Winter Olympics 2018 in Music

I incorporated the 2010 Winter Olympics into my music room by including Folk Dances from different counties. Now that the 2018 Winter Olympics are upon us, I am using ideas from that lesson plan and adjusting it to meet the current needs of my schedule and students.

While researching about the history of the Olympics, I learned that many believe that the five rings represent each continent (with North and South America being combined). I decided to align my activities to the rings. Students in Kindergarten through third grade will learn two dances or activities for each continent/ring.

Students in fourth and fifth grades are learning the Bugler's Dream (Olympic Theme Song) on Recorder and sixth, seventh and eighth graders are learning it on Piano. I found the music for Bugler's Dream on Pinterest.

I used the following website to organize these lessons. I adjusted a few of the movements to make them easier for the younger grades. A few of the countries are still a work in progress and I am still looking for activities to add.

• Arts Edge
• Beth's Notes
• Folk Dance

North and South America: Red

• La Raspa
• Basic Appalachian Circle Dance
• Music
• More information on this dance.

Australia: Green

• Kookaburra

Africa: Black

• Obwisana (Ghana)
• More information on this game.
• The Conga (still trying to find a different option)

Europe: Blue

• The Hora (Israel and Eastern Europe)
• Music 

Asia: Yellow

Winter Olympics 2018 in PE

I love the Olympics! I enjoy the history, the opportunity to watch different sports and all of the interesting story lines. I am excited to have the opportunity to incorporate the Olympics into my PE Lesson Plans. I see my students twice a week, so we are going to do Olympic themed activities for three weeks. I looked at the list of Olympic sports and picked seven that I thought I could translate to classroom activities. 

I teach K-4 Physical Education and have one section of each grade so I decided to make each grade it's own team. This way I can encourage teamwork within the class instead of splitting each grade into teams. I teach three days a week at this school. The second day I teach at this school is the second day of PE for some classes and the first for others. I assigned specific activities to specific days to help with classroom setup. Along with the activities, we will be learning a little about each sport and overall history of the Olympics.

Olympic History
-Started in 1896. Modern Olympics invented by Frenchman in 1913.
-Olympic rings are blue, red, black, green and yellow. Every country that participates has at least one of these colors in their flag. 
-The Rings symbolize the continents. They are interlocking because the Games bring athletes together from all continents. 
-(Some believe) Blue - Europe, Yellow - Asia, Black - Africa, Green - Australia and Red - America.

Day 1: Hockey

Medals will be determined by how many goals are scored. 
Fun Facts:
-Originated in Canada
-6 players on a side
-Women's hockey started in 1998.
-Russia has been dominant. 

Day 2:  Curling

Students will slide bean bags to earn points. We will set it up more like shuffle board without using poles to push the disks. I also found this idea online and I may adjust it to use some of the ideas with K-4.
Fun Facts: 
-Invented in the 16th century in Scotland and The Netherlands.
-Returned as a medal sport in 1998.

Day 3: Luge

Students will lay on their backs on two scooters. I plan to tape the handles together to help with stability. We will split the class into teams and run the even as a relay. I am going to average the times of each team to create their grade level final time. I plan to create a few obstacles for students to navigate.

Fun Facts:
-Started in Switzerland
-Hotel owners started creating Luge tracks next to their hotels for thrill seeking tourists. 
-One of the oldest winter sports.

Day 4:  Skeleton

Students will lay on their belly on two scooters. I plan to tape the handles together to help with stability. Similarly to the Luge, I will split the class into teams and we will have a relay. For this event I am going to have each team go down and back the long way in our gym. This event will be a straight course with no obstacles. 
Fun Facts: 
-Started at a Swiss resort.
-Became a mainstay event in 2002.

Day 5: Biathlon

Students will sit on their knees on one scooter and use their arms to 'ski' around the gym. I will have a course set up and at the end of course they will have to 'shoot' at targets by throwing objects at a target.

Fun Facts:
-Adapted from a Norwegian Military exercise 
-Skiing and shooting

Day 6: Figure Skating and Speed Skating

Students will stand on paper plates to skate around the gym.

Fun Facts: 
-In short track, athletes compete against each other not the clock.
-Start in Canada and the United States.

eLearning

One of my schools does eLearning days. The expectation is that our online activities take as long as a class period and they align with what we are currently doing in class. I teach K-8 Music and K-4 PE so I decided to create a Google Slide to post the videos and assignments. We use Bloomz to communicate with parents so I linked the Slide on there so parents could see their child's assignments.

