We survived!

We have made it through almost the first half of the school year.  Ahhhhhh, Christmas break is finally here. Most teachers, especially elementary know how crazy the day before a holiday break is.  The kids are excited it's the week of Christmas, classroom parties, sugar highs, etc.....

Today lived up to the hype.  Most teachers were walking around in a sugar-induced stupor with a glazed expression in their eyes this afternoon. I'm sure Excedrin stock rose significantly today.

What adds insult to injury is teachers have a full day of in-service tomorrow.  I'm going to go in with the best, most productive attitude I can muster, but it's going to take everything I have to be productive and make it to 2:30.

One thing I do love about the final day before Christmas break is my 1st grade teachers request a carol time. All 70ish 1st graders join together and we just sing our hearts out. 6 years ago, our secretary, who loved music was undergoing chemotherapy in Minnesota and we called her while we were singing and sang to her. Needless to say we were all in tears including Cheryl over the phone. I wish there was a happy end to Cheryl's battle, but that is a memory that I will always cherish.  It's also one of the reasons I can't say no to caroling with the 1st grade teachers, so they can probably count on that in their lesson plans each year.

Merry Christmas and I'll be blogging in the new year.

Kindergarten Conductors

This absolutely made my day.

Kindergarten spends their morning recess in the gym since there are so many 1st-5th graders out before school.  The teachers take turns on recess duty, and this video was captured by Mrs. Diser this morning.

Apparently, they do pay attention in music class.  Enjoy.

Way Behind #3

I'm almost caught up.  This next post is just a fun one.  My 5th grade band prepared and played 3 songs for their first concert.  They played "Good King Wenceslas", "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", and "Jingle Bells".  The first two are "just" exercises out of their lesson books.  I put the word just in quotes, as yes, it is an exercise, but we do kind of arrange them differently to make them concert appropriate.  Jingle Bells, however, is in their lesson books, but it is arranged for concert bands.  Students are learning separate parts and listening to each other and learning to play like a real ensemble.  It is a huge accomplishment for them to pull these songs off for a concert.  Some of them have only had an instrument in their hands since the beginning of September.  Our concert was Sunday December 6, so most have literally been playing for 3 months.  

They did a wonderful job and I was very proud of them.  We are already preparing for our spring concert where we will play all sheet music and nothing will be from their books.  They are super excited.  Parents often comment on the difference from their first concert to the spring.  The amount of growth they make this first year makes those beginning squeaks and sqwaks totally worth it.  I'm already taking less Excedrin Migraine pills.  :)

Here are two pictures that I took of my band one day for our yearbook.  Getting them to sit still for a formal picture is next to impossible, but we had no problem coming up with the fun poses.

This is what they look like most days, so this is very accurate.

 

I'd also like to finish this post, with what's happening now that the concert is over.  The elementary has been invited by the Iowa Wild Hockey team out of Des Moines, IA to sing "God Bless America" for the opening of one of their home games in March.  After some serious consideration, I said yes and opened it up to all 450 students whoever signed up.  I've ended up with 50 great students and we've started our rehearsals.  We are meeting once or twice a month on Wednesday mornings at 7:30.  That is quite a commitment on their parent's parts.  I haven't snapped a picture of them all in my room, but took a quick picture yesterday of them all trying to gather their coats and backpacks outside my hall. 

It's a lot of bodies to sort through their stuff and get where they need to go.

As we get closer I will record a rehearsal, and then I hopefully can upload the performance video as well.

Way Behind #2

Now that I've caught up with Halloween, it's time to move on to November.

As long as I've taught elementary, I have always started Christmas concert songs on the first Monday in November.  It is just the right amount of time to prepare as our concerts are usually at the beginning of December.

