Week 6 - How I Manage a Hectic Holiday Schedule

As I was sitting in church Sunday morning listening to the Psalm, I took a good look at the date. "October 5? That can't be right!" I thought... but it was and that means I have to introduce the Christmas concert audition process this week to the students at one of my schools. The other school is not having a Christmas concert. Instead they will have a 3-5 Winter Concert in January and a K-2 Spring Concert in April. They will then have a Christmas Sing-a-long towards the end of December, but that does not take NEARLY the amount of prep that a concert does. (As you all know)

Now after reading this you probably are wondering how I can keep everything straight. Sometimes I wonder the same exact thing, but here is kind of a glimpse into 'my world'.

My students at Bonduel Elementary always have two separate Christmas concerts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon each year. This year I decided that I am going to do a multi-cultural themed Christmas concert. I'm teaching some new songs, but also throwing in some common songs like Feliz Navidad and We Three Kings. I'm hoping this will appease my audience while still allowing me the opportunity to explore some newfound treasures. (I can tell you more about the songs we're singing and the programs I created in a couple weeks)

I have a very efficient audition process, which takes place during my music time. It includes instrument, speaking, and singing parts all in one day! I have 45 minute classes so I can fit it all in, but at the school with 30 minutes (more like 25 minutes) it normally takes two class periods. If you want to learn more about my audition process check out these two blog posts from last year:
Preparing Students for the Audition
What I Grade on for Try-outs

My students at Fairview Elementary will be continuing on with their lessons on beat, rhythm, solfege, etc. This can be ultra confusing! However, how I work it out I mostly focus on lesson planning for Fairview. Then everything I do with my students at Fairview during the concert prep months becomes my plans for Bonduel after concert season.

Week 6
Kindergarten
The next few weeks I will be assessing students five voices. I do this with a sort of a game. I take a familiar song we know like Chop, Chop or Frog in the Meadow and I call students up to the front of the room (or the back for those shier students). I whisper in their ear the voice I want them to use for the song and they demonstrate it for the class. This helps me figure out if they understand the correct vocabulary and also that they are able to use the correct voice. It is even better because students have to then determine what voice the student used.

Songs we are singing in Kindergarten this week:

• The More We Get Together
• Chop, Chop Chippity Chop
• Frog in the Meadow
• Purple Light
• Pitter, Patter
• She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
• My Aunt Came Back
• Engine, Engine Number Nine
• William He Had Seven Sons
• Pete the Cat Rockin in my School Shoes

1st Grade
After being introduced to beat and rhythm last week, students are continuing to practice seeing the difference between the two. I show students slides of songs they know with the beat and then show them with the rhythm. Students have to determine, which is which. Students this week are also starting to identify one sound beats and two sound beats (ta & ti-ti). We are focusing on the songs Bobby Shaftoe and Engine, Engine for this analysis.

Songs we are singing in 1st Grade this week:

• Bobby Shaftoe
• Engine, Engine Number Nine
• Beat vs. Rhythm Presentation

2nd Grade
Students are working on composing short patterns using the notes we know: ta, ti-ti, rest, and ta-a. We are practicing how to draw these rhythms with the beat. We practiced yesterday by drawing patterns up on the SMARTboard. I also drew some rhythms incorrectly and students had to find the mistakes in the rhythms. They had a lot of fun with that. Especially because I really ham it up and make it seem like I'm just 'positive' I'm right. This practice will be very handy when it comes time to do their final composition project where they use half notes, half rests, whole notes, and whole rests. From past classes I know this is something I need to take more time on. Students get that certain notes are more than one beat, but they don't always show it the correct way in their compositions.

Songs we are singing in 2nd Grade this week:

• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• Who's That Tapping at my Window
• Phoebe in her Petticoat
• Rocky Mountain

3rd Grade
3rd Grade is now reviewing the whole note and will be doing a very similar practice to what the 2nd graders are doing this week. The only difference is we will add in the whole note. When students seem comfortable with composing with these notes I'll throw in the half rest and whole rest. We'll practice changing half notes into half rests and whole notes into whole rests. Then students will be ready to work on the composition they were supposed to complete in 2nd grade. I want to make sure they really understand this concept, since in 3rd grade their composition not only focuses on beats, but also throws in half beats! (Yikes!)