Our K-4th grade teachers use a different program to upload assignments and our 5th-8th use Google Classroom. I did not want to have to do two sets of assignments, so I created a Google Slide with all assignments.

e-Learning 2018

Piano Unit

Made with Canva

What do you do when you discover you have access to 7 pianos/keyboards, you have 9 students in 7th grade and you have a "break" before you have to start preparing for the Spring Musical? If you are like me, you decide it is the perfect time to teach Class Piano for the first time. I may be taking on too much, but I am excited about teaching my students a lifelong instrument and I hope they enjoy it. 

I see my 7th graders for 50 minutes one time a week. We will be preparing to sing at church and some other mini projects during third quarter but our main focus will be on piano. 4th-8th graders at this school are 1:1 with iPads, so I plan to use these to my advantage. I am trying more of a flipped model with videos and activities for the students to work through at their own pace. 

I don't believe in recreating the wheel, so I am using free online resources that I found. The web and YouTube are FULL of useful resources. I don't see the point in recreating something when someone else already did the work.

I created a Google Slide for my students to work through. Eventually I may tie it to Symbaloo Lesson Plans.

Physical Education Lesson Plans

Last school year I discovered the magic of automatic lesson plans using Google Forms.  Thanks to Matt from Ditch that Textbook! I set it up and was excited to use it but it not work with the way my schedule worked and my school was going to implement Plan Book so I tried that program. This summer my family relocated and I am now teaching K-4 Physical Education and K-8 Music at a Lutheran School and K-8 Music at a Catholic School.

I decided to try using Google Forms for my PE lesson plans and so far I am very happy with it. I followed the directions from Matt to set up the Google Form.  The only issue I am currently having is that my forms won't correctly name the file.  Other than that I am very happy with this tool for lesson planning. It is quick, easy and useful. I am still figuring out how to setup a form to use for music lesson plans. 

Lesson Plans

Symbaloo Lesson Plans

Towards the end of last year I discovered Symbaloo Lesson Plans.  I find this website to be perfect when I have multiple videos or pieces of information I want to share.  In a 1:1 setting, this program allows students to work at their own pace on lessons created by their teacher.  I do not work in a 1:1 district, but I still find this program to be very useful and it presents everything with a fun game board.

Symbaloo Lesson Plans

Common Curriculum

I have been teaching for eight years and it seems like every year I spend time reinventing the wheel.  Last year I discovered the website Common Curriculum.  It takes a little more time than my normal planning (I used to write my lesson plans in a notebook), but I can transfer the lessons over from one year to another.  I don't want my lessons to become boring, but having the standards and lesson information already done makes planning a lot easier.  It allows me to change and update lessons as needed without having to rewrite everything each year.

My current district uses the Quaver Curriculum and are lessons align with those standards and resources. 

Mrs. Wren's Lesson Plans

Emergency Sub Plans

I thought I was organized with my sub plans but this year has proven I was wrong. At the beginning of the year, I was excited about the ability to create personalized Quaver Lessons for sub plans. It seemed perfect! I could create the lessons at home if needed and the sub could lead the students through the activities. This seemed like a great, simple way to do sub plans. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that many of our subs are not comfortable with technology and will not use it, so my great plan was out the window.

At my old schools, I would go in the night before or morning of to get sub plans organized and this seemed to work. I also rarely had to take sick days. That is, until I added a forty minute commute and a child to the mix. Once I realized that my online plan would not work, I ended up  relying on a coworker to print stuff off or make copies when I had to take an unplanned day. Worst case, I would end up dragging my daughter to school with me so I could get things setup. That is exactly what I did this morning and during those eighty minutes of driving, I realized there has to be a better way and I set out to come up with a plan. Being sick or waking up in the middle of the night with a sick child is stressful enough, having to deal with sub plans just makes everything worse.

When I know ahead of time that I am going to be gone, I try to plan activities that do not break the flow from what we are working on. I may have the sub give a test or have the students continue to work on our current project.

These sub lesson plans are for last minute days when I have to be out. Having five lessons for each grade level organized and ready to go, which allows me to pick and choose what activities the sub does based on the time of year and where we are in our lessons.

