Mr. Music Man

The kindergarten students learned about several of the different classroom instruments we have and how to play them. After naming and demonstrating each instrument, I placed 6 hula hoops around the room and put one of each instrument inside the hoop. I then split the class into groups of 3-4 and had them sit around each hoop. We did an echo activity to allow each student a chance to play every instrument. They started out by picking an instrument from the hoop and then I played a rhythm on the drum and they echoed back. Then, they put that instrument down and picked up another one. I did this very quickly so students didn't have time to argue or play out of turn and also so that they had a chance to play all of the instruments at least once.

After that activity, I let the students create a Music Man out of the instruments. They could make one big one or two small ones, but they had to work together to make it look like a person. Here are some pictures of what they came up with!

Kindergarten studies high and low

The kindergarteners have been studying high and low sounds in music. We've done a lot of movement to show high sounds and low sounds with our bodies. One activity we did this week was to compose high and low patterns. In groups of 3-4, students had to come up with a pattern using high and low sounds and show me using their bodies. The next day, we took our groups of 4 and combined them to make groups of 8, and then we combined them to make one long pattern with the whole class! The kids loved finding different ways to show high and low with their bodies. It was also a great beginning composition activity!


Another activity we did was to listen to "Animals with Long Ears" from Carnival of the Animals. The students used their arms to show the high and low sounds in the piece, and then we listened again, only this time we used the parachute to show the highs and lows. The kids loved this and it forced them to be very patient listeners when waiting for the next high sound.

High, Low, High, Low

High, Low, High, Low

Low, High, Low

High, Low, Low

What's that smell?!

This is one of my favorite activities to do with my Kindergarteners when we are beginning to notate long and short rhythms. First we learn several simple songs or poems, then we discover how many sounds there are on each beat, one or two. Then I get out my giant beats strips and we use shoes to notate the number of sounds on each beat. I have 4 riser groups so if we notate a 4 measure song it works out perfectly for each riser to be in charge of notating a measure. In the picture below, we were notating the poem "2-4-6-8". The kids love working together and problem solving how many shoes they will need and where they should go. However, even in kindergarten, it does get a bit stinky!

Two, four, six, eight

Meet me at the garden gate.

If I'm late, do not wait.

Two, four, six, eight.

 



Christmas Rhythms

The Kindergarteners have been working on their long (soon to be 'ta') and short-short ('ti-ti') rhythms. In groups of two, they composed patterns using trees/hats (longs) and presents/mittens (short-shorts) and then notated the rhythms below. Then they clapped the rhythm. This was their first time actually writing the long and short-short patterns instead of just reading it off of the board.

Loud and Soft Assessment

The Kindergarteners have been learning about loud and soft. I used plastic plates to do my assessment this year. We listened to several pieces of music and the students held up the plate that they thought best matched the music. We listened to "March" from the Nutcracker, "Radetsky March", and "Bouree" from the Royal Fireworks.


Hint: Taking a picture or a video like these gives you an easy, quick way to assess everyone without having to rely on your memory!

Bee, Bee Bumblebee

Bee, bee, bumblebee

Stung a man upon his knee

Stung a pig upon his snout

I declare that you are out!

We learned this song in Kindergarten at the beginning of the year because it is a great chant for steady beat and rhythm. We recently learned ta and ti-ti (replacing long and short-short) so I brought the poem back to discover the rhythm again. I found these great bee sticks at Oriental Trading this year so I marked them with Tas and Ti-tis (quarter notes and eighth note pairs). After discovering the rhythm of "Bee, Bee" I split the kids into groups and had them compose different rhythm patterns. Then, I let them come up with their own patterns to challenge their partners.

Kindergarten Program

This year there were 3 sections of kindergarten, so I got to do 3 programs. I only do one program per grade level just because of scheduling issues and the amount of time it takes to put a program together. The kindergarten program always happens at the end of the school year, kind of like a graduation. It's a very small program held in the cafeteria. We usually sing 7-8 songs from the year and then they do a poem or two with their classroom teachers.
Our songs this year were:
"Hello Song" (which we do at the beginning of every class)
"Loose Tooth Song" (we do every time someone loses a tooth)
"Time for Music" (with classroom instruments)
"Johnny Works with One Hammer"
"Sing...Sing a Song" (in English and Spanish)
"What Do You Do With a Water Waster?" (song from MK8)
"Wiggleworm/Statue" (song from MK8)

Some of the girls from Mrs. Raymond's class (I forgot to get a whole group picture!)

Mrs. Rham's class

Mrs. Bartsch's class

"March"es

The Kindergarteners studied the marches of John Philip Sousa in March. After discovering the strong, steady beat in all of the music, we formed our own marching band using plastic plates. Each student took turns being the band leader and lead their group around the classroom playing their "cymbals".

I have to tell you about a huge "head slap" moment I had during this lesson this year. Normally, I've given every student a plate and we all march around the room in a single line. With plastic plates, I will tell you it gets very loud and you almost can't even hear the music any more! This year, while marching around the room with my kinders wondering how the heck I could make them be quieter, I suddenly had a great idea that I can't believe I had never thought of before. I have three different colors of plates (red, white, and blue). I divided my class into three groups, and let each group take a turn marching once around the room and then back into their spots. When one group got back, the next group got up and made a full circle of the room. This allowed several students the chance to be the band leader and also cut the noise down! Duh!! How had I never thought of this before?! It worked splendidly and the kids were very quietly waiting on their spots for their next turn to play. It only took me 5 years to think of this idea! Better late than never, right?!

