CUPS! All my Cup games and activities in one place!

CUPS are an amazing resource. You can drink out of them, they hold things (like popsicle sticks for one of my favorite games- BUSTED), and they make music! I don't know about you, but especially last year with the popularity of Pitch Perfect, my students LOVE cup games.  All classes from 3rd grade and up have mastered the basic cup pattern most of us know and love so I have to up my game and introduce many more variations on that pattern, or new cup games that get progressively more difficult.  Pitch Perfect 2 is coming out soon- so I am sure CUPS will be popular for a long time- but even if they aren't in the movies, CUP games are so fun! I always find it hard to remove myself from the game because I love them so much and my students are always asking to play as a reward because THEY love them so much.  I have compiled a list of some of my favorite cup games and activities- sound off in the comments about your favorites!

CUP MAGIC TRICKS! ABRACADABRA!

Students start to see cups early on when I do rhythm cup magic tricks.  I learned this at a work-shop a few years ago and students love it!  Unfortunately, I searched high and low for who taught this to me and I could not find the handout!  If this was you- so sorry you aren't credited! Let me know if this sounds so familiar, that you think you may have taught it at a workshop in Ohio 4 or 5 years ago :)

Basically I have four cups on a table (or music stand)- each representing a beat.  Hidden underneath all of the cups is a cup cut in half to represent ti-ti.  We tap the cups, think of "magic" words that only have 1 sound (Bam!, Poof!, Trick etc.).  We do this for a little, moving the cups around- stacking and unstacking them, etc. and then I tell them its time for the magic trick.  We say A-bra-ca da- bra! and the  Ta Ta ti-ti Ta pattern is revealed!  They then come up with a few "magic" words that have 2 sounds and we practice more patterns.  (Poof! Poof! Magic! Poof!)  Sometimes the ti-ti half cups are revealed, sometimes they are covered up. This is great for Prep OR Practice of Ta and Ti-ti- with prep, you can just continue to use magic related words when reading the cup patterns, but once they know the rhythm names, you can reveal a pattern and have them read it on rhythm syllables then notate it with manipulatives.  They love this activity! 

The teacher does have to practice a little to make the reveal of ti-ti cups smooth, without cups or cup parts falling all over the place! My 1st graders are always impressed though- even if half a cup gets stuck...   If you do not want to deal with actually cutting some cups in half, I am sure a thick black line drawn down the center of the cup would work just as well.  This would be less parts that could fall on the floor- though the kids are always super impressed when I slice the cup in half without scissors :)

CUP RHYTHM/ MELODY WRITING

You can also have the younger students write out their own rhythms or the rhythm of a song using cups as well.  Use big beat strips with hearts for each beat and then have students use BIG cups for quarter notes and smaller cups in a different color for beamed eighth notes. I have also seen using clear cups for rests. This idea I found on pinterest so check out the original pin HERE. 

Rhythm writing can be done in a different way as well- by writing 1 beat patterns on the edges of foam cups and then having students spin the cups until they find the pattern they want (great for dictation too!) and then writing in on a worksheet.  You could also having staff cups with the musical alphabet written on the edges of the cups and they spin the cups to write a song. Take it up a notch by combining the two.  This also comes from pinterest so check out the orginal pin HERE. 

CUP CIRCLE PASSING GAMES

As for cup passing games, I start but just teaching the typical pattern I learned at camp when I was 10 (and is the same pattern from the Pitch Perfect Movie).  Once the Pattern is learned on it's own I add it to I've Been to Harlem (AKA Turn the Glasses Over)so students can practice it continuously. When we are good we get fast and faster and students who mess up move to another circle so we can see who can do it the fastest and longest without making a mistake!   I also use it with Kodaly's Viennese Musical Clock.  We do the cup pattern in a big circle on the A section and then students lead non-locomotor movements to the beat on the B, C, D, etc. to show the Rondo form.  

When teaching the pattern I use the following phrases to keep my students on track, but I have seen it a few ways in various resources such as Game Plan so use what works for you and your students!  Phrases are in 4 beat patterns (beats are separated by a comma). After the 1st phrase, all actions happen on the beat- even if I say more syllables.  I have indicated a pause with a z to show the rest.

Clap, Clap, Tap-Tap, Tap  

Clap, Move-It, Over,  z

Clap, pick-it-up, hit-your-left-hand, down

Switch, Tap, Pass, z

I hand out the following half-sheet so students can practice at home- one side is just the words above and the other side (shown) explains each move in more detail. 

