CHILDREN"S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

STEADY BEAT

STEADY BEAT

MELODY - FIVE LITTLE BELLS

Five Little Bells
Five little bells hanging in a row.
The first one said, "Ring me slow."
The second one said, "Ring me fast."
The third one said, "Ring me last."
The fourth one said, "I'm a chime."
The fifth one said, "Ring me at Christmas time."

Source: www.kinderthemes.com

I wanted to connect to last week's activity, so I am using the same poem.  I am also working with the inital stages of putting rhythm and melody together with my little ones -- they are "writing" their first holiday melodies this week.   Print the blackline master I created (the link is provided below). After printing 5 copies of the blackline, write a 4-beat melody pattern using the solfege syllables that are part of your current concept lesson on each bell. For example, at the primary level, you might only use s-m or s-m-l. For an intermediate lesson, you might want to consider including d and r, as well as d' and s, and l,. Consider making the bells without any solfege patterns, laminating them first, then using an erasable marker so that you can change patterns based on the grade level use of this activity.

Here is how I have adapted the poem to use it this month and support the melodic concepts in my lesson. Hope it is useful to you in your classrooms.

Five Little Bells
Five little bells hanging in a row. The first one said, "hang the first bell and read (say/play) the melody pattern on the bell"
The second one said, "hang the second bell and read (say/play) the melody pattern on the second bell"
The third one said, "hang the third bell and read (say/play) the melody on the third bell"
The fourth one said, "hang the fourth bell and read (say/play) the melody pattern on the fourth bell"
The fifth one said, "We're all hanging on the line.
Now sing the melody of our seasonal chimes.
     (hang the fifth bell pattern and read (say/play) all five patterns - ending the pattern by saying)
A melodic ringing time.

STEADY BEAT - FIVE LITTLE BELLS

Five Little Bells 
Five little bells hanging in a row.
The first one said, "Ring me slow."
The second one said, "Ring me fast."
The third one said, "Ring me last."
The fourth one said, "I'm a chime."
The fifth one said, "Ring me at Christmas time."

Source: www.kinderthemes.com

Print the blackline master I created (the link is provided below).  After printing 5 copies of the blackline, write a 4-beat pattern using the rhythms that are part of your current concept lesson on each bell.  For example, at the primary level, you might use quarter notes, eighth notes and quarter rest patterns (ta, ti-ti, and r).  I use stick notation -- but I left the blackline blank so that you can use the notation patterns your children are used to reading.  For an intermediate lesson, you might want to consider a 4-beat sixteenth note rhythm using tika-tika, ti-tika, and tika-ti.  You might also consider making your bells without any rhythm pattern, laminate them first, then using an erasable marker so that you can change rhythm patterns based on the grade level use of this activity.

Here is how I have adapted the poem to use it this month and support the rhythmic concepts in my lesson.  Hope it is useful to you in your classrooms.

Five little bells hanging in a row.
The first one said, "hang the first bell and read (say/play) the rhythm pattern on the bell"
The second one said, "hang the second bell and read (say/play) the rhythm pattern on the second bell"
The third one said, "hang the third bell and read (say/play) the rhythm on the third bell"
The fourth one said, "hang the fourth bell and read (say/play) the rhythm on the fourth bell"
The fifth one said, "We're all hanging on the line.
Now play the rhythms on our seasonal chimes."
(hang the fifth bell pattern and read (say/play) all five patterns - ending the rhythm pattern by saying)
A rhythmic ringing time.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE BELL BLACKLINE.

CHILDRENS LITERATURE CONNECTIONS

In searching my library, I found that I had 4 books about bells.  Of course, the Iza Trapni Jingle Bells is a must for any holiday collection.  Then there is also Lucille Colandro's I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell.


CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE JINGLE BELLS FROM AMAZON.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE I KNOW AN OLD LADY FROM AMAZON.

The Christmas Bell has a religious storyline.  The Bells of Christmas is set in the late 1800's.  I hope these are helpful to your search for children's literature connections.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE CHRISTMAS BELL FROM AMAZON.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE BELLS OF CHRISTMAS FROM AMAZON.

CHILDREN"S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

llama llama holiday drama
Written and Illustrated by Anna Dewdney
ISBN: 978-0-670-01161-2

Little llama is up to it again -- this time he's counting down the days until Christmas and can't wait!  He's rushing around with Mama Llama, busy with all of the holiday details -- all the while he's counting the days.  Mama Llama reminds him that the one true gift is that they have each other.

While the book can easily be adapted to the melody of Twinkle, Twinkle it fits wonderfully with little adjustment to the melody of Up on the Housetop."

Enjoy and keep singing.


CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE BOOK FROM AMAZON

MELODY - ONE WISE OWL

One wise owl sitting in a tree
Hooted to another, "Come sit with me."
Two wise owls sitting in a tree
Hooted to one more, "Come let's be three!"
Three wise owls sitting in a tree
Hooted to a fourth, "Come quietly."
Four wise owls sitting in a tree
Hooted to a fifth, "Join our family."
Five wise owls sang "Whooo, whooo, whooo!"
And before you knew it, away they all flew!

Since it is still autumn, I have been using owls quite a bit during the month of November.  This activity was inspired by the kids joy using "Five Little Pumpkins." I wanted a poem similar in structure to the pumpkin poem we used in October, but wanted to make a connection to reading sol-mi and la-sol-mi patterns.

On each of the owls, I have written either an "s" "m" or "l".  I made a second set of owls that have a 2-line staff on their tummy so that I can create a notated "s" "m" or "l" on their tummy.  The "s" and "m" are on the line, the "l" is above the second line.

After laminating my owls, I put magnets on the back for easy manipulation on my white board.  I also created a set of interactive owls for the white board -- but I usually like starting with the tactile manipulatives before moving to the interactive activities.  As I start the poem, I place the first owl on the bulletin board tree that I am using for autumn.  I add other owls as follows:

I start with the "s" owl on the branch at the beginning of the poem
One wise owl sitting in a tree
Hooted to another, "Come sit with me." - add a second owl to the bulletin board tree - add this line:
"They sat close, wing to wing.  This is what I heard them sing."

Two wise owls sitting in a tree
Hooted to one more, "Come let's be three!" - add a third owl to the bulletin board tree - add line:
"They sat close, wing to wing.  This is what I heard them sing."

Three wise owls sitting in a tree
Hooted to a fourth, "Come quietly." - add a fourth owl to the bulletin board tree - add line:
"They sat close, wing to wing.  This is what I heard them sing."

Four wise owls sitting in a tree
Hooted to a fifth, "Join our family." - add a fifth owl to the bulletin board tree - add line:
"They sat close, wing to wing.  This is what I heard them sing."

Five wise owls sang "Whooo, whooo, whooo!"
And before you knew it, away they all flew!


Remove the owls and repeat the poem with a new owl melody.


CLICK HERE TO ORDER OWL SHAPES ABOVE