Instrumental Fish
Instrumental fish is a fun, handmade game! This idea came to me from an awesome music teacher in a neighboring district. The materials needed are: a poster board pond, laminated fish with instruments on one side and a magnet on the other, and fishing poles with magnets attached to the line.
Here is how we play the game:
1. Students are divided into two teams. One person from each team comes up and catches a fish. The fish are instrument side down and magnet side up. No one gets to see the fish but me.
2. I take Team #1′s instrumental fish and give them 3 clues about the instrument. They have one minute to discuss with their team. If they guess correctly, their team gets a point. If they guess incorrectly, Team #2 gets a chance to guess and steal the point. If neither team gets it correct, that instrument becomes a bonus point question at the end.
3. Then, Team #2 gets a chance to guess their fish.
4. After both Teams have gone, it’s time to send up another student from each team to catch another fish!
This game comes after an in-depth discussion on each family of instruments. My 4th grade students just love it! We go over instruments at the end of the year, usually in April, because they will have the opportunity to choose a band/orchestra instrument in 6th grade. I want them to have prior knowledge of the instruments!
Posts from the Past
Sometimes when looking at a blog, you don’t have time or get a chance to read articles written a year or two or three ago! So to help you out, here are posts from January 2012!
Pinterest: Check it out! My blog is pinned many times on Pinterest!
Recorders: Read how I teach recorders and what materials I use!
January 2011 Posts: Previous posts about the FootNOTES rug I use to teach music literacy, how I use hula-hoops to conduct my students and using Froggy Gets Dressed with instruments for the winter!
Sing, Dance, Shake Your Tail Feathers: Decor outside the music room for the winter.
Squirm!: The musical I chose for the 1st grade performance in 2012 was a new one called Squirm! My students LOVED it! The songs, especially A Spider Song, are challenging yet so catchy that I want to listen to them over and over again!
Past December Posts
Sometimes when looking at a blog, you don’t have time or get a chance to read articles written a year or two or three ago! So to help you out, here are posts from past Decembers!
Newest Puppets: If you haven’t already embraced the idea of using a puppet or two in your classroom, you should try it! Just start with one. Click here to read more!
It’s a Jungle in the Music Room!: “We’re Wild About Music” is the theme of my music room for the next several weeks. From the poster by my door, to my animal print clothing/accessories, to my books, to the lesson plans, to my puppets, to the instruments… all jungle and safari themed! It’s going to be a fun couple months! Click here to read more!
Flannelboard & Felt: After my workshop with Lynn Kleiner this summer, I added these resources to my classroom: a sky blue flannelboard and lots of felt!! Click here to read more about how I use them and what www.musicrhapsody.com says about using felt visuals!
Mega Sphere: It is official! The Hoberman 4.5 foot Mega Sphere is back in stock and back on the market! For $120, you get an exciting toy for your classroom. Why would I want this fun object in my music classroom, you ask? Well, it just so happens that a K-2 student fits perfectly inside this ball of colors and can use it to demonstrate their knowledge and recognition of high sounds versus low sounds. After students are familiar with the difference between high and low sounds, and know a few songs that demonstrate the two concepts, individual students can get in the mega sphere and when they hear high sounds the child expands the mega sphere by standing up, and when they hear low sounds the child squats down. Click here to read more!
VoiceSaver: My recent purchase: Califone VoiceSaver. This personal amplifier is perfect for projecting your voice and reducing strain. Click here to read more!
October 2011
Sometimes when looking at a blog, you don’t have time or get a chance to read articles written a year or two or three ago! So to help you out, here are posts from October 2011:
Weather & Holidays: If you are looking for lesson plans or resources about the fall & winter season, or to use around the next two holidays - Halloween & Thanksgiving – please check in my lessons plans for information. Or if you prefer to write your own, here are some of the resources I am using this year… Click here to read more!
A Bugz Christmas!: Now it is time to begin working on the 2nd Grade musical,A Bugz Christmas! My 2nd graders listened to the entire musical and learned the first song today… they LOVE it! And I do too! This musical is not only enjoyable to kids, but for teachers and parents too! Click here to read more!
