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Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo

I wanted to share something that worked for my sub while I had to be out of the classroom yesterday. I was introduced to the book, "Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo" when a family member bought it for my daughter (Find it here on Amazon). She is two and LOVES listening to us read it. Since my husband is a band teacher, she is quite familiar with instruments and can name all of them and has been to many, many concerts between his 5-12 bands and my K-5 programs. 

When I look for things to leave for a sub, I try to find things that a non-music sub can do. Books with recordings have worked really well for my subs and the students seem to really enjoy them while I am away.

I left this book and some extension activities for my K-2 classes yesterday and both the sub and the students really seemed to enjoy the book. It has a CD that narrates the story along with an accompaniment. 

After they finished the book, students talked about concert etiquette. In the story, the boy falls asleep and the animals break out of their cages and take the stage as the musicians. So they talked about staying awake and paying attention when they go to concerts. They also recalled some of the instruments that were played in the book. 2nd graders were able to say what instrument families those belonged to.

Then, each student got a response sheet that asked them to draw (and write for the older ones) their favorite instrument from the concert outside of the zoo.

Click picture to download the file for free.

Here are a few of the finished response sheets:


If you would like to use this mini lesson with your students or leave it for a sub, I have uploaded it for FREE on TpT. If you have my sub survival tub, you already have it!

If you have already used this book with your students before, please let me know if you do anything different with it. If you use this with your class, I would love to hear how it goes!

Make sure to hop over to Aileen's blog and see what other tried and true ideas music teachers are sharing!


Night Time and Lullaby Books

I am linking up today with Emily's Kodaly Music. The topic for her books this week is "Night Time or Lullaby" books, so I thought I would link up and share a few of my favorites. You can check out her favorites by clicking the picture below. She blogged about "When You Wish Upon a Star" which is also one of my favorites. The illustrations are so beautiful!


1) All the Pretty Little Horses


This book is great for teaching loud/soft, lullaby, and would also be a great choice to pull out in February for Black History Month. It is believed that this song comes from African American women, who would sing it to the children they were caring for as they were away from their own children.  

2) Hush Little Baby


This is a great one to use in kindergarten with loud/soft. I picked it up at KMEA last year and actually love to use it at home with my 2 1/2 year old. It would be fun to use in your home if you have little ones, in early childhood music classes, and up to kindergarten, but I wouldn't go much past K with it.

On the pages before the lyrics, it shows the older sister knocking over the cradle, the baby crying, the older sister trying to soothe the baby (like the cover). The older sister goes with papa to find all of the different presents for the baby.

3) Over the Rainbow


I don't know if I just love this one because I am from Kansas and the connection to the Wizard of Oz, but this book takes the song out of Oz and sets it to some of the loveliest illustration by Eric Puybaret. I haven't connected this to any of the concepts in my sequence yet, I just love to sing it to my kids. It is good for them just to be sung (and read to) for the sake of hearing you sing expressively!

I hope you have enjoyed these book ideas and have found a new one to put on your wishlist or add to your collection!

What are your favorite books for night time/lullabies?