The end of each school year is ... well... interesting.  Looking forward to summer plans but in the middle of stress and the behavior of students either escalates into chaos and typically well behaved students go bananas, or students simply check out mentally and emotionally.  Our caffeine and sugar stashes are exhausted and our patience and enduring kindnesses are at Defcon 2.  I have been teaching almost 30 years - it doesn't seem to get easier and children and (some) parenting expectations and consequences are not what they used to be.  It seems like we are in the tornado and definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto. 

So, breathe in, breathe out.  Don't be afraid to show videos - there are many play alongs, dance alongs, and other activities from Musication, Mrs. King's Musical Corner, Ready Go Music,  Swick's Classroom, and many more.  

There is magic in the number three, so today here are three things you can do to continue actively making music in the classroom and keep your sanity. 

Playful and Purposeful 1 - AKA "Nail it Down"

Take those music concepts and play with them.  Play games and review those sixteenth notes in a new way.  One of my favorite things this time of year is to make rhythm snakes.  Give partner pairs two different rhythm cards, practice with body percussion - assign each rhythmic element a different body percussion- chest tap quarter notes, clap eighth notes, pat sixteenth notes.  

Everyone places their rhythm card in a long "snake" on the ground - students read/perform rhythms, then put students into 3 groups- each group has one timbre to play- hand drums, woods, shakers. Each group is responsible for playing ONLY their rhythmic element. Switch so each person gets to play a different instrument from each timbre.  Make it more interesting and musical by adding one of these backing tracks from Music Will. 

Playful and Purposeful 2 - AKA "Gameify It"

Singing games are playful and purposeful and if you can turn it into a "Level UP" game with various challenges in each level - even better!  One of my favorites to teach second grade on up is Pass the Beat from my Sing a Song, Play a Game book.  Level Up by teaching the basic as Level 1, replace the word "beat" with a clap for Level 2, replace "room" with a stomp for Level 3 and replace "Pass" with a snap for Level 4.  

If you are not following me on instagram, here are a few other games we love to play this time of year. Click on the picture to go to the link. 

Soy una serpiente

Humpty Dumpty Campfire Song

Forty Years on an Iceberg

Lemonade, New York

Mouse Mousie

And more from a facebook live! 

Playful and Purposeful 3 - AKA "Campfire Sing Along"

This is a beloved tradition at my school - click here to see all the past posts. 

All posts with "end of year" label can be found here.

Hope this helps you know you are not alone and helps in planning your final weeks or month!  Happy almost end of the school year! 

End of Year Favorites

 Happy May, Happy End of the School Year (in the US) and Happy Almost Summer! 

Can we just take a moment to pause and realize how immensely difficult this year has been? The third abnormal year of teaching during a Pandemic. I think we all thought yay, we're back in school after the craziness of Global lockdown, remote teaching, teaching in person, being hybrid, back to remote, back to remote, constant change and never quite feeling like the sand stopped shifting. I don't think any of us were prepared for the behavior challenges our students would have, or that consequences don't have the same meaning or are absent from students lives.  Student interactions have changed radically - no touching, don't get closer than 6 feet, then 3 feet; sanitize or wash hands; mask up; don't breathe too close to me; don't sing; don't share instruments; don't touch anything! With this lack of interaction children didn't know how to be around other children, couldn't make a line, couldn't stand in line, couldn't stay in line. And the list can go on and on.  

Take a moment and breathe and say, "Well done." No judgement - we've all done the best we could each day and that might look different hour to hour or minute to minute. 

This summer I am going to be hosting a 4-part "Summer Camp" on my Patreon to playfully plan for next year!  I hope you will consider joining us! Come join us here! 

I always look forward to the end of the school year - not only because it is the end of the school year but because we sing songs around a campfire our last day in music and for the whole month leading up to it we sing camp songs, clapping games, and really fun and silly musical things that keep us laughing and singing all the way to the end. I do this with first through fourth grade (my highest grade level).  All of my campfire songs (a book of over 50 songs) is posted for my Patreon subscribers.  See all previous posts about campfire songs here. 

I am excited to build my campfire next week. Here is last years:

Don't know where to get started? Here are a few from GoNoodle:

Go Bananas:

Boom Chicka Boom:

Peanut Butter in a Cup:

Little Green Froggy:

Coast to Coast:

For my littles we are also singing and moving but with less of a narrow focus.  Kindergarten music focuses on ocean and butterfly themes, with lots of rich song material and children's books.  Click here for the google slides with books, songs, and videos. 

My students especially love Butterfly, Butterfly, which is a book that is out of print and currently $60.00 on Amazon! Here is a read aloud from youtube. 

Insert the song below at appropriate times and have students move like a butterfly while they are singing and sitting on a "flower" (floor) while you sing. 

My littles - Junior Kindergarten - sing a variety of songs and the focus is on vibration (their classroom focus for science this month), so lots of instrument playing. 