I see my students for thirty minutes, every other day (which allows me to use each lesson twice.) Some of these sub activities will take the whole period, while others I'll not. On those days I include multiple options for extra activities: read a book while students clap the rhythm to certain words, students read a book, drum freeze, music freeze or play Apple Tree or another one of their favorite singing games.

*Disclaimer - I did not develope these resources. They were either bought from a music store or found online (Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers.  I have included links to their websites and I take no ownership for their development.)*

My Plan
I have used these resources for sub plans this year, but my plan is to be fully prepared. This means having all materials printed, copied and ready to go. I used to keep my sub materials in a file cabinet drawer, but I have decided to use a file crate. This will allow me more space to keep everything organized. This way, I will only have call the sub caller.

Option A
Kindergarten - Instrument BINGO
First Grade - Rhythm BINGO
Second Grade - Rhythm BINGO
Third Grade - Rhythm BINGO
*Instrument BINGO
*Rhythm BINGO: the teacher before me wrote out all of the rhythms as Ta and Ti-ti so a non musical person can just say the rhythm and does not have to know what each symbol means.

Option B
Kindergarten - Video: Elmo's Peter and the Wolf
First Grade - Video: Carnival of the Animals
Second Grade - Video: Animusic, Rhythm Coloring Sheet
Third Grade - Video: Animusic, Rhythm Coloring Sheet

Option C
Kindergarten - Ta and Rest Turtle Coloring Sheet (also include a Kidsongs Sing Along DVD)
First Grade - Rhythm Coloring Sheet
Second Grade - Rhythm Coloring Sheet
Third Grade - Treble Clef Coloring Sheet

Option D
Kindergarten - Instrument Packet
First Grade - Rhythm Packet
Second Grade - Rhythm Packet
Third Grade - Recorder Packet

Option E
Kindergarten - Ta and Ti-Ti Coloring Sheet
First Grade - Dynamics Coloring Sheet
Second Grade - Music Symbol Coloring Sheet
Third Grade - Treble Clef BINGO

Option F - Quaver Lesson
I still plan to have Quaver Lessons organized just in case I have a sub who is willing to use technology. These custom lessons include Smart Board games we have played,  music history videos, lesson introduction videos and some of our favorite songs.

Extra Resources
Kindergarten - Color by Number Drum
Rhythm Coloring Sheet
Color by Note -Turkey

Kindergarten Concert 2016

My original plan was to include songs from books.  I soon realized I did not have enough material so I decided to go with more of an informance model.  Students chose three of their favorites from our Song of the Month songs and we ended up having ten songs total to perform.  I have never done a single grade level performance before, but I like the flexibility.

Next year I would like to have the students pick more of our songs from our Monthly Songs and to include more of our classroom singing games.  I would also like to break down each set of songs by concept and explain more to parents what concepts we worked on through learning each song.

2016 Concert (Many of these songs are from Quaver)
BINGO
5 Green and Speckled Frogs
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
If You're Happy and You Know It
Lunch Box
Superhero
Grizzly Bear
Ickle Ockle
Apple Tree
Stinky Pirates

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Rhythms

I used the book 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' to reinforce ta and ti-ti rhythms in my First Grade classes.  We read the book, played the singing game 'Grizzly Bear' and students created their own rhythm patterns by connecting different animals.

I am a big believer in the old saying "If it's not broken, don't fix it."  I found these Brown Bear word cards online through a google search, which led me to Pinterest.

My students enjoyed this activity and it helped me access their ability to recognize ta and ti-ti patterns.

4th Grade Choices

Creating lessons for one of my fourth grade classes is a challenge. I was looking for ways to motivate all of them so I decided to give them the choice of what pieces to work on and which instrument to play them on. I have let them pick their piece before but never their instrument. Overall, it worked pretty well. It allowed all students to succeed and empowered them to pick the music/instrument that fit their strengths.

I created a sheet that listed the instrument choices and the pieces they could pick from. I also gave them room on the back to pick their own music.  They put a check mark in the corresponding box when they completed the piece and I put my initials in the box once they performed it for me.

Instrument Choice Sheet

Happy

I was looking for a second pop tune for my fourth graders to play on recorder for Grandparent's Day.  I searched YouTube and found a video of the song Happy for recorder and orff instruments.  I had all of my students learn the recorder part and then we seperated and learned the other parts. 

