Marvelous Music Makers for Music Ed: "Disney Halloween Songs & Sounds"

Happy Halloween!! This album has been with me for many Halloweens...and my very youngest students really enjoy the music! Some of the musical concepts that are reinforced by this resource are steady beat, group choreography, creative movement, identifying verse and refrain, vocal timbres, and vocal exploration

Some of my favorites include:

• The Werewolf Song
• Shake Your Bones
• Which Witch is Which?
• They Don't Scare Me

Here are the activities we use for these songs:

Holiday "Flip" books

Incorporating visual aids is very important for our young students success, and sometimes students need a hands-on visual aid. For this reason, I developed the "Flip Book".  These simple creations help more students follow the sequence of a song, assist in developing reading skills, and lead to more excitement and interest in the activity.

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Halloween Mice!"

Oh, those Preschoolers, Kindergartners and First Graders, always on the move! They are naturally always in-motion and on the go, and we need to include plenty of movement activities in our music classes.  We also always need to be mindful that their attention span just about equals their age in minutes...so the four-year-old can pay attention for four minutes, the five-year-old for five minutes, and so on. (Personal aside: Why does this only pertain to school, and not so much to video games??)

So, for the music teacher, this means that you need to be changing up your activities in the lessons you plan quite often! It is challenging to plan all of the necessary activities, but well worth having your young students engaged, learning, and happy in their musical activities! To that end, "Halloween Mice!" by Bethany Roberts is a great book to use as a creative movement activity as a part of your class during this month of October.

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything"

Our first grade curriculum focuses on "voice choice" and discriminating between singing, speaking, whispering, and shouting voices. A terrific reinforcement for this concept is found in "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams, and it is seasonally appropriate for October!

"The Little Old Lady. . . is a clever reworking of the classic story of a ghostly body that appears bit by bit (see ``What's the Matter'' in Maria Leach's Whistle in the Graveyard Viking, 1974 ). The humor of the little old lady's fearless attitude and her clever solution as to what to do with the lively shoes, pants, shirt, pumpkin head, etc., that are chasing her, will enchant young audiences. The catchy refrain never falters, and the rhythmic repeated sounds made by each of the woman's pursuers are sure to appeal to children. Lloyd's brilliantly-colored, detailed folk art-style illustrations are a perfect complement to the text." -Alice Cronin, Belleville Public Library, N.J. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Here are my ideas for including this book in early-elementary music class:

Differentiated Instruction for "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat"

When I originally presented ideas for utilizing "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat", there was pretty much one activity for the class: learn to follow the sequence of the song by using some visual aids to help them.  For use in a regular education class, that plan has been very sufficient. 

Now, I'd like to share some more ideas for the very same lesson, this time to address differing needs in a special needs classroom.  Differentiating the instruction can help more students of different abilities to achieve the objective of the lesson: learning to follow the sequence of a cumulative song so that they can more easily sing along!

Differentiated Instruction in Music Education



Differentiate!!

 "Effective teachers have been differentiating instruction for as long as teaching has been a profession. It has to do with being sensitive to the needs of your students and finding ways to help students make the necessary connections for learning to occur in the best possible way." teach-nology.com

"Differentiated Instruction makes it possible to maximize learning for ALL students. It is a professional and responsive mind-set where the teacher is proactively planning for the needs of diverse learners.
Most teachers naturally differentiate to some degree. The more differentiated a classroom, the more its students feel successful and motivated, resulting in higher student achievement." differentiatedinstruction.com

Songs You Already Know: "The Haunted House"

(Almost) everyone loves to get into the Halloween spirit when you work in an elementary school! By using new words with songs that we already know, we have an activity that reinforces reading skills and singing skills.

Tune: (the song you already know): "The Wheels on the Bus"

Holiday Song: "The Haunted House"

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Five Spooky Ghosts Playing Tricks at School"

 

Using the melody of "Six Little Ducks", Steve Metzger has written "Five Spooky Ghosts Playing Tricks at School".  Illustrations are by Marilee Harrald-Pilz.  This book is a great addition to your sing-along seasonal collection.  The pattern of the book will also remind you of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

The five naughty ghosts are up to no good at school, and one by one the teacher sends them home. Finding herself alone and lonely at school, the teacher calls the parents and says "Let those ghosts go back to school!" (A likely story...!)

Here are some ideas for using this book in music class:

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Skeleton Hiccups"

Do your 5 and 6-year-old students have a difficult time with the concept of "rest" in music?  Of course, with an age group that is usually very active, "rest"ing is a difficult skill!  Try using "Skeleton Hiccups" by Margery Cuyler as an extension at the end of a lesson on quarter rests. In the story, Skeleton has a pesky case of the hiccups, which he finally "scares" away.  Can you guess how? 

