I love doing Carnival of the Animals in first grade. I use Carnival of the Animals to teach concepts like fast/slow, loud/soft and high/low. It also gives the first-graders a chance to learn how to listen to music and analyze it. Sometimes I also add in some extra "animal" lessons that aren't necessarily a part… Continue reading Children’s Books & Music: Carnival of the Animals
Category: Literature
Children’s Books & Music: The Very Quiet Cricket
Another one of the books I love to use with my younger students. This is great when you are introducing or reviewing rest in your classroom, because the cricket is....Quiet!! Like with a lot of my children's books I start with just reading the book at the end of class one day. With The Cricket… Continue reading Children’s Books & Music: The Very Quiet Cricket
Children’s Books & Music: Goodnight Moon
I'm starting a blog post series about different lessons to incorporate Children's Books into the music classroom. This first lesson comes from the book Goodnight Moon. Goodnight Moon With all my book lesson I like to just read the book the first day. I take the last 5-10 minutes of class and read the book… Continue reading Children’s Books & Music: Goodnight Moon
In the Hall of the Mountain King
This is a seasonal favorite in my room for each grade level! Special shout out to Traci Patterson for the body percussion idea I now use with my older kids. For my little students( 1st/2nd) I love to use the song "In The Hall of the Mountain King" with the story We're Off To Find… Continue reading In the Hall of the Mountain King
Leaf Man
Fall in Ohio is beautiful! There are so many colorful things to see outside. I have a lot of trees in my backyard so it is a symphony of colors everyday once the leaves start to change. This means it is a great time of year for my lesson associated with the book "Leaf Man". … Continue reading Leaf Man
I Got a Letter
I love this song for sooo many reasons. It has a great feel to the song and you can cover so much curriculum across a bunch of different grade levels. Basically the main concepts that I worked on with my students were Low La, Whole Notes, and Improvisation. FREE lesson plan for this song: I… Continue reading I Got a Letter
Project Based Learning: Composition
Last week I presented at our Board of Education meeting about Project Based Learning in the music room. I want to share with you what I shared with them. I think that almost all of what I do in my Orff classroom is Project Based Learning, PBL. I just had a discussion with a colleague… Continue reading Project Based Learning: Composition
