Autumn Winds

The 2nd Graders created this awesome Orff arrangement in music class. All of the instrumentation and movement was created by them (with guidance, of course!).  I used a poem called "Autumn Winds" and we created instrument and movement parts to match the text. The form this class selected was:
A) Poem: Say, Play, and Move
B) Improvised instrument parts using a selected rhythm
A') Poem: Say
B) "                                                                                  "
A")Poem: Solo movement
B) "                                                                                  "
A'") Poem: Play and Move.

And of course we have one leaf that just doesn't want to fall! ;)

Robot and Inventor

I had the wonderful opportunity to receive my Level I Orff training this summer at NDSU. I have been having a blast incorporating all of the wonderful things that I learned. One of my favorite activities is called "Robot and Inventor" and the purpose of it is to help students explore ways they can move their body parts, helping them gain body/kinesthetic awareness. It also helps them become comfortable creating on their own in a non-threatening environment.

Here's how it works: Partners choose one person to be the robot. The robot stands in the "off" position. When the music starts, the inventor may tap a joint on the robot and the robot must begin moving this body part to the beat. To stop the body part, the inventor must tap that part again. We started off with only one body part at a time, then slowly added more. Eventually, the robots were able to travel! The kids had a blast with this and it was really fun to watch even my most reserved students get into the activity.

"Apple Tree" Orff rotation

My 1st graders are working on playing the steady beat on an instrument. Eventually I will assess them on playing a steady beat bordun. We practiced this by rotating through a series of instruments and playing the steady beat while singing the song. I set my rotation up so that every student would have an instrument all the time. This seems a bit crazy, but I found that it worked better than when I used to just line all of the students up behind the xylophones and metallophones only. When I did it that way, only 5 students could play at a time and the other 20 quickly got off task. This way, everyone has something to play every time and stays focused.

I set the instruments up so that there was a barred instrument every 2 or 3 instruments. I also used a variety of drums and woodblocks to have different timbres. We played through the song one time and then chanted "One, two, three, four. Mallets down get off the floor. Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Hurry don't be late!". By the end of the chant, each student was at the next instrument and ready to play. We rotated through about 8 instruments and the students never got tired of playing the same song over and over again.

"A Fly and a Flea"

The 3rd graders performed a full accompaniment of "A Fly and a Flea" complete with xylophones, metallophones, unpitched percussion parts, and body percussion.

Mallet Madness!

The first graders had a great time learning to play an accompaniment to "Ring Around the Rosie" on the xylophones and glockenspiels.