CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Sneezy the Snowman
Written by Maureen Wright
Illustrated by Stephen Gilpin
ISBN:  978-0-545-32826-5

STEADY BEAT

MELODY - PENTATONIC PLAY-ALONG

Dream Snow

Written and Illustrated by Eric Carle

ISBN:  978-0-399-23579-5

As are most of the Eric Carle children's books, this is a wonderfully simple story of a farmer and his 5 animals.  I used this to reinforce the concept of pentatonic.

After sharing the story, invite students to set Orff instruments in C pentatonic.  This is a great opportunity to remind students that penta-tonic means 5 tones.

At the beginning of the story, when Farmer takes care of "one, two, etc." invite students to play a simply pentatonic scale (do-re-mi-so-la) after the reader has said the numbers one through five.

As you continue the story, invite students to play any note one time for the first animal, 2 times for the second animal, etc.  Though simplistic in form, the children LOVE the story and playing 1 sound, 2 sounds, etc. for each of the animals.

To add an additional element, ask students at the metals to play the pentatonic scale at any tempo (so that there is a variety of sounds) after the word "snowflakes."  Invite students at the woods to play any pentatonic note based on the number they hear in the story - i.e. they only play any pentatonic tone after they hear "One with a white blanket;" "they play any two pentatonic tones after they hear "Two with a white blanket," and so on.

Throughout the story, the animals are called 1-2-3-4-5 -- which students can repeat the pentatonic scale on their instrument.  Midway through the story, the snow clouds move away and the moon and stars sparkle in the wintry night sky.  Add the familiar song, Bye-n-Bye, singing up to 5 stars.

Towards the end of the story, when the farmer begins to put on his warm coat,boots, hat and gloves, add these items to the song "Must Be Santa."

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A POWER POINT OF THE FARMER'S WINTER CLOTHES.

Since my children have already learned the song, it was very easy for them to make the changes.  They LOVED singing this song with the words, "Must be Farmer, must be Farmer, must be Farmer, must be Farmer, our friend Farmer."  That worked until after the first time when one of the children noticed that we can sing "Must be Santa."  They LOVED that even more.

Be sure to check out the last 2 week postings as well -- there are fun gingerbread man activities.  There is a sing-along as well as a steady beat activity.

Enjoy these activities and have a great week.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE DREAM SNOW FROM AMAZON.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE MUST BE SANTA FROM AMAZON.

STEADY BEAT - RHYTHM GINGERBREAD MEN

Ten Gingerbread Men
Written by Ruth Galloway
ISBN: 978-1-848-57174-7

With Christmas right around the corner, I wanted something to reinforce basic rhythm patterns for all grade levels.  I developed gingerbread men and put grade appropriate rhythm patterns on the tummy of each gingerbread man - each cookie being only 1 beat.  For rhythms that are longer than 1 beat (i.e. half note, dotted quarter, etc.), I attached 2 cookies together at their hands.  It will make then a little more difficult to store, but if you fold them at the hand connection or use a velcro dot, then they will store more easily.

After teaching the familiar song "Ten Little Indians" with adapted words, students are invited to create a 4-beat or 8 beat pattern while singing the song.  They must complete their gingerbread pattern before we complete singing the song.  Create a B Section by inviting students to say, say/play or play their rhythm patterns.  Create a RONDO by moving through the patterns and repeating the song.  Students must rebuild a new pattern each time we sing.  This will assist in keeping students engaged that build a pattern and simply sit throughout the remainder of the song.

Repeat until the RONDO piece is complete.

I also created a set of gingerbread men simply for steady beat practice for my K classes.  These are gingerbread men cookies in full color that have heart beat shapes on their tummy.  Students practice tapping the gingerbread men while speaking simple holiday poems.  You will receive a pack of 36 full color student-sized gingerbread men (3" x 5") along with 8 full-size teacher cards (5" x 7").

CLICK HERE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ORDER A SET OF THE GINGERBREAD MEN with HEARTS.



Micheal's Craft Store has foam gingerbread men available at many store locations and online.  There are 35 pre-cut shapes in each pack and come in 3 shades of brown.  They are approximately 5.5" x 6.75".

CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND PURCHASE FOAM GINGERBREAD SHAPES FROM MICHAEL'S.