He looks in the mirror and sees himself...soooo scary! (and perfect for the Halloween season!)

Worthy Websites for Music Ed: "VoiceAcademy.org"



shirt by zazzle.com

 This site was recommended by a colleague and it's not what I initially expected at all...but that's not necessarily a bad thing! I was anticipating a site dedicated to vocal training for young singers, but Voice Academy's focus is on the vocal health of TEACHERS and site is described as a "no cost self-directed virtual school built for the vocal health of US teachers"!

Ironically, I was recently reading an article about teachers who battle severe career-ending vocal problems such as polyps or nodes. The goal of the Voice Academy is to "develop an outreach for the hard-working voices of schoolteachers...based on compelling research showing a high incidence of voice problems in the profession."

How are my grades? (Update 5)

I am continuing to allow my new students to Grade the Teacher. At the beginning of the class, I give one student the job of tallying my mistakes (and I've been making plenty!) and writing my score on the board. This generates a lot of interest on the part of the students! Here are my grades:

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Five Little Bats Flying in the Night"

Here is another re-write of "Six Little Ducks" just in time for Halloween! Steve Metzger is the author and Laura Bryant is the illustrator of "Five Little Bats Flying in the Night", a cute book to sing with your early childhood students. In the story,  "rambunctious bats get into all sorts of trouble as their mother tries to protect them from one mishap after another. An inventive approach to counting and rhymes, Metzger and Bryant show that, despite life's risks, mother has to "let those little bats fly, fly, fly!"

Here are my ideas for use in music class:

October Music Education Blog Carnival!!

Dr. Joseph Pisano of MusTech.net is hosting the Music Education Blog Carnival for the month of October... and one of my more "mysterious" posts is included!!!

Dr. Pisano presents a variety of terrific resources for music education, private music teachers, Recreational Music Making (RMM), music technology, music advocacy, professional music networks, and music composition.  Please check out the carnival!

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat"

That little old lady sure does like to eat, doesn't she?  If you are a fan, you may want to introduce the original song "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" before delving into the many seasonal "old lady" books.

For the spooky season, Lucille Colandro has written "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!" This is a good reinforcement of sequence and cumulative songs. Most kids just love Halloween and everything associated with the holiday, so this song and book will make them very excited!

Here are my ideas for using this book in your music class:

How are my grades? (Update 4)

In my new school, I am continuing to allow my students to Grade the Teacher.

At the beginning of the class, I give one student the job of tallying my mistakes (if any) and writing my score on the board. This generates a lot of interest on the part of the students! Here are my grades:

Quiet!

Every teacher needs to develop a "quiet signal" for those times (and they happen often...) when their students are too loud. Elementary students of all ages can get carried away by an activity, excited for any reason, and sometimes just want to visit with their friends.  For these times,  a quiet signal is necessary.

How are my grades? (Update 3)

I am continuing to allow my new students to Grade the Teacher.

At the beginning of the class, I give one student the job of tallying my mistakes (if any) and writing my score on the board. This generates a lot of interest on the part of the students! Here are my grades:

Worthy Websites for Music Ed: "Metronome Online"

Every music teacher, whether they teach privately or in a school setting, knows the importance of a metronome to help their students keep a steady beat and tempo. A metronome is a practice tool that produces a steady pulse (or beat) to help musicians play rhythms accurately. The pulses are measured in beats-per-minute (BPM). Most metronomes are capable of playing beats from 35 to 250 BPM. Common uses of the metronome are helping you to maintain an established tempo while practicing, and learning difficult passages.

How are my grades? (Update 2)

Even though my current student teacher has now taken over the day-to-day lesson planning and instruction, I still allow my students in my new school to Grade the Teacher (me, that is) on how well I am learning their names.

At the beginning of the class, I give one student the job of tallying my mistakes (if any) and writing my score on the board. This generates a lot of interest on the part of the students! It also helps me to review, and assists my student teacher in learning the student's names as well.  Here are my grades so far:

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "The Runaway Pumpkin"

'Round and 'round
across the ground
makin' a thumpin'
bumpin' sound
came that
thumpety
bumpety
thumpin'
bumpin'
round and roll-y
RUNAWAY PUMPKIN!

You can tell by this rhythmic recurring theme in "The Runaway Pumpkin" by Kevin Lewis that this is a story very well-suited for music!