African - American History Month

This month I have been focusing a little on jazz and the African-American musicians that made this style of music so popular.  I found several great resources on http://discoveryeducation.com and http://www.brainpop.com to assist with this venture.  We have been doing lots of active listening and the students have to complete a "Musical Jumping Jacks" form as they listen.

One of my favorite jazz musicians is Dizzy Gillespie because we share the same hometown.  Best laugh of the week - a student, "So, you went to school with him?  That's cool!!"  Ummmm...can we tell who wasn't listening!?!  But, it did provide a moment to go back and re-teach about time periods in history.

One last thing I wanted to mention about the sites listed above - they require a paid subscription and I highly recommend both if your school/district doesn't already subscribe.  I so couldn't teach without either!

February Freebie

Over the next 2 weeks, my 1st and 2nd graders will be learning the song This Candy Has Words from Music K-8 magazine Vol. 22, No. 3.  At one of my schools there has been a big focus on character education, especially kindness and compassion.  The students will be creating "candy hearts" to share with their classmates.  We are taking part in Rachel's Challenge and the students have been creating chain links of kindness which has been going well, but some of the students have lost a little interest in it.  So, I thought this would be a great way to re-energize their interest in the Challenge.

I've created this worksheet for students to write kind words to some of their classmates.  ENJOY!

Today's class

I just HAD to brag on my 5th grade class today!!!  We've started a new group project using improvisation and the students were to use the words "Beep", "Honk", "Twrrrrrr" and "Ding" to create a Musical Machine.  They were in groups of 3 or 4 students and as a group they created a 4 beat soundscape using the words.  Last night, as I was preparing for today, I started to get really concerned about how it was going to work.  This class tends to have less than excellent behavior...so, I said, "Self, if tomorrow blows up in your face it will be a lesson learned.  BUT, give them a chance!"  And, boy, did they rise to the occasion!!

My co-teacher told me she's had her students enter the room and sit quietly to listen to a selection of music for a listening exercise.  So, I thought - that's GREAT!!  I'll try it!!  That was a GREAT GREAT GREAT way to start the class.  They had to sit quietly and LISTEN!  and that's what they DID!!  Woohooo!!!

Then, we started on the activity and they did such a great job!!!!  I can't WAIT til next week to see how they complete their work and we're going to put their creations all together to create a "machine"!  This lesson came from the book Making the Grade: Creative Standards-Based Lessons for the Music Classroom by Valeaira Luppens and Greg Foreman and can be purchased at www.alfred.com.

How I Spent MY Winter Break!

I spent my break traveling to my sister-in-law's house and spending lots of great time with my little family!  I've also spent some time planning for the 2nd part of the year.  One of my schools may be part of a pilot assessment in music and I have a lot of work to do to ensure that my students will be successful on the assessment.  If not this year, they will be assessed at some point in the coming years.

Today, one of my co-workers and I spent a good bit of time doing lesson plans and discussing program ideas for the winter and spring.  Our 3rd-5th grades will have a talent show in March and our 1st and Kinders will do a program in May!

While in SC, my children got to play with their cousins and had lots of fun opening presents!  It has been a great break and I'm a little sad to see it go but, I am looking forward to getting back to my students!

Fall Leaves Lesson

I had inspiration for a fall leaf lesson for my kinders and 1st graders!  In North Carolina one of our standards is for students to interpret iconic symbols for notation.  I found a leaf coloring page that I enlarged on the copier and then shrunk to make large and small leaves.  One of my colleagues and I made up the following lyrics:
Leaves, leaves, falling down
We can see them on the ground
They were green but now they're brown
Leaves, leaves, falling down

The tune is as follows:
Sol, mi, sol, sol, mi
Sol, sol, mi, mi, sol, sol, mi
Sol, sol, mi, mi, sol, sol, mi
Sol, mi, sol, sol, mi

I created a SMARTnotebook file to use as well as the actual manipulative's.  I have a lesson plan and the SMARTnotebook file I would be glad to send if you're interested.  After working through the song, discussing sol and mi and quarter and eighth notes, I would play quarter notes and eighth notes on an alto xylophone and have the students walk with the beat in their feet around the room.  It really ended up being a GREAT lesson!

Getting started!

This week is going to be my first week in front of students as an elementary music teacher!  I am super nervous!!  And VERY excited!!  I will be going over the rules and starting to learn names and then doing a couple of fun songs.

Being on a cart is going to be an intersting challenge!  You always hear the negative points of it - I'm going to spend my time trying to find the positive things.

Do you have a favorite song that you love to do the first weeks back to school?

Super Excited!!!

After spending the last five years as a school media specialist (which I enjoyed very much), I am really looking forward to being back in a music classroom.  I have taught middle school band and worked as the children's choir director for several years, but I have never taught elementary music.  I plan on using this blog to share ideas and lessons that I find effective.  I hope you enjoy!