Winter bulletin board

Yay! I actually changed my bulletin board this year! Last year's took so much time to make (I cut out 300 music notes) that I didn't want to take it down, plus I was pregnant and couldn't really climb around on the heater to change it. But this year it's only December and I already have a new one. Celebrate the little things, right?!

I quoted one of my favorite Christmas movies, "Elf". However, I did cheat and change the word Christmas to Joy hoping that maybe it would allow me to keep my bulletin board up past December. ;) Each of the snowflakes has the date of one of our music programs or concerts. We'll be spreading lots of joy and cheer this year!

Musical Styles Unit

The 6th graders have just finished up a unit project on Musical Styles. The goal of this project was to get the students to explore music outside of the country/pop/rock bubble that we tend to be in in our small town. I also wanted them to listen to music more closely to analyze things like the meaning of the lyrics, why & how music is used in different situations, and where they hear music.

I gave the students 4 projects to choose from. The project was to be done mostly at home, but after starting the project, I realized that I could do the project in school next year using the classroom tablets each student has a putting music into a Dropbox (something new I'm just learning how to use). After starting the project, I realized there were a lot of things I wanted to change for next year or just make more specific. I have listed those things in red. Overall, I really enjoyed the project and for my first year trying it, I think it went pretty well. The projects options were:

Soundtrack of My Life
(lesson from TeachersPayTeachers-my document is a slightly modified version of the download): Students created a soundtrack of songs that had lyrics that related to their lives. They had to explore the meaning behind the lyrics and label what style of music each song was.  After doing this project, I realized that it didn't really expose students to any new styles of music, so it didn't really fit the theme of my project. However, it was still fun to see their answers!

 Musical Interests Survey
Students created a 10 question survey about musical styles and had to survey 10 people from at least 3 different age groups. When they were finished, they graphed their findings. Most students created very simple graphs on notebook paper (I realized we needed to have a discussion about using a ruler!) and had questions that were open ended so they were hard to graph. Next year, I'll tell them to make their questions multiple choice or keep their answers to one word so they are easier to graph.


One of the most creative graphs I received!

 

 

Music Journal

For one week, students kept a journal of all of the music they heard each day. They were supposed to record music in stores, businesses, on commercials, or in classrooms. I encouraged them to record at least 3 per day (the problem with saying that was every single student turned in ONLY 3 examples for each day). At the end of the week, they had to write a one-page reflection on what they noticed. Some students were very observant, and noticed that the dynamics of the music being played differed by the size of the store. They also noticed that the style of music was generally selected to fit the overall likes of their desired customers (ex: a punk clothing store in the mall played loud, punk music. Not country or jazz!) Although a few good recordings were made, several of the students just recorded the music they heard on Pandora or the radio, not music they heard by chance. Something to make more specific next time!

 

 

Explore 3 New Styles

This was probably the best project for accomplishing my main goal: exposing students to new music. Each student had to pick 3 styles of music they don't normally listen to and then find 3 songs from those styles that they liked. They then researched the song and presented it to the class. This is where I used the Dropbox and had several different examples of music on there for them to listen to if they couldn't find new music on their own. The songs presented were very original and it was fun to hear what they had picked. The only change I would make to this project is teaching the kids how to better articulate "why" they liked a piece of music. Most of them could only come up with answers like, "it had a good beat" or "I liked the way he sang it". I realized I haven't really taught them the vocabulary words to explain what they wanted to say.

As I said, overall I felt it was a fun project, it just needs a bit of tweaking before next year. I tried to create a rubric that met all 4 projects. Here is the one I used and I just made some modifications as I was grading.  I will post a copy of the rubric so you get a general idea, but just know that it is not a perfect rubric and definitely needs some changes.





Peter and the Wolf

Every year, the 1st graders study "Peter and the Wolf". We learn about what an orchestra is and study each character and his/her instrument. Then, we read the story and listen to the music. After reading the story, we complete an activity sheet that matches each character to his/her instrument. Finally, we watch the movie. As an assessment, we complete the matching worksheet below. I play each character's theme while they take the test, so they don't just match the pictures, they match the music as well.

