Celebrating 100 Days!

So, apparently the 100th day of school is a BIG DEAL! This was something that no one ever told me about in student teaching or even my first year or two in the classroom. I've finally started to understand that for lower elementary, the 100th day of school is awesome!
The kids start the day by breaking through a big banner. How cool is that? The rest of the day is spent counting, moving, and creating with 100. As a music teacher, I've always wanted to be a part of the celebration, but couldn't figure out what to do.
This year I've come up with a few ideas of things to do tomorrow (our 100th day) and I want to share them with you!

Sing

Music K8 has some great songs for the 100th day of school. Some are easier and some a little harder. I usually like to project the lyrics through Powerpoint so the kids can see them nice and big. Here's a few suggestions:

• One Hundred Days! (22/3)
• The 100th Day of School (9/3)
• One Hundred Days of School (3/3)
• Happy 100 to Us! (3/3)
• See How Much We've Learned (27/3)

You can also find free songs on Pinterest that take a traditional tune (Oh Christmas Tree, I've Been Working on the Railroad, etc.) and give it different words to celebrate the 100th day.

Movement

If you haven't heard of GoNoodle, you need to check it out ASAP! They have dances, yoga, brain breaks, and more stuff for kids. A lot of our teachers use the "Indoor Recess" mixes to give the kids some activity when they can't go outside. I love using the Kidz Bop guided dance videos or the calming ones at the end of a lesson. 

They've created two fun videos for the 100th day! You can choose Skip Count to 100 or Count to 100. Both look great for a quick mention of the 100th day if you have other things planned. Share with your classroom or PE teachers, too - they will thank you for it!

Instruments

The final suggestion is the activity I'm going to be using with my students this year. I love "The Peas" series by Keith Baker. I've mentioned in a past blog post about using his other story "Little Green" for vocal exploration. He's a wonderful author. His "Peas" series includes books about the alphabet, seasons, and counting. It just so happens that his counting book goes from 1-100 in ones and tens - perfect for the 100th day!

I like to use books with drumming, but you can use any percussion instrument in your classroom. First, I read the story to the class. Then, I introduce and place the drums in different groups (i.e. bongos station, gathering drum, lollipop drums). From here, I read the story and have the students echo the text on their drums. Example: One pea searching (tap tap tap tap); I find that it's easier to project the Kindle version (Amazon) up on the whiteboard as I read so I can walk around and help the kids. Once we've read & played through the story, the kids move to the next station and we do it again. 

The story gets tedious by the last class of the day, but the kids love it! It also helps them work on hearing a steady beat, playing with others and working on sounds. You can always branch out into what rhythms would represent the text or have the kids create their own ideas for the 100th day. Then, have them write it and play it on a nonpitched percussion instrument. 

Best of luck on your 100th day! Make it great!

Shaking It Up in Music!

I love egg shakers! They are great for students of all ages and abilities. Today I'd like to share with you some of my favorite activities using egg shakers in the music classroom.

Songs

Shake It Baby from Rachel Rambach

I use many of Rachel's songs for my Severe & Profound students. She is a music therapist and writes songs that work well with her students' needs. One of these is "Shake It Baby" which helps students go fast and slow as well as high and low. 

I Know a Chicken by Laurie Berkner is a fun song for egg shakers but also echo singing. 

"Shakey Shakey Egg" from Music K8 17/4 is a nice song to let kids just shake away how they'd like. With older students, you can practice shaking on the beat or inserting rhythmic patterns. You can sample it on Music K8's website to see if it's the right song for you before purchasing.

Books

Shaggy Dog and the Terrible Itch by Bedford & Williamson

I love this story! It is so silly and has wonderful pictures. You can use the egg shakers in different ways with this story. One way is to use it any time Shaggy Dog itches. My students like using it when "the itch came back" because he wiggles and they giggle.

Ol' Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein

I just got this book and can't wait to use it soon. Squirrels are one of my favorite creatures, so this book is perfect for fall in Iowa. I plan on having the students use the egg shakers every time Mama Squirrel says "chook chook chook."

Baby Rattlesnake by Moroney & Ata

I found this idea from another music education blogger. The Kodaly Aspiring Music Classroom has a neat way to tie in rhythm practice with this story. On the "ch ch chhh" part,  she suggests using the rhythmic pattern "ti ti ta." This works well for my first graders who are learning ta and titi. You can also just have the kids use the shakers on that part without a clear rhythmic element. 

Activities

Check out Sing-Play-Creatively for a fun activity about colors! She has a video, music tracks and printables for kindergarten through 2nd grade. Great as a brain break or lesson!