Songs we are singing in 3rd Grade this week:

• Au Claire de la Lune
• My Father's House
• The Water is Wide

4th Grade & 5th Grade
Students in 4th and 5th grade are learning about low so this week. They first learned about it using Scotland's Burning, but now are also practicing throwing it in to some other familiar songs. I'm surprised how much fun they are all having with the Chicken on the Fencepost game and the dance for Tideo. One of my 4th graders told their teacher "I don't know what activity I liked more!" How can that not bring a smile to your face?

Here are the activities for you to try:
Chicken on the Fencepost Game

1. Make two circles - all students should be holding hands in their circles. They may complain about it at first, but when they see how the game works they get over it. (One inside circle and one outer circle)
2. Pick two students to be the racers (They should close their eyes while you choose 'openings')
3. Pick a set of hands on the outside circle and on the inside circle. These students will create an archway when the song ends, so the racers can get through to the middle (creating a kind of maze)
4. Racers can open their eyes as the song starts and both circles walk to the beat of the song. When the song ends the students that are suppose to create arches do and the racers try to get to the middle as fast as possible.
5. Repeat!

*Note: You can make it even harder by choosing some fake entrances. These students lift their arms creating an entry, but when someone gets close they quickly drop so no one can enter. Really fun and the kids think it is hilarious.

Here is a video of what this game looks like:


Tideo Dance

1. Students partner up
2. One partner creates an inside circle with their backs towards the middle of the circle
3. Their partner lines up with them creating an outer circle with their faces towards the middle
4. Pass one window - students on the outside move one person to their right
5. Pass two windows - students on the outside move one person to their right
6. Pass one window - Students on the outside move on person to their right
7. Jingle at the window - All students pat their legs quickly
8. Tideo - All students clap, clap, pat with the partner they are with
9. Tideo, tideo - Students slowly swing their partner
10. Jingle at the window - All students pat their legs quickly
11. Tideo - All students clap, clap, pat with the partner they are with
12. Tideo, tideo - Students slowly swing their partner
13. Jingle at the window - All students pat their legs quickly
14. Tideo - All students clap, clap, pat with the partner they are with
15. Then repeat until you are lined up with the partner you started with (or whenever you want to stop)

*Note: I normally have my students repeat the dance by switching places with their partner. That way everyone gets a chance to try both parts.

Here is a video of this dance:

*Note: The version I learned of this song does the swinging partner two times, but you could do it just once like in the video

Songs we are singing in 4th Grade & 5th Grade this week:

• Scotland's Burning
• Canoe Song
• Chicken on the Fencepost
• Lil' Liza Jane
• Tideo

What's Happening Wednesday - Week 5

Here is a glimpse into my week:
Kindergarten
This week we will continue to work on our five voices. However, this week will be more about students demonstrating and naming voices. We will do a couple examples by singing songs like we did last week, but I'll also pick students to demonstrate the voice and students will have to guess the voice used. This helps me assess how well students are actually getting this concept and how much more time needs to be spent on this. Some classes pick up on the five voices in a matter of just 3 or 4 lessons, others could take several months.

Songs we are singing in Kindergarten this week:

• Chop, Chop Chippity Chop
• Frog in the Meadow
• She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
• My Aunt Came Back
• Engine, Engine Number Nine
• William He Had Seven Sons
• Puff the Magic Dragon

1st Grade
We have kept the beat to several songs the last few weeks and now we are finally going to be introduced to following the way the words go. We are going to take a look at Cobbler, Cobbler and look at how when we follow the words we end up with long and short sounds. Not only will I be using the song files linked below, but I will also be using my Beat vs. Rhythm Presentation, which you can find a link for below as well.

