Freebie Friday! Fun High Five Positive Reinforcement Posters!

Yay for Mrs. Q and Freebie Friday! Check out her blog and other bloggers that linked up to her party HERE!

I just posted fun, musical high fives in my Music room this week! This idea stemmed from... you guessed it! Another classroom teacher blog! I found an idea for hand outlines and posters for practising sight words. Words were inside the hand prints and posted as high fives at the classroom entrance. Various activities were used as an exit slip with the high five sight words.

I decided to make some high fives of my own! This might be a great idea, or a complete disaster! I have posted my high five sign and high fives right next to the Music room door. Students will high five a statement that is true for them, relating to the Music class they just had. As they walk out, students high five their chosen statement.

Here is my original High Five poster:

Here is the black and white version of the High Five sign. I used this instead and printed it on lime green paper.

Here are some examples of hand outlines (there are 10 in total) that I have posted on my wall under the poster and that students can high five on the way out of class!

Click HERE for all of my high fives and both posters for FREE!

We will see! I'll let you know how it goes. It will be fun, but maybe too much fun! Noise in the hallway could be a problem after high fiving with the posters. Only time will tell! It's worth a try!

Thanks again to Mrs. Q for hosting Freebie Friday!

Connecting with Students through Summer Stories!

My husband and I just returned from an amazing trip to Europe! We spent three weeks visiting friends, family and new places. I thought I would connect vacay to school stuff in this post!

For me, making meaningful connections with my students is the most important element as an effective and engaging educator. Listening to stories and sharing my own stories and experiences helps my students see me as a real person. These moments really build on the essential relationships with my students. 

I have made a vacation highlight list to share with my students as well as some photos from my trip! I have included musical and personal connections for each of the cities. I will expand on the musical information when I discuss with my students. 

PRAGUE

Personal:

Prague is on of my favourite cities! My favourite place is the Charles Bridge with all of the buskers, artists, vendors and the beautiful Vlatava River that flows through Prague's centre.

Musical:

Czech composer Antonin Dvorak lived in Prague for much of his life! 

BERLIN

Personal:

Berlin is a city rich with culture and history. We ate dinner at the revolving restaurant at the top of Berlin TV Tower on our first night. I also had the amazing opportunity to watch the German Musical "Hinter dem Horizont", a profound love story set during the East/West Germany era. 

Musical: 

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach spent 30 years in Berlin! He worked as a member of the Royal Orchestra at the time and also composed much music for orchestra and piano. 

DRESDEN

2 pics just because it's my fav!

 (Dresden Semper Operahouse)

Personal:

I lived close to Dresden for a year on a student exchange ten years ago. Dresden is officially my favourite city in the world! Not a lot of tourists, a beautiful old city and an unbelievable history. Love, love, love this city.

Musical:

Many composers spent time working here including Wagner, both Clara and Robert Schumann, Strauss, and Rachmaninoff. 

SAXONY SWITZERLAND

Personal:

Incredible landscape and history here, near Dresden. Breathtaking views. We spent time at the National Park, Rathen. Lovely!

Musical:

Wagner lived in Leipzig and Dresden, but also spent time in the Saxon Switzerland region, gaining inspiration from the beautiful area for his compositions.

PARIS

Personal:

We took in many sights in Paris. It was a jam packed two and a half days! Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre, La Seine, Champs-Elysee, L'Arc de Triomphe, Sacre-Coeur, Notre-Dame, and the Catacombs!

Musical:

I am sure there are many, but I thought it was pretty funny that I had the song "Champs Elysee" in my head from the moment we arrived until the day we left!

What stories do you plan to share with your students? How do you make personal connections with them?

Tips and Tricks for Engaging Rehearsals #3

Here is the last of the Tips and Tricks for Engaging Rehearsals! I will start posting photos of my concert costumes, props and backdrops this coming week! Yay!

FUN GAMES TO MIX IT UP A BIT!

Sometimes I notice that my kids are getting restless during a rehearsal. I take 5 minutes to play a quick game that will get their jitters out!

Four Corners

Most of you probably already know how to play a version of this, but here is the version I play with my kids that I got from the teacher I was student teaching with 5 years ago! 

