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!

Chinese Rowing Song

The Chinese Folk Song Project is a collection of popular Chinese children's songs, nursery rhymes, games, and folk songs formatted for English speakers. It is intended to be a resource for English-speaking music teachers to teach their students Chinese songs in a culturally responsive way. This project is made possible with the support of the Confucius Institute in Edmonton, Canada.

The songs often have a video, have audio files with pronunciation guide and a recording of song being sung, as well as and is presented with Pinyin, English, and Chinese text as well as Western music notation. 

I follow the wonderful Moriah of holmessweetmusichome on instagram and she recently shared the song 

Yī Yā Yāo (Rowing Song).  This is a traditional Chinese nursery rhyme, the melody added by Xu Hong Shuai. Click here to see additional information on the Rowing Song from the Chinese Folk Song Project. 

Moriah paired the song with the book, How to Catch a Dragon by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Andy Elkerton. 

The rowing rhyme and song would be used to help rowers stay in rhythm to row a dragon boat across water. At the end of the song, we countdown and sing the numbers 9-1. In the book, the children are working together as a team to catch the dragon. Moriah sang the song and added a clapping game every few pages in the book to help encourage the children to work together to catch the dragon.

Use this song to work on home tone or low do, or decode this on barred instruments. Students could also create ostinati or their own clapping patterns to accompany the song.

Enjoy!

Korean Children's Book and Ocean Songs

One of the wonderful things about social media is finding wonderfully inclusive children's literature. JoJos Book Club is one of my favorite pages on instagram. I appreciate the honest and straightforward reviews and have found some really beautiful inclusive books there.  A couple days ago I found The Ocean Calls which is very new- just published in August 2020. Written by Asian American Tino Cho and illustrated by Asian Canadian Jess Snow this is a beautifully told and illustrated story of a South Korean island community of haenyeo - deep-sea divers. Grandma and her fellow divers, all older women, dive without oxygen deep into the ocean to gather abalone, sea urchins, and other treasures. Granddaughter Dayeon wants to be a haenyeo like her "treasure hunting Grandma" but she’s scared. Grandma shows patience as she listens then says, “Can’t you hear what the waves are saying? They’re calling to us to come home.”

The book can be used as a jumping off point to connect culture in so many ways.

Here are several links and song images.

Songs of the Haenyeo divers

Video Documentary of 12 year old novice diver

Korean Dragonfly Song

Ganggangsullae, Korean dance music of the full moon

Enjoy!!!

 

Asian Songs

It is almost Chinese New Year and I needed a few more songs to round out our songs from around Asia.  These songs are generic songs and could be used any time - not specific to Lunar New Year.

1. Jan Ken Pon Yo 

This is a Janken, or hand game song using "Rock, Paper, Scissors". It is a great mixed meter song, check out the previous post by clicking on the picture below.

2.  Hao Peng You

This is from my Sing a Song, Play a Game Book, and is such a fun game. This one is easy for even young singers!

3.  Cha Tsubo

This is from my Hands to Hands book and is a deceptively simple hand game that is really fun! Great for recorder also. My students create a B Section using names of teas!

 Hope you have fun with these - and that you find some things new for you and your students to sing and 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,

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

Broom Dance and Other Favorite Folk Dances!

I love folk dances and love when I see someone post a question on facebook about their favorite folk dance.  I recently learned the Broom Dance from friend Leslie B. on fb and she kindly directed me to Martha Riley, who shared her directions with me and gave permission to share here!  Enjoy!  As always, if you would like the pdf, send your request to musicquilt@Hotmail.com.
This has quickly become a favorite with all my students - a nice 5 minute end to class- and would be a great dance to teach at a family music night!

1.  The Broom Dance

Another Broom Dance!

2.  Wassouma -

Another one I learned from the AOSA facebook page.  This one is from Suriname, a country in North East South America.  Such a great energetic dance!  The music is from "Bulgarian, Balkan and International Folk Dances" from the Folk Arts Center of New England.

3.  Chimes of Dunkirk

From New England Dancing Masters

4.  Yesh Lanu Tayish

Shared with me by another dear internet friend!  My second graders BEG to do this dance!

5.  Chilili

This is another one that is simple, yet so satisfying!  I teach this at my Hands to Hands workshops and it has become a quick favorite!

Hope you enjoy learning some new dances with your kiddos!



Song and Clapping Game!

Many of you may know this old camp song favorite, Flea Fly Mosquito.  At my session this past weekend at AOSA (American Orff Schulwerk Association) I showed how this can be used in a few different ways.
This is from my latest book, Hands to Hands Too, Hand Clapping Songs and Games from the USA and Canada. Available from Beatin' Path Publications at www.singsmileplay.com.



