December Favorite Activities

December is CRAZY, isn't it?  So much going on, so little time.. etc.  I have two concerts that turn into four as the little kiddos come to watch the bigger ones and vice versa, then the concerts for the parents.  We call them "Holiday Concerts" but I am very careful to be inclusive and not exclusive about singing songs from various perspective.  Tricky, tricky! So, December is always extra busy with these concerts and sometimes, like this year, our final concert is the day before the Holiday Break, so I don't have too much time for other activities.  But I try to sneak in a few between rehearsing music.
Of course, I love the Nutcracker, so it goes without saying that it is a piece of music I love to have students get into.  Sometimes we watch segments of the Nutcracker "The Motion Picture" version (sets designed by Maurice Sendak of "Where the Wild Things Are" fame).  I almost always have students perform Trepak in a variety of ways, either using the Bucket Drum Activity:   http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/search/label/bucket%20drum or using Artie Almeida's excellent resource, "Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My!".  There is an AWESOME parachute activity my fourth graders BEG to do again and again in there on page 47 that goes with Trepak!  Artie also has a ribbon wand activity to Trepak in the book.
In the same book there is a paper plate activity (great for the littler musicians) to the Nutcracker March as well as a candy cane dance and a stretchy band activity to the same piece.
An easily accessible song about Snowflakes with Orff accompaniment (very simple) is here:
http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2012/11/winter-snowflakes-song-with-orff.html (original post).  Here is the song:

Another activity we use is the Elf on the Shelf piece I wrote last year.. dreamed it, actually.. original post here:

http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2013/12/elf-on-shelf-speech-piece-with-ostinati.html

Whatever you choose to do this season, keep 'em singing and keep 'em moving!  :)
Blessings and Merry Christmas!

Pass Me the Turkey song with cup game composition

This one I found yesterday on the AOSA (American Orff Schulwerk Association) Music Teacher Facebook page.  MANY thanks to composers Trilby Jordan and F. Thomas Simpson for sharing and allowing me to share here!  I LOVE this song and added a cup game composition using word chains of disliked Thanksgiving foods.  Students performed them for their teachers when they came to pick up the class.  LOVED it!  Definitely going into my "keep" file for years to come!

Turkey Trouble Blues

This is a really fun song I found recently on Pinterest and happens to be composed by one of my favorites, Grace Nash, and another composer, Janice Ripley. My focus today was really to work on steady beat as my third graders are rushing everything like MAD and so this was the perfect lesson for their music classes today. I opted to use only the Bass Xy and Glockenspiel part instead of the full orchestration; for my purposes it worked beautifully and we had a hilarious time squawking and gobbling!
Here are the slides I put together with it for students.  It was really fun! 

Holiday Treats Song

Monday, 11/17 UPDATE.. cookie rhythms added!  A quick post today with a song for the holidays that is "safe" for schools; doesn't mention Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.  Great to add to a holiday program whether you are allowed to mention the holidays or not.   There's even a visual for the cookie rhythms color coded for unpitched percussion! 
Enjoy!

 

 

Off to National AOSA Conference.. wheee!

I am so excited to be headed to the National Orff Conference (American Orff Schulwerk Association) in Nashville in a couple days!  Can't wait to get new ideas, meet and network ideas with other music teachers and just reconnect with music peeps from around the US.  Hopefully my voice will return... durn cold everyone has passed on to me!  :)

Creepy Crawly Spider

This is one of my first graders FAVORITE things to do!  It takes a little instruction in order to get them to understand that when they make the yarn web they have to hold onto the string with one hand and roll/gently throw it to another student AND continue to hold on, but once they get it they BEG to do it again. Be sure to keep the beat once they have it.  I have also used it where we sing and roll the yarn.  When the yarn ball reaches a student, I sing, "What will you be for Halloween" on Sol and Mi if major, Do and La if minor (see notes and music on slides 4 and 5) and the student sings back "I will be a witch" or "I will be a dragon", etc., then I sing to someone else  "What will you be for Halloween", that student sings their answer and the game continues with the creepy crawly spider song.  Enjoy!  If you want the pdf, email me at musicquilt@hotmail.com

Sixteenth Note Halloween Cards

I use these cards with my fourth graders to create B sections to Halloween songs.  Once small groups have created and practiced (with body percussion) four beat word chains, they transfer the body percussion to unpitched percussion.  Sometimes we have even had "class challenges" where they put al the rhythms side by side and say the WHOLE thing without stopping.. very fun! 
Hope you can use these!