Due to the fact that our elementary is on a 6-day cycle, I work very hard to make sure my classes are even in what they've done and when we transition to a new topic.  For example, on Friday Oct. 30 I was going to have one class of 2nd grade and the rest would fall in November.  That day they sang both Halloween songs and listened to their Christmas concert songs on the same day.  It was a very odd school day.  The only thing I don't like about this setup is that I have no time to do any Thanksgiving-related music or activities.

November seems to be all concert prep.  At the beginning it's mostly memorizing and how to pronounce the Latin words or assigning speaking parts.  As the month continues we begin to work on the details, adding movements, small group singers etc.  The month of November FLIES!!!!

Throw in me gone a day to a music conference, Thanksgiving, and our concert is here.

Crazy!

So back to the conference........

One of my favorite days in November is IMEA (Iowa Music Educators' Association).  It is my favorite professional day ever!  The majority of music teachers across the state of Iowa all convene at ISU campus in Ames and they have amazing speakers, workshops, and vendors.  It's Music Nerds Unite day!  It is an amazing conference and so well-organized.  I always come home with new ideas, refreshed attitude and a renewed passion for my job.  

This year I went to a session presented by a lady whom I use her products.  Nobody but music teachers know who this lady is, but I was in awe.

Now, during these sessions, we are participating, singing, playing, dancing, you name it.  Most of the sessions are like this.  Very little sit-n-get, but doing what we're talking about.

Another session I went to was about how to use tennis balls and parachutes in the music room.  I already use a parachute often, but this was a fun, new way I hadn't thought of.  Very interesting speakers and sessions.

Dr. Susan Brumfield, "First We Sing" session.  Pretty much the only sitting I did as she was introducing herself.

Dan Fee "Listening Fun with scarves and Tennis Balls".  We were up doing a scarf routine.

Dan Fee again "Listening Fun with Paper Plates and Parachutes".  Something as simple as using paper plates could make a fun musical routine.

Way Behind #1

These last two months of school have just been a blur.  Now that my concerts are over, I am trying to find my desk, my lesson plans and my sanity.

The week of Halloween seems like forever ago, and that was the last time that I thought of updating this blog.  I intentionally took picture to share and now that Christmas is a week away, I better get my Halloween blog up-to-date.  :)

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  For no particular reason, I just have other holidays I spend more time on than this one. I do, however, have a game that I do every year and the kids love it from Kindergarten up to 5th grade.  They request it every year.

"Who Is In This Forest" is a game that I learned when I observed another music classroom and watched that teacher.  I simply wrote the words down and the melody on my own so I can't find it printed to give anyone credit for the song. 

  Who is in this forest on this Halloween night?

  Tell me who......Who?  Is singing tonight.

That's it.

The melody is very simple, easy to teach, easy to learn and easy to play in d minor.

The game is basically another version of playing "hot and cold".  We hide a laminated, paper owl around the room.  One student hides it, another finds it.  We lead the "finder" to the owl by singing louder as they get closer or softer if they are far away from it.  It's a very basic way of introducing dynamics (louds and softs) to my younger students, but a way to introduce the term crescendo and decrescendo (gradually louder and gradually softer) to my older students.

The only rule with hiding the owl is that some of it has to be visible.  Without that rule they make it impossible to find.  Kindergarten tends to be very repetitive with their hiding skills.  5th grade can get very creative and often like to challenge me to find it.

An example of the wing showing while hiding the owl.

Students look high and low.

Found the owl!

The whole room is available to hide it.

The owl hides in the strangest places.

The owl was trying to make a phone call.

They think they are super cool when they get to go behind the piano to look as that is an off-limits area.

Owl feet.  Technically visible, so it counts.

Trying everywhere around the room.

Recorders have returned to West Marshall!

Recorders have returned to West Marshall!

This year I'm starting recorders in the fall instead of waiting until January.  I got a grant last year for 80 recorders, so I will now always have recorders on hand.  I can begin them any time of the school year.  With that being said, however, I do have stock purchased through Excedrin.  

