Busted! An awesomely fun DIY music game!

I love games and so do my kiddos!
During the month of June, I included this fun game in our primary centre rotation.

BUSTED!

What you need:

A container of some sort. I used empty Lysol wipe containers.

Coloured tongue dipressers. I got mine from Michaels.

A thin permanent marker that you will write rhythms with. Don't forget to include some BUSTED sticks! I did 1/5 eighth notes, 1/5 quarter notes, 1/5 quarter rests, 1/5 half notes, and 1/5 Busted!.

I made a nifty label! For the upper elementary ones that I will do next year, I think I'll make a vertical label...

Put all of the sticks inside the container, with the rhythm side of each stick at the bottom.

And voila! Your game is ready to be played!

Click HERE for the game instructions and HERE the FREE printable label!

Kindergarten- highs, lows, and vocal exploration!

I love doing all sorts of vocal exploration with my kiddoes! 

"The Squiggle" by Carole Lexa Schafer is an oldie but a goodie. It's a story of a girl who find a string and creates different shapes and creatures with it. 

I read it with the little ones (K or grade 1) and we vocalize the shapes or "draw them with our voice". 

After the story, students create their own shapes with a skipping rope or draw them on the board and we try singing their squiggles!

Find the book on amazon HERE for under $7.00!

After presenting the activity this year I also showed 2 videos that reinforce high and low. The videos show excellent visual representation of sound, such as the squiggle activities do.

- Steph

Music Centre Ideas- Fun for June!

Oh my gosh! I just realized I haven't posted in 3 weeks! Ah!

As things are beginning to wind down, (only 5 days left!) I thought it would be perfect to have the children do centre work. It has been the perfect thing to do in June! 

Grade 1 and 2 students have been doing a rotation of three centres during the last two Music Classes.

#1 ROBOT RYTHMS

Check out the "how to" HERE

#2 NOODLE RHYTHMS

#3 WRITE A RHYTHM

I can't take credit for any of these ideas though! Lego rhythm activities are all over the internet! I've seen many noodle activities on Pinterest, but my favourite is Mrs. King's, over at her blog. And my friend Renee over at      The Reading Corner swears by Dollarstore page protectors for numerous activities in her classroom!

Stay Tuned for the new additions to this week's centres!

-Steph

Pete the Cat! Rocking in My School Shoes Composition Unit!

I have been working with my grade 3 class on creating music for the book "Pete the Cat, Rocking in my School Shoes". It is really coming to life! 

These are the steps we took before getting to our end result.

Step 1:

The first thing we did was read the book "Pete the Cat, Rocking in my School Shoes"

by James Dean and Eric Litwin.

Find it  HERE on Amazon.

Step 2:

The students then composed a melody (as a class) to match the reoccurring speech pattern from the book. We used a Smartnotebook file to help us.

We changed things and voted on ideas as we went along. Here is our final melody:

Click HERE for the FREE Smartnotebook file. It looks like this:

Step 3:

Next I divided my class into 4 groups. Each group represented an area from the story, where Pete was wearing his shoes. Each group was in charge of creating a soundscape to fit their area (busstop, lunchroom, library, playground). While choosing instruments and creating their soundscape, the groups were to write down shapes and lines that represented their composition (something that they could refer to later).

Step 4:

Next, students each created artwork that represented a "snapshot in time" of their group composition. They were to refer to their group composition notes for ideas. Using chalk pastels, each student drew their groups sound (I told them to imagine that they could see the sound and asked them what it would look like).

After drawing their sound in pastel, each student had to draw their school area in black marker. They made sure to include Pete in their drawing!

Step 5:

Finally we put it all together! We read the story, singing the song every time it came up in the book. Each group held up their "snapshot" and played their soundscape at the appropriate time in the story. It was so fun! The grade 3 class is sharing their story via Polycom (video conferencing) with a class from New Jersey tomorrow and we are so excited!

Pete on the playground!

Pete outside waiting for the bus!

Pete in the lunchroom!

Pete in the library!

What kinds of things do you do in your Music room with picture books? Please share!

- Steph





Click, Clack, Moo Composition Freebie!

I am currently finishing up tons of I Love To Read Month activities. I tried something new this year that is really working out! I am having older classes (grade 4 and 5) write recorder compositions inspired by books that the younger classes are currently using.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin

My grade 4 classes are using a reoccurring rhythm pattern from "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type" to compose a BAG recorder piece in pairs. The pairs will then share the story and their composition with grade 2 classes students!

HERE is the free composition printable for you to use as you wish!

- Steph

Rhythm Sharks

I did these in January with my grade ones. I got the idea of making the sharks from Look at my Happy Rainbow . To make them musical and to reinforce grade 1 rhythms, each student had to write a 4 beat rhythm using ta, ti-ti or rest inside their shark's mouth! After they were finished, we clapped each of the shark rhythms together as a class.

