Autumn Leaves Rhythms

Fall is here!  Yea!!!  To celebrate Fall first grade students created leaf rhythms.  We listened to "Autumn Leaves" performed by Roger Williams and described how the music relates to leaves and the changing of seasons.  After a quick review of familiar rhythms, the students were placed in small groups to compose their own leaf rhythms and perform them for the group. 

 

Purchase the book this lesson came from! Click the link below:

 

 Kids Can Compose Link to Amazon

Behavior and Rewards!

My students are great children, but as we all know, they have their moments!  Something I utilized during my first year of teaching was a behavior chart that also gives students immediate feedback on their classroom behavior without me having to say anything.  I want the students to be able to assess their behavior and figure out how to "fix" it without any feedback from me. 

On the board I have a 2, 1, 0, -1, -2.  Along side it I have a saxophone (I'm a woodwind player!) attached to a magnet.  Each class is given 2 "stickers" when they enter my classroom.  I show this by having the saxophone placed on the 2.  If I begin having to remind students of behavior, talking, etc. I move the saxophone down to 1 without saying a word.  The students know immediately that they have crossed the line and usually fix the problems.  On occasion, I will have to move the saxophone down to 0 which means they get no "stickers" for the day.  -1 means I take 1 of the stickers off they earned last week and -2 means I take off 2 stickers they earned last week.  Honestly, I can only think of one time in my elementary career I have ever had to go that far with a class. 

Next to the numbers is my chart, where I keep up with the "stickers".  When a class reaches 10 stickers, they each are allowed to choose one item out of my treasure box, usually filled with pencils, stickers, tattoos, candy and silly bands!

Substitute Lesson Plans

Let's face it, things happen!  On the days where I cannot prepare my substitute lesson plans ahead of time, I created an emergency sub notebook.  I included plans for substitutes that have a little musical knowledge and subs that don't feel comfortable with teaching music.  Included in the notebook is everything that a substitute could ever need to know!  I also included a CD with several of our favorite wiggle songs on it to help the substitute feel at home.  What's better for that than dancing with Kindergarten students?!

Rhythm, Rhythm and more Rhythm!

1st grade students are continuing to work on rhythm. After filling in all 16 squares on their charts they were quickly assessed on their ability to speak each rhythm. They played their rhythms on rhythms sticks in front of the class for final assessment.

1st and 2nd grade students have been working hard on rhythm.  After reading "Freddie the Frog and the Mysterious Wahoo" by Sharon Burch (if you have not discovered these books, you should) we began composing our own rhythms using construction paper and popsicle sticks.  After composing our rhythms, we performed our rhtyhms on rhythm sticks.  Using the construction paper as a measure, we then put four pieces of paper together to make a phrase and performed a four measure phrase!  What an awesome way to help discover the differences in beat and rhythm. 

Link to information on Freddie the Frog books

Welcome to my BLOG!

I finally got on the bandwagon and created a blog.  My purpose is to share some of my methods of teaching elementary classroom music.  Most of these concepts were discovered through trial and error and even a few tears, to discover the best methods to teach my students everything they need to know about music!