Snow What You Know!

December/January bulletin board made by all of my 3rd Graders.

The 1st Semester is Over

So this upcoming week is the last week of the first semester. I cannot believe how quickly time can fly!

Here is a breakdown of what we are learning...
Kindergarten: Fast and Slow
1st and 2nd Grades are learning about composers. A couple of weeks ago we learned about Prokofiev and watched Peter and Wolf. Then students got to color pictures of their favorite instrument from the play. Then this past week we studied Tchaikovsky and listened to the music of The Nutcracker. We found out that yes, boys can dance too!
3rd Grade began learning about the 5 lines and 4 spaces that make up the staff and practiced drawing treble clefs. They love saying "here comes treble!"
4th and 5th Grade reviewed the staff by playing Orff instruments and by completing a musical alphabet crossword puzzle.

I am trying a new discipline technique called the Best Behavior Box. At the end of each semester, I am going to let students that have only broken a class rule once or not at all pick a prize out of the Best Behavior Box.

I stole the freebie prize ideas from Mrs. Cooley over at First Grader At Last. "Stinky Feet" was a big hit. Apparently a lot of students would rather be barefoot. :)

Tempo!

Over the past week, each grade has been discussing tempo.

• My 4th and 5th graders played a relay style game to match the English definitions to the Italian musical terms (for example: Walking to Andante). 
• My 3rd graders played Heads Up, Tempo Up where they basically played Heads Up, 7 Up, but each student was assigned a tempo so when you had to figure out who put your thumb down, you also had to define their tempo.
• My 2nd graders are just starting to learn that when you are discussing if music is fast or slow, then you are talking about the song's tempo. In order to reinforce what tempo refers to we played a Hot and Cold style game where one student hides their eyes and another hides a stuffed animal in the room. Then the rest of the students  got to yell "TEMPO!" to signify that the game had begun and then had to stomp their feet to help the student #1 find the stuffed animal. The faster they stomp, the closer student #1 is to finding the stuffed animal.

• Sadly I don't have a specific activity that stands out with my 1st graders. I have been finding it difficult this year to stay focused on the lesson plan and keep the students interested and learning. 
• Kindergarten is having fun finding the steady beat in songs and speech pieces (like the Bubble Gum Beats mentioned previously). Now they are taking it a step further and playing with the speed of the steady beat. We had a lot of fun showing fast beats with bongos!

Pop Quiz!!

This is my third year teaching and the first year it occurred to me to follow the music textbooks that came with the job. So far, they have provided an excellent guide and resource. One thing I do not like about them, however, is that they are textbooks. That just doesn't feel right in a music room sometimes. Especially the tests for each concept. For the lower grades I've come up with a way to use the audio from the tests in the book without it really feeling like a test.

I love being surrounded by people who think I am a good artist. 

There are a lot of opposites in music, so I gave the students two movements - hands on your head for choice #1 or hands in your lap for choice #2. Then I played the listening examples that came with the book and the students showed me their answers. 

First grade has been talking about tempo, so this is my example of their aural test.

After playing the example and seeing how everyone answered, we discussed what we just heard. Then I would play the example again. Every student would show me the right answer after hearing it the second time. This was a quick way for me to see that not everybody understood the concept, so then I let the students explain it in their own words and that was enough so that everyone got the right answer the second time. I'm debating on coming up with more movement options as a way to give my upper grades a multiple choice test. Mwahahaha...

Oh Neat! A Steady Beat!

It is very difficult to tell someone how to feel a steady beat. By first grade, students seem to understand the idea of your heartbeat, or pulse. They also understand what it means to say that a steady beat stays the same while a rhythm can change between long and short sounds and silences. However, kindergarten is a whole different ballgame. We have been practicing playing rhythms sticks while saying simple chants. For example:

 "1, 2, 3, 4. Mary at the kitchen door. 

5, 6, 7, 8. Mary at the garden gate"

With the rhythm sticks we can practice saying the poem fast and slow and change the steady beat. I needed a way to test their individual understanding while still keeping the whole class involved, so we made Bubble Gum Beats!

"Bubble gum, bubble gum, chew and blow.

 Bubble gum, bubble gum, scrape your toe.

 Bubble gum, bubble gum, tastes so sweet. 

Get that bubble gum off your feet!"

One at a time, students came up to the board and pointed to each bubble to show the steady beat. The rest of the class had to follow along, so if the student at the board went faster, the class had to go faster. It was a lot of fun!

October, November

This year I have decided to change the bulletin board in my classroom every two months. Since we started in August, I figured it was about time to make some changes. I decided to pull a twofer and have a half board for October and November. I enlisted the help of my 4th and 5th graders to make it possible.

4th Grade helped mt make "Boo-tiful" Melodies.

While 5th Grade was Thankful 4/4 Rhythm!

Close-up of the 5th Graders. They had to make each finger equal one measure in a 4/4 time signature.

First Six Weeks Complete!

Well... I stole yet another idea and gave it a musical twist. Over at Kingdom First Homeschool, they had the idea to write letters on a chalk board and have the little ones trace over it with paintbrushes dipped in water. I thought that this sounded pretty easy, but still fun! This past week, my first and second graders got to practice drawing their eighth, quarter, half and whole notes using this method.

Last week was also the end of our first six weeks. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by! My older grades had to take an End of Unit test out of the textbook to show what they've learned. Some of my 4th graders weren't quite sure how to use textbooks in music class...

...hehe

ABC easy as 123

Despite the fact that I am a music teacher, at one of the schools I teach at I am required to teach core curriculum material on Tuesdays. With the older students, we make up songs to help them remember the facts that they've learned in class. (side note: "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?" is one of the most fun melodies to make songs to!) With the younger grades, however, I am forced to get a little more creative.

