Marvelous Music Makers: "Jim Gill Sings The Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes"

A CD that has been enjoyed by my students is "Jim Gill Sings The Sneezing Song and Other Contagious Tunes".  I love that many of the songs focus on following directions (a vital skill!) and are still very fun.  Many musical skills and objectives for young students and special needs students are addressed in this CD as well. 

Here are some of our favorite songs from this collection:

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!)

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!

Worthy Website for Music Ed: Creating Music

Wouldn't I love to be a teacher who has access to class computers for music??!! There are so many great ways to reinforce your lessons with Morton Subotnick 's Creating Music site!  Because I don't have access to computers for our music class, I recommend this site for students and parents to explore on their own time at home, and include it on a list on my edline page.  The goal of the Creating Music website is to "provide an environment for children to experience creative play in the creation of music, with the same ease they have been able to enjoy with toys, drawing tools, building blocks, puppets, etc." I recommend this site for students in grades K-3.

Some of the highlights of this site are:

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Rock it, Sock it, Number Line"





"Rock it, Sock it,
Number Line!
Numbers and Veggies-
Party Time!"

"Rock it, Sock it, Number Line" by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson has been on my son's book shelf since it was lovingly given to him by his preschool teacher back in 2007. This is a very silly book about veggies partying in the garden until they are finally made into vegetable soup. 

My very youngest group of special needs students work hard learning to count to ten.  To help with this skill, we use a song called "The Numbers Jump" (on a very old CD that I cannot find a link for online), and also Rachel Rambach's song "Counting Time", which we use constantly and adapt for the seasons and holidays.  "Rock it, Sock it, Number Line" is the newest "weapon" in my "arsenal" of supplements to help my students master counting to ten!  I recently adapted it for music class with great sucess!  Here is what I did:

Worthy Website for Music Ed: Noteflight

 



Noteflight is a fantastic resource for music educators.  Noteflight® is an online music writing application that lets you create, view, print and hear music notation with professional quality, right in your web browser. You can work on a score from any computer on the Internet, share with other users, or embed into your own pages. Anyone can sign up for a free account, or purchase a Noteflight Crescendo enhanced membership.  Any of the notation that I've included on my blog to illustrate a rhythm or melody that I use is embedded here from Noteflight.