Doggie Doggie Beat/Rhythm/Melodic Direction Bones

I've been focused on making good quality manipulatives lately, which is a more tactful way of saying I'm a bit obsessed with manipulatives lately. (Can one be a "bit" obsessed? Maybe...)

I'm going to blame my friend Amy Abbott for this obsession/inspiration; she churns out more quality ideas and manipulatives in the span of a week then any teacher I know. (You probably already visit her wonderful blog, Music a la Abbott. If not, you should be checking in with her blog weekly. She posts often.)

I stopped by the teacher resource store Beyond the Blackboard this week looking for post-it notes in the shape of leaves. I did not find those, but I did find some stickers and paper bones.

Beyond the Blackboard and Teacher Created Resources are NOT paying me for advertising.
(hmm... maybe I should contact them...)

I do not enjoy making everything from scratch. While I greatly admire crafty people, I would rather spend less time putting things together. This means I sometimes spend more money. You could easily make your own bones and paw prints. 

I thought these could easily be made into a great beat/rhythm/melodic tracking manipulative for Doggie Doggie.  This is not a new idea, just a good one that I thought I could make into a classroom set of bones. The pack of bones contained 30, exactly what I use for a classroom set. (My largest 1st grade class is 29, which is ridiculous. PLEASE support your local schools by voting yes for any bond or mill levy in your area. That's a different post for another day but many districts are making huge cuts. I'll just say now that smaller class sizes make a huge difference in quality of instruction. ALL instruction.)

One side is for beat tracking while singing the song:

(Notice the strong beats are the same color as the bone outline. I also want to prepare 2/4 meter with these bones.)

The other side shows the rhythm and melodic direction of the song:

Here's a short video of my son singing and tracking:

I am looking forward to using these with a whole class. (All 29 of them!)

Tika Tika Tic Tac Toe

It's Tika Tika time 
(4 beamed 16th notes) 
in 3rd grade and we are busy practicing, chanting, singing and playing this fun rhythm!

While it's always an aim of mine to present tika tika in 2nd grade, I usually only have time to prepare this rhythm at the end of the 2nd grade year. Tika tika in early 3rd grade is what I usually do and it works well. 

Tika Tika Tic Tac Toe is one of those simple games that I always think the students will scoff at and then they love playing it and request it often. 

(I think it has to do with competition and the opportunity to throw things.)

All you need are nine cards of 4 beat rhythms featuring tika tika, bean bags, and some floor space. My rhythms are extracted from the tika tika songs the 3rd graders have been learning since school began. 

I set out the nine rhythm cards in a tic tac toe board formation on the floor. Students are separated into two teams and sit on the bar lines of the floor staff. (I have very large staff on my floor which functions as a seating arrangement when we're not in a circle. My floor staff is made with black velcro, ordered from a PE catalog.) The teams are designated the "red" team or the "blue" team, (those are our school colors.) A student stands below line E of the floor staff and chooses which rhythm card he is going to attempt. He chants the rhythm and the rest of the class repeats the rhythm. If he articulates the rhythm correctly, he can toss his team's color beanbag to claim that space. If the beanbag is touching the chosen card once it's landed, that team wins the space and their beanbag stays on the card. The opposing team then takes a turn.  The goal is for a team to get three spaces in a row.

This amazing simple game is a big hit with the students. There is individual and group practice of the new rhythm concept and we're working with rhythms from their song literature. I can think of several variations I could use to adjust the level of difficulty. To make it more challenging, the individual player must tap or clap the rhythm and his team has to identify which card was played. Another challenge could be the individual player must identify which song the rhythm is extracted from. (I would post the song titles on the board for students to refer to.) To make the game easier and more immediately successful, the teacher could chant the rhythm, the class echoes and then the individual player identifies which rhythm was played.

There are so many age-appropriate songs that incorporate tika tika.

