Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

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If you have been reading my posts for awhile, then you know I love using great literature in my lessons! ..and you also know that I love creating a template and building on it so as to squeeze as much out of my time, as possible! Well, today’s post accomplishes both!!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle is a classic! It is simple to read and the kids love it! I have found that even my tiny littles, who can’t sit for very long, will stay and listen with a look of interest. It is incredible!

When I was teaching in Cambridge, MA, I composed a melody to it. (You can read it HERE.) I enjoy singing stories to children to model, as well as to entertain and this book worked perfectly!

This story can be used with a bit of the Hello Extended Lesson. (Refer to pages 14-17 in our FREE eBook How To Teach Music Basics And Beat The Clock! You can sign up on HERE at the bottom of the page.) Instead of changing the sound length of the word “do”, you can change the sound length of the word “see” in the second measure.

You can also have kids create a Phase 1 composition or a short 4/4 mm rhythm for each animal to be sung or played when each is mentioned. If you really want to have some fun, have kids make the sound of that animal instead of singing or playing an instrument! This could get very silly very fast!! Enjoy!!

The Napping House

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by Audrey Wood (Author), Don Wood (Illustrator)

I love this book!! One night my husband and I were putting our 4 year old to bed and I had an idea! As I read it, my husband and my daughter acted it out. My husband was the sleeping “grampy” (instead of granny), my daughter was the dreaming child and I used her stuffed animals for the dog, cat and mouse. The flea was my finger. We had so much fun that pea asks for it almost every night now!

As we were doing this, I had a thought about my classes ~ wouldn’t it be fun to use instruments for each of the components to the story:

  • The house ~ small tubano drums
  • The bed ~ gourd shakers
  • The granny ~ jingle bells
  • The child ~ tambourines
  • The dog ~ sand blocks
  • The cat ~ glocks
  • The mouse ~ triangles
  • The flea ~ I large tubano drum (play 1 loud beat to signal the bite)

The story starts out stating that “There is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping”. When I read the word “house” the assigned student(s) plays the small tubano drum(s). The next page mentions the cozy bed. After I say the word “bed”, the assigned student plays the gourd shaker. When I read “granny”, the assigned student plays the jingle bells, as so on. Throughout the story the components are mentioned in an order and the kids play in that order. They have to pay attention and listen for their word, as almost all play more than once. It was fun to see who was on top of it  and who would drift off. This week the kids couldn’t wait to do it again!

I did this with my kinders and first grade. It took the kinders a couple of tries to get the gist of it, but were fine once they got going. The first graders got it immediately! Next week I am looking forward to the kinders creating a 2 sound composition for their component and the first graders creating a 4/4 rhythm for their components! I will share the results!

Apple, Apple Red And Fat

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Apple, apple red and fat, turn into a yummy pie, just like that!

This is an extension of the Pumpkin Pumpkin lesson (where I explain how to insert TALA). It is simple to remember and more importantly, simple to use for meeting all kinds of standards! Here are just a few!

Have kids:

  • Strike a pose
  • Wiggle
  • Go for a walk
  • Stomp
  • Find a partner and shake hands to the steady beat
  • Echo a rhythm (you can add as many beats to your TALA as you need)
  • Get into small groups and create a 4/4 beat rhythm in Note Knacks to play

Somewhere along the way you can also ask the kids what other kinds of pie they like and substitute it in (cherry, cherry plump and fat/ lemon, lemon, yellow and fat/ chocolate, chocolate ~ you can either say “brown and fat” or “I’d love a vat” ….. comment below if you come up with a better rhyme 😊 I need it!!)

This is also a great activity if you are finding that the kids need a little more movement than usual! It gets their energy out while keeping them focused!

Last Minute Halloween Lessons

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Skin and Bones

Here is a fun and simple activity to do with your early elementary! Let Raffi do all of the singing (give your voice a break!) and use the stretchy band to create a “dance”. Your kids will love saying “ooooh” in a spooky voice and throwing up the band when the old woman opens the closet door! You can add on to the song, if you have the time, or use it as is. In either case, you kids will love it!

Set up:

  • Get kids into a standing circle and have them each take a section of a stretchy band.
  • Go to YouTube and pull up Raffi’s “Skin and Bones” ~ if you do not have it on CD.