This week, kindergarten focused on letters and colors.

Each student came up to the board to write a letter. Then they had to think of a word that started with that letter and I wrote the rest of the word out for them. You'd think writing on the board was candy with how excited they got.

1st grade took it a step further by having to write out the word themselves.

They picked out a letter magnet from a hat and then had to come up with their own word. We ended up with a lot of names. I may have to challenge them more by not allowing that. (mwahaha)

A 5th grader saw the magnet letters and decided to leave me a little note at the end of the day. :)

"Are We Going To Play Instruments Today?" UPDATE!!

New Idea For Older Grades: I let them make their own band! 
3-5 kids at a time were allowed to pick non-pitched rhythm instruments to play while I played a CD with a rock-style accompaniment. The bands took turns playing "on stage" while the other bands played the role of the crowd cheering and clapping when each performance was over.

What I hope they feel like.

As I said, I just did non-pitched percussion instruments this time and let the students play "free-style". Now my new goal is going to be to get the students comfortable being able to read music. It would really add to the experience if they could also play pitched instruments. Plus, putting order to the whole thing will let the students be able to actually be apart of a legit band!

Added bonus: It teaches the students how to be a good audience. It is a perfect moment to take the time to explain how you should always applaud after someone performs and how in some situation you can even cheer! We just have to remember our voice choices and not scream. 

"Are We Going To Play Instruments Today?"

I think I hear that questions at least once a day. Sadly, the answer is normally "No". The reason I tend to say no is because I do not like to be trapped in a room full of 15-25 children making noise. However, I know that instruments are a vital part of music. Plus, how can I expect to have 4th and 5th graders who can properly play instruments and read music if I don't let the little ones learn?

Solution: Make it a game  and take turns. If only one student is playing at a time, I can assess form AND save my ear drums!

Here's the Game: One student goes to the instrument table and picks whatever they want, but they have to know the name of the instrument and show me how to play it. Then they hand it to a friend who repeats the name and also plays it and then puts the instrument back in its proper place.

I was afraid that this would be boring, but my kindergarteners and 1st graders LOVED it! They asked if we could play again! Obviously I will have to eventually let them play more, but I think this was an excellent way to ease into instruments since it is the beginning of the year.

Line Up Alphabetically According to Your Height

Transitioning from music class to quiet halls is hard. Especially for the little ones. Mrs. Cooley over at First Grader... At Last! came up with the idea to have line-up songs. At the end of class, my students will get in line and put a hand on their head and wait for a stamp. Then my line leader will get to pick a song off of the Line-Up Song Playlist posted on my door.

Then I will pull out my Line-Up Song Lyrics book which conveniently hangs right beside the door.

And we sing!

I stole a couple from Mrs. Cooley (side note: how awesome is her name?!), but then I made some up myself. Here are mine:

Put My Hands Down (Party in the U.S.A)

So I put my hands down

I'm standing in line

You know I'm gonna behave

Facing the front like yeah

Closing my lips like shh...

Hey Soul Students (Hey Soul Sister)

Hey soul students

Ain't it time to line-up

Go in to the hall

stand nice and tall

Don't make any sound at all

Today, Today (Tonight, Tonight)

La La La Come on

La La La Line up

La La La Let's go

La La La

We're gonna get in a line, today.

Hands down, eyes forward, going into the hall

Today, right now

Gonna walk like ninja's don't make a sound.

Nice and Quiet (Spongebob Theme Song)

How will we sound when I open the door?

 - Nice and quiet!

And how will we sound when we walk through the halls?

 - Nice and quiet!

Hands by our sides and facing the front.

 - Nice and quiet!

Music is over, so back to your class!

 - Nice and quiet! (4x)

I Say Hey (Arthur Theme Song)

And I say Hey (hey!)

Gonna go line up today

Gonna walk so quietly

Because it's time to go-o

Get In Line (If You're Happy and You Know It)

So it's time to leave music, get in line

Look forward and be quiet and you'll be fine

We're going into the hall, so stand up nice and tall

It's time to leave music, get in line.

Musician of the Day

I am a firm believer in rewards. At the end of every class, I put stamps on each student's hand. For the past two years, I've just had one color because I didn't want to spend too much money buying a whole bunch of ink pads, but this year I found this handy dandy primary colors inkpad at Michael's!

Luckily the one color I already had was purple, so my Roy G. Biv is complete!

At the end of each class I also choose a Musician of the Day. That student gets acknowledged by getting a sticker. I found the cutest little bucket at Wal*Mart for a dollar that is my official sticker bucket now.

Whoooo doesn't love owls in glasses?!

This year I've added something new. I got this idea from Miss Wirth over at Wendell Music. I have added an autograph board, so now my Musicians of the Day also get to become Rock Stars!

It is awesome how excited the kids get to just write their name on a piece of paper!

First Day of School and I'm Already Board...

Well it is back to school time yet again. I've actually been back at work for a month now and progress reports go home next week! However, I am just now starting this blog and I figure the best place to start is at the beginning.

The first thing I like to think about when setting up my room is my bulletin board. I teach at two different schools and at each school I have two boards in my room. I usually keep one board the same, but change the second one monthly/seasonally/when I have extra time-ly. This year I decided to go with alliteration for my non-changing board.

Welcome to Miss Westbrook's Wonderful World of Music!

Because of different resources at my different schools, my changing board has two different themes.

School #1:

Flying Back To School!

And school #2:

WARNING: Side-effects of School May Include: 

Satisfaction, A bright future, Friendship, Impressing others, Accomplishment, 

Being awesome, Knowledge, Success, Having fun, and Great memories.

I was really proud of the second one, but none of the students have commented on it. I guess it's not as cool as I thought it was.