Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Visit the Music Room

Somehow, summer always breezes by and the long list of to do's and ideas never gets completely accomplished, even with the best intentions.  Goldilock's transformation to a music and literature story has been at the top of my list for awhile and it is finally done for you TODAY!

This set includes directions, 7 rhythm ostinato cards, and a pictoral story to be incorporated along with the children's folk story, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." After learning each character's ostinato part,

it will be inserted into the story every time the character is mentioned. The story is written out and graphics are inserted every time an ostinato is to be chanted (ex. every time the wee little bear is named, the baby bear rhythm ostinato will be performed in the story.) Students can read the story or the teacher can. Ostinatos can be performed as a whole class or in small groups. Instrumental suggestions are also included for each character. Speech interjections for the story are also color coded for ease of students and the teacher.


Using half notes, quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth Notes, this activity is great for students who are familiar or may come across this book in their reading classes as well. Great cross curricular activity that is engaging for students and meets music standards while incorporating literacy as well. A final performance can be created and shared as well.

I hope your students enjoy bringing this beloved folktale to life, as much as I loved creating it! 

Collaborating with Carle

Hi All!  Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I've had a student teacher and haven't been teaching as much.  It's amazing how the kids inspire ideas.  When I'm not directly working with my kids and the standards, my creative juices aren't always flowing as well.

This cycle and next cycle (at least) we are doing a creative partnership across three enrichment areas: Music, Library, and Art.  It's pretty cool how it's all worked out so I thought I'd share with my blog world friends.

I have been working on some Eric Carle cross curricular lessons for my first grade students.  While talking with the art teacher, we realized that as part of her curriculum, she was teaching a lesson on Eric Carle's illustration art work to teach wet on wet watercolor technique.  We decided to partner together to make these things happen at the same time.  Then, we pulled in the librarian, who pulled out every Eric Carle book that has ever been published to decorate the library, and be the focus of an author study for her lessons this week.

So, within the last four days, the kids have learned about Eric Carle as an author and illustrator in library, painted wet on wet water color paper to create the wings of a paper butterfly they are going to create, and they have added rhythm add on patterns to The Very Hungry Caterpillar. 

Next cycle, they will learn more about Eric's books in library, finish their butterfly in art (and we will then photograph the butterfly on white paper) and they will add instruments to their Caterpillar performance.

As a culmination of this, the following week, I will take the photographs of their art work that I will take and print the butterfly's out.  The students will then draw a pathway for the butterfly to fly.  We will turn this into a book, and will use it as a vocal exploration warm up.

I just love when we can all work together for the good of kids.  I love it even more when these collaborations happen naturally, easily, or even coincidentally! 

Don't want to use the Hungry Caterpillar?  Check out my other Eric Carle music and literature sets instead!
Does Kangaroo Have a Mother Too?
Polar Bear, Polar Bear

Another Fun Children's Literature and Music Picture Book Connection

I've been loving coming back to some classic children's literature to bring it to life in my music classroom.  Since I just love stories, adding stories and music gets me super excited.

This newest set uses one of my favorite early literacy books, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  Using half note, quarter note, quarter rests, and eighth notes, this set adds four beat rhythm phrases after each "demand" of the mouse.  Students can read and perform the phrases on text only or using rhythm syllables after performing the text.

Each page has a four beat ostinato that has text correlating to the mouse's most recent demand.  These patterns can also be transferred to unpitched percussion or a xylophone set in pentatonic.

Happy "Kid-Litting!"

Children's Literature Sets

Those of you who follow my blog know that I looooove using children's literature in my classroom.  I end every first grade class with a song tale picture book.  However, I also love using children's literature as a springboard for improvisation, for rhythm activities, for melodic song incorporation, and for instrument playing.

I've just finished up two sets to share with you, to help you implement children's literature in your music classroom too.  (Note: Awesome classroom teachers who love to add music into their language arts lessons could also do this.  Gotta love music spreading outside of the music room and filling the school!)