Activity:

  • As Raffi sings “There was an old women all skin and bones” ~ everyone taps the band against their thighs to the steady beat
  • “oooooohh” ~ take step forward moving the band upwards and then rock backwards putting your foot back in place next to the other one and the band ends up in its starting point on your thighs
  • “She lived down by the old graveyard” ~ everyone taps the band against their thighs to the steady beat
  • “oooooohh” ~ take step forward moving the band upwards and then rock backwards putting your foot back in place next to the other one and the band ends up in its starting point on your thighs
  • “One night she thought she’d take a walk” ~ take step forward moving the band upwards and then rock backwards putting your foot back in place next to the other one and the band ends up in its starting point on your thighs
  • “oooooohh” ~ take step forward moving the band upwards and then rock backwards putting your foot back in place next to the other one and the band ends up in its starting point on your thighs
  • Keep following pattern until the last verse when the line is “she opened the door and boo!” ~ everyone taps the steady beat against their thighs for “she opened the door and..” then everyone gently throws it up when he yells “boo!”! …you will certainly hear some giggles!!

Add on:

  • Ask kids other spooky things she saw on her walk and add them in right after “she saw the bones a’laying around”. Examples: she saw some witches behind a tree. She saw white ghosts floating around

Fun Books

  • We’re Going On A Ghost Hunt adapted by Kris Hirschmann ~ this book is a version of Going on a Bear Hunt. This is a great book for kids to practice echoing you and for keeping a steady beat as they tap it on their laps.
  • There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat by Lucille Colandro ~ A fun and silly song story!
  • Just Say Boo by Susan Hood ~ after almost every rhyme, you are asked “What do you say?”, you turn the page and the answer is “Boo!”. So I point to the little ones and have them say it! They think it’s hilarious!!

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin Round and Fat”

“Pumpkin, pumpkin round and fat, turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!”

  • Say it as a class.
  • Create an 8 beat Tala (rest for 8 beats. Move your hands palm to palm, palm to back of hand, then palm to palm again and so forth signaling each beat. For more information, download my eBook “How To Teach Music Basics and Beat The Clock!” from the pop-up)
  • Say it again (so that you create an ABA form where the Tala is B)
  • Practice this for a bit
  • During the Tala, have kids improvise on an instrument. I passed around a glock so that every person had an improv solo, but anything you have in the classroom will do!
  • This is fantastic for getting kids used to having to start and stop at a certain time on their own!

Classroom Decisions Part 2: Grade Level Benchmarks That Your Kids Can Actually Hit!

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My Kindergarten through fifth grade benchmarks are FINALLY finished!! (sorry about the wait!!) …..for now 🙂 I say this because I want to revisit them in January to re-evaluate and then again each year to update them as my students become more proficient.

This was certainly a journey, as I wanted to be thoughtful in my decisions. I only see my kids once a week for 30 minutes, so my time is limited. I did my best in creating a list in each grade level that I think will be attainable. This becomes very clear when you notice that my 4th and 5th grade benchmarks are exactly the same! As you know, this is only my second full year at this school and I wanted to give my students time to catch up.

As you can imagine, my timeline for teaching notation is different than practically everyone else. I don’t like piecemealing it where kids only learn quarters and eighths ~ then you add a note each year. I like teaching them as pieces of a whole ~ where kids can see that these notes are related to each other. This gives them a framework to learn from, rather than a series of isolated notes. (which helps them later on when the concepts get harder)

I also don’t think we should tackle rests until kids have a firm understanding of the “sound side” of a note. …and when you see kids so little, I don’t think they are ready until second grade.

Having said all of this, I did put in quarters and eighths in kinder at the end of the year and quarter rests in first grade, also at the end of the year, to satisfy the standards. I still may ignore it. We’ll see.

Take a look ~ see what you think! You can read my benchmarks HERE!

