 |
| Can you tell what it is?......A dotted half note!! |
 |
| And a treble clef! |
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Party Time Cup Creations!
Each class has the chance to earn a party in music class. When they do, I vary the activities between a class game, student choice, or bringing something from home. This party was student choice, and the students basically had free time in my room to play whatever they wanted. Cup stacking is always a huge hit, and the boys asked that I take a picture of their latest cup stacking creation. I have to say, I was quite impressed!
Dynamics
I just finished up two weeks of Dynamic Centers with my 3rd graders. They worked on pianissimo, piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte, forte, fortissimo, crescendo, and decrescendo. Now that they know all of the terms and symbols, we can start applying them. I put 8 rhythm flashcards in my chart stand and gave each row of rhythms a dynamic. Using coffee can drums, we performed each rhythm with its designated dynamic level. I let kids take turns creating new rhythms and switching the dynamics. The first few times I would review the dynamic level with them, but after a bit of practice they were able to perform the rhythms from beginning to end with the correct dynamic changes.
On another day, we listened to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and they had to map out the dynamics of the piece. I put four of their answers on the board and we compared them. Some had listed the dynamics as going pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff. Others listed it as pp Cresc. ff. Others started on mp instead of pp. We discussed the similarities and differences between all of the options and kids got the chance to debate which version they thought was more accurate. It led to some very upper level discussions and it was great to hear them use their new vocabulary words!!
On another day, we listened to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and they had to map out the dynamics of the piece. I put four of their answers on the board and we compared them. Some had listed the dynamics as going pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff. Others listed it as pp Cresc. ff. Others started on mp instead of pp. We discussed the similarities and differences between all of the options and kids got the chance to debate which version they thought was more accurate. It led to some very upper level discussions and it was great to hear them use their new vocabulary words!!
Chair Rhythms
I have been looking for a way to help students remember the difference between the number of beats and the number of sounds that notes get. I decided to try chair rhythms with my 5th graders because I thought it would also be a good way to practice our new rhythm, short-long, short (prep for syncopa). It got a bit noisy and a bit cozy, but I think it worked! Here's what we did:
1. I put 4 chairs in the front of the room and explained that each chair equaled one beat.
2. I had one person sit in each chair. The class was able to figure out that they were quarter notes.
3. I had 2 students sit on each chair and the class discovered they were ti-tis (or pairs of eighth notes).
4. I had 4 students on each chair (this is where things got a bit cozy!) and they discovered they were tika-tikas (4 sixteenth notes). I stopped here to re-explain that they were 4 sounds on 1 beat. NOT 4 beats long.
5. I had 3 students sit on each chair. The first time I had one student sit on the lap of the person on the left and then one person next to them. This was a tika-ti (2 people had to share half a chair/beat). Then we figured out how to make a ti-tika.
6. I had 1 student lay across two chairs. The class discovered this person was a half note. I did the same with 3 chairs for dotted half and 4 chairs for whole note. By this point the kids were starting to really understand. YAY!!
7. The last step was to make 3 people fit on 2 chairs to create our short-long-short. After telling the 2 outside people they only got half of a chair and the middle person got 2 halves (or a whole), kids started putting together the pieces and trying to guess what rhythms made up a short-long-short pattern. Some of the kids were really close to discovering it was eighth-quarter-eighth, but I didn't reveal that answer just yet.
8. The last thing I did was split the kids into 2 groups. Their group had to form a rhythm using all of their group members and the other group had to notate it. Now they had to use some math to decide how to divide themselves up among the four chairs!
Like I said, it got a bit noisy and a bit uncomfortable at times, but I think the lesson really worked well. Kids were problem solving, drawing conclusions, and notating rhythms. And they had fun!! Woohoo!
1. I put 4 chairs in the front of the room and explained that each chair equaled one beat.
2. I had one person sit in each chair. The class was able to figure out that they were quarter notes.
3. I had 2 students sit on each chair and the class discovered they were ti-tis (or pairs of eighth notes).
4. I had 4 students on each chair (this is where things got a bit cozy!) and they discovered they were tika-tikas (4 sixteenth notes). I stopped here to re-explain that they were 4 sounds on 1 beat. NOT 4 beats long.
5. I had 3 students sit on each chair. The first time I had one student sit on the lap of the person on the left and then one person next to them. This was a tika-ti (2 people had to share half a chair/beat). Then we figured out how to make a ti-tika.
6. I had 1 student lay across two chairs. The class discovered this person was a half note. I did the same with 3 chairs for dotted half and 4 chairs for whole note. By this point the kids were starting to really understand. YAY!!
7. The last step was to make 3 people fit on 2 chairs to create our short-long-short. After telling the 2 outside people they only got half of a chair and the middle person got 2 halves (or a whole), kids started putting together the pieces and trying to guess what rhythms made up a short-long-short pattern. Some of the kids were really close to discovering it was eighth-quarter-eighth, but I didn't reveal that answer just yet.
8. The last thing I did was split the kids into 2 groups. Their group had to form a rhythm using all of their group members and the other group had to notate it. Now they had to use some math to decide how to divide themselves up among the four chairs!
Like I said, it got a bit noisy and a bit uncomfortable at times, but I think the lesson really worked well. Kids were problem solving, drawing conclusions, and notating rhythms. And they had fun!! Woohoo!
 |
| A Whole Note! |
 |
| Tika-tika, tika-tika, ta, ti-ti |
 |
| Ti-ti, tika-tika, ta, tika-tika |
Friday, September 11, 2015
Write the Room
I discovered a new review activity this summer called "Write the Room". My 5th graders are studying music symbols and I thought this would be an easy way to review the first 8. I created cards with music symbols on them and their name and definition. I posted these cards around the room. Then, each student gets a sheet to fill out. They walk around the room finding each symbol and fill out their sheets. It's a great way to get them up and moving, and having the symbols spaced out around my room kept the kids from getting too congested in one area. For the more advanced kids that already knew the symbols, I had them try to fill out their sheets without looking first, and then walk around to check their answers.
Here are the sheets I made. They can be edited to include any other symbols you would want to use. I've also seen this done with rhythms.
Here are the sheets I made. They can be edited to include any other symbols you would want to use. I've also seen this done with rhythms.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)