Rondo Sandwich

I just finished this fun activity to teach Rondo.  I do this activity with first grade students each year to teach RONDO, but I recreated the graphics and added the notation to make it snazzier than my hand drawn set from college.

These sandwich pieces can be put together to create a Rondo Sandwich.

First, teach the students how to sing the melodies on each of the sandwich pieces (all melodies use Sol, Mi, or La).  Hand out sandwich pieces to the students. Every other student should have a piece of bread (thus the rondo form).

Then, the class will create a sandwich in the middle of the room. My students sit in a circle, so we make the sandwich in the middle. When it is each student’s turn to sing their ingredient, have them sing it and place it on top of the sandwich being made in the middle of the class. After creating our sandwich, we discuss how making a sandwich is like rondo form, sharing how the bread could be called “A” and each ingredient gets a different alternating letter. You may wish to label this on the board with my “form cards” that are available for download in my teachers pay teachers store. If you have time, mix up the ingredients and have students create another sandwich. Great form and solfege reading/performing activity!

Happy Sandwich Singing!

Hallelujah Performance

One of my students' parents uploaded a recording of our performance of Hallelujah at our concert earlier this month.  I was so please with their performance and the kids just LOOOOVED doing this piece! Hopefully, you enjoy hearing them as much as they enjoyed performing!

Hallelujah

Garage Band Rap Projects Complete

The 6th grade Garage Band project that I shared in an earlier post is complete.  I have uploaded the lyric writing template I give my students as well as the grading rubric I use for free download on my Teachers Pay Teachers website. 

Check out some of the kids' final projects below:

A rap about CANDY

A rap about BASEBALL

A rap about INTERGALACTIC MUSIC

A rap about THE BEACH

A rap about our TOWN

BAGE Bubble Gum Recorder Stations

I just finished my latest round of recorder stations, since this next cycle, I have students beginning to test for their "green belts."  So, I am now adding low E into the mix!

This kit is available in my teachers pay teachers store, and contains four different BAGE recorder activities for your students. I use them as part of my Recorder Karate Stations, while I am testing other students.These activities could also be used for whole class learning.  They are ready to print and go!  It usually takes me two, 40 minute periods to get each of the 5 groups through the 4 activity stations plus a testing with teacher station.



Included is:
Color By Note: A Bubble Gum Dispenser worksheet, for your students to color. Each piece of the picture has a B, A, G, or E on it. Students are given directions to color each pitch a specific color. This activity focuses on the notes we are isolating in our recorder playing.

Bubble Gum Fill in the Blank Composition: Students are given the framework for a simple BAGE melody. The repetitive part is already composed for them. They must complete a melody for the missing measures, using BAGE. They must use the given rhythm. They notate their melody with some guidance and practice performing it.

Partner Evaluation: Students have a checklist and provide each other 1 or 2 positive comments and 1 or 2 constructive comments on the song they are working on, letting them know what blows them away about their partner's playing, and feedback that is not intended to "burst their bubble."

Triple Memory Match Up: In this station, students play a memory type game. However, this game requires students to match three cards to have a winning match. The three matching cards must be the pitch notated, the letter name, and the recorder fingering. There are 12 cards for the game, with a set for B, A, G, and E.

Hope your kids like these activities as much as mine have.  Happy recorder playing!

Form Circles: Free for a Limited Time

This week, I am offering my new Form Circle Cards for FREE!  Download them from my teachers pay teachers store for free for a limited time. 

These cards can be cut out and laminated.  I attached sticky magnets to the back of them.  Then, I use them on the board, for whole class form identification of songs we are singing, dancing to, performing, or listening to.

Included also, are small form circle cards.  I print these and put them in small plastic baggies for use in individual or small group form identification.  They are great for informal and formal assessment.  Students are great at identifying the form, when given guidance and opportunities to practice.

Enjoy!

Hollywood Themed Concert

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  It was concert week, plus I was finishing a grad class, so life had a way of getting away from me.

My two choirs and Orff ensemble performed their annual concert this week.  All of the music was selected from television or movies, be it old or more recent.  The repertoire range was broad, consisting of folk tunes, show tunes, and world music.  We sang in major, minor, and the modes and had pieces that were of duple, triple, and mixed meter. 

I decorated the lobby with movie displays donated by our local movie theater.

I added hollywood stars to our floor tiles, with names of the 5th and 6th grade teachers, specialists, office staff, and principal.

I even rolled out the red carpet for the students' entrance.

 

We performed the following:

Orff Ensemble:
Russian Dance: Tschaikovsky/Arr. Doug Edwards
Call Me Maybe? : Jepsen and Wright/Arr. Martin
The Theme Song from the Office:  Arr. Martin
Don't Worry, Be Happy: McFerrin/Arr Doug Edwards

5th Grade Chorus:
Dig a Little Deeper from the Princess and the Frog: Newman/Arr. Brymer
Shenandoah: Arr. Dilworth
Fiddler on the Roof Medley: Harnick and Bock/Arr. Gallina
The Inch Worm from Hans Christian Andersen: Loesser/Arr. Huff
Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) From the World Cup: Shakira, Mahola, Hill, Victor, Paul, and Kojidie/Arr. Brymer

6th Grade Chorus:
Seize the Day from Newsies: Feldman and Menken/Arr. Emerson
Shady Grove: Arr. Cary Miller (We used the fiddle part with this and it was lovely!!)
Turn the World Around from the Muppets; Belafonte and Freedman/Arr. Emerson
All You Need is Love: Lennon and McCartney/Arr. Billingsley
Hallelujah: Cohen/Arr. Emerson (The kids self-selected this one...It was gorgeous!  They LOVED it!)
Touch the Sky from Brave: Madel and Andrews/Arr. Huff (We also had a fiddle on this one!)

Combined Choirs:
So Long, Farewell from the Sound of Music

It was a great night of fun music making.