Elementary Music Teacher Blog

The Reading Corner

Both my kids and I love going to the reading corner! One of our favorite things to do is read a book! But this is music class, so we can’t just READ a book. We tie it in with music!

For example, you can choose a book with some repetition in it, like Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch, and create an Orff arrangement where the students sing the repeated words in a song and play Orff instruments, instead of the teacher reading them each time in the book.

You can choose a book that teaches a musical concept, like the Buzz and Ollie Adventures. This is a set of 3 books that teach dynamics, steady beat and pitch. These can be used with the younger grades to introduce and reinforce these musical concepts.

Or you can choose a book, like Old Mother Hubbard and Her Wonderful Dog, and incorporate singing and a game afterwards. For this book, I would choose the game Doggie, Doggie. You can also create an Orff arrangement to the game song and have some students play the instruments while others play the game. Rotate the kids, of course!

There are so many more activities that can be done by using books in the music classroom. These are just a few of my favorites and the ones I do most often.