Jazz Appreciation Month

It's Jazz Appreciation Month!

In the past, I haven't done the best job of bringing jazz music to my students. This year, though, our school's Jazz Experience group placed 2nd at the Iowa Jazz Championships. This is an amazing accomplishment! I really want to use this as a jumping off point for my students and get them excited about jazz. 

Here are some other activities I'll be doing with my K-5 students this month:

Literature

There are so many awesome books to use with jazz music! I'll be posting a product later this week (hopefully) that gives some great activities for children's literature, as well as some quick print mini-lessons. Here are some of my favorites to use with students:

• J is for Jazz - This book was released in September. The pictures are beautiful and the vocabulary/alphabet review is wonderful for younger students!
• What a Wonderful World - A great song and message comes from this book. Plus, it has a little Louis Armstrong popping up throughout.
• The Jazz Fly - This story is a wonderful introduction to improvisation and scat singing.
• A Tisket, A Tasket - I love using this story with the circle game to introduce Ella Fitzgerald.
• Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra - The pictures in this book are so vibrant! I love Andrea & Brian Pinkney's works. Their tale of Ella Fitzgerald is also a winner!
• Anna Harwell Celenza's books Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite are wonderful for older students. 

Technology

Our district is 1:1, so using technology always gets a thumbs up from administration. Here are some ideas for using technology with jazz:

• MadLips by Cherie Herring give you a fun look into jazz musicians lives.
• Jazz in America has some great resources and lesson plans for older students.
• Claire Burns and myself have posted QR code activities. Click on the picture below:

Scat
Interested in more scat lessons? Here are some ideas from the pros:

• Scat Lesson Set from Treble in the Classroom
• Cookie Jar from MusicForAll
• The book When Louis Armstrong Taught Me Scat isn't readily available, but you may be able to find it online or in your local library
• Aileen Miracle has a fun lesson for The Jazz Fly in her "Singing with a Sub Bundle"
• I also just discovered this cute video:

Miscellaneous Ideas:

Here are some great ideas that I couldn't leave out:

• Bring It Home - Learning About Charlie Parker from David at Make Moments Matter - he writes a wonderful blog post about making Charlie Parker meaningful to his students.
• Jazz Legends Research Pages from The Bulletin Board Lady - love these for my older students! There are so many musicians included that students can choose which one interests them. 
• Mrs. Stouffer's Music Room has three great lessons about different jazz musicians.
• Artie's Jazz Pack has different games and activities for learning about the styles, musicians and music.
• My Store! - I've posted several different decor ideas, as well as a free Jazz Musician Matching worksheet. It features basic rhythms (ta, titi & rest) with different musicians' names. I'll also be posting another product or two before the month is over. My favorite product so far are my Jazz Listening Glyphs. They are a wonderful assessment tool while introducing students to jazz music. There are a variety of levels and musical concepts included.

What do you do to celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month? Please share your ideas below!