Songs we are singing in 1st Grade this week:

• Cobbler, Cobbler
• Lucy Locket
• Apple Tree
• Bee, Bee Bumblebee
• Bobby Shaftoe
• Beat vs. Rhythm Presentation

2nd Grade
This week students will be learning about our new note: ta-a. We will start by looking at Frere Jacques and finding all the long notes, but will then practice finding the rhythm in the other songs we know. If we have time, we'll play the half note game that is included in my Frere Jacques file.

Songs we are singing in 2nd Grade this week:

• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• Who's That Tapping at my Window
• Phoebe in her Petticoat
• Rocky Mountain
• Au Claire de la Lune
• My Father's House

3rd Grade
Will continue to review half notes. We will not only take a look at the songs they know and put the half notes where they belong, but we will also practice clapping these patterns.

I'm also doing an activity with chair beats. I got this idea from a colleague and I'm going to give it a try. I put four chairs in the front of the room and explain that each chair represents a beat. Then I arrange students in the chair to represent different rhythms. One child in a chair is a ta. Two children sharing a chair is a ti-ti. One child stretched over two chairs is a ta-a. Empty chairs are rests. I'm having students create the rhythm patterns I write on the board to fit the chairs, I'm also putting kids in chairs and having them figure out the rhythm. Hopefully this will help with some of the beats of different notes.

Songs we are singing in 3rd Grade this week:

• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• Au Claire de la Lune
• My Father's House
• Who's That Tapping at my Window
• The Water is Wide

4th Grade & 5th Grade
I'm finally past reviewing ti ta ti and we are now working on introducing low so and low la. Scotland's Burning is a great song for introducing low so and we will take a look at that this week. We are going to sing the song and start to recognize where the notes are going up and down. We will then do the same thing with the other songs that we are learning.

Songs we are singing in 4th Grade & 5th Grade this week:

• Scotland's Burning
• Canoe Song
• Chicken on the Fencepost
• Lil' Liza Jane
• Tideo

What's Happening Wednesday - Week 4

Here is a glimpse into my week:
Kindergarten
This week Kindergarten is focusing on their five different voices. (Of course we still keep the beat so we have something else to DO) The voices we focus on in music are singing, humming, whispering, calling, and speaking voice. I start out the lessons by using my different voices and having students echo. This helps them hear the voices and also gives them a chance to practice each voice.

All the songs we sing this week I'll be using the different voices for. For example we will start with just chanting Chop, Chop, Chippity Chop. Then I'll have a student pick a different voice and we will use that voice for the same song. For example if they say calling voice we will then call the whole chant. They have a lot of fun wtih this.

For She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain they will change the way the say the different sound effects. For example instead of just saying "Yum Yum!" After "We'll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes" they may choose to whisper "yum! yum!"

Songs we are singing in Kindergarten this week:

• The More We Get Together
• Echoing (This is my speaking, calling, whispering, humming, or singing voice)
• Chop, Chop Chippity Chop
• She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
• Frog in the Meadow
• Engine, Engine Number Nine

1st Grade
First grade is still doing a lot of review of beat in preparation for rhythm. I'm choosing different students to come up to the board and keep the beat to several different 1st grade songs. Along with this we have several games we are playing to keep the beat.

-- Games --
Lucy Locket - Students form a circle on the floor with room around the entire circle. One student who is 'it' walks around the circle to the beat while the rest of the students pat the beat on their laps. When the song is over the 'it' drops the pocket (or object representing the pocket) in the lap of a student nearby. That student picks up the pocket and chases the student around the circle. (I'm not allowed to let them run, so they walk very quickly) If the student with the pocket catches the 'it' person they get to go back to their original place. If not, they become 'it' and the student who was 'it' takes a place in the circle. Then continue on.

Bee, Bee Bumblebee - Students sit in a circle and pass the bee (or object representing a bee) to their right on the beat. Whoever ends up with the bee on out has to leave the circle and grab a rhythm instrument. They become the beat keepers and keep a steady beat while the game continues.
(I have to give Lindsay Jervis credit for the rhythm instrument idea. I had played this game before, but didn't have anything for the kids to do when they got out so this game became a nightmare and I gave up on it. I tried it with students playing the instruments and not only did it give them something to do, but students weren't passing the bee so fast because they didn't mind if they were in the circle or not.)

