KMEK Workshop Highlights

This Saturday, Kodaly Music Educators of Kansas hosted Amy Abbott from Music a la Abbott in Wichita for our Spring KMEK workshop.

Over 60 teachers from Kansas and neighboring states attended Amy's session, "Say, Say, Oh Playmate,"  which was packed full of fun singing games for upper elementary. Those are the kids that I am always finding I am needing additional resources and games for, or maybe I just get bored of some of the ones I have... I don't know. Either way, this session was just what we needed to motivate us to keep the joy going in the music class as the end of the year draws near.

Amy has so graciously said I can share some videos that fellow KMEK members shared and I will try to cite where the songs come from.

I definitely recommend looking into these sources for more information as well as having your local Kodaly chapter invite Amy out. I can say that she was definitely among my favorite presenters! :)

Little Swallow - stick passing game
Source: 150 American Folk Songs

Epo I Tai Tai - performed in 4 part canon.

Source: Amy learned this song from Susan Brumfield. If you have a primary source, please let me know.

One, Two, Three O'Leary

Source: Singing Games and Rhymes for the Middle Years

Crosstown (When Billy Was One)

Source: Amy learned this from Kathy Hickey. If you have more source information, please let me know!

Cobbler,Cobbler (Pass the Shoe)
Source: Jill Trinka

Have you played any of these before? I hope you enjoyed a peek into our workshop. We definitely have some amazing things going on in Kansas. We hope you can join us in Wichita for MKMEA 2015 this October!

Music Classroom Set Up

Hello, and welcome to a new school year. I am already two days in with my students, and August has just been a whirlwind, so I am just now getting around to putting up all of the pictures I took of my room as I was putting it all together. I am linking up with Mrs. Miracle's post, "My Music Room Set Up". You can click this picture to see her room set up as well as several other music teachers who have linked up at the bottom of her post. Let's be honest, I have no idea where I would be without Pinterest and other music bloggers when it comes to setting up my room, so I am really excited to share my room this year!

                    

I have a huge room.

                   

It is a blessing in so many ways that I can have plenty of room for any folk dancing, the sound is great, I get natural light from outside and the high ceilings make it seem even more open.

There are a few downsides to my room though. Nearly all my walls are covered with windows, white board, and cabinets, so I really don't have as much wall space as I wish, and I have not gotten really brave and put anything on the walls really high up. 

I decided I wanted to go with a nautical theme in my room this year after seeing some really cute clip art and being inspired by a few images online. I have two small bulletin boards and one big one and that's about all of the wall space I have. On my first board, I decided that I wanted to have something with the lines and spaces of the staff, so I came up with this board:

For my big board, by the entrance in the back of my room, I decided to replace my quote board from last year with this new quote:

I made the lighthouse out of wrapping paper, the bottom of the board is burlap scrunched and stapled. I really like the other boarder I used. It was double sided border and has animal print on the reverse side. I figured I could save it for whenever I do a "Wild About Music" board.

In the limited wall space beside my window, I hung my recorder rules.

 These bookshelves house my small Orff instruments, all of my classroom percussion instruments, vocal exploration toys, puppets, small buckets and tin cans for bucket drumming, and a few of my manipulatives.

Last year I created a story corner in my room and I love it. I like having my books displayed so that I can easily find what I am looking for and have a dedicated place to put them. I also have my movement/folk dancing word wall in this corner. 

I found these cute fish magnets at Dollar Tree, and I have 16 small heartbeats and 8 larger heartbeat magnets. Those are SO useful!!!  

On my other small bulletin board, Solfa Street has morphed into Solfa Sea this year! I've just been using push pins on them so I can take them off and add them with different grades. I keep a lot of manipulatives (rhythm flashcards, student staffs, high/low charts, pointers, etc.) on this table that I use frequently, and it's a good place to lay what I will need for the day. I'm also using Aileen Miracle's "I can" objectives for each grade level. I love how they work even when I am preparing a concept!

Because of my limited wall space and my addiction to pinterest, the last two years I have used the sides of my file cabinets as makeshift bulletin boards. I used wrapping paper for the background and just taped trim around it. I plan to use one for a "Composer of the Month" and on another I am thinking about creating a magnetic tone ladder. I'll post pictures if I do! :) 

                   And I have my music rules are displayed on the board.                       