The first set I finished goes with Eric Carle's Hungry Caterpillar book.

This set has four beat rhythm patterns to be chanted for each day's caterpillar dining.  Quarter and eighth notes are practiced, and an ostinato ensemble can even be performed.  Directions are included for making this rhythm activity a cross-curricular success.

The second set that is hot off the press goes with the book, "The Mitten."  In this set, I wrote a two measure sol mi la (and a few do's) melody for each character in the circular story.  Each page in the book has a melody to tag on to the prior melodies, making a longer and longer song.  Ideas for incorporating Orff instruments are also included.  Recordings of the song come along with the set, so classroom teachers who would like to use music in their language arts lessons can use the recordings to perform the songs with the book.  Three versions of slides are including, showing the text with a pictoral version of the solfege for the melodies, a version including just the text for each mini song, and a version including the notation for each mini song.  A copy of the sheet music is thrown in there too.  What more could you want or need? 

I can't wait to use these sets with my kids.  Hope they bring joy to your classroom as you share a love of music alongside a love of reading!

Another New Song Tale I Love

John Feirabend was one of the first people to introduce me to the concept of Song Tales (picture books or songs that tell a story with music).  During his first steps in music training, I learned of his suggestion to end every class with a song tale.  Since taking this class with him, I have done this with all my first grade classes with great success.

John has his own line of picture book Song Tales that I adore.  I've highlighted some of them on my blog before.  What is so neat about them is that he offers an annual contest to illustration/art students at Hartt where he teaches.  The winner is published.  When you are purchasing his books, you are helping a new illustrator get their start.

I own EVERY book in this collection.  I am very excited about the newest edition, "There's a Hole in my Bucket."  The pictures are beautiful and so very elementary appropriate.  If you don't already own the Feirabend recordings, you can also download a quality recording of the book online for FREE. 

Hope you find this gem to be of great use in your classroom as I do! 

Octapus's Garden Picture Book Find

Those who know me know that I LOOOOVE kids books, especially ones that are rhythmic and have implications for the music classroom, but most especially ones that coordinate with songs, be it folk, classical, or pop.

I just discovered a book I had never seen before, and I'm in love.  I end every single first grade class all year with a song tale picture book, to have them listening and to make sure they settle down before they leave the music room.  This one is my newest purchase and I can't wait to share it with the kids.  I know they will love it and ask to hear it again. 

Octapus's Garden (ISBN 9781471120077) is based off of the popular Beatles' tune.  I found it on Ebay and Amazon as well as several other smaller book distributor's websites. 

No matter what your stance is on popular music, I think it is important to teach our students to listen to music from multiple genres and to critique and evaluate all types of music.  They are the future music consumers of the world.  They need to learn to choose wisely.

Happy singing!

Scat Cards: Introducing Jazz to Elementary Students

I'll admit it.  I used to strongly dislike jazz.  I didn't understand it, and I thought it was boring.  However, as I learned more about it and listened to it in more educated ways, I learned to LOVE it. 

Part of my learning about jazz has come as a teacher, trying to share understanding and performance opportunities for my students in all types of genres.  5th grade has been the grade where I've shared jazz as part of teaching improvisation skills in our curriculum.

I just finished up an updated set for use with my kids next week, so I thought I'd share it with you.  The first item in the set is a powerpoint (coming to you via pdf upon download).   I created this to help my kids understand what scat is.  Scat is defined and explained first.  Then a kid friendly video example is given, via a youtube link.  Ella Fitzgerald and her contribution to the world of scat is introduced.  A link is included to her scatting.  Modern scat is referenced and a link to Bobby McFerrin is shared.  Picture book suggestions are also given for incorporated.

The second part of the set is my scat card set.  Cards are provided with common scat syllables on them for students to manipulate and arrange an order of a scat piece for group performance.  Once students have worked with the syllables and technique, they can then attempt to scat in pentatonic, solo. 

Hope this gets your kids excited about jazz.  It never fails, my kids always surprise me with how excited they are to scat, and how willing they are to try improvisation.