Now that I knew what I wanted to teach, I needed to keep track of it! So I devised a lesson sheet to help me:

  • keep track of the benchmarks I was hitting,
  • give kids opportunities to learn a concept physically, aurally and visually,
  • make sure they were creating something every class
  • decide if a song was a “learning song” or an “art song” and to include both
  • choose a listening song that touched on a benchmark I was teaching that day
  • choose a wrap up

Something interesting happened when I started to think about the “wrap up”. Because I see my kids so infrequently, it was important to me that they leave my room with at least one thing they could remember. …and that one thing needed to be the main concept of the day.

For instance, today my kinders were talking about the steady beat, my first graders were talking about The Ballad of John Henry and my third graders created “Hot Cross Buns” in Note Knacks. This is what I wrote on the board as their wrap ups:

It has been working beautifully! It keeps our classes focused and they are retaining information better from one week to the next!

I will let you know my thoughts on all of this, as the year progresses! However, I would love to hear your thoughts and what you teach when! Please comment below!

Curriculum Decisions Part 1: My Top 5 Resources For Creating A Curriculum

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When one moves schools, a lot goes through one’s brain:

  • What space will I be working in?
  • What materials and resources will I have available?
  • How many kids in a class and how often will I see them?
  • What special needs will arise?
  • How is disciplined handled?

…and then there is the major question of: where are my kids musically and how will I get them to where they need to be? How can I help them meet all of the state standards in the time allotted?

This is the question I have been asking myself for the last 1.5 years ~ as long as I have been at my present school ~ and now that I’m familiar with the culture and the students, I am ready to create a curriculum that will help students meet state standards and more!

Here are the top 5 resources that I think are invaluable in creating a curriculum that will work:

  1. GA State Music standards ~ I looked at these first, as they are most important (according to the state). I noticed that our new standards resemble the new NAFME a great deal, which is a big help! It should come as no big surprise that I disagree with when they want us to teach notation, but since I teach it all at once and in relation to each other anyway, I don’t worry about it.
  2. NAFME Standards simplified ~ Click HERE to read them. I love the process they have set up and will use it repeatedly throughout the year. It closely resembles how a language arts class works when kids create stories. There are more connections to be made between our disciplines and these standards highlight that!
  3. An American Methodology ~ My school does not have a textbook series, so I purchased this curriculum to help with scope and sequence (and it was affordable). There is also a decent amount of songs and rhymes for me to use. I like that they separate “Art Songs” from “Rhymes and Songs”. I refer to “Rhymes and Songs” as “Learning Songs” ~ taught for their musical value, but more specifically to highlight a concept.
  4. NK Curriculum ~ Of course!! The new lesson plans, which we will be rolling out on October 15th  (pre-order will be available September 15th), speak directly to the NAFME standards! They answer questions like “How do musicians generate creative ideas? When is creative work ready to share?” How do we judge the quality of musical works and performances? And so forth.
  5. GA Social Studies Standards ~ I know this seems weird, but I wanted to connect music to social events since one influences the other and vice versa (one might argue). It also helps give kids a context for learning songs and listening examples, rather than choosing at random.

I was all set to include my standards in this post, but I want to dig a bit deeper. What else can I squeeze in and how can I make it manageable for the teacher that sees their kids so infrequently and for so little time… so it is coming! I promise!!

In the meantime, please write in the comments below how you choose your curriculum ….as I am still working on it and would love input!!

Classroom Set Up Part 3: A “New Set Up Scavenger Hunt”

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I have been living in my current house for 6 years, yet there was nothing on the walls, really, until about 3 weeks ago. My sister and a dear friend of mine were coming to visit from Rhode Island (where I am from), so I thought it was time I decorated…. at least the first floor 😊!! After I was finished, I was astounded at how my mood about keeping it clean and working in the space has changed. I don’t mind straightening up as much and I am more motivated to accomplish those mundane tasks in the rest of my life, as well. This surprised me a great deal!

With this new found knowledge, I was determined to set up my “third teacher” to be both aesthetically pleasing and functional! Just like my home, I know it will provoke thoughtful learning and wonderous creativity…..and to kick this off, I created a  Music Room Scavenger Hunt for my students so that they could both take a tour of the new set up and learn about what information was available to them.

First Stop ~ Literacy Center

This space is complete with Note Knacks blocks, magnets, dice and cushions (of course!!), the Rhythm Clock, staff paper, pencils, crayons, sentence strips and magnetic staves.

