FUN WITH BUBBLE WRAP!

I found a roll of unused bubble wrap at Goodwill and thought I should come up with something for it.  So, my first graders were working on So, La, Mi, and Do and my fourth graders were working on steps, skips and repeated notes....VOILA!  Two birds with one stone!  So, I cut the bubble wrap in sections, made a three lined staff (so my first graders could read with ease) and drew on the back of the wrap with a Sharpie.  The trickiest part was, figuring out how to draw the treble clef backwards!  As an added bonus, I can use it over and over because the kids are so small, they don't really even pop it (unless they're trying).  For first grade, I sang a pattern, and they had to find it and stand on it.  If I get some more (which I'd like to), I'd like to make a game board out of my carpet and have them move from pattern to pattern according to what they hear me sing/play.  For fourth grade, I put the patterns scattered on the floor (upside down, etc.) and I said "Begin on a space.  Skip up, step up."  I hope you find this useful!

SOLFEGE CANDYLAND

Here's a fun way game for students who may have already mastered the concept you are teaching.  It's quiet, too!  They draw a card and move to that color.  If they can show the other players the correct Curwin hand sign, they can stay on the spot.  If not, they stay where they were and wait until their next turn.

THREE IN ONE FILE FOLDER ACTIVITY: SIMPLE RHYTHMS-MATCHING

As you can tell, I enjoy connecting children's literature with my music lessons.  It serves so many purposes and I'm happy to support my colleagues by reinforcing reading concepts like phonics, story retelling, chunking, etc.  I've always been jealous of teachers who have the ability differentiate there instruction with file folder activities.  (Of course, teachers have them readily available to purchase, whereas us music educators make EVERYTHING!) Students who have already mastered a skill or students who need to reinforce a concept, can run to the back of the classroom and do the file folder activity.  When they are finished, they show you before they place the pieces back in the bag so that you can do a quick assessment.  I'm working on making file folder activities for my music room.  It's going to be a long work-in-progress, but I'm excited to dive in!  Please let me know what you think by commenting below, liking it, or pinning it on pinterest.  Thanks!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

3 Rhythm matching activities in one folder!

The pieces are mini-craft sticks and free downloaded printables from http://www.homeschoolshare.com/.

Here's what the empty folder looks like.  Game one: Match rhythm sticks to each picture.

Here's what that will look like when you are finished.

Game two: Match words to rhythms.  This is also cross curricular as it asks the student to read the words and decipher how many syllables it has to match it to the correct rhythm.  The word descriptions can be placed in the rhythm pockets.

Game Three: Match the picture to the rhythm.  Again cross curricular as they have to see the picture, say the words, and place the picture with the correct rhythm.

Studnets can also place the pictures into the correct rhythm pockets.

Thanks for checking it out!  Let me know what you think! 

FILE FOLDER ACTIVITY: MI RE DO

 used from $3.93 on Amazon.com
Great book for a lesson on mi, re, do (or whatever your choice may be).  Here is a file folder game I made to reinforce it.

Let me know what you think!!!  Thanks!

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.    

SUZUKI RHYTHM GAME

Now I know NEVER to throw away those plastic Easter Eggs!  My 4yr old daughter has been taking Suzuki Violin for over a year now and this is a great way for her to start learning rhythmic notation.  When put together correctly, she has all of the Twinkle Variations with the exception of Twinkle Theme.

I actually have them in a gallon size bag for her to take with her whenever I know she'll need to keep herself busy and quiet.  (church, dr.'s office, etc.)  I hope you like it! :) 

MUSIC TEACHER POST: Sixteenth notes

I've been dying to come up with an idea for one of my favorite (and my own childrens' personal favorites) books, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont.  I've finally come up with a cute idea (or so I think).  The text of the book goes with the traditional song "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More."  The first part of the process would be to sing the book to the kids.  When I say sing the book, I mean show them the pictures on the page while singing the text in the book.  Our objective in second trimester of 3rd grade is to identify and perform sixteenth notes.  Here are some other parts that I've added that can be performed as a B section that incorporate sixteenth notes. 

Materials:
Large Drums (Congas, Tubanos, Djembes)
Hand Drums
Temple Blocks
Paint Brushes (plastic ones with the sponge on the end will be just fine...a pack of 50 at Michaels was $4.99)

Parts (layered in one at a time to be performed as ostinati)---I apologize, my Sibelius program is not functional presently

MOM (standing next to drums pointing her finger): "Paint no more, paint no more, ya' ain't gonna paint no more!"

KID PART 1 (on large drums with two paint brushes as mallets): "Dish, Swish (painting motion across the drum), Swish (again).  More paint in the (insert repeat sign)"

KID PART 2 (on hand drums that act as canvas): Students say the same thing as KID PART 1, but do different motions.  Students in rows that have a hand drum will hold hand drum in left hand and one paint brush in the right.  When the word "dish" is spoken, the hand drum is turned upside down so that the student next to them can pretend to dip his/her paint brush in the "dish."  On "Swish Swish" the students bring up their hand drum and swish twice with the paint brush.  Left hand (drum) is put back down and right hand goes into the drum next to dip the paintbrush (on the beat) during "more paint in the dish."  Holding the drum will be a little unconventional here, but I was going for visual appeal.

TEMPLE BLOCKS: "Listen to me, listen to me, I WANNA PAINT!" (crescendo over that with a repeat sign at the end). 

There are endless story opportunities you can do with this.  Mom can wear an apron or a scarf on her head, and speak with a New York accent, etc.  Let me know what you think!  Share with your friends!!!