Every Little Thing: Song Picture Book Resource

I've added another wonderful picture book to my library of song picture books.  Based on the song, "Three Little Birds," by Bob Marley, Cedella Marley's adaptation is a beautifully illustrated version of the popular song.  With a positive message and a catchy tune, this book is sure to be a listening hit for primary students!

I'm in Love with a Big Blue Frog

It is pretty obvious to all who know me that I love children's books as a teaching tool in the music classroom.  I got some great new books in and I want to share them with you.

Today, I discovered "I'm in Love with a Big Blue Frog," as performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary.

This adorable book also has a beautiful message hidden in it's clever text and catchy tune.  I can't wait to use this as a closer with my primary students this fall!

John Denver for Kids

I was reminded this week that I haven't shared some of my favorite musical stories on the blog.  There is a fabulous series of books set to match songs by John Denver.  They come with recordings of his performances of the song tales as well.  These are some of my favorite books to end 1st grade classes with.  Though Country Roads and Grandma's Feather Bed are my favorite two, Sunshine on my Shoulders and Ancient Rhymes are also great. 

These great Song Tales are a must for any music or classroom teacher's collection!

 

New Picture Book in my Repertoire: Coat of Many Colors

I was looking for a picture book from my library to end this week's first grade classes with.  I almost always end my 1st grade music classes with a picture book song to calm everyone down from the moving, shaking, singing, and playing we have been doing.  They love it and look forward to which song tale they will hear each class.

I found a book I've had on my shelf, but never used.  It is called "Coat of Many Colors" by Dolly Parton and Judith Sutton.  The song by the same title is available for download on iTunes.

The message of the song is beautiful!  It talks about being rich in love and family, not in material things.  I can't wait to share it with my little tikes tomorrow!  Enjoy this gem!

When I First Came To This Land

A picture book that I just love is: When I First Came to This Land, by Harriet Ziefert and Simms Taback. 

I use this book with my 5th graders to encourage writing in the music room.  We learn the song, via the book, and practicing singing it, taking note of the rhyme scheme used.  We also listen to several recordings of the song and compare and contrast the versions.  Lastly, we use the book as a mentor text to model writing our own verses.  I use the worksheet below:

This worksheet is simple, but is a free download at my TpT store, if it is a time saver for you.

We share our verses, and compile a list of our favorites to create an "add-on" version of the song.  The kids enjoy coming up with whacky verses that work with the rhyme scheme.  They usually perform this song with great energy and vocal clarity.

This wonderful picture book is also great to use as a listening closer with primary students.  Sing the song or share a recording of the song with the students along with the picture book, and have them listen to quality singing as a calming closer to your lesson.

B A G Recorder Fingering Chart Composition

Just created another new station for my recorder groups.  This is a BAG composition activity.  Students are given a worksheet and a B-A-G fingering chart.  They must color the fingering for 4 recorders per line, with each recorder being worth one beat.  After writing the song, they must title it, and practice playing it.  I'm excited to add this to my recorder cycles next week!

This station is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Valentine's Day Preparations

As February looms, I once again realized last week that I need to start mixing in some Valentine's Day Songs and Activities.  Today, I started one of my favorite Valentine's Day activities (and Valentine's Day isn't a holiday I do up too much).  Each year, I treasure hearing my second graders learn to sing the song, "I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck."  They just LOOOOVE it and the final product is so sweet. 

I start out introducing the song by asking them who they might love in a way that is not mushy gushy love.  We talk about parents, grandparents, friends, family, and teachers.  Then, I share with them this cool picture book rendition of the song.  During the first class, we learn the "doodle oodle oodle" part, and add jazz hands on this section to follow the contour of the melody for that part.  Over the next few class periods we learn the verses and chorus for the entire song.  We also listen to recordings of the song by Dan Zanes, adding movement.  I always encourage my kids to sing this song to someone important in their lives to make their Valentine's Day special.