3 other cup passing games I love are: la ti do ti do ti la, Chevaliers de la table ronde, and Ludaim

One changes directions every other line or at cue of the teacher, one has changing meter (3/4 vs 4/4) and one has 2 cups (and a tricky time signature 8/8 broken down as 3/8+3/8+2/8).  ALL are super fun and challenging!  I have made videos of myself demonstrating the patterns for 2 of the games- slowing down and explaining each step.  They are slightly awkward because I am by myself BUT hopefully they will help you figure out exactly what the directions below mean (as I know written directions can be confusing).  I hope to be able update this post in the future with videos of student hands playing!

1: la ti do ti do ti la-This melody is really familiar to me but I can't place it.  For this game, the ultimate goal is to change directions at every line OR at the cue of the teacher.

Directions: Most beats have an action on the first half of the beat and the 2nd.  These actions have been separated by a slash. 

Beat 1: Tap the floor to the right of the cup with your right hand (RH)/ Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your left hand (LH)

Beat 2: Clap/ Tap the floor to the right of the cup with your RH

Beat 3: Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your LH/ Pick up the cup with your RH

Beat 4: Pass the cup to the person on your right, being sure to place it all the way in front of them. 


Once your students have mastered the above pattern- reverse it to be as follows:

Beat 1: Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your LH/ Tap the floor to the right of the cup with your RH

Beat 2: Clap/ Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your LH

Beat 3: Tap the floor to the left of the cup with your RH/ Pick up the cup with your LH

Beat 4: Pass the cup to the person on your left.

Eventually students should switch every other line of music for a fun challenge..  A Super Challenge is to have the students switch at the signal of the teacher. The video shows how to do the motions both ways slow-mo style.

2: Chevaliers de la table ronde-  This one has changing meter AND you can change directions for a challenge!  Super fun and it has a beautiful melody!

Translation: Knights of the Round Table taste to see if the wine is good.  Taste see- yes yes yes.  Taste see- no no no.    (I usually just say this is about the knights of the round table when asked!)

This first video is a YOUtube video of men singing the song on a street in France. 

Directions:  

When there are 3 beats in a bar the cup is passed as follows:

Beat 1: Pass in front to the person on the right

Beat 2: Clap

Beat 3: Pick up new cup (passed from person to your left)

When there are 4 beats in a bar the cup is passed as follows:

Beat 1: Pass in front to the person on the right

Beats 2 + 3: Tap the rhythm ti-ti Ta on the cup

Beat 4: Pick up new cup (passed from the person on your left)

Challenge! When the melody repeats, change directions! 

There is no slow-mo video for this one because the motions are fairly self explanatory but I do hope to upload one of my students singing and playing the game soon, as they are learning it right now! This is one the teacher has to practice before teaching A LOT to be sure they are changing at the right time.  A tip is you are tapping "Ti-ti ta" in the 4/4 measures when you are singing "oui oui oui" or "non non non" so the words fit the movements really well at those parts. 

I prep this game by having students first just read the rhythm and show the changing meter by hitting the floor on beat one of a measure and then clapping the other beats.  Next we do basically the same pattern as the ultimate game, but on their laps before putting cups in their hand.   When it says pass students would tap the floor to their right and when it says pick up new cup students tap the floor to their left.  A clap is still a clap and when they would normally tap ti-ti ta on their cup, we tap our legs.  Only once most of them have mastered this action do we add the actual cups in a circle- and even then, it still takes a few weeks for some to master but it is still super fun!

3: LUDAIM- This is the one with the funky meter AND 2 cups! Super fun!
Translation: Geese,  Geese. There were twelve. All of the twelve were white.  (Note: this comes from google translate so it could be a little off, but I think I got the basic meaning).

Directions:
Hint- start with cups of two DIFFERENT colors (ex. everyone has a red cup in their left hand and a blue in their right), because you always keep the cup that starts in your left hand! This way you can tell if you are on track when the patterns always alternates colors.  If you have two cups of the same color next to each other, something is wrong!

1st Eighth note: Pass cup in right hand to the person on your right while simultaneously passing the cup in your left hand to your own right hand.

2nd eighth note:  Clap

3rd and 4th eighth notes: Clap the rhythm ti-ka ti (ti-ri ti) on the cups (Right-Left Right)

5th eighth note: Click (Snap) Fingers  (this is always on the 2nd half of a quarter note in the melody so be sure to snap BEFORE you sing the next word!)

6th eighth note: Pick up both cups

7th eighth note: Cross hands and set cups down (cups switch places so cup that WAS in your right hand is now on the left and cup that WAS on the left is now on the right)

8th eighth note: Pick up cups to begin again!

This one I start right away with cups (after knowing the melody and words of the song of course!) The visual of having the two colored cups really helps in figuring this one out.   Of course we start slow, and without singing at the same time.  They are always so excited when they get this one! I think this year I may make a recording of the students singing the song after they have learned it so that they can then play the game to the recording and sing along when they are ready.  

