2/4 Tuesday - Concert Speaking Parts, Frosty the Snowman

Yet again I'm going to try to join Steph's 2/4 Tuesday. I don't know if she will be holding it tonight, but I'm going to blog about my 2-4 ideas I'm using in my classroom this week and if she adds a blog post I'll link it here.

1)Picking Speaking Parts
I have been working on Holiday concert music with my students the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, I shared how I prepare students for the try-out process. Last week, I shared how I 'grade' the try-out process. This week I wanted to show how I actually pick my student speaking parts.

After try-outs last week I put all the scores into an excel spreadsheet with names of students and their scores. Here is an example of what that looks like:
I had the 'Total Points' column add up the number of points for each student's speaking try-out. You can do this by putting this formula into the column =SUM(B2:D2) you should change the bolded numbers to be the actual columns and rows you want added together. For example the first student had scores in B2, C2, and D2, so your formula would be the same as written. However, the second students would have scores in B3, C3, and D3, so the formula would change to =SUM(B3:D3). This really saves you time because you don't have to add them all up yourself. (I'm a math wiz, but I still would not want to add up 96 of these...)

After putting in all the scores you can then sort your entries by the total of points each student achieved. To do this highlight EVERYTHING.
Click the sort & filter button toward the top right hand corner of your screen:
Click custom sort... (if you don't click custom sort it will sort automatically by name, which is not helpful.) Change the sort by to the column you want and then choose largest to smallest. It will automatically put all the high scores to the top and the low scores to the bottom:
After sorting I give all the students with 12's their first pick and then move on to the 11's. As parts are given students may not get their first choice, but if they were open to any part they will get a part that is open. The trickiest part is when I get down to just one or two parts and I have 9 kids with that number of points. Then I choose based on grade level, classroom behavior, and/or random draw from a hat. Either way I try to stay as unbiased about my decisions as possible.

Next week I'll talk about how I inform parents about costuming, concert decorations, concert times, etc.

2) Frosty the Snowman

I love using books in my classroom as often as possible. That is why I was super excited to get Frosty the Snowman from the school book fair. Not only is it a cute book, but it is a great way to add visuals to the song Frosty the Snowman. My little ones are learning this song for the Holiday Concert and we have been talking about how Frosty the Snowman is actually a story. After listening to the song my students put together a 'story line' in the order it happened. Having the book today was a great way to reinforce this concept.

2/4 Tuesday - MSOTM, Rockin' Behavior Update, & More Concert Prep

Yay! Time for another 2/4 Tuesday!

1) Music Student of the Month
With October over it is time for me to update my Music Student of the Month bulletin board at Fairview Elementary.



As you can see from the picture, I have a poster for each month of the school year and two spaces. Since I teach at a small school (one of each class Kindergarten-5th Grade) I pick one Kindergarten-2nd grader to get featured and one 3rd Grade-5th Grade student. At the end of the month I post their name under the month and at the end of the year they get a special Music Student of the Month certificate for the month they were featured. It is a fun way to recognize individual students that are going above and beyond expectations on a regular basis.



If you do something similar and are looking for fun awards for each month of the year, I will be putting together a bundle of my Student of the Month decorations and awards later this month. You can watch for an update in my Teachers Pay Teachers store or back here on my blog.

2) Rockin' Behavior Update
As you can see in my prior post, here... I have been using a Rockin' Behavior clip chart to motivate my students to work hard in music class. It has been working really well so far and I have already had my reward 'parties' for about three classes. Now that it is getting farther into the year some of my classes have earned five stickers on their clips already! This means they have made 5 'tours' to the top of the behavior chart! For showing such excellent work in music I have created a bulletin board (it is actually the back of a door window) that displays these classes filled clips. After their clips get added to the board their class gets a new clip and they start the process all over again.



3) Concert Try-outs 'Rubrics'
I discussed in my last 2/4 Tuesday post that this week is try-outs for Holiday Concert speaking parts. This is always a difficult part of having Holiday plays (as I'm sure most of you know). Now that I'm doing try-outs for my fourth year now, I feel like I finally have a process and guidelines that work for me. This is how my try-outs are set up:

1. About a week beforehand I prep students for the process and send home slips about the try-out process. (To read more about that go here)
2. During music class I have students in small groups go up and perform the part they practiced on their own.
3. I score students on the following three things: voice volume/tone quality - do they speak loud enough and clear enough, do they speak slow enough, etc, theatrical ability - do they show emphasis in the way they speak and are they willing or able to take cues from me, and reading fluency - this is also where I pay attention to if they practiced. Obviously you can't guarantee this but it is normally clear by the way the student reads and delivers their lines if they took time to look at them or not. This is NOT about how good of a reader the student is, just that they deliver the line as though they are good readers.
4. I rate students by giving them a 1, 2, 3, or 4 in each category.
5. If students have to sing a solo for the part they are auditioning for I have all students auditioning sing all at once. I can normally switch them around so I can hear each individual voice. They again get rated in two categories: tone - sing with a clear tone and good quality, notes - just meaning they follow the notes pretty well and are singing in tune.
6. After all my students are 'rated' it is time to plug in the numbers and pick my parts.

I will discuss how I go about picking parts in my next 2/4 Tuesday post. However, to help you all out I am linking to the rubric I use for my try-outs HERE. Feel free to tweak it to your own delight! Please let me know how you audition for parts or choose parts. I am always looking for new ways to do things.

Fall/Thanksgiving Rhythm Activities (Flash Freebie!)

Wow! Was this week a long week for the rest of you? It seemed to drag on for all the teachers at my schools.

Now that Halloween is over, it is time to look forward to Thanksgiving. Are you looking for some fun rhythm activities to use with your students for Thanksgiving and fall? Well, I have a bundle of activities for ta, ti-ti, and ti-ri-ti-ri.

This bundle includes all the following:

• Cute pictures of different fall and Thanksgiving items (from My Cute Graphics) with words typed underneath.

• Directions for 3 different activities you can use these pictures for.

• A composition worksheet for using ta and ti-ti

• A composition worksheet for using ta, ti-ti, and ti-ri-ti-ri (this worksheet also comes with one that says ti-ka-ti-ka, one that says 4 sixteenth notes, and one that is blank)

These activities are great for working in small groups, station work, or even whole class work. It is a fun way for students to be creative and create their own patterns. My 3rd graders did the Halloween composition and they had a blast doing it.

All of this is FREE until Tuesday at 9:00 pm. Make sure you do not miss out on this! Also, please leave me feedback on what you think. Every comment really does make my day and helps me improve my products.

Get the bundle HERE!

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!