One thing I love about 4th graders is their sense of humor is really starting to develop.  They ask me if I've taken my headache medicine before we get the recorders out.

I'll admit, the first day of recorders is not pretty.  I've tried many different ways of beginning them, and they still don't sound great.  If there's a music teacher out there that has good results on the first day, they should publish their ideas and market them and they could retire for life.

However, by the 2nd or 3rd day they are already making progress.

This year I tried something different.  Our school year Professional Development is focusing on differentiation.  So I tried my own version of it with recorders.  After we learn those first 3 notes, we usually play good ol' "Hot Cross Buns" and the classic beginning songs.  This time I let them become composers with their first 3 notes.

We did a quick review of their first notes, how to play them, then I turned them loose.  Their instructions were the following:

1. Choose a partner

2. Get supplies (1 dice, 1 paper, 1 pencil)

3. Roll dice 8 times and write down the numbers

4. Follow the code on the board for what numbers 1-6 equaled.  Numbers included notes B, A and G combined with 2 different rhythms.

5. Play pattern and partner evaluates.

6. Switch jobs

It was really interesting to hear their comments to each other and how they helped correct fingerings, air flow and sound quality.  Having 1-on-1 it became less intimidating than me going around the room in front of all their classmates, and correcting them.

At the end of the class time, they had composed several pieces for their partner and were very proud of their creations.  When I called them "composers" they argued with me, that it was just an activity.  Then I reminded them that one of the most famous composers of all time, Mozart, had even rolled dice to compose some of his pieces.  He first composed over 300 measures of combinations of notes.  Then he rolled the dice to determine which combination in what order they would be played.  He loved games and thought this was a fun way to compose and that anyone could be a composer.  When my students heard this, they had more pride in their work and realized our time wasn't just another worksheet.

The video included is a short example of what was going on in my room for almost 20 minutes.  You might want to turn the volume down, but there was some great creating happening that I had to share.

Centers are back!

 Centers are finally here!  We've learned how to operate each center and have officially started.  I've added a few new ones this year, so there are more to rotate through.  Each student will get to all the centers and I keep track on my spreadsheets.  We might have to take a break when we start working on Christmas music but will pick up where we left off after the concert.

Hi-Ho Cherry-O spinning on music notes and rests.  Take cherries off for the value of the notes they land on, add cherries back on for the value of rests.

SFSKIDS.ORG is one of my favorite kid-friendly music sites.  They get to explore the instruments of the orchestra.

Heart Beat Center.  This is one of my new ones.  Our year-long focus is going to be on rhythms in every grade level.  Students put 4 heartbeats on the floor and then choose from a variety of manipulatives and add one per heart.  Then they have to write out the rhythm based on how many syllables each heart has on it.

Good old Music Twister.

Puppet Center.  Students get print outs of songs they know since the beginning of the year and then have to sing them in the voice of that puppet.  I've been collecting puppets and have a very interesting assortment from cheerleaders to alligators to squirrels.

Boomwhacker Center.  Music is color-coded to match the color of the Boomwhackers.  Students play the order of the colors and have to guess what song they are playing.  If they finish all 5 songs and get them correct they choose one song and see if they can figure out how to play the rest of the song.

GROUP BAND!

Today marks the 2nd full playing day of 5th grade band.  I have 46 wonderful young ladies and gentlemen.  The group is a great mix of our 5th graders and they are off to a great start.

We have been in school for a full month now and lessons have been going on for the last 3 weeks consistently.  It takes a while to get that crazy lesson schedule memorized.

Some of the students were able to take summer lessons with either myself or the high school band director in June.  We have all varieties in the summer, meaning, some students just play the 4 days of the month they have their lessons, then don't touch it again until school starts and some students are 1/2 way through the book due to their own determination.

That determination gets put to work, however, and those students become leaders for new players.

At the beginning of the school year, the first week is simply figuring out who is playing what and if we have enough school instruments to make that possible.

