Thanksgiving Week {Take a Peek at my Week}

Looking for some ideas for your elementary music classes in the days or weeks leading up to Thanksgiving?

1) Ho Ho Watanay - I used this song with kindergarten and first grade this week. In kindergarten it was perfect timing as we are practicing loud/soft and introducing the term "lullaby". We also tapped on the feathers to the feel of the music (preparing the steady beat). In first grade, we review the beat tapping page, but then take it a step further and look at the rhythm of the song. It is great ta and titi practice. We play the rhythms on hand drums as we sing.

You can find slides for the song "Ho Ho Watanay" here. This file teaches loud/soft, lullaby, prepares and practices steady beat, prepares/practices rhythm of the words and ta/titi.

2) Children's Literature for Thanksgiving in the Music Room
I introduce the song "Ho Ho Watanay" with the book "Northwoods Cradle Song". I sing the song on the page turns following every page that reads "Sleep, little warrior, sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep." I have looked all over for a song or melody to go with this book from the Menominee tribe, but have not found one yet. Ho Ho Watanay is actually an Iroquois lullaby, but because of the theme of the book and song, I pair them together.

I used the book, "One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims" last week with kindergarten. They enjoyed comparing the lives of the pilgrims and Indians in the book. 

I love to use the "I know an Old Lady..." books. I have several of them and they may great "fill in the blank" books as Jo Kirk would call them. I sing most of the book, but give the students a special part to sing, in this case the "perhaps she'll die". Thank goodness she doesn't die in this book. She just inflates until she becomes a balloon in the Thanksgiving Day parade. Hopefully none of us eat that much over Thanksgiving! ;)

3) Pumpkin Patch Rhythm Compositions

I had to be gone a couple days this month, so I left this "Pumpkin Patch Rhythm Composition" activity for a few classes while I was gone. It was easy for them to do while I was away, gave them more practice writing and working with a specific set of rhythms. I had them do these compositions with a partner and then on a later day, they combined with another pair and taught the other pair their composition and created one long composition out of the two that was 16 beats. The group of four then performed them for the class when I was there, so I was able to use it as a composition and performance assessment and assess two different skills. Working with a partner and then teaching their composition to another pair was really neat to watch. I could tell that because they were writing, manipulating, and teaching it, they really "got it". 

You can find this Pumpkin Patch Composition lesson here.

4) Turkey Trot Rhythm Races

My kids love rhythm races. They are fun and competitive. I love that it gives me a chance to see which kids really are getting it. I divide the class into teams. My classes have about 25 kids, so I do five teams with 4-5 kids on each team.

The teams stand in lines next to their team color turkey. I read/clap/or play a rhythm and one player from each team races to the other end of the room. When they get there, they see piles with turkeys of their team's color. They must locate the correct rhythm and bring it back to their team. The first team to bring back the correct rhythm gets 2 points. If they bring back a correct rhythm, but they are not first, they get 1 point for their team. If they bring back an incorrect rhythm, they get 0 points and they have to go take it back because they will eventually need to find that rhythm.

(Photo shared from the classroom of Shelley Potter).

You can find this game here.

I hope you have enjoyed a peek at my week and some of the things I am doing right before Thanksgiving!

Dollar Day$ of Summer - Week 5

Thanks for joining Cori from Rhythm and Bloom and I for week 5 of Dollar Day$ of Summer. You can check in each week on my blog or on our Facebook pages (Rhythm and Bloom and Lindsay's Kodaly Inpsired Classroom) to see what will be the dollar deal of the week. This is a great way to stock up for next and snag some great deals!

If you missed the excitement last week, when you visit my store, you will see a "Dollar Day$ of Summer" banner. If you click on the banner, you will see the item in my store that is discounted to $1 for that week!

You can find all the participating deals by visiting my blog every Sunday/Monday of the summer. I will have a linky party at the bottom of my blog post with links to all the $1 deals. 

This week, my $1 deal is my connecting cultures bulletin board set. 

My intention with this bulletin board set was that you would print the pages with the folk songs from countries around the world and display them around a world map. You could then take yarn tied to push pins to connect the folk song to its country of origin.

Here are some pictures of it in use in other classrooms. 