I wanted the kids to create the anchor charts on the walls, but because I see them only once a week for 30 minutes, it didn’t seem like a good use of our time….just yet. I might get to it at some point!! Here are some close ups:

A tempo chart that a teacher created for me 10 years ago!! (See!! Keeping everything DOES pay off!!)

Our Note Knacks Magnets!!

Our Note Knacks Cushions ~ They are larger than life!

Anchor chart basics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Stop ~ Non-Pitched Percussion Center

I wanted to separate the pitched from the non-pitched. This will make it easier to send kids to choose an instrument that will not include xylophones, as well as making the distinction between these types of instruments. I still need to label the buckets, but you get the idea!

Third Stop ~ Pitched Percussion and Instrument Families

I thought it made sense to keep the pitched near the instrument families, as most orchestral instruments have pitch….and that is where I had room for them :-). As I said in a previous post, I removed all of the Orff instrument stands, as they were taking up too much room, we didn’t have enough of them and they didn’t all work properly. We will see in the coming months as to whether or not this was a good decision. I also included Boomwhackers and extra recorders in this section. An unfortunate side effect of this was that when the kids were exploring to find out answers, a couple of them blew in a recorder or 2. ….I didn’t think that one through ~ of course they were going to do this!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fourth Stop ~ My Most Used Materials and Small Instruments

I went to Target and purchased 2 three drawer rolling carts for $10 each. As I teach kids as young as 18 months, these are the most used items ~ egg shakers, jingle bells, scarves, bean bags, random small non-pitched percussion and rhythm sticks for all of the grade levels! This is also where I keep “Fishy” and other teaching aids (including my own personal tubano!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With this new set up, the room feels larger! I look forward to the coming months teaching in it!

 

Classroom Set Up Part 2: Get Ready In 4 Easy Steps!

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As promised, here’s a first look at my classroom! The floors were done last week, so everything was in a new place. This actually was quite helpful, as I was able to see the room arranged in a different way. It was by no means a set up that would work, but it offered another perspective. (It reminded me of the scene in Mary Poppins Returns when Meryl Streep’s world turns upside down and they sang about it!)
Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, there are a lot of chairs and everything is thrown everywhere. What to do?

Step 1: Get rid of superfluous items! I discarded unnecessary chairs and decided to take the Orff instruments off of their stands. I am not completely convinced this was a great idea, but I need the space. I share the room with the children’s choir, so it isn’t just my stuff in there. Thankfully there isn’t that much that they need, but non-the-less, space is at a premium!

Step 2: Find as many shelving units as possible!! I found a large gray plastic shelving unit that I put most of the Orff instruments on while leaving the larger ones for the floor. (I did keep the stands for the bass metallophone and the bass xylophone, as I knew they would just make life easier!)

A couple of the xylophones were on small white shelving units with wheels. I was able to utilize those in different ways (pictured here with black arrows). The first shelf is part of the “drum center” and the other shelf is part of the “Orff Center”. In the second photo, you can also see the new gray shelving unit for the Orff instruments.

Step 3: Create mini centers! As you can see there are the two centers mentioned above and I added a literacy center, as well (of course!!!)

It is not completed yet, but I am excited that there is a white board and a shelving unit. I plan to keep all of our Note Knacks there (this isn’t everything, of course!), staff paper (five lined, as well as 3 lined), sentence strips, pencils and crayons. The board and magnetic staves will certainly come in handy!!

Step 4: Clean and decorate! I actually didn’t clean today, as I didn’t want to clean anything I wasn’t going to use. Once that is done, I will perfect the centers and decorate. As stated in the last post, I don’t want to add anything that is just for show; it has to be meaningful to the kids. I am keeping the colors to black and white and am happy to leave the bulletin board its natural color with a black and white border. For me, minimalism is the key.

I am expecting the room to be completed tomorrow, so I will keep you posted!! Please share your photos with us of your rooms on our Facebook Page! We would love to see them!!

