April 2014Sweet Sounds : April 2014

Thursday

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Hug!

One of my favorite things to do is play music games with my students. Building relationships is so important as a teacher, maybe even the most important thing that we do. You might be the only adult in their life that cares enough to play a game with them.

My students love to play Cut the Cake (Clap Your Hands Together)! It's a fantastic game that we learn in 1st grade and continue through 5th grade. One student walks around the circle until the end of the song. On the last beat, the student "slices"the cake between two students. Those two students then race around the circle, until they get back to their spot.

Today I was playing with group and I was sliced! I ran around the circle and tied with the girl I was racing. In my class, we do "rock, paper, scissors" in case of a tie. We faced each other. Rock-Paper-Scissors ---- ROCK! Tie. Rock-Paper-Scissors ---- ROCK! Tie again! 5 "rock" ties later, I snuck in a paper and the class went wild when I won! The girl was a very good sport and we shared a hug. It was a great day with a normally argumentative group.

There are so many things you can teach through simple music games: good sportsmanship, working together, kindness, supporting each other. I love teaching music, but more than teaching music, I teach life.

Let’s Connect!

Tuesday

Had a Little Rooster

My Kindergarten students love add-on songs, so when I heard Jill Trinka's version of "Had a Little Rooster" I couldn't wait to share it with them! This version has vocal exploration with animal sounds.

I created a slideshow to go along with the songs - very simple words, adding a picture for each verse. It's available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

We like to do hand motions as well while we watch the slideshow! It's so much fun!

Rooster - hand on top of head (sticking up like a rooster comb)

Cat - cat paws pawing the air

Dog - hands bent in front

Duck - arms flying

Pig - finger smooshing nose

Sheep - two fingered ears on sides of head

Cow - five fingers spread on stomach (sticking out like an udder)

Horse - head shaking

Had a Little Rooster

This song is so sweet and if you have a recording, it's great for a minute or two of vocal rest!

Let’s Connect!

Monday

Kindergarten Graduation is Coming!

The last performance of the year (for me) is the Kinder graduation ceremony. We have seven weeks left of school, so we are starting to learn our Graduation song.

I use a recording from an old MusicPlay CD I have of "She'll be Comin' 'Round the Mountain," but I've changed the words to make them perfect for K graduation. Any recording of this song that has an instrumental/accompaniment track could work.

Here are the new lyrics:
We had fun in Kindergarten, lots of fun (repeat: "Lots of fun!" shouted)
We had fun in Kindergarten, lots of fun (repeat: "Lots of fun!" shouted)

We had fun in Kindergarten, fun in Kindergarten, fun in Kindergarten, lots of fun (repeat: "Lots of fun!" shouted)

We all learned to write our letters, ABC (repeat: "ABC!" shouted)
We all learned to write our letters, ABC (repeat: "ABC!" shouted)

We all learned to write our letters, learned to write our letters, learned to write our letters, ABC (repeat: "ABC!" shouted)

We all learned to write our numbers, 1-2-3 (repeat: "1-2-3!" shouted)
We all learned to write our numbers, 1-2-3 (repeat: "1-2-3!" shouted)

We all learned to write our numbers, learned to write our numbers, learned to write our numbers, 1-2-3 (repeat: "1-2-3!" shouted)

We all learned to draw in art, we can draw (repeat: "We can draw!" shouted)

We all learned to draw in art, we can draw (repeat: "We can draw!" shouted)

We all learned to draw in art, learned to draw in art, learned to draw in art, we can draw (repeat: "We can draw!" shouted)

We all learned to sing in music, sing a song (repeat: "Sing a song!" shouted)

We all learned to sing in music, sing a song (repeat: "Sing a song!" shouted)

We all learned to sing in music, learned to sing in music, learned to sing in music, sing a song (repeat: "Sing a song!" shouted)

We are movin' to the 1st grade, yes we are ("1st grade!" shouted)
We are movin' to the 1st grade, yes we are ("1st grade!" shouted)

We are movin' to the 1st grade, movin' to the 1st grade, movin' to the 1st grade, yes we are ("First grade!" shouted)

And we'll have a great big party when we're done! ("Yeehaw!" shouted)

And we'll have a great big party when we're done! ("Yeehaw!" shouted)

And we'll have a great big party, have a great big party, have a great big party when we're done! ("Yeehaw!" shouted)

*Or "Hooray!" if you're not in Texas. LOL.

Let’s Connect!

Saturday

What's Going on in the Music Room?

Last week my first graders visually prepared "la" with the song, Bounce High, Bounce Low. I love this part of the unit because it shows me exactly who "gets it" and who doesn't.

After kinesthetically preparing the melody "s l s m" for several class periods, I ask aural questions that get students to think critically about what they are hearing.

For example, in this lesson, the questions are things like, "How many beats are in phrase one?" and "Which beat has the highest sound?"

Once they are able to answer these questions, we can move on to the visual representation of the sound, using manipulatives. But, if they can't answer these questions, we have to go back and do more kinesthetic activities (see examples here).

My students get four unifix cubes and are instructed to "create a representation of phrase one of Bounce High." We have already tapped the beach ball contour on the smart board, gone over aural questioning and even placed magnet beach balls on the board. This is the last step in the preparation stage and most of them get it.

This is a great chance for the ones that don't understand to get some one-on-one time with me. I crawl around to each student and sing the way their blocks would sound and help them find the correct contour. (If that still doesn't fix it, we go back and do our kinesthetic activities again!)

*Side note: I learned the questioning process in my Kodaly levels training at Texas State University with Philip Tacka and Micheal Houlihan. If you ever get a chance to work with them, jump on it!

Have I mentioned I LOVE unifix cubes?! They are perfect for rhythmic units, especially, since you can connect the blocks and make "longer" and "shorter" sounds. I like to use poker chips for melody, so that the students separate them in their minds as something different than rhythm.

What is your favorite manipulative?

Let’s Connect!

Friday

Welcome to Sweet Sounds!

Hello!

My name is Lori and I teach elementary music, with a huge Kodály emphasis. My husband and I currently live in Texas and my favorites include curling up with a good book, eating Mexican food, and playing with my sweet boxer, Penny.

In 2004 I started out as a band director at a small school in Texas. I took over another teacher’s elementary music duties about halfway through the year and discovered that I love teaching little ones!

Currently, I teach Kinder-5^th at a small elementary school with about 530 students. I see my kids on a 4-day rotation, so I get to teach them 7-8 times per grading period, for 50-minute classes. My principal does a fantastic job protecting our limited amount of time, so we have been flying through concepts this year.

Since it’s my first year at this school, the grade levels aren’t where I want them to be, concept-wise, but we have spent a lot of time building relationships, teaching routines and reviewing basic concepts to analyze their needs.

Through this blog I will share the triumphs and struggles of my classroom as well as the crazy ideas I tried. I hope to create a place where I can mentor and be mentored, inspire and be inspired.

Let’s Connect!