2/4 Tuesday - Halloween Rap and Concert Prep

It is Tuesday again, which means 2/4 Tuesday! This has been a rough day for me, so this is probably the best part of my day.

1) Halloween Rap Using Ta, Ti-ti, and Ti-ri-ti-ri:

My 3rd graders used their new knowledge of ti-ri-ti-ri to create their own Halloween Raps. This is very similar to the freebie I offered here, but this one adds in ti-ri-ti-ri (you can get just this worksheet for free --->here. Please rate it if you get a chance!). My students got one half hour period to work, plus 15 minutes a second day. At the end of the day my students got to share their compositions for the class and they had a great time!

2) Holiday Concert Try-Outs:
It is hard to believe, but I started Holiday Concert prep on Monday. It may seem far off, but when you only see some of your classes once a week you have to start early. I started this week by introducing the music and talking about my try-out process. Try-outs will be held next week and students that want a speaking part must prepare for try-outs by taking home the one page script I sent them home with. Then, next week, I pick students to read their part aloud for the class. I'll discuss more about my try-outs next week, but for now I'm sharing the short letter I send home to parents about my try-out process. I try to make it clear what I look for from each student during try-outs. You can download the file by clicking the link below:

Holiday Concert Try-Out Letter
3) Holiday Concert Smartboard Files for Kindergarten and 1st Grade:



3 years ago, I started to make Smartboard Files with pictures for my little ones. This helped my students who could not read, by being able to connect the words through pictures. The Kindergarten teachers and 1st grade teachers at one of my schools really enjoy these and ask for them each year. One teacher in particular said that it really makes it easier for her, and the kids thought it was awesome that she had the same file I do. You can see a few picture above of what this sort of looks like. (Clip art used in this file is from My Cute Graphics.)

One final note:
My Halloween Freebie was such a hit that I decided to put together a bundle for Thanksgiving. If you liked the Halloween bundle you will definitely like this one! This bundle will be free for the next week (until 9:00 pm Tuesday, November 5) after that it will be $3.00 so make sure to take advantage of this offer now! You can get the bundle here.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Five Favorite Pins of October

If you are interested in any of these pins you can click on the title for the Pin on Pinterest
1) Music Fortune Tellers
These Music Fortune Tellers can be found at Just a Little Note Blog. I have a feeling my students would really enjoy this activity, especially some of the girls that like to come in during recess.

2) Spooky Classical Music
A list of Spooky Classical Music by Joy Morin. Not sure what I will do with this, but I thought it was kind of a cool list and maybe I can find a use for this next October.

3) Rhythm Poster
Since I normally teach rhythm around this time of the year I really liked this cute Rhythm poster created by Coffee and Rainboots. It would be great to print out and post in your classroom. :)

4) Piano Guys - O Fortuna
This is a video created by the Piano Guys, which like normal is amazing! This would be a great way of showing how classical music can still be transferred to 'modern' day.

5) Unpitched Rhythm Composition
This looks like a pretty cute and simple unpitched rhythm composition for Miss White had a Fright. The person who wrote it said they used it with their 6th graders, but I definitely think that my 1st or 2nd graders would be able to do something like it using ta and ti-ti.

2/4 Tuesday - 4 Fun Videos

This week is a short week. I have one more full day of teaching before a day of in-service. Because of that I have a lot of classes that could easily get ahead. Plus, Christmas concert music practice will begin next week. As some time fillers and as rewards for some of my classes, I have showed some videos to my students. I love showing videos to my students and I have a whole list of videos I have used for various music occasions. My students just love them. So, here are a few that are new or that I just personally really enjoy.

Pentatonix - The Wizard of Ahhhs
This is a medley of popular pop tunes, I seriously love Pentatonix!


Roar - Alex Goot & Sam Tsui
These two guys have some beautiful voices and I love the message of this song. Katy Perry does write some good songs, but I just like men singing her songs better.


Ode to Joy - Muppets
Beaker sings Ode to Joy, but some things start to go wrong...


