Creating criteria for evaluating performances

Creating criteria for evaluating performances

As we approach the end of the school year, I often look at my grade-level indicators at what I wasn't able to cover, or what I wish I had delved into more. It would be wonderful to say we could get to everything, but with music only twice a week for thirty-five minutes, that can be quite the difficult task! One of the benefits about being a music teacher is that unlike classroom teachers, if we need to slow our pace down when we realize that students need more practice, we can without having to worry about how it might impact standardized tests. If we don't get to every single concept we had planned to, then we know where we left off and can teach them that concept the next year. (Unless, of course, you are a traveling music teacher and only have one grade level at a building!)

So this year, I looked at my fifth grade state of Ohio music indicators, and realized I hadn't really touched upon the indicator, "Develop and apply criteria for critiquing more complex performances of live and recorded music." I read the indicator over a few times, scratched my head, and thought, "Huh? How do I teach THAT?" I learned so much in my Kodaly training, and throughout all of the conferences and workshops I've attended, but I don't think I've ever been at a workshop or class that discussed how to teach that particular topic.

This was right after my fifth graders performed their program. While I was on jury duty, I had them watch the video of their program, and had them answer, in writing, questions about their performance, such as "What do you think you performed the best?" and "What do you think could have been improved?" They had performed a program I created called, "We are Ohio," with music from the many cultures represented at our school. I was very happy with their performance, but of course, it's always great for them to reflect upon what they could improve upon!

This indicator, though, goes deeper than just reflecting upon their own performances. So I decided to have them watch a different performance, this one of the group "Blast." This is a GREAT group that used to be the Star of Indiana (a group that I auditioned for on trumpet way back in college and almost toured with until I realized how much time in the summer it required... Very cool group!) You can find out more by clicking on the picture below:

 I have a DVD of the group (you can purchase them through West Music or many other music education companies), so I had my fifth grade students watch the DVD. Before we watched, I had them brainstorm questions they might ask themselves as they watch a performance in order to evaluate it. They came up with questions such as:

• Do they play/ sing the right notes?
• Do they have good posture?
• Do they transition well? (This came directly from their rehearsals for their program...we talked a lot about transitions!)
• Do they talk when they're not supposed to?

These were pretty basic questions, so I told them we'd watch a little of the performance by Blast, and as they were watching, they could think of more questions. After we watched a bit, they did in fact come up with more complex questions, such as:

• Was the theme interesting?
• Did the music show emotion?
• Did the performers have passion?
• Did the music represent the culture well?

One student asked, "Do they make us want to do it?" which after some further questioning, I realized really meant, "Do they inspire us to perform?" Wow...such a great question! The previous year, those same students had performed "The Drums of Noto Hanto," which was a program I created based on the book of the same name. The students had performed several taiko drumming pieces using bucket drums, and afterwards several teachers said to me, "I want to learn how to do that!" I shared this story with the students, telling them that they had inspired the teachers to perform (which they did...for the end of the year assembly, I taught many staff members a taiko drumming piece by Eric Paton and we performed it for the students. So much fun!)

After we came up with an extended list of questions, we applied those same questions to not only Blast's performance, but their recent school performance. It was so enlightening to see how they answered the questions (they thought Blast showed passion and emotion but weren't sure about themselves, but thought that their performance represented cultures better than Blast. Interesting!)

There are some indicators that take pretty much the whole year to teach, such as the indicators about reading, writing, and performing specific rhythms and solfa. We all know this is not an easy task and cannot be taught in one lesson! In my district, we call these "power standards," because they are very important and take lots of sequential work to teach well. This indicator I'm discussing is, I believe, not a power standard. Some standards/ indicators can be covered fairly quickly. The catch is, you may have to set aside a typical lesson of singing, reading, writing, etc. so that you can cover that material. The discussion I had with the students was so reflective...I think it was completely worth the time!

Have a wonderful week!