Valentine's Day Fun!

I am a little behind this month, but here is my massive post of all of the fun Valentine's Day activities we did last month. It was a little crazy because I also had my 1st and 2nd grade musical and a music contest in February, but we did manage to get some Valentine-themed lessons covered.

"A Song for My Sweetart"
This is a lesson idea from the book "Kids Can Compose". I always have one of those giant bags of mixed candy on hand for Bingo prizes and such, and luckily the last bag I bought was FULL of Sweetart candies. The Sweetarts came in packets similar to Smarties, so it was easy to distribute them to each of my groups. Everyone simply got one packet to share.

The 4th graders are just starting the treble clef, so we used this lesson simply to practice the space notes. I would call out a note and they had to put their Sweetart candy on the correct space. I wanted them to also practice putting notes on the staff from left to right so that when we start reading music for recorders they are used to that. I found that several of the kids were just squishing them together in one spot or stacking them vertically, so I had them divide their staff into 4 sections. Then I would say, "notate an A in box 1, a C in box 2", etc. This made things much easier for everyone. After a while, I let them partner up and quiz their partners. The students who already knew the note names were partnered together and allowed to do lines and spaces or use ledger lines.

In 5th grade, each student was partnered up and given a glockenspiel and a cup of Sweetarts. They then had to compose a 4-8 note melody and play it on their instrument. Each group had to perform their melody for me before they could eat their candy.

Giant Beat Strips
This is an idea I got off of Pinterest from www.abbottmusic.blogspot.com . Kindergarten just learned about ta and ti-ti, but we were still reviewing how a ta is one sound and a ti-ti is two. To reinforce this concept and tie in Valentine's Day a little bit, I used giant beat strips with large hearts on them and split the class into 4 groups. Everyone took their shoes off and put them in the middle of the room (this part can get a bit wild!). I then clapped a rhythm pattern and they had to race to made the rhythm on the hearts. A ta was notated with one shoe and a ti-ti with two. It took a while for some of the kids to catch on, but once they did, we were able to cruise through the entire class. Although it was just a tad crazy (and stinky!), it was a LOT of fun!

Racing Heart Rhythm Race (or something catchy like that-I couldn't think of  a good name!!)
Last year I cut out a bunch of paper hearts with the intent of using them for a lesson and never did. So this year, I took those hearts and wrote a whole bunch of 4-beat rhythm patterns on them. I designed this to be used with 3rd-5th grade, so the rhythms contained mostly 16th note rhythms (which 3rd grade is working on now) and dotted quarter note rhythms (which 5th grade is working on). There were 2 of each rhythm. I scattered the hearts all over my floor and split the class into 4 teams. I would call out a rhythm and one person from each team had to race to find the correct heart. Since there were 2 of each, two teams could score or one team could get 2 points. The first team to 6 points won. (Side note, I would recommend laminating the hearts. The students tend to get a bit grabby when they get over-excited!). This was a great game and you could make it even harder by only clapping the rhythms and not saying them out loud. I often did that as a tie breaker or for extra points.

 

 

Valentine Post Office

I posted about this game last year. It is a game I downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers and it works great with K and 1st. I grouped my classes into groups of 2 and gave them each a Valentine bag with rhythm cards inside. They take out the cards and I clap or play a rhythm and they have to find it and put it in their bags.

Sing About Martin!

The Kindergarteners celebrated Martin Luther King Day by learning this familiar tune. We added sign language for Martin, caring, peace, world, and love. The second day we sang the song, we added hand drums and tambourines in place of the clapping. I also let students come up and sing the echo as a solo.

Jim Along, Josie

The letter J song for the Kindergarteners this year was "Jim Along, Josie". After learning the song, we added our own actions. We jumped along, skipped along, tip-toed along, and danced along. One class got very creative and decided we should crab-walk along. I didn't join in on this one, because I had to take a picture instead. ;)

The xylophones in the middle were for reviewing the letter 'I' song/activity. We were working on Improvising on the Instruments. We talked about the proper way to hold the mallets, how to play softly and hit the bars in the correct spots. They made beautiful sounds and took their turns very seriously. Not a single student had to sit out for playing incorrectly or out of turn. In Kindergarten, that is rare!

Christmas Rhythms

Christmas break has come and gone and I didn't get any blogging done! So here I sit the first day back with a ton of posts to catch up on. Oh well!

The Kindergarteners are still working on long and short rhythm patterns. I will soon be introducing them to ta and ti-ti. To give them practice writing rhythms, I made a bunch of tree/present, elf/reindeer, hat/mitten manipulatives for them to work with. They created a 4-beat pattern and then wrote the correct rhythm underneath. I did the same activity in 1st grade, only they wrote the tas (quarter notes) and ti-tis (eighth note pairs).

Tree, present, tree, present=long, short-short, long, short-short

Mittens, hat, mittens, hat=short-short, long, short-short, long

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!