Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Back at school- a new one this year. I usually do a composer at the beginning of each class. Sometimes it is the composer for a month and other times it might be for just a week. Depends on the composer and how my time is distributed in the month.

To start off the school year I began with Beethoven. Not knowing these students I wanted to start off with a composer I figured they knew. I was correct and they love him. So today I decided to do the Beethoven section from the Playing with the Classics Vol. I by Peggy D. Bennett. I also created a Smart Notebook lesson to go along with it that you can download here.***You will have to attach your own sound files to the lesson but those can be found with the book.

Since the students were already familiar with Beethoven, talking about his music was an easy conversation. I told the students that some composers want us to think about something in particular when we listen to their music but in the piece we were going to listen to no one was really sure what Beethoven was trying to say. We listened and then I asked them what they thought. First graders were not very forthcoming with suggestions and so I asked them if they thought Beethoven was saying "Now go to sleep....." or perhaps "Here comes a storm....". They liked the 2nd suggestion and immediately I had students saying "Here comes a storm...." or their own variation of that sentence. I also noticed they quickly had their hands on the floor tapping out the rhythm pattern. No encouragement needed there! I jumped in though and showed them a different way to use their hands as instructed in the book, tapping and then bringing my hands high like a conductor. They picked it up quickly again. I followed the script in the book, it worked well. The students responded nicely. We listened, did the hand pattern, and then followed the map.

This was a very easy and fun lesson to present. Doesn't take too much time. It was a nice lesson to use after all of our discussion about Beethoven. Gold star for this lesson!

***For some reason, when I save and then open this file in IE, it does not save as a Notebook file. In Mozilla Firefox, no problem. No issues with Chrome either. Go figure.

The Farmer in the Dell and the end of the school year

The end of this school year came faster than I expected. I am leaving my present school and moving to a new school in the diocese. Which means that I had to pack up over 27 years of material. Not so much fun. It was a good time though to clean and purge out those things that have long ago become useless. Lots of recycled things! And since I am at the end of the year, no classes, but as I said I will reflect on past lessons and get some of my files uploaded.

The Farmer in the Dell

I used the Farmer in the Dell from the Song Play book, " a collection of playful songs for ages 4-7, written by 8 Montana educators and compiled and edited by Dr. Peggy Bennett." I love this book and really enjoyed the Farmer in the Dell. This particular version comes with a script for the storytelling of the song. My students loved this even though 99% of them already knew the song. Which I think proves that everyone loves listening to a good story. Good storytelling is whole other discussion but one worthy of investigating. Not today though.

Back to Song Play- I used the story in the book but I also created and used a Smart Notebook lesson file. There is one on the Smart Exchange site if you prefer but you are welcome to access my file here.

DOWNLOAD FILE


During my lesson, I told them the story and then we reviewed through the characters. We stopped and talked about each character. For instance we spent a lot of time discussing farmers; where they lived, what you might find on a farm, what a farmer might grow and so on. We also discussed if a farmer could be a girl or a boy. Each character in the story had many things to talk about and this could easily be an entire lesson just with sharing their thoughts and ideas. Unfortunately, most of us don't have time to hear every comment so you will have to gently set parameters about how many answers you need or tell children that if they did not get to answer they will get to the next time. It is very important that children understand that you respect and value their contributions to the class discussion.

We moved to the song next, sing each part and using the images on the Smart Notebook lesson as a guide. By the time we got to the game the song and story were well established in their minds and we were able to easily play. The Song Play book has wonderful directions and script to go along with this song. This is certainly one of my students favorite lessons.

Hop Old Squirrel Lesson File

Since I am nearing the end of the school year I won't be able to share my classroom happenings. Now would be a good time to start sharing my lesson files. Attached here is a Smart Notebook lesson for the traditional song Hop Old Squirrel. This is a lesson geared towards Kinder-First grade. It is a work in progress although I have included some questions to ask as you teach and some movement ideas. Feel free to change/adapt as you need. You will notice the Creative Commons license on the first and second pages. It is an "Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike" license. Thanks for looking and sharing!