Update: I attended a workshop this summer (July 2015) and we used these same motions with the song Land of the Silver Birch.  It worked really well and I can't wait to use it in my classroom.  My students learned Silver Birch last year so we will be starting the year off right- with a cup game!

The video just shows a slow breakdown of the movement so you can kind of get a visual.  It is not as hard as it seems! 

 

 

 
I learned all 3 of the trickier CUP games in Hungary last year from Lucinda Geoghegan during her Singing Games Class and they are great for upper grades.  All are challenging enough to motivate kids, but not so difficult that students will give up easily.  I had a lot of fun learning them all! 

In addition to playing cup games, I love to share the HARVARD CUPS! Videos.  2009 is my favorite, but the Harvard Percussion Ensemble THUD makes a CUPS! video every year.  Check them out on Youtube!

I also just saw this other great CUPS video that uses the traditional cup pattern to accompany Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.  Super Cool!

I may have my older students make up their own CUP passing patterns to a given song this year- It would be a great activity for a sub. Rhythms we use in class would be a must in their pattern, but other than that they would have creative freedom!

Since it is currently winter (though I know... Christmas is past...), I have one more fun activity to share which I found via pinterest. This is a great Nutcracker Cup game made by Eric L. Young.  So fun! My students loved this activity- and making up their own cup movements to other Nutcracker songs this year!

Share your favorite cup game or way you incorporate cups into your classroom below! Do you use them for listening like with the Viennese Musical Clock by Kodaly or Trepak activity from the Nutcracker?  Do you use them to practice steady beat/ rhythm/ mixed meter? 

Music In Our Schools Month- Why I Teach

Happy March!

I saw another teacher blogger post about why she teaches music to kick off Music In Our Schools Month so I thought I would do the same.

Let me be honest here- in 1st and 2nd grade (and a little in 3rd and 4th grade) I was NOT a music kid.  Art was my favorite all the way. While I sang and played around on the piano at home I LOVED art class and even joined the Art Club and took classes in the summers from my favorite art teacher.  I was a little afraid of my 1st and 2nd grade music teacher who yelled at me for tying my shoes- we were playing Bounce High, Bounce Low.  She said "This is MUSIC CLASS- NOT Shoe Tying Class, if you want to tie your shoe GO OUT IN THE HALL!!!!!" Very vivid memory of mine. She also took a solo away from me in 2nd grade because my family was on vacation for the dress rehearsal (This one actually makes sense to me now, but in 2nd grade, I was NOT happy about it and I still remember what I was supposed to sing to this day).  3rd and 4th grade I went to a new school and started to like music a little more- and by 4th grade I was super excited that my class got to do Tinikling for our spring show.  I still teach it to my 4th graders every year!

In 5th grade I went to middle school and chose Chorus, with Mr. Gascoyne, instead of General Music and fell in love.  I tried band 2nd semester but there was a nickle stuck in my trombone (oops!) so it made me light headed to play so I went back to chorus in 6th.  Chorus and Musicals were, from that moment on, my favorite class.  I got to play SCROOGE in our 6th grade musical (all the boys were too afraid to try out) and started taking voice lessons from the 7th and 8th grade teacher the next year.

Mrs. Brickman was my first voice teacher and she taught me so much- in private lessons and in chorus/ 8th grade show choir in middle school.  I decided in high school that my goal in life was to be just like her.  I wanted to teach high school music (and of course Show Choir) and do operas in  my spare time.  My senior year of high school Mrs. Brickman passed away after a hard fought battle with breast cancer and that made me all the more determined to go to music school and get my degree.  She was one of the first who told me I could succeed in music besides my family.  She helped me through those rough middle and high school years but did not baby me (I didn't make Show Choir freshman year- because I blanked on the dance and... if I'm still being honest- could NOT sight-read to save my life.  I just worked harder to make it the next year.) She taught me to work hard and Be Professional- while still having fun. I still teach my chorus students the first song she ever taught me.  It is a silly partner song and we use it as a warm-up.  I still keep in contact with her parents who and when I am feeling frustrated/ overwhelmed/ annoyed with bad behavior I listen the recording of her Senior Recital they sent me (or just look at the tattoo on my foot which is a treble clef intertwined with a pink breast cancer ribbon) and I remember why I chose this profession.

Mrs. Brickman will be a teacher I will never forget and I hope that I can reach just 1 student in the same way.  I would say that even though I now teach Elementary and do community theater musicals instead of operas I have succeeded in my goal and I hope to be the Best Music Teacher Ever to every student who passes through my door.

