CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

STEADY BEAT

MELODY - TREE TURNABOUTS

This activity was inspired by my GR 4 and 5 students that constantly amaze me with their soprano recorder skills.  To create the activity, I used pre-cut foam shapes of ornaments from the local craft store.  The one I purchased came with peel-n-stick decals as well as the pre-cut gold ornament strings to hang them on a Christmas tree.

On one side, I wrote the letter name of the note; on the other side, I wrote the absolute pitch on the music staff.

Tie the strings on the ornaments and then staple them to a holiday tree on the bulletin board.  I triple stapled mine -- and still find that the interest from the students has me checking my staples on a regular basis.  This has been a HUGE interest board as kids pass through the hallways during their day.  The kids have fun while I am able to reinforce their recorder learning.  You don't even have to worry about turning them around -- they work as a learning center either way!  :)

Extensions:  Paste the fingerings for soprano recorder on one side and the letter name or absolute pitch on the music staff on the other.

Hope you enjoy the activity -- and let me know how yours works.


CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE BULLETIN BOARD HOLIDAY TREE




CLICK HERE FOR MICHAEL'S 25% OFF TOTAL PURCHASE - YOU MAY NEED TO CHANGE LOCATIONS - YOU CAN EVEN HAVE IT SENT TO YOUR PHONE - AVAIL DEC 14 ONLY

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Let's Go to the Farm
Written by Lori Froeb
Illustrated by SI Artists
ISBN: 978-0-7944-1920-2


Enjoy this wonderful fall selection full of barnyard greetings as your little people become excited about the possible farm animals behind each of the lift-the-flap pictures.  The book can be easily adapted and sung to the familiar s-m or s-m-l melody of Lucy Locket.

The book can also be used with a variety of other "farm" songs such as "The Farmer and the Dell" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." 

It can also be adapted to fit the melody of the folk dance "La raspa" found in the Rhythmically Moving collection.  There is a Spanish version of the story available on Amazon as well -- these can be a wonderful duo when sharing with your ELL students.
Enjoy and keep singing. Click the link below to purchase this book.

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

Wow!  I can't believe that I'm beginning my fifth year of posting ideas for the classroom.  It's been so much fun sharing ideas and hearing from you.  So ... 5 years later ... here we go!   :)

I know that many of you have already returned to your classrooms, so let me say, "welcome back."  I've appreciated your loyalty in coming back week after week.  Some weeks were more difficult that others to get here but I'm looking forward to sharing so much more with you.

SUMMER BREAK

As we move into the summer months, I can't believe that another year of posting musical manipulatives has come to an end.

PLEASE RETURN TO OUR SITE IN AUGUST 2013 -- THERE WILL BE MANY MORE GREAT IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR CLASSROOM.

IN THE MEANTIME, WE OFFER 2 PUBLICATIONS -- MUSICAL MANIPULATIVES 1 AND MUSICAL MANIPULATIVES 2.  EMAIL US AT creativemusicclassrooms@gmail.com for more information.

THOM IS ALSO WORKING ON A NEW PUBLICATION CONCEPT ADDRESSING CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN THE MUSIC CLASSROOM.  BE SURE TO WATCH FOR HIS THIRD EXCITING PUBLICATION SOON!!!

We'll be back with more activities and ideas starting in August of 2013.  In the meantime, check out the upcoming WORKSHOPS tab on the HOME PAGE.  Many new upcoming workshops and conferences have been added for the 2013 Fal and 2014 Winter and Spring.

Have a great summer -- and remember to review the posting for summer reading suggestions.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

STEADY BEAT - RHYTHM FLOWERS

March Winds - Mother Goose
March Winds
... April showers
Bring forth May flowers.

I stopped at the teacher store and found wonderful precut flower shapes and wrote basic rhythms on each flower - 1 beat per flower.  Once they were laminated, I put magnets on the back and invited children to create rhythm chaings with the flowers.

After sharing the story, I reread the story inviting children to recite our poem after each 2-page reading.  Then I invited children to gather at the pocket chart (I use a "webbing" pocket chart) to brainstorm names of flowers.  I asked the children to share one of their favorite flowers (or perhaps a flower they had heard in the story that they liked).  Each flower was written on a seperate precut flower shape and then added to the web activity.

When we had named about 12-16 flowers, I asked children to start grouping the flowers into those names that had 1 sound, 2 sounds, etc.  Then we took our rhythm block pattern - basically a rectangle with a dotted line drawn lightly in the middle from top to bottom - and wrote the names of each flower on each building block (one flower per block).  The we worked through the rhythms of each block to decide how to write the flower rhythm.

After reviewing our poem, I put children into groups of 4-5 and asked each group to create a 4-beat word chain with 4 of the flowers.  We created an AB piece of music by reciting the poem as our A Section, allowing each group to share their word chain as the B Section.  Using hand drums in the B Section created a wonderful way to engage the children these last few weeks of school.

Check back in a day or so and I should have my SMART file loaded as well -- I have the file of flowers already completed and ready for kids to interactively create the word chains using the SMART board.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PRECUT FLOWER SHAPES - ON SALE!!!




CLICK THIS LINK TO PURCHASE PLANTING A RAINBOW

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

We are currently working on this weekend post -- please check on Monday.  We hope to have it completed shortly.

In the meantime, be sure to check out last week's activity -- we have added a 6/8 activity using the nursery rhyme "Jack Be Nimble." There are manipulative downloads for the teacher cards and the pocket chart cards for students to use.

AND ... There is a SMART board file that I created to go with this activity .... FREE. :) Hope it's useful.  Just view the posting below.  The downloads are found at the end of the activity.