If you want smaller gingerbread men, and more of them, then consider using a bulletin board border and simply cut the gingerbread men apart.  Write smaller rhythms on each and put into student packets.  Laminate sentence strips, cut them apart and place velcro dots on the strips afterwards.  Invite students to put the correct number of steady beat gingerbread men on the sentence strip as needed for the song or poem you are using in the lesson.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE GINGERBREAD MEN BULLETIN BOARD BORDER.


CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE BOOK TEN GINGERBREAD MEN FROM AMAZON.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A GINGERBREAD MAN FINGER PUPPET.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Ten Gingerbread Men
Written by Ruth Galloway
ISBN: 978-1-848-57174-7

This wonderful gingerbread counting book can be sung to the first 4 phrases of "Up on the Housetop."  After singing the first two gingerbread numbers (10 gingerbread men and 9 gingerbread men).

Consider adding rhythm gingerbread men while singing the book.  See the blog activity in Dec 6 2014 for a more detailed description.  Use the rhythm gingerbread men to create an 8-beat rhythm pattern to be spoken or played.  The rhythm gingerbread men would be created and played after singing 10-9.  The rhythm activity could be repeated after 8-7, 6-5, 4-3 and 2-1.

For kindergarten children, I simply use gingerbread men with a heart pattern on each tummy to provide a steady beat practice tapping activity.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TEN GINGERBREAD MEN FROM AMAZON.

MELODY - LOW LA GRAPES

Thanks for Thanksgiving
Written by Julie Markes
Illustrated by Doris Barrette
ISBN: 978-0-06-051098-5

While most of my children know that Thanksgiving time is a wonderful time for eating and playing with relatives, many of them have trouble thinking of what to be thankful for.  In this activity, I wanted to work with my intermediate children on low la - and yet still take time to remember something that they are thankful that they have.

The story provides a great beginning of listing things that we can be grateful for; however, invite the children to "jump off the page" by singing about things they are thankful for in their home.

The manipulative that I created is a large bunch of grapes that can be removed from the bunch.  Each grapes has a solfege letter to represent s, - l, or d.  When you make your grape bunch, be sure to print the outline 2 times - then laminate.  Cut out the outline of the first laminated bunch.  Cut out each grape from the second laminated bunch.  Cut out each individual grape from the second laminated bunch.  Be sure to keep up with your individual solfege grapes - placing a piece of velcro on the back of each solfege grape.  Place the corresponding velcro pieces on the other sheet (the outline of the bunch) so that the individual grapes can be attached and removed.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE GRAPE BLACKLINE.

Every page in the story begins with the line, "Thank you for ..."  I used these three syllables to reinforce so, - la, - do.  I start by singing, "Thank you for" on s, - l, - d and then stop and speak one thing that I am thankful for in my life - I use grapes since most of my students know that I LOVE grapes.  :)  I put the manipulative "low-la grapes" on the board.  After singing the pattern a few times, I pull 3 grapes from the bunch - I'm careful to pull a s, - l, - d mix from the bunch to reinforce what I have been singing and place them on the staff to show them what the notated pattern would look like.  Invite students to sing the same pattern finishing the line with a spoken response of something they are thankful for having.  Be sure to reinforce by showing the notation of the melodic pattern and/or touching the grapes as you sing the pattern.

To reinforce the other optional patterns by mixing the notation on the board - I chose to use d - l. - s, next as it was easier for the children to see that it was simply going "down" instead of "up."  After having another group of 4-8 children respond and speak, change the pattern again - this time considering harder patterns (i.e. d - s, - l, or l, - s, - d).  Add more grapes to create a challenge.

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

Will post a new activity after returning from AOSA.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Sipping Spiders Through a Straw
Lyrics by Kelly DiPucchio
Illustrated by Gris Grimly
ISBN:  13-978-0-439-58401-2

This ghoulish collections of songs can be sung to many of the favorite folk songs we have grown up singing.  Find scary options like Home on the Strange (Home on the Range), Harry Finnigan (Michael Finnigan), My Delicious Frankenstein (Oh, My Darling Clementine) and Creepy, Creeply Little Jar (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star).  These are certainly not for the little ones -- but you might find a few options lurking behind your office door -- just waiting for that intermediate grade-level audience.

Enjoy and keep singing.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY FROM AMAZON.