So why elementary??  All through college I still wanted to be a High School Choral Director- until my student teaching semester.  I took Elementary Methods in a quick 5 weeks before I started student teaching.  I still student taught Middle and High School Chorus (too late to switch) but knew I wanted to be in elementary.  I love(d) the songs, the dances, the fun transitions- everything about elementary music.  I especially was excited about getting to be the one to introduce elementary students to all the wonderful music out there in the world- folk songs, classical music, folk dances, music from other cultures and more.  To see how excited students are when they walk through the door is the best!

Music is my passion and my life and I am so lucky I found an elementary teaching job.  I LOVE going to work every day and seeing the JOY on students faces when we are singing, dancing, and playing instruments.  The "A-Ha" moments when students understand a new concept- or when they figure out a new rhythm or solfegge note before I present it just by using what they know and filling in the blanks are so special.  Hearing students sing in the hallway or seeing them play a music game on the play ground just makes my heart burst.  I often think "What would I be if I wasn't a Music Teacher??" and cannot think of anything.  I have decided if I am ever riffed and can't find a music job- I'll just start my own music school because I could not go a day without hearing those beautiful little voices.

Why do you teach??

Wishlist Wednesday!

Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a Site-Wide Sale TODAY (Wednesday February 25, 2015)!!!! I have joined up with Mrs. Miracles Music Room to share 3 things I am excited about for the sale- a product I made, a product I am going to buy, and a clipart set I love! Be sure to click over to her blog to see more what more Music Education Bloggers are looking forward to buying and selling! Most sellers stores (including mine) will be 20% off and you can get an additional 8% off using the code HEROES in the checkout.

SOMETHING I MADE:
The product I made was put together this past week when I had a "9 day weekend" because we had an entire week off of school for Holidays, Snow-days, and Cold days.  Because the weather was so miserable- I was thinking SPRING!

HELP MY GARDEN GROW is a matching game for students.  There are 2 versions posted now: a Music Symbols version and an instruments of the orchestra version.  In the Music Symbols version, students match the symbol (SUN) to the musical term (Watering Can) to the definition (Flower). There are 26 music symbols in the set as well as 7 common tempos.   In the orchestral instruments version the students match the Family of the orchestra (Sun) to the instrument name (Watering Can) the a picture of the instrument (flower). There are 24 common orchestral instruments included in the set. Also included in each file are larger suns made of each symbol and instrument picture to play games like the "fly swatter game" where you out the suns and the teacher calls out a vocab word or instruments and the students race to swat it first.  Check them out and if you like the spring version be sure to look at the other seasons too- Jack-o-lantern Stack for Autumn, Do You Wanna Build a Snowman for Winter, and even Stacks of Love for Valentines Day!

Help My Garden Grow: Orchestral Instruments Normally $3.00














Help My Garden Grow: Music Symbols Normally $3.50

 

SOMETHING I WANT FROM ANOTHER MUSIC SELLERS STORE:

The product I want is the musical interactive notebooks being sold by The Yellow Brick Road.  I have some tough 6th grade classes this year that are really just not into singing and dancing.  I have decided to try a different approach for the 2nd half of the year and start interactive notebooks with them so that they are still learning vocab and history, etc- just in a different way from the other classes.  They will still be singing but there will be more "notebooking" for more individual accountability.  Check out the sellers blogpost on how to use interactive notebooks in the music classroom HERE. Taken from the product description: 

"This interactive music notebook is a great tool for assessing [4th grade] music students while encouraging creativity and ownership of learning. These interactive notebooks feature notebook pages, which define music vocabulary and concepts, just as you might see in a standard textbook. These are followed by interactive pages, which contain drawing prompts, writing prompts, tracing pages, cut and paste activities, and more. The interactive pages allow students a chance to apply and synthesize their knowledge in a personal and creative way."

I am looking to buy the 4th grade version and the middle school version but she has them for grades K-3 as well AND they can be bought in a bundle! Each version ranges in price from $6-$9 depending on the number of pages and they are all FULL of great stuff.  Check out the 4th grade version HERE and if you want to see other grades- there are links in the product description! 

Screenshot of some preview pages!

CLIPART I LOVE:

The Clipart I am most looking forward to getting is more frames/ borders to help make my products more fun and unique.  I do a lot of vocal exploration products and keep using the same frames and brackets over and over.  I haven't picked any out yet, but I will sure be looking hard tomorrow! There are so many to choose from! 

 

I also love this bug set from FROM THE POND.  A lot of the clip art I use for school programs, school newsletters and sometimes products, comes from this store.  Check it out HERE.

 

OMEA General Music Overview- Part 1

Wow, what a cold day!  I have not been at school all week! We had Presidents' Day off, then 2 snow days, and now were on the 2nd "cold" day with temps in the negatives and wind chills around -25 (at least they were this morning).

