SING ALONG WITH CREATIVE EXTENSION!

  Used copy for $8.00 on Amazon.com

Here's a great book by Denise Fleming that you can sing to your kids/students using the familiar melody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  Music teachers, you can make it more interesting by adding sounds or complete rhythms with various instruments in between all of the items that the best friend gave.

Here are some of our ideas.  To make it Orff-friendly, you can add text for each rhythm (ex. "blue mittens, mittens blue").

Red cap with a gold snap: rest, quarter note (finger snap)

Two bright blue mittens: quarter, two eighths, two eighths, quarter (glocks-set up in C pentatonic-using both mallets)

Three striped scarves: quarter, two eighths, quarter, two eighths, quarter, two eighths (guiro)

Four prickley pine cones: half note, half note, half note, half note (wratchet)

Five birdseed pockets: whole note (triangle, played fast like a trill-this one we played while we sang, instead of after we sang)

Six tiny twigs: two eighths, quarter, half rest, two eighths, quarter, half rest (claves)

Seven leaves: four sixteenths, two eighths, four sixteenths, quarter (sand blocks)

Eight orange berries: two eighths, two eighths, two eighths, two eighths (SX/AX ascending on C pentatonic, alternating mallets)

Nine big black buttons: two sixteenths-eighth, two sixteenths-eighth, two sixteenths-eighth, quarter (log drum or temple blocks)

Ten salty peanuts: two eighths, quarter, two eighths, quarter, two eighths, two eighths, two eighths, quarter (jingle bells)

Extension: Dress up your own "snowman" with props from your room!  Have groups of four, where one student is the snowman and the other three students dress it up with props from your room.  Have them use  four or five different items and sing their own versus.  They can use scarves, hats, canes, stretchy bands, masks, etc.