One thing I love about egg shakers is that you can use them all year long! Here's a great activity you can use this month with "In the Hall of the Mountain King." Music with Miss W has an interactive lesson for reviewing half notes including choreography and composition.

You can also do a fun twist on Grieg's tune with a freebie from The Learning Groove. Eric Litwin (Pete the Cat) is half of the group and inserts movement words to add with the shakers.

This last activity is great for older kids! Amy at Music a la Abbott has a full blog post dedicated to this awesome song including ways to expand upon it. Find it here!

I hope you have found something new to use with your egg shakers. Many of these activities can also be done with maracas or homemade egg shakers. You can find directions for making your own egg shakers here. Have a great week shaking it up!

Product Post

Apparently, I was bitten by the creation bug these last few months! I have several new products that I would love to share with you all!

This is a great lesson for older students. Grab the wonderful book by Anna Harwell Celenza and you are set! There are assessment pieces, as well as a fun stick game at the end.

For students of all ages, these listening glyphs are a wonderful assessment piece. You can choose one of the preselected pieces with the glyphs or use the generic ones to choose a song of your own!

This project is great for older students to share their favorite song! Students will dig into the meaning of the song and share it through writing, creation and an optional project.

If you're looking for a fun brain break, check out this Japanese game! It's very similar to rock, paper, scissors and has modifications for a variety of learning levels.

This last one is my personal favorite! My students are obsessed with "Happy!" from Despicable Me 2. Not only does it have a fun beat, but the words are positive. Pharrell Williams just put out a children's book of his famous song. This product includes a lesson plan for the book, assessment worksheets, movement ideas and a body percussion routine. EEK - I can't wait to use it with my students!


Be on the look out for a few sales coming up, too! Bye for now!

                                   

       

III
If

H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N spells Halloween!

Ha, sorry! I learned this song in elementary school to the tune of "Danse Macabre" and it's stuck with me ever since. Here's the video from YouTube that I like to use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Eg8UifzmI

Anyways, I thought I'd share some Halloween activities my classes have been doing.

In the Hall of the Mountain King - Grieg

This is the first year I've really delved into Grieg. I love the music and the melody really sticks in the kids' heads! I start introducing it in Kindergarten and 1st grade with Eric Litwin's (Pete the Cat!!!) song from The Learning Groove. It takes the melody and puts in words like "I can shake my shaker egg and sneak around the room." It's fun to add egg shakers and a little movement once the students have learned the melody.

As they get older, I show my intermediate students a short cartoon of the story.

It's only about 5 minutes, but also adds in the "Morning Mood" music, which many of the students recognize. In the future, I'd like to add a literature connection. I've seen some great picture books online, but haven't picked one up yet. Soon!

I also add rhythm sticks to the main theme, with the help of Malinda Phillips' great active listening resource! Check it out - it's free :)

From there, we move on to actually feeling the beat, tempo and dynamic changes in the music. If you follow my blog, you know I LOVE Artie Almeida. She has a wonderful guiro and kickball lesson for this piece. I tried it with my third graders last week and we had so much fun! I used basketballs because we don't have enough kickballs and it still worked out just fine. Here are some pictures from my students engaging in the music:

It was Character Counts week, so they're all dressed up in the careers they'd like to have.The basketball coach had to come get the balls for practice at the end of the day, but we had a good time while it lasted. Artie's lessons are truly wonderful resources. I encourage you to check out her videos on YouTube and purchase this resource. You won't regret it!

Some other activities we are doing this week are:

• singing the story "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!" with melody from Kristin Lukow
• Halloween melody patterns from Aileen Miracle's 13 Nights freebie
• Halloween vocal explorations and "create your own" template from Amy Abbott
• Witch Witch (so-mi activity) and game from The Yellow Brick Road
• Spooky Music listening & rating from Music with Sara Bibee (this one is a fun activity for the older kids!)

The last game we are playing is a favorite of my primary students! I discovered it on Pinterest last year and the students just love it. I can't seem to find the right recording for it, though. There is a faster version and a Denise Gagne version that has a different melody. I kind of plunked it out on my own and adapt it to my student's singing ability. Here's the video of the song I use and the game:

It's really fun and a great way to reinforce steady beat. What Halloween or seasonal activities are you doing this week with your students?

Five Favorite Pins of October

Hello all! Sorry it's been awhile. We just finished up the first quarter and conferences are next week. Wow, time flies!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Miracle's Music Room for her monthly linky party. Here are my favorite pins of October!

#1: Music Gifts

I had a couple of students who just finished up auditioning for Opus Honor Choir. Unfortunately, none of them were selected. They worked really hard, though, so I wanted to reward them for their dedication to becoming a better singer and all around musician. I can't wait to make these and leave them in the office next week!

