Choices Choices Choices

Do you struggle with older elementary grades like I do?  I have just recently found a trick that, while different from many of my other classes seems to work better.  I have found that my 6th graders this year are really restless and are more silly than they have in the past (not just in music) because they are ready to move onto middle school. It is also funky because of the way band works in my school- where one instrument group is gone for half of the General Music class at band, and then they switch with another group who starts with me- this would be great, except each class also has students who are not in band and are in general music the whole 50 minutes.

I have  noticed that when I give the older kids more choices, they are more in-tune to what we are working on.  I give them choices in a few ways (never more than 2 choices at a time- they choose between 2 things, not 8).  They love it because they feel they have some control over what they are doing while really they are all learning the same concepts- I just work harder to find more than one song that could work in the lesson and let them pick.   I also have given them a structured way to choose partners, because I was noticing that people chose the same partner all the time, and then some were always left out.

Here are some examples of choices I have given recently to 6th grade:

Choice 1:  Sing a partner song and then choose which game to play.  

We are practicing Tom-ti vs. Ti-tom (dotted-quarter eighth) and I had them try to pair Shanghai Chicken and Our Old Sow.  We sight-read Our Old Sow from the board and then thought of a similar song in structure and tone-set but that had a ti-tom (Shanghai Chicken).  After we paired the two- switching groups, etc, I let them choose which of the games to play- the beanbag/ egg game for Shangahi Chicken, or the chasing game for our Old Sow.  Not all classes chose the same game.

Choice 2: Choose which new song to sight-read. 

Pic from Level 3 packet, Capital U

Pic from Level 3 packet, Capital U

In this case, I had 2 songs ready with a picture to project on the SMARTboard of the music.  I told them if they sight-read the song to the best of their ability and learned it fairly quickly (after answering all my symbols questions) we would be able to play the game- which I gave them an overview of.  Again, I chose the songs with the same goal in  mind.  These two had a slightly different tone-set, but both had the dotted-quarter eighth pattern I was looking for- Da Ruma San (staring game) and Dipi Du (hand-clap game).  This time, they all chose the same song.  Yes, it is trickier (but not that tricky!) for me to keep track of who read what if they choose differently- but it makes it      more enjoyable for them when they have some say in the lesson.





Choice 3: Choose which time period to do a report on

We are doing an overview of music history this year, starting with Medieval and going through Contemporary Pop and Classical Music.  Each Student has to do a report sometime during the year on ONE of the time periods.  I am letting them choose the time period as long as there is at least one student from every class doing each time period.  I know a lot are trying to hold out for Modern music, but there have been enough that we have had a few for each other (through Baroque so far) so it hasn't been too much of a problem.  

Choice 4: Clock Partners

I got this idea from the 6th grade teachers.  Each student is given a clock and chooses their 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock partners, writing their name in the middle and the partners name near the number.  I then choose the 1, 4, 7, and 10  and "the universe" (random name chooser on SMARTboard, or even ust pulling from a hat) chooses the other 4.  This way, they get to choose 4, I choose 4 and 4 are random. I then can either choose a number for them to use when we need partners in music, or pull one out of a hat.  The clocks in the 6th grade rooms are displayed for all to see on the walls of the room, but I have mine in a binder now, and plan on making a SMARTfile for each class so they can see their partners easily when it is time.   It is because if I know we need partners where the need to be serious is a big part of the project, I can pick a number that I chose, but if it is just a game or something, it can be a partner they chose.  

Other Choices:

I have also thought about have a few sets of manipulatives ready (that all do the same thing) and letting them choose- for example, rhythm dice, rhythm cards, or rhythm legos.  The same work-sheet would be filled out, but they get to choose the tool to help them.

I am seeing a lot more smiles leaving my 6th grade music room- which is a big plus for me, so I think this choices thing is working out.  The rest of the lesson is still structured the same, where we have 2 main concepts- a melodic and rhythmic- and we work on one at the beginning and one at the end with a pivot song in the middle.   I try to work in the history into these concepts, but sometimes it is just listening as they come in or are leaving with a few questions to ponder before the next class.

Dry-Erase Dice - great for rhythm practice, solfa practice, and more!

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted! It was a crazy Holiday season- I was in a community theater production of Les Miserables the 1st two weekends in December, then immediately following was my students 5/6 grade chorus musical- The North Pole Musical (super cute by the way) and then winter break started which included getting engaged and driving all over the state of Ohio.  I am now sitting at home on what was supposed to be my first day back to school but we have sub-zero temps (F) here with wind chills at about -20 or -30 so we are off for the day.  I will be posting much more in the new year!

