Hula Hoop Activities

These are SO much fun! The full pdf has 20 pages with all the games listed.  Hope you enjoy them - if you would like the pdf, send me an email at musicquilt@Hotmail.com.  If you haven't yet checked out my facebook page, there are extras including a video that shows some other activities and teaching tips with hula hoops - search for @ofortunaorff.

Movement Resources, Two Songs, Hula Hoops, and Ocean Animals!

Short post today- if you haven't already been to my facebook page - check it out- I have several videos posted there and some special info not posted here on the blog! Today I am posting the video here.

Search for @ofortunaorff  and you will be able to like the page and follow! :)

 

End of the Year; Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something TRUE

Yes, I know, the word is supposed to be blue, but for our end of the year purposes, it's going to be "true". 

As I write this, I have 5 days of school left - YAY!  And.. Nay.  I know what you must be thinking; are you crazy? Nuts? Over the edge looney?  No - I look forward to making music with the kiddos and although I am ready for summer break and all that means, I like where my classes are "at" now in their ability, skill level, and knowledge. I also remember well the four to six week re-learning and review process that happens at the beginning of each school year and the constant, "Remember quarter notes? Yes, we learned them last year".

So while I am excited for summer break, it has been several weeks of "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something True."

1. Something Old

Activities/Games/Songs that are Favorites.  Break out the parachute for the Trepak activity that was a hit in December, or the Rattlin' Bog song they loved in March for St. Patty's Day.
Camp Songs - I always sing camp songs at the end of the school year and my students have really come to LOVE these. I have several already on the blog; check the right side tags and you will find "camp songs".  If you are looking for a more "formal" resource. I just put together a HUGE set (19!!) of these with music notation, projectable/printable lyric slides and directions and though I usually offer things for free, this was a MAJOR undertaking, so it is on my TpT store and is on sale here!

Review Games - Candy Land Games I made using donations of Candy Land (ask and ye shall receive!). I have six of these games and the kids love them!

Kaboom- I really need to make new ones but basically it is a cup with 4 beat rhythms written on popsicle sticks inside.  Four of the sticks have "Kaboom" written on them.

Hula Hoop Conducting - Elizabeth of caldwellorganizedchaos blog has a great post about how she uses these and I play in a very similar way.  I love the games you can play with hula hoops and this is a great review of playing unpitched percussion or Orff instruments.  Let the children take turns, too.

 

2.  Something New/Something Borrowed

Recently found a new resource/lesson/activity?  Borrowed a lesson or activity from another teacher (or from a blog.. hint hint)?  Want to test drive it?  Go for it!  Now is the time to see how you need to tweak it and where it might fit best into your year long plans for next year?  Is it a rhythm lesson but you have an idea for how to make it a form lesson - try it now, tweak, and jot down notes on how you need to further develop it.  I keep a file called, "Things I want to try".  It is old school- a manila folder where I print out or jot down ideas, lessons, songs, listening pieces I need to develop further. 

 

3.  Something True

While it is true that this time of year is typically filled with fun activities, be true and authentic; sometimes the songs that were "deep" are the ones they want to sing again. My oldest students have wanted to sing, "Give Light" which I blogged about in December in this post.  The song resonated with them, and while it is not a "fun" song, it honors those with more serious personalities.  My second graders have chosen to sing "This Land is Your Land" as one of their song choices on their last day..  Another more serious song, and not as light-hearted as  "Found a Peanut", but I was true to their choice. 

Hope you have a wonderful end and a great summer- check back, I'll be here! :)

 





 

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: