Workshop Wonders

Sorry it's been awhile! These past few months have been full of stuff. 

Anyways, I'm sharing some ideas that came from the workshop I attended today. It was great to get together as a small group of elementary music teachers. We all have neat ideas and experiences to share with others from our classrooms.

Here's a great photo of "Heel and Toe Polka" by my friend and former classmate Lydia! She shared the scaffolding for this fun day with music by New England Dancing Masters.

I also learned a neat trick for teaching different partners - BEADS! I don't know how I didn't think of this before. You can have partners wear two different colored bead necklaces or have one partner wear one and the other not. It helps them look for their next partner and doesn't create chaos. So fun! You can buy them in bulk from Oriental Trading. It would even be fun to get these in our school colors!

 

I also learned some fun body percussion for the song "Oats, Peas, Beans." To begin, have the students pat the beat or march in place. Next, sing the song with something on "oats" (maybe snaps?). Do it again and add something for peas (clap). Finish with something for beans (pat). Then, add them all together and sing the song. See if the kids can sing the whole song while they are marching and doing the body percussion pieces. Next class period, add unpitched percussion in place of the body percussion. Cool!

My contribution was about children's literature and music lessons. I shared a fun movement activity with the book "My Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss. It's wonderful to talk about feelings or do a collaborate lesson with the guidance counselor and art teacher. You can find it in my movement and literature bundle here: 

  

I didn't get a chance to present this book, but it's really fun for those wiggle days. You can read the story and add egg shakers on the "scratch Shaggy Dog's back" or split the group up and have one group do the "scratch Shaggy Dog's back" and the other do "the itch came back!" The kids love egg shakers and they fit perfectly into their little hands.

If you aren't able to meet with other elementary music teachers at least once a year, you should think about creating a professional development day. It's wonderful to connect with others and share ideas!

Copyright in Music

Hello! Sorry it has been so long. Blogging has definitely gotten away from me these past few months.

Today I'm going to be sharing some of my ideas and lessons for discussing copyright in the world of music. Our school is 1:1, meaning each student has a laptop or iPad for their work during school. We also have a lab for each side of the building, a mobile cart and a set of iPad minis in my music room.
This year, our focus has been on digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is using proper netiquette, observing copyright and creating a positive presence online. Each month, we have an hour long PD session to learn about appropriate techniques and lessons to help our students with digital citizenship. While this job generally goes to the classroom teacher, I really want to solidify and encourage what's going on in the students' classrooms. 
Fifth grade has always been a struggle for me. They have the option of band and/or chorus, but also have general music. The students are at that point in their life where they are starting to feel grown-up, but don't always act that way. I am constantly looking for new activities, units, brain breaks, etc. that appeal to them. At the same time, I want them to be aware of what is currently going on in the music world.
Last month, I opted to do an online digital citizenship class in lieu of the monthly meetings. I was really excited....until they expected me to create a unit like a classroom teacher. UGH! Yes that is important...but I'd love to do several lessons about online bullying or copyright. I ended up just doing a general unit with extra music stuff added in. Then, I stumbled upon a newer issue of Activate! Magazine. It talked about Weird Al Yankovic and his use of parody. BINGO! This would be a great lesson to incorporate copyright!
To start, my students used the bio in the magazine to learn about him. You can also show your students his two children's books. There were two kinds of worksheets included in the issue, which work well for substitute or "no-talking" days. 








The next day was the best! We use Symbaloo in our building so students can access everything in one spot. I created a tile for Weird Al and put my information in. I used SafeShare to create two clean copies of Weird Al songs. From there, I created a Google Form for students to record their favorite, an explanation of why and then finally the importance of copyright. I loved reading their responses!