Waltz of the Flowers- Simple Movement

So I LOVE The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky and use it all year round (with special focus during December).

Most of my lessons have a loose theme (especially in younger grades) to aid in transitions, etc. and last week we were doing Trees, Flowers, Planting, etc.

In this garden themed lesson, at one point we BECAME seeds/ flowers and did some adorable movement to the beginning of Waltz of the Flowers. The movement includes practicing balance, cross-body movement, and form.  The explanation below is meant just as a reminder of motions- I recommend watching the video to really learn it!

Intro: This movement starts out with students as seeds. They start to grow slowing, stretching and swaying during the entire intro of the song.

A Section:
Students lift rt leg, place arms above head to be petals and then "Bloom"
Repeat on left side
Blow in the wind (can they blow in the wind on one leg? I add this as an extra challenge!)
repeat

B Section:
Right arm up, left arm up
right arm down, left arm down
"wave" motion
repeat 3x
4th time Last time- right arm up, left arm up, sway arms back and forth.

The 2nd time during the A section I challenge students to "blow in the wind" on only one foot, making sure to let them know that it is ok if it is hard for them!

The 2nd time during B section I added some cross-body movement so you can see a slightly more difficult version.  You can do what works for your kids!

Other garden songs/ chants:
Bee Bee Bumble Bee
Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
Meet Me at the Garden Gate
Down By the Bay (although watermelons are more a patch than a garden)
Engine Engine traveling to a garden
Queen Caroline planting seeds to the heartbeat or tiptoeing through a magic fairy garden

Tuesday Book Club- Good Night, Firefly

Today's Tuesday Book Club is focused on the book Good Night, Firefly by Gabriel Alborozo.

This is such a sweet book!

Nina's electricity goes out and she captures a firefly to help her see.  As Nina and the firefly play, the firefly's light grows dimmer and dimmer. After trying to help her firefly in a few different ways, Nina realizes what she must do.

When I read this book, we sing one of my favorite Firefly songs every few pages (when she finds the fireflies, when she is reading by the fireflies light, and then at the end a few times as well).

After reading the book, I have students do simple movement to Fireflies by Owl City. This time, I did not use finger lights, as we still are working on movement expectations, but this movement would look awesome in the dark! It is purposefully very simple so it is accessible even to my new kinders.  Unfortunately, the movement video is too large to embed into this post directly, but you can check out the movement here. Feel free to change it up a bit, add in more cross-body motions, turns, or even locomotor movement to make it work for your students.

Enjoy!

Room Tour 2019-2020

A new year is starting! I thought I would share my room set up for the year.  It is very similar to last year, but a few things have been changed, moved or added.

Starting with my desk area, I have it facing the wall this year, so there is more room for instruments and movement! I am rarely at my desk during the day, so having my back to the door isn't a big deal to me. I am also so excited about my new sub-tub! It will make planning for being out so much easier.

Moving around the room from my desk, I have a wall of 2 dry erase boards, as well as a TV that I can hook my computer into.  We face this direction a lot during class for sight-reading songs, interactive review games and more! The bookshelves under the TV house a lot of my movement props like scarves, beanbags, and plates as well as my lycra (which I use as a parachute) and stretchy band.  The piano is also on this wall- which I mostly only use during chorus time. 

The cabinet wall is where I have all my anchor charts hanging, as well as boomwhackers and student writing supplies.  I am a little worried this will get cluttered this year, but I am hoping it will work out. The anchor charts include elements of music as well as the 7 habits as we are a Leader in Me school.  On the end of the cabinets are dry erase boards where I post weekly 'I can' statements for each grade.  In the corner next to the cabinets will be a rest area nook for students to calm down if they are feeling overwhelmed.  There will be a few fidgets as well as a feelings chart. 

On the wall where students enter are my choir folders, my classroom library and one more dry erase board.  I also keep the student dry erase boards and markers over here. The filing cabinets you see in the pictures house choral music as well as some materials that are used less often.  I also keep some project materials on top like cardboard, paper, and more just in case students want to build when they are creating something!

I was so excited this year to be able to add to my Giraffes Can't Dance corner.  I found fabric with the animals so I made new fabric bookshelves to match the painting I already had (gifted to me from a student years ago!)

Also on the same wall is my bulletin boards, which are one of my favorite parts of the room! I have our music class creed (You can get one from Megs Music Room HERE) as well as a pitch reading bulletin board called 'Swingin' Through the Lines and Spaces'  My room has a slight jungle theme with the Giraffes Can't Dance things, and Lion watercolors above the sink, so I pulled out a favorite bulletin board from the past for this space. The flowers are recycled from the Over in the Meadow program I did with Kinders last year- and they are perfect for this space! Under the creed is also a "What I'm Reading" poster where I post the titles of the books I am currently reading to encourage students to read and talk about books!

In the middle is my staff rug, where students sit if we are doing board work, as well as a circle made out of floor decals (yay target dollar spot!)  I am hoping these decals stay long enough that kids get used to how and where to make the circle for games, dances, and more (and if they don't- they were only $5). 

Finally, I have my instrument shelves.  I have most of my instruments on tables or bookshelves and they are set up at all times.  I am so lucky to have a large enough room where we can sing, say, dance and play without having to move a lot of equipment each class.  The barred instruments sit on top the  while the small percussion is in bins on the shelves below. 

What is your favorite part of your room??? 

Tuesday Book Club - The Nutcracker, A Pop-Up Book

It's exactly 6 months til Christmas Ya'll!

This summer, I came across this AMAZING Nutcracker Pop-Up Book by Jenni Fleetwood and Illustrated by Phillida Gili. The Nutcracker is my favorite and this book will be my new go-to for telling the story to my classes.

