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.