Seriously Fun Music Activity to Try Right Now

Hello Teachers,

 

Now that the weather is warming up, I like to take my class outside for music time. Try this seriously fun music activity that gets your students working on their music rhythms. This music activity is always a big hit with my students and it's one of their favorite rhythm composing lessons. Take students outside and let them select colored chalk to write 16th notes on the sidewalk.

Outside Learning

Have each child compose one measure of rhythms. They must use  16th notes in their Rhythm Composition and end with a quarter note. Have them write their name next to the music they composed.
Students are allowed to move around the playground and practice clapping each others Rhythm Compositions. The teacher can easily keep track of grades by using a  class list.  Have students make corrections if needed and document which students required extra help. Your class will love getting a music recess time without realizing they are really working on rhythm reading. Give it a try..........your class will think you are the best teacher ever! Leave a comment below to share what cool things you do at the end of the school year. Enjoy!
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You Can Contact me via email:  sherrystucki@aim.com

     

    

How to Create Smoother Transitions in Your Music Class

 Hello Teachers,

Smooth transitions can be tricky for many teachers, so I'm sharing some of the tricks that I've used to create smoother transitions with my music classes.

Establish Classroom Routines: I’ve noticed that students respond to consistent routines to help them move from one activity to another.  For example, you can establish a musical game time as soon as your class is done with their board work or singing time. Your class will look forward to game time as a reward for doing well during their singing time or board work.  If they don’t listen during board work they lose a game you have planned for them. They will quickly learn they need to get their work done before they are allowed to play the game. You just need to remind them that there is a game coming next and they will usually want to finish their music work in order to play the game. (k-6th grades)



Using Games For Transitions

Use Transition Songs: I have my class move to a circle or spread out around the room to play different music games. I will tell my class to sing a simple song that they all know while they are transitioning into their new places. Singing a song will help them stay focused on singing instead of talking to everyone around them as they move about the room to a new place. I change the transition song frequently so I can use the songs as board work for rhythm or note practice. (k-6th grades)



Using Drums For Transitions

 Use Instruments: I try to use Orff instruments or other percussion instruments for every class as a way to help students transition smoothly to the next activity. We use drums to work on our rhythms. Playing drums is one of their favorite things to do and most of the time they will do anything to get to play the drums.  So I use them as a reward for students that are working hard on their board work and songs. (k-6th)

Get a Line-Up Makeover: I always end my class with a circle game. My class will stay in the circle after the game is done. Then I have them sing a short song as they move around the circle. I pick one child, who leads the rest of the class in follow-the-leader-style to the door to form a straight line. I have the line leaders go to the front of the line. We had a fire drill and the other teachers couldn’t believe how fast I could get kindergarteners to line up and move out the door. This works like a charm. If you email me, I will send you the easy line-up song that I use with my K-2^nd graders.
You can contact me at sherrystucki@aim.com 
 

Want more fun activities and ideas for your class? Be sure to 
Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim a monthly freebie, teacher tips & tricks. I would love to hear what tricks you use or other thoughts you might have in the comments below. Enjoy!

Check out some of my favorite games and activities!

Contact me via email:  sherrystucki@aim.com

          

8 Exciting Scarf Ideas to Do With Your Music Class!

Welcome to Mrs. Stucki’s Music Room!

Children love scarf play and enjoy them using them in the music room.  Here are some exciting scarf ideas you can use with your music class.

1. Play classical music and call out different animal names. Let the class act out being a certain animal as they move to the music.  You can also use music from Carnival of the Animals for this activity.

2. Play High and Low games by having the class demonstrate high and low notes as they listen to the Chinese Dance, from the Nutcracker or any other classical music that has high and low notes.

3. Play the game Simon Says with scarfs as you sing different ways for the class to move their scarves. I use this game at the beginning of the year with kindergarten and first graders to help them learn how to follow directions.

4. You can play the song, Shake My Sillies Out from Share the Music using scarfs with the different movements throughout the song.

Fun Scarf Routine by 2nd Graders

5. You can also play folk music and teach a dance routine with scarfs.

6. Have the class play freeze dance to any music.

7. Practice Rhythms with 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th graders by calling out a rhythm like whole notes. The class demonstrates whole notes by letting their scarf float in the air for 4 beats before they touch the scarf again. They continue the whole note pattern until you call out another rhythm like half notes.

8. Use scarfs as props to Classical music. Have the class place a scarf in their back pocket.  They can pretend to have a horse tail and gallop like a horse to music like the William Tell Overture or The Wild Horseman. Have the class pretend to float like a butterfly as you play the music by Chopin.  Pretend the scarf is a cape and tell them to be a super hero as you play Prelude to Act 1, from Carmen (Theme 1). You can have the class pretend to fly like a bee as you play Flight of the Bumblebee.

Want more fun activities and ideas for your class? Be sure to 

Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim a monthly freebie, teacher tips & tricks. I would love to hear what tricks you use or other thoughts you might have in the comments below. Enjoy!

Check out some of my favorite games and activities!
Contact me via email:  sherrystucki@aim.com

          

Fun Activity That's Popular With Music Classes!

 Welcome back, 

I'd like to share an activity that is very popular with all my students. I love children’s books and I use them in my class all the time. Using books are a great way to teach musical concepts and your children will love that you are using them.  A Book becomes even more magical for the class when you are able to include a simple song to go along with the story. My students love story time and can’t wait to sing along .

