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.