Wow! I can't believe school is starting again in just about 3 weeks! In My district, teachers go back on August 17 for 2 days of professional development/ getting our rooms ready and then students join us on the 19th!
For my first post in a long time (see reason why as the1st thing I have learned) I will be Linking up with Mrs. Miracle's Music Room to share 3 things I have learned this summer. Be sure to click on over and see what other teachers have learned as well! Just click the picture OR the link above! It feels like summer just started but so much has happened!
#1- I am having a Baby Boy in Early December!I found out I was pregnant right around the beginning of April and just found out last week at the anatomy scan that Baby Church is a boy! Brad and I are so excited. December will always be a whirlwind with Baby's B-day, Christmas, our Anniversary, and more but we are ready to take on the role of being parents. I am trying to get the nursery mostly done before I go back to school but so far it is only half primed... I didn't feel well for about the first 4 months of the pregnancy so not much of anything got done but the past few weeks I have been starting to feel better and get more energy so I am getting much more excited- and much more motivated to do things I have been neglecting- such as this blog and TPT. I hope once baby boy arrives I will be able to at least keep up with short posts, and I hope to have my Sub guest post about what is happening in my classroom while I am away. Feel free to leave tips on maternity leave below!
#2- I Need to be Busy with classes, workshops, etc. -Confession time: This summer has been a little bit of a struggle because I am not good at motivating myself (especially when I am not feeling well). I have always been a procrastinator at heart. I have ben watching a LOT of Netflix. Classes like levels courses or content specific workshops really energize me and motivate me to keep working at home. This year, however, the 1 workshop I attended wasn't until mid July and now I feel behind! I really need to get moving on yearplans, song lists, lesson planning and more. Here is to 3 weeks of intense planning and reading! So excited to finish reading the book "Classroom Management for Art, Music, and PE teachers" and to get this school year planned and started! I miss my kiddos :)
#3- I really miss Hungary- 2 summers ago I went to the Kodaly institute in Kecskemet, Hungary and it was an amazing experience learning from some great Kodaly Masters for 3 weeks! A group from Capital (where I got my undergrad degree and Masters with a Kodaly Emphasis) went again this year and I have been really sad I'm not there- they are there right now! Hopefully I can get back there again sometime. While I couldn't fly across the ocean this summer, I did get a taste when I took a workshop at Capital a few weeks ago with Dr. Laszlo Nemes, the director of the Institute. I learned so much about Kodaly in the Choral Classroom and I am so excited to bring some of those tidbits back to my 5th and 6th grade chorus classes this year. One of the things that sticks out the most is to use folk songs and games as warm-ups/ introductions to new pieces. Teach the folk song and dance/ game first and then the arrangement or find a folk song with a fun hand-clap game that is in the same meter/ key/ language/ tone set etc. get students mentally prepared for the new piece of music you will be teaching. I am working on some posts about the workshop that will go into much more detail so stay tuned!
Check out my blog posts on that amazing trip Here (overview and African Song), Here (Vocal Instruction Cues), Here (10 Elementary Ped goodies), Here (Games I learned in Musicanship), Here (Singing Games 1)and Here (Singing games 2). There are even more if you keep clicking "new posts" from any of these links- these are just my favorites :)
Welp, this post is long overdue- Sorry! My students musical snuck up on me. It was a stressful month of March getting my 2 casts prepared and ready to perform but they did awesome!
So here it is- a month later- my 2nd post on my experience at OMEA this year. While it was cold in Cleveland, I came away with lots of new and fun ideas to try in both my general music and choral classrooms. This post will focus on my workshops with Sarah Hassler and Dave Holland.
SARAH HASSLER- BRINGING PLAY INTO YOUR CHOIR
I got so many fun tips for Chorus from Sarah Hassler- In one workshop I got new warm up ideas, remembered old warm-up friends, read through some choral pieces, and most importantly- learned ways to make chorus FUN and engage students. My students are already loving some of the ideas!
