Too Much Kissing!
A new silly, dilly song book came out by Alan Katz and David Catrow: Too Much Kissing! This time, the topic is parents! I bought the hardcover off amazon for about $12 last week. Just like the other books by these two guys, it is cute and my students love listening to the stories and identifiying the tunes.
Another activity I do with all the books in this series is– the students write, practice and perform their own silly, dilly songs with a small group. It works great with third and especially fourth grade. I am trying it currently with second grade. They enjoy it, but are having a difficult time rhyming the songs and fitting their lyrics in to the familiar tune.
Students are allowed to use a book for reference and to get ideas for familiar songs, but they must create their own lyrics. We go through these steps together, then they are given free time to complete the steps with their group. The last ten minutes of class, we perform!
- Pick out a familiar tune. (Mary had a Little Lamb)
- Choose a main idea, topic to write about. (Summertime)
- Write lyrics that are about the topic and fit in the song. (Summertime is coming soon. I can’t wait to sleep til noon….)
- Practice with group.
- Perform for class.
Each group should perform together and sing together. I reinforce working together as a team to complete this assignment and making decisions as a group.
Other books in this series I use are:
- Take Me Out of the Bathtub
- I’m Still Here in the Bathtub
- Going, Going, Gone!
- Where Did They Hide My Presents?
- Are you Quite Polite?
- and now, Too Much Kissing
Previously, I used these books only as fillers. But now they are the center of a song writing lesson. Sometimes, if I have a “non-music” sub, he/she will do this lesson with the kids.
P.S. My Praxis III was completed last week! Hooray!
BrainPOP!
Please check out BrainPOP’s “Arts & Music section. Great resources!
http://www.brainpop.com/spotlight/music/
Odyssey of the Mind
Congratulations to my awesome group of seven 3rd and 4th graders! They competed in the regionals and state Odyssey of the Mind competition for Arkansas, and made it to World Finals with problem 5, Food Court.
World Finals are in East Lansing, MI on the MSU campus. We are currently fundraising and hoping to make it up there. Of course, we are experiencing mucho drama, but that is to be expected. We are having transportation issues and need parents to fund everything upfront and hope to be reimbursed. It’s a disaster, but those kids deserve to go. They are so charming, funny and all-around great! And our parents are working their tails off fundraising that dough. We appreciate them and we’ll see what happens. Good luck parents!
Wish the kiddos, co-coaches and parents luck. We will need it to survive this trip! 