Percussion Family Through Exploration

Sorry it has been such a long time since I last posted. I started writing this blog post quite a while ago, but never got around to finishing it and posting it. I have a bunch of other posts started, too. I'm hoping to post them the next few weeks.

One of my favorite activities I have done with my students for the Instrument Families unit was with my 3rd grade students. For each of the instrument families I normally use a crossword for note taking and to keep students on task. The kids normally really enjoy following along with the crossword and we fill it out as a class.

The instrument family I have the hardest time teaching about is the percussion family. The percussion family is simple and easy, so there is not a lot of things I see the need to teach them about. The past several years, I have decided the biggest thing I want students to know about the percussion family (other than the fact that they need to be hit, scraped, or shaken) is that they can be both pitched and unpitched. This is the only instrument family that has both pitched and unpitched instruments. However, for kids to actually learn this they need to know and understand the difference between pitched and unpitched instruments.

This year I had a new idea on how to teach this concept. I was trying to come up with a way that would allow the students to be more active in the learning rather than them just listening to me talk. So instead, my lesson was a stations set-up. I put out 9 different percussion instruments around the room: piano, xylophone, hand bells, triangle, tambourine, hand drum, rhythm sticks, maracas, and cymbals. Along with this I put together a rather simple worksheet that had the instruments and a line for students to write if the instrument was pitched or unpitched.



As a class, we talked about what a pitched instrument is and what an unpitched instrument is. We went through some examples and talked about how to tell the difference. Then, after putting kids into small groups I let them loose around the room. They each were assigned their first station and then after about 3 minutes at each station they switched to the next station.



My expectations were simple:

1. They needed to decide and write down their answer first!
2. Play on the instrument respectfully
3. As soon as the timer goes off everyone switches right away

As long as they followed the directions they could continue around the room. If they did not follow the directions they had to sit out for as long as I asked them and make up the work for the stations they missed during recess. (I didn't actually have to do this with any of the kids as they were all too excited to be allowed to play the instruments.)



After three classes of this activity I found that about 95% of students understand the concept and did very well on the worksheet. The other 5% came in during recess and worked through the stations with me to see what they were having difficulty with.

The amount of fun the students were having and the positive results definitely mean I will be doing this activity again in the future.

Edited 1/7/15 - You can actually get this worksheet for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. You can download it HERE

Outdoor Instruments

As I talked about in my previous post, all my classes at Fairview went outside last week for music class. We had many different activities outside and the students learned a lot!

The Kindergarten and 1st graders were given a task of finding an object in nature that could be used as an instrument. After finding their make shift instruments the Kindergarten students got to share the instrument and play it for the class. I was impressed with the amount of creativity shown. A couple Kindergarteners used pinecones, leaves, sticks, rocks, or a combination of items.

1st grade students filled out a short worksheet to go along with finding their object. This gave them a chance to continue practicing reading and writing skills, as well as, show me what they are learning.

The first part of the worksheet was telling me what their instrument was and drawing a picture of it. After that we figured out how the instrument could make music. I had several ways and each one students tried. As they tried them they would x out the ways that didn't work and circle the ways that did work. (We went one by one as a class so the ones that had more difficulty reading always knew the task.) My 1st graders loved trying to find out the ways their instrument made music. They enjoyed hitting, shaking, scratching, etc. their instrument to try to make noise. I really enjoyed watching them try all the different ways and was SO happy to see them only using their instruments as instruments and not as weapons. (We did talk about that before hand JUST in case.)

At the bottom of the worksheet 1st graders had to come up with a rhythm using quarter notes and eighth notes. I created four boxes and explained that they had to choose either a quarter note or a pair of eighth notes for each box. They could not put BOTH in any of the boxes. All the kids followed the directions! YAY! Finally, each 1st grader got to play their instrument for the class sharing both their rhythm and instrument. It was so much fun!

Here are some of the finished worksheets:





Interested in seeing the worksheet I created. Find it -->here!<---

To finish the day, I always like to share a songtale or story with my Kindergarten - 2nd grade classes. This is part of the routine of my classes and students have come to expect it and know that story time means the end of music class. To go with the theme of being outside in nature I sang the story There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves.

The kids chuckled at the silliness of an old lady swallowing a pumpkin. They also liked guessing what the old lady sneezes out after swallowing all the things she does. What a great way to end the lesson!

Make some musical memories today!

Outdoor Music Class!

Last week I decided to take all of my Fairview students outside for music classes. I decided to do this after having a short chat with a 2nd grader who often acts up in my class. He had kind of a rough day about two weeks ago and broke down in tears after music class. I asked him if he was crying because he got in trouble, to which he replied "No! I just really miss my mom!"

Fairview has an outdoor classroom that they refer to as The School Forest. At first, I wasn't sure what we should do outside. It would be easy to just go out there and sing different songs we sing in music class. However, I feel that when you are going to a new environment you should take advantage of it to the best of your abilities.

After much thought I came up with lesson plans for each class. I will introduce the ideas here with a brief description, but I'll also post more details on each project in later blog posts. This way you can get the materials I used for the lessons, as well as, see some pictures. (I don't want to bombard you with a whole week of lessons in one post!)

All my classes had to walk on the forest path in silence. While they did this they were to listen to the sounds of fall. When we reached the outdoor classroom, I then had students share what they heard. We talked about what music was and how the music of fall would be different than the music of winter. They imagined some of the sounds they may hear in the winter rather than the fall. I especially found this activity cute when one of my kindergarteners on the second day of going to the forest told the class that he heard some beautiful music on his walk to the school forest. This was without even being told to listen for music! :)



In Kindergarten and 1st grade students had to find an item in nature that could be used to create music. They then shared these instruments with the class and showed them how to play their instrument. (Read more about outdoor instruments...)

2nd grade was working on a sound effects project out in the school forest. (Read more about sound effect project...)

3rd grade was finishing up their ostinato patterns, so the first day they shared their patterns with the class. The second day they did something similar to what the 4th and 5th graders did. (Read More about the Ostinato Pattern Project...)

4th and 5th graders went out the school forest and sang I Love the Mountains. Afterwards they were asked to write a short reflection on this experience. They were to describe the difference in singing outside versus inside. We then talked about what makes a good reflection and ways to describe the sound of our own singing or of instruments playing, etc. 4th and 5th graders then created their own 2 beat ostinatos with a partner, as well as, a 3 beat ostinato with their partner. Students created and practiced them the first day and then shared them the second day. (Read More about reflections...)

Overall, I really enjoyed taking the kids out for music class. I was surprised by how many of my students, that don't always care for music, were really excited about music since we were going outside. I also noticed that some of my overly rambunctious students were actually really well behaved outside.

Have a musical day!