DOWNLOAD FILE

Nessun Dorma and Young Authors Day

So I promised that I would post a clip of my first graders performing our version of Nessun Dorma at our Young Authors Day. Unfortunately my camera's battery died right before we started so I had a friend use my iPhone to video the performance. She was sitting on the floor so you can't see all the little ones "asleep" on the stage. I guess she was afraid she would block some parents if she stood up. Oh well... It was cute and they were fantastic! I wish she had caught them announcing it so you could hear little Julian say "Puccini". I thought I was in Milan listening to him say it. Adorable :-)

Remember that Nessun Dorma will be coming in Peggy Bennett's new Playing with the Classics book due out very soon. I was introduced to this segment at the Music EdVentures conference inVancouver this year.

BTW- Young Authors Day is our version of a Literature Field Day. The whole day is dedicated to books, reading and writing. Activities include performances such as musicals, plays, story tellers and visiting authors. The day coincides with our Artfest where student art work is displayed throughout the school. Parents are invited to come view the art with their child. 

In the Hall of the Mountain King and mi re do

Oooooo, this did not go so well. I had already done this music and story, and posted about it. Kids loved it. It went well with how I used it previously. This time we were trying to play act the story and with not so much success. Hmmm, I think the story was too much. They had a difficult time following all the pieces and keeping the flow going. We were going to use this for our Young Authors Day performance but I may have to resort to something a bit simpler.

On another note though, and this one very encouraging. In a kindergarten class I told them I would be giving them a secret part of a song. I then proceeded to chin the song using "lu". I told them it was from a song we know but I was not going to tell them which song. They had to listen and see if they could figure it out. I chose the ending of The Farmer in the Dell, mi mi re re do, to use as my secret melody. Sure enough those smart little kinders had more than one song picked out! Not only did they say The Farmer in the Dell, but they also found A Hunting We will Go, Hot Cross Buns and one I forgot about, Circle Left! Pretty amazing listeners I have to say. It was very exciting! And of course they pointed out that it was also mi re do! Days like this make me smile for the rest of the week.

Nessun Dorma- None Shall Sleep!

Playing with the Classics

While at the Music EdVentures conference in February, Peggy Bennett introduced the crowd to her marvelous book, Playing with the Classics. I talked about this book in another post and again, it is a great resource. Really fun lessons for using traditional classical music in the classroom. Peggy also talked about her second volume of the book, due to come out very soon I hope. She led us through one of the new lessons "Nessun Dorma" from the opera Turandot.

As soon as I returned back to my class I used the ideas and lesson that Peggy taught us with one of my first grade classes. So much fun! Every time I see them now though they want to do Nessun Dorma and act out the story. Since we are enjoying this so much, we will be presenting Nessun Dorma at our Young Authors Day at our school. Young Authors Day is kind of like a literary field day. All the activities are focused on books and reading. We also link it to our Spring Artfest and display student art work throughout the building. We invite parents to come and tour our "student museum".

But- Back to Nessun Dorma! As I said, the children love acting out the story. This really shows how much children love a good story. Many of the activities in the book involve a story of some type or story making or acting out the story. If only all teaching were this easy. If you haven't ordered the book yet, do so. You won't regret it and your students will love you for it!

I first introduced the class to the story that would go along with Nessun Dorma. We picked a princess and her prince and the townspeople. The class acted out the story and then I introduced them to the composer. We looked at a picture of the composer, Puccini, and talked about the opera Turandot. There was much discussion about the singer we were about to hear and what we could expect from the voice, that it would not sound like ours. On our first listening, there was certainly some giggling at the "opera voice" but they thought it was a pretty song. They especially liked the story. Then we put the whole thing together; story and music. It was wonderful! I can't wait for them to perform it at Young Authors Day. I will try to record their performance and get it posted so check back in May to see if I was able to.

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks

This week I wanted to do Mussorgsky's Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks. I really enjoyed doing Peggy Bennett's version, from her new book Playing with the Classics, when we did it at the MEI conference in Vancouver. I decided to do it with my kindergarten classes and first grade. I basically followed her suggested script in the book: discussing chicks, finding out what they know and don't know. The first graders had quite a bit of information about chicks and were happy to share it! They had some chicks in their classroom when they were in kindergarten last year and our discussion could have lasted hours. This is often one of the hardest things to do in a class when you are on a time schedule; cutting students stories short. You have to find the right words so that feelings aren't hurt and they understand that you really do want to hear what they have to say but it will have to wait for another time. If I ask them to "hold on to that thought" they are okay and will wait until later. It is important though to make sure you let them tell you at some point, either at the end of class or the next time you do the activity. Students need to know you care about what they have to say. Consider this principle from the SongWorks approach:

• Students have the right to be treated with respect and dignity for their ideas, skills and stages of development.

Sorry- I went a bit off subject- important, but a sidebar.

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks: This went very well. The students loved it. They were wonderful chicks in eggs. We even merged the ideas together. The first part of the music we were chicks in the eggs, then came the stretching and then we were chicks outside of the eggs walking and scratching about. It was a lot of fun and I think one of the first grade classes will perform this for our Young Author's Day at my school. Another side bar here- Young Author's Day is like a literary field day of sorts. The activities are all centered around reading, books and stories of all kinds. In the last two years we have combined it with our Artfest and have students' art work on display throughout the building. We also have a concession area after school and parents are invited to come in the evening for performances and to tour the "art museum".

Initially, I used my SmartBoard Notebook to display pictures of chicks, the composer and the title of the piece. This week, when we return to the piece again, we will do a Thinking Map when we talk about chicks and the music. I'll post more about Thinking Maps next post for those who are not familiar with them.

Get Connected to Music EdVentures

I realize that my original intent for this blog was to share my experiences in the classroom using the SongWorks approach and I will not deter from that goal. However, I would like to also include in my postings relevant information connecting others to Music EdVentures and SongWorks just in case you managed to get to my site and are not aware of these other places to find information.

If you are not a member of Music EdVentures be sure to go their website and join this fantastic group of educators. You will find them to be a wonderful resource for your classroom. You can access the newsletters and other information on their site for free and without being a member. But I recommend that you investigate joining this organization. You will not regret your decision.

If you are already a member, Music EdVentures has a Facebook page. It is a closed group but as a member of Music EdVentures you can request to join.

The iPad and SongWorks

I have been using the iPad with my kinder classes, letting them draw a song map on the iPad. I am then able to project their map on my whiteboard. The children enjoy seeing their map projected in the front of the class. Students take great pride in seeing their work posted in their classrooms or in the school hallway. In it's simplest form, this type of "publishing" helps validate a child's work in the class. It gives them a way to contribute to the class. We are all then able to view and follow their map in the air. These maps can then be saved as a photo, posted on a website or even emailed to parents with an explanation of what their child was doing in music class. Much like the papers that get stuffed in folders and backpacks but without the tears or crumples.

The iPad is one of many educational tools that teachers can choose to give their students another way to express themselves.

Music EdVentures - Sum it Up!

I have not been able to write recently. Life gets in the way sometimes. But I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the Music EdVentures conference in Vancouver. My recent posts gave a few details but let me expound a bit.

The SongWorks approach is focused on several principles of teaching and learning. The conference itself was an example of those principles. As we attended the conference, we were all teachers and students at some point over the three days and experienced each principle of the SongWorks approach. I'd like to talk about a few of those and how I felt it was imbued throughout.

• Students deserve an engaging learning environment in which they feel safe enough to demonstrate freely their understandings and skills through various types of participation.

As we participated in a number of activities, we became the students. We were always in a welcoming environment. The attendees were so eager to share and discuss ideas. It was most important to reflect on how we felt as a "student" since this would give us insight into how our students would feel as they do the same task. Teachers don't often think from this perspective and continue on their way leaving many behind. Acting as a student in an activity and truly focusing on those feelings can help you adjust your teaching habits. Are you really giving your students the best learning environment? Can they express what they understand?

• A teachers attitudes, behaviors, and methodologies should be compatible.

This principle goes hand in hand with the last one and was clearly evidenced by all who presented at the conference. Everyone was excited to share their own ways of using the SongWorks approach. There were so many varieties but yet they all shared common elements, those being the Principles of Teaching and Learning. Ideas flowed quickly and all were connected by the same thread. It was exciting to listen. My note taking was jumbled in trying to keep up!

