this year (which above will be a musical time-line soon!).  This got them OUT of the trashcans I was using to hold them for more space in the classroom- AND they look prettier!  Whoever came up with this idea is amazing! I found it on pinterest!  Because I can't do any permanent changes, as my room is a "temporary" classroom I just used a staple gun and stapled the Velcro to the wall and put a little square on each boomwhacker. Love it!

Cross-Curricular Corner!

Teachers Mood and Music Garland!

Near my door is my "cross-curricular" wall where I have the Awesome BLOOMS IN THE MUSIC ROOM signs (get them for FREE here)as well as Music is: Math, Physical EdUcation, Social Studies, ReadIng, and SCience posters that I made last year.  I also have a teachers mood sign and new super cute garland around the door frame (thanks Aunt Beth!).  I am super happy with this area!

Below are some pictures from the chorus room.  In here is risers, my desk, the piano, as well as storage so that we have as much room as possible in the GM side to move and dance!

America the Beautiful,
The Star-Spangled Banner
and Wilson Way Signs

Piano with Solfa Handsign Cards




Storage Cabinets students can see from the Risers

Desk and decorated filing cabinets!

The first week am going to have the students guess how many Wildcats they think are around the room and a Blue Card (A school wide individual behavior incentive) will be given to one student from each grade- all correct answers will be put into a hat and I will draw a name! If no one is exact, the student who is closest with their guess (without going over) will win!

I am also working on a Fairy-Tale Adventure themed classroom décor set because I was thinking of doing that theme for a while as it relates to the musical I will be doing in the spring. It has princesses, dragons, castles, and more! You can get the set HERE.  A few more items still need to be added but most of it is there and ready.  If you choose to buy now, you will be able to re-download with out paying extra for the added items!

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