I had seen rhythm dice before on various blogs etc. and loved the idea so I started to make my own over break.  I ordered a few sets of dice from AMAZON and am keeping 4 with the numbers, and then covering the rest with tagboard to make my dice sets.  I made one set (8 dice) before I decided that since I was using packing tape why not make a blank set.  I plan to make 16 blank dice and then I can use them for various ages and classes very easily without spending hours taping together sets and finding somewhere to store them (I ran out of packing tape after 8).  This way they can be used not only for rhythm, but solfa, and fun ways to practice singing in chorus as well- there are so many dice ideas on Pinterest! I have also seen dice with a pocket on each side that would work the same way. 


Before

After

Tag-board template

When I finally get back to school (hopefully tomorrow) I am using dice for rhythm practice/ composition for quarter/ paired eighth notes all the way through tika-ti (two sixteenth notes- eighth).  I have posted on my wix site a composition worksheet I will be using with the dice- students will roll to make a 4 or 8 beat pattern (4 beat version is posted), then will have to read it out loud to a partner, the teacher, etc.  I also have a smartboard file where each rhythm is assigned a number (I couldn't get the SBdice to show the rhythms on the sides) so one group can use the board OR teacher can show a large version example.  

 

You can also play a rhythm-snake game where students try to memorize rhythm patterns in groups.  Student 1 rolls and group beat aloud- student 2 rolls and says beats 1 and 2 aloud, etc until they forget the pattern. 

All of these ideas can be transferred to solfa practice too-  you could even have one dice as rhythm, one as solfa, and one with time signatures to do some whole song composition rather than just one element. 


*** Authors Note:  I realized that dry erase markers rub off the tape REALLY easily - so I now use a permanent marker- and it actually still erases pretty well. If I have a trouble spot, I color over it with dry erase marker, and then both rub off easily.

Kid President- Pep Talk For Teachers and Students

Some of you may have seen this already, but even if you have, watch it again. This kid is great.  I love his movies (somehow I just discovered them yesterday, but watched about an hours worth).  After a long week, it's good to get a pep-talk like this.  Happy Friday!!!

Steady beat- ways to change up the same activity

I LOVE 1st grade.  They are the youngest I teach and their joy and eagerness is so wonderful. They are willing to do anything and really wouldn't care if we played the same game 25 times so everyone got a turn (though I, of course, still limit games to 5 or 6 rounds).  This has got me thinking of how to change up "the same activity" so it look or feels different to them.  I have recently presented steady beat so we have been doing a lot of pointing at beat charts, marching, and moving our hands to the beat in different ways.  

Here are a few ideas to help change in up- including some of my favorite "extras" (props and puppets) that we have done.

Beat Chart Ideas:  Use SMARTboard (or other projection)  OR use magnets OR use individual paper charts.  Use Icons one week and Hearts another.  Check out some Beat Chart Files I made for TPT HERE. I use them ALL THE TIME!



Student wearing the crown

Specifically for Queen Queen Caroline-  I have a beat chart for Queen, Queen Caroline on my SMARTboard that is just 16 crowns (4 rows of 4).  All they do is point to the crowns on the beat.  To change it up from other beat charts we have done I found a crown from a musical I did in the past and pulled it out and pulled out a yellow rubber mallet to use as a "scepter."  My kids LOVE using these props!  I had a little girl today tell me, that while she has gotten to point to the beat for other songs- she was sad cause she hasn't gotten to do it with the scepter yet.    When they go up and point for this song, we also change the words to fit their name - eg.  King King Brenden-tine OR Queen Queen Allie-line.   They think it is so fun!   I am hoping to come up with more prop ideas for other chants and songs :)
 
Motions to the beat:  Have the students come up with new ways to move and make the patterns harder and harder.  I start with just tapping, then have students alternate movements (pat-clap), then I might do patterns of 4.  Students are great at coming up with their own ideas too!  I teach them about different non-locomotor movements like chop, sway, push/pull, bend, etc and they love coming up with new ways to do each of these to the beat.  We are often doing disco, chopping like ninjas, doing ballet steps like plie's and doing push-ups.  :) 

Instruments on the beat: We play so many instruments to the beat, and in a first grade brain it makes the activity totally different.  We have so far played glockenspiels for "star music" to Starlight Star-bright, Guiros to Charlie Over the Ocean and Ickle Ockle, triangles during many songs, apple shakers during I Climbed Up the Apple Tree and many more. 

Tapping/ Chase Games: All of my chase games involve tapping to the beat first while we sing and Bee Bee and Charlie Over the Ocean in first grade.  If students need help I tap with them on the inside of the circle, while they are tapping heads and walking around the outside during the song.  For Bee Bee I have a bee puppet they get to hold to tap heads and for Charlie Over the Ocean the tapper gets to come up with an ocean animal for Charlie to catch. 