I woud like to do the rhythm sharks again next year, but I think I will use construction paper rather than having the kids colour paper plates. That might look better!

- Steph

So-mi Fish Assessment FREEBIE!

This was really fun for my little grade 1 students. We finished up our Under the Sea month by demonstrating so-mi. Each student got a so-mi fishbowl and some Goldfish crackers. Students were prepared as they had been practicing notating so and mi with THIS Smartboard activity and by using popsicle sticks together with bingo chips. 

I sang a 4 beat so-mi pattern and the students notated it using their Goldfish and fishbowl. Once I checked their work, they could eat their fish. This was a lot of fun, and a perfect end to our Under the Sea Unit.

Click HERE for the free so-mi fishbowl template. All you need now is some Goldfish! Voila!

- Steph

Techy Tuesday- Play and Roll Recorder Game

So I just realized that I have named my Technology posts something different.... for every post! Tech Tuesdays, Techno Tuesday, Technology Thursday.... and so on. Inconsistency is one of my pet peeves! Go figure... thus Techy Tuesday.

Anywhooo, yesterday we had a professional development day at school. No kids and tons of Smartboard stuff. I also got to connect with fellow Music teachers in the morning. I felt inspired so I created something that I can do with my kids today!

This Play and Roll Recorder Game was created as a sight reading activity for my grade 4 students. There are 6 hidden melodies. A student must come up to the Smartboard and "roll" the virtual die. Whatever number they roll, corresponds with a hidden melody. When the student taps the numbered shape, the melody is revealed and the student must play the melody. 

Click HERE for the free Smartboard file! I promise that it is unlocked this time! :)

Don't forget that you can use Smart Notebook files with an E-beam or other interactive technologies!

Super fun!

- Steph

Music Note Name Jenga!

I have my grade 4 to 6 students do small group or independant work on days that I want to work with a small recorder group. Music Note Name Jenga has been our best hit yet! Even better than the amazing Staff Wars and Note Name Battleship! 

I have seen various ways to transform Jenga into a music game. I came across a great version over at COLOR IN MY PIANO. Joy uses many music symbols in her game. I wanted my students to focus solely on note names so I created a game that had treble clef notes only.

HOW TO PLAY

Students stack the blocks as you do in regular Jenga. Students take turns pulling blocks. Each time they pull, they must show their block to the group and name the note. If they get it wrong, that students must pull again. I made a rule that a player only needs to pull a maximum of two blocks, even if they make more than one mistake. The student who is responsible for the blocks toppling over loses. 

They LOVE it!

HOW TO MAKE IT

First of all I bought a cheaper version of Jenga (on sale at Target) for $5.00. I bought two. I then simply drew a treble clef note on each block... well it wasn't that simple. 

I thought I'd be honest and share photos of my marker testing process on the little wooden blocks. It's pretty funny actually.

Attempt #1:

 I used a regular tipped Sharpie for this one. Ew. Gross. I also spent 2 hours trying to make lines on these blocks perfect. I used Post-its to try and make straight lines. FAIL.

I didn't give up though! Attempt #2:

 WAY WORSE!!! Hahahah. This really made me laugh. I used a Uniball rollerball pen for this one. Finer lines, but it bled WAY more. And yes you're right, I didn't use the Post-it strategy. This should actually be on one of those Pinterest FAIL sites. 

I wanted to give up! But I believed in the activity and in the great game of Jenga.

Attempt #3:

Meh, it's not perfect, but it works for me! I used a fine point black Sharpie for my entire second game of blocks. No Post-its, the marker followed the wood grain quite easily to make a straight enough line.

Yay Jenga!

What games do you transform for the Music room?

Please share!

- Steph

Techno Tuesday- Smartboard Dictation!

I love using my Smartboard to quickly assess my students' rhythm/melody dictation skills. Keeping with our "Under the Sea" theme in grade 1, I created a simple Smartboard activity where students notate so-mi on my 4 line staff (right before we get to 5 lines) after hearing me sing a short so-mi melody.

Click HERE for the free Smartboard file!

 

 

My grade 4 students were working on identifying "syn-co-pa" (this year I actually started saying "ti-ta-ti" instead) in November. We learned "Canoe Song" to help us achieve our goal. I created a Smartboard activity helping students demonstrate the rhythm of the words in "Canoe Song".

Click HERE for this one!

And last of all today... a super fun one that is just great for practicing ta and ti-ti in a fun way!

Kooshball Rhythms! Click HERE for the Smartboard file. Check out The Music Interactive for more free resources.