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

STEADY BEAT - RHYTHMIC LEAVES

Welcome Back!  Can you believe that we are our sixth year sharing classroom ideas on the blog?  Please continue to share the blog with friends as it has been a very busy summer and we have LOTS of new things ready for the year.

Leaf Jumpers
Written by Carole Gerber
Illustrated by Leslie Evans
ISBN:

This wonderful story in rhyme is a great spring-board for the Fall season.  Before starting the activity, ask the children to name some of the trees that are in the school yard, or perhaps their yard.  This will be part of a KWL activity.  Tell them that you will be sharing a story about many different trees and ask them to listen for the tree that they mentioned (or for trees that they do not know).

After reading the story to your class, share the fall song Autumn Leaves Are Falling after each 4-line phrase.  This will help create a simply AB formatting for the story.  Tell them to be listening for names of trees.

In this next activity, ask the children to share some of the tree names that they heard in the story.  Draw a large circle on the board and write, "KINDS OF TREES."  Then begin webbing the different kinds of trees they can share.  Be sure to keep a list of the trees they mention (or take a picture of the web) as you will use these names again in the next activity.

For this next activity, write the names of the trees on 6" pieces of cardstock and laminate.  Create several sets of these cards for a group activity.  Remember to choose 8 of the best rhythmic names as children will begin creating rhythmic sentences with some of the cards.  Divide children into cooperative groups and give each group a collection of cards.  Ask students to create a 4-beat "tree sentence" using the tree names from the cards.  Having several cards to choose from will ensure that you have several different sentences.

Create a RONDO song by singing Autumn Leaves Are Falling as the A Section.  Move throughout the groups to have each group say the "tree" sentence they created.  Move to another group as the A Section is repeat.  After the children have the opportunity to SAY their sentence, as them to say/play using body percussion.  Transfer the sentences to non-pitched percussion instruments.

Add a simple BX orchestration to the A Section to complete the composition.  Add to your Fall PTA program or open house to share with parents.  Your students will be thrilled to share THEIR compositions.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE LEAF JUMPERS FROM AMAZON


I have added a link below to purchase leaf cutouts if you would prefer to write the different tree names on a leaf pattern.  I have also added a few of the other Fall Favorites that I use with this "leafy" lesson.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE LEAF CUTOUTS






CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE WE'RE GOING ON A LEAF HUNT FROM AMAZON

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE LEAVES ARE FALLING ONE BY ONE

SUMMER BREAK

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 2014 -- THERE WILL BE MANY MORE GREAT IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES FOR YOUR CLASSROOM.

IN THE MEANTIME, WE OFFER 4 PUBLICATIONS -- MUSICAL MANIPULATIVES 1, 2 and 3 AND MUSICAL LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING!.  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 USING YOUR INTERACTIVE WHITE BOARDS.  BE SURE TO WATCH FOR THESE EXCITING PUBLICATIONS SOON!!!

We'll be back with more activities and ideas starting in August of 2014.  In the meantime, check out the upcoming WORKSHOPS tab on the HOME PAGE.  Many new upcoming workshops and conferences have been added for the 2014 Fall and 2015 Winter and Spring.

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

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

MELODY

We will post this fun summer activities for the end of the year classes tomorrow.

STEADY BEAT - TIME SIGNATURE FIREFLIES

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SMART BOARD GAME FROM TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS - ONLY $2!

It's a Firefly Night
Written by Dianne Ochiltree
Illustrated by Betsy Snyder

With summer around the corner, and finding it's time to wrap up the year, I decided to spin many of my end-of-year assessments through summer titles and activities.  This story is a delightful summer tale of a little girl who goes hunting for fireflies one evening.  As she collects each firefly, the counting story continues until she runs to show daddy the collection.  Then, very carefully, she releases each firefly back into the summer night.

My second graders have been working on bar lines and time signature, so in this activity is simply a learning center where they have to put the correct number of fireflies in each jar.  Print, cut out and laminate several jars.  Each jar lid should have a time signature in the lid.  You could also do this activity using large clear plastic pickle jars.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FREE PICTURE OF A GLASS JAR.

Click on the link below and print several copies of the firefly coloring page.  On each firefly, write a single beat rhythm pattern.  Include the quarter note, the quarter rest, 2 eighth-notes connected as well as individual eighth-notes.  You can also include a firefly with the half note, half rest, whole note and whole rest - but this depends on where your children are at rhythmically.  For my students, it was important to assess connected and disconnected eighth-notes, so I have included "ti-ti" fireflies as well as "ti" fireflies.  Color and laminate each firefly and place them in the learning center.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A FREE FIREFLY COLORING PAGE.