Here is a little overview: First she talked about Brain Dance which is a way to warm-up the ENTIRE body. Get more info on Brain Dance HERE.
We then started "playing" with solfa by doing echo patterns, waterfalls (where the chorus sings an ascending scale together and then sections hold different notes of the scale on the way down), and chord tuning with 2 part hand-sign exercises.
Next we did common solfa warm-ups in new-to-me ways. We did the ever common d-drd-drmrd-drmfmrd, etc. but tapped on each do while singing. You can make it harder by tapping on do, snapping on mi, and clapping on so OR only do the motion in place of singing the note. This is super challenging for students and I need to do it more! We also did bodysigns with the d-s-f-s-m-s-r-s d-s-f-s-m-r-d exercise. We stomped on do, pat our legs on re, clapped on mi, touched shoulders on fa and snapped above our heads on so. I have done similar things to this before but this version was super fun.
Finally, right before we started reading through some choral pieces we did one more warm-up which I will call "lu-la-lay". This was a super fun one because there were different levels of movement that went along with it. The first level was pretty simple but each got increasingly more difficult. I can't wait to teach it to my students. *
Once we got into reading songs We got some tips to engage students in SCORE-READING. One thing I have already implemented is the Mystery Measure. Each Chorus rehearsal I post a measure on the white-board (sometimes staff notation, sometimes stick) and students are tasked to find it in one of the songs we are working on that day. At the end of rehearsal, if they find it they get a star on their card. If they get 5 stars, they get a small prize. Prizes will be things like: Choose the exit song for the day, choose your favorite warm-up for next time, tell a musical joke, etc. I have only done visual Mystery Measures so far, but you could also do it aurally. During warm-ups students memorize a small section of a song on solfa and then if they find the same passage in their music while rehearsing they get their star (or 2). Once I start Aural Mystery Measures I think they will be worth more stars just because I think it is so much harder!
Another tip for score-reading was the pointer finger. When first learning a passage that students will sight-read, the teacher can play it first and the students can follow along. Then on the 2nd time they sing along. This only works well for extractions. I can see myself making it game, in that I start and they have to follow along and tell me where I stopped (up to 8 mm or so). Sometimes it would be a 2mm extraction, sometimes 4, sometimes 8 so they would have to be sure to pay attention!
Overall I got so many fun ideas from this work-shop. I am really glad I went to this choral session when I typically go to just GM music sessions. It has fired me up to make my chorus super focused but fun for my kiddos- I can't wait to take a class at CCM (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) this summer to learn more about Kodaly in the Choral Classroom!
DAVE HOLLAND- INTERACTIVE RHYTHM
Now onto Dave Holland. Wow! What a character! His workshops were so fun! I did some of his stuff in a mix with Mallet Madness right before spring break and my kiddos loved it! I will definitely be working more in in the future!
Check out his Interactive Rhythm Site HERE. At the site you can see his resources and look at some of his instruments. I love the instruments he shared because they are all interactive- they can be played alone or with others so students are not only interacting with the music- but with each other. There are woodblocks on a stick, shakers with flat ends that can also be clicked together- called shaker blox, jingle bells with flat wooden edges that can be clicked together- called jingle blox, drums, and more. As he said in the workshop "These drums are nothing without people. Humans are the ones who make the music come alive." Love it!
One of my favorite activities was "Rhythmic Affirmations." First the teacher played a 8 or 16 pattern and the class "affirmed" with a taught pattern. It was Clap, chest chest, pat pat, stomp stomp, woo! After we got the affirmation down, then he would should "Hey Hey, whadaya say?" and look at one student to improve for 8-16 beats before the class affirmed again. Sometimes, he would have a few improve before we affirmed, just by saying "Hey Hey..." more than once and then saying something along the lines of "Let's affirm that" when it was time for the group pattern. This can be done with just body percussion, simple small percussion instruments, or larger drums. Such a fun activity!