A completed matching project

Final assessment

Autumn Leaves

The 2nd graders have just learned about tied notes. We are practicing composing rhythms with tied notes using some leaves I cut out and laminated. A piece of string was used to tie two notes together. This activity is preparing us for half note later on, so we were able to tie together quarter notes and quarter rests.

Candy Wrapper Raps

For Halloween last week, the 3rd graders composed Candy Wrapper Raps. We ran out of time, so I didn't get to record everyone's and they didn't get a lot of time to practice, but you get the idea!

 

Invented Instruments

The 6th graders just completed one of my favorite units, Invented Instruments. We spent at least 3-4 weeks working on this project.

First, we discussed the 4 different ways we can classify instruments based on the way they make sound: aerophones (air vibrates), chordophones (a string vibrates), idiophones (solid matter vibrates), and membranophones (a stretched skin vibrates).

Then, we researched different instruments that we could make using common household items such as cans, string, paint, or wood. We spent a class in the computer lab looking up ideas for homemade instruments. Once they had decided on what to make, the students had to classify it as either a chordophone, aerophone, idiophone, or membranophone. They also had to make sure that their instrument made at least 3 different sounds and could play both loud and soft dynamic levels. All instruments needed to be decorated and finished looking.

One week was spent building the instruments (in class or at home) and then the next week was spent composing a sound piece that would be performed on the instrument. The sound piece had to last between 20-40 seconds and would be performed in front of the class. We used numbers, letters, or symbols to notate our pieces.

Here are some pictures of what the students created. You'll be amazed at how creative some of them were!

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

1st graders have been learning about echo songs and songs that have repeats in them. What better song to talk about repeats that "Humuhumunukunukuapua'a"?! After listening to the song and creating a hula dance to tell the story, we drew pictures of what we thought this creature looks like. The origin of the name means "the fish with the pig-like nose". We also learned that it is the state fish of Hawaii. Do you know what your state fish is?

Bow Wow Wow!

The 3rd and 4th graders have been studying the pentatonic scale. I found a great pentatonic pack on TeachersPayTeachers with lesson plans, activities, assessments, and Powerpoints. It has been extremely helpful and the kids have loved the lessons. One of the first lessons is for the song "Bow Wow Wow". While singing the song, we include triangles, a xylophone ostinato, and a dance. Every kid has a job to do and we rotate through each position. Instruments, dancing, and singing in one lesson... What's not to love?!

So-Mi-La Songs

2nd graders have been spending a lot of time reviewing So, Mi, La this year. We spent the last two weeks composing a SML song. First, we created an 8-beat rhythm pattern using tas and ti-tis. Then we added pitches to those rhythms. Finally, we notated those onto a staff. We drew a treble clef and discovered that our piece was in 2/4 time. We also had to learn about bar lines, so this was a great review project for lots of things!

This was our first real practice putting notes onto a staff, so it took a bit of time for some of the kids to grasp drawing notes on lines and spaces (something I realized I need to spend more time on in 1st grade when we learn about lines and spaces). After they had notated their song onto the staff, I gave each student a glockenspiel to practice their piece. Once everyone was done, they performed their piece on the xylophone for the class. The students loved showing off what they had written!

On a side note, if I could do one thing differently, I think I would have had the staff notation on a separate page. That way, when the students played it on the instruments, they were reading from the staff notation and not the rhythmic notation they had on top.

Five Little Pumpkins

Kindergarten's letter 'F' song this week is "Five Little Pumpkins." I cut out and laminated 5 pumpkin "masks" for the kids to wear. The pumpkins get to have the speaking parts of the song ("Oh my, it's getting late!" "There are witches in the air!", etc.). I encourage them to use scared or scary voices to add to the effect. We also use the thunder tube to create a storm when we get to "Whoosh went the wind and out went the lights." After all, thunderstorms are the main reason our power goes out, right?

Engine, Engine No. 9

The Kindergarteners are learning songs for every letter of the alphabet again this year. Last week we were on the letter 'E' and learned "Engine, Engine No.9". After learning the song, we split into 4 trains. The engine of each train kept the steady beat with sandpaper blocks, which made our train sound more real. At the end of the song, the engine passed the sandpaper blocks to the next person and then became the caboose. The 4 trains were told that they weren't allowed to crash into another train or go too fast. If they did, they had to sit down. I did this with 58 kindergarteners, and I didn't have a single wreck! Yay!