A new way of teaching notes on the treble clef staff

A new way of teaching notes on the treble clef staff

Over the years, I've tried several different ways of teaching the notes on the treble clef staff. For a while, I used the silly sentences (like "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "Elvis' Guitar Broke Down Friday" for the lines) and "FACE" for the spaces. Then one year I decided I'd show them that the treble clef is sometimes called the G clef because it crosses the G line four times. Then, they had to figure out that the next note was A, the note after that was B, etc. I thought maybe this was better than the silly sentences, but I quickly learned that although some kids get this, it really helps to have the silly sentences, at least at first! So I went back to that way of doing things. I began first getting them comfortable with the musical alphabet, then I would teach the lines/ silly sentences one day, the spaces the next, then I'd do a mad minute with them as a formative assessment. I'd take another day to do learning centers focused on notes on the treble clef staff, and then would do another mad minute as a summative assessment. During this process, my recorder players would transfer this to recorder, and my band students would transfer this to their band instruments. I've listed these ideas on this blog entry.

These strategies do work well, and the students improve quite a bit. But I still felt like maybe I could do more to help them, as there are always students who really struggle with note reading on the treble clef staff. I also wanted to take some baseline data so I could possibly write an SLO (Student Learning Objective) for this next year. So this year, I'm teaching the treble clef staff in a different way!

After going through all of the musical alphabet activities, and showing them the staff with the treble clef, I told them the silly sentences, but I also showed them visuals. For example, for "Elvis' Guitar Broke Down Friday," I showed them:

 For "Every Good Boy Does Fine," I showed them:

 Then, I put a note on the third line, and they had to figure out it was a B, the second line they had to figure out was G, etc.

Then I tried something new--I immediately had them transfer that knowledge to instruments. My fourth graders were working on recorder, so I showed them this slide and had them figure out it was G, then had them play this pattern:

I had other patterns that used G, E, and B (no A's, because those are space notes and we haven't discussed them yet!) For my third graders who aren't playing recorder yet, we played a bunch of patterns on E, G, and B using barred instruments. I just had to love when one of my fourth graders yelled out, after we'd played a pattern looking at the treble clef staff, "We're ROCKIN' the recorder!" I think the fact that they immediately transferred it to instruments helped a bit of the disconnect I've seen in years past.

I thought about going right onto spaces after this, but then thought I'd do it differently this year. Perhaps if I stick with the lines for a while, I pondered, they'd do better in the long run. So we had another lesson in which we played patterns on the lines, and then I did a lines mad minute--with notes only on the lines. I was surprised with how much better they did with this than I've seen students do with mad minutes that have lines AND spaces. But I guess it shouldn't be that surprising...if they only have to worry about the lines, then they are just thinking about which line it's on. If they have lines AND spaces to worry about, then they have to think "Is this on a line or a space?" first, and then figure out which line or space, and then figure out if they'll use a silly sentence or the word "FACE." This is much more complicated!

Next week, I plan on doing learning centers, but we will ONLY focus on the lines. I'm going to work with a couple students in each group who were struggling with the mad minute, and then we'll do another lines mad minute in the next lesson as a summative assessment. Then we'll work on spaces, with the same process. Then I'll give the mad minute for lines AND spaces and see how they do! I'll post about this experiment with data from this year and data from last year as a comparison. 

If you're interested in the visuals and mad minutes I discussed above, as well as other activities and visuals, click the link below for my treble clef staff:

I also put together a similar package for bass clef:

What strategies for teaching treble clef work for you? Feel free to comment below!

Teaching meter/ time signature

Teaching meter/ time signature

For many years, I’ve been tweaking my process for teaching meter/ time signatures. I wish teaching this were just as easy as saying, “In 2/4, there are 2 beats in every measure, and in 4/4, there are 4 beats in every measure,” but as we all know, it is much more complicated than this. In this blog post, I'll detail some strategies that have worked well for me in teaching meter or time signature.