#2: Drummer Pete

I just LOVE this video! My husband is sick of hearing it already. However, it is a great review for my students and we can break out the new drums.

#3: Amusement Park Mallet Exploration

I adore all of Cori Bloom's resources. This one is a great exploration for mallet instruments. It has a wonderful lesson plan attached to it, complete with standards, skills and a composition. I snatched it up right after I pinned it. Check it out!

#4: Pete the Cat bundle

My primary students love Pete the Cat. I usually bring him out in the spring or with a sub. However, our book fair has the Christmas story available this year AND I just received my Pete the Cat puppet from our DonorsChoose.org project. How happy was I when I stumbled upon this new blogger/TPT seller's page! There's a section for steady beat buttons and prereading rhythms with colored shoes. 

#5: Dancin' Scarf Blues

Jazz and scarves? Win win! Can't wait to get the recording.

Read Me a Story, Sing Me a Song

I love using literature in the music classroom! It is a great way to make connections with students, as well as bring the story alive using songs and instruments. Here are a few of my favorites I've been using lately in the classroom.

Knick Knack Paddy Whack

I love this book! I forgot I had received it earlier in the school year. It brings the song to life with beautiful pictures and a fun, jazzy style. The book comes with a CD that has the story as well as just the background music if you'd like to sing it yourself. It also introduces instruments of the orchestra. Love!

Grandma's Feather Bed

Another gem! This song story is so fun! It comes with a CD featuring John Denver singing his classic song. Plus, the pictures are hilarious!

Thump, Bump: Tiny, the Dancing Hippo

This is one of my treasures. I was looking through books at the Salvation Army and stumbled upon this. As I was reading along, I realized the words "thump" and "bump" keep repeating in the story. This got me thinking - hmm, what a great introduction for my primary students! They could choose instruments to use and play on their specific word, either thump or bump. Winner! It's such a simple book, but a great introduction or review at the beginning of the year. 

Carnival of the Animals

I will be ending the school year with Carnival of the Animals for my 1st graders. This book has wonderful pictures of the animals and the instruments in it. There are several great books out there for Carnival of the Animals, but this one features the CD and story all in one spot for a quick grab.

Finally, our primary building had a "Dr. Seuss" theme this year. To tie that in with our building goal of increasing reading skills, my kindergarteners are having their program be "Dr. Seuss is on the Loose!" The kids LOVE these songs. I used several from Seussical, as well as a few I picked up here and there. I'll have a post next week with more details and pictures. However, we read each story and sang it's song afterwards as we were starting to learn them. This program has really strengthened my love for Dr. Seuss!

Are you interested in more children's literature in the music classroom? Be sure to search "literature" on the sidebar of my blog. It will give you quick access to all my blog posts with children's stories (there are a TON!). Also, I definitely recommend checking out my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I have several products for using literature with instruments, vocal explorations, jazz, etc.

Christmas Activities

Holy moly - these kids are amped up! 'Tis the season of course, but wheww, they wear me out.
Tonight is the final program for a couple of months. They take a lot of time and effort, but they are becoming much easier and more fun for me. Good luck tonight 5th grade choristers - you'll rock!! :)


I thought I'd share a few fun activities that my students enjoy during the month of December. Some of these I have borrowed from others and some are my own creations.


1. Drummer Boy

This is a wonderful book by Loren Long. It's not the traditional story of the drummer boy, but instead one of his journey around town during Christmas. In the end, he is placed on the mantle and plays for the manger. The students loved it and the pictures are beautiful. I had my kindergarten students play hand drums each time the drummer played his "rum-pum-pum."

2. Jolly Old St. Nicholas

I found a fun freebie for this Christmas favorite. It is a great way to review half note, add jingle bells and play on boomwhackers. You can find it here from Emily F.:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jolly-Old-Saint-Nicholas-441841 

3. Jingle Bells

So, there are thousands of fun things to do with jingle bells. I created this dance to it last year so my primary kids could get some energy out. Lo and behold, all of my older students still love it! It's rather simple and lets the students move around as well as find new partners and keep a beat. Here is a short video of my students performing it. The music is from Hampton the Hampster - I found it on Amazon.

 

I also do a lot of activities and lessons with the Nutcracker and other holiday carols. Let me know if you are interested in any of those ideas or resources. Happy Holidays!

triangles, sticks and drums - oh my!

Sorry I've been off the radar for the past week - I've been dealing with some personal health issues. However, I am back to blogging!

My first year of teaching, I rarely used instruments. Seriously - like, never. They terrified the heck out of me and I had ZERO experience with them. During student teaching, I became familiar with recorders, but nothing "percussion" like. This is really sad because I am a percussionist. FAIL! 