Both of these groups really love the Sylvia Pizzicato video from Musication.

I get out triangles, rhythm sticks, and shaker eggs. Students choose which instrument they want and then we watch and play when the bee lands upon each flower. This is also a great assessment opportunity to see if students know how to correctly hold instruments (triangles especially) and if they play with accuracy. Students holding triangles put them away and choose either sticks or shakers, those with sticks put them away and choose triangles or shakers, etc. Play again. Another assessment opportunity. Repeat and play a third time and students will have been able to play all three instruments and you will have three assessment opportunities for accuracy and understanding of playing technique!

Grades 2, 3, and 4 LOVE Pass the Beat and will play this (almost) all day long! 

Hope you enjoy some of our favorite end of the year activities!

Campfire Time!

Campfire Songs! 

A recent social media post asked if camp songs are still culturally relevant. The post challenged me to consider how and why I use "camp" songs and I realized I do use some "camp" songs but the emphasis is on singing around a campfire a wide variety of diverse and inclusive songs and they aren't all considered to be "songs learned at camp."  It is all about the kinds of songs used, not the experience of camping. The post also asked how others use camp songs in their classrooms and this was my response.  

Your post challenged me to think about why I use campfire songs with my students. First, the emphasis is on singing around a campfire (community singing) not about going to summer camp. It simply isn't  discussed and is not the focus. Appropriate, diverse, and inclusive campfire songs are repetitive, easy to learn, playful, memorable, and meaningful.  That does not mean that they are culturally exclusive if done with a lens of using culturally relevant song material (not exclusively American "camp song literature") that acts as a mirror, window, or door. For the last month of school students sing campfire songs that  feature call and response, canons and rounds, expressive singing, instrument play, movement, and ensemble singing. Playful songs from cultures not my own are included that are diverse and inclusive.  Each class on their last day comes in to experience a campfire and we sing around the (pretend) fire.  Some of my students talk about sitting in the backyard with fires, or of building fires while going camping with family and friends, and using fire to celebrate Diwali, Hanukkah, the Persian fire festival (related to Nowruz), and many other holidays and festivities. Many students share how they have sung these memorable songs to siblings and family members and they quickly become multi-generational songs for all to sing.

It is worth noting that campfire songs are made up of folk songs, spirituals, work songs, sea shanties, cumulative songs, call and response songs, fingerplays, movement activities, and often include folk dances and storytelling elements.  

 

Our ancestors, wherever they were in the world, sang while cleaning animal skins, paddling canoes, pounding grain, hoisting sails, or gathering food.  One person tapped a beat, another sang a melody, and others would join in or add harmony. Often, at the end of the workday, they might have joined around a fire to sing songs about love, family, travel, and hope.  

Singing songs around a campfire leads to ensemble singing, reinforces concepts and skills, and can be celebratory, inclusive, and meaningful.  They can lead to collaborative, enjoyable, memorable, and playful musical moments. It’s not about camping, at least not for me. It is about making memorable and enjoyable music with my students while celebrating the end of a school year.  

 

My students love this time of playful music making and ending our year in this way keeps the music and laughter flowing. 

A couple years ago I posted on a facebook live for how my campfire is made- here it is- How I Make My Campfire Video

This year it will be about TWICE AS BIG!!! 

Here are pics of how my campfire is made- all materials from Dollar Tree except the wire stands (which are my glockenspiel stands), and the brown construction paper (from school). 

Enjoy!

Ending the School Year with Purposeful Fun

It's the end of the year and once again many of us are questioning HOW to end the school year.  Do we show videos or musicals? Do we do singing games? A composition or writing project? How to finish strong?

Much depends on the culture of your school and your students. Much also depends on you.
Where are you at with meeting the needs and behaviors of your students?
 I had a wonderful teacher friend many years ago encourage me to meet students where they are at. If your students come in bouncing off the walls crazy, it is going to be difficult and painful for all to attempt to immediately make them sit, be still, and quiet.
I have found it to be so much more enjoyable for all to spend the time meeting them where they are at (Seven Jumps dance always is my opening activity when classes are like this), then leading them down the path to where we need for them to be. Doing so is purposeful yet playful, and encourages relational teaching and builds community.
Enforcing immediate compliance without time to transition into your class is similar to a prison guard trying to re-establish control during a prison riot and can lead to you and the students feeling like this:

Ugh.. or uh oh.. or grrr, right?

So, what to do?  Some use the following:

• Practice Songs/Concepts Already Learned
• Project Based Learning
• Prepare Concepts/Skills/Sequences for Next Year
• Active Music Making - Vocal or Instrumental or Both (Orff Pieces)
• Show Video Musical with Writing/Drawing/Fill in the Blanks
• Games/Fun

There are pros/cons to each one - some have more teacher prep, some leave the kids bored and disengaged at what is usually the craziest (and funnest, let's be honest) time of year, and others engage the students in a meaningful, purposeful, and memorable experience!