In order for students to understand time signature, they need to feel that the first beat of every measure is the strongest. They need to be able to track measures. They need to be able to figure out where the barlines should go (which is really a practice of rhythm, as they need to know how many beats each rhythm gets!) They need to learn how to perform basic conducting patterns. They need to understand why we use meter to divide music into measures. (Not to mention duple vs. triple meter. When should we teach ¾? 6/8?) This is a lot of information to learn! I’ve heard of some music teachers teaching 2-beat meter, or 2/4, to first graders, but in my experience, all of those barlines and measures and rhythms can be quite confusing for first graders. I like to just start having first graders feel strong beats and weak beats. Then, in second grade, we dive into 2-beat meter.

During my college years, I worked closely with the Dalcroze professor at my school (he gave me free pedagogy lessons, which was incredible. I owe so much to him!) I love using Dalcroze-inspired lessons when working with meter, because students need to physically be able to feel the meter—the strong beats and weak beats, the division of each—and physical activities are great for this! Tennis ball activities are a favorite of mine when preparing and practicing meter—having students bounce on the strong beat and catch on the weak beat, switching between different meters to see if students can hear the difference. Students can also sing a known song and bounce and catch the tennis balls as they sing.

I became even more interested in my teaching process for meter this year when I noticed my daughter—who does very well in music and in academics—struggle with the concept of tracking measures and barlines. She is one of the best readers in her class, yet something about meter wasn’t clicking, even though the students had previously learned 2-beat meter and were now working on 4-beat meter. So I went back to the drawing board and tried a few more ideas. For barlines, I started using popsicle sticks, like in the SMART board file below:

Something about using the popsicle sticks clicked with her, as well as a few other students. I also did learning centers for 4-beat meter. In one of the learning centers, students had to play rhythm patterns on drums.  The rhythm cards had two measures in 4-beat meter, and I asked the students to play in small groups, so that the first beat of each measure sounded stronger than the other beats. This seemed to solidify the idea that the first beat of every measure is the strongest.

I also had students work with puzzle pieces to create their own compositions. Each puzzle piece was like a measure and should have four beats on it, but they had to be careful—some of the pieces had less than 4 beats! This was a great way to solidify the understanding of a half note lasting for 2 beats! (Don’t you love arguments between students about how long a half note lasts for? I’ll take those arguments any day over who is first in line!) The puzzle pieces looked like this (and will be in an upcoming set):

Students also had to create their own composition with a glyph, by following the directions and choosing certain rhythms for each measure based on their likes. This was a good exercise in following directions, and gave us some neat compositions to play on instruments!

After several of these activities, I did a summative assessment, and am happy to report that she answered most of the questions correctly, and was able to compose 2 measures in 4-beat meter, putting the barlines in the correct place. Hooray! The rest of the class also did well, and I felt much better about moving onto the next concept (Ti-tika, here we come!)

I’ve compiled some activities, lessons, and visuals into “Songs and Activities to Teach 2-beat meter,” shown below.

Have a great weekend!

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Choreographing a dance with your students

Choreographing a dance with your students

Some of my favorite memories as a child are of choreographing my own dances in the basement. With my sister, I created a dance to the Jackson Five's "Rockin' Robin," with my best friend Bronwyn, I choreographed a dance to "One" from "A Chorus Line," and then by myself, I choreographed a tap dance to "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel. It was always so much fun to decide which music I'd use, which moves would go where, and what the finished product would look like!

It wasn't until a few years ago, though, that I began having my own students choreograph their own dances. If I had that much fun as a child, why shouldn't they? I think my concern before I began the process was what the process would look like with a large group of students. I thought I'd outline a sample process here, and you can use it, tweak it, whatever you'd like!

The latest dance I've had students choreograph was "Hang on Sloopy." This is a HUGE fan favorite here in the state of Ohio! My third graders recently performed "B is for Buckeye," based on the book (each state has its own book...I'll blog about how to create a program based off those books later!) Each class choreographed their own dance, and then performed the dance one after another during the program. So much fun!