Beat Ostinatos: For many songs and chants we do ostinatos.  I start with beat ostinatos (just a different sound on the beat) and then move into more complicated ones when we get to word rhythm (they way the words go).   During Bee Bee those that are doing the ostinato Buzz and during Engine Engine the students do either a Train Whistle (woo, woo) or chugging sound on the beat. 


Many of these ideas can also be applied to both word rhythm and high low concepts. 

Student Learning Objectives (SLO) and Simple Assessment Ideas

There has been so much talk of assessment lately with states requiring SLOs (student learning objectives) or other acronyms from other states that I thought I would share a little about what my district came up with for 2nd and 5th grade, as well as two of my favorite informal assessments that can be done in any grade for any subject.

In our district, we just met this past Friday to discuss our SLO's.  The state says no teacher should have more than 5, and well, we teach 6 different grades, so it will be interesting next year when we are out of our practice year and into the "real deal".  Because many other schools in Ohio have already started implementing their SLOs and doing the pre and post tests we had a lot of ideas available to us to get started.  We decided to focus on one primary grade, and one intermediate grade this year and add more in next year after we see how our idea pans out.  Many of the examples we saw focused on one skill (rhythm reading, solfa singing, or vocab) but we wanted our assessment to be a true snapshot of all we teach throughout the entire year.  Therefore, we decided it would have elements of rhythm, solfa, AND vocabulary.

Our 5th grade assessment is basically a picture of a piece of music with instructions to circle one symbol (eg. repeat sign), put a square around another (time signature), define another (tempo or cresendo) etc. There are about 10 symbols they must identify/ define.   It also has a portion where students need to fill in missing beats from a rhythm or missing solfa from a song. After they fill in what is missing, they will come up to me and perform the example.  They also have to determine if the teacher is playing the melody or a harmony part for The Star Spangled Banner.  I hope to post the test as soon as we have it developed.  If you have any questions about my basic explanation, just ask in the comments!

Because we are required to assess as part of our teacher evaluation, I have been trying to figure out more informal assessments to keep my kids on track so that I can be sure they are improving from the pre- to post- test and I am not surprised by the results.  Not that I did not assess before, but I more hyper-focused on it this year due to the changes at the state level.

2 super easy informal assessments I am now using often are:

1) Fist to 5 self check. Many people in my school are starting to use this check in many ways. It is a just a simple way for students to self-assess their own knowledge.  I have them show me "fist to 5" as related to a certain subject.  Fist= I have no idea what you are even talking about and 5= I completely understand, I could teach it.   1-4 fall in between with 1 as the lowest understanding and 4 as very good understanding.   I have done this for new rhythms, new solfa, and especially vocabulary, when they are in line at the end waiting to be picked up.  I sometimes even jot down their answers (I now have them line up in alphabetical order). 

-Also in line I am starting to do simple exit tickets like a lightning vocab round (I say a word-they define, I say a definition-they say the vocab).  I also have asked them to clap a 4 beat pattern, or sing a phrase using certain solfa, etc.  Again, if they are in alpha order it is really easy to jot down who is on track as they are walking out the door. 

Check out this great poster from http://classroomcollective.tumblr.com. 

2) The Vote Game-  I have 5-6 clouds on the board or smart board with rhythm patterns, solfa patterns (both on staff and off) or vocab words.  I then clap/ sing/ give the definition of one and the students vote for which cloud they think I am referring to.  I have students vote in front of their body using fingers to minimize cheating.  If they raise their hand high in the air others can easily see and will either out-right cheat OR second guess their own answer.   Check out my wix sharing site to get a version of the Vote Game for prepping La in late 1st or 2nd grade.  

October Fun

October is my favorite month!  Not only does it have Halloween, but it also has United Nations Day (which happens to by my Birthday on the 24th) AND it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month (I lost my high school chorus teacher/ 1st voice teacher to Breast Cancer my senior year so it is super important to me).  Therefore, I thought I would share a few things I am doing in October to celebrate with my students.

1.  Halloween Rhythm Cards
           Making the rhythm cards Halloween Themed seems to make them much more exciting than my regular ones. :)  The set you can get from my Sharing Site HERE is for prep of quarter rest.  There are ___  for the quarter rests (get it starting Monday 10/21/13... my new home computer doesn't have SMARTnotebook yet).  It may not come up on your computer if you do not already have the MUSIC ED font because that is what I used to make the cards.  If you don't already have it- MusicEdFont is GREAT for making worksheets, rhythm cards, etc.  It has notes, stick notation, piano keys, most musical symbols, handsigns and more!  Great resource for only $25.  You can get it here.




2.  A few of my favorite Singable Halloween Books:
 Shake Dem Halloween Bones- Join all the fairy tale characters for a fun Halloween dance.  Students will love singing along to the chorus and shaking their own bones!    