 

This is Why We Dot!

3rd graders just learned tika-tika. We have been doing lots of things to practice. We've notated rhythms with popsicle sticks, clapped flashcards, and notated songs on the board. Last week we did a composition activity using stickers called, "This is Why We Dot!" Using either 1 (ta), 2 (ti-ti), 4 (tika-tika), or 0 (shh) stickers, students composed an 8-beat rhythm pattern. Once they were done, they traded cards with others in their group and clapped them. After that, some groups had the idea to put all of their papers together and make one giant rhythm. I love when they think of new ways to challenge themselves!

Surround the State in Song 2014

Every year, NDACDA has an honor choir for 5th and 6th grade students. Teachers select their top 6 choir students to attend and they spend one day together rehearsing for a concert that afternoon. The cool thing about this choir is that at the same time our concert was being performed, 4 other concerts with the exact same music were being performed at the exact same time all around the state. We literally "Surrounded the State in Song".

This is always one of my favorite events during the year and its the first time many of these kids have sung together with a large group. This year, our conductor was Beth Rasch, the music teacher at Ramstad Middle School in Minot. She did an excellent job! Our choir was made up of around 50 students from 10 different schools. Here are some pictures from our day.





Hanging out with Colonel Sanders!

 Two of the instrumentalists for the percussion in "Rhythm of the Rain".

Another percussionist for "Rhythm of the Rain"

The students from Ely and Little Flower

And of course we had to take a goofy picture! 

Tasty Time Signatures

The 5th Graders have been studying time signatures the past few weeks. To help review meter in 2, 3, and 4 we have done several activities. (Some of these may seem a bit easy for 5th grade, but I'm finding that it's really helping to reinforce the number of beats each note receives for those students who always struggle with that concept.) Here are a few of them.

Build A Cupcake: In groups, students match the time signature on the frosting to the correct number of beats on the cupcake. When they were finished, I had them line up the cupcakes and create two large rhythms. (This game can be found on TeachersPayTeachers)

 

 

 

Noodle Notation: Using an idea I got from www.mrskingrocks.blogspot.com , I cut up a bunch of pool noodles that I bought at the dollar store this summer and made them into rhythms. The 5th graders had to compose rhythms in 3/4 and 4/4 time using the noodles.

 

 

Autumn Leaves: I have a bunch of autumn leaves laminated with different rhythms on them. Using those leaves, students created measures of 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4. Once they had finished, they notated their rhythms onto a worksheet.

 

Tasty Time Signatures: This will be my final assessment on time signatures for the students. It is as worksheet that I created. Since we are in the month of October and close to Halloween, I used the idea of candy rhythms. Students have to color each piece of candy to represent the meter it belongs in. I added in the rhythms after I printed it off. This way I can modify the worksheet to be easier or harder for different students/grade levels.

We are also doing some listening activities to identify whether a song is in duple or triple time. All of these activities will springboard us into our introduction to 6/8 time later this month. 


Down By the Bay

Kindergarteners are practicing rhyming in their classrooms, so to reinforce that concept, we did a fun activity with the rhyming words in the book/song "Down By the Bay." After going through all of the rhyming animals and making up some of our own, we created watermelons out of paper plates and glued on a rhyming set to create a verse from the song. On the top of the plate I wrote, "Did you ever see a..." and they glued on their first picture. On the bottom of the plate I wrote, "Kissing a.." (or whatever the action was) and they glued on their bottom picture. The kids had a blast doing it, however, it was so busy during the cutting and gluing day that I didn't get any pictures of their finished plates. I posted a similar post last year, so you can look back and find the picture sheets that I use and examples of finished watermelons.

Coloring their watermelons

Don't forget the seeds!

Lines and Spaces

The 1st graders are practicing their lines and spaces on the staff. To practice, we used our lap packs and bingo markers to mark the 5 lines and the 4 spaces. We always practice counting from the bottom to the top, that way when we learn the note names in 4th grade, they follow the same rule. We also played a relay game where they had to race to put their foam dot on the correct line or space on the rug staff.
And can I just say again how much I LOVE my new flipForms?! They are absolutely perfect for creating small, organized groups when doing an activity like this!