CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

10 Little Penguins
Written and Illustrated by Kate Toms
ISBN: 978-01-84879-741-3

This charming counting book can be sung to the familiar melody of  "Ten Little Elephants."

With a little adaptation, you can also sing the words of the story to "Ten in the Bed."  However, once you get to the "... roll over" portion of the song, sing the number of penguins remaining.  For example, after penguin number 10 leaves, sing "9 penguins, 9 penguins.

While supplies last, you can find penguin bath puppets at Oriental Trading.  As of 2/28/12 they are currently on sale -- but as we all know, they may run out at any moment.  Here is the weblink:

http://www.orientaltrading.com/penguin-printed-bath-hand-puppet-a2-12_3944-12-1.fltr?Ntt=penguins

Enjoy the story and keep singing!

MELODY - SOLFEGE LITERACY

On January 7 2012, we created winter solfege blocks.  This week, I wanted to use them in another activity.  For this activity, you will need to paint and letter another block (I painted mine a bright winter blue).  After the block is painted and dry, write a single letter (C, D, E, F and G) on each side.  You may wish to seal this block with a clear varnish before using.  Children will be using this block to roll and determine the "key" in which they create their melody.

Create a large piece of staff paper - large enough for the solfege blocks to either fit between lines of on a line.  Have the children roll the white winter solfege dice to create a solfege melody.  Then roll the "blue" die to determine the key or home tone.  To make it easier, you may wish to use only d, r, m, s, and l solfege dice.  Once the key or home tone has been rolled (the blue dice), children must place the solfege blocks on the staff paper and sing their melody.  There are no specific rhythm patterns as children will simply be singing the solfege blocks on absolute pitch.

For an assessment, have the children write their "melody" on personal pages of staff paper that can be reviewed after class.  Although they are simply copying the block patterns to paper, this will give you time to assess which children can associate the solfege pitch on the staff.

STEADY BEAT - RHYTHM ICE CUBES

For this game, you will need to purchase "Don't Break the Ice" game.  They can be found at Target and Walmart and usually run $5.  When you look at the game, you will see that there is a large blue border that you place white cubes into, filling the frame with "ice cubes."  The object of the game is to tap on an individual ice cube, knocking it out, while not disturbing other cubes that are held into place due to the tightness of the frame.  The "loser" of the game is the person that taps an ice cube an causes all of the cubes to fall out of the frame.  Reset the cubes and play again.

So -- let's make it musical.  I wanted to work on my sixteenth-note patterns, so using a permanent marker or label maker, write sixteenth-note patterns, eighth-note patterns, and even quarter-note and other rhythmic patterns on each cube.  Just remember that you need rhythm patterns that have been presented to the children.  Do NOT include rests -- as each time a cube is knocked out of the frame, that empty space become 1 beat of rest.

Place all of the rhythm cubes into the frame and begin playing.  Start the game by having children in the playing group (you may want to make 4 or 6 of these games so that your playing groups are 4-6 children) say, say/play, play the complete rhythm patterns on the cubes.  After they complete reading the patten, have player 1 tap out a cube, that player will then have to read/play the new pattern as a rest was created when the cube fell out of the frame.  Keep going around the circle, as each player taps out a cube and reads/performs the new pattern.  The game continues until someone taps a cube causing the entire frame of ice cubes to fall out.  Reset the cubes and the game starts again.

Extension:  The game could be extended to lower or higher levels by purchasing additional sets of the game (as they are only $5) to create different ice cube pattern sets.

MELODY - ICE BLOCK SOLFEGE

Paint 16 wooden blocks white and let them dry.  I prefer the 2" size over other options.  Once dry, add solfege letters on the blocks.  This is determined by the group that you would like to use the blocks with.  Have the children roll the blocks to create a 4 4-beat melody.  Add a simply winter song as an "A" sectino and invite children to sing their melody to create a rondo activity.  When I am finished with my blocks, I simply place them on the shelf and place my penguin puppet on top!