This song in particular seemed conducive to choreographing, because students already have danced a bit to it at football games and celebrations, making the letters O, H, I, and O after the words "Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on" (if you're not aware, football is HUGE in Ohio, especially here in Columbus!) All of the classes chose to incorporate those letters somehow into the dance, so that became a good jumping off point. The song has very clear cut sections, going back to A at the end, which made the dance even easier to choreograph. I would suggest using a piece with some repetition, as this makes the dance both easier to choreograph and easier to remember!

Here is a sample process I've used when having students create their own class dance:

• Students listen to the piece of the music and follow teacher-created motions. This could simply be moving to the beat in different ways (pat head for 8 beats, pat legs for 8 beats, etc.) This helps familiarize students with the song or piece of music.
• Then have the students listen to the piece again as they sit. Ask them to think about which motions might work with the dance. You might brainstorm a list of moves on the board (such as circle left, circle right, disco, etc.)
• Have the students listen again, and collaboratively decide which moves should go when. As the class decides, you can write those moves on the board, along with how many beats that move will last for.
• Do one small section at a time. So, after deciding how section A should be choreographed, have students perform with music. Ask them to give feedback as necessary to tweak the moves. You might remind them to be respectful of others' opinions and creative input.
• The process might take a few class periods (as you may have lots of other singing games and activities planned for that lesson!) On my SMART board, I kept a file of the dance moves, with the pages labeled by class. As they continue the process, have them practice each section and tweak as necessary.
• Here is an example of a dance a class created:
• March to the pattern "ta ta ti-ti ta" four times
• Do O H I O letters
• Repeat
• Take 4 steps in
• Right step close x 2
• Left step close x 2
• Take 4 steps out
• Repeat starting with 4 steps in
• Turn to partners in the circle and begin switching spots and getting new partners until the next section begins!
• March again to "ta ta ti-ti ta" four times
• Do O H I O letters
• Repeat
• Pose!

Fun dance, right? :) I had posters in the middle of each circle with their dance directions written so students didn't have to worry about forgetting how their dance went. They had so much ownership of the dance!

Do you have a process that works well for choreographing dances? Please comment below!

The cup game {A favorite for your music classroom}

The cup game {A favorite for your music classroom}

For this week's Friday Freebie, I thought I'd post one of my students' all-time favorites: the cup game! This activity is a GREAT way to engage your students--especially your older students who are self-conscious about singing.

My rule is that they have to sing to play the cup game, and they happily oblige! I teach the cup game with the song "I've been to Haarlem." You can download the chant, activity directions, and the song "I've been to Haarlem" by clicking here.

For those of you who are visual learners, I've posted videos of my students performing the chant with the cup game, singing the song while doing the cup game at a normal speed, and then singing the song while doing the cup game at "warp speed"! We do the game for elimination, so if students make a mistake they have to sit out at the end of the song. The circle gets smaller and smaller, and the cup game gets faster and faster! Note: when watching the videos, turn the sound up on the players.

The Cup Game Chant

The Cup Game with "I've been to Haarlem"

The Cup game with "I've been to Haarlem" in "warp speed"!

Please note that the way I learned the cup game is a bit different than most. The version I usually see goes something like "clap clap, tap on the cup, clap up down." This one is a bit different...it seems easier to me, but maybe that's just because that's the way I learned it!

"I've been to Haarlem" is also a great song for low sol and half note. Speaking of half note, I just posted "Songs and Activities to Teach Half Note." You can view it by clicking on the picture below.

Happy teaching!

Informances in the Music Room

Informances in the Music Room

This week has been a bit crazy, as I am not only rehearsing for my 3rd and 4th grade programs (which means I have 100+ kids at a time on risers, for close to an hour each day), I have also invited Kindergarten parents into my room for an "informance."

So what exactly is an "informance"? It is a way to inform parents of what a typical music class is like. It is similar to a performance in that there is an audience, but instead of rehearsing set pieces like you would for a program, students simply participate in music class. It is a great way to educate your school community about your music classroom!