Apple Tree - Students stand in a circle. One student (or you as the teacher) stands with their arms extended (almost like you are forming a bridge with an imaginary student) over the circle. Students start singing and walking to the beat. At the end of the song the 'tree arms' fall down taking one student 'out'. That student helps form a bridge with the original tree. As students get out start to form more 'trees' around the circle until all students are trees or you run out of time.
(Note: I like this game and my students request it ALL the time. The only problem is I do have a lot of students that don't follow the rules. Some want to become a tree so they purposely walk really slowly or take small steps and some don't want to be so they speed through the trees.)

William He Had Seven Sons - One student is the leader. They sit in a chair in the front of the room and keep a steady beat however they choose to. Students in their chairs follow the leader keeping the beat the same way. Student who is leading can choose one way to keep the beat or mix it up, just as long as they stay on the beat.
(The first time I play this I normally encourage them to have only one way, but once we get good at it they can pick more)

Songs we are singing in 1st Grade this week:

• Engine, Engine Number Nine
• Cobbler, Cobbler
• Lucy Locket
• Bee, Bee Bumblebee
• Apple Tree
• William He Had Seven Sons
• Bobby Shaftoe

2nd Grade
2nd grade is almost ready to learn about the half note. They are singing several songs with both half notes and whole notes. Next week we will actually learn about the half note and put it into some of these songs we have been singing. To prepare, this week students are coming up to the smartboard and keeping the beat to all of the songs they know. Classes also got a chance to look at the rhythm of the song, but only with pictures. They noticed how certain notes are longer than one beat. I picked a few students to play the rhythm with a rhythm instrument to help reinforce it.

Songs we are singing in 2nd Grade this week:

• Au Claire de la Lune
• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• My Father's House
• Who's That Tapping at my Window

3rd Grade
3rd grade is continuing to review whole and half notes this week. We are singing these songs (some new and some old) and then practicing keeping the beat and clapping the rhythms.

Songs we are singing in 3rd Grade this week:

• Au Claire de la Lune
• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• All Through the Night
• Who's That Tapping at my Window
• My Father's House
• The Water is Wide

4th Grade & 5th Grade
Have finished reviewing ti ta ti and have begun to work on songs that use low la and low so, since this is where we left off last year. More than likely we will not have much time after introducing low la and low so because we will have to start with concert prep in just 2 weeks! Ugh...

4th and 5th graders also learned the dance for Alabama Gal. They really like it and ask to dance it on a regular basis. :-) Here are some picks of my classes dancing:



Songs we are singing in 4th Grade & 5th Grade this week:

• Scotland's Burning
• Chicken on the Fencepost
• Lil' Liza Jane
• Tideo
• Alabama Gal
• Pirate Pairrrrs Game - Pentatonic

What's Happening Wednesday - Week 3

Here is a glimpse into my third week of school:
Kindergarten
Students are continuing to sing through the rules songs that I talked about in my post last week. We are also continuing to have experiences keeping the beat. This week I start allowing students to choose different beat motions. I always crack up at some of the choices students make for keeping the beat. We have the typical ones like clapping our hands, walking to the beat, or patting our head. But we also have some not so typical ones: shrugging our shoulders, blinking our eyes, or (a new favorite) swaying our hips back and forth.

Students this week will also continue to work on echoing short phrases. I use a lot of echo songs in the first couple months so that I can assess students ability to match pitch and echo short phrases. (One of our Kindergarten learning targets)

Songs we are singing in Kindergarten this week:

• No More Pie
• Chop, Chop, Chippity Chop
• She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain
• My Aunt Came Back
• Engine, Engine Number Nine
• William He Had Seven Sons
• Frog in the Meadow

1st Grade
The goals for 1st grade are being able to keep the beat to various different songs. Thsi will prepare them for recognizing notes that are longer and shorter, which then leads into ta and ti-ti. Normally by Halloween time students are able to recognize the difference between two sound and one sound words and clap rhythm patterns for ta and ti-ti.

