February Bulletin Board Ideas



Hurray for February!  I've already got a couple of my bulletin boards up and ready to go.  Sometimes February is a short month.  Okay...February is always a shorter month than most, but we often get a few snow days in February making the school month even shorter!  This blog post will  give you a few ideas for bulletin boards that would be great to post in February.  Some of them may work for the rest of the semester!  I love it when that happens.

Careers in Music

 

I think career education is very important and I don't think that starting in elementary is too early.  Encouraging students to have a goal gives them encouragement and a sense of purpose.  Their plans may change as they get older and have a wider variety of experiences, but the important part is that they have a plan.  This bulletin board highlights careers in music.  There are TONS of options for choosing a career in music even if you are not a performer.  You can snag this bulletin board HERE.

 Cool Jazz Musicians

Sometimes I really enjoy using pre-made bulletin board kits from the teacher store.  The options for music teachers are pretty limited so I have to get creative.  After posting the basic bulletin board set I added speech bubbles with the names, pictures and brief bios of some famous jazz musicians.  Then I added some snowflakes on fishing line and hung them from the ceiling.  I attached the fishing line to a paper clip and slipped the paper clip onto the trim that holds the drop ceiling tiles into place.  This was so fun!  The kids loved the 3-D addition.

 All That Jazz

February is Black History Month and a great time to focus on Jazz Musicians.  This print and post bulletin board set is colorful and packed with information about famous jazz musicians.  Popular jazz musicians like Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, Charlie Parker, Jelly Roll Morton and more are highlighted.  This bulletin board also comes with matching research sheets too!

 We Love Percussion

I found these heart shaped plates one year at Walmart and knew I had to use them on a bulletin board.  This quick and easy bulletin board filled a smaller display that I had in my room.  The hearts have pictures of percussion instruments that I printed out in black and white and then cut to fit in the heart plates.  

This idea could work with a variety of topics: 

We Love Composers

We Love the String Family

We Love Rock and Roll

or just "We Love MUSIC"

 Famous Musical Duos

Although I like decorating for Valentine's Day, I don't love that I end up leaving the board up until March.  Perhaps it is just a touch of OCD, but I would prefer that it comes down pretty soon after Valentine's Day just like I'm ready for Halloween decorations to come down on November 1st.  So, this bulletin board COULD be related to Valentine's Day because it is about couples.  Okay, they all aren't couples, but they are musical duos.  Eighteen different musical duos are featured in this board.  I posted it to a simple black background so the colors really pop.  Students and teachers alike stop to read the brief descriptions and to talk about their favorites.  You can get this board HERE.

Plowing Through

About 8 or 9 years ago I used a template and an overhead projector to make a HUGE yellow plow.  I've used it for 4 or 5 different bulletin boards since then.  The top pictures show a bulletin board about the character word "perseverance".  It says "Keep Plowing Through" and the snowballs have events that are coming up during second semester. 

The other photo shows a bulletin board that students helped create.  It says "Plowing Through Musical Mnemonics".  The snowballs have mneumonic phrases that students came up with to help remember the lines of the treble clef.  If February is a snowy month for you, this might be a good display for your classroom.

Music Makes Life a Little Sweeter

I know.  I know.  I just said that I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day bulletin boards.  Well, I LOVED this one!  This eye-catching bulletin board was really fun to make!  I've blogged about it before.  You can check it out HERE. Lovely Rhythms

This bulletin board is quick and easy to print and post.  It also includes the same heart rhythms with instruments too.  This is great timing as my 3rd graders are studying instruments of the orchestra right now.  You can get this bulletin board at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.   Composer of the Month-Scott Joplin

February is a great time to celebrate the music of Scott Joplin.  This bulletin board set comes with writing prompts and more resources to help you highlight this composer.  Get it here.

I hope you've been inspired to warm up your printers, break out your borders and post some fabulous bulletin boards in February.  Feel free to share your February bulletin board ideas in the comments.   Are you on Pinterest?  Follow my February Bulletin Boards page for more ideas.