So how did I do this? It is really pretty simple. At the beginning of the year, I make sure that the informances are on the school events calendar. A month or so before the informances, I send parents a letter telling them about the informance. Here is a sample of what I sent home:

Dear Parents,

The Kindergarteners have been busy this school year singing, chanting, playing instruments, and dancing in the music classroom! We would like to invite you to the Kindergarten informance, the week of January 28.

An informance is a chance for parents to see what a typical music class looks like. You are welcome to come during your child’s music time that week; parents can sit and watch the class in action.

Below are the times the informances will take place:

Monday, January 28:
Mrs. A’s M/W class: 2:30-3:05
Mrs. B’s M/W class: 3:05-3:40

Tuesday, January 29:
Mrs. A’s T/R class: 3:05-3:40

Thursday, January 31:
Mrs. C’s T/R class: 1:20-1:55

Let me know if you have any questions. I hope you can join us!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aileen Miracle


A couple weeks before the informance, I sent home a similar letter, reminding the parents again of the informance.

Prior to the informances, I also put together a program, explaining more about my classroom, and more about each activity we will do during that lesson. I would love to include the actual PDF of the program, but the person I bought the clip art from for the program is pretty particular about protecting the images, so I'll just describe the program and copy the text for you here.

I created the program in Publisher, so that it would print out on 8 1/2 by 11" paper double-sided, and could be folded in half. On the front, I have "Kindergarten Informance" typed, along with my name, the principal's name, the school, and the week (The border and clip art are adorable...wish I could share it!) On the inside of the program, I had an introduction, which read:

The purpose of an informance is to inform parents, friends, and community members about what exactly happens during a typical music class. Today, you will see me teach several different activities, all for different learning styles and concepts.

Zoltan Kodaly once said, “Teach music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture but a joy for the pupil; instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which will last for a lifetime... Often a single experience will open the young soul to music for a whole lifetime. This experience cannot be left to chance; it is the duty of the school to provide it.”

It is my firm belief that music should be taught joyfully, with high expectations. Just as students can achieve literacy in the classroom, they can achieve musical literacy. In my music classroom, students often sing, dance, move, read, write, improvise, compose, and play instruments, all while experiencing the joy of music and improving their musical literacy. I hope to give you a glimpse of the wonderful things your child can do in music!

After this introduction, I described each activity, like so:

“Engine Engine”
Students know this chant very well. We use it to practice loud/quiet and fast/slow, to prepare steady beat, and to explore our voices. Today, we will say the chant like a baby is sleeping on the train (quiet) and like there is a party on the train (loud.)

“Here we are together”
At the beginning of each music class, after our first song or chant, we follow with “Here we are together.” We sing all the children’s names, welcoming them to music.

“Speak/ Sing Your Name”
We do this activity at the beginning of each music class. We start off using our speaking voices, then switch to singing voices. If students would like to sing a solo, they raise their hands and sing into the microphone. Although as an adult, it may seem daunting to sing a solo, the students are very accustomed to singing individually and rarely show signs of anxiety. By listening to children individually, I am able to assess their singing voices. Over the two and a half years I have taught the students at Cheshire, several have transformed from “non-singers” to singing beautifully!

“Engine Engine”
We’ll go back to “Engine Engine,” and look at loud/quiet and fast/slow pictures on the SMART board. We’ll perform the chant in those four different ways, and them combine (loud AND slow, fast AND quiet.) This is a bit more difficult!

“Apple Tree”
This is a song the students recently learned in their last lesson. We’ll review the song and then I will teach the game. The game is a great way to prepare beat, as students have to put the “feel of the music” in their feet!

“This is my speaking voice”
Students will explore their different voices (speaking, singing, squeaky, grumbly, quiet, and loud) with this fun activity. Then they have to figure out which voice I’m using! Then we will look at the SMART board, spin the spinner to see which voice comes up, and perform “Bee Bee” with that voice.

“Hands like this”
This is a really fun movement activity in which students have to move different parts of their body. It helps them focus on the drum, create their own movement, and develop balance skills.