Recorder
EEG AA BGE AAAA GA

Orff 
1111 2222 11121

Notes 1: ACE
Notes 2: GBD
*I am a percussionist so I taught my students how to hold three mallets.  Some players just played one or two notes and a few played all three notes.

Drums
High Hat
Snare Drum

Crazy Train

A few weeks ago, one of my coworkers shared a video with me on Facebook.  I decided to have one of my fourth grader classes try it for their performance during Grandparent's Day.  It ended up turning out awesome and I was very proud of my students.  It was challenging, but they enjoyed working on it and they played really well together.

We cut down the piece and only learned the melody riff.  We had a drum part, the bass riff and the melody riff.  We had to learn it in a short amount of time so students did not get the opportunity to learn all of the parts.  The three parts offered all my students the opportunity to shine.  The students who felt comfortable being the lead could learn the melody and the students who are more shy could play drums or booms.

Parts

Boomwhackers

Part 1:  Note-E, Rhythm- Ti Ti (Measure 1, Beat 1)

Part 2:  Notes-D & B (B is the lowest), Rhythm- Ti Ti (Measure 2, Beat 1 & 3)

Orff

Bass Riff

EE  

DD  BB

Melody Riff (E is the lowest note)

EEBE  CEBE  AGF#G  AG#FE

Drums

One of my students knows how to play a rock beat on a drum set, so I had him play the high hat and snare drum part.  I had other students play a hand drum on African drums.

Swaying

I have been focusing on ways to get my students to internalize the beat.  One activity that I have started using and have seen success with is having my students sway from right to left keeping a steady beat.  While we sway I have them clap different rhythms.

This activity started as a way to help my students get their wiggles out while we practiced rhythm, but I quickly realized how helpful it was for my students.  It is also a great way to assess their understanding and to give them extra practice at enhancing their gross motor skills.

Activity

• Start by having students sway from right to left (I have them mirror me.)  Depending on the class, I act a bit goofy and exaggerate the movements.  Feet shoulder width apart and sway with my arms above me head.
• Once most students have this down I start with clapping and chanting quarter notes (ta, ta, ta ta).
• I ask them if they can feel the beat and we work on this for a while.  I want them to feel and hear the beat.
• Once they have this much down, we start clapping different rhythms.  I start with simple ta and ti-ti rhythms.  I clap/chant them first and they echo them back.
• Eventually we add half notes and whole notes.  With my younger students we start with walk-ing (ta, ta), runn-ing (ti-ti) and slid-ing (ta-a).

Doggie, Doggie

Song

Doggie Doggie where's my bone

Somebody took it from my home

Who took my bone?

I took your bone

Concepts
Solo vs Group

Singing Voice Assessment

Procedure

I have my students sit in a circle and I choose one person to be the "Doggie."  That student sits in the middle of the circle and closes their eyes.  As we sing the song I choose one person to "steal the bone."  I hand them a small rhythm stick or another item that is our pretend dog bone.  The "doggie" sings the 'Who took my bone?' solos and the person who "stole" the bone sings the 'I took your bone' solo.  The "doggie" picks who they think 'stole' the bone.  This is a great game at the beginning of the year to help with listening and to help students recognize each other's voices.

Christmas Program 2014

Typically I hate themes, but I saw this idea in a Facebook Group and it became stuck in my head. This year I am going to do "A Night at the Movies" for my Elementary Christmas Program.  There are so many great choices for music so I am very excited for the program.

Kindergarten
All I Want For Christmas Are My Two Front Teeth from Alvin and the Chipmunks

Jingle Bell Rock from Home Alone

Kindergarten & First Grade

Feliz Navidad from Feliz Navidad

First Grade Scarves- Dance of the sugar plum fairies from the Nutcracker
White Christmas (with unpitched percussion) from White Christmas

Second Grade
Do You Want To Build a Snowman? (with boomwhackers) from Frozen
Carol of the Bells (on Boomwhackers) from Home Alone
Somewhere in my memory from Home Alone

Third Grade Silent Night (chimes and singing) from White Christmas
Jingle Bells (chimes and singing) from White Christmas

Fourth Grade When Christmas Comes Around from Polar Express
Little Drummer Boy (on Recorder) from Little Drummer Boy
Buckets to Trepak from Nutcracker

Choir
Where are you Christmas? from How the Grinch Stole Chrismas

App: Simple Mind +

The first project I had my music appreciation students complete was a Musician Family Tree Project. They had to research and artist and find out who influenced them. Through and Twitter conversation on Twitter I discovered the app Smart Mind. It is a mind mapping application,  but I had my students use it to create a tree of who influenced their musicians. I love free apps! This one is great and easy to use. Plus it is another great example of thinking outside of the box when using an app. 