• The way music sounds rather than how it looks guides the selection and presentation of patterns for study.

This was probably the most thought provoking principle portrayed at the conference. It was so fascinating listening to people discuss just how do we decide what musical element to teach. But more importantly, "Why?" (I chuckle thinking about Peggy Bennett's reference here to "whhhyyyy?") I think that too many, far too many, teachers never consider the why of what they do musically. I know that I have fallen in that trap myself. One can see how students fail to connect musical elements together because they don't make sense in the way they were discovered.

• Quality of life is enriched through music and singing.

Ah, definitely the best yet. A few days of singing, listening and playing. If only every day could be filled with such joy. But wait, I teach music, I CAN have every day with singing, listening and playing. Thank you Music EdVentures for reminding me how full and wonderful life can be.

Music EdVentures Day 1- Vancouver

Quick post here- wow- what a good day! So many educators passionate about what they do. Playing games with Tony was so much fun. I have not done a long set as he had us do. During the song of Jingle Bells we made a long ways set. The first couple sashayed down the middle and then, holding one hand with your partner you walk holding it over one of the long lines. The rest of the dance was like many I know but I liked this new addition. I will definitely use this one with my students. The afternoon brought all of the quick talks by the Emerging Pioneers. Lots of new ideas to take back with me. And on a related note, if anyone is reading this, when I return to Texas, I will get more of my files uploaded for anyone to use. Any questions, please contact me.
I am looking forward to tomorrow and more singing and playing games!

Music EdVentures Vancouver BC

I am off to the Music EdVentures conference in Vancouver. Thursday I get to present how I integrate technology into the SongWorks method. For me, I see technology following the principle of giving children the opportunity to express themselves in a variety of ways. Technology isn't for every student but the many varied ways just might be what one child needs to feel successful. I am embedding my Prezi presentation for anyone who might be interested. Plus I will also include my handout here.

SongWorks in Action on Prezi

Bumpity Bumpity Yellow Bus

or is that a Bumble Bee?

At the beginning of the school year, I always sang Hickety Tickety Bumble Bee with my young students. Using it to learn their names and encourage them to sing by themselves. Unfortunately when my classes were large, I would end up singing the song 20-25 times because everyone's name had to be sung! So finding Bumpity Bumpity Yellow Bus in the Song Play book was a nice surprise. It works very similar to how I used the other version but in the Song Play book, movement was a main focus. My students enjoyed adding the movements while singing the song. But the primary focus here was on the individual student and how important their name is and how they say their name. They all wanted us to hear and say their names. I noticed though when some students would say their names, we didn't always echo it back the same. So we would stop, and really listen to their name and their voice and repeat it back just as they had said it. You could see on that child's face the pleasure in hearing their name said in the same way.

We also tapped the names as we said them, listening carefully to how many times we would tap for the names. Sometimes we would practice a name a few times to make sure we had it correct. We also listened  to the strong sounds in the names and tapped them harder in our hands.

Playing with their names was a fun activity for the students. A person's name gives them an identity and it is important to let children know their name is important. It is equally important to say their name as they say it.

Come and Follow Me

Come and follow me in a line, in a line.
Come and follow me, we will stop this way.

Following the script, the students were very attentive and followed what I did. They listened carefully to the song and when asked "what did the song tell us to do?" they answered "stop this way". Some also responded that the song asked us to "follow in a line". Moving on, they were asked to watch my feet and notice what happened at the end of the song. We continued on, following the script and I could write out everything the book says and my students responded as you would expect. They loved the game and we played with some of the variations in switching leaders.

I've used this song with other classes over the years but followed the script in the Song Play book. What I have observed in following the scripts is that they are very well thought out. Children will typically respond exactly like the book suggests they will. This result is caused by how the questions are worded and I have found that to be an important factor with the SongWorks approach. Words have so much impact on people. And children, who don't know all the intricacies of words may interpret your words differently than you would expect. Our words when chosen carefully can make someone happy or ruin their day. What words will you say?

Hot Cross Buns

It seems that Hot Cross Buns is one of those little songs that literally everyone knows. Such a simple little melody.