“Cat goes fiddle-I –fee”
This is a fun book by Paul Galdone. The students will listen, sing as they are comfortable, and explore different animal sounds, which helps them find their singing voices.

“The Bunny Game”
This is one of the students’ favorite activities! It helps them listen for high/low. At the beginning of the year, I spoke the whole story to students, but now they can do much of it without me saying a word! 

Interested in the bunny game?

Finally, after the description of the lesson, I listed the Kindergarten indicators we covered during the lesson.

The day of the first informance, I made sure I had chairs placed around the perimeter of the room. I put out about 15 chairs, and was surprised to see they were all filled...I even had to add a couple chairs! I first had the parents come in and sit down. I introduced myself, told them they'd see a normal music class, and then I led the kids in, chanting "Engine Engine."

During the lesson, I paused a few times to explain to the parents what we were doing, and how they might extend the activity at home. For example, during "Cat goes fiddle-I-fee," after students were making animal sounds, I explained that this was a great way for students to explore their voices. These are the small things parents might do with their children that could help them musically!

We had a few minutes at the end of the class after the "bunny game," so I had all parents and children make a big circle in the room. After the bunny game, I taught everyone a circle dance ("Irish Stew" from "Rhythmically Moving"; the children had already learned the moves but hadn't added music yet.) After teaching them the moves, I had them perform it with music! Then, those children with parents there could go hug their parent(s); those without could come hug me. :)

Parents seemed very excited to see their children in this environment. I heard lots of wonderful comments. In previous years, when I've done this, I've had parents express surprise. I think parents assume that music class is exactly what it was like when they were kids, and this is of course not true! Informances can truly inform parents, and build support for your classroom.

I know many Kodaly-inspired teachers who actually prefer informances to performances, as they don't like to take time away from their curriculum. Although I understand the frustrations of losing curriculum time, I think it's important that children also have performance opportunities during their elementary years. You might try informances with some grade levels, and performances with others. I was able to do this during the day; those parents who work at home could come into school, and many who work took some time off to come. Whether your parents can come may depend on the socio-economics of the school community. I know some teachers do informances in the evening. I personally like to save evenings for performances, but of course, do what's best for you and your community!

Any other ideas or thoughts about informances? Please comment below!

Who will be my valentine?

Who will be my valentine?

It's almost February, which means it's almost Valentine's Day! A month or so ago, I posted "Songs and Activities for Valentine's Day," and just realized that I didn't add one of my favorites. I thought I'd share that with you today.

The song is to the tune of "Bow Wow Wow." If you don't know "Bow Wow Wow," it goes like this:

This is a great song for quarter rest, as well as for "re." The students are so excited when they do the dance for the first time and flip around to find their new partners!

I learned the song "Who will be my valentine" my first year of teaching. It has the same melody and game as "Bow Wow Wow," but the lyrics are:

1, 2, 3,

Who will it be?

Who will be my valentine?

1, 2, 3!

4, 5, 6,

I'm in a fix!

Who will be my valentine?

4, 5, 6!

7, 8, 9,

Who's on the line? 

Who will be my valentine?

7, 8, 9!

Lots of fun, right? :) 

I added this song, as well as a slideshow with the lyrics, a rhythm slide, and two melody slides, to the "Songs and Activities for Valentine's Day." You can view it by clicking on the picture below.

Have fun singing and dancing with your students this week! I have Kindergarten informances this week, and will be posting about those within the next few days. :)

Double double this that

Double double this that

My second year of teaching, I worked with a wonderful P.E. teacher named Laura who enjoyed cross-curricular teaching. Through the curtain, I often heard students doing jump rope games and hand jives. One of my favorites I heard her do was "Double double this that."

You may have heard it before. It goes like this:

The hand jive goes like this, with a partner:

For “double,” hit both fists on partners’ fists.

For “this,” hit both hands on partners’ hands.

For “that,” hit back of both hands on back of partners’ hands.

