MELODY - LOW LA HEARTS

Love, Ruby Valentine
Written by Laurie Friedman
Illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath
ISBN: 978-1-57505-899-3

I want to reinforce low la with this story with GR 3 students.  You will need 4 large foam hearts or die-cut hearts for the class activity.  The children have also been using a 3-line staff as we have been working with m-r-d patterns.

Begin with simply m-r-d patterns after each 4-line stanza.  Add the low la sound by placing one of the hearts below the 3-line staff.  We have been singing m-r-d with success, so we simply added the word "low" for the heart place below the 3-line staff.  As we continue singing m-r-d-l, patterns, we will eventually change "low" to the syllable "la."

We then use water bottle lids that have heart stickers on the tops.  With the 3-line staff pages, every child has an opportunity to listen to m-r-d-l. patterns and notate them with the lids and staff paper.  Sing the patterns while children build what they hear - I usually start with simple m-r-d patterns first since that's what the children have been successful with.  After the class lesson of showing children how low la sits below the staff and notating a few with large class size hearts, invite children to begin creating their own based on the example sung.  Then repeat the process with m-r-d patterns then m-r-d-l. patterns by playing them on an instrument (or on the recorder).


CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE HEART SPOT STICKERS FROM TEACHER STOREHOUSE.




CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE LOVE, RUBY VALENTINE FROM AMAZON.





CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE DIE-CUT HEARTS FROM TEACHER'S STOREHOUSE.

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

Love, Ruby Valentine
Written by Laurie Friedman
Illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath
ISBN: 978-1-57505-899-3

This charming story about Ruby Valentine takes you on a journey as Ruby prepares for her favorite day!  Days ahead, she begins her preparations with cookies and valentines, cards and gifts, only to miss the big day because she has slept through it.

The rhyming story can be sung to the familiar folk melody "Cindy," although you may wish to read / sing ahead as some of the lines have an unnatural pickup.

Enjoy the story and keep singing.

See also Jan 26 2013 for additional suggestions with this story.
CLICK HERE TO SEE ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS WITH THIS STORY POSTED ON JAN 26 2013.

STEADY BEAT

MELODY

STEADY BEAT

MELODY - S-M-L SNOWMEN

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

This charming story about a snowman making some hot not-so-hot choices has been a joy for the children in my class.  The book is currently being offered through Scholastic Books for only $1.00 and many of my boys and girls have already asked if they could order a copy.  I am lucky that at our school, many of the teachers already order from Scholastic Books, so the children are very familiar with the book club and how the ordering works.  I simply sent home the Scholastic magazine along with a cover letter explaining how it was being used to reinforce the rhythmic and melodic concepts being taught in music this month.

While there are many rhythmic opportunities for GR 1 in this book of rhyming verse, I want to reinforce creating and reading s-m-l patterns with my students, I have been creating simply melodies using snowman icons -- each snowman has a word on his tummy.  The words are taken from the snowman's repeated phrase in the story, "Make me brand new."

Each time the snowman melts, I move the snowman icons (with words on the tummy) to a different location on a two-line staff.  Although I sang it the first few times, the children picked up on the directions quickly and have had a great deal of fun moving the snowmen around to create different melodies.


CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD S-M-L SNOWMAN with STORY WORDS

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE - BOOKS TO SING

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