Boomwhacker Rhythms

It is rhythm review time in my third, fourth, and fifth grade classes. One of my favorite rhythm lessons involves a favorite instrument: the BOOMWHACKERS! There is just something about those colorful tubes that gets kids really excited about making music. I acquired this lesson from a workshop led by Chris Judah-Lauder many years ago.

After spending several weeks reviewing notes and rests using a variety of activities, I introduce these 6 rhythms patterns:

Once they can perform the rhythms comfortably, I divide them into 6 groups, pass out the instruments, and have each group practice their rhythm pattern. I have the groups play individually, two groups together, three groups together, and so on until we are playing all of the rhythms together. After some practice, we try the rhythms in canon starting and ending with the "Big Reds." This activity allows the students to practice playing contrasting rhythms (which is really tricky!) and it leads nicely into our Stomp rhythm projects (which are coming soon!). 

Here is a snippet of their practice session:  

And here is our final product:

A little bit of rushing but not too shabby! This lesson is challenging but very rewarding and the students love hearing how all of the rhythms interact with one another. It is definitely a favorite among my students.  :)

Get Ready for This!

What a great start to the year we've had so far! I had a wonderfully busy summer but am glad to be back in the classroom! It is always so exciting to see all of my students and hear about what they did during their vacation.

Speaking of back to the grind... we all know how boring it can be do go over the rules that first week of school. It's necessary, but painful. However, I've discovered that if you start the first class with a really fun, but simple, movement activity, the "rules talk" goes over a lot more smoothly. Some teachers do instrument activities that first day. More power to those teachers but I am not that brave! ;) 

This year, I started my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes out with a fun dance! I made sure to tell the boys that it wasn't a "girly dance" so they would buy in. I learned this choreography while getting my Orff level 1 certification with Deanna Stark and Judy Beale. It is fairly simple to teach, it gets out a lot of energy, and my classes have really enjoyed it!

It uses the song, "Get Ready for This" (from Space Jam) which is such an appropriate song for the start of the school year.  Here is a quick break-down of the movements...

Section A - Students stand with their hands on their hips and alternate putting out their right heel and then left heel (first to the front, then to the side, and then point toe to the back) and end with two jumps and two claps

Section B - Students jump/turn on beat 1 and clap on beat 4, alternate right/left

Section C - Students choose various poses and freeze for 8 counts (song ends with one final pose)

   

Of course their favorite part is creating the statues!

So. Much. Fun!  What a great way to start our year in music. :)

Recorder Karate

I was working on this post before the craziness of the end-of-the-year began and realized I never finished!  Even though we have been on Summer break for awhile now (woohooo!), I thought I'd go ahead and tell you a little bit about our 5th grade recorder program.  

Each Spring, 5th graders have the privilege of participating in the "Recorder Karate" program. It is one of my favorite units to teach because the students love it so much! Recorder Karate is a motivational recorder program that encourage students to learn to play the soprano recorder with proper technique while allowing them to work at their own pace and be rewarded for their hard work. 

They receive a packet of music that has 9 pieces that are increasing in difficulty. Each week we will work together as a class or in small groups to learn the pieces in their packet. Students may work ahead as far as they would like and when they feel confident, they may "pass off" a song to earn a "belt." 

The "belts" for the Recorder Karate program are colored yarn tied to the end of their recorder.

Each time they earn a belt, they will sign their name on the corresponding poster in the hallway outside of the music room. This is a great way to track their progress and show growth. Their overall goal is to earn their black belt by the end of our unit in May.  Of course, many of them do not get all the way to the black belt level.  However, even if they do not earn all 9 belts, they can set their own individual goal and still show growth and feel accomplished.

Here are the posters at the end of the year...

Our black belt students (or the "ninja squad" as they like to call themselves): 

 

After each of these students earned their black belt, I took a picture of them in front of the black belt poster and their picture was shown on the morning announcements the next day.  The students really enjoyed the special recognition and the whole school kept up with who had earned their black belt! The black belt students also get to perform a special song together at their 5th grade graduation ceremony.  Although listening to "Hot Cross Buns" 46823796734 times is exhausting, I look forward to Recorder Karate all year and so do my students!  ;)  It is very rewarding to see many of them begin to realize their musical potential and go on to play instruments in middle school band.

Drumming Fun!

Our school was so lucky to have Dr. Arvin Scott visit us recently!  He is a drumming professor from the University of Georgia and in addition to teaching, presents at percussion clinics, master classes, and workshops around the world.  He also founded a community-based youth program in Athens, GA called Drumming for Success.  According to his website, "it provides percussion classes and hand drums for all the kids while encouraging academic achievement, character building, and creativity through personal goal accomplishment and group cooperation."

 

Dr. Scott performed for us on several of his instruments and explained a little bit about the language of drumming.  Then, he got volunteers from the audience to come up and try out the instruments!  It was so neat to watch the students perform a steady beat and various rhythm patterns that we have been working on all year!  What a great assessment.  ;)  After seeing how successful the students were and how excited they got, I am inspired to get more drums for the music room. 

 

Here are a few pictures of our drumming fun...

 

The Cup Game

When things start winding down at school and the students attention span becomes shorter and their activeness increases, I like to pull out a lot of movement activities.  One of my students' favorites is "The Cup Game."  It is like a rhythm hand-clapping game and a passing game combined.  I learned it many years ago at camp and I usually have a handful of students in each class that already know it.  I use those students to tutor anyone who needs help. 

I use the following poem to help teach the movements: 

I found this poem and visual in the 5th grade Gameplan Curriculum by Randy DeLelles and Jeff Kriske.  I taught the poem line by line and then took away the words a few at a time until the students had it memorized.  Then each student received a plastic cup and we worked on each section slowly.  After demonstrating each set of movements, I had the students practice with a partner.  Once they learned the entire sequence, they got into teams of 4 and tried out the passing part of the game.  Eventually we were able to pass the cups around the circle with the whole class.  

  

As an extention, I had the students suggest songs that we could use to accompany the game.  We tried everything from Sousa Marches to Michael Jackson to One Direction.  Since the rhythm pattern is 4 measures long in 4/4 time, many familiar songs can be used!

I also picked out a few fun videos for them to enjoy:

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Our first graders did a fabulous job presenting their Spring musical, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain," by John Jacobson and John Higgins.  They were super cute and sounded great, too!  I just love that moment when all that hard work pays off and everything comes together!

 

Here is our fabulous set designed and created (with student help) by our amazing art teacher, Mrs. Carter:

 

 

A rare shot of me and my partner-in-crime!  I couldn't do all of this without her!  :)

Another musical under my belt!  On to the next one!  ;)

iPad for the Music Room!

Look what we got for the music room!!  Yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

 

 

Our wonderful PTO got iPads for Music, Art, P.E., and the Media Center.  My mind is already racing with all kinds of ways that I can use it!   I know the students will be so excited!  Thank you HSES PTO!  :)