All motions are to the beat.

At the time, I was still near Detroit (I lived in Michigan until I was 24.) Laura had the kids do the same chant, but with the words: 

Let's go, let's go, Red, Red,

Let's go, let's go, Wings, Wings,

Let's go Red, Let's go Wings,

Let's go, Let's go, Red Wings!

The chant could be changed to any team, or any word with four sounds. I've seen this as a chant from Chile, with the word "Mariposa," which is Spanish for butterfly. I've also seen it as "Chocolate" (pronounced Cho-co-la-tay, Spanish for chocolate.)

Last year, my second graders performed "Where the Wild Things Are," shown below (click to see it in my store):

 I had them perform the chant as "Chocolate" when the story spoke of Max being hungry, and then they made up other foods that had four sounds, like "fettucine" and "pepperoni."

This year, those same students, who are now third graders, are preparing their musical "B is for Buckeye" (more on that later.) We are performing the "Mariposa" chant as part of this program. Today, I had students brainstorm things that reminded them of Ohio that have four sounds. The class came up with a list, and one of them included Braxton Miller, who is the quarterback for Ohio State (people are CRAZY about their football here!) That would sound like this:

Braxton, Braxton, Mil, Mil,

Braxton, Braxton, ler, ler,

Braxton Mil, Braxton ler,

Braxton, Braxton Miller!

This chant could be used in so many ways, regardless of where you live or which team your students like! It's a great way to have students create, choosing their own lyrics.

Happy teaching!

Holiday Favorites

Holiday Favorites

This week, my students and I are in “singalong” mode, as we get ready for the holiday singalong on Friday afternoon (see this blog post with more information about putting together a singalong.) I thought I’d share some of my favorite activities and books for my winter holiday lessons.

·         “Feliz Navidad” book by Jose Feliciano and David Diaz: This is a beautiful picture book narrating the song “Feliz Navidad.” It appears to be out of print, but it can still be bought cheaply on Amazon and www.alibris.com(my favorite out-of-print children’s book website!)

I     I found it years ago at a book fair, so you might also find it in your school’s library. I’ve been using the same recording of the song by Chino Espinoza for years; you can find it on Itunes. Listening to it definitely gets me in the holiday mood! The beginning of the book has an interesting bit about Christmas traditions in Puerto Rico that you can read to your students.

·         Instruments with “Up on the housetop”: After singing this Christmas favorite, I have students listen to when I play instruments. Then, I play rhythm bells on “ho, ho, ho” and wood blocks or another wooden non-pitched instrument on “click, click, click.”. The students identify the words and instruments and then they get instruments to play. Easy but fun!

      

      Jingle Bell Dance: I found this dance on Pinterest and was very excited to use it with my 5th graders!

·        On "Dashing through the snow," they promenade their partners, then on "Bells on bobtail ring" they switch directions. Now that they know the dance, I plan on adapting the dance to Frank Sinatra's "Jingle Bells" (Who doesn't love that version? So fun!)

      Dreidel:After singing “S’vivon Sov Sov” or “When oh when” (a song I wrote about here) I have students make a circle around me and we play dreidel. I’ve played both with candy (the kids get one piece each after we play) and with pebbles. The kids really enjoy playing. I’m amazed by how many of them need practice spinning the dreidel! Maybe too much time playing video games and not enough time playing actual games? It’s also a good opportunity for younger students to practice their counting skills.

·         “The Sound of Kwanzaa”: This colorful book by Dimitrea Tokunbo and Lisa Cohen is a great introduction to Kwanzaa. 

       Afterwards, we discuss how many nights are in Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Christmas, respectively. You can connect it to a Kwanzaa song or an African folk song.

·         Want some rhythmic practice while keeping in the spirit of the holidays? Check out my "Santa's Stuck" files for several rhythmic concepts:

      These are a great way to weave curriculum into the holidays, and to assess!

What are your favorite holiday ideas for the music room? Feel free to comment below, and Happy Holidays!