Here is my example of the Musician Influence Tree I made for my class. 

Day 352: Artist Family Tree (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 352/365

Material Monday

I am teaching music appreciation for the first time this year.  The 8th graders had the class last year, so I have to find new activities for them.  One project I am going to have them do is one that I found online.  My students are going to create an Artist Family Tree.  They are going to pick an artist and find out who influenced them and then research who influenced each of them and so on.

I have started working on an example for this project and I will post it when I am finished.  My hope is that my students will discover that music regardless of genre is all interrelated and many artists influence each other.  I think this will be a great way to start the class and will open up many other conversations.

What is your favorite music appreciation project?

Thank you for reading.

Day 58: Incredibox Lesson Plans (Material Monday)

Daily Blog Challenge Day 58/365

Material Monday

 This post could fit under both technology and lesson plans, but I decided to focus more on the lesson aspect of using Incredibox than the technology aspect.  Earlier this week, a new version of Incredibox was released.  It is an online "game" that allows you to compose using different vocal tracks.  There are a variety of different melodies, voices, effects and beats that you can combine into different compositions.  The program allows you to record and send your work to others.  While recording, you can change and add different voices, so the possibilities are endless when it comes to combinations.

I decided to take my third and fourth graders to the lab this week so they could compose using this program.  We used it a little as a class last year and they were really excited to try it themselves.  We just finished Halloween Music (we performed a mini concert at our Halloween Parade) and we will be starting Christmas Music for our concert next week, so this was a great transition point.  Illinois is going to an all internet standards test next year, so this program also offers students the opportunity to learn valuable computer skills.

Lesson Plan (we spent a whole 40 minute period in the lab.)
1. Open a web browser and go to the Incredibox site.
2. Explore different voice and combinations.
3. Record a composition.
4. Name the composition.
5. Send composition to Mrs. Wren's e-mail.

Music Outcomes
1.  Explore different voices.
2.  Compose music.
3.  Listen to other compositions.
4  Compose a "final" project.

Technology Outcomes
1. Open a web browser.
2. Record a composition.
3. Label composer and title of my composition.
4. E-mail Mrs. Wren my composition (this required reading/following directions and typing in an e-mail with no mistakes.)

Being in the computer lab with a class was a bit stressful, but overall it was a valuable experience.  It reminded me the importance of patience and my students really enjoyed the project.  I am planning on doing this project again with this grades, but we will focus more on form.

I would love to hear how you use Incredibox in your classroom.

Day 44: Sub Plans (Material Monday)

My 365 Blog Challenge:  Day 44/365

Material Monday

I struggle with sub plans!  I hate being gone and I never know what to plan for a sub who is not a music person (which in my experience, it is very hard to find a music sub.)  I had to be gone one day this year for a training and through many conversations with other music teachers, I think I have finally found ideas that I like for sub plans.

Kindergarten
I try to avoid movies, but I did leave a Disney Sing Along video for my students to watch.  If I am gone later in the year, I will plan on a game day.  Now that we have played many singing games, my students can play and sing them without a lot of help from me.  Usually there is at least one student who knows the words, so the others can be reminded.

First Grade
Game Day.  I was gone in the beginning of the year, so I did leave a movie, but next time I will not.  Days I am gone are great days for students to play games from previous years that they love to play.

Second Grade
Game Day.  My students often ask when we are going to play games we played in 1st grade.  Days I am gone are great days for this.

Some of our favorite games from K-2
1.  Apple Tree
2.  Grizzly Bear
3.  Old Grey Cat
4.  Doggie Doggie
5.  Here Come's a Bluebird

Third Grade
Levels (Centers)
1.  Rhythm Composition
2.  Musical writing practice (notes, clefs..)
3.  Orff part
4.  Rhythm BINGO
5.  Note Reading flashcards

Fourth Grade
Levels (Centers)
1.  Recorder Composition (Notes-BAG)
2.  Recorder Karate Practice
3.  Theory Worksheet
4.  Orff part
5.  Note reading flashcards
6.  Rhythm BINGO
7.  Recorder Folders

I would love to hear what you do for sub plans.