Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Dancing Snowflakes

To celebrate winter, Fourth and Fifth grade classes have been working on an Orff piece called, "Dancing Snowflakes." It is very appropriate that we've been working on this song because we've had two snowstorms so far - unheard of in this part of Georgia! This is one of my favorite pieces to teach because it incorporates so many difference elements: mallet technique, improvisation, playing on special words, ABA form, and poetry. After learning the song and instrument parts, students work in groups to create haiku poems that describe snowflakes. Then, we use these poems to create the contrasting sections in our performances. Here is a video of one of the 4th grade classes performing the song:


I also created a display in the hall using their haiku poems and some snowflakes that one of my classes made. Check out some of my favorites:











(Music Teachers: This song and arrangement is located in Gameplan Curriculum - Grade 3)

2 comments:

  1. I just found your blog today and I am inspired by the wealth of information you provide! Living in Minnesota, this would be a wonderful project for my students and I love how you intentionally incorporate Language Arts. Could you give me a little more information about how you layer in Orff work? Thanks for your work!

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    1. Thank you so much Christina! I appreciate your compliments and I love to share ideas with other music teachers. :) Would you like more specific info about the break-down of this lesson or my Orff layering in general?

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