Photo credit: Hannah De Meo

Photo credit: Hannah Mashburn

Other teachers have simply used this set to expand their collection of folk songs from around the world. Either way, it's a great grab at only $1!

If you have already used this set (or use it in the future) I would love to see pictures. You can post them to my Facebook page, Lindsay's Kodaly Inspired Classroom or you can email them to me at LindsayJervis@hotmail.com

Are you a seller on TPT and would like to link up? Here are the details:

1) Choose one item from your store and add a link below. You can link directly to the item on TPT or you can write a blog post about your awesome resource and link up with the blog post address. You do not have to have a blog to participate.

2) There will be 10 open spots each week and they are first come, first serve. 

3) If you link up, please share a link to my blog post with the link up on your social media to help others find out about these incredible deals!

Link up below:

An InLinkz Link-up

Writing in the Music Room

I know that one of the things I have tried to do more this year is provide more writing practice on known concepts during our lessons. I hope to blog more about this topic in the future as it is an on-going goal to continually do more with this. It such a great way for me to have a chance to really see who is getting the concepts, and who may need more help and support. It is also good for assessment and many districts are experiencing a huge push towards writing with the Common Core.

My kiddos have been practicing la so I pulled out this song:

Here's how we play the game. One student is "it" and sits facing away from the class. The class sings the first two lines and one student who I choose sings the last line as a solo. The person who is "it" must guess who is the mystery singer. This song is a great opportunity for me to hear individuals and squeeze in some solo singing assessment when they think I am just keeping track of turns. Sometimes when I have a squirrely class that may sing silly I do tell them that I am taking a pitch matching grade, but usually I don't need to.

After playing the game we go to the board and read the song with melodic icons like these. They sing on text first as I point to the pictures, then we sing on solfa with hand sings. Eventually the icons move onto the staff and we show where la would live if sol and mi are on lines or spaces.

Then, instead of printing out a worksheet for each student, we did this page together, projected onto the board. We focused in on the second measure only and I had individual students come up to the board and fill in the note heads. Once all the note heads were added, we then added the stems and beams. Doing this together as a class is really helpful for the students who need to see it modeled before doing something similar on their own.  

If you are interested in the slides and printable/projectable worksheet that I used for "Johnny's It" you can find it here.

What are some of the most successful ways you incorporate writing in your music room?

Folk Song Friday {Let Us Chase the Squirrel}

I am so excited to announce a new series on my blog: Folk Song Friday! I can't commit to or promise that every Friday I will have a new post up, but when I can, I hope to post one of my students' favorite folk songs and share with you what I do with that song in my classroom.

Song of the Week: Let Us Chase the Squirrel

Hardest Rhythmic Concept: half note (ta-a or ta-o)

Other Rhythms: ta and titi

Hardest Melodic Concept: re

Other Pitches: d m sl

I have two different games that I play with this song.

Game #1: Students are in long ways sets, forming arches with their partner as the "trees in the forest". Whenever the teacher plays on the triangle, the two students at the end of the set duck down and run up the trees going through the arches and forming a new arch at the end. The sets can travel all around the classroom this way.

Game #2: Students are in groups of three around a circle. Two form a tree and one is the squirrel under the tree. Any leftover students go to the middle of the circle and are squirrels. On the word "tree" all of the squirrels must go to a new tree and the squirrels in the middle can try to steal a tree. 

Here's a video of my students playing the second game:

If you are looking for visuals for the song, I've redone my "Let Us Chase the Squirrel" file to give it a fresh look and include slides for re. It has gone from 12 pages to 67!

If you own this file:

 

It has now become this:

I project this page and have them tap along with the beat when I am working on half note prep. Eventually, the kids will find a sound that lasts for two beats.

I bring this song back out when we are working on the melodic concept, re. We play the game during re prep, and then after re has been presented, this song provides lots opportunity to practice re. On the slide below we would sing from icons on the staff.

Click on the pictures above to check it out if you are looking for  complete ready-made visuals for this song or to re-download and get the updates for free if you had purchased the older version!

Grab a FREE sample of this song file here. 

Do you have any other ideas, games, books, or visuals you use with "Let Us Chase the Squirrel"? Collaborate by sharing below in the comments!

Monday Music Manipulatives {Cotton Balls & Bingo Counters}

Welcome to another Monday Music Manipulatives!