Songs we are singing in 1st Grade this week:

• Engine, Engine Number Nine
• Cobbler, Cobbler
• Lucy Locket
• William He Had Seven Sons
• Apple Tree

2nd Grade
2nd graders are singing many songs with half notes and whole notes in them. In a few weeks we will learn about the half note and start working on creating patterns using quarter, eighth, and half notes. However, I'm introducing a lot of these whole note songs because we do learn about whole notes in 2nd grade, as well, and all of them use half notes, so we'll be able to practice our half notes even without learning about the whole note.

Songs we are singing in 2nd Grade this week:

• Au Claire de la Lune
• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• My Father's House
• Who's That Tapping at my Window

3rd Grade
In 3rd grade we are reviewing all the notes we already know. We are singing various songs that use half notes and whole notes since we just learned about these at the end of the year. I also love that some of these songs the 3rd graders already knew because they sing them so beautifully!

Songs we are singing in 3rd Grade this week:

• Au Claire de la Lune
• All Through the Night
• Frere Jacques
• Here Comes a Bluebird
• The Water is Wide
• My Father's House
• Who's that Tapping at my Window

4th Grade & 5th Grade
4th & 5th graders just learned the Alabama Gal dance last week. It was a LOT of fun and students are hoping to be able to get to it this week, too. Because of that this will be the reward students earn if they are following directions and working hard in music class.

My 4th and 5th graders are at two different places. I have some classes that have already learned all about ti ta ti and other classes that have not. This is definitely a challenge, so the goal is to get all the classes on the same page and really understanding how to clap rhythms using ti ta ti.

To work on practicing ti ta ti rhythms I have been working on using the rhythm games provided at the end of my Alabama Gal and Shake the Papaya Down rhythm files:


Yesterday, I picked one student to come up and play the rhythm on rhythm sticks. The goal for all the other students was to decide if they did it correctly or incorrectly. Students did a pretty good job of this and even picked up on minor incorrect patterns. (For example: adding a slight rest in between patterns, giving one note not enough time or too much time) I was really proud of how respectful they all were and how no one had to feel bad if they clapped a rhythm incorrectly.

Once all my classes are ready to move on from working on ti ta ti we will begin to take a look at low so and low la patterns. (We started to work on this last year)

Songs we are singing in 4th Grade & 5th Grade this week:

• Shake the Papaya Down
• Alabama Gal
• Scotland's Burning
• Canoe Song
• Chicken on the Fencepost
• Lil' Liza Jane
• John Kanakanaka

Category Rhythm Project

I'm currently working with a group of my 4th and 5th graders on a fun mini-project. We just got done learning about ti-ti-ri and ti-ri-ti, but it can be difficult to tell the difference between these two. We focused on a lot on which note gets a little bit more time. We practiced singing songs and figuring out if it gets a ti-ti-ri or a ti-ri-ti.

Now for some added practice I had the students split into small groups (no more than 4 people to a group and students can work on their own if they choose to). As a group they had to come up with some sort of category. It could be anything from sports to candy to states. However, once they picked their category they had to come up with words to go with each rhythm they know (1 for ta, 1 for ti-ti, 1 for ti-ti-ri, 1 for ti-ri-ti, 1 for ti-ri-ti-ri). Each word had to do with their category. I was really impressed with some of the categories students chose:

• mythology
• states
• books
• sports
• junk food
• fruit

The second day, students created nice posters to go with their category and rhythms. Students were expected to write the rhythm, write the word that goes with the rhythm, and draw something to go with each word on their chart.

Here are some of the finished products:



I'm really proud of their hard work. I'm looking forward to displaying these at our Spring Fine Arts night at the end of April!

Activities Like... Note Reading Stations

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' today for their We're Thankful For Linky Party. Each day they are writing about something they are thankful for as teachers. Wednesday's theme is Activities Like...

If you would like to join the fun click the link below to find their post and/or read other posts written by other teachers. I especially recommend reading Mrs. Miracle's blog posts. She has been linking with them all week!

