Kodaly Inspired Classroom: so- mi

Showing posts with label so- mi. Show all posts

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?

Monday Music Manipulatives

I think it is time for another Monday Music Manipulatives Link Up!

If you are a music teacher blogger, feel free to join the link up (directions at the end of the post). If you a blog reading music educator, please make sure to follow any other blogs that link up at the bottom of this post for more great music manipulatives ideas.

I am trying to use the American Methodoloy and Yearly Plans books this year more in my planning and sequencing.

During sol-mi prep one of the things it suggests is having the students place the text of the song on the board to show "high" and "low". I put the words for the song, "Rain Rain Go Away" on umbrella die cuts and placed magnets on the back.

I was able to use this with practicing steady beat as well as having students place them on the board to show which words (or parts of words) are high and which were low.

Here are some pictures:

Students place umbrellas above the heart beats to show steady beat.

Pass out umbrellas and have students put the song in order with their umbrella either showing high or low. We talk about spacing just like when we do it on the individual student high/low charts.

Don't have access to umbrella die cuts? Download this freebie in my TPT store.

I want to hear about and see all the fabulous manipulatives you are using in your music room! Please link up below.

Here's how:

1) Write a blog post about your manipulatives in the music room

2) Include my Monday Music Manipulatives picture in your blog post with a link back to this post.

3) Sign up below to have your finished blog post linked to mine!

Lindsay

Pin It to Win It Giveaway

I am falling behind on my Monday Manipulatives, but I decided I would throw a "Pin It to Win It" giveaway on my blog.

With October on the horizon, I will be pulling out all of my fall and Halloween songs and activities soon, so I thought I would feature my bundle of Songs and Activities for Fall in this giveaway.

Here's what's included:

With over 300 pages, this set is packed full of songs and activities specifically geared towards fall and Halloween in the Kodaly music classroom.

In this set you will find PDFs of the following:

I Climbed Up the Apple Tree (PreK-1st) - A fun rhyme for steady beat vs. rhythm or preparing ta and titi

See the Old Witch (K-1) - Prepare, present, and practice ta rest (or piece of silence); high/low, and sol-mi

Naughty Kitty Cat (K-2) - Prepare, present and practice ta rest (or piece of silence); prepare, present, and practice la

Apple Tree (K-2nd) - Slides to prepare and practice steady beat, ta / titi; prepare, present, and practice do

Let Us Chase the Squirrel (2nd-3rd Grade) - Slides for half note

Skin and Bones (2-4) - Game idea plus slides for preparing, presenting, and practicing low la. Rhythm slides not included since it is in 6/8

Candy Corn Rhythm Races: ta - titi

Candy Corn Rhythm Races: ta rest

Vocal Explorations for Autumn - 13 vocal exploration pathways plus 7 for the teacher or students to draw their own lines on SMART board, Mimio or white boards.

Vocal Explorations for Halloween - 11 ready made vocal explorations pathways and 11 for the teacher or students to draw the lines on SMART board, Mimio, or white boards, plus 2 printable black and white worksheets for students to compose their own vocal exploration

Beat Charts for Fall - 15 beat charts for fall including apples, acorns, pumpkins, black cats, witches, and many more!

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The giveaway will end on Wednesday, Oct. 9th, so you have enough time to get the goodies before Halloween. If you are the lucky winner and you have already purchased this bundle from my store, I will give you a $12 credit towards anything in my store.

Just enter the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rainy Day Rhythms

My first graders (I don't see kindergarten) are practicing their high and low sounds and getting ready to learn about steady beat and rhythm as "the way the words go" pretty soon.

We are having some great fun with rainy day activities and the timing is perfect as we have been getting some rainy days here in Kansas.

I read a book "Rain Talk" with my kids and I get out my rain sticks and have students help to create the rain storm using the rain sticks. You could use any rainy book. I found this one at Goodwill. I always love to rummage through the cheap books to find ways to tie in literature with my songs. Kids are not read to at home very much anymore, and I feel like this is so important for developing reading skills and imagination so I do my part to help out! This book has some opportunities for vocal exploration and I usually add a sol-mi melody to parts of the text. I sing the song "Rain Rain Go Away" every other page turn and that is their cue that they need to pass their rain stick on to let someone else have a turn.

The kids really enjoy this and I have found that it's a fun way to introduce the song "Rain Rain".

We put "Rain Rain" on our body scale- "high" on our heads and "low" on our shoulders. I have these slides like this that I use for high and low:

They are available in my "Rain Rain" collection , my Songs for Spring, or my Sol-Mi Bundle on my teachers pay teachers store.

I also use my flashcards for this:

My Sol-Mi flashcard kit had flashcards like this and with the solfege under the icon. This kit is also in the Sol-Mi Bundle.

Next we prepare for steady beat by practicing tapping to the rain drops on the board:

Once we know I will bring this song back for "The way the words go", "long/short" sounds, and ta/titi.

Once we get to ta-titi, here are some fun activities I have created to go with it!

Team clouds:

I cut out these little rain drops and stick tape on the back and we tape it to the team's cloud every time they get a point. The team with the most raindrops on their cloud wins!

Other ideas:

Match iconic rhythm to real rhythm

You can purchase this game from my tpt store and download a preview of it here.

Lindsay

A Bundle of Spring Songs

We still have snow here on the ground in Kansas but with Easter this weekend I am finding myself wishing for the warmer weather and looking forward to spring.

I don't really teach in themed units, but if there are folk songs that are appropriate to the season and contain the concepts we are preparing or practicing, I try to include them.

All of the songs in this bundle are available individually on my TPT store, but if you are interested in several you can save several dollars by purchasing as the bundle.

This set contains these seven songs:

A few page examples:

Examples of Solfa Street (in song slides):

Spring time vocal exploration:

This bundle is available here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Songs-and-Activities

Or you can check out each individual song by following these links:
John the Rabbit
Old Mister Rabbit
Closet Key
Frog in the Meadow
Pitter Patter
Rain Rain Go Away
Come Back Home My Little Chicks
Spring Vocal Explorations

Happy Spring!

Lindsay

Quaker Quaker

One last addition to the sol-mi sale (end 3/21)!

Quaker Quaker is a gem for high/low, so/mi, and ta/titi. I purchased the cutest little house clip art from an Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/audreeart?ref=seller_info

I used these for the clip art to make my Solfa Street and thought they would be cute for this song since it talks about "neighbors".