Process:

1.  Teach chant/song teacher is the leader, students are "all". 

2.  Teach clapping game at a slow tempo, with chant/song.

3.  Perform with partners.

4.  Divide class; half or the partner groups are "leaders", others are "all".

5.  Perform, then switch so other half of class becomes the leaders.

6.  Challenge time; one partner from each pair is "leader" the other partner is "all".

 

SO much fun!!!

Cross Clap – Cross hands and clap partners hands.

 

 

 

 

Spray – Pretend to hold can of bug spray and spray right to left.

 

Dead Bug – Back on the floor, arms and legs straight up in the air, a la “dead bug”.

 

Teacher Tip:  Try this one over and over, faster, slower, high voice, low voice, etc.

 

 

 



Three Things Link Up

I am linking up with Aileen Miracle at Mrs. Miracle's Music Room for a linky party in which music teacher bloggers write about three things that have worked in our classrooms.

I just got back from Spring Break in Phoenix, Arizona and, wow, love that place!  I also have really fallen in love with cacti, especially saguaro cactus, which grow everywhere near where my parents have a winter home. They live in the Sonoran desert, one of the few places these lovely creatures live.  They are funny and each one is so incredibly different; it's like they have their own personalities!
This is snap I took our last evening.. gorgeous sunset, but I really love black and white, too, and as I was shooting, a cowboy came right into my frame. Lucky for me!

 

 

1.  Listen to the Rain

In Arizona, they have been without rain since January so I think there is a bit of rain dancing going on, which led me to this post about the book, "Listen to the Rain" by Bill Martin and John Archambault.

 Available  here from Amazon.com.  My students love this lesson and it's a great one for talking about mood!  Enjoy.. and hope you are having a green spring! 

2.  Spring Bunny and Chick Rhythms

Wandering through Target a few weeks ago and I came across the cutest eraser packs with bunnies and chicks.  I have a bit of a collection of these as Target puts these out seasonally in their "Dollar Spot".  I have pumpkins, Frankensteins, candy corn, flowers, and other seasonal goodies to create word chain rhythms.  Yesterday my first graders were loving these little guys!

I was in the process of making a printable when I was on one of my facebook pages and Erica S. posted the one pictured!  She had such overwhelming response to everyone wanting it that she made it a freebie on TpT and offered an optional Notebook file for purchase.  You can get the freebie and file here.  Thanks, Erica!!! On the front of the page you notice 5 rhythms the children can write.  For the super achievers, on the back there are 10 more! Woohoo!! No, "I'm done, now what?".  My students were given about 7 minutes to complete 5 and most everyone got 5 and several went beyond!! Woot Woot!!!  They were then figuring out what they could use at home to make more rhythms.. can you say "flower/grass" or "Star Wars/Luke" or "cookie/milk"?  They were so funny! 
We began the 30 minute lesson using the book, "Bling Blang".  CUTE!  We used the basic outline found here for the activity, prepped students on movement first, sat and looked at book and did hammer and saw movement, then stood with a partner and performed hammer/saw movement with partners, walked to the beat (played softly on drum) during the verses.  I whispered "find new partner" a few beats before the chorus began again.  One note about partners; my students have many partnering opportunities but I always review the rules; the first person that asks you/that you ask is your partner.  We talk about hurt feelings if someone leaves you for a "better opportunity" and to always show respect and kindness. If two people ask at the same time they "rock/paper/scissors shoot, one and done unless it's a tie".  We then played Salami (Sol La Mi) game, then I had them find the beat while I played "There's Music in a Hammer" from Grade 1 Gameplan, pg. 83.  We sang the song, walked the beat, then hopped the beat like a bunny.  Why a bunny?  Cats like to chase critters, and bunnies and chicks are cute critters, which led us into the writing activity.  Students each picked up 3 bunnies and 3 chicks (no chances for all "Ta's/Ti-Ti's!!".  Ha!! The room was so quiet as they were each writing and whispering/tapping their rhythms.  GREAT fun!  If we had more time I would have had them partner up and create 2 rhythms to perform as a word chain to create alternating "B"sections with the song.  Oh, time... such an enemy, isn't it??

3.  Avocado Hand Clapping Game

My kids have been obsessed with this game this year; it started when we returned to school in August and one of our students had learned this game from a cousin. It spread like wildfire with crazy lunch time battles of Avocado.. so much that some teachers banned the kids from playing it at lunch!!
This will be included in my new book, we are in the editing process right now!  My last book was hand clapping games from around the world, available here from Beatin' Path Publications.  The new book will be available soon, also from Beatin' Path and will be all North American games and songs, some with Latin American roots, but all in English! 