Lesson Plans
Looking for K-4 lesson plans? Well, look no further because I have some for you!
These pages are a constant work in progress. Currently uploaded are my lesson plan templates with Arkansas and National Music Standards for each grade. Also, I have a few K-4 PDF lesson plans uploaded. Please feel free to download them, print them, use them, take ideas from them, and change them to fit your specific style! They are located in the drop-down menu beneath the “Lesson Plans” tab in the upper right. Just click on the grade desired!
Also, several lessons can be used in other grades depending on what level your students are. So, some I have posted in multiple grades. Or, if you like a lesson geared toward the younger grades, you can always add something more challenging to it for your older students.
On my lesson plans, I include a couple resources and abbreviations that may peak your curiosity when you see them. Here they are with a link to where to get them/learn about them:
RRR = Rockin’ Rhythm Rap (learn more or purchase it here or here)
Echo Chain = A way to warm-up voices and teach solfege pitches/hand signs at the same time. I cannot find this resource online, but students echo a 4 pitch pattern and follow along with a chart.
Expectations Rap = Be Respectful! Follow Directions! Raise Your Hand and Wait Your Turn! Always Participate! Stay In Your Seat! Huh!
Sitter Chant = 1, 2, 3, 4, Put your sitters on the floor. Fold your hands into your lap. Now before I clap clap clap!
Fun End of the Year Activities
Most teachers are out of school now and enjoying their summer. I, however, still have 12 days left. I teach at a “non-traditional” or year-round school. We are only allowed 5 weeks for the summer and school must begin on August 1st. The majority of the time, I LOVE this calendar. We get extra weeks off during the year, to make up for not getting many during the summer – 2 weeks in October, 1 in February and 2 in May. Usually the weather is MUCH nicer during those breaks, and they break up the year nicely. Waiting for three more weeks until school is out, when all the other schools are out is the most difficult time of the year. But it will be here soon enough for me.
In order to pack up my room, take everything off the walls (painting!) and clean all furniture, my students will be completing music activities without my constant instruction and observation. This will allow them to review concepts learned this year in fun ways (and be in a group with friends!) while I am completing the end-of-the-year time consuming, tedious stuff. Here are a few things my students will be doing:
This week, I will be setting up stations around my classroom. In groups of 4, students will rotate to these stations every 7 or so minutes and complete each activity. Here are several examples of activities I may have set up around my room:
You can find information about these activities on musical sites, like Music in Motion, and some are available on Amazon. These are also great activities for a sub!
The last full week of school, students will be making their own musical bingo card with musical symbols and terms I give them. Then we will play bingo and students that get bingo will either get to choose a “smarties” candy because “they are smarties in music!”. Or, they can choose a “dum-dum pop” because “they ain’t no dum-dum in music!”. At the end of class, if the majority of the class has had a great day, the students that did not receive a treat will also get one. The students that get bingo are allowed to eat the candy in my classroom (as long as they throw the trash away). The students that receive their treat at the end must take it out of class and eat it during lunch or when their classroom teacher gives them permission.
May 2011 Post
If you do not have Mallet Madness by Artie Almeida, you are missing out! This is my second year teaching and I don’t know why someone didn’t hit me over the head with this book and yell at me to use it. The activities are engaging (for me and the students) and just fabulous! I love the instrument activities and the lessons that include literature.
Click here to read more about Mallet Madness!
September 2010 Posts
One year ago on the Elementary Music Teacher Blog:
Sound Stories: Too Much Noise is a book by Ann McGovern, and I absolutely love making it into a sound story! My lesson plan exposes the students to many Orff instruments (both pitched and non-pitched) and give them an opportunity to play their instrument many times throughout the story. I use this book in grades Kindergarten through 2nd, and it is a hit every time…..
101 Rhythm Instrument Activities: This resource has many… well, 101 to be exact… activities and songs to use when introducing young children (my kindergarteners) to the numerous rhythm instruments in the music room. Many activities use favorite children’s songs and change the words to be about playing instruments, specifically the sandblocks, rhythm sticks, jingle bells and shakers…..
Click here to read more!