Following the script in Song Play, I introduced the hand signs to my students. They were so attentive and ready to go. (Sometimes I just want to chuckle out loud as I look at their eagerness. They are just fun to watch.) Going through each one, practicing, reviewing and then finally I sang the song to them using the hand signs. Observing doesn't last long since they were quick to see what was happening and tried to follow me. They learned the song quickly and put the hand signs with it. We practiced with one hand, two hands, with a partner (they always love that) and as a group. We also practiced the hand signs while the song was in our inner hearing. They especially love to do this but there is always one character that "sneaks" out a word or two. I find it interesting when they get upset at this student for leaking the words out loud. They definitely want to "hear" it only inside their heads.

Once they were comfortable with the song, I introduced the solfa syllables to them. There was no slowing them down! We sang the song both ways and played with our hand signs. Only then did I show them a smart notebook page with the hand signs. Some children exclaimed "that looks like what we were doing!" They also recognized the mi-re-do words on the page.

We also talked about what a real hot cross bun is and when they were eaten.

Grieg In the Hall of the Mountain King Story and Listening

I don't know if this qualifies as a SongWorks lesson but it's from one of Peggy Bennett's books, specifically Playing with the Classics. Wonderful resource for using classical music in the classroom with engaging lessons covering from story making, to moving and score reading. I have used Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King many times in my music class but had not used the ideas in the book before. I introduced Grieg to the children and we talked a bit about him and some things about his life. Did you know that Grieg did not like school and would find ways to get his close wet on the way to school so he would be sent home for dry clothes? Well by the time he went home and came back, school would be over. Tricky boy, eh?

I then began to share the story with the children although I did adapt it a bit and kept it closer to the Peer Gynt story including the trolls! I found that they were familiar with the story the 3 Billy Goats Gruff and knew what a troll was- grumpy! I asked them questions as we went along, what did the princess look like? Why was she riding a pig? What was the pig's name? and so on. I had created a smart notebook file for Grieg and revealed pictures of the story as we went along. They loved the story and I probably could have gone on for 1001 and nights! (Sorry that was a bit cliché)

After the story we listened to the music and imagined Peer, the princess and the trolls. Again, they loved the music and talked about how the music sounded just like Peer being chased by the trolls out of the mountain. Of course they all wanted to listen to it again and again!

Circle Left or was that Right?

Circle Left with kindergarten. That was interesting!

Well, introducing the song, following script somewhat. We first did the song sitting in our places. I sang "touch your nose" touching my nose and on "do-oh-do-oh" put my hands in the air. At "shake those fingers down" I did exactly that. The class caught on quite quickly to the song and the movements. I intended to practice and remind them to shake their fingers down at the end but they pointed it out to me and reminded
their classmates that they needed to do that at the end.

It was fascinating to watch them take over the song and sing it over and over and over with all the motions. Sometimes it is hard to stop them and move on to something else when they just want to repeat it again and again! This is a good thing and a bad thing rolled into one!

Once we managed to move ahead I introduced the words "circle left" which of course they learned right away. We talked about what the song was telling us now and discussed how we could make circles sitting in our places. We used our arms, our fingers, switching from right to left hand. No one suggested any other body part but thinking back now I realize I didn't encourage them to consider anything else. Not that I discouraged it but I didn't lead them to thinking of some other way besides our fingers, hands and arms. I will have to remember to suggest a nose or ear?

We then got up from our places and made a large circle. Making circles is always interesting with any age children. I sometimes don't see any difference between the circle making skills of a kindergarten student and a 5th grader. We sang the song and followed the motions but not giving any special attention the words LEFT in the song. I felt that we needed to accomplish merely walking in a circle before we tried going to the left.

We did then point out that the song does say circle "left" and we discussed different ways to find our left hand. For example, some students that is the hand they put their pencil in (write with), we know that we do the pledge of allegiance with our right hand over our heart so our left must be the other hand :-), and then I showed them how when you hold your hands out in front of you, you can make the letter L with your left hand. It is backwards with your right hand. As you can see, discussing which way is left can be a lengthy matter.

Once decided which way was left, we sang the song and circled "left"!