Moon Trance - Lindsey Stirling
This is a creepy little violin solo song that is perfect for the Halloween season.
I definitely suggest using Safe Share for showing these videos. You can learn more about Safe Share in one of my old blog posts here. Hope you all had a terrific Tuesday!

Sing a familiar song...with Halloween Rhythms?

My 3rd Graders recently learned about 4 sixteenth notes (ti-ri-ti-ri) with a variety of songs we knew and learned this last month. (Our Gallant Ship, Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees, Pick a Little Talk a Little, and The Swapping Song)

We started off the month by figuring out the rhythms we already knew, like the quarter note and eighth notes:



Then, as we became comfortable with the rhythms we already knew, we added in the four sixteenth note pattern - ti-ri-ti-ri (which I know a lot of you call ti-ka-ti-ka, but where I teach we are trying to be unified in our syllables and the other teachers call is ti-ri-ti-ri, hence so do I). We discussed how the rhythm has four sounds in one beat and students got a lot of practice finding the beats that represented sixteenth notes.

After finding the sixteenth notes we would sing the song while clapping the rhythms we knew. (We rested during the rhythms we didn't know) Then we would say the rhythm syllables instead of the words.

After a couple of days of finding the ti-ri-ti-ri patterns and singing and clapping them, I decided it was time for a fun challenge. First, we took one of our songs we have been singing that uses ti-ri-ti-ri. (You could pick any song, but we picked Pick a Little, Talk a Little.) Then, instead of singing the words or rhythm syllables we came up with Halloween related words to fill in the notes with. For example one line of ti-ri-ti-ri's was Trick or Treating, one line of ti-ti's was candy, and one line of ta's was boo! Each line got a new word or words to fill in the notes we knew. Then we sang the song with the new Halloween theme. It was a lot of fun and the kids were laughing and having a great time by the time we were through.

Here is an example of what it looked like:


For those that have a hard time seeing it, it says:
Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating, Trick-or-Treating,
Zombie! (rest) (rest) (rest)
Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern,
Candy! (rest) (rest) (rest)
Frankenstein's brain, Frankenstein's brain, Frankenstein's brain, Frankenstein's brain,
Get OUT! (rest) (rest) (rest)
Ghosts and goblins, ghosts and goblins, ghosts and goblins, ghosts and goblins,
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin,
Spooky, spooky, spooky, spooky,
Boo! Boo! Boo! (rest)

2/4 Tuesday - 2 Techie Tips!

Welcome back for another 2/4 Tuesday! I'm so glad that Steph is still running this. It really helps me stay on track and helps me post at least once a week.

Today, I wanted to talk about two Techie Tips that I don't know what I would do without:


The first one is using Dropbox. You can see it by going to http://www.dropbox.com. This file sharing service is completely free and allows you to save files to the internet. You can also connect your files to your computer at school, your computer at home, your smartphone, and your tablet. This is a serious lifesaver for someone who teaches at two different school like I do. I can save my lesson plans, my SMARTboard files, and everything else! It is so nice to be able to create, edit, and save files from any of my computers and not have to worry about emailing the files to myself, carrying around a usb drive, or anything else. Especially because it is so easy to forget and then you suddenly don't have the files you need.

My second techie tip is for teachers that use a lot of SMARTBoard files, Powerpoints, Websites, etc. I learned this from a colleague a couple years ago and it really helps cut down on the amount of prep I have to do from class to class. Here is how it works:

1. Create a new SMARTboard file that I normally label as Lesson Plans, but you could label it as anything you want.
2. Create a page for each of your classes. This could be one for each class or one for each grade, just depends on how detailed you want it
3. List out the activities you are going to use for each class. (Make sure that each one is a new text box)
   
4. Now that you have the activities listed out it is time to link them up!
5. Click on the arrow and press 'Link...'
   
6. Click 'File on this Computer' and then 'Browse...' for the file you need
   
7. Once you find the file you need clip 'Open'
   
8. Choose between 'Corner of Object' and 'Object'. I normally choose 'Object' which links the words to the file, but if you click 'Corner of Object' you will see a little paperclip in the corner. You also need to choose between 'Copy of file' and 'Shortcut to file'. Make sure to choose 'Copy of file' for this. It will open much faster!
   
