Rhythm Pattern Practice and Assessment "I have/Who has"

I am always looking for ways to have my students practice audiating music.  My colleagues in general ed used the "I have...Who has..." game frequently as a tool for practicing vocabulary or math facts.  After being introduced to the game at an in-services and graduate reading classes, I realized that this game could translate to rhythm practice as well.  I have created several I Have/Who Has rhythm card sets and they have been a hit with the kids.  They get excited to play a game they have played in other settings, but with a musical twist.  They like having to focus their listening for their own specific pattern.  They are having fun, and I like to see them practicing rhythm identification and performance skills, without them realizing that they are doing it!

They have also been a great tool for assessment.  After playing the card game in a class or two, I can quickly use a four point rubric to assess students' rhythm reading ability in a performance setting, without having a separate assessment activity.

4-It is on the beat and the correct syllables are used.
3-It is mostly on the beat with a almost all of the syllables performed correcly.
2-The beat is not steady and most of the syllables are preformed incorrecly.
1-The student does not perform any syllables correctly.

A set of cards with quarter notes, eighth notes, and half notes (as well as quarter and half rests) are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, as well as a set of cards with ti-tika and tika-ti rhythm patterns for older, more advanced students.    I'm hoping to create a quarter note and eighth note set soon as well, because I'm thinking my first graders are ready for this new challenge.  They will eat it up!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amy-Martin-13

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!

Melody Mix Up For Recorder

I spent this evening creating a new recorder game for my recorder centers I plan on starting next week.  This new game, Melody Mix Up, allows students to practice playing B, A, and G melody patterns on recorders.  By mixing up cards, students can compose a variety of melodies, all practicing the same skill, while varying the simple melody played.  The game makes simple B A G practice much more interesting. 

Students have 16 prewritten melody cards to choose from, to create four and eight bar phrases to play on their recorders. Two playing card options are given, cards with just the melody notation on the staff, and a second set with pitches written below the notes on the staff. This activity is great for meeting the national standards for composing and arranging, and also provides a different venue for practicing simple melodies. This activity can be done by individual students, groups, or while students work in centers. Teacher directions, student directions, playing cards, and a B A G recorder fingering chart are included.

Add this game to your classroom recorder toolbox.  It is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

Mail Myself to You

Today, I began another hit Valentine's Day song with my first graders, Woody Guthrie's Mail Myself to You.  This great tune can be used year round, but I love the mailing theme around Valentine's Day.

There's a great beginning reader book, available to go with the song.  It doesn't match perfectly, but is nice to use in combination with teaching the song.  The more we can do to support literacy in correlation to music, the better!

I first sing the song to the students, having them listen to all the things I'm going to do.  After we list all the silly things, we brainstorm ways to show through movement the actions described (dabbing heads with glue, tying up in string, etc.)  I sing it again, with them moving to the actions described in the song.  Then, I teach them the chorus by rote, if they haven't already learned it from hearing the song sung a few times.

In future classes, I teach them the verses, and we add student lead movement to all parts for the final performance.

I was first introduced to this song when Peter and Mary Alice Amidon visited my school a few years ago for the first time as Artists in Residence.  (I highly recommend them, by the way!)  Mary Alice sang the song to the students.  It is on their recordings as well, and is a more gentle version that Woody Guthrie's.

Enjoy Pete Seeger performing Woody Guthrie's song for his children!

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.

Note Reading Treasure Hunt

I had seen this picture on pintrest, which sparked the following weekend project.  I thought it was a great idea, and I tweaked it for my students and to expand the possibilities.  

I purchased Voss Water bottles.  They were on sale for $1.00 at Giant this week.  It was meant to be :-) 

At Michaels, I found this craft bead mix.  The cool thing about it is that there are shaped beads.  Stars, elephants, dogs, hearts, etc.  This helped me take this project to the next level.

After enjoying my tasty Voss water, I washed the bottle and removed the stickers.

I made the hidden music note slips.  These are in the kit for this project on my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

I added the bead mix and the papers to the bottle, trying to spread out the location of the note tracker slips.

I added the fun label and using packing tape, sealed the bottle shut.  I then attempted to shake the bottle around to find the notes.  It will be a fun task for the kids.  It is not easy to find all of the notes right away. 

I am going to use these as part of my recorder centers.  While some students are working on the Note Reading Treasure Hunt, others will be using the Joytunes iPad  app, others will be testing or working in a small group with me, while others learn a non-recorder karate song as a group.  I love how these turned out!

Like my slips, signs, etc.?  Buy the kit on my TPT Store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Music-Note-Reading-Treasure-Hunt-Kit

Note Reading Music Practice

In my reading specialist coursework, we talked about starting pre-k readers out with learning environmental print, from signs and logos they come across on a day to day basis.  This conversation sparked this idea for this music reading lesson.  I created this worksheet to help students in recorder stations practice note reading independently.  I'm always coming up with things for my different groups to do while I am testing for Recorder Karate.  It is the students' job to spell the missing letters in the logo by writing them on the staff.  This should be a fun addition to my recorder station rotations! 

It is finished and for sale at my teachers pay teachers store: 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Environmental-Print-Note-Reading-Practice-Worksheet