WOW. That is all I can say.  I was literally gasping every single page.  The pop-ups and illustrations are multi-layered and perfect. Every time I look at the book I find more to be excited about. The story is also just-right for kids. It tells the story in a beautiful way without being super long winded or leaving out important parts.

The Nutcracker and Mouse King actually fight! 

The Dancers move! 

I cannot wait to use this in my classroom this upcoming year. Check it out!

Summer 5's

School is out for the Summer! I had a great first year at Liberty Union and I am excited to get time for rest, family, and fun this summer.  I know I will come back to LU feeling refreshed and ready to go next school year.  I thought I would share my summer to-do list in a fun way.  My Summer 5s! 5 lists of 5 things each that I hope to do/read/complete this summer.


Classroom Organization 5
1. Make new fabric shelves for my classroom- DONE!

2. Complete Year-Plans for next year
3. Add more of a Jungle Theme to my Classroom for next year (we are the Lions!)
4. Catalog my Classroom Library- I am using the BookOrganizer App and it is awesome!
5. Organize the REST Area Better (bean bag, pillows, etc)  I made one pillow cover to match the above shelves and bought this awesome pillow. I am still looking for more fun things!

Professional Development Books 
1. Teach Like Finland - Timothy D. Walker
2. Troublemakers - Carla Shalaby
3. The Teaching Text - Douglas J. Robertson
4. Compassionate Music Teaching - Karin S. Hendricks
5. Go See the Principal - Gerry Brooks

TPT 5
1. Update Back-2-School Stack Products- DONE!

2. Over in the Meadow Program Starter Pack
3. More Vocal Exploration Files- Sloths, Summer, Fireflies, and more!
4. More Hello My Name Is games (treble and bass clef matching!)
5. Carnival of the Animals Movement Bundle!

Family 5
1. Columbus Zoo
2. Cosi Science Center
3. Music Classes for my kids (mommy and me!)
4. Watch an Outdoor Movie
5. Take a mini-vacation with my husband to NYC

Ice Cream 5
1. Jeni's
2. Graeters
3. Shaffner's
4. Make our own
5. Ice-Cream Truck


What are your goals for the summer? (Don't feel bad if they are just to rest and rejuvenate- I will be doing PLENTY of that!)

Tuesday Book Club - Vocal Exploration Books

I just wanted to quickly share 3 great books that I use for Vocal Explorations in K and 1.

1. SAY ZOOP! by Hervé Tullet
This book is amazing.  Each page has another fun thing to say.  The pictures correspond with the words, and sometimes even encourage you to get louder/ quieter or higher/ lower depending on how the picture is drawn.  For this one, I pick a section at a time because it is quite long. Students love the silly words! 

              Make some noise! Shout "OH!" Whisper "oh!" 
              Say "Zoop"? Yes! "Zoop!" "Zoop!" "Zoop!" 
              The newest book from Hervé Tullet magically 
              responds with bursts of color and moving shapes, 
              empowering children by letting their imaginations 
              liberate and direct each page's reaction.

2. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak
This book is another great one with silly words.  I have the students repeat some of the silly things after me while reading the book. They LOVE all the silly noises and sounds- especially hearing me say them!

             You might think a book with no pictures seems boring 
             and serious. Except . . . here’s how books work. 
             Everything written on the page has to be said by the 
             person reading it aloud. Even if the words say . . .

             BLORK. Or BLUURF.

             Even if the words are a preposterous song about eating 

             ants for breakfast, or just a list of astonishingly goofy 

             sounds like BLAGGITY BLAGGITY and GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.

             Cleverly irreverent and irresistibly silly, 

             The Book with No Pictures is one that kids will beg to hear 

             again and again. (And parents will be happy to oblige.)

3. Hoppity Skip Little Chick by Jo Brown
A great little story, with super fun pictures. I read each page and then have students follow the path of the animals (represented by dotted lines in the book) with their voices.  We make the animal sounds, too! This one is perfect for Spring!

                While Little Chick's Mom keeps her eggs warm, 
                Little Chick is sent out to play with all of his
                barnyard friends, and when he returns home at 
                the end of the day, he gets the best surprise ever
                --new brothers and sisters!

Upper Elementary Music Concept Project

My fourth graders have just completed an awesome project on BIG musical concepts. It was a two part group project explaining a chosen concept like Dynamics, Tempo, Harmony, Lyrics, Mood, etc.

Part one was a Flipgrid video explaining their concept. Students had to research facts and information about their concept and put it together in a short "music minute" video a la Meg's Music Room on youtube. Students gave information like definitions, abbreviations, and examples in the songs in their videos. Most videos had at least 5 facts or informational tid-bits.  If you have never used flipgrid, see THIS POST for more info. See below for Meg's Music Room Music Minute on Dynamics.

After students were done researching their concept/ making their video they had to come up with an activity to PRACTICE that concept as part two. Most groups were able to come up with something on their own, but if students were stuck I had them search "Music Class Activities to Teach..." We had so many great activities - question wheels, kahoots, rhythm reading with instruments, dynamics flashcards, mood worksheets, lyrics mad-libs (more on this one in another post- I loved it so much!), lyrics tag and more!

To present the projects, students showed their flipgrid videos to the class to give info on their topic, and then taught their activity as further practice to solidify the knowledge learned in the video.  Groups had to practice explaining the directions, plan for questions classmates might have, and really break down their activities so all understood. They had so much fun being the teacher!

I loved seeing the students personalities and creativity come out through this project. Students were building, using computers to create, drawing, writing, and more.  The best part was watching them work together teach/ learn from their classmates.