Classroom Set Up: Part 1

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In getting ready for next year, the first thing that comes to mind is how do I want to set up my classroom? I see a lot of photos on Pinterest and Facebook, but I haven’t been dazzled yet. A lot of teachers focus on the “cutesy” ~ a way to decorate so that it looks colorful and fun to onlookers, but I am not convinced it does anything to help children learn.
The Reggio Emilia approach refers to the classroom as the 3rd teacher. It is a matter of great importance. Their beautiful and thoughtful décor tends to emphasize natural materials and displays of the student’s work rather than premade anchor charts.
We, as music teachers, don’t have the time or space to create such a utopian environment, but I am on the hunt to find classroom designs that interest children and gets them excited about the learning that happens in my room!
Here are some questions I have as I move forward:
• How do I make the room theirs?
• How do I make a space that they will benefit from?
• What kinds of things should be on the wall?
• Since I share my room with the children’s choir director, how can I make it work for both of us?
• Considering I only see my students for 30 minutes, how can the space set up save me time?
I searched far and wide and this is what I have so far ~ 5 ideas to think about as I move forward!

  • Instrument Storage

This photo is from the website www.singtokids.com. I like how clean and neat this looks, while still being a bit colorful. The teacher even managed to throw in a bit of inspiration to show what kinds of activities she does in her room!

  • Activity Center

I also want to include an area for provocations/ centers, especially for the little ones! It gives them an opportunity to explore sound and to create their own! Because of time constraints, this would be a possible whole groups activity, as well! You can check out the lesson HERE: https://www.prekinders.com/what-makes-sound/.

Here is another website with provocation ideas:

http://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.com/2015/01/exploring-sound-investigation.html

  • Composition Cart

A few years ago, I created this cart because I couldn’t keep my materials in the room I was teaching in. Although this is no longer the case, it still makes sense for me to have a composition center I can grab and use immediately with little to no set up! Read the blog post HERE: https://noteknacks.com/music-literacy-corner/

  • Anchor Charts

Curwen hand signs are often displayed in music rooms. I included this one here because I like the simplicity of it. There isn’t anything superfluous about it, it just shows the kids what they need to know! You can find it on https://jmanfredi.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/pinterest-inspiration-2-curwen-hand-signs/

  • Anchor Charts With A Double Function

I love that this anchor chart doubles as a way for kids to monitor themselves AND to understand the concept of dynamics. Dynamic vocabulary words are now a part of their everyday language!
You can find this HERE: http://musicclassideas.blogspot.com/2012/12/whats-our-dynamic.html.

I hope there are ideas here you can use in your classroom. As I continue to think about what I want to do in mine, I will keep you posted! I am sure it will be a work in progress, but I promise to show you what the initial room will look like next week! PLEASE share with us your thoughts and let know what classroom ideas work for you!

The “Sub It Out” Game

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We are getting to that time of year when we need games!! ….ones that can go on for the whole class or for a small portion of it! Here is one that not only fills this requirement but is fun to play and will serve as a great review! Kids get into 2 teams and battle it out for the Championship Title!!

Object of the Game ~ Obtain points by saying the rhythm the other team created correctly. The team with the most points wins the game!

How To Play ~
* Divide class into 2 teams
* Set up a 4/4 mm on board with 4 quarter notes

* Team 1 needs to trade out any quarter note for 2 eighths, 4 sixteenths, 1 eighth and 2 sixteenths or 2 sixteenths and 1 eighth.

 

* Team 2 needs to say rhythm together. (If you want to use it as an assessment tool, you can require kids to go one at a time.)

* If they say rhythm correctly: they get a point and can go for another point. Team 1 needs to create another rhythm switching out another beat. They can switch out the same beat or choose another one.

* If they fail: Team 1 can say it correctly for a point. There is no point loss if they can’t say it, but they lose their opportunity to gain a point. Then Team 2 creates a rhythm for Team 1, again switching out one beat (the same beat or another) and has Team 1 say it.
Rhythms started off super easy…

* And then……

We ended up here!

I was so excited at how well they did! In fact, it was a tie!

We had other activities to accomplish, but this game could have gone on forever! The kids really got into it! By the end, they were devising different rhythms to try and trip the other team up! It was hilarious!!
I love to play games in class!! I was able to do a bit of assessing without the usual “test” and the kids had no idea! They were relaxed and working hard without any pressure. Give it a try and let us know how you make out in the comments below!