 

Thanks for peeking in my room! What do you think of the theme this year?

Ideas for Surviving the End of the School Year and a $2 Tuesday Flash Sale

I am linking up today with Amy Abbott and several other music teachers to share some ideas for surviving the end of the school year.

TIPS #1: Keep them moving with singing games and folk dancing

Jump Jim Joe

This is the closest version I could find to the one I do with my kids.I use the recording from the Amidons and I have the inside circle move because it is a shorter distance to travel. When teaching a double circle dance, make sure you are always on the outside so that you can see everyone! This will eliminate a lot of problems.

Our Old Sow

I learned this game from Jo Kirk last summer and my kids LOVE IT!

TIP #2: Keep them "on track" and engaged in music learning until the end. I usually spend the last 2-3 weeks as review time to practice the concepts we got through that year as well as looking ahead to next year to prepare the upcoming concepts for the fall.

I've been using my "Race to the Finish Line" planning guide to keep myself and my kiddos "on track" from January through May.

(click the picture above to see it in my TPT store)

It includes song lists for each grade as well as an excel file for each grade that lays out the different concepts through the second half of the school year.  Since it is in excel, it is totally editable. You can add song titles under each concepts, or move the concepts to a different month depending on where you are in your sequence.

TIP #3 Remember the good times!

Music should be a JOYFUL experience for your students. It is so much fun to take a moment and reflect on the experiences shared together in music. I created some "Music Memories" pages for each grade level so that I can see what they remember most about our year together, their favorite singing game, favorite piece we listened to and more. The packet is totally editable, so you can add your own questions if you think it is something you would be interested in using with your kids.

(click on the picture above to see it in my TPT store)

One more fun thing I wanted to share with you was the a bunch of music teachers will be teaming up for another $2Tuesday on TPT. Enter "$2TuesdayMusicFlashSale" in the search bar on TPT to see all of the hugely discounted items from some amazing TPT music teacher/authors.

The file from my store will be my melodic flashcards for preparing and practicing sol-mi.

(click on the picture above to see it in my store)

These flashcards are amazing resources for melodic transitions between songs. I could have a mystery song on the board like this: 

Starlight Starbright

See Saw

I don't have cards for "2,4,6,8" but I had my kids construct it using the cards from the other songs. Then we added the rhythms above. Next time we will transfer to the staff.

The kit includes 164 flashcards designed to go with the following songs:

Bee Bee Bumblebee
Blue Bird (1st measure)
Come Back Home My Little Chicks
Doggie, Dogggie (1st measure)
Hey Hey Look at Me
Lemonade
Rain Rain Go Away
See Saw Up and Down
See the Old Witch
Snail, Snail (1st measure)
Starlight Starbright

Pitch is shown using: 
Icons only (can be used in the preparation stage)
Icons w/ solfege
Icons on staff
Rhythm stick notation w/ solfa (where rhythms are appropriate)
Icons on staff with solfa
Standard notation with solfa inside note head

What are your tips for surviving the end of the school year?

Get Them Dancing!

When I started at my school, one of my tasks would be to lead an all school square dancing night. This night is a big fundraiser for our school. The PTA puts together food that families can purchase. Some years it has been a chili feed, other years, hot dogs, and we have a book fair the same night. Each grade level learns a dance to perform on stage as the live entertainment while parents/families eat. After they are done dancing, they can head over to the book fair to find some great new books.

This was a bit daunting to me at first because I really didn't know a lot about folk dancing, but luckily they always do a folk dancing special topics during the Kodaly Certification program and two years ago they added a community Folk Dancing Night to KMEA, so I have been able to pick up some new dances that way.

Two years ago Peter and Mary Alice Amidon led the folk dancing night for KMEA and I purchased several of their resources while I was there.

Usually I have favorites that I use again and again, like Alabama Gal "Come Thru' Na Hurry," "Down in the Valley," and "Jump Jim Joe," but I am branching out and trying some new ones with my kids now that I feel more comfortable with the calls.