There is no way to start group band at the beginning so we start off with group sections playing together.  This still might be a group of 10 kids for some instruments, but there are usually 1 or 2 that have had those summer lessons that can make sure their reed isn't on upside down or they have their trombone slide on the wrong side.

After Monday's group rehearsal I decided they needed to be recorded.  It was a great day and today was equally good.  I love, however, to show this video to them at the end of the year and let them hear the growth they've made.  For now we're stuck playing songs from their lesson book, but by the spring concert we are playing sheet music and playing "real" music.  

Yes, 5th grade band can be a bit painful at times, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I love seeing that look on their face when they finally get that note to sound perfect or when they figure out the correct fingering.  I love giving those high students the chance to help their neighbor player which allows their natural leadership to shine.

Here is the video from today.  I apologize for the shakiness of it.  I was trying to direct and record at the same time. 

Hodge Podge

I've been taking pictures and videos like crazy, but the blog hasn't kept up with them, so there will be many grade levels and ideas presented in this post to catch up.

 
This first group of pictures is taken from a 4th grade class.  We were doing a "Fakebook" project studying composers.  The class chose their groups of either 2 or 3 students, chose a composer biography and started putting building his Facebook page.  The main events in the composers' lives were on these fact sheets, so students had to read them and then figure out how to put the words into the composers' voice.  Statements included "Today I start working at my very first job at St. Thomas Lutheran Church.  I'll be playing organ today.  Wish me luck!" This would have been a "post" by the composer in his voice but using the facts from his timeline.

The next portion are pictures taken from two 1st grade rooms.  We've been busy reviewing rhythm patterns that we learned at the end of Kindergarten last year.  Ta, ti-ti and we've added the Z rest.  All song games that we've been playing have included these patterns.  We've worked on them in a variety of ways from playing instruments to building the pattern with craft sticks.

This class shows a game called "I Have Who Has".  This game can be used in any class and is a great way to review.  On the cards I wrote a 4-beat pattern using ta, ti-ti and the Z rest.  Students have to say "I have ta, ti-ti, ta, sh.  Who has ta, ta, ti-ti, sh?"  When they read this, everyone else has to look at their card and see if that is the rhythm they have.  1st graders have been amazing me and did this extremely well.  I was so proud of them!

  The next class you'll see is 2nd grade, and a huge group of them.  It was swimming specials so I had 1 and 1/2 classes in the room.  Whew.....

We learned a song "Naughty Kitty Cat".  Here's the music.

Yes, I know the words say "you are very fat!"  We have a discussion about this when playing the game.  If you are chosen to be the cat, they have been told that the song has been around for years, we are not calling the student fat, but indeed the cat.  So far no parents have called.

This is a simple chase game of the owner trying to catch the cat.  Students in the circle are the fence, and on the last Z rest of the song, the fence comes down and the owner can start running after the cat.

Enjoy!

Melodic Dictation

Melodic dictation involves the ability to hear a piece of music and quickly play it back or write down the notes of the melody.

This sounds like mass chaos, and it kind of was, but it was neat watching students processing what I was asking them to do.

We recently learned a new song called "Tideo".  This song is used to reinforce the rhythm of "tiri-tiri" or a group of 16th notes.  When we learned the song, I also had them work on listening for the solfege syllables of mi-re-do and sing that pattern every time they heard it.  Once we had learned the song, we learned the activity.  

This was the extension part after the activity.  I gave them a starting note on xylophones and they had to see if they could notate the rest.  Most of the song is repetitious so there were patterns they would hear multiple times. I had them begin by finding the mi-re-do pattern to write down and play and then move on from there.  

Some students had a very interesting approach to it and just kept trying different patterns to see if it sounded like the song.  Others were only working on the part they knew and would write that down.  We'll see if we can finish this project next time.  It's almost time to begin Centers!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!

If you ask any teacher, especially former teachers (a.k.a. my mom), if you mention the phrase "teacher in-service" faces start squinting and they do anything to change the subject.

