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.