After sharing the story with the children, invite them to come to the learning center as a class.  Share with them that each jar has a specific time signature on the lid.  They are to put the correct number of fireflies in each jar to match the time signature.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR VERY OWN FIREFLY FINGER PUPPET -- IT EVEN LIGHTS UP!


CLICK HERE FOR A BEAUTIFUL VIDEO OF FIREFLIES (this is a foreign video with subtitles - but completely instrumental).


OTHER BOOKS TO CONSIDER:

TEN FRIENDLY FIREFLIES

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF "TEN FRIENDLY FIREFLIES" FROM AMAZON.





THE VERY LONELY FIREFLY

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF "THE VERY LONELY FIREFLY" FROM AMAZON.


FIREFLIES!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF "FIREFLIES!" FROM AMAZON.

MELODY - S-M-L WORD CHAIN

Let It Shine
Written by Mary Ann Cocca-Leffler
ISBN:  978-0-545-45344-8

So I wanted to add the activity to go with last weeks posting.  This week's activity will hopefully share some insight as to how my kids in Grade 1 are creating and singing so-mi-la melodies using this story.  Because of copyright issues, I'll refer to pages as 2-page spreads and give you some basics so that you understand which page I'm working with.

To begin the activity, you will want to have either blank flash cards or pre-cut sentence strips cut in 8" length.  Since most sentence strips are 24" in length, you can get 3 pieces from each strip.  It doesn't matter which you use, but you will want to be sure that you have enough room to write a 2-beat pattern of words on each card.

The beginning of the book opens with a title page.  I simply introduce our story and author and we turn the page.  We sing the next 2-page spread using the familiar playground s-s-m-l-s-m pattern.  You will need to sing the first 3 words with a little swing to get them to fit into the melody of the chant.

Once you turn the page, begin singing the story using the melody of "We Are Playing in the Forest."  This will be the A SECTION of the song.  When you reach the words "BUT THEN" -- you have reached the place that we will begin our B SECTION where kids will start to write and sing their own melodies.  Here are my steps:

As the children sing the A SECTION, place the flash cards with words from the B SECTION on the board.  Simply read the words in the word chain until you return to the next A SECTION.  Continue singing the second verse as you place the next set of words on the board.  Continue until the story is finished and the book has sung (A SECTION sung - B SECTION spoken).

Go back into the story and look at the word chain created in the first B SECTION.  Invite a student to put the words found in the B SECTION (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE WORD CHAIN CARDS) on the board.  The word chain should be placed on the board prior to this next step.  Here are the steps I use to lead the children to discovering the rhythm patterns of each flash card:
     1.  Say the words on the flash card 4 times
     2.  Say and pat what the words on the flash card 4 times
     3.  Pat what the words say BUT do not say the words - hear them in your brain - 4 times
     4.  Pat what the words say BUT listen for rhythm patterns - listen for "ta" "ti-ti" and "rests" - 4 times
     5.  Write the rhythms of what you hear

My students are pretty good at this, and many of them can move from 1 directly to steps 4 and 5.  However, since I always have new students, I usually make them repeat each step at least 2 times to help any of our "new music friends."  Once we have written our rhythm patterns, here are the steps I use to start writing our melodies:
     6.  Write simple s-m-l patterns under the stick notation
     7.  Sing the flash cards using solfege syllables and hand signs
     8.  Sing the flash cards on "loo" (this is a step that we no longer need to use)
     9.  Sing the flash card words using the solfege written under each rhythm notation

Once they have sung the "new melody" - erase and repeat creating a brand new melody!  Once we do this a few times as a class, I put them into groups with their own set of cards and markers.  The kids have had a great time creating and singing their own melody patterns.  We sing the first pages of the A SECTION together and then allow each group to sing their own B SECTION -- creating a RONDO.