New interactive files will be incorporated to the the blog on upcoming and previous activities. Be sure to tell your music friends.  :)

STEADY BEAT - JACK BE NIMBLE

Jack be nimble,

Jack be quick,

Jack jump over

The candlestick.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF "JACK BE NIMBLE."

This month, I'm returning to the Mother Goose format with the familiar rhyme Jack Be Nimble.  I'm using this activity to prepare notating 6/8 meter with my students, so I wanted them to experience a poem that has strong 6/8 meter and yet provided an opportunity to have some fun with possible "mistakes" that Jack my make.

For the activity, laminate the 4 cards found in the link below.  The language that I use with the rhythms is as follows:

dotted quarter - "STEP"

three eighths - "RUNNING AND"

ta - ti - "SKIP AND"

ti - ta - "JUMPING"

After printing and laminating the cards, put magnets on the back and place the four cards on the magnetic board.  After students recite the poem, point to each card 4 times to create 4 16-beat patterns.  Use the support language suggested above.  After completeing this activity a few times, point to each card only 2 times to create 8-beat patterns.  Then try pointing to each cards one time to create a 4-beat pattern.  If students are successful speaking "what the rhythms say", begin mixing up the rhythm patterns using the suggested text above by pointing at different cards to create 4-beat or 8-beat responses.  This activity will create a B SECTION for your poem selection.

After students have memorized the poem, which will happen rather quickly, invite students to create additional verses by rhyming words with how Jack jumped.  What he jumps over should rhyme with the how he jumps.  For example:

Jack be nimble,

Jack be slow,

Jack jump over

His brother Joe.

Jack be nimble,

Jack be dreary,

Jack jump all day

Until he was weary.

Jack be nimble,

Jack be fast,

Jack jump over

the teacher he sassed.

Now that students have created their own "Jack" poems, invite them to share their poems as an A SECTION to the activity.  Invite students to create the rhythm section using the pocket chart cards (see below).  Print and laminate several copies of each card.  Place them in the pocket chart.  While the class recites the poem, invite a student to create a 4-beat or 8-beat rhythm pattern.  The rhythmic sentence must be completed before the poem is spoken twice.  Invite that student to lead the class in the rhythm that has been created.  When completed, repeat with another poem while a new student creates a new rhythm.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TEACHER RHYTHM CARDS

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE STUDENT POCKET CHART CARDS

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SMART BOARD FILE FOR THIS ACTIVITY!

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.

STEADY BEAT - RHTYHM HEARTS

This week's activity is coming directly from the classroom.  My GR 3 students are working with tika-tika -- so, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I gave each child a set of 9 hearts.  Each heart has a 4-beat rhythm pattern on it.  The children are asked to place the hearts in a 3x3 pattern on the floor.  After the children have placed their hearts on the floor, I say, say-play, and play a 4-beat pattern that includes the sixteenth-note rhythm.  They have to find the heart and turn it over.

After 9 rhythm patterns have been played, and all of the rhythms are face down, they turn to the closet partner and put their 9 hearts together to create a match-up game.  As one child takes the turn, the other child must say-say/play-play the rhythms that are revealed.  The children have fun working together and the teamwork and team-teaching has been beneficial in their literacy.

Hope this is useful.  My classes have had a lot of fun playing the "game" and it's made review work enjoyable for them.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER HEART PATTERNS FOR THE GAME.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Love, Ruby Valentine
Written by Laurie Friedman
Illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath
ISBN:  987-1-57505-899-3

The lovely story about a little girl named Ruby Valentine can be sung with minimal adaptation to the melody of "Deep in the Heart of Texas."  The inside cover of the book (the part that is sometimes overlooked) includes a wonderful collection of those great little valentine heart candies with sayings on them.  Enjoy the opportunity to make rhythmic connections using these already created sayings to improvise a B Section as you sing/tell the story.

Extension:  Create a variety of "heart rhythms" for the children to pick up.  As they find enjoyable sayings, invite them to put the hearts together to create an 8-beat rhythm pattern of "sweetness" to recite or perform during the story.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER HEART PATTERNS.

The Night Before Valentine's Day
Written by Natasha Wing
Illustrated by Heidi Petach
ISBN:  987-0-448420-188-9

This title, like so many of the monthly titles that are similiar to The Night Before Christmas, can be sung to the familiar melody associated with the title.

MELODY - SOLFEGE SNOWFLAKES

SNOWFLAKE, SNOWFLAKE
Snowflake, snowflake, on my window.
Snowflake, snowflake on my sill.
Falling from the clouds above
and drifting over the hill.
                                       Original poem by Thom Borden

Create a sol-mi melody B Section using the snowflake patterns.



CLICK THIS LINK TO ORDER SMALL SNOWFLAKE PATTERNS.

STEADY BEAT - RHYTHM SNOWFLAKES

SNOWFLAKE, SNOWFLAKE
Snowflake, snowflake, on my window.
Snowflake, snowflake on my sill.
Falling from the clouds above
and drifting over the hill.
                                       Original poem by Thom Borden

For this activity, I used the snowflake pattern shown.  Each snowflake has a single beat of stick notation written on them.  While the class recited the poem, one student was asked to create a B Section to the poem by laying the rhythm snowflakes out on the floor.  They can also be laminated after writing rhythms on them and then placing magnets on the back for easy magnetic board use.

The student creating the B Section must have completed his/her rhythm pattern by the end of the A Section (the poem).  After students say or play the rhythmic pattern of the B Section, repeat the poem again while another student creates another rhythm pattern - creating a rondo.


CLICK THIS LINK TO ORDER SNOWFLAKE PATTERNS.

MELODY