September Week 3

5th grade
I really like the ideas presented in the first activity and I’m trying to think of a way to maybe use Boomwhackers as well!!! On my .notebook chart I will have the solfege ladder with the numbers next to the solfege. After the listening activity I might have another slide on the chart with the colors of the Boomwhackers for a I chord and the colors for a V chord and have them play their Boomwhackers while I play piano!
After putting away Boomwhackers I’ll have to explain the xylophone visual because obviously they were I and V in C major and I’m changing keys for the next activity!!!
They loved Dis Solda La this past week so I think they’ll really enjoy continuing the lesson this week with the other parts.
I love the game idea with the Pink Panther!!! The kids are going to eat it up!
I’m hoping that there is enough time to do the Operator, Operator activity.
Looking forward to the next set of lessons, I am having kids bring recorders to the 1st music class in October so I’m going to combine Sept wk 4 with October wk 1 both weeks. I’m also adding a song or two in each grade level for a little bit of Patriotic to talk about Constitution Day and prepare for our Veteran’s Day assembly.

4th grade
We will start with the worksheet of EGBDF to review from last week. I like the “Face” idea but I’m not going to spend class time doing an art project!!!
I plan on having a visual for the eighth note flags and also review the “Good Morning” song that had the same syncopated rhythm as Shake the Papaya. This actually would be a great lesson for the 5th graders since they’ve never done it. I might use this during the wk4/wk1 transition I mentioned above!
I need to do the Sagadi, Sapopo activity because I have 2 4th graders from the Philippines in my school!
The radio game with “I Want to Rise” is a quick and fun activity but the kids are going to want to play the ostinato parts again!!! It’s good that we have something new with instruments for Hot Cross Buns! I might take the opportunity just to have the class learn different kinds of borduns and sing the song several times with a chord bordun/broken bordun/crossover bordun.
**In more planning I'm trying to figure out if I should transpose 3rd grade to G pentatonic or Hot Cross Buns to F pentatonic. I think because we do Hot Cross Buns with recorder I might have to transpose my other grades to G and have the AX players add "fa" to their instrument.

3rd grade
I love the various rhythm activities at the beginning of the lesson. I plan to use several of the ideas and also a game I’ve enjoyed teaching before where students have to arrange themselves in 4 chairs according to the rhythm pattern I give. For example, ta ta titi ta means that the 1, 2 and 4 chair have 1 person sitting and the 3rd chair has two people sitting in the same chair! I do need to spend time on the smartboard showing what a tie means. That will be the focus of the lesson after the game. We probably will do the movement activity before we talk about the tie so they can get their wiggles out! 
I might wait and put “A Rig A-Jig-Jig” at the end of the lesson so there’s time for Down to the Baker’s Shop and MRD cards. I think I might actually make rhythm cards with bakery type items for kids to work in groups and make their own word chain. I’ll let them give me ideas first and then we’ll split up in groups to do the activity.

2nd grade
I imported Yankee Doodle from Rhythmically Moving into Audacity and added pauses in the music. I wish I could share with you guys but I know that would be breaking copyright! It’s simple to do – save the song on your computer as an .mp3 file and import it into Audacity. Select a little bit of silence from the track at the end > copy > paste in different spots in the song. Then export it back to your computer and play it for the Freeze game!
The melodic training and process for Traffic Lights is great. It might be fun to play the regular track of Yankee Doodle after the entire Traffic Lights process for the kids to move or stop while I’m pointing to the visual!
I don’t have the manipulatives yet so I’m going to have to make these cards for all the kids to do the Game with Instruments activity!!! I think instead of the echo clap/play I will make a playalong chart to go with a short piece like Radetzky’s March for the 6 different unpitched percussion.
I don’t think I’ll have time for Draw a Bucket of Water since I want to work on some Patriotic music. And when I do teach it I’m thinking I would rather use the version I’m used to “there’s one in the bunch and three out the bunch…..etc” What are your thoughts to those of you that have taught out of the 2nd grade book??? E-mail me if you think this is a bad idea and I need to stick to what’s written in GamePlan!!!!

1st grade
I’m wondering how to do this activity because on my interwrite board it would take way too long for kids to take turns drawing the steady beat. I think I might make a piece of paper with 8 hearts at the top, my own pulse stick notation under the hearts and the kids can individually draw the steady beat on their own paper and then point as we say the poem.
I like the Moving High and Low activity and it’s a great use of our Timpani drum set in my classroom! :)
The Look at Me activity is cute! We’ll go around the circle solo singing and make a big deal about the contest – the person who can freeze with a smile without looking away, giggling, etc. is the winner!
I actually think Sing Me Your Name would work better before the Look at Me game. I will probably switch those two activities.
After Hickory Dickory Dock we’ll do the Syncopated Clock (and the activity that Artie Almeida mentioned on the MK8 list this week!)
Below is the discussion from the MK8 list about the activity with scarves:
“Summer Bostick wrote:

I'm sure since Artie shares this in her workshops she won't mind me sharing.
Each child gets a scarf. On the A section (or anytime we hear the clock) we walk around and bounce our scarfs to the staccato tick tock. In the B section where the movement becomes smooth we move our scarves in long swoops to show legato. On the section where we hear the bell we stand still and throw it way up high every time the bell rings. The kids have LOVE LOVE LOVED this, and so have I. Have fun!

Artie Almeida wrote:
Yes, this is all correct. Additionally do twirly-whirlies after each toss in the C section. Just wave scarf quickly while spinning around. Then on Coda, hold the scarf with 2 hands, throw into air and catch on the body - no hands.

Be sure to use flash cards for the vocab this teaches. I have a STACCATO sign with little dots all over it, a LEGATO sign with long wavy lines on it, a card with a pic of a TRIANGLE, and a flash card for CODA. Use these cards to prep the piece, then display them on the board.”