Dem Bones- great for MRD practice!
(Shake Dem Halloween Bones... mm rrr d)



3.  This Fun Video called the Skeleton Dance- great for a brain break or an extra few minutes at the end of class. Uses a variation of DEM BONES. 

BONUS:
I also typically listen to things like In the Hall of the Mountain King and Dance Macabre.  My 1st graders also use ghost voices, and do Engine Engine like they are Zombies with a low voice, and Ghosts or Witches with a high voice.   That is super fun to watch.    Other fun halloween songs include: Pumpkin Pumpkin (tika-tika), I Heard a Horseman (6/8!), Mrs. White (ta and ti-ti), Which Witch (quarter rest), and of course many more! Share your favorite Halloween songs or activities in the comments section below! Also check out Teachers Pay Teachers and search Kodaly.  Many Kodaly Educators have some great Halloween songs, manipulatives, and games you can buy for a very small price-  All of the items I have gotten so far are VERY worth it!  Look up Lindsay Jervis and Aileen Miracle- both have great stores :)


Hope you are having a great October!  Check out the Wilson Staff in our PINK on our Passionately Pink Day- we raised almost $1,000 so far to donate to Breast Cancer Research Charities!

Solfege Fun! 3 solfege practice ideas

I am always looking for new ways to practice solfege with my students so I thought I would share a few of my SMARTfiles and other ideas I have used in the past week.

1.  REMOTE GAME
              On the SMARTboard (get the file Here and feel free to edit so it says your school name or is in your school colors)  I have made a Wilson Music Remote that has the channels Words, Rhythm, Solfa, and Inner-hearing.   I have the kids alternate between these TV "channels"  by moving the arrow to point to a new channel.  I tend to focus on only 2 or 3 rather than all four (I cover up those channels that are not being used).  Just words and rhythm, just words and solfa, etc.  The kids love it because a lot of times the phrases end up sounding funny when they are mixed up.  They also love to move the arrow themselves-  you just have to remember to remind them that they cannot switch the arrow too much so that the class has time to think.  The hardest thing about this game is not singing along with the kids.

2.  SOLFA Tic-Tac-Toe
Also on the SMARTboard  I make a tic-tac-toe board with a solfa pattern in each square and a

cover over each pattern. (Use the same link as above to get this file too!) Students are split into teams and choose a square.  I reveal the pattern and they have 2 tries to sing it accurately.  If they sing it correct, they get to put their X or O onto the square.  If they sing it incorrectly, It gets covered up and the other team can try for it.  I only let the class try a square 4 times (2 per team) before it is null and void and no one can use the square to get their 3 in a row.  I ALWAYS have a tie-breaker square for when it is a Cats game.  I pick a square with a pattern in our next song (Transition alert!) and whichever team got that square become the "winner."

3. PUMPKIN PATCH MATCH
               Because it is October I made these great song-match manipulatives.  The name just happened to work this month, but if I make stockings in December, it might not be such a cute name for the same activity. :)  Basically I made 3 sets of pumpkins, a solfa set, a staff notation set (this is for 6th grade) and a song title set. Total, it is 9 pumpkins for each song (4 solfa, 4 staff, 1 title)  Students are challenged to sort the cards (4 songs total) as fast as they can.  We have in the past just had groups do one song each to practice.  The activity is tricky for them at first, but as the students figure out, there are hints on the staff cards- Treble clef, Time and Key signatures on the 1st card of a song and a double bar line on the last card of the song- and they can use this to give them a springboard to be successful.  This really helps them get started.    This is a great one for stations!

I have also made a version that is matching solfege, to stick notation, to the song name and you can get it on TPT!  There are two versions- one for fall and one for winter- but you can use them any time!

Jack-o-lantern Stack
Do You Wanna Build a Snowman

Bonus Activities!

1.  Koosh Kwest Solfa -   On the SMARTboard, students see many
circles.  Each circle is attached to another slide with a solfa pattern (I have both solfa notation and staff notation examples) that the students sing.  Students toss a koosh (or beanbag) at the board and it takes them right to the attached slide.  This is a great one for assessment because you can have who ever tosses the koosh sing the pattern before the whole class does.   Unfortunately, I cannot link this file, because I did not make the file.  Check out the screen shots to see how you can make one yourself!  Kids LOVE this game- but you have to remind them to toss underhand. 

Home Screen

Example Melody (top circle links back to home screen)

2.  Solfa Texting/ Solfa Ladder-  I use the solfa ladder all the time, where I or my students point to notes on our solfa ladder and the rest of the class sings.  I have just started having my students also be the ones to give the feedback on the pattern they have shown.  Was the class accurate?  Confident?   This is great for a student led activity!    I can't wait to try solfa texting.  Check out a link to how to do this here:  http://www.ariosostudio.com/6/post/2013/03/solfa-texting-sticks.html