Welcome to another Monday Music Manipulatives Link Up! This time I am so excited that my friend, Mia, is going to be my guest blogger to share some of the great manipulatives that she uses in her music room. Mia went through all three Kodaly Levels with me at Wichita State University, and we are both working on our Masters together. She is so passionate about teaching music and inspiring her students! I just know they adore her! If you want to link up and share some of your music manipulatives, feel free to join at the bottom of this post and please be sure to give Miss Nightingale a warm welcome to the blogging world! :)
Hello! My name is
Mia Nightingale and I teach K-5 music in Wichita, Kansas. This month begins my
4th year teaching. I am blessed to have been hired right after
student teaching at the school where I student taught. I completed my Kodaly
certification just this last summer from Wichita State University along with
Lindsay. My Kodaly teachers (Mrs. Jo, Lisa Simmelink, Susan and Royce Tevis,
Gabor Viragh, and Shawn Chastain) are my biggest inspiration and I can undoubtedly
say I am pretty much obsessed with each of them.
I am so excited and
honored that Lindsay asked me to be her guest blogger! When she asked me to do my blog about
some manipulatives I use in my classroom, my response was, “What if nearly all
my manipulatives are your creations I bought on your TPT?!” Ha!! Even the ones
I am going to talk about today are not my original ideas – I steal all my ideas
from other fabulous Kodaly teachers! J
Today I am blogging
about a couple manipulatives I used last week for 1st/2nd
grade rhythmic and melodic dictation.
For rhythmic
dictation: Each student had a plastic baggie with 12 colorful Popsicle sticks.
I played 4 beat patterns with rhythm sticks this week using the rhythms ta titi
and ta rest. The students form the
rhythms with the sticks.
The first time I
ever do this, I do have them “figure out with me” how we can make the ta titi
and ta rest (trickiest) with the sticks. It is important for me to mention that
when I play the pattern, I say “beat, beat, ready here I go” or simply “beat,
beat, beat, beat” and move my sticks from their left to right with each beat as
I play for visual aid. By the way, you don’t have to just use popsicle sticks.
I have also made a set of cut up colorful straws that I used this week, too,
that work almost better than popsicle sticks because they are smaller and take
up less room.
( As you can see in the pictures, my students have assigned
seats on the floor. My honor choir is the only group I ever use chairs with.)
For melodic dictation: I have laminated staff
paper (lined on one side – blank on the back) and use small colorful “chips”
that the students place on the staff. (I got these chips from the Instructional
Support Center downtown). I start with 4
chips each, and eventually will use up to 8 each.
What I do not have
pictured here is my smartboard where I have projected my own staff paper. I
always do the first couple with them. Also on my staff paper that is being
projected, I draw the do clef and
sometimes change where do will be
this time. I sing or play the melody being dictated. The first time we ever do
melodic dictation, I sing in solfege the first couple of times. Then I use a
glockenspiel to give them a visual aid. When I know they’re ready, I sing
melody on “loo” or play at piano. Also, after a couple weeks of doing dictation
with the colorful “chips”, I pass out dry erase markers and they can use those
instead to draw their own noteheads and
add stems. After everyone has marked their answer, they help me do mine that is
being projected on the smartboard.
Trying to understand
a young child’s handwriting / music notation writing skills can be quite the
challenge. I have found that using these
manipulatives can give a clearer assessment of what the student understands and
hears before having them write it down. Feel
free to comment below with any questions or suggestions you might have for me!
Mia Nightingale
"Teach
music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture but a joy
for the pupil; instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which will
last for a lifetime." --Zoltan Kodaly
How to link up
1. Write a blog post on your blog titled Monday Music Manipulatives. Include my Link Up picture with a link back to my blog
2. Add your link below so that other music teachers can find you!
3. Don't forget to pin to pinterest so people find it!
1. Write a blog post on your blog titled Monday Music Manipulatives. Include my Link Up picture with a link back to my blog
2. Add your link below so that other music teachers can find you!
3. Don't forget to pin to pinterest so people find it!