PLEASE RESPOND! Program Profiles...

I am conducting a little survey/study to learn how other elementary music programs do their thang.

Please comment with:
-your school's grade levels and student enrollment
     Jordan Elementary School K-4, Jordan Middle School 5-8 (I teach a 5th grade music class every day in the middle school that puts my schedule into district overload.  K-5 enrollment of 750.

-your school's annual music budget (including any other monies you have access to)
     $500.00 every year for all accompanists, supplies, and instruments.  This year I was approved to purchase a lovely new piano for the classroom and request additional funds for a concert accompanist.

-your daily schedule (including number of classes per week)
     Thirty 50-minute classes per week.
7:20- contract hours begin
8:20-9:10- 2nd grade
9:10-10:00- 3rd grade
10:00-10:50- 4th grade
10:50-11:40- 1st grade
11:40-12:10- lunch
12:10-1:00- Kindergarten.  FOR 50 MINUTES!
1:00-2:10- prep and travel time
2:10-3:00- 5th grade
3:20- contract time ends

-the number of instructors in your elementary and district music department
     4 total instructors (3.7 F.T.E.)
1. K-5 General Music
2. 6-7 Choir, 6-7 Band, Lessons (part time)
3. 8-12 Choir
4. 8-12 Band
     

-the performances you give per year.
     Traditionally, one winter/Christmas concert for K-1-2 and one for 3-4 given in the high school auditorium.  Once concert every semester for 5th grade students.  I would like this to break away from tradition and have the freedom to change things up every year.

It will be great to read about your programs!  Please respond.
-MP.

Budget!

I don't really know how budget works at a normal school.  I don't have a budget here, but can just ask for things and hope that I can get them.  So, I have a list of things that I'm going to ask for, due pretty soon, for my General Music classroom (grades K-6). Let me give you a brief rundown of the resources I have in my room, and maybe you can help me by suggesting things I should get.

I have:
a piano
a set of Orff instruments (2 bass, 6 alto/tenor, 4 glocks)
a few random percussion instruments (agogo, tambourines, hand drums, triangles, stupid gourd cabasa things)
about 10-12 big djembe and double headed African drums, in pretty beat up shape, but still fine.
a bunch of chairs
a bunch of floor pillows
a projector and screen (new as of a few weeks ago!!!)
a white board (not a fancy one... just the dry erase kind)
a set of boomwhackers
a set of fairly current textbooks for all grades K-8
more than a classroom set of soprano recorders
random resource books, but nothing very current or legal copies...
access to lots of choral music scores



That's about it.  Top of my list so far is:
rhythm sticks
woodblocks
what other simple percussion would you want?

They said I could dream, so I'm also asking for a smartboard and a doc-cam.
What important resource books, instruments, furniture, posters, would you ask for if you could?
(Nicole, help me out here!)

Help! iPod Touch in the K-5 Music Classroom

My district's music department is starting an iPod Touch pilot program in which teachers will be given 8-10 iPod Touches per classroom to explore the possibilities. In order to participate, I have to submit a proposal detailing some of the plans I have for this new technology. I have some ideas, but they are pretty elementary in concept (no pun intended). I'm hoping that you smart teachers will be able to offer advice on the following questions:

1. Have you experienced, or do you know of, any good apps that would would be good for elementary music?

2. I have class sizes anywhere from 21-35 students, but would only get 8-10 iPods. How would you distribute or share these over the course of a class period?

3. How would you use this technology if you had it? What subject matter, or types of lessons would you use this for?

4. One of my biggest concerns is that it would be more of a behavior management nightmare (checking email, downloading and playing games, etc.) than an educational tool. Any suggestions for this?

Christmas Programs

Hi Colleagues,
My first post!  I've been reading and trying many of your ideas.  Thanks for the help!
I'd love to vent a little bit about Christmas programs.  Because I only see my kids once a week, it becomes so hard to do a seasonally themed program because we have to start the music SO early (I don't want to be singing Christmas music in October!).  We are getting started pretty late on Christmas stuff (this week!), but I hope to put a practice packet together, and classroom teachers said they'd be willing to help me by practicing at other times of the week.

