Composer of the Month -John Williams

John Williams is the composer of the month!  I love sharing the music of John Williams with my students as much as they love learning about it.  A big Star Wars fan, my students are always impressed with how much I know about the Star Wars world.  Don’t worry.  Although I know a Wookie from a Bantha, I am light years away from being an expert.  I do however, know a thing or two about the composer of the music for these movies.  I hope you’ll enjoy learning about a few resources and activities that I use when studying the music of John Williams.

SteadyBeat Swords

When we do this activity, I’ll call my steady beat swords “steady beat light sabers”.  I’m the coolest teacher in school for about ten minutes!  For this activity we practice keeping the beat with a partner and then use our steady beat swords (a.k.a. pool noodles with duct tape make to look like swords).  I use “Imperial March” by John Williams.

I’ve blogged about this activity before.  You can read it HERE.

John Williams Listening Glyphs

These glyphs were designed specifically for the music of John Williams.  I use them with 1^st and 2^nd grades (guiding them through the listening activity) and with 3^rd through 6^th grades.  My older kids often miss the opportunity to color so they enjoy being able to complete a listening journal in this manner.  Check out some of their great work!

You can get this set of listening glyphs HERE.

Bulletin Board and Writing Responses

Well, of course there’s a bulletin board!  I use this John Williams Composer of the Month set to display in my classroom. Actually, this time it was in the main hallway.  Around Christmas I found some great Star Wars wrapping paper that wasn’t too Christmasy and I used it to add some interest to the bulletin board.  The rest of the board was just print and post.  One of my classes completed the writing prompt that comes in this set with a substitute.

Now what are you waiting for?  It's time to celebrate the music of John Williams!