Anyways, I came into the program at my school with the hope of surviving the first year. In the past, the students had used Mallet Madness and there were tons of smaller bell sets in storage. I didn't go near them until my second year, where I pulled them out a couple of times with the younger and older classes. This was a headache! It takes forever to get everything out and placed and then that is all you can do for the day because of the set-up/tear-down time in between. UGH!

This year, I vowed to instrument it up. I've been to some workshops with Orff ideas and they've been great! I love taking a poem or story and having the students choose instruments to play during certain parts. I have also been adding instruments to the song powerpoints I've been using. The kids are getting really good at reading the music, their instrument part and listening to others. In the next few years, my goal is to incorporate the Mallet Madness resources, as well as start up a recorder program. Fingers crossed!

Here are some of my favorite instrument ideas I've used this year:

I love this book! It is short and has huge pop-up pictures. Plus, you can start off with 3-4 instruments sounds and add more and more throughout the year. It gets the students talking and negotiating which instruments should be what and why!

This activity is so awesome! And...IT'S FREE! It is so good for my younger students. It reinforces our different types of voices, ta/titi/rest, a fun game and instruments. Each slide only has 1 instrument, so our new learners can see their picture really big. You can find it here, from The Sweetest Melody 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Wee-Willie-Winkie-856082

Last year, I introduced bucket drumming. Wow! So much fun and so much chaos. The kids love it and it's a great way to talk about steady beat, being a group and form. Here is a fun one for Christmas from "The Nutcracker."

http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2012/11/bucket-drum-routine-to-trepak-from.html

Finally, I love boomwhackers! Cheap and fun for the kids to start learning about instruments and reading music parts. I started using these last year on a whim and couldn't put them down. Here's a fun fall activity with all of the C boomwhackers. It also has an action song and ta/titi work. 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Leaves-a-melodic-direction-song-for-Fall-366216

I am always on the lookout for more Orff instrument books, songs and ideas to show the kids. I don't have a smartboard, but our district is 1-1. Send me any ideas you have so I can stay on my instrument track this year :)

Five Favorite Pins of September

I have been seeing all these awesome Linky Party buttons on the music education blogs I follow. Since I teach during the day and have a piano studio in the evening, I rarely get to participate in these because I'm too late! But, it's Friday! I actually have time to blog and link up.

http://www.mrsmiraclesmusicroom.com/2013/09/linky-party-five-favorite-pins-of.html

I am linking up to Aileen Miracle from "Mrs. Miracle's Music Room." I LOVE her resources. I seriously use one every week, if not more often. So, here are my 5 favorite pins of September!


#1  Data Tracking in the Music Room (K-5)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Data-Tracking-in-the-Music-Room-K-5-Bundled-Set-855204

Our district is really focusing on data tracking, project-based learning and student centered classrooms. I constantly evaluate my students and my teaching, but there is a push for more concrete data. This bundle has awesome resources and ideas for getting concrete evidence through progress goals, levels, and personal assessment for the kids.

#2 Wee Willie Winkie

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Wee-Willie-Winkie-856082

This song is so awesome! It has steady beat, rhythms, solfege, a fun game and instruments! Perfect for my K-2 students. I love songs that have interesting games to hook the students, plus a lot of elements to review or introduce AND a fun ending activity (instruments). 

#3 Choral Singing Word Wall

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Word-Wall-Choral-Singing-851418

I am so bad at emphasizing vocabulary in music. It's something I definitely struggle with! These choral words, though, are great to display. They hit the key words that beginning singers need to know and I can quickly point them out by color, word or stripes/chevron. I already used 2 of them on the first day. 

#4 Rig A Jig Jig

             http://vimeo.com/27466682

I constantly struggle with finding dances that are fun for my K-1 students. I like to hit on several things during music, so I find that a lot of dances are difficult for them to learn in a short amount of time or retain if we don't learn it all at once. I tend to do more movement activities with them because of this. However, I found this great video of a dance that starts in a circle and moves to partners. I love having the students partner with lots of people.

#5 A Soup Opera

http://www.amazon.com/A-Soup-Opera-Jim-Gill/dp/0981572103/?qid=1337258104&ref=sr_1_1&ie=UTF8&sr=8-1

Reading is something I'm focusing on a lot this year. Whether it's song stories, nonfiction, movement books or acting things out, I want to do more reading in my class. I've heard wonderful things about "A Soup Opera" and I'm really excited to try it out soon. It even comes with a CD, so it's great for sick voice days or substitutes. I'm hoping to read it, sing along and eventually have some classes act it out. We'll see what happens :)

It's finished - I have completed my first Linky Party blog post. Have a great weekend - woot woot!