Kindergartners, 1st and 2nd graders will share the stage on Thursday, December 16th in Jordan.  It's been very crowded in there before, so this year the administration has decided to host Kindergarten and their families for a performance at 5:30, 1st graders at 6:15, and 2nd graders at 7:00.  Basically there are not enough seats for families to share a space with three grade levels.

Kindergarten
Suite of Good Morning Songs (It's Snowing, I'm a Little Snowflake, 5 Little Snowmen, and Frere Jacques)
One K class plays jingle bells along with Frere Jacques
Penguin Polka
One K class dresses like penguins
Rudolph Saves Christmas (thanks Nicole Farley, for these two resources!)
One K class holds up pictures of our characters: Rudolph, children, and storm clouds
Snowpants
One K class wears outside clothing
Christmas Clock
One K class helps keep beat with rhythm instruments
Let Your Light Shine Over the World

1st Grade
Suite of Good Morning Songs (It's Snowing, I'm a Little Snowflake, O Mister Snow)
One 1st class plays jingle bells
Jingle, the Happy Bell
One 1st class plays jingle bells
Jingle Bells
One 1st class introduces long and short sounds with movement- dance.
North Winds Blow
One 1st class talks about hibernating animals, recites facts/poem?
Goodnight Irene
Let Your Light Shine Over the World

2nd Grade
Here We Come A-Wassailing
One 2nd class plays rhythm sticks and triangle
Yuki (Snow)
One 2nd class plays coconut shells for horse hooves
Over the River and Through the Woods
One 2nd class dresses up like detectives
There's Someone in the Chimney
Russian Dance (from the Nutcracker)
One 2nd class holds up homemade snowflakes and/or paper stars, demonstrating song's form.
Snowflake Carol
One 2nd class teaches sign language for "children," "teacher," "parent," "light"
Let Your Light Shine Over the World


Now I'm looking for some transition material to go between some of the songs that students can be a part of- special skits that have worked or easy poems to split up and recite.  I hopefully will have small groups of students introduce each song or grouping of song.

Wanted Subjects:
-Holidays with family
-Snow
-Penguins
-Animals hibernating for the winter

PARTNER SONG DISCOVERY

I am such a nerd, but I just spent 30 minutes of my prep recording these songs on my clavinova and singing them with the piano and found all these great combinations of partner songs for 16th notes and pentatonic pitch set! I think this is the coolest thing ever!!!

No one's in the house but Dinah + Ding Dong Diggi Diggi Dong (2 times)

A section of Dinah + A section of Rocky Mountain
B section of Dinah + Kansas Boys

A section of Dinah + Ding Dong Diggi Diggi Dong (1 time)
B section of Dinah + Kansas Boys

Ding Dong Diggi Diggi Dong (2 times) + Rocky Mountain (whole thing)
Ding Dong Diggi Diggi Dong + Kansas Boys (2 times)

These are such simple folk songs and it's so cool that they combine together so well! If all of this is gibberish to you because you don't know the songs, let me know and I'll work on trying to scan the music or something! It's so nice to have a place where I can share my nerdy music teacher enthusiasm!

Non-Verbal Signs

Here's a link from my friend Courtney.  It seems like a long article... but skim through it, and you can find some cool ideas for using different hand signals for asking questions vs. offering answers, etc... Maybe a little too complicated for my 1st and 2nd graders... but those of you with older kids might find it helpful. :)


http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/sign_language.htm

Novelty = Learning

I've been noticing how the "novel" items allow and help students focus on the more "academic" items.  I've been working to find one "novelty piece" to finish up each class with, and it has definitely been paying off!  The students leave class with a really high energy and look forward to that time at the end when we'll be doing something special.

It's been most exciting when one of the novelty items can double as a creative way of spicing up a learning objective.  My favorite lately is the "Clothespin Bag".  I think it's probably an old concept, but it's new to me and I'm loving it!  Whenever I have a piece that I really want the students to internalize/memorize (either to add to their song repertoire or to teach a specific concept later), I pull out the clothespin bags.