THE WORDS FOR THE B SECTION WORD CHAIN ARE LINKED ABOVE - SIMPLY CLICK ON THE LINK AND PRINT ON CARDSTOCK -- CHECK BACK IN A FEW DAYS AND I WILL HAVE A LINK TO THE SMART BOARD ACTIVITY FOR YOU!  :)


CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF LET IT SHINE FROM AMAZON.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Let It Shine
Written by Mary Ann Cocca-Leffler
ISBN:  978-0-545-45344-8

I have used many of Mary Ann Cocca-Leffler's book in past blog postings, so many of you may already be familiar with her titles.  Some of her other titles include "Let is Fall,"  "Let It Snow," and "Let it Rain."  I have also used "One Heart."  You can find any of these activities by simply clicking on the children's literature tab at the top to find the date it was used in the blog and go to that posting using the links along the left side.  Her books are quite charming and can easily be adapted to melodies such as "Skip to My Lou" and "Cindy."

However, since my students in Grade 1 are really starting to read and write so-mi-la melodies, I wanted a book that I could not only sing to a familiar melody that they have already learned, but one that I could use to move into composing in upcoming blogs.

With that said, sing this book using the melody of "We Are Playing in the Forest."  Check out the upcoming blog posts as I will add composition and improvisation activities to use with this story.

Enjoy and keep singing.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE A COPY OF LET IT SHINE FROM AMAZON.

MELODY

MELODY

Will post on Monday after the holiday weekend.  Thanks for visiting ... in the meantime, check out the marketplace tab ... Tap the tab for new items that are available.

STEADY BEAT

I'll post this info on Sunday.  Thanks.

MELODY - LOW LA BUNNY

Big Bad Bunny
Written by Franny Billingsley
Illustrated by G Brian Karas
ISBN:  978-1-4169-0601-8

I love using this story during Easter time because it tells the wonderful story of a little mouse with a BIG imagination!  Mother mouse is putting her little ones to bed, only to realize that little mouse is missing.  All the while, little mouse is running around the neighborhood proclaiming himself to be a "big bad bunny."  The book has two lines which tell us that he has long sharp claws and pointy yellow teeth.  I sing these lines using the melody of "Willem."  The children love the minor sound and it sets up a great beginning to the story.  The book also provides opportunities for children to make the sounds - "scritch" and "chomp."  These become my ostinato while the children sing the song.

To reinforce the low la practice, I have the children begin to describe "big bad bunny."  Following the format of the folk song Willem, each verse is simply a different characteristic of "bunny."  Though there are only 2 characteristics listed in the actual story, the children have had fun creating different descriptive verses and singing the song.  This has become an annual favorite this time of year.

There are also many "Going on a Bear Hunt" moments in which your children can verbally respond while the story is being told.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE BIG BAD BUNNY FROM AMAZON.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Peek-a-Boo Bunny
Written and Illustrated by Holly Surplice
ISBN:  978-0-06-224265-5

Bunny is out with his friends and it's hide and seek time -- their favorite game!  This charming tale is a playful reminder of the game we all loved as children.  With beautifully delicate pictures, this story can be sung to familiar melodies such as "Skip to My Lou" and the old favorite "Ten Little ..."  I left the last word off since there are so many variations that each of us may know.

Enjoy the story and keep singing.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER PEEK-A-BOO BUNNY FROM AMAZON.

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

While currently traveling this weekend, I will post a new idea on Monday.  Thanks for visiting and please return Monday for another great activity.

STEADY BEAT

MELODY - MRD MOLES

Spring is Here - A Bear and Mole Story

Written and Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand

ISBN:  978-0-8234-2431-3

This charming story opens with Mole's morning wake up to the wonderful smells of spring.  With spring around the corner, I thought it would be a charming way to reinforce mi-re-do with my third grade students as they are working on B-A-G on soprano recorder.

The first experience with the story is to simply include movement as the story includes words like "squish, tap, and swish."  As I read the story the first time, the children were in scattered formation and simply allowed to create movements for each of the words as they are spoken in the story.  By the way, each word is said 3 times in the text.

I created a poem for the students to move while hearing the story the second time that included movement.  I include this activity each time bear replies, "Snore."

"Spring is here, I must tell bear.

          Students create a large circle and walk 4 steps CCW.

He's still sleeping in his lair.

He'll miss spring if he stays there.

          Students stop for a 8-beat body percussion - pat twice-clap twice-neighbor clap twice-clap twice

I must tell bear."

          Students rejoin hands and walk 4 steps CW.