Since I am at home today, I figured it was time to recap my Ohio Music Education Association Conference workshops.  This will just be an overview of the many workshops I attended with a few ideas I got, some encouraging quotes, and links to the presenters publications if they have them. Overall it was a great conference and I was really happy I went, even though it was super cold and snowy in Cleveland.  I wish I could be going to the OAKE conference later this year, but I just don't have the funds for a flight.  Hopefully it will be a little closer to Ohio soon! 

Part 1 will focus on Dawn Sloan, Susan Brumfield  and Brent Gault- the more typical general music stuff like centers, singing game, movement in the classroom, etc.
Part 2 will focus on David Holland (Classroom Drumming master) and Sarah Hasseler (chorus ideas!) and will be coming soon!

The first workshop I went to was on Music Centers given by Dawn Sloan.  A lot of the info I already knew but she definitely had some good tips and ideas.  I am really excited to download some of the apps she mentioned like: Sound Recall, Simon Music, Note works and more.

I also really want to order some shape drums because Dawn had a great composition activity for rhythm stations where you have 1 or 2 beat cards that go with the shape drums and the students make up a 4-8 beat pattern where they have to work together to make a beautiful composition. A quarter note might be printed on a triangle, square and circle.  Same with eighth notes and 16th notes, etc. The rule is that students can only play what is represented by the cards they picked so if they want more than one person to play at once- be it the same or a different rhythm- they have to write out the patterns using the cards accordingly.

She also reminded me that I really need to make BUSTED- a rhythm game where students choose a popsicle stick from a jar in the center.  Each popsicle stick either has a 1 beat rhythm on it (ta, ti-ti, tika-tika, etc) OR the word BUSTED.  Students take turns pulling sticks and reading the rhythm that their cards make.  If they read the rhythm wrong or pull BUSTED all their sticks go back in the center.  The student with the most popsicle sticks at the end wins.  The pin comes from the Stay Tuned Blog- check it out! 

Susan Brumfield had some great ideas about circle games, folk dancing, and gave us some great folk song history.

One of my favorites was her tip to have students practice what will now be a key phrase in my music room "Turn Your Way".  We all know that circle games with changing partners can be tricky because you can't just say "turn to your right" or "turn to your left" but if students practice "turning their way" over an over it doesn't matter who their partner is for this round, they will know which way to turn when it is time.   She also talked about the "Freeze Frame" when teaching the Grand Right and Left- another tricky folk dance move. When you are teaching the dance have students "freeze frame" right as they connect to a new partner so they can see who they are now with, what hand is connected to who, and where they are going. Another thing to help with this is to use colored bracelets ala "livestrong" and have everyone wear theirs on their RIGHT HAND and then alternate colors (blue and red, etc.) so that students always know their right hand and know that they should always be connecting to a person with the opposite color they have.

Another big talking (or singing!) point was text improv- such as new verses for Ida Red (Ida Red, Ida White- She's the prettiest girl in sight... etc).  She also mentioned that if students accidentally change the melody while improvising text- talk about it! Mention to the class that it was different and ask how?  Let these things happen organically and go with the flow.

I also loved that she told us about Pour Quoi and why the song is called that.  A "Pour Quoi" (or WHY?) Story is an origin story- for example about how an animal became the way it is "How the tiger got it's stripes" or why something came to exist "why there is lightning and thunder" and the song is a perfect example of that.  She made a super cute story bag (made out of brown lunch bags) with birds inside each pocket to help tell the story and did some more text improv with this song.

Adding harmony during a game was also something that seems to make so much sense- but I had never really thought of.  While we were playing a game called "Mrs. Macaroni" after every few rounds (really would be a different lesson in my situation) she had a different group of people sing harmony with the song.  She started with the boys singing a bass line on do and low so (they sang do until it "didn't sound right"), then added the girls singing mi and fa to fit with the chordal structure of the song and finally added that anyone wearing boots could switch to singing all so's so we had 4 parts if you include the melody. It sounded awesome, the game was still happening, and it is a super easy way to incorporate harmony into a lesson. 

One of my other favorite moments was singing "Shalom, Chaverim" in cannon while walking in concentric circles (one for each part). It was so beautiful, I almost started crying. I have already since done a concentric circle round since in 3rd grade and can't wait to do it in my 5th and 6th grade chorus rehearsals.

Susan Brumfields workshops had so many great ideas that I was really excited to check out her publications: First We Sing, Over the Garden Wall: Songs and Games from England, and Hot Peas and Barley-O: Songs and Games from Scotland. She is so thorough with why a song is a good song, where it comes from, how it can be used, etc.  These books will be an invaluable resource.