9. Continue these steps until all your files are linked up to your original lesson plans

Now all you have to do is open your Lesson Plan file and all your SMARTBoard files will be linked to it. This will save you tons of time as you won't have to be searching for all your files all the time. You could also link up to a worksheet that you are going to do, a PowerPoint you want to show, and even link to a website if you are going to show a video. The only change you have to make for a website is you won't be clicking 'File on this Computer' but instead 'Webpage' and then just put in the URL! I just LOVE technology. (Unless it is being a bugger!)

In totally unrelated news, I have gotten to 11 followers on my Teachers Pay Teachers account and over 80 of you have downloaded my Halloween Rhythms Freebie from Sunday! I'm so glad to see so many of you taking advantage of this fun composition/rhythm practice work. My 1st and 2nd graders have been playing with these the last few days and they are really enjoying it. Be sure to rate the product when you get a chance! I would love to know what you think and if you think there needs to be some improvements. If you haven't picked up this free download you still can at my Teachers Pay Teachers account HERE!

Freebie Friday - Beat, Rhythm, Ta, & Ti-Ti

Wow! Sorry my Friday post is now being posted very early on a Sunday! It ended up taking me a little bit longer than I thought to organize everything I wanted before posting my blog post. I have been busy working on a BUNCH of files for my Teachers Pay Teachers store. All the files I plan on using with my own 1st Grade students or have already used with my 1st grade students. I'm very excited about them! (To see the actual files click on the center of the pictures provided.)

First, I put together a PowerPoint that introduces the difference between Beat and Rhythm:

Then, to reinforce this concept I made a fun manipulative to use either for full classroom practice or for small group activities:

Now that my students are recognizing the difference between beat and rhythm they get to learn about ta & ti-ti with this powerpoint:

And another fun manipulative to reinforce this concept of matching picture rhythms with music notation:

Finally, I put together a bunch of breakfast foods for students to sort as Ta's or Ti-Ti's. This also comes with a composition worksheet for 1st graders to create their own breakfast food raps:


Now for the FREEBIE for Emily's FREEBIE FRIDAY:

Along with the breakfast food rhythms and compositions, I created a Halloween version of this same file. As a special Freebie Friday I am offering this file completely free on my Teachers Pay Teachers Site. I definitely think this is a great file and has several fun activities you can use with your young students. Find the file by clicking on any of the pictures below and downloading it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

2/4 Tuesday - More Music Books I Love

As I mentioned in previous posts (There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed Some Leaves, Iza Trapani Books, & Get Ready to Romp) I love using books in my classroom.
Here are a few more I love:

1. Freddie the Frog Series: I cannot believe I haven't talked about these already. They are remarkable. They tell the story of Freddie and his friend Eli the Elephant. There are 5 stories in all and they all help teach young children (ages 3-9) different music concepts. This includes tempo, treble clef notes, bass clef notes, and jazz. There is also a great site you can go to and reinforce the concepts used in the books. (Click on the picture to go to the Freddie the Frog Site)




2. Puff the Magic Dragon: This book is the classic song, but has such beautiful illustrations! I love this song and I'm sure a lot of you do, too. My students love this song and ask for it all the time! (Click the picture for Amazon buying details)
   

On a completely new topic, I have continued to update the look of my blog! What do you think? I still have some things I want to continue to edit and I may still even change some of the pieces I updated, but I think it is really starting to look personalized. My goal is to make it look really nice as an inspiration to keep up with this blog. Make sure to check out the CONNECT TO ME links on the right to connect you with all the social media I'm apart of. (Including my new facebook page!) Also, if you have a music education blog button feel free to send it my way and I will add it.