Some of my students' favorite ti-ka t-ka songs:

• Chicken on a Fencepost
• In and Out Those Dusty Bluebells
• Chanton Le Petit Moulin
• Paw Paw Patch 
• Tideo
• Goodnight, Sleeptight

Old House/Rhythm Review

I love the song Old House and I've been looking for something new to do with the song. It's a great la prep or practice song and I start by focusing on the call and response aspect of the song through use of a SMART Board presentation.

My SMART Board  lesson includes pages for students to fill in the boxes 

with just the melodic contour  shown with the words:

Additionally, there are pages for fill-in-the-box with the melodic patterns on the staff:

For a free download of my Old House SMART Board lesson, click here(Under the Free Downloads heading.)

This year I developed a game to review rhythms with my older students. 

A few years ago,  some of our wonderful ROCKE members (now our ROCKE board!) presented a session at our state music ed conference in which they played Jenga while singing Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. I loved the idea of using the Jenga pieces so I adapted their game for this song.

Beat passing/rhythm review reading game:

Students sit in a circle. A small wooden tool box is filled with 4 beat rhythm cards.

During the song the toolbox is passed on the beat. 

(We sing the "build it up" verse first so we can build with the Jenga pieces.)

The student holding the box on the last beat of the song chooses a rhythm card from the toolbox and chants and claps the rhythm. The other students repeat the rhythm. 

If the student performs the rhythm correctly, he or she recieves Jenga pieces to build the house in the center of the circle. 

I often tie the number of Jenga pieces to the difficulty of the card. A card with 16th note patterns or a syncopated rhythm is worth 6 Jenga pieces while a rhythm card containing quarter notes and eighth note is worth 4 Jenga pieces.

Bonus Jenga pieces can be earned if the student can answer a question about the rhythm.

"How many beats is syn-co-pa?"

"What rhythm is in the 3rd beat?"

"How many sounds is ti ti-ka?"

"Can you speak that rhythm again but change 1 beat?"

The students love playing the game and it's been a fun way to review rhythms and get back into the habit of making music!

1st Grade Singing Games Night

“During these early years music is an action art, as opposed to a performing or spectator art. Nurturing the love for music in a playful, informal atmosphere is essential. Play is the child’s work and is his most effective avenue for learning.”

-Jo Kirk

Kodály Specialist/Early Childhood Music Teacher

Mid August means back to school for many teachers and students. I am excited to begin a new school year of music making, moving, and creating! I'll begin the school year with students next Monday and I'm planning my first big school music event for the year: the 1st Grade Singing Games Family Night.

This year the 1st graders will begin their music, art, and PE experiences at my school. While I have taught kindergarteners in my school in previous years, weather or not the kindergardeners have music, art, and PE is completely a numbers game in my district and varies from school to school. (But that is a rant for another post!)

What this means for my 1st grade curriculum is this: from mid August to mid December I focus on kindergarten concepts and "steeping" the students in singing, moving, listening, and playing. The child's "work" is play and we need to get to "work" soaking up many wonderful songs and musical experiences to build upon!

For several years now, I've hosted a 1st Grade Singing Games Family Night in October in lieu of a concert or performance. This is an evening event somewhat similar to an "informance" but the parents and families are expected to participate. Here is a sample invitation:

Dear Parents and Family Members,

You are invited to participate in the 1^st Grade Singing Games Family Night in the gym on Tuesday, October 28^th from 6:30pm – 7:30pm.

Come sing, move, and play with your 1^st grader as you experience music games played during a 1^st grade music class. This is an active night where  1^st graders will teach their families the music activities they enjoy in class. Please dress in comfortable clothes appropriate for movement.  Join us in the  gym for music, movement, and fun!  I look forward to seeing you there.  

During this family night students help teach their families the songs games they've been learning in music class. Having the students assist in teaching gives them ownership of the music and games. We teach the gym-full of families a song and game and we all sing and play. Parents experience the joy of music making alongside their children and see firsthand the cooperation and social skills the children are learning. I take a little time after each song and game to briefly mention what musical skills we are working on with each specific song. 