Brent Gault gave many ideas for movement in the general music room and some other great ideas in his Kodaly in the General Music Classroom sessions.

During his movement session he gave 3 goals of movement: Highlighting a musical element, providing a channel for creativity, and enhancing the musicality of a piece of music.  He was always making sure that we, even as music teachers, were moving musically rather than like robots.  We did movement to a 12 bar blues (different motion on each chord) and then in the same fashion we did movement to the Surprise Symphony.  I had done the blues activity before but never though of doing the same type of activity with classical music.    Each time we did movement, we started with a body and brain warm-up doing things like body signs, yes no repeat (students repeat exactly first AND then have to say opposite of teacher- if teacher says yes, students say no, etc.)  We then moved to non-locomotor movement and finally to locomotor.  He has the trick of having students move their body on simple rhythms and only their hands on more complicated (tika-tika and faster).

Even in his other workshops, we were almost always moving- whether it was just walking the beat while the teacher was singing a new song or keeping the beat in different places.   We did a great song called "Sail Away" where he used a combination of movement, powerpoint slides and rote singing to teach the form.  We ultimately ended up walking the beat and doing the "hand jive" on the A section, and then keeping the beat in 4 places (the students hand jive) during the B.

OMEA was great refresh and it made me excited to go back and teach.  I wish I would have ha school this week to use more of them.  Click HERE for OMEA General Music Overview- Part 2.

Five Favorite Pins of February

Today I am linking up with Aileen Miracle to share my 5 favorite pins of February.  Be sure to check out Aileen's blog to read about her favorite pins and the favorite pins of many other great music teacher-bloggers out there!  Click the title of each pin to be taken to the pin itself or the website it links to and be sure to follow me on pinterest- I have MANY music education boards from classroom organization, to rhythm ideas, to instrument families, and more. :)

1. Concert Curtain Decoration
I had been having trouble thinking of how to decorate the gym/ auditorium for my spring concerts this year, as 5th and 6th grade are on the same night but with different themes.  I then came across this pin and LOVE it!  My themes this year are "Under the Sea" for 5th grade and "Music through the Ages" for 6th and I think this idea can incorporate both beautifully! I plan on making the treble clef and lines of the staff in different shades of blue and then hanging music symbols, fish, and more!

2.  Felt Staff

I had heard about these before and kind of forgot about them but I hope to make a class set soon.  I LOVE that they have pockets to hold ledger lines and the notes.  So easy and the notes "stick" to the staff.  Right now I have plastic boards or laminated paper staffs and while it is fun to use table scatter or silly erasers as notes, it is tricky to store all of that in my room.  Felt staff sets could be stored easily and I could even make themed notes if I got really ambitious. 

3. Hand Staff (X2) 

Note: There are 2 links in the title.  I use Hand-staffs all the time for quick assessment but these two ideas make it much more concrete for students.  Just pointing to a finger may be abstract for some students, so using a glove with a floating note AND posting a hand on the board at the edge of the staff might really help students to understand. 

4. Instrument Jeopardy

I just did an Instrument Families review unit with my 6th graders and this was a super fun way to get them excited about it.  This file is also editable so if you want to add in your own questions you can.  I was also super excited about the website this was pinned from because Ashley Queen has a lot of great stuff that you can download and use FOR FREE shared on her blog as well as a great Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

5. Magic Pen and Fading Ink for Music Teachers

What a fun pin!  I am always looking for ways to update my SMARTfiles so that my students aren't always doing the same thing over and over with the SMARTboard.  This blog post by Cherie Herring teaches you how to use the magic pen to spotlight a section of a file (the rest of it darkens) to bring focus to a specific element on the page, enlarge a section of a file, and use fading ink.  Not only does she teach you how to use the Magic Pen and Fading Ink, but she discusses the frustrations music teachers might have and how to overcome them.  

I was really excited about finding all of these pins! Thanks to Aileen at Mrs. Miracles Music Room for hosting the linky party! 

Tuesday Book Club- Night Time Stories

I just thought I would share a few of my favorite night time/ lullaby story books! If you have a favorite lullaby book and activity OR just another favorite book, be sure to link up! Instructions are at the end of the post.

Time For Bed by Mem Fox:

Get it HERE. This is a great lullaby for the littles as it shows many baby animals getting sung to before bed.  For example, "It's time for bed little deer, little deer.  The very last kiss is almost here."  I sing it using a melody from the 4th grade Game Plan book.  (Starts on Low La with a tone set of l, d r m and is in 6/8!)