I bought some colored washclothes, sewed them together, and put them on this "thing" (the blue stand above) that I found on the give-away table at school.  Each bag has a different collection of clothespins in it...."Sing like...", "move like...", "walk like...", "dance like...", "act like...", etc.  I'm planning to use the movement pins with Pre-K through 1st Grade as they're learning how to move conscientiously, but the "sing like" has been particularly successful with the older grades.

Some examples: pirate, snake, queen, la la, cowboy, girls only, guys only, opera singer, hum, lip sync, rap, monotone, crying, laughing, sneezy, sleepy, hyper, robot, grizzly bear, etc.

It's one of those "YES!" reactions when I bring it out, and each kid wants a turn to pick a clothespin out of the bag.  Before they know it, they've sung (usually echoing works best) the same song 8-10 times, and have it completely memorized.  AND, it provides an avenue for dramatization!

Best of all: I've never made it through a "bag" session without belly laughing yet.  It's been awesome to see the energy, excitement, and abandonment that these kids "perform" with.  Love my job!

Favorite Resources

While we're talking about books, what are you favorite book, digital, or online resources?  What are books that you use every day or every week when planning lessons?

Game books?
Song books?
Orff arrangements?
Movement activities?
Reproducible pages?
Favorite textbooks, if possible...?

I've started a list of some websites over on the right side bar, just from a random list of my own, but please tell us more.

Story Books in Music Class

Given our limited resources here at Woodstock, Liz and I have been making good use of our nice children's library for visuals and stories  (We don't have a projector or a smartboard... please appreciate the ones that you do have!) :)  Here is another spreadsheet to make a list of useful picture books in the music classroom.

Please put:
Title

• Author/Illustrator
• Musical concept that the book can help
• Suggested or possible activities in music class

It's the same set up as the GoogleDoc for the movement/listening activity page.  Please access it here!

(Hey, Class of '08, remember those books we gave to Dr. Berger? I don't remember all the titles!)

Lord, give me STAMINA.

It's the end of the first day of school and I'm at home g-chatting with my long-distance boyfriend instead of having our daily phone call. Why? Because my voice is completely shot.

I had been longing for the moment my first class of 5th graders (every single one a familiar and enthusiastic face from the year before) stepped foot in my classroom after a long summer without kid interactions. I was so excited that before I new it, my greetings were louder, my singing and dancing were distractedly under-supported, and my instructions/explanations became longer to add on-the-spot jokes that seemed too cleaver to pass-up. 1.5 hours later and 3 classes down, my "smart-ones mac n' cheese" was ready to be microwaved and all I wanted was a nap and a throat losenge.

I tried to plan accordingly. I knew I was out of the habit of singing in my middle range ALL day long, while at the same time dancing, and dealing with loud rambunctious behaviors that come out of nowhere. I was very intentional about focusing on movement, and trying to have as much non-verbal "doing" and "playing" as possible. But even with the one song I planned, and teaching chants and things in such a way that students wouldn't need to rely on my voice and could take over, it was still just plain exhausting.

And honestly, would it really have been better to sit there and talk about my "expectations" and "what do we want to get out of the year?" and "let's map out our class contract... how do we want music class to feel?" That would have been a lot of talking on my part, too!

I know I also need to get back into those better school-year habbits: more water, less coffee (caffinated tea instead), lots of sleep, exercising, good foods, etc. But in the fast-paced "flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" climate that IS the beginning of the school year, how do you honestly prioritize all that?!

So... I'd LOVE tips/suggestions. Even if all anybody says is "yeah... that's just life. suck it up."

WebQuests

Want to make your media specialist giddy with delight? Do a WebQuest! At least, my media specialist was excited :)

According to Netnet.org, a WebQuest is: an inquiry-oriented activity in which most or all of the information used by students is online. By providing links necessary to complete the quest, the student is able to focus on the material rather than spend time looking for it.

I just spent the better part of an afternoon creating a Webquest on the instruments of the orchestra, based on Arts Alive Instrument Lab.

Disclaimer: The formatting issues are a little extreme, but I can't figure out how to attach documents on this blog. If you'd like a copy, I'll email you the pdf.

Has anyone else created, or can you recommend WebQuests for elementary kids?

