Candy Cane Ponies and Musical Form

This week students in the younger grades listened to a "March" from the Nutcracker ballet.  After deciphering the form we discovered that there was a repeating A section.  That means "March" is in rondo form.  Then we added maracas and jingles to indicate galloping and marching sounds in the music.  It wasn't enough to just play the different parts, so we pulled out our Candy Cane Ponies and marched and galloped to show the form of the song!  During the B and C sections we took short breaks to feed our ponies carrots from our pockets and to give them drinks of water.  What a hoot!

You can download the recording we used from Tchaikovsky's ballet here.  Teachers:  This activity is from Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My! by the talented Artie Almeida.

Christmas Centers

There are so many great activities to do in December!  This week 5th and 6th graders at WES and GES worked in Christmas Centers.  Working in small groups, students moved from learning station to learning station to demonstrate their knowledge, listen to some seasonal music and have a great time!

The Listening Center (above) featured: "Sleigh Ride" by Ella Fitzgerald and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Frozen Instrument Families Station (above) challenged students to find and sort instruments.  Tougher than it sounds!

(Above) Christmas Counts Center-Write it, rap it, count it, play it and then...make your own! :-)

Trim the Tree with treble pitches!  At this stations students got to "trim" a Christmas tree by color coding the notes on each ornament.

Candy Land!  Well...sort of.  This classic board game was altered just a bit so that students played the game while demonstrating their knowledge of music symbols and by singing when they drew special cards.  What fun!

Other centers included a SmartBoard center where students matched syllables of words to  music notation and a reading station that featured a variety of musical stories.  Students enjoyed working in this style.  We couldn't believe it when class time was over!  It went so fast!

Teachers:  You can get the Christmas Centers here.

Rudolph the Silly Reindeer-Here's the Scoop!

Last week's Song of the Week was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".  We replaced some words in the song with actions and sound effects.   The words in RED contained motions or sound effects.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?
 
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it 
you would even say it glows.
All the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.
 
Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
 won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?
 
Then all the reindeer loved him
 as they shouted out with glee
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!!!


Here's what they looked liked as posed by Mrs. Sides' 4th Graders:

Download MP3 of Mrs. Pence's class singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the traditional way.


Download MP3 of Mrs. Sides' class singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the new way!

Gingerbread Listening Glyphs

What a sweet way to listen to music!  First graders have used gingerbread glyphs to record their observations about music.  Glyphs are pictorial representations of data.  Often glyphs are used as part of math lessons.  Students recorded tempo, dynamics, tone color (what instruments they heard) and their personal opinion of the listening example by color coding their gingerbread man.

Teachers:  You can get the Gingerbread Glyph HERE.

Thank You!

Many thanks to the donors who contributed to our project "We've Got Rhythm" on Donors Choose.  It has been funded!  HURRAY!

You can still make contributions by clicking on the "Donate to Our Classroom" button in the sidebar.  Your donations will go towards our next project which should be up soon.

Other donations to help our classroom:
hand sanitizer
Kleenex
empty plastic coffee cans with lids
poker chips
new clothespins (plastic or wood)
Candy Land (They are really cheap right now!  We need 3 more for a special music project.)

Rudolph the Silly Reindeer

Hurray!  Its finally December!  This week our song of the week is a favorite of music lovers young and old, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".  We are not only singing the sing, but adding some silly movement and sound effects to it!

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?
 
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
you would even say it glows.
All the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games.
 
Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say
“Rudolph with your nose so bright,
 won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?
 
Then all the reindeer loved him
 as they shouted out with glee
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
you’ll go down in history!!!


Ask your child how we changed the words in red.  I'll post the directions later this week for those readers who don't have students in class.

Donors Choose Update

WOW!  We are only $51 dollars away from having our Donors Choose project completely funded!  Hurray!  Click HERE to make the donation that allows us to bring more instruments into our classroom!