I bring it back in grade 3 when we are working on low la and they sight read the pattern, and then I read the book again to them as a "throwback"- too bad I can only say "Throwback Thursday" to one class :) After that we do the melody with body signs (low la= knees, do is hips, re is waist, mi is shoulders).  Once they are really good at the solfa and melody, I have the students make up their own verse either using their own animal such as: It's time for bed little fox, little fox, listen to the song from the music box OR they can finish the sentence at the end of the book "The Stars on High are shining bright..."  This is a way to work on sentence parts like subject, predicate, verb, etc. - yay cross-curricular connections! I get some good ones with that sentence like "The stars on high are shining bright, the man in the moon ate cheese tonight" or "The stars on high are shining bright, so close your eyes make a wish tonight."  I allow students to be as silly as they want as long as it isn't gross or violent. 

My kiddos really love this throwback and once I have all of their sentences we take a day to illustrate them and make them into a class book to share with the younger grades during music class or book buddies (when 3rd pairs up with 1st once a week to read together). 

Note: This one also comes in a Spanish/ English version!

Another favorite night time book is: When You Wish Upon a Star performed by Judy Collins, Paintings by Eric Puybaret, Music by Ned Washington, and Lyrics by Leigh Harline.  Get it HERE

This is a BEAUITFUL BOOK with the song you recognize from Pinocchio.  It comes with a CD, performed by Judy Collins. The CD also includes her performing The Other Side of my World and All the Pretty Horses (Hush-a-bye).  The pictures are so whimsical and depict children from all over the world wishing, hoping and dreaming.  My students love to just sit and listen and this book is requested often.  Great for when they are a little wound up and need to calm down before heading back to class.


And finally: This is one I found with my astronomer brother in mind.  He had been Skyping the special needs 5th graders in my school from his Grad School apartment at Cal Tech when the kids were learning about Space.  He taught them all about the planets, the phases of the moon, and the life cycle of the star.  For each he read a book and then did some activities.  When we were looking at books for the life cycle of a star we came across this: The Astronomically Correct Twinkle Twinkle by Henry Reich and Zach Weinersmith.   This book sets verses to the same tune we all know and love, but all of it is full of facts about the life cycle of a star, black holes, why stars twinkle and more.  You can get the song on I-Tunes OR the book HERE.  Next year I plan on making an orff accompaniment to it to throw in if we have extra time during the weeks students are doing their astronomy unit.


I would love for you to link up and write a post about your own favorite book to read or sing and how you incorporate it into your classroom.  It can be a night-time book- or not! There are so many great books out there! If you don't have your own blog, feel free to comment on your favorites as well!

To link up: Copy the Tuesday Book Club picture from the top of the post and put it at the top of your blog post.  Be sure to link the picture back to this post!   Once your post is written and published, click the link below and copy the url where asked and then you are all set!  The link-up will be open til March 1, 2015- but of course you can comment after that! I will be sure to keep all links live by re-copying them into the main post so that even after March you can get all the great ideas!

Link-ups:
Pursuit of Joyfulness

No Voice? 10 Game ideas for teaching music with little to no talking

Have you ever had to teach with no voice? You know, that situation where you don't feel sick enough to call off and write sub-plans but can't sing to teach new songs and your voice is all raspy- if you have a voice at all?

When I loose my voice, I try to make lessons as normal as possible, just with out a new song (unless I have a great recording). Many of the games listed below we incorporate into class all the time, so it is no problem for students to understand when I have no voice! Students are still responsible for singing- I just give them the pitch on a glockenspiel and they sing without me.  The hard part for me is not talking, but especially my older students are pretty good at reading directions and listening respectfully and carefully when I cannot talk above a whisper.

When I found myself in this situation a few weeks ago and came up with/ pulled out some great ideas that involve little to no talking on the teachers part.  Many of these games worked especially well with older students because they could read the instructions on the board.  The little ones I had to talk a little more- but not much! I have also heard of teachers making signs with common instructions like "Move to a Circle" "Stand Up" "Sit Down" etc. which would be really helpful for the littles!

Many of the games I used were rhythm games- but could definitely be adapted for melody, vocabulary, and more!

1.  Centers/Stations- I have written about stations before- see this POST- and LOVE them, especially when I am not feeling well.  I can just get the students all set up with written directions at each station (and voice recorded directions) and they are ready to go.  Many of the games we do in musical centers or stations they play all the time, so not a lot of clarification is usually needed.  They are so great for review, and for me, one station is always a worksheet so I get some great data for where students are on a specific concept.

2. Write the Room-  Karla Cherwinski has been posting a lot of WRITE THE ROOM products on TPT. Basically it is a rhythm or melody pattern scavenger hunt.  Flash cards (sometimes themed) are hidden around the room and students have a work sheet to fill out where patterns they find have to go in a specific box.  This helps them practice identifying patterns, and writing patterns and notes. Bonus- While it may seem very simple, it is a great assessment tool!

