I am a teacher hoarder. It is true. I confess. Sometimes I buy things because I can imagine a workstation or classroom activity that I'll create with it. Sometimes I buy things because I am inspired, but haven't quite figured out how to use it yet. Crazy, right? This is one of those things that I purchased because I was really inspired and had several ideas right away. I hope that you'll enjoy using it in your classroom too.
So what was this inspiring thing that I found and purchased right away? A plastic ornament organizer. I purchased one at Walmart and immediately knew that it would be awesome for composing. It had four rows of four wells. That sounds like a 16 measure or 16 beat (4 measures) composition to me!
COMPOSING
To create this activity, I purchased some inexpensive ornaments. I chose the least breakable kind that I could find. You could also use plastic Easter eggs, ping pong balls, plastic pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns or even flashcards to make it seasonal for other times of the year. I use this as a workstation. Here's what we do:
Students randomly pull out an ornament and place it anywhere in the container, rhythm side up. (Some ornaments have 2 sides. One side is more complex than the other.). Then the group claps the rhythm. Students continue taking turns until all of the wells have an ornament in them. Then they clap the entire composition. If there is time left during their workstation rotation, they can do it again.
With some grade levels, I have them copy their composition down onto paper and turn in. Other times, they notate it on a 16 box grid using lap packs. Learn more about lap packs and download a freebie in THIS blog post.
I think this would be a fun center to use to decipher the rhythm of a familiar song. For the holidays, "Jingle Bells" would be easy. When creating the rhythms on the ornaments you would need to make sure that you had enough of the required rhythms to make this activity work.
MATCHING
Using a 20 well ornament organizer and a new set of ornaments, I created a matching game with music symbols and notes. I drew the symbol on a small pieces of masking tape and stuck them on the wells. On the ornaments I wrote the name of the symbol.
Students pull an ornament out of a gift bag and match the name on the ornament with a place in the ornament organizer. Then they check themselves using a display that I have set up in my room. You can check out some of the sets HERE.
This would be fun to do with tempo and dynamics terms. Write the word on the piece of tape or sticker and write the definition on the ornament.
BOUNCE THE RHYTHM
This by far my students' favorite way to use the ornament organizer. In the bottom of each well in the container, I write a number. I used 1, 2, 3, 4 and 1/2. Then I drew each of these notes on a piece of duct tape and placed one each on a tennis ball: quarter note, half note, dotted half note, whole note and eighth note.To play, students stand four feet away from the container. In my classroom this is four floor tiles from the container so it is easy for them to measure. You could also put a tape line down if you need to. I rest the container against a wall to provide a bit of stability and keep the balls from flying past the container.
Students hold their hand at their waist and gently bounce the ball so that it lands in the container. They aim for the number that matches the number of beats of the note on each ball. FUN!
This would be fun to do with instruments and their families. Use 20-25 different balls and write the instrument name on them. Label the container with the instrument families.
I spoke to my PE teacher about how to make this activity as successful as possible. She stressed keeping the ball waist high and suggested using a low bounce tennis ball (available at most places that sell them). Ping pong balls or Nerf balls might make great options too.
I hope that your students enjoy this activity. Look ornament holders during the Christmas season and the first part of January. If you liked this idea, PIN it for later!
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