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!

Monday Music Manipulatives

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 4^th 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 1^st/2^nd 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!

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

200 Facebook Likes Giveaway

I have passed 200 likes on my Facebook page this week. I am loving all the comments and ideas being shared there! If you have not found my Facebook page yet, you can check it out here: Lindsay's Kodaly Inspired Classroom

The winner of this giveaway will receive a new game, "Trim the Tree: ta and titi" which will be very fun to play during the Christmas season as another way to practice reading ta and titi. 

If you have already purchased this game, you can still enter to win and I will send you another concept of the game or any other file up to $1.50 from my store.

   If the entry form doesn't show up click here:   a Rafflecopter giveaway

This game is also available for the following rhythm concepts:

ta rest

half note

tiri-tiri

ti-tiri

tiri-ti

syncopa (flash freebie until 9:00 AM Central time 11/21/13)

As always, I love to hear feedback from you on the freebies! :)

Please let me know if you would like to see any other concepts added to my store for this game!

They are also available in one big bundle that way you can play it with several grades and differentiate for each grade level. 

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Lindsay

Making Music More Interactive

Happy Thursday!

I found this picture on The Inspired Apple's Blog: http://theinspiredapple.blogspot.com/2013/08/aint-no-tired-like-teacher-tired.html

Wow! I sure am tired today! I ended up taking a double class of first graders today since they were using the gym to get pictures taken. What a workout!

Today I am linking up with Erin from Lovin' Lit for Thursday Throwdown.

So here is my spin on making music more interactive.

1. Projectable beat charts:

Students get to take turn point to the bee beats on the board. You can get everyone involved by having the class pat their nose, shoulders, knees, ect. while a special helper taps the bees on the board. I love to use cute pointers for my kids. They are so excited to come up and point.

Students can also have a student copy so everyone can point:

2. Puppets - Puppets make everything more interactive! Students love to sing to the puppets and they really love when THEY get to be the puppets. I use puppets for vocal exploration, pitch matching, singing games and stories. 

This puppet can be purchased through Folkmanis. All of their puppets are top quality! Click on the bee to visit their website.

3. Foam manipulatives

Sometimes I like to mix it up with the technology and manipulatives that are a little more tactile. These are foam pieces shaped like crowns that I use for keeping the steady beat with the song "Queen Queen Caroline".  Students can tap the crowns using the queen's wand while the class chants. I found the foam piece at my local Dollar Tree - just add magnets!

When we are ready to being working on rhythm as "the way the words go" I replace the crowns with split crowns for two sounds on a beat. I used another color to really emphasize the difference and to help students recognize the form.

What do you do to make your classroom more interactive?

2, 4, 6, 8 and the Featured Item of the Week- click to see!

Thank you for visiting my blog! For those of you who are new to my blog or Teachers Pay Teachers store, every week I feature one of the items in my store. In the past, I have advertised the what the item is on my blog and on my Facebook page. This week, I am changing it a little so you have to click on the picture to see what the sale item is. If you take advantage of this sale, please take a moment after reviewing the product or using it in your classroom and leave feedback on the product page on Teachers Pay Teachers. This helps me to know that you found it to be accurate, a valuable tool to your teaching toolbox, and hopefully that it saved you some prep time and that your kids LOVED it! If you find any errors please let me know so that I can fix them. If this ever occurs, I almost always have the item fixed that same day! By leaving feedback you also earn credits towards any future purchases on TpT! It's a great way to save on excellent resources created by teachers for teachers. 

Don't forget to enter my April Giveaway to win any item your choice of any item from my store. The winner will be drawn on May 1st. 

I just finished some really adorable slides for the song "2, 4, 6, 8." This song is awesome for teaching rhythm as the "way the words go" or in your prepare/present/practice of ti-ti.

Here's a preview of some of the slides and student worksheets:

Title Page

Lyrics

Icons for steady beat- I use these before I introduce the heart beat, if I am preparing steady beat.

Lyrics added: 

Now with heart beats:

Heartbeats plus lyrcis.

Icons for "the way the words go", rhythm, and visually preparing ta and ti-ti.

I have also come up with the following student worksheets that are great for tracking the steady beat, and pre-reading ta and titi with "long and short". Print one for each student or print and laminate a class set to reuse. 

"2, 4, 6, 8" Is available on my store here.

Thanks for stopping by!