I choose to meet my students where they are at with playful, meaningful, purposeful fun!

The What:  

• Campfire songs
• Clapping Songs and Games  
• Singing Games and Other Games  

The Why: 

• Purposeful - Review Concepts and Skills Previously Learned
• Active, Engaging, and FUN!
• Memorable

The Process:

• Allow several class periods to teach songs (about 20-25 campfire songs/games/activities total).  
• Last day of music with each class we have a campfire sing along. I project a campfire from youtube (lots out there like the one below):

• Build a campfire using tissue paper folded and tucked into black plastic plant pots from Dollar Tree and flickering tea lights.  The logs are made out of construction paper and are taped into place around the plastic pots.  The sticks each have a white label sticker with the name of a camp song printed on it. Each student picks a stick one at a time and that is the song we sing. 
• 

My students LOVE this so very much and it makes our last music together truly special and memorable. When I announce we are getting ready for campsongs they are so excited and teach me new ones they may have learned at camp last summer!
No matter what you are doing with your students, I hope you are having fun!

Blessings,

Favorite NEW Games

I do love a good game!  I also love singing games and clapping games, as you can see from my books on the left! Check out the newest one, Sing a Song Play a Game: Singing Games from Around the World; there are 71 singing games in the collection! Shameless plug. :)

I love the giggles and fun and I value the "work" on rhythm, beat, and singing! SO many good music skills and content to be learned with games!
These are some new favorites of my students, hope you enjoy them also.

1.  Pass the Beat

In action:

2.  Pass the Rhythm

You can see this one in action here:

3. Numbers Game

This is SO fun - first time after I played it the kids BEGGED to play it again- now when I see them in the halls they ask if we are going to play it again!

Hope you enjoy some of these - perfect for this crazy time of year!

 

Lemonade, Crunchy Ice Twice as Nice

If you have been on my blog for any length of time, you know my love of clapping and singing games. I liked them so much that I wrote two books of clapping games and one book that just came out about singing games! See on the left side or go to www.singsmileplay.com to see all of my books.
This is a natural pairing - two songs with Lemonade in the title and therefore, "twice as nice". This works beautifully when paired together!  Summer is almost here and it's soon to be time for lemonade stands and the very expensive lemonade at fairs and festivals.
This is a perfect mixer dance/game/activity and will keep your kiddos singing into the end of the school year.

Clap Partner - Clap partners hands
Flip Clap R - Right hand palm toward floor, left hand palm up. Clap right hand down on partners upturned palm.
Flip Clap L - Left hand palm toward floor, right hand palm up. Clap left hand down on partners upturned palm.

Twist dance down - Twist hips one way and upper body the other way, reverse, back and forth down towards the floor.
Enjoy!

A

Glow in the Dark Music Class (Party)

For the month of March, my students participated in a Rhythm Challenge. Each grade level first through fourth grade (my highest grade) competed against other classes in their grade level and were told there was a "surprise prize" at the end for the winning class. Students read and played rhythm cards appropriate to their level at the beginning of each class along to a rap track. Before reading each card, I would say in rhythm, "Ready go". If one or two mistakes were made on a card, I called it an oops and a forgiveness. If three or more mistakes were heard, I called time and that was the high score for the day. If anyone "fussed" at another student for making a mistake (long chat about how everyone makes mistakes) the class would lose 30 seconds from their score.  Thankfully no one lost time off their score. Top score was 2 minutes, 30 seconds. I kept track on the board each week and after 4 weeks or 4 scores (whichever came first) we had winners.  Then, the best part- the Surprise Prize - everyone was having a Glow in the Dark Music Party during their next music class! The winners would have the Party for the whole class and the others for half their class (half the class was regular music but would have games and other fun activities we don't do very often). It was a HUGE hit!  I posted a video yesterday on my facebook page - @o for tuna orff, and show the setup and talk about activities.
This would be a PERFECT end of the year music party!
Then I realized I needed to make it a blog post! It truly has been one of the highlights of my year and while it takes some prep, is SO worth it!! I even did the Clap Clap song by the Klaxons with my youngest student so they could experience some of the fun. Of course, everyone loved getting to take a glow stick home with them! If you would like a pdf of this, please send me an email at musicquilt@hotmail.com.
Happy Glowing!

Games to Play Outside (Or In) FUN!!!

Singing games are so much fun and there are so many fun games that work inside as well as out!
Here are a few of my favorite:

One, Two, Three O'Leary/One, Two, Three a Learie

This song is often cited as Irish, although it was first collected in California as an Anglo-American playground game, see Sail Away book, page 24.
There are several versions and ways to play.  My favorite way to play is version 2 (see songs below) and can be found here:

 Here is a different view:

Hope you enjoy all of these and get outside (or stay in and have some fun)!