1. Create 4 cards that each represent a different song you are working on.  

2. Post the cards in different corners of your room. 

3. Choose a caller to stand a t the front of the room. The rest of the students start in the middle of the room and the caller turns away closing their eyes. 

4. The caller then says, "Choose your corner. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1". The rest of the students go to a corner while the caller is not looking. 

5. Before turning around, the caller sings part of one of the songs (or plays a recording of it). 

6. Whoever was standing at the corner of that particular song is out and must sit in the middle of the room.

7.  The game continues until there is a winner or until the caller sings a song that no one is standing at. In that case everyone in the middle is back in and the game restarts.

Drum Talk

This is a quick game I like to play in the middle of a rehearsal to give the kids a movement break.

1. Have students spread out in the room and face you.

2. Take a hand drum and choose 2 different simple 4-beat rhythms.

3. Each rhythm represents a different stance. For example "ta ta ti-ti ta" could mean hands by your sides, while "ta ta ta" means arms in a T position.

4. Play the two rhythms on the drum while the class does the stances that go along with the rhythms. the last student to change their position or if someone does the wrong stance they are out. The last person standing wins!

Shadow Dance

This is a super quick and easy way to add a movement break! This is a simplified version of an activity I saw Jeff Kriske & Randy Delelles present at a conference in October.

1. Take a triangle and have students line up behind you.

2. Play a background track that you are working on (or another piece of music if you are not using background tracks).

3. Have students follow behind you (like your shadow) in a line and do what ever you do! Do any kind of dance move as you travel around the room (hand in the air, turn, anything!).

4. Once you play the triangle sound, the leader moves to the back of the line and a new leader takes charge!

Freeze Dance

Easiest game EVER! Kids love it and it is the simplest thing.

1. Put some music on and have students dance!

2. When the music stops they must freeze, or they are out!

3. Once students are out, they sit to the side and may dance with their upper body.

4. Last one standing wins!

- Steph

Tips and Tricks for Engaging Rehearsals #2

Report cards are done- YIPEEEEEEEEEEE! I have been MIA on my blog with those darn things, concert prep, the flu, aaaaand a lame car accident this week (no one was hurt thankfully)!

Our school's K-3 concert preparation continues. 10 days until concert night number one. The kids are doing a fabulous job, but it is starting to peak a little early. At this time, students are getting close to the point where they are sick of the songs. WE CAN'T HAVE THAT YET!

Here are some more tips and tricks to keep your kiddos entertained as they continue to practice their concert songs over, and over, and over again...

I am not a fan of blog posts without photos, mostly because I have the attention span of a 6 year old... So I am truly sorry that I have limited pics for this post! I know it's a long one but it'll be worth the read!

MORE TIPS AND TRICKS FOR ENGAGING REHEARSALS:

How Does My Voice Work?

Show them this neat and super short video about the voice. As the video plays, stop it to clarify certain ideas. After the video, have your students place their hand high on their chest, near their throat, and say something together. They will feel a vibration and think it's so cool!

Thanks Denise on Pinterest for the cool video! 

Voice Production Video

Movement Words

Once students know the words to their piece, internalizing activities are super fun and really work the brain. Choose a word that repeats throughout the song. Have students do a non-locomotor movement instead of singing that one word. For example, instead of singing the word "tree" in one of our songs, I had the class jump. You could have them raise their arms, clap, or even stand and sit 

(they get a real kick out of that one).

Hula Hoop Internalizing

This is another internalizing activity that kids LOVE! Have one student stand inside of a hula hoop in front of the class. The class sings their song with a background track or piano accompaniment. The student in the hula hoop decides when to hop outside of the hula hoop. Once he/she does that, the class must internalize the words as the accompaniment continues. Once the student hops back into the hula hoop the class continues singing.

Positive Feedback from your Neighbour

I know this sounds simple, but it is a great easy trick for engagement. I went to an engagement workshop a couple months ago with Eric Jensen and he used this throughout the day. All you do is have the class say different things to their neighbours! For example, if you hear something good have your students say "You have a beautiful voice" to a neighbour or "Wow, you are a great singer!" or "Congratulations you just learnt a new part!" and give a high five.