My mom's consistent response when I say I had an in-service day is "if you came away with one thing you can use, it was a productive in-service".  See mom, I listen to you.  

So at the beginning of the year, one of our in-service topics was on a fixed mind-set.  I know I am guilty of limiting my kids' abilities and saying they can or can't do something because of their age or what student's haven't been able to do in the past.

If we as educators have a fixed mind-set about what children can or can't do it translates to the kids and they begin to believe that mind-set as well.

My point in this rambling is that today I was SOOOOOOOO guilty of that fixed mind-set.  Today my kids reminded me, ever so gently, that my mind-set was getting in the way of their learning.

I had a lesson plan all ready to go and they proved they could rise to the challenge and, in fact, surpassed my expectations of them.

Backup a minute: Yesterday, was Kindergarten specials.  I had all the K and Pre-K kids and they learned a new song game that is very traditional for this age, "Apple Tree". 

 

A very simple song with a very simple game.  They did a great job learning the song, practicing sol and mi (high and low singing) and even did some audiating (singing through the song but leaving out certain words and only thinking them) and of course, playing the game.

Back to the present:

In my schedule today I had both the full Pre-K class and one of the Kindergarten classes back-to-back.  My Pre-K class came in and the plan was to "review the song, play the game and move on to another game".  As I was beginning this simple plan, one of the boys just started singing the song on his own.  At first I was upset that he was singing while I was trying to talk.  I mean "how dare he!!, right"?  Then when I shut up and just listened to him, I was in awe.  Here is this little 5-year-old who has a beautiful little singing voice, singing the words spot on, matching pitch and great rhythm and beat.  After I picked my chin up off the floor, I realized my fixed mind-set of what they couldn't do had gotten in the way of an amazing class possibility.

After he had finished the first time I asked him if I could record him.  Here is the recording and just "wowed" me.

So then............

After he had finished singing, more wanted to sing by themselves.  15 out of 17 of the Pre-K sang a solo of "Apple Tree".  I was so proud of them.  Singing a solo can be very scary, but this is a great start that it's not as scary as they think.

The next half hour, I had Kindergarten class and was planning the same lesson.   Having learned my lesson previously, I offered these kids a chance to sing with a partner to save on time since they have more students.  All but 4 students chose to sing.  This video was one of my favorites.

So after all that rambling, I love when I continue to learn along with my students.  

It was a really fun day today and so proud of my kids. Lesson learned.

Turkeys and tiri-tiris

Yes, I know the title of my post is a little on the weird side, but that's usually how I am anyway.

In 5th grade we introduced a new rhythm yesterday during specials.  It was introduced in a new song and today we finished it up and learned the game.

A tiri-tiri is a group of 4 sounds or 4 syllables that all fall inside one beat.

Each fish has at least one tiri-tiri in it.  They are the group of 4 lines with 2 bars connecting them together across the top.

Yesterday we learned a new song called "Chicken on a Fencepost".  The words are very easy to learn and very repetitive.

After learning the new rhythm pattern and how they fit into the beats, we were ready to start the game.

This is a simple "race-to-it-first" game.  Two concentric circles of students.  2 students outside the circles with backs to groups.  I point out a spot within both circles where the gates will open at the end of the song.  When we start the song, the circles walk in opposite directions.  The 2 outside students have no idea where the gates are going to open, so it is simply luck of the draw.  There are some students who use the strategy of staying right next to the other person and then they have an equal chance of making it and then other students keep moving on opposite sides and hope for the best.

The following is Mr. Eash's 5th grade class today.  The race to the middle is much more enjoyable if they have something physical to grab.  In my giant tote of stuffed animals, I did not have a chicken.  I had an egg shaker, and then I had a mini turkey.  The class chose to use the turkey and decided we needed to change the song to "Turkey on a Fencepost".  

And here is a video of the chaos.