MELODY - SOLFA HEARTS (LOW SO)

The children are working with low so and I wanted to acknowledge the upcoming Hallmark holiday.  So, using the title "The Ballad of Valentine," I created an activity that has become quite engaging.  For this activity, you will need 5 heart patterns with the following solfege written on them:  so,  do  re  mi  so.  If you want to divide your students into groups, you will need to create a set of 5 hearts for each group that you intend to have working together.  Since most of the precut packages of hearts are sold in multiples of 4 (i.e. 36 hearts in the pack) -  you can omit the re heart if you wish.

After sharing the story with the students, repeat the activity asking children to build a melodic response to sing after each grouping of 4 stanzas.  This usually occurs each 2 2-page spread, but is sometimes carried over 3.  I usually put a small peel-n-stick dot in a corresponding color to the book cover to remind me of the inserted activity.

Kids are having fun parsing the tonic chord, working with low so and hearing a great old folk melody.

Extension:  Have the children add an addition rhythmic heart above each melodic heart to create a 4-beat melody.  Once they have completed a melody that they like, invite students to go on a "Valentine's Day Melody Tour."  Invite them to walk an 8-beat pattern from heart to heart, stopping at each heart to sing the melody created 2 times.  The form would look like this:
     Walk 8 beats
     Sing the 4-beat heart melody twice
      Repeat

Invite students in one group to partner with another group to create an 8-beat melody.  Repeat the extension activity.  The form would look like this:
     Walk 8 beats
     Sing the 8-beat heart melody (once).
     Repeat.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER HEART NOTEPAD PATTERN.