I am so excited to share this neat idea that I found from my good friend, Erin Johnson, on her Facebook page. Erin went through all three levels of Kodaly with me at Wichita State University. :)

She had been working on preparing ta rest and was actually doing dictation with it, without labeling it. 

She had found two sided bingo counters and used them to make ta's and ti-ti's. 

Then for the beats with no sound, she passed out some cotton balls, and the students were able to dictate on which beat they heard the piece of silence. I love this idea! Cotton balls are cheap, and fun for tactile learners. 

Today she used the beat charts and left the hearts where they heard a piece of silence blank. They numbered the beats, showed which beat was "empty" and labeled it as silent. She then presented the ta rest notation, moved right to flashcards to practice and on they went!

A big thank you to Erin Johnson for sharing her pictures and letting me blog about her idea!

Do you have a fun manipulative you want to share? Link up below! Here's how:

1) Save my "Monday Music Manipulatives" image from the top of my blog

2) Insert it into your blog post and hyperlink it to this post

3) Blog about your own music manipulatives 

4) Copy your blog link and link up below!

Yearly Planning for Music Teachers

My first year teaching (during my pre-Kodaly training days) I planned for each day and and no real long term vision for my classes or from year to year. During my Level 2 training, Lisa Simmelink really helped me understand concept and long range or yearly planning. One of our assignments was to map out concepts for the whole year for one grade level.

Every music teacher wants to get their year started off on the right track, reviewing where they left off with each grade level and getting new students caught up to speed.  From there we hope to stay on track progressing through the musical concepts we have planned for that grade level. In addition to that, we are thinking about our music programs and performances and how that all fits in to our yearly calendar and planning.  Having a plan in place helps to guide my planning for the whole year. 

So let's get started with yearly plans. When I do long term planning, I like to start with yearly plans and break it down by month, just looking at concepts. What do I want my students to be practicing by that month? Will I be preparing any new concepts? Will I be presenting a concept? Make sure that you are always working both melodically and rhythmically in every lesson. Go month by month for each grade level deciding about how long you will spend preparing/practicing each concept. Remember to be flexible!

Here is a sample of what my long range planning looks like. This is for kindergarten from August through December. I make different colors for different concepts (pink for Kindergarten concepts, yellow for rhythmic concepts, blue for melodic concepts, and the older grades also include scale and meter). I separate by month across the top and the light shades of each color represent concepts that are in the Practice stage (known concepts), while the darker shades represent the concepts that are being prepared and presented.

Want to see more?

These templates are samples from my planning sets on TPT which includes both yearly plans and song lists by concept for each grade level.

Getting from Yearly Plans to Lesson Plans Once you have the concepts you want to teach for each month and each grade level, make song lists for each grade level. Make a list of all the concepts you included on your Monthly/Yearly plans for that grade level (I’ve started one for you for each grade level, but you may need to adjust it to fit your needs). Under each concept heading make a list of all the songs you plan to use while working on that concept. That way when I are look ahead to my third grade planning in September I can see I want to be practicing re and tiri-tiri and preparing ti-tiri, then I would go to my third grade song list and find a song list for ti-tiri to find songs under that concept to weave my lesson plan together.

Here's a sample of what my first page of my 3rd grade song list looks:

For the little kids I like to have a ton of songs/games/activities in each lesson (probably 7-10) in a 30 minute lesson. For the older kids, I choose less song materials per lesson, but go deeper with the songs. Plus by then, their songs are a bit longer. 

Want a closer look at my "Ready, Set, Plan" yearly planning set? Check out this video:

Do you have different strategies for long term planning? I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

Cut the Cake

Here is one of my all time favorite books:

I think I got really lucky at some point and found this on ebay for about $50. Yikes! I didn't even know what a gem it was at the time! If you ever see this book, snag it. It will be worth it!

This book is jam packed full of singing games in any formation you can think of and it sequences them not by melodic/rhythmic concept, but by movement concepts, which I think is really neat.

Obviously I am not going to try a square dance or cicilian circles with my kindergartners, but this offers a variety of different kids of dances and gives you and idea of what grade level it might be appropriate for. So many of these singing games and dances will fit right into your concept plans, but some are great just to do for FUN even if they melodically/rhythmically to difficult to read for your students.