Spot Call

Dollar store foam cutouts are my BFF. I use them for a million different things, but during rehearsal time they are fun to use for Spot Call. Spread out foam cutouts on the ground and have students sit on them when they come into Music class. Have a chart of the different colours on the board, either with dry erase markers or create a colour chart with construction paper. During a song, point to a colour and have the students sitting on that colour stand and sing. It's simple but a blast. They really get a kick out of internalizing! Plus it gives you a chance to hear individual voices more clearly.

Other Stuff

I also use tricks from my past posts for rehearsals. Click on the activity to link you directly to the post here on my blog.

Jitter Sticks

 

Movement Ball

Tempo Turn

What are you doing to get your kids ready for Winter Concert time?

- Steph

Tips and Tricks for Engaging Rehearsals #1!

I love the holiday season! Yipeeeee! And as much as our holiday musical songs can drive me crazy (I wake up in the middle of the night with them stuck in my head!) I love preparing for our annual Holiday Musical!

To keep from kids getting bored (as well as myself), I always like to add quick, fun and meaningful activities in my rehearsal plans. For our holiday musical, all of our grade 1 to 3 students learn the songs during their Music class and are the chorus on the stage for the musical. Grade 3 students choose whether or not they would like a speaking part and practice during lunch time.

Here are some activities that I love to do with my kids to keep them engaged, especially during that time where the kids think they are pros at the songs. They don't see the point in singing over and over and over again, but you know better! 

Visuals For Vocal Flexibility

Ribbon Sounds

I use this as a warm up or an "inbetweener" for rehearsal. All you do is draw different shapes with the ribbon wand in the air. As you do so, the students create vocal slides accordingly. They LOVE this! Sometimes, I'll get them to draw the shape in the air with their finger as they vocalize it. Once they get the hang of it, I ask a student to come up and be the leader with my ribbon wand. I got my ribbon wand for $1.00 at Dollarama!

Parachute Voices

This is a similar idea to Ribbon Sounds, but is not my idea. I saw Artie Almeida demonstrate this at the AOSA conference in St. Louis last week. She is AMAZING by the way! And yes, she IS the Mallet Madness woman! Check out her website at artiealmeida.com for excellent ideas. I was so excited when I saw her doing this as it is similar to the ribbon wand activity that I was already doing!

Artie used a slide whistle which was super cool, but you can also use your voice to do the vocal slides. Students hold a parachute and together lift and lower it, according to the changes in pitch that they hear. Eventually, Artie moved to singing solfege and the parachute moved accordingly. This is a great way for students to visualize pitch and where the solfege sounds are in relation to each other . I have also had a student do vocal slides instead of myself, while his/her peers moved the parachute. LOVE it!

I used a small parachute as I don't have much room for movement in my room. You can order 12' parachutes for under $40.00 at Concord Supplies.

Be sure to check back for part II and possibly III of Tips and Tricks for Engaging Rehearsals!

I will also be posting costume ideas very soon!

What tricks do you use to keep kids captivated?

- Steph

Noteworthy Behaviour!

Once in a while I like having a music games class after students have demonstrated great teamwork. This year, I will be doing a program called "(my school name) Is Noteworthy!" When students have a great music class and demonstrate amazing cooperation and teamwork, they receive a music note on the chart next to their class name. Once the class receives 10 music notes, we have a music games class!

To make the chart, I simply typed up the class names in a table and printed it on coloured paper. I then inserted the paper into a black frame from Dollarama and hung it on my bulletin board with a tac and binder clip. I use dry erase markers to mark the music notes, and voila!

-Steph

DIY Jitter Sticks

I call these my "jitter sticks"! I use them when I notice students getting jittery or when we need a little pick me up! These would be great for classroom teachers to use too!

Simply type up various fun movements and tape each one around a popsicle stick.

Put your sticks upside down in a small container. I used a mini Pringles container and covered it with wrapping paper. A can would work too. When you see a busy body getting the jitters, have them choose a jitter stick for the class to do! 

I want to make more! Please share any movement ideas for the jitter sticks!

- Steph