The last couple weeks I have begun the preparation of my 4th graders for playing recorders. They already had some experience reading notes on the treble clef thanks to Freddie the Frog, Music K-8 Kids Videos, and a basic introduction in 3rd grade. However, I really wanted students to get a lot of experience with note reading before I actually put the recorders in their hands. To aid in this process, I created stations around the room for note reading (and a few for rhythm work, since that is also important for recorders).

Here are the stations with information on where to get these materials online:

1) Apples and Oranges - Word Matching Game


This is a pretty simple matching game that I bought from Teachers Pay Teachers. How it works is a small group of students sort the apples and oranges by trying to match the words on the apples with the words on the oranges. For example the apple will have the word FACE written on it and they have to find the orange card that spells face on the staff.

I have been a little creative with this station and have also come up with some other ways to use these cards. I have the students play a game of memory with them. (This is a bit more challenging, but is great for my high achieving groups.) I also have them race against each other to see who can get the most matches. You can get this original game HERE as part of a bundle. The bundle includes Sandwich Match, which I'm going to talk about next, and it also includes some other activities I use with other concepts.

2) Sandwich Match - Letter Matching Game


This game is just like the Apples and Oranges game, but instead of whole words you just match a letter. This one is a bit easier to play as memory and many of my students prefer to work at this station that way. Again you can get this HERE.

3) Classics for Kids - Treble Clef Note Reading Game


I allow students to play this on my Smartboard by taking turns identifying the note and creating the words. You can find this game HERE.

4) Ladybug Game


You can find this fun game HERE. Susan has a lot of great games and you should check them out while you are there. All you need to do is print out the pdf she created and create playing pieces. For my playing pieces I used big buttons from Walmart with cute bug stickers on them. More specific directions are on the site, but the basic idea is students pick cards from the deck one at a time and move to the closest space of the letter they choose. Whoever makes it to the end first, wins. Students should take turns and if students draw a card that says bee sting or other things like that they should follow the directions on it.

5) Fly Swatter Game


This is another game made by Susan. I have seen games like this, but how this works is you print out the cards onto cardstock. Then, one student holds up a card while the others find the correct note as quickly as possible and swat the correct answer on the poster board. (You could also write your answers on the board.) Whoever gets the note correct first gets to take over the cards and the other two students become swatters. You can find this game HERE.

6) Fall/Thanksgiving Rhythm Composition


For some rhythm work I had students working on a Fall/Thanksgiving Rhythm Composition. The top of the worksheet students figure out which note each word should get based on the amount of syllables each word has. For example they put a quarter note with corn and four sixteenth notes with cranberry sauce. After finishing the top part they can create their own Fall/Thanksgiving Rhythm and create their own rap. They fill in each blank with a word from above and add the corresponding rhythms with it. It is a fun way for students to practice their rhythms and use their own creativity. You can get this activity at my Teachers Pay Teachers store HERE.

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)

Manipulative Monday - Music Time Signature Pies

Yay! Not only two blog posts in a row, but I'm also joining my first Link Party! Music teachers are so cool! :)

Honestly, I wish I used more manipulatives in my classroom. I'm hoping reading all these posts will inspire me to actually go for it and do it. I also have to do a better job of looking out for some of those cool finds like the erasers I saw in Lindsay's blog.

Instead, one manipulative I have used for time signatures are these music pies I created. Each pie represents a measure in 4/4 time. The black one is the filler for students to create their own measures:


Then, I have several colored pies for the different notes my students know. I cut each one along the dotted lines so that the pieces only fill up the amount of the measure they take up. Here are a few examples of my music note/rest pies:






This allows my students to create their own measures and see how they fit into the measure. This is great for kids that really need a visual or are more kinesthetic in nature. When working on a short composition students can check their work by putting the pieces together. If there are too many beats they know they have to fix something. If they have extra space in their measure they know they need to add another note.

For those that are interested they were added to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and are completely FREE! Just print them, cut them, laminate them and you are ready to go! Please let me know if you use them and how they worked for you.