I'm Back! Music In Our Schools Month!!!

Ok... so maybe starting up a blog during my 1st year of teaching was a bit too adventurous... now that I am over halfway through my 2nd year (WOW!!!), I think I'm ready to roll my sleeves up and get to sharing some ideas again!  So... what better way to start than with Music In Our Schools Month!  This is my first year celebrating Music In Our Schools Month at my school. Last year, it kind of snuck up on me and I didn't get a chance to come up with something fun.  So, it was my goal this year to search all over Pinterest and other music blogs to start generating some ideas, since I had no idea where to start.  Thanks to The Journey of an Elementary Music Teacher blog, I had a great example to work from and off I went!  This blogger used the phrase "Music means ____________ to me" and asked her students and the staff at her school to fill in that sentence and created a fun display using wordle (an online website that generates some REALLY AWESOME word clouds).  The great part about wordle is that is can take any amount of text and it makes the words that appear more frequently larger than the other words.  Oh and even better?  IT IS FREE!  It. Is. Awesome!!!  

So... here is what I did.  I changed the original sentence to "Music is _____________ to me".  I wanted this to be a quick and fun activity so I chose to do a classroom brainstorm session.  So, for about 5-10 minutes in each class, I asked students to fill in this sentence and I wrote down their words on chart paper so they could see the words they came up with (if you have a projector, I would highly recommend sitting at your computer and typing their ideas into a word document as they brainstorm, it makes the process much faster... I unfortunately do not have a projector otherwise I would have done that).  I also placed multiple copies of this sheet in the teacher workroom for teachers to fill out and place in my mailbox:

After I had everyone's responses, I typed everything into a word document, separating them by grade level.  Then I copy and pasted each grade level into wordle, picked my color palette and font, and saved each wordle as a PDF.  Last, but not least, I used the poster maker at my school to print out each grade level wordle so that they were nice and big for everyone to see.  And... VOILA!  

One more way that we are celebrating Music In Our Schools Month is having a music style for each week of March.  Every morning on the announcements my wonderful Principal plays a short clip of whatever music style is selected for that week.  And at the beginning of each week myself, or the other music teacher at my school, introduces that music style to the students.  Week 1 was Jazz, Week 2 was Folk, and Week 3 (starting tomorrow if we don't have a snow day!) will be Classical, and Week 4 will be Pop.  I plan on asking different students what pop music they are listening to these days so that they hear music that they recognize during that week : )

Happy Music In Our Schools Month!

How are YOU celebrating Music In Our Schools Month?  

From Rhythm to Melody!

This marking period I am working with 2nd grade on writing rhythm compositions using quarter notes, quarter rests, eighth notes, and half notes.  I am so proud of what my students have come up with and I really like how I scaffolded their learning through these 3 easy steps!

Step 1: I took the first line from the poem "Loose tooth" and had the students figure out the rhythm of the words, then they had a chance to make their own little rhythm poem!  They shared their compositions with a partner before adding art!

Step 2: The next class students looked over their "loose tooth" poem and were able to make any changes.  After they were happy with their composition, they wrote their mini poem on this "Final Composition Sheet". 

Side note:  This robot sure knows how to race!  "Winner!"  

Step 3: Is double checking for learning not quite enough for you?  Well then let's tripple check it!  The following class, students had another opportunity to look over their final compositions, decide if they wanted to change it or keep it the same, and then add a So-Mi melody.  Looks like this student really likes using "mi" for her melody (she will be getting this back to work on filling in the entire space for "mi"). She must also REALLY like robots... that is naturally why I chose this student's work for the blog!

Side note:  It looks like this robot is starting to teach the other robots how to win!

Ostinato Idea

Here is an ostinato activity that I used with my 1st graders last week.  I have to give props to my music colleague for sending me his version of this worksheet... I changed a couple things to fit how I wanted to teach it and PRESTO CHANGE-O... OSTINAT-O (haha, I couldn't resist).

I laminated a class set of these

I gave each student a sock (eraser!) and a dry erase marker... I also had to go around the room with a spray bottle of water to help them erase their work

The following week I gave them their own paper copies of this worksheet and they created their own ostinatos!  I am so impressed with their work!

The Beauty of Collaboration

I am very fortunate to have another music teacher at my school.  We are both first year music teachers and often pass back ideas on a weekly, if not daily, basis.  It is SO helpful to share ideas to come up with an even stronger product!  Here is an example of how my colleague and I have fused our ideas together for the good of our students!

Here are the two versions that I sent to my colleague:

Number 1

Number 2

Here is what he added, which is so great!

Final product:

I doubled sided the suns and shoes... less cards to cut/laminate and it is easier for the students to manipulate!

   

Vowel Song Book for Students with Autism

More Autism manipulatives you say?  OKAY OKAY!  Calm down!  ... twist my arm, why don't you! 

 : )

I am always trying to find ways to help my students with Autism sing and speak in music class.  A colleague of mine showed me a vowel song book that she created and I thought it was such a great idea I made my own! 

I made up a short and simple song that I sing for each page (each page has the same melody):

A      is for    Apple

Ta     Ti Ti    Ta Ta
Mi     Mi Mi    So So

This way, the word that has the picture is sung on a different pitch to help differentiate a little.

Process:

- Have students point to each picture and encourage them to say or sing the vowel sound or the word

ex: "Ahhh" or "Apple"

I keep this activity short and sweet by having different students point to different pictures each time.  It works great!

More Autism Manipulatives: Rhythm Stick Ostinato!

MAKE MUSIC VISUAL!

I am always trying to find new ways to make music visual for my students with Autism (the wonderful thing is that this can benefit all students too!).  It popped in my head the other day to create this to help students accompany the song "Mama Paquita" on rhythm sticks:

**Right now we are working on the song at a VERY slow tempo so that students can get the hang of the 3 taps rather than just hitting the sticks together in response to a fast tempo 
Process:
1.  Have each student point to each picture in rhythm (I also say "tap tap tap")
2.  Help each student play the pattern on rhythm sticks (hold their hands and move the sticks for them the first few times)
3.  Ta DA! 

Music Schedule for Autism Classes

In the spirit of Autism Awareness Month (even though it is the last day, WOOPS!), I figure it's appropriate to share some of my manipulatives that I use with my Autism classes.  

Background:  I teach one PreK Autism class and one K-2 Autism class.  In both of these classes, students are primarily non-verbal, with a few exceptions.

Here is a schedule that I recently created for both of my Autism classes, thanks to some great advice from one of the Autism teachers at my school.  I taped two folders together to give myself more space to fit the schedule and then had it laminated so that it will last FOREVER (hah, we shall see about that!).  I then attached some velcro so that students can easily manipulate the schedule.  

The left column is the schedule for class (I fit in a lot of small 2-5 minute activities to maintain student interest).  The square in the middle is meant for what we are doing in class at that time (I have students take turns moving activities to that square) and then when we finish an activity we say "___________ is all done!" and I move it over to the right side.  Again, credit must be given to my fabulous colleague on the Autism team... she has helped me SO much in this process!  

Close up of the cards!

Play:  For this activity I use the Hoberman Sphere and allow students to open and close it while I sing "Shalom Haverim"... the idea is that they follow the contour of the melody (when I sing high, they make the sphere big, when I sing low, they make the sphere small)

Here is a little demo action!

Anyone think I should be the next Vanna White?

And Voila!!!

Just tape a Ziploc bag to the other side for your other cards!