Musical Opposites

My 1st/2nd grade class has been learning about forte/piano, fast/slow, and high/low over the past few weeks.  Forte/piano and fast/slow went really well.  We've only spent 2 periods on high/low, but I'm confused because some of them just really don't seem to get it...  I think 50% is maybe English miscommnication somewhere, and 50% is maybe that 1st graders can get easily confused.  But it's possible that I'm missing a step somewhere too.  Any help?

Here's what I've done:

• Today we read an awesome book (thanks, Liz!) that had pictures and voices of different animals.  After I read, we talked about which animals spoke in high voices, and which spoke in low.
• We've spoken chants in high and low voices.
• We've sung in high and low voices. (Ok, not too much)
• We've looked at pictures of different things (tigers, birds, man, woman, drum, flute, etc), made the sounds, and put them on "high" posters and "low" posters.
• We've put our hands on our heads for high, and hands on our laps for low, while listening to very obvious low and high sounds on the piano.
• We've danced around, moving high and low, listening to an obvious recording of high and low sounds.

After thinking through this now, I think most of them get it.  But any help for the ones who are still a little clueless?  At least they're cute. :)

--Kate

Movement and Folk Dance

We've talked a little bit about Eurhythmics so far, but I would like to expand our conversation into other areas of movement, including folk dance.

Due to some complications in the specialist schedule at my school, I have one 1st grade class that comes to music for an extra hour each week, and in an effort to keep them from getting to far ahead, I am creating a music-related curriculum of which I hope that folk dance can play a significant role. I am worried about the developmental limitations of 1st graders when it comes to choreography, but I believe I have found a few good things I can do with them.

Phyllis Weikart has put out a lot of material on movement. Much of what I have seen is for 3-7 years old, but she also has a large collection of dances in a book called Teaching Movement and Dance: A Sequential Approach to Rhythmic Movement. As the title suggests, the dances are categorized by developmental levels, and includes several chapters on the pedagogy of movement-based learning. These books tend to freak me out because of all the diagrams for the choreography, but I found these diagrams easy to read, and there are also written instructions for the movement. There are a total of 9 CDs that must be purchased separately, and they are very well done.

Another source I am hoping to acquire is Move It! Expressive Moments with Classical Music by John Feierabend. The package includes two DVDs, a guidebook, and a CD, with a total of 20 selections from classical music. I read somewhere that all the movement was choreographed by a reputable dance company, but I can't find that info now. There are no verbal instructions on the DVD, so is more friendly for our visual learners.

I would like to find (read: borrow and make copies of, because I have no budget) some resources with authentic folk dances. Anyone have anything worth sharing? I'll buy you a drink!

Ready, Set, Discuss!

-Stephanie

Listening and Movement Activities

I have a hard time coming up with musical works off the top of my head that work well for teaching musical concepts.  Anyone else?  Liz Knapp and I have started a list of pieces we've been using so far this year for listening (journaling) and movement activies, and I have made a GoogleDoc spreadsheet.

Anyone who has this URL is able to view and edit the spreadsheet.  Hopefully random people on the internet won't find it and mess around with it--I'll try to keep a back up copy periodically.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AqYwseSAJ0MAdDlUb2Y5Ym5faGpORk9JWWg2SWllalE&hl=en&authkey=CLzFuJsF

The categories are:

• Title of Work
• Composer/Arranger
• Where the recording can be found
• Does it work for a listening activity?
• Does it work for a movement activity?
• What are the musical concepts highlighted in this piece? (rhythmic ostinato? dynamic contrast? tempo changes?)

Feel free to add more categories if you think there should be more.

Please add information and then click File--->Save.

Pitch Matching

What are favorite songs, game-songs, exercises, etc. that you like to use to check/teach pitch matching, and/or high voice?

A couple that I have used so far this year that have worked well are:

• The "Arioso Chair"--a fancily decorated, "magical" chair that when you sit in it, you can only sing. My pre-k/kindergarten class ate it up.

• "Oh my, no more pie"-- a long song with lots of words that works well for echoing.  It just repeats Mi-Do-La,  over and over.

• And the classic "Yoo-hoo, Molly" on sol-mi.

I'd like to hear your favorites. :)