The melody is pretty simple - but I wrote it so that it would reinforce mi-re-do and be easy for them to play on recorder.  Play the first line on B, the second on A, the third on G.  The final line is played B-A-A-G (rhythm is ta ti-ti ta Z).

The third time I read the story, I play the first three lines of the melody on soprano recorder, inviting students to play the last line.  Then divide the students into 3 groups - asking each group to play one line of the melody.  Then all play the last line.  Eventually, they can all play the entire melody, or invite 3 students to play solos (one plays each line) - while the remaining students play the last line as an ensemble.

I hope this is useful to you.  My kids loved the activity and have even been working on writing a B Section - which I may use as a bulletin board to highlight their individual melodies.  I have included the MRD Mole blackline here if you would like to download and print for your student compositions.


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE M-R-D MOLE PATTERN.


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MRD MOLE SMART BOARD FILE.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF SPRING IS HERE FROM AMAZON.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

The Crayon Box that Talked
Written by Shane DeRolf
Illustrated by Michael Letzig
ISBN:  978-0-385-37303-6

This charming story about a box of crayons that learns to get along can be sung to the familiar melody of "Four and Twenty Blackbirds."

Be sure to go back to Feb 15 2014 in the blog for the activity that goes with this children's title.

CLICK HERE TO LINK TO THE BLOG ACTIVITY FROM FEB 15 2014.

STEADY BEAT - RHYTHM CRAYONS

The Crayon Box that Talked
Written by Shane DeRolf
Illustrated by Michael Letzig
ISBN:  978-0-385-37303-6

In this fun little story about arguing colors in a crayon box, I thought it would be fun to have students discover the different rhythm patterns that each crayon name can have.  First share the story above with the children.  After hearing the story, we started with simple crayon shapes (I put a link below to order them if you don't already have access to them) that were laminated with magnets on the back.  You could also use the attached SMART board activity if that's easier -- but the kids really enjoyed using the actual crayons from the box most.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE BULLETIN BOARD CRAYON CUT-OUTS.

Take each color from the box and lead students to discover the rhythmic pattern of each name.  For example, "red" would be a simple quarter note pattern while "yellow" would be an eighth-note pattern.  We decided that we would call "purple" lavender - thus giving it 3 sounds on a beat.  They also decided that "blue" would be a 2-beat sound and used the half note for this color.

After introducing the color rhythms, share the story with the children again, asking them to "build" rhythm patterns as they hear the colors mentioned in the story.  After each 2-page reading, invite children to read their color rhythm patterns as an interlude between each page of text.

Create and INTRO and CODA with the following poem:
Can you hear all the crayons in my box?
No one ever listens since everyone talks.
They argue all the day and they never get along.
Some day I hope they hear their names as rhythms and as songs.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF THE CRAYON BOX THAT TALKED.

MELODY - VALENTINE HEARTS

Tweet Hearts
Written and Illustrated by Susan Reagan
ISBN 978-0-307-93153-5

This activity connects to the activities in the last 2 weeks of posts which included a way to sing the book (Jan 25 2014) as well as a rhythm activity (February 1, 2014).  Please visit those sites for more information.

This week, I wanted to make melodic connections between this fun story by Susan Reagan and the concepts that I need to address in my classroom for a range of grade levels.  So, I will be giving you several options as well as the manipulatives that you can download.

GRADE 1
My students have been practicing composition by writing s-m melodies.  I will be using hearts shapes with "s" and "m" labels to assist in their improvisational singing.  On the back of each heart, I have attached an additional heart that has a quarter rest.  The download will include 3 hearts - an "s" heart, a "m" heart and a "Z" heart.  Duplicate a "Z" heart for each heart you print.  Before laminating, attach a "Z" heart to the back of each solfege heart so that it can be turned around to represent a beat of rest.

Invite 10 students to stand and hold one of the hearts.  As the teacher reads a line of text from the story, these children will create a random line of s-m hearts.  Give children a starting pitch (the first heart in the sequence) and invite them to sing the line of hearts.  After singing the line, remove one of the "hearts" buy choosing a child to sit.  Once they sit down, they must turn their heart over revealing a quarter rest - "Z" - written on the back of the heart.  As you read the next line of text, the children will move to create a new SM line of hearts.  Continue the activity until only one of the hearts remains.  If time permits, ask children to give their heart to another child and "sing" the story again.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD S-M SOLFEGE HEARTS.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE "TWEET HEARTS S-M MELODY" SMART BOARD FILE.