While I usually have my fifth graders present a traditional square dance, I don't restrict myself to that with all the grade levels because I think that children should get to experience dancing in ALL KINDS of formations and because square dancing limits you to multiples of eight and it often leaves students sitting out.

Comment ça va?  is one of the new ones I am trying. It is a circle dance from Sashay the Donut. It is a fancy version of Bastringue. I really like it because it introduces "corners" in addition to partners. Students will quickly have to go from Allemande corners, to Dosido partners, back to Allemande corners, and then to Promenade.

These dances are PERFECT to do right after a long break to get kids moving and listening!

As we learn the dances, I teach the students the calls and what the steps of the dances are called. I put up a Movement/Folk Dancing specific word wall to reinforce this vocabulary. Having the vocabulary and having students recall the steps using the vocabulary has been a really powerful tool in my room to help them learn the dances.

What are your favorite folk dances?

If you are looking for more folk dancing inspiration, head to my Folk Dancing Pinterest Board:

Making Music Interactive and a Music Teacher Facebook Frenzy

Happy Wednesday,

I am linking up today with I'm Lovin' Lit's Thursday Throw Down: Ways to Make Learning More Interactive with ways to make music more interactive plus a link to some cute interactive notebook ideas for music teachers.

Usually when I think about the word "interactive" I think about technology and interactive notebooks. I haven see some really cute ideas for music interactive notebooks at Emily's blog The Sweetest Melody, but I haven't really taken the interactive notebook plunge in my music room yet (future goal for sure!).

Picture from The Sweetest Melody

Picture from The Sweetest Melody

But looking at the word, something else comes to mind.

DANCING!  and more specifically, square dancing!

There are some wonderful square dance and folk dances that you can find. I use a lot of resources by the Amidons for my students. 

When you are square dancing, you are have to listen and respond to the music (or the caller) as well as communicate (mostly non-verbally) to your partner, corner, and the other members of your square.

At my school we do a HUGE Kansas Day celebration and part of that evening is folk dancing and square dancing. Each grade performs a dance on the stage for the parents. I really want to expand this in the future to a community folk dance night, but until I get really comfortable with teaching the dances, I will just stick with the kids! :)

This is such a great, interactive way to make those connections between music and dance and preserve a part of our culture and heritage. My kids LOVE to dance, and my fifth grade boys even beg for it!

I cannot count the valuable social aspects, especially when you start early. Dancing becomes a part of their culture. They forget about the opposite sex and cooties and just have fun and try to keep up. 

If you don't have your kids dancing in the music room yet, I highly suggest trying it out! 

If you are already dancing with your kids, you might be interested in this movement and folk dancing word wall. I use it to reinforce terminology that is new to them such as "longways set", "allemande", "dosido" and lots more! 

Here are a few sample pages:

Are you a music teacher on TPT? We are currently searching for some music teachers to take part in a Facebook Frenzy in early December. Here's a little info on how it works. Basically it's an organized Facebook event that is held during a weekend where teachers offer a free item via an application that is downloaded to your business facebook account. It cannot be something that is currently offered in your TPT store. This means that anyone who comes to get your freebie simply has to "like" your facebook page, and then there is a direct link to the next music teacher's facebook page once they have grabbed your freebies. Its a great way to build up followers and collaborate with music teachers around the world. 

The requirements for this frenzy are you have to offer a Winter/Christmas themed freebie and you must have a facebook business account (if you don't have one, now would be a great time to set one up!). 

If you are interested in joining the Music Teachers Facebook Frenzy follow this link:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=29363

This is a preliminary sign up, just to make sure we have enough music teachers to participate. A real sign up will follow soon!

If you are not on TPT and want to get started, here are some tips. Feel free to use my referral link. I'd be happy to help you get your store up and running in any way that I can! Just copy and paste this into your browser. It will look like the normal TPT site, but it tracks that it is from my referral link.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup/referral:LJervis

If you're not interested in selling, you may still be interested all of the fantastic freebies that will be available during the frenzy so make sure that you are following my Facebook page, Lindsay's Kodaly Inspired Classroom or blog so you don't miss out!

Happy Thursday,

Lindsay