Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Old Black Fly"

Here is another find from the local public library: "Old Black Fly" by Jim Aylesworth and illustrated by Stephen Gammell.  The melody for the book is "Buffalo Gals".   The book is organized as an alphabet book with the old black fly doing everything from eating apple pie, to stealing jelly, snoozing on a quilt, and finally "zzzzzzz-ing" his way to being swatted.

This is another nice wrap-up to a music lesson, especially if you are working on call and response songs with your students.

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "We're Going on a Lion Hunt"

Here is another variation on "We're Going on a Bear Hunt"; this time we are hunting lions! "We're Going on a Lion Hunt" by David Axtell is a great book for students to invent their own creative movements to reflect the story.

"In this charming rendition of a well-known children's chant, two sisters are looking not for a bear but for a lion- a lion that lives on the African savanna, where the girls go through swishy swashy long grass, a splishy slpashy lake, and a Big Dark Cave. When they finally meet their lion, they have to run, run, run through it all again to get back home."

Make Your Own: "Ribbon Wands"

There are terrific products out there for teaching music...but who can afford them all?  Sometimes I devise ways to make my own for much less money.


Some time ago I bought rainbow ribbon wands at musicinmotion.com.  My students and I love using them for performances, showing phrases in music, creative movement, and many other activities.  But $26.00 (plus shipping) for only 6 makes the cost too prohibitive to have enough wands to involve an entire class of students in an activity.

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:

Vocal Timbre Practice with the Three Bears

My kindergarten language support students love a good snuggle with a stuffed animal, as witnessed in a recent music class.  We had three visitors: Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear, right out of the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".  Using stuffed animals in the lesson helped some of my shy students gain more courage to try out their low, medium, and high voices.

A special purchase of three stuffed bears was not necessary.  As most moms will attest, stuffed animals seem to mysteriously MULTIPLY in a home with children. The kids seem to receive them as gifts, win them at church picnics, and before you know it, you have a house overrun with stuffed critters!  For the bears used for this lesson, I just searched through the collection and found three of different sizes, and off to school they went.  If you don't have children of your own, try asking a mom you know...she'll probably be glad to donate some bears for you to use!

Spaghetti Conducting

As an elementary music student, and truthfully all the way up to about 10th grade, I felt that conducting patterns were pretty mysterious.   No music teacher covered learning or practicing conducting patterns, and when I played flute in elementary and junior high school band, I always wondered what the director was waving around up there.

In my music classes, I introduce conducting patterns for 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 time signatures beginning in fourth grade and continuing review until sixth grade.  Students this age like taking the part of the leader of a group, and we practice conducting as a class to recorded music for each time signature.

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

Just as "Halloween Mice!" was a great book for a creative movement activity, so is the equally fun "Christmas Mice!" also by Bethany Roberts and illustrated by Doug Cushman.

"The holiday mice are back! It’s Christmas time and the four cheerful mice merrily hang stockings, string popcorn, wrap presents, and sing carols. The little mice are so caught up in their joyful preparations that they almost forget to look out for their old enemy, the cat. Happily, their Christmas spirit is so infectious that even the cat is not immune. Simple, lively verse and colorful, action-filled illustrations convey the all anticipation and goodwill that come with the Yuletide season in this delightful read-aloud." -from amazon.com

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

The Journey to the Concert Destination

Focus on the journey, not the destination.

Joy is found not in finishing an activity, but in doing it.

-Greg Anderson

It is better to travel well than to arrive.

-Buddha

To a music educator at this time of year, these quotes take on a new meaning in the context of CONCERT SEASON!! Many music teachers are either expected to, or contractually obligated to produce both a holiday concert and spring concert.  For many the past months have been the "journey" portion of the music process; the practicing done alone, in small groups, and in large group situations.  The "destination" portion of the music process begins now in the holiday season, with the holiday concert.

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie" with Differentiated Instruction Ideas

Of all of the "Old Lady" book adaptations, this one is my personal favorite...probably because she is finally eating some delicious and edible goodies (except for when she devours the pot used for cooking!), and she reminds me of our own gluttony on the holiday of Thanksgiving! (Although, now that I am the one preparing the food for the feast, I find that I eat a less at dinner...wonder why? Must be sampling too much as I'm cooking!)

Here are some differentiated ideas on including "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie" in your music instruction:

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Thank You, Thanksgiving"

When we encourage our young students to sing, a pattern often introduced first is the sol-mi pattern, soon to be followed by the sol-sol-mi-la-sol-mi pattern. "Thank You, Thanksgiving" by David Milgrim is a great book to reinforce singing in these important patterns that form a strong foundation for our young singers.

"Noodles"



"Five small noodles, on my noodle plate..."

 "Noodles" is an interactive new activity I started with my language support and kindergarten life skills students.  This finger play is from the Dr. Jean site, which I have sucessfully utilized for quite a while, ever since my first "Tooty Ta" as a kindergarten classroom teacher back in 2003-2005!

To prepare, I cut five holes in foam plates for the entire class. Be sure to measure the placement with one of your student's actual hands, because if you go by your own adult-sized hand, they may not fit the children's small hands!

Children's Literature for Music Ed: "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth

Most early elementary students have a favorite tempo, and that would be FAST! Oftentimes we need to remind our young students to slow down and take it easy, and not just in the context of the music! As a fan of the art of Eric Carle, I collected many of his books for my own children's collection, but "'Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,' said the Sloth" has been overlooked at our house until now.  In the day of the sloth, he hangs out on a branch, eats, naps, and wakes up....what a lazy day! After being pestered by some other animals, the sloth gives his defense: he just likes to do things slowly, slowly, slowly.

Rachel Rambach has written a song to reinforce the need to go slowly called "Slow and In Control". Listening to this song would be a great way to introduce the concept of the slow tempo, and to lead into this book.

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

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

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: "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:

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: