Ice Cream Improvisations

The 1st graders have been talking about how melodies can move up, down, or stay the same. After talking about that we discussed improvising, and how we can make up our own melody as long as we form some sort of plan about how we want our music to move: up, down, or stay the same. I found a great flipchart on Promethean Planet created by Rebecca Dennis titled "One For Ice Cream".  While we were improvising we had to follow 3 rules. Rule 1: We could only use the notes CDEG. Rule 2: We all had to follow the same rhythm. We used flavors of ice cream to create an 8-beat rhythmic pattern (ex: chocolate, rocky road, chocolate, mint). Rule 3: We always ended with C (and mint).

At first a few students were a bit nervous about playing because they were afraid it wouldn't sound good. I stressed that the fun part about improvising is that you can never be wrong! It's your creation. After that, they all had a blast and enjoyed coming up with new, creative ways to improvise their melodies.

ABA Form

Our 2nd graders have been studying form. To help reinforce the concept, we used Zoo Pals and flashcards to compose a piece in ABA form. The first day they performed their rhythms with body percussion. The second day, they had to compose their own 4-beat rhythm patterns for each section and then performed them on instruments in front of the class.

Choir Holiday Party

My 5th and 6th grade choir students had a GREAT concert performance last week, so this week at rehearsal we celebrated by having a little party. It got a bit loud and wild, but we had a lot of fun! Here's what we played:

Paper Plate Pictures
The students had to hold their paper plate on their head and draw
1. A floor
2. A Christmas tree on the floor with decorations
3. A fireplace with a mantel
4. A stocking hanging from that mantel
5. A star on top of the tree
6. A present under the tree

When they were finished, we scored their drawings.
2 pts if their tree touched the floor
2 pts if the stocking touched the mantel
1 pt if the star touched the tree
1 pt for every ornament that was on the tree
1 pt if the fireplace was NOT touching the tree (that's a fire hazard!)
2 pts if the present was under the tree

The students had a blast and there were lots of giggles as they looked at their drawings.

Minute to Win It Snowball Toss

Students sat across from each other. One person held a cup and the other had to toss as many snowballs (mini marshmallows) into the cup as they could in 1 minute. The winner made 57 marshmallows!!

Minute to Win It Shovel the Snow

Every student had a cup and a straw. Using only their straw, they had to get as many marshmallows as they could into their cup in 1 minute. Finally, the room was silent!! Our winner had 21!

At the end of our party, I handed out ornaments that I made for each of the students to hang on their tree. How cute are these!?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!