One of the songs that I pulled recently for some more ta rest practice is singing game called "Cut the Cake". 

Here's a quick demonstration video of some of my kids playing the game. I wish I wouldn't have sung along, I was sick and sound terrible. Great reminder to let your kids sing alone, Lindsay! During phrase one students clap hands, phrase 2 we shake, phrase 3 everyone in the circle grabs hands, phrase 4 "it" slices the "cake" and holds out both hands. Where ever "it" sliced the cake, those two students race in opposite direction around the circle and tag "it's" hand when they get back. The first one to tag "it's" hands becomes the new "it" and the game starts over. You need to talk about safety before you start this game. When the two people are running in the opposite direction they will pass each other at some point. They need to watch out for the other person. In my room, if they bump into each other, the game is over. The kids love to play the game, so they are really careful not to bump into each other.

After we have played the singing game we go over to the board and I have this slide projected: 

Find these ready-made slides on my TPT page here.

We pat the beat in our laps as we sing and identify that the party hats are showing us the steady beat.

If I am in the preparation stage of ta rest, I show this slide where the hats with rests look different because they are a gray or "empty" looking. Students quickly see that they are like that because there are no words underneath them. We practice tapping and clapping the rhythm (the "way the hats look").

Once ta rest has been presented, we can use this song for practice and try reading the rhythms with their rhythm syllables and making no sound on the rests.

In level 3 we worked on creating musical transitions from one song to the next to make our lessons seamless. I love to use a rhythmic transition from this song to "Pitter Patter" which I first found in one of John Feierabend's books. I play the "eraser game" transforming "Cut the Cake" into "Pitter Patter" by erasing beats 3 and 4 of the 1st and 3rd line and changing them to ti-ti's. The 2nd and 4th lines stay the same!

Find ready-made slides for isolating rhythmic and melodic elements of "Pitter Patter" here.

 Have you used either of these two songs in your ta rest concept plan? What are your favorite ta rest songs?

December Festivities

Today is the last day of the TPT Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale. If you have anything you want to get, I'd definitely stock up today! Most of my store (as well as many other teachers' stores) is up to 28% off when you enter the code CYBER at checkout.

I've created lots of new materials for Winter and Christmas, and just added another to my store yesterday. It is called "Dashing Through the Snow Rhythm Races". 

It has nothing to do with "Jingle Bells". It is just a fun rhythm practice game. Originally I wanted it to be Bobsled Rhythm Races, but I could not find any bobseld clipart that met my needs. This game is played just like my Turkey Trot or Candy Corn rhythm races where you have different colored teams and each team gets a pile of rhythms. When you say/play the rhythm, one person from each team races down to find the correct rhythm and bring it back for their team. My idea with the bobsled (sleds in this case) is that if your PE teachers has scooters, you could have them race on scooters to find the rhythms. This works well on a combined PE and music day or if you have the space in your music room and can borrow scooters from your PE teacher. Although I couldn't find bobsled clip art, I do love these glittery sleds. They were one of my first Cyber Monday purchases from Glitter Meets Glue Designs. She is the queen of all things glittery!

I am working on a set of all of the level 1 and 2 rhythm concepts (because that's where my kids are). If you want me to also work on sets for level 3 concepts, please comment below and let me know what concept you would me to add to my store. So far I have these ones done:

Dashing Through the Snow: ta and titi

Dashing Through the Snow: ta rest

Dashing Through the Snow: half note

Dashing Through the Snow: tiri-tiri

and more to come! :)

I also wanted to let you know that I will be participating in a Facebook Frenzy this weekend for music teachers. 16 music teachers including myself are teaming up to bring you 16 fabulous freebies. Starting Dec. 6th, if you visit any of our facebook pages and "like" our page you will be rewarded with a freebie as our thank you for following us. Once you have downloaded the freebie from one teacher there will be a link to the next freebie so you can hop through and collect all 16 free things for your music room. HOW AWESOME DOES THAT SOUND!?! I am so excited that many other Kodaly and Orff teachers are a part of this frenzy. There will truly be something for everyone. 

Here's a little preview of my freebie and the other great freebies to come!