Yes, the parents are willing to fly like birds "hop in the garden" with their children and frankly, I believe many adults relish the opportunity to be "child-like" again. (Just ask any of my Level 1 students from this past summer who all needed a turn to be in the center of the parachute for Snail Snail!)

Planning the songs and games for this night is a little tricky; the games need to be simple enough for a very large group of various age levels, (don't forget the younger and older siblings!) Here are some of the more successful songs and games I've used (along with musical and social skills I'm preparing):

Jim Along Josie

·      Steady beat

·      Unstructured movement (not in a circle or any other formation)

·      Listening for verbal cues (“skip Jim Along…”)

Here Comes a Bluebird

·      Steady beat

·      In-tune singing

·      Long sounds compared to short sounds (“Hey_____, diddle dum-a day, day, day”)

Old King Glory

·      Steady beat

·      High sounds compared to low sounds

·      Syncopation in rhythm of melody

Seven Jumps (Movement to recorded music)

·      Musical phrasing

·      Long sounds compared to short sounds

·      Instrument identification (violin)

Charlie Over the Ocean

·      Steady beat

·      In-tune singing with solo opportunity

The Grand Old Duke of York

·      Steady beat

·      Musical phrasing

·      Steady beat

·      Complex sequence of movement

Bow Wow Wow

·      Steady beat

·      Complex sequence of movement

·      Up and down melodic direction 

I receive more positive feedback from parents regarding this event then any other performance each year. What about you? What have you done to inform parents about the wonderful things going on in your music classroom?

Summertime, and the livin' is easy....(well, easier.)

It's the last couple of days of the school year and the lazy days of summer are almost here. The last day of music classes for my students include re-visiting favorite songs and games from the year. The final minutes of music class I like to read one last book before we all dive into summer break.

The book Summertime by George and Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward,  Dorothy Heyward, Mike Wimmer is a beautiful book worthy of those last minutes of class. The text is from the Porgy and Bess lullaby Summertime and the illustrations show the blissful summer days of an african-american family.

One could sing this song to the children while reading but I prefer to play the beautiful rich recording of Summertime by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Everyone should hear this recording, it's simply perfect.

I hope your Summertime is rich and rejuvenating!

Let's Move!

It's May! With the end of the school year quickly approaching,  I've noticed a restlessness school. The weather is consistently pleasant. 
The students want to be outside more often and are anxious to move around! 
Rather than fight it, I'm taking classes outside and we're singing, moving, and dancing.


Down the River is a favorite folk dance that my 4th graders have enjoyed. I learned this version of the song and dance from Marilyn Sousa at the Western Division OAKE Regional conference in 2010.

Formation: Long-ways set . (Double line of partners, facing each other)

A:   1-4   Lines move forward with 3 steps, bowing/curtseying on beat 4. (on the word "deep.")

       5-8   Lines move backward with 4 steps. (Dancers are back to starting place on "strong.")

A:   1-8   Repeat A above. (Bow/Curtsey on "time." Back to starting place on "along.)

B:    9-16 Foot couple at the bottom of set join hands and sashay up to the top. 

                 (start sashay on "down.")

               Simultaneously, all other couples take 1 step toward the bottom of the set. 

               Each succeeding foot couple sashays to the top on the word "down," 
                 for the remainder of the refrain. 

                 In each refrain, 6 couples will sahsay up the set.

                 *When I introduce this dance, I initially have only 2 couples sashay up during

                 the refrain, (on the first and 4th "Down the river.")

Music Class: Keyboard Rules

This week I'm beginning piano keyboards with 5th and 6th graders. Ever year we take the first few minutes of class discussing the "dos and don'ts" of how to treat the instruments. This time of year can be challenging when trying to maintain student attention. I wanted to change things up and see if I could communicate more effectively by doing something unexpected. At the suggestion of my colleague Holly, via her blog, I made a xtranormal video to use in the classroom. (You can read Holly's music ed blog here.)This short clip reviews a few basic rules during my keyboard unit.