 

- Steph

PS- I'm so sorry my files weren't available! Everything is fixed now so click on the Smartboard files and you can open them!

DIY Solfege Fishing Game!

Here's my first official Make it Monday!

January is Under the Sea Month in Music! Grade 3 students will be working on all of their solfege signs this week, so to tie into our theme I made a solfege fishing game!

First, I found free fish clipart... that I love! This awesome clipart is here on Clker.com. After downloading the picture, I copied it onto 7 different slides in Powerpoint. On each fish I typed a solfege syllable. After I printed my fish off, I cut them out, glued them onto cardstock, and added a paper clip .

To make the fishing rod I simply used an old marker, twine, a magnet, and hot glue. 

I put my fish in a bucket and voila!

My fishing game is ready to go!

To play the game, I will either play a recording of "Do-Re-Mi" from "The Sound of Music" or "Under the Sea" from "The Little Mermaid". The rod will get passed around as the music plays. When I stop the music, the person with the rod must catch a solfeg fish! When the student gets a fish they must read the solfeg syllable and show the appropriate hand sign.

We tried it! The students and I found it difficult to catch fish from a bin, so instead we scattered them on the floor. I also felt that students needed practice with the hand signs so when a fish was caught the whole class showed the hand sign instead of just the fisher.

They loved it!

- Steph

Back to the Basics

I sometimes forget that there is great value in simple activities that don't necessarily have tons of pizaaazz, props, and fancy visuals that I love!... especially when kids are developing their own musical ideas and sharing them with their peers.

During the last couple of weeks, I have really been working on reading standard notation with my grade 4 students before they begin learning recorder. Once we get into recorder, it can all become soooooo overwhelming: reading rhythm, reading melody, doing both simultaneously, figuring out a new instrument, and then doing all of those things at once.

I find boomwhackers so useful for students to use while reading music! It gives forces them to track, they don't have to worry about their instrument too much since it's so simple to play and it gives them a fun focus tool while working in independent groups.

Back to Basics Reading Activity with Boomwhackers:

1. Using four different 4 beat melody cards (I have the Hal Leonard ones, they are FABULOUS), practice clapping 4 cards in a row with the class. Have them say the rhythm as they clap.

2. Next have students pat the rhythm while saying the note names.

3. Choose a few students to come to the front and have each hold a different boomwhacker pitch. Have them track the melody cards with you, playing in rhythm when it's their turn. Have the rest of the class pat and say the letter names in rhythm.

4. Explain to students that they will be doing group work. Choose a team leader who will report back to you in writing with issues and successes that their team experienced. The leader will also be in charge of problem solving and keeping the team positive. 

5. Give each group 4 melody cards and enough boomwhackers for each person. The team will choose 2 cards (I found starting with 2 was best for my kids), choose how to organize them, practice the phrase with their boomwhackers, and then perform for the class.

I know it sounds so simple and maybe boring, but the students really loved it! Really! It took one class and it was a great chance for them to perform for their peers as well.

- 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 Memory Bulletin Board!

We are starting to play recorder again soon. Grade 4 students will be playing for the first time! How exciting! I better start taking some Advil to school with me... Just kidding! Anyways, I thought having a bulletin board that reviews note names in the treble clef staff would be very useful! Here it is!

 Hockey tape for making the staff, orange foam dollar store circles for the notes!

 The kids got a kick out of their friends being characters on the bulletin board!

This guy looks like he should be working with Captain Kirk!

Do you have any note name bulletin board ideas?

- Steph

Rhythm Robots!

I am currently getting music centres organized and I am having so much fun! I came across a great idea from Sing A New Song. She uses lego blocks with her students in order to build rhythms. I was in Dollarama yesterday and came across these! A pack for only $3.00, so I bought two. 

I bought mini labels and cut them to fit the blocks.

I was going to keep these rounded off pieces out of our centres, but then I thought they looked like feet! I thought, "We could make robots!"

Students will have three different activities to do at the Robot Rhythms centre. While in pairs, one partner builds a robot with the blocks. When finished, their partner must clap and say the rhythms from head to toe and then toe to head. Partners then switch jobs.

The second activity is similar, except the student rolls a die before building their robot. The number they roll, will show the amount of beats their robot must contain.  

I still really like the idea of how Sing a New Song has the students build their rhythms similar to the photo below, because they will read it from left to right, as they would in standard notation. I am including blocks in the centre package that will be able to be used in this way. The left to right rhythm building will be the third activity and again the die will be used.

I also found our robots a friend at Dollarama! You gotta love Christmas stuff out at the same time as Halloween! I also love that this guy is so ugly that he's cool!

Have a great week and comment about your favourite music centre activity that students in your classroom do!

-Steph