 

I have been saving this just for my facebook frenzy! It is not currently available in my TPT store.

Head to my facebook page Dec. 6-9 to start snagging your freebies and don't forget about the CYBER sale ending today! 

Lindsay

Listen to Myself Challenge

I'm linking up with fellow Kansas blogger, David, from Make Moments Matter to take part in the Listen to Myself Challenge.

He shared this article, 5 Things to Say to Your Class Every Day and challenged us to think about the things we are saying to our students. So below are the things I try to say, want to avoid saying, and things I need to say more often.

#1 - Compliments

Compliments go a long way with kids. They want to know that you are more than just their music teacher. You are a person and when you compliment them or notice new things about them, you are acknowledging that they are important people to you. I always try to take the time as kids are coming into my room to assess their moods, say "good morning" or "good afternoon", but going even farther to say "I like your shirt," "Did you get new shoes?" or "I like your new haircut!" can really brighten their day. I challenge you to find three kids to compliment on their way into your room every day.

#2 Avoid Escalating Bad Behavior

I have a hand full of kids who can easily be set off and a situation can go from bad to worse in a matter of seconds if not handled in just the right way. In some cases I have had to learn that it is not "my way or the highway," but I can keep things more calm in my room if I remove myself from the situation and give the student a moment to calm down, whether that is in my resting spot, out in the hall, or with another teacher.

I need to remember that sometimes there are just other things going on in these kids' lives that are contributing to these behaviors. I had a student who was really disruptive in class a few weeks ago. After class I pulled him aside and asked what was going on. He said he hadn't had breakfast that morning and he was late for school so he couldn't eat at school and he was just so hungry. I know this is a family that we always have to make sure the kids eat breakfast because they are not getting enough to eat at home. Instantly my attitude about the whole situation changed. I sent him to the nurse to get some crackers and he came to my room to apologize after school. Sometimes it is hard to remember it is not always a conflict with the student and myself, but that it could be something totally unrelated.

#3

I want to try this week to celebrate the musician in each of my students. So often when a student sings or plays I don't make a big deal of it because it is just normal and second nature to my kids. Last week, my first graders were playing "Doggie Doggie" and one said, "____________ has a beautiful singing voice." I said "Wow! Yes she does!" I feel like it is so important to recognize the musician in every student to give them the courage to want to sing and play both with the class and alone. 

I challenge you to listen to your teacher self. What do you like/don't like about the things you say to your students? What changes are you going to try to make?

A special treat for you- for Veteran's Day my entire store will be 15% off. My brother in law served in Iraq. I need to remember to take a moment today to thank him for volunteering for a job that I would be too scared to do. Make sure to thank a veteran today.

You can check out my newest games- Steal the Bacon. I learned about this game from Linda Wood, who posted it in the comments on my facebook page requesting that I make cards for the game. 

The cards look like this: 

Just print, cut down center, and laminate to last forever!

Game directions: 

Set up: Set up two rows of chairs facing each other (like longways sets). Students are seated in chairs facing the row across from them. Each side is one team. Students number off the teams from opposite ends of the rows, so that each child knows their number. Rhythm pattern cards are scattered in between the rows allowing plenty of room to run. Teacher claps/says/or plays a rhythm pattern and then says a number. The students on both teams with that number run in to get the correct rhythm pattern; however, there is only one card for each pattern. They must get the correct rhythm pattern and get back to their seat before the other player can tag them. If tagged, the other player gets to “steal their bacon” and take the card back to their line. Continue until you clap/say all cards and then the cards for each team are counted. You can have some kind of reward if you choose to. Students whose numbers are not called cannot leave their seats. If a student leaves their seat to “help when their number is not called the other team automatically wins the “bacon”.

This game would be great for your upper elementary and even middle school kids- I've even made a few sets for older beginners! :)

I have sets for the following concepts and I'm working on more!

Ta and Titi

Ta Rest

Half note

Tiri-Tiri

Ti-Tiri

Tiri-Ti

Syncopa

Tim-ri

Or if you are interested in several concepts, you should check out the money-saving bundle: 

Steal the Bacon: Bundled Set

I love how the internet connects us in this way to people all over the world! I'd love to see where you are reading this blog from. Comment below with where you teach!

Happy Veteran's Day,

Lindsay