We also did lots of partner activities. One had a silly song with it to describe the movements, and while I couldn't see myself teaching it as a stand-alone song, I COULD see myself using the song to teach the movement and then doing while listening to a classical piece, etc. The words were "Play a click, share your stick, move on over to the other side. Play a click, share your stick, wave bye-bye." It was a great way to add a simple rhythm and change partners while in a circle. Another partner activity we did was sing the song "Alejo" and there was one instrument to each pair of people. While singing, one partner improvised using the instrument (some had shakers, shape drums, hand drums, and more) and the other got to dance. At the teachers signal, students switched rolls. The switching got faster and faster. This could be done with any song and was so fun!
After Dave Holland's workshops I was so excited not only to get my students interacting with each other while making music using percussion instruments BUT also to improve. There were so many fun improve activities at these workshops! In addition to what is mentioned above we also did "Musical Rock, Paper, Scissors" where students improvised using their instrument (ROCK- as in ROCK OUT on your instrument), on their body (PAPER- a flat paper hand is perfect for body percussion), and using their voices (SCISSORS- the scissors also kind of looks like a V which stands for voice). My students LOVED this one. Another fun one was the magic wand- Anywhere it points, you hear a magic sound! The teacher points at a section and they play the beat.
Now, if your students are like mine, they need practice improving- a lot. We do rhythm conversations and other tricks to practice rhythm improve, but one thing I liked that Dave Holland did was just pulling the group back to the steady pulse every once in a while. He would have us play our instruments on 1 and dance on 2-3-4 or improve with our voices in rhythm on 2-3-4. This can really help kids to internalize the pulse to get that improve sounding awesome- rather than like a bunch of banging.
Throughout the all of the workshops Dave Holland gave he said everything in rhythm and we always knew what to do and when to stop. He said things like "Hey Hey Hey-and everybody Stop!" or "Give love to yourself" (and you play ti-ti ta on your own instrument) or "give love to your neighbor" (play ti-ti ta on a neighbors instrument), "give it to the family" (all reach in and play a quarter note then shout a WOO!) or "play your own pattern" (improve for 4 beats) or "copy-cat now" (copy the leader's pattern).
One final thing I can't wait to try is Frame Drum Stories. He old one about a chipmunk who wants to go to the pond but is scared of a large bird. He at first tip toes, then gets more confident, and then runs to the water but STOPS before he jumps in because the bird scares him home. Students act out the story using their drum (fingers represent the walking feet of the chipmunk) and their bodies (flapping and cawing for the scary bird). Finally the bird becomes less scary and the chipmunk jumps into the water with a big SPLASH!
I will leave you with a few more noteable quotes from Dave Holland.
"There are no mistakes, just solos and opportunities to grow"
"When you move your feet-you dance"
"Anytime you beat on something [an instrument] for 30 minutes, it needs a hug"
And remember- as stated above: "These drums are NOTHING without out people. HUMANS are the ones who make the music come ALIVE"
*Note: I do not have permission to print the warm-up here but I found it very easily with notes and an explanation of the different levels very easily just googling "lulalay warm-up Sarah Hassler".
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
#1- I am having a Baby Boy in Early December! I found out I was pregnant right around the beginning of April and just found out last week at the anatomy scan that Baby Church is a boy! Brad and I are so excited. December will always be a whirlwind with Baby's B-day, Christmas, our Anniversary, and more but we are ready to take on the role of being parents. I am trying to get the nursery mostly done before I go back to school but so far it is only half primed... I didn't feel well for about the first 4 months of the pregnancy so not much of anything got done but the past few weeks I have been starting to feel better and get more energy so I am getting much more excited- and much more motivated to do things I have been neglecting- such as this blog and TPT. I hope once baby boy arrives I will be able to at least keep up with short posts, and I hope to have my Sub guest post about what is happening in my classroom while I am away. Feel free to leave tips on maternity leave below!
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