3. Partner Rhythms/ Vocab- Have you ever played the ice-breaker where you have a "Hello, My Name Is" sticker stuck to your back and you have to figure out which celebrity you are and then figure out who your partner is?  I adapted that game to use rhythms/ vocab in music.  For the rhythms, I just had 2 of each rhythm on my name tags.  For Vocab, some had two of the same word and some were musical opposites (such as forte and piano).  First students had to figure out their pattern/ word by either asking "YES" or "NO" questions OR in the case of reading rhythms, asking a friend to clap/ stomp/ snap their pattern (friends were not allowed to just read the pattern out loud- too easy!).  Once students figured out their pattern/ word they had to find their match.  This activity is also great for differentiation- give the music stars harder patterns or new vocab and give those who are struggling simpler patterns or vocab they learned a long time ago.
After everyone had their partner, we were able to write songs (by connecting with other groups), find specific vocab, and more! My students LOVED this game. Click the link to check out my Music Vocab Set on TPT- you can print on a sticker sheet OR just print on paper, laminate and then use tape to stick them to your students backs. Rhythm versions coming soon!


4. Composition Worksheets/ Manipulatives- Give students a specific composition worksheet or manipulative and let them work for a bit.  Beat Strips are great, especially when preparing a concept.  I also have composition worksheets where students are given directions step by step like this Valentines Day one.  Students choose 4 4-beat valentine phrases and write the rhythms in the boxes.  Then they add known solfa.  Some classes I am more specific and say things like the solfa must be stepwise, or they must end on do, or follow a chord progression etc.  After they write their solfa, they come to me and we sing or play it on an instrument together and finally they transfer to the staff.  Only 4 measures- but they are typically really proud of their songs.  A way to differentiate this activity would be to give star students a trickier time-signature than 4/4!  Check out my valentine worksheet HERE (see picture to left for an idea). Composition can be much more simple though, where they use Beat Strips to write fun patterns (either with notes, or in the prep stage, silly words that go with the season).  Even the little ones can do body-percussion composition or classroom instruments composition with worksheets like these.

Picture from http://www.themusicclef.blogspot.com/2013/03/sound-songs.html

                           
5. Song Sort- I got this idea from one of Aileen Miracles Sub Plans Sets on TPT- Out of the Wild. Students get 10-12 cards with song titles on them and they sort the cards into 2 piles- those with a specific concept, and those without. After they are done they can take all the cards and write a silly story using the song titles (ex. Pretty Little Suzy met up with Dinah and they took an Old Brass Wagon to a farm.  When they got their they saw a Chicken on a Fencepost and they were so surprised... etc.) Aileen has tika-tika in her set but I have made many more because this is a great activity for no voice, stations, and a sub!

6. Kooshball Games- These are also explained in the stations post.  On the board is many shapes all linked to patterns (sometimes circles, but more fun ones are popping up on TPT all the time!).  Students toss a koosh or beanbag at the board and a rhythm or song pattern should pop up for students to read or sing. (The file pictured was shared with me in Grad School- so if it is yours let me know and I can credit you.  I love them!)

7. SMARTboard ID Games- Games like "Can You Hear It" where students touch an icon on the SB and a pattern plays.  On the screen are 3 choices for students match the sounds they hear to their visual representation.  If they pick the right answer,  a congrats screen pops and the class can move on. If the answer is wrong,  a try again screen appears and students can go back.

8. Folk Dances- Especially for groups that already know many folk dance moves and positions, they could practice known dances or learn a knew one with just written signs like "Peel the Banana (or Orange)" "Elbow Swing" "Grand Right and Left" "1st Pair Sashay Down the Alley" etc.  It would also be fun to have the students use the signs to make up their own "Folk Dance".

9. Group Movement Work- Have students make up their own folk dance (see above), or simple movement to a song.  Sometimes I have mine make up moves to the form (rhythmic OR melodic) or have them demonstrate the lyrics, or phrases.  We did this recently with "Who Has Seen The Wind" and the movement came out great! Students were able to choose form or lyrics and then the class had to say which it was when they were presenting.

10. KAHOOT- or another quiz game- I recently posted about a great website I just found out about- getkahoot.com where a teacher can make a quiz (or use on already made) and students use their own device (phone, ipad, computer- whatever is available in your school) and it works like restaurant trivia.  A question appears on the main screen and the choices pop up on the individual devices.  Students have a certain amount of time to answer and results are shown after each question.  To learn more- be sure to read my post on it HERE.


What do you do when you don't have a voice??  Sound off in the comments below!