All About Apples!

1st graders always study apples in their classrooms as part of their Science unit in September. I like to join in and spend a week doing apple activities in music class. We learn songs like "Apple Tree" and "Way Up High in the Apple Tree". We also learn a xylophone bordun to go along with "Apple Tree" which is a great way to review playing the steady beat at the beginning of the year.

This year I found a pack of bulletin board pictures at Target that included apples, mittens, flowers, and leaves. So far, I have used the mittens to make a treble clef memory game and I used the apples to notate the rhythm of "Apple Tree". I put the students in groups of 2-3 and they had to put their apples in the correct order to form the rhythm for the first 2 measures of the song (I put the rhythm up on the board as well). Once they were finished, they could create their own 2 measure apple rhythm. I think I'll use them later on when we learn So, Mi, and La. The students can place the apples up or down to show the melody. I also plan to use them as beat trackers with my Kindergarteners when we learn "Apple Tree". So many possibilities!!

Coffee Can Drumming

For the past year I have had the teacher's lounge save me their empty coffee cans and I finally have enough for each of my students. I'm so excited to use these this year for rhythm practice. This week, the 4th graders are reviewing 16th notes, so we are using them to play various rhythm patterns with tika-ti and ti-tika. At first we tried playing them with rhythm sticks, but that got a little too loud for my neighboring teachers. Last time we did it, we used our hands and that worked pretty well. We still might use rhythm sticks, just not with as many students playing at one time. The kids are always on their best behavior when they see the coffee cans out because they know only the quiet students will get to play them!

Symbol Stations

The 5th and 6th graders each just completed their unit on music symbols. I have a great rug that has 24 different music symbols on it, and I created 5 stations for the students to rotate through learning the names and definitions of each symbol. I added Symbol Stack Attack this year. Using those small Dixie cups you can buy at the grocery store, I put a symbol on the bottom of each cup. Students must correctly name the symbol before they can use it in their stack. I let them work together to create one giant tower, or individually to see who can make the biggest tower. Here are some pictures of the students working on their stations.
(I posted more details about the stations last year if you want to look back and find out more info.)

 

Music Symbol Bingo

Symbol Sorry

Cup Stack Attack

Bingo

Symbol Race

Swat the Symbol

Happy 200th Birthday to the Star Spangled Banner!

Every year, the 4th graders spend the month of September studying the Star Spangled Banner. We rotate through 10 stations, learning about the history of the poem, Francis Scott Key, and the meaning of the lyrics (you can buy the station packet from www.musicbulletinboards.net). When they are finished, they take a test on the station information and also have a singing test. Normally my students aren't excited about singing tests, but this one is different for some reason. Parents tell me about their kids singing it at home, I hear it in the hallways, and they even ask me if they can sing it for me in class!

This year, I surprised the 4th graders by arranging for them to sing the anthem at a home volleyball game after their test (which also happened to be the same week as the anthem's 200th birthday AND we sang on 9/11!). It was awesome! However, I forgot to bring my camera to take a picture. :( 

As I said earlier, this year was the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner, so I spent a day with all of my classes discussing the history of it and doing different activities. For one activity, I put the students in groups with song strips containing the lyrics of the song that they had to put in order. Once they finished, each group had to sing the anthem for me. Other groups watched and listened to different versions of the Star Spangled Banner being performed and compared and contrasted them. Anthem was also my Word of the Week.

As you can tell, we were very busy in September! It's so fun to go to volleyball games and football games and catch one of my students singing along with the anthem.

Students completing the Star Spangled Banner song strips activity