GRADE 3
My students need LOTS of practice reading B-A-G notation.  So this week, I will be challenging them to continue their reading while adding a bit of composition fun.  Use the B-A-G Valentine Hearts to create an 8-beat melody that can be played on soprano recorder after reading each line of text.  Print several of each heart so that students have a variety of options to choose from when creating their B-A-G Valentine melodies.  Laminate and place magnets on the back -- or simply use your pocket chart.  My students LOVE creating their own melodies and they continue to improve their reading skills.  Be sure to discuss and include the Treble Clef, time signature and bar lines.  I have included all of these, as well as the quarter rest as well as "Z" in the B-A-G Valentine Cards.

EXTENSION:  Print  copies of the student B-A-G Valentine Hearts to encourage individual or small group work.  Have one student create the melody while another student says / plays the final composition.  Use bingo markers to write the melody on enlarge staff paper to share with groups.  Create a VALENTINE RONDO with the different notated melodies.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE B-A-G VALENTINE CARDS.


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STEADY BEAT - TWEET HEARTS

Tweet Hearts
Written and Illustrated by Susan Reagan
ISBN 978-0-307-93153-5

This activity connects to the Children's Literature Connection in last week's posting -- as the book can be sung independently from the following lesson activity.

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Take 8 pre-cut heart shapes, laminate them and place a "Z" on the back - representing ta rest.  As you share the story with the children, tap each of the hearts to indicate each of the beats as you say each line.  The last heart will always be on the final rest of the phrase.  Lead the class to discover that the last beat of each phrase is always silent.  Once they have discovered this, turn the heart over to show the "Z" or ta rest.  Tell the children that since there is a "heart-beat" of silence, we can call this a rest.  Continue reading the story, allowing children to "hear" the silent heart at the end of each phrase.

EXTENSION 1:  Using and 8x8 grid of pre-cut heart shapes (64 hearts) will be the extension activity as we begin interpreting the rhythm patterns of each text of the story.  As you read the text, remembering to begin with "8 little hearts," tap each heart; thus, keeping a steady pulse as the story is read.  Invite students to "conduct" the hearts as you re-read the story.  Invite the class to discover where the ta rests are found.  Initially, they will find that there is a rest at the end of each line of text.  However, there are additional rests throughout the story.  Encourage students to discover where these rests are located.  You may wish to read each line of text individually a few times to assist in their decoding.  Once the rest is found, turn the heart over to reveal the "Z."

EXTENSION 2:  Once all of the beats of rest are found, go back into the text and decode each line rhythmically.  You may have to read each line several times for your students to "hear" the rhythm patterns.  I just finished doing this with "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" by Michael Hague, so my GR 1 students are ready for this challenge.  Here are the steps in the process I used and/or the words I used with my class:
     1.  "Listen to what the words say."
     2.  "I'm going to say and play what the words say."
     3.  "This time, I'm only going to play what the words say."
     4.  "This time, instead of hearing what the words say, listen to see if you hear ta's and ti-ti's."

As a final activity, invite students to play the rhythms of the story while playing the recording of Fjaskern from RHYTHMICALLY MOVING.  They will delight in the challenge as the music begins to speed up.

I have attached a copy of the handout that I will be using in my lesson plans.  The first page is simply an 8x8 heart grid.  The second page can be used once the ending rests are identified.  Either paste into a power point or SMART file or simply print and project onto your white board.  Use an erasable pen to notate rhythms as the children hear each line of text.  Invite your students to decode the rhythm patterns they here.
CLICK HERE FOR FREE TWEET HEARTS WORKSHEET.


I have also created a SMART board file.  Because of copyright limitations, the words used in the file are general.  Once you download the file, you can easily edit my text with the actual text from the story.
CLICK HERE FOR A FREE TWEET HEARTS SMART BOARD FILE.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THIS TITLE FROM AMAZON

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Tweet Hearts
Written and Illustrated by Susan Reagan
ISBN: 98-0-307-93153-5

This new publication from previous American Greetings designer is quite the Valentine "tweet."  Told with a descending "10 little hearts" beginning, this charming story of two lovebirds can be sung to the familiar folk melody of "Skip to My Lou."

Enjoy the story and keep singing.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THIS TITLE FROM AMAZON

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

MELODY