Palm Push – Own palms facing each other, thumbs and fingertips touching, quickly flip palms down and out away from body, push palms out towards partner

Game continues until someone makes a mistake in the clapping game; the person who made the mistake is either called “avocado” for 10 minutes, or they choose a new name from the letter they made a mistake on; “L”; they could be called “Lily”, “Lucy”, Leon”, etc. for the next 10 minutes.

 

Teacher Tip:  It will make more sense with the palm push to think of it as an extension of the “clap own” so that once you clap your own hands you keep the fingertips and thumbs together and push the palm out towards partner.  My students can’t get enough of this game and the upper elementary students love it!

 

Three Things

It's getting into my favorite months of the year!  I LOVE fall!
I'm linking up today with a few fellow bloggers and Aileen Miracle from her blog here.  This post is about "Three Things" that worked for me and my students this week.  Enjoy!

 

#1.

Our family went apple picking in the mountains of NC this past weekend; a little over a 2 hour drive from home.  I love seeing the mist rising from the mountains, and driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway; those mountains really do look blue!!  So many varieties of apples but we were in luck as Honeycrisps were being picked!  We got a bunch and this week I am beginning the song "Apple Tree".  I posted about this here with a free pdf you can get by emailing me at musicquilt@Hotmail.com.  I love the game that goes with it and you can choose to make yours a more melodic direction activity or a rhythmic activity.

#2.

 

Hula Hoop Activities

I have a TON of things I do with hula hoops (and you can get them at Dollar Tree, hurray)!.  I lay 4 on the ground, put drums inside one, shakers in another, wood instruments in another and metals in the final one.  While we are learning about the percussion family, or during songs where specific instrument sounds play it is helpful to be able to have students together and a place for them to pick up instruments from and put them back into when they are done.  It makes organization and clean up easy, also. I also find it helpful to put more instruments than students in each grouping; if there are 5 children at each hoop, I place 6-7 instruments inside so there is still some choice.  Y'know they've gotta have choices! :)  This week my littles (Junior Kindergarten y'all!) I decided it was time to break them out into some extra movement time; they were SOOOOOO wiggly!! I put several hoops on the floor and tell them they are magical islands.  They can only go into the island when I stop the music.  Play something fun and fast and let 'em go.. well, I give mine a few additional directions, but do your thing!  A big rule - we MUST travel (they are in a transportation unit), they can fly, walk, skip, hop, run (carefully), be a train, etc.  Voices OFF!  I also do this with other grades and we have a dance party!  Once the music stops I call out a body part; pinkie finger.  ONLY pinkie fingers may go into the island.  They have to go to another island the next time.  When the music starts, off they go again.  Vary the "body parts"; head (really funny to see how they problem solve it), elbows, knees, big toe, belly button (yes, really!).  It's a great Brain Break, also, and really gets them into following directions. 

 

#3.

 

My fourth graders really love "Boom, Snap, Clap".  We use the song, "Chester" (from Action Songs Children Love, vol, 3) to go with it.

 

This is a great collection of action and substitution songs for older kiddos. 

Boom, Snap, Clap is full of body percussion and once you've learned the words to accompany the motions, you can perform it with body percussion alone.  I like to pair it with Chester; half the class performs Chester, half Boom, Snap, Clap.  The song isn't as long as Boom, Snap, Clap so at the end everyone gets to perform Boom, Snap, Clap with both hands. Boom, Snap, Clap will be in my next volume of Hand Clapping Songs coming out hopefully next spring!  Here it is now:

 

You can also watch it on youtube:

 

 

 

NEW BOOK!!! Arriving mid-May!!

Well, it's official!!! Yee-haw!  My book, Hands to Hands, will be ready to ship mid-May! 

You can pre-order it directly from Beatin' Path Publications here: http://www.beatinpathpublications.com/ACP/home.html


I began to look at clapping songs and games after an end of year conversation about how kids of our digital age don't know what to do once they are "bored".  I researched and couldn't find a resource that had songs, music notation, directions, etc. I found many on youtube and then began to spread my wings farther by sending emails to people around the world.  This collection, Hands to Hands, will hopefully be Volume 1 and we will publish Volume 2 later.  I am incredibly proud of the pieces we included, from Kenya to Italy, Peru to Scotland, New Zealand to Japan, and everything in between.  It's a really diverse and approachable collection and my students have loved learning them!!

I am also excited as Brent, the editor, really liked my idea of using my doodles as artwork!  Here's the back cover artwork, although it looks a little different on the actual book (no white spaces; they are purple!).  I just finished this one Wednesday night while recovering from strep throat!

I hope you will consider ordering the book!  :)