Stand Up and Sing-A Celebration of American Education Week

Many thanks to the 5th and 6th graders who volunteered to stand up and sing last Friday!  In celebration of American Education Week they led the school in singing "You're a Grand Old Flag".  We are so fortunate to have music in our school and even more blessed to have such great singers!  Way to go!

Stand Up and Sing Friday

This week is American Education Week and Friday is "Stand UP and Sing Friday"!  Hurray!  5th and 6th graders will lead the school in "You're a Grand Old Flag" first thing in the morning.

Links for Teachers:
You're a Grand Old Flag 
This PowerPoint file contains the lyrics to this song for you to project in your classroom.  You or a student will need to click along as we sing the song.  Click on the link to download or right click and choose "Save As".

You're a Grand Old Flag-single slide
This PowerPoint file contains one slide.  No clicking along.  Just singing! Click on the link to download or right click and choose "Save As".

You're a Grand Old Flag-MP3
One of my favorite renditions of this song can be found here.  You can preview just a bit of it or purchase and download for your use.  You don't need this for Stand Up and Sing Friday, but thought I would link you to a great version for kids.

Thanks and then Giving

Thank you for your continued support of our music program!  Whether you are a family member clicking in to visit our classroom, a student viewing pictures and listening to music from class or another music teacher logging on to be inspired by what happens in our classroom, we are thankful for you!

You can support our classroom endeavors by donating to our project on Donor's Choose.  Click here to read about it and make a donation.  We're already half way there!  Can we fund this project this week?  With your help we can!

1st and 2nd Graders get Smart with November Rhythms

Students in 1st and 2nd Grades used their knowledge of rhythms and their love of SmartBoards in music class this week.  Students read the names of pictures of several November things like pumpkins, pilgrims, turkeys, voting and more.  Then we decided the number of syllables in each and matched them with the note that best represented them.  Eighth notes (or titi) worked for all pictures with 2 syllables and 1 syllabled words like "leaf" sound closest to quarter notes (or ta).  By rearranging the pictures we created many new rhythms!

Teachers can download the PowerPoint version of this activity HERE.

A Musical Celebration of Veteran's Day

Music has the power to evoke powerful emotions.  This week we used music to express our pride in our veterans and in our country.  During the last two weeks, students sang patriotic songs like God Bless America, Yankee Doodle Dandy, You're a Grand Old Flag and God Bless the U.S.A.  Students were introduced to "Thankful for the U.S.A." and one of my favorite songs about America, "American Tears".  We discussed the important jobs our service men and women do every day and students had an opportunity to share stories about members of their families that have served in the military.

You can listen and download some of the songs we've worked on in class at the following links:
American Tears
Thankful for the U.S.A.
You're a Grand Old Flag

ABC Chart Singing

We LOVE using manipulatives in music class!  This week Kindergarteners and some First Grade classes used ABC charts to learn about sounds and silence in music.  This also provided a great opportunity for me to hear their beautiful singing voices!

Here's what we did:
Students sang the "ABC Song" and touched each letter on the chart as they sang it.  Then we took a chip and placed it over a letter. Instead of singing the letter we replaced it with "shh!".  We added more chips (and more rests) to the song and thought of ways to make it even more challenging.  Students did a great job of "reading" their music and singing and resting at the right times.

Pumpkin Patch Singing Game

Students in 1st grade loved learning the poem "Pumpkin Patch".  After learning the song we added actions and then performed with a partner.

Pumpkin patch, pumpkin patch.

Looking for a pumpkin in a pumpkin patch.

Here is one.  Nice and fat.

Turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!

Ask your first grader to teach you this fall time favorite!

Pass the Pumpkin

Students in K-2 have been working on moving rhythmically and demonstrating steady beat with a game called Pass the Pumpkin.  Students learn the simple passing pattern and then work together to keep a continuous steady beat while passing the pumpkin, counting and throwing in a few smooth dance moves.