Creative Clutter and Music

  Performances - I decided that 6 grade level performances per year is too much.  (I have always done one live performance per grade each year.) During the pandemic years I was able to send video clips of classroom performances and activities to parents through Schoology, the school Youtube page and Class Dojo.  While that was a different kind of stress (well learning curve) it was less pressure than a live grade level performances. My principal was a bit taken back when I told him that from here forward this is my plan: Kindergarten - last day of school songs for parents during the school day First Grade - annual Wild West Program (because until someone says I can't, I LOVE this one) in April Second Grade - video performance sent to parents in late March with songs using their homemade instrument projects Third Grade - World Music Performance in May Fourth Grade - December Christmas Musical  Fifth Grade - video class recordings sent to parents throughout the year t...

It truly is invaluable to continue to perform as an adult when teaching music. My summer playing/singing with the Pueblo Municipal Band on Sundays in the summer and our annual Christmas Concert remind me of my passion for music and why it is so important for children to learn and be exposed to quality music.  Because it is the director, Mark Emery's, favorite and I love to sing it, please enjoy a video of myself performing Merry Christmas Darling.

Reflecting on the Holiday rush.... Kindergarten - Celebrations Hannukah, Kwaanza and Christmas First Grade - Christmas Around the World (with First Grade Teachers) Second Grade - Nutcracker Ballet (We attend the week before Christmas, do a written reflection and do movement, art and music activities) Third Grade - Holidays Around the World (Hannukah, Kwaanza, Christmas, La Posada, Diwali, and then in January Chinese New Year) Fourth Grade - Holiday Musical (this year Christmas at the O.K. Corral from Plank Road Publishing) Fifth Grade - Precorder Arranging Project (see previous post) Resources used: All Around the World Story of Hannukah (3rd grade) Kwaanza Kwaanza (Sesame Street) Diwali Las Posadas Santa Lucia Santa Lucia How to Draw A Nutcracker Trepak Percussion Trepak Boomwhackers Waltz of the Flowers percussion December Songs We LOVE Reindeer Pokey Christmas, If You're A Kid Crazy Santa - Just Dance Little Snowflake (We LOVE to sing this one) Las ...

So... this was my new idea for addressing Colorado Music Standard 2. Creation of Music.  The 5th Grade Grade Level Expectation is for students to compose, improvise, and arrange melody with rhythmic accompaniment.  I use Precorders from Suzuki Music.  The precorder allows for earlier success than the recorder, with raised finger holes, side markings for hand placement, and a warmer tone with less squeaking.  5th Grade students had been working through Recorder Karate at their own pace.  Following Thanksgiving Break we worked on some Holiday tunes I gathered.  For their arrangement project students chose groups, then a song.  Students were given a worksheet with the rubric.  Instructions included that within their performance two people must play the precorder, the 3rd and 4th student could sing, dance, or play a rhythm instrument. Several students started asking other questions.  In the end I had students play the piano, bring and play a...

First Grade Favorite Holiday Song graphing music lesson. We sang popular Christmas songs and the students made Holiday Song Books. The songbooks contained 11 songs. (NEXT YEAR I WILL MAKE A BOOK WITH 6 SONGS.) During the next lesson students marked their favorite song with a sticker. As a class we looked at the results, tallied and discussed them.  The students then transferred the results to their own paper and wrote their interpretations compared to their own favorite. On the worksheet, I added a box to draw themselves sharing music with someone. The students loved this!

We were wrapping up our unit on Peter and the Wolf, and telling stories with music.  The students loved having the opportunity for a little more free exploring in the music room!!  Peter and the Wolf marching game on the iPad.  Like memory except the students have to find the instrument and character match.   The culminating activity accompanying Peter and the Wolf is to add a character to the story, choose an instrument to represent it, explain why (hopefully in musical terms) and draw the character.  Many students came into class with their idea ready and really enjoyed the creativity of this project!  I’ll post some results separately.  Oh my goodness!  I have been reading and following Freirbands approach and ideas and am so excited to incorporate them into my classroom.  This center was titled no talking!  Students could free play anything with the stuffed animals but they could not use their speaking voices, only their singi...

I love when student inquiries lead to great discoveries and lessons!! Discussing folk songs with my 3rd graders led us to the Fisher Price Record Player that was mine as a little person, and I have it in the classroom now.  The students could not believe that there was no plug, no batteries and no recording device inside the plastic player.  We then went on to discuss record players.  They were so excited to see how it worked, ask a million questions and dance to my mothers records from the 60s!!