Almost There- Holiday Activities for the Finish Line!

I had one concert last Friday and after another 4 rehearsals, had the last two concerts on Wednesday. Whew! 28 pieces of music later, I am tired.  We all know what that feels like, and how nice it is to hear from teachers and parents how much they enjoyed the concerts! 

Today is my last day of school before break. This will be me at 11:45 today!

 It is a half day ... and it is a crazy day we call "Gold and Maroon" which is where everyone is one of our school colors, either Gold or Maroon. Each grade is divided equally and students compete against each other in grade level teams for relay races and tug of war. But the fun and crazy screaming doesn't end there, then it is the parents turn to compete - Gold Dads compete against Maroon Dads and the same for Moms.  It. Is. CRAZY!  Fun, but crazy, and loud, and yes, we are in the gym!

I know many teachers are still going strong, some of you have 3 days left, some have a full week next week.
Here are a few things I have done the past couple of weeks that do not require you to print, cut, or laminate anything.  I am not a fan of worksheets or coloring pages - I don't use them. 
I do not know the animator who puts together these Musication videos, but I am so very grateful for these wonderful, highly entertaining and active play alongs!  Great to leave as sub plans, too!!
All you need are some instruments and a projector to show these. Guaranteed fun and the best part is the children are actively making music and having a fun experience that is not at all boring - no heads on the floor and eyes closing while watching these!

1.  Trepak Percussion Play Along

This is perfect for first through upper elementary!  I have students watch the first minute or so, then ask them to turn and talk to a neighbor about what they saw and noticed.  Then I go back to the directions page, which shows what the symbols are, what instruments are needed, who the conductors are, etc.  I ask students what they notice, turn and talk, how many symbols, and then ask the older students (2nd grade and up) to problem solve; how many students do we have today, how many instruments. I try to let them help figure out how many groups of students we need and usually let them self-select groups.  My students know where our instruments are and they go by group to choose the instruments to play.  There is a "cymbal" part in this but I don't have enough cymbals so I let them use the gong!  I give enough mallets for all to play the very large gong and they love it. It is not an instrument we use often, and this way everyone gets to play this very special instrument! Then... PLAY!  It is so fun and they really love it.  I usually let mine rotate through the instruments; the last group puts the instruments on the floor and steps back, then I tell them "drums go to triangles, triangles to sticks, sticks to tambourines, tambourines to gong (cymbal)".  We play again and again until everyone has had a turn!  SO fun.. you could also use body percussion; stomp, pat, snap, clap, lip pop!
There are two of these - one with instrument symbols - great for younger students, and one with other symbols - also good for instruments, and also good for body percussion!

2. Trepak Boomwhacker Play Along Easy

You will need a Bb for this one which uses low E and low F / G, A, Bb, B, C, D, E, F
(B + E for one child)

3. Twinkle Twinkle Handbells (or glockenspiels or Orff instrument) Play Along:

4.  We Wish You a Merry Christmas Boomwhacker Play Along

5.  We Wish You a Merry Christmas Boomwhacker DUO Play Along



 

6.  Jingle Bells Play Along with notes on a partial staff



7.  Frosty, the Snowman Boomwhacker Play Along

 

Hope you enjoy these and check out musication on youtube here.  They have a nice variety - everything from Sylvia Pizzicato, Frere Jacques, Black House Blues,  Happy Birthday, Nima Naja, In the Hall of the Mountain King, to Rolling in the Deep! There are about 50 videos now and just added several this fall.

Happy holidays, everyone! Good luck with concerts, Happy New Year!

 



Music Centers

See my earlier post about centers. Here's a few more center ideas and some visuals for you to right click and save as and print! Drawing Notes Center sign and an extra blank sign: Here is the grid- we are using the 4x4 for this activity. I copied a bunch and put them in a folder and then in a large ziploc bbag with pencils included. Could easily put a few of them in plastic protective pages and add dry erase markers.! http://www.marthabeesmusic.com/the-mighty-music-grid.html Another activity with them is thanks to mrs. King's music room blog- GREAT ideas here, folks! This is a composition activity using the grids- I have yet to make the sign up for this one but will definitely be adding it to my bucket of centers! http://mrskingrocks.blogspot.com/2012/10/composing-for-instruments-in-1st-grade.html Heart Chart and Instrument Match Up See earlier post for heart charts! Instrument Match Up original idea is from here: http://www.katietraxler.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=466 Here is my version you can download, save, and print: Rhythm of Burgers and KABOOM! Sign Rhythm of Burgers is here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Music-Theory-12-RHYTHM-Worksheets Kaboom idea is here- I just wrote 2 music notes on the large foam popsicle sticks from Dollar Tree: http://secondgradestyle.blogspot.com/2011/12/money-money-money.html Boomwhacker Name That Tune (I hand wrote that title across the top of each page) and put each one in a plastic protective page. Write across the top so students know which way the music goes! These are just some of the centers I have had fun getting ready for! Enjoy!!

Sub Plans...Lots of 'Em!

So.. the day after my huge holiday concert, Dec. 13th to be exact, I found out the nausea I had been experiencing since Thanksgiving was actually a perforated bowel. So, off to surgery I went that Thursday eve. three weeks ago today! And guess what they found? A piece of a toothpick.. never putting those in my mouth again. I've had this surgery before (had colon cancer in my 20's.. another long story) and it's a long recouperation time. I was in the hospital for 11 days, got out just before Christmas and was able to spend Christmas morning home with my family which was wonderful but weird as I was pretty much nested on the couch surrounded by lots of pillows and medications. My incision got infected so I have an open wound that's draining and being packed every day (ick) and am now working on sub plans. I won't be back to school until probably mid-February which I'm not exactly pleased about but it is what it is. I will be going into school tomorrow to meet with my long term sub and kids return Monday so we've got a ton of work to do tomorrow. One of the best things I've found about sub plans is to leave them verbally. Use an app like evernote or record yourself another way (so many options) and talk to the kids just like you would in the classroom. When the kids need to find partners, or move to another part of the room, etc. I always say, "press the pause button now and then turn it back on when the kiddos are in place". Subs LOVE this. Another good activity is a music game round robin. I have the sub divide the students into small groups of 3 or 4 and the students play music games like Music Candyland, Counting Up the Mountain, etc. I had an earlier post on music games from early fall, look back and you'll be able to find tons of games. Groups play their game for 10-12 minutes and then rotate to the next game. This keeps things fresh and really fun as they rotate through. I also keep a Sub Plan Songbook with CD's I put together years ago just for times like this. In the Songbook are suggestions for songs with books, games, activities, and tons of songs with visuals. All the song pages have appropriate ages listed so the sub has no questions as to what songs might work with different grades. It's truly a lot of work, but it's going to pay off for me now!