Mystery Instruments

Everyone likes a mystery!  Well, in music class we sure do!  One of my favorite centers to do with grades 2-6 is Mystery Instruments.  In this activity students use what they know about classroom instruments to identify the mystery instrument in a paper bag.

For this activity I usually choose something like a maraca, triangle, recorder or woodblock.  These fit easily in a small, brown, paper lunch bag.  It would be fun to put in a trumpet, flute or bongos using a paper grocery bag.  My third graders would love doing that during their instrument unit!

Here’s how it works: 

1.        Prep the workstation by putting in the instrument and stapling the bag closed.

2.       Copy the worksheets so that each student has their own.  The worksheets ask students simple questions about what’s in the bag, have them guess what it is not, ask them to sketch it and finally to name it.

3.       When introducing this station I explain that they may shake the bag, but only once because they don’t want to let any of the other students hear too many clues before they get a turn at the station.

4.       I also explain that it is okay to touch the bag and feel the instrument, but they can’t crumple the bag around the instrument.  That might give away the shape of the instrument too quickly.

5.       Students, armed with a clipboard, worksheet and pencil work in groups to examine the mystery instrument and complete their detective sheets. 

6.       At the end of class I ask them what is in the bag and them open the bag and show them.

I love this activity because it gets students talking descriptively about instruments.  “This one is made from metal.”  “This one feels light.”  “This one is very noisy.”  “This one has many parts.”

I have a few different worksheets that I use regularly.  They are slightly different depending on the grade level that is doing the detective work.  You can download the set HERE.

If you like this idea, pin it for later!

Dabber Activities in the Music Room

Dabbers, dotters, dot markers, daubers or bingo markers.  Whatever you call them, they certainly make showing what you know fun!  I’ve recently added some dabber activities to my classroom.  For the most part, I’ve used them as part of workstations or centers.  As soon as I can buy a few more dabbers I will use them for whole group activities and for assessment.

In this activity, students are asked to identify line and space notes.  I’ve used this with 1^st and 2^nd grade.  For second graders this was a little easy, but first graders found it challenging and fun.  I plan to use it with Kindergarten at the end of the year.  This set includes activities for naming notes on the treble clef staff too.  My 5th and 6th graders will use some of those.

In this activity students are identifying different notes (whole, half, quarter and barred eighth notes).   Later we’ll do dabber activities that ask students to dab the note that gets the most beats or to dab the notes that add up to equal a specific number of beats. 

These activities are fun to do and provide a nice snapshot of what students know.  Third graders are working on their instruments of the orchestra unit right now.  The instruments set will be perfect for identifying instruments and what family they belong too. Formative assessment in a quick and colorful format?  I’m in!   I strongly encourage students to spell instrument names correctly from the first time we learn about them.  One of the activities in the instrument set has them check for misspelled instrument names.  They are going to love it!

Another activity that would work great with the dot markers is this Dot Composing.  Check out this blog post to see how I use dot stickers to reinforce quarter notes, barred eighth notes and 16th notes.  This would be a great way to use dabbers and stop buying thousands of those little stickers!

Although they are fun and keep students engaged in learning, there are a few things you will need to think about before you begin.  Here are some tips:

1.     If you have bought a new set of dabbers, they are NOT ready to go.  Before letting students use them, take time to dab them yourself and get the ink flowing to the sponge tip.  Sometimes this take a few tries and sometimes it makes a puddle of ink.  If you do this before they are in the hands of students, you’ll save yourself a headache or two.

2.     Speaking of ink puddles…it happens.  If you squeeze too hard on the markers, ink flows faster and big puddles form on the paper.  If you press down too hard it happens.  Sometimes if you are just having a bad day it happens!  Plan a way for the papers to dry.  Perhaps that means setting them on or under a chair, laying them against the wall in the hall or borrowing some drying racks from the art teacher.

You may want to keep some baby wipes handy to keep students from running to the restroom.  I explain that if they are careful, this won’t happen.  If they keep their hands away from the ink until it dries it won’t happen, but….well…sometimes it happens.

3.     Buy washable dot markers.  The kind that I have are not washable so they are a little tougher to scrub off skin and clothing.  It comes off, but just not as easy as the washable kind.  I found several dot markers on Amazon and know several teachers that recommend these from Do-a-DotArt.

4.     Dot markers are great fun for melodic dictation, exploring lines and spaces or working on pitch names on the staff.  They make perfect noteheads!  Print off large staff paper and you are ready.

5.     Plan to use a bin or basket for storage.  I use a small basket for the 5 or 6 that I leave out at workstations and use a larger one to store the classroom set.  This makes them easy to pass out and collect.  You could also find a shoe storage bag to hang in your room and store them as well.

Check out this bundle of music dabber activities in my store.  They are ready to print and go!  
You might also like:
Recorder Dabber Activities
Dabber Activities for Fall and Halloween
Dabber Activities for Christmas
Peter and the Wolf Dabber Activities

Be sure to follow me on TeachersPayTeachers or like me on Facebook to stay informed about new dabber sets.  

Pin this article for future reference!

Carnival of the Animals Crafts

One of my favorite units of study is Carnival of Animals by Saint Saens.  I love the music and the way it sparks students' imagination.  I love the way they listen so intently on hearing the musical secrets and "finding" the animals in the music.  Often I like to have students listen to one of the pieces repeatedly.  That is not easy for little listeners to do, so often we will color a picture of the animal we are listening to and with some groups we will make Carnival of the Animal crafts.   One of my favorites is to create a beautifully colored fish while listening to "The Aquarium".   

In this version I used googly eyes that I had on hand, but I really like letting students draw their own fishy faces.  They always crack me up!  This craft takes 20-25 minutes.  This time may be less if you are working with a small group or if you have done lots of prep work (like cutting out all the circles or hearts, the fish, etc...).  I've also trained students how to quickly get supplies and get back to their seats by the time we do this project so that makes it flow a little easier too.

I am a scrapbooker so I have several different kinds of paper punches at my disposal.  For this example I used a heart punch (about an inch or so wide), but in previous years I've used a 1 inch circle punch.  I usually sit and punch shapes while watching TV.  I love magazines and have plenty to use for projects like this.  I just choose fun, colorful pages and punch out as many shapes as I can.

 

Often in class we will use glue sticks for projects like this, but I've found that regular school glue works best.  Sometimes with the glue sticks the scales will fly off before students leave the room.  I don't have drying trays or an abundance of flat space to lay student projects to dry so I send them marching down the hall carrying their projects.  Most teachers don't mind if they leave them on their desks to dry for an hour or so which is what it takes if you use glue instead of glue sticks. 

Okay...we glue like gluing maniacs in my room, so if you have more conservative gluers you may be fine.

Occasionally I'll save these gorgeous creatures for a large display in the hall.  I use pieces from my Carnival of the Animals bulletin board to hang with them.

 

I also do crafts for "Fossils", "Tortoises" and "Royal March of the Lion".  You can get the fish template and instructions as well as templates and instructions for the other three HERE.

 

You might also like to check out these Carnival of the Animal resources:

 

Coloring Books-I use these instead of the crafts some years.  The kids LOVE to color these and take them home and tell their parents about the activities we've done in music class.  I LOVE that they go home talking about music!

 

 

I like to mix up what we do each time and I love to review the Carnival of the Animals music in 3rd and 4th grade.  I have a variety of listening logs that I use.  Some ask students to identify musical opposites like loud/soft, high/low.  Others ask students to identify instruments that they've heard and some ask them to guess what animal they think Saint Saens wanted them to hear.  You can get all of these listening logs HERE.

 

 

 

I usually do Carnival of the Animals with second grade, but am working on a plan to it with K-4 to some degree.  For example Kindergarteners might listen and explore the "Elephant", 1st graders may do the "Aquarium", "Fossils" and "Royal March of the Lion", 2nd graders may do the complete unit and 3rd and 4th graders may do short review activities as their music vocabulary and understanding increase.

 

I'd love to hear about your favorite ways to teach Carnival of the Animals.  Let me know in the comments or find me on Facebook.  If you are a Pinterest fan you might be interested in my Carnival of the Animals Pinterest board.