Cows in the Kitchen is one of my classes all time favorite musical stories. All kinds of vocal repertoire ( such as Bingo, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Cows In the Cornfield, etc.) can be incorporated into your lesson with a variety of musical concepts (such as reading the rhythm of a song you used for the book). This book  includes a musical song right at the end of the book. The entire class can easily see the pictures because it is an oversized big book. When a book doesn't have a song, I just make up a simple song for the class to sing along as I turn the pages and then teach the rhythm, melody, etc. to go along with my lesson.

You can buy any of these books yourself, have your PTA buy books, ask your principal to buy some of the books or see if you can find them in your school library.  Below are some books that work good with kindergarten and 1st grade.

You can also check out the collection of books that work well with a variety of grade levels  on one of my Pinterest Boards called (Children’s Books) for more ideas. Give it a try to see if your class likes musical stories as much as my students do. What is your favorite book that you use with your students?

Click on the picture to see more books to use for your classroom.

Want more fun activities and ideas for your class? Be sure to 

Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim a monthly freebie, teacher tips & tricks. I would love to hear what tricks you use or other thoughts you might have in the comments below. Enjoy!

Check out some of my favorite games and activities!
Contact me via email:  sherrystucki@aim.com

          

 

3 Secret Tricks for Crowd Control During Music Concerts

Hello,

Do you have elementary students that keep talking out of turn when you're trying to practice for their music concerts. Well, I find that some of the younger grades (K-3rd) have a difficult time staying quiet during their show in many elementary schools. Here are 3 simple tricks for crowd control during your next practice or next music concert.

1. Strike A Pose
Have them pretend that they are getting their picture taken and have them (go to pose 1, pose 2 or pose 3). Poses help small children to move to the next song without talking out of turn between each song.  Simply tell your students to go to a certain pose after each song.


Pose #1 (hands together in front of body-2nd graders)

Pose #2 (A Russian Dance Pose)

2. Adding Choreography 
Adding choreography will help keep their bodies busy and gives them something to focus on during the music. Choreography also adds a nice touch during the song for your audience.

3. Use Que Cards for Good Behavior
I have five cards that spell out each letter for the word (P-A-R-T-Y). I explain to the class that after the concert they will have a party if they have good behavior during the show (which is a fun music game day for my children). Just place the 1st letter (P) on your board or music stand. If someone interrupts, remove the letter (P). The children quickly learn that they need to stop talking out of turn or they will lose their party day. They have to earn all 5 cards to spell (P-A-R-T-Y) to earn an extra fun game day. Yes I use the same cards during their music concerts. The audience never knows that  you are showing the students cards. This helps remind students to not talk out of turn throughout the entire show. If you look in the 1st picture above, you might notice that I am using two music stands. One stand is for my music and the other stand is facing the children. I place one card at a time on the music stand that is facing the children throughout the concert to remind them about good behavior. The cards do all the speaking for me so I don't have to talk to them about behavior in front of the audience. Give it a try. It works like a charm for my younger and older children.
 

Want more fun activities and ideas for your class? Be sure to Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim a monthly freebie, teacher tips & tricks. I would love to hear what tricks you use or other thoughts you might have in the comments below. Enjoy!

St. Patrick's Day Lesson

St. Patrick's Day Dancing

 



Modified Irish Jig for beginners

Hello friends, it's time to break out some dance moves for St. Patrick's Day, but the Irish Jig can be very tricky for elementary students to perform. Here is a modified version that is easy enough for even small children to do. Have the class stand in a circle and use any Irish Jig or Reel music for this dance. If you have a lot of students, you can form 2 circles with one group on the outside and the other group forming an inner circle.

Section A of the music:

Count 1: Tap right to on the floor (in front of the body).
Count 2: Right foot touches left knee.
Count 3: Bring right foot back to regular standing position with feet slightly apart.
Count 4: Slide left foot over to your right foot.
Count: 5, 6, 7, 8 (turn, turn, turn, turn to do 1 full circle. 

(Repeat dance steps 1-8 until the A section is over).

Section B of the music:
Counts:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Class will do a slide-step to the left with their feet (looks like a side- gallop) called sashay.
Count 7: rest for one beat

Counts:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Class will do a slide-step to the right with their feet (looks like a side- gallop) called sashay.

Count 7: rest for one beat

(Repeat dance steps until the B section is over).

Continue doing the dance by alternating between the “A” section and the “B” section of the music until the song is over.

I like to have the class see a youtube performance before we do the modified version to get them excited about learning the Irish Jig. Leave a comment below to let me know what kind of things your class likes to do for St. Patrick's Day. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Want more fun activities and ideas for your class? Be sure to Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim a monthly freebie, teacher tips & tricks. I would love to hear what tricks you use or other thoughts you might have in the comments below. Enjoy!
Click on the pictures below.
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Fun Music Lesson for Older Students

I wanted to share a fun music lesson that I did with my older students. Every year I teach patriotic music to my music classes. I was very excited to find a great YouTube video with a class using tennis balls to practice working on rhythms together. So I decided to use this fun music activity along with my patriotic lesson this year. My class was totally engaged and it was a big hit with my 5th and 6th graders. They loved
 
learning about the composer John Phillip Sousa while working on rhythms with tennis balls.

This activity helped my class to understand that they needed to perform rhythms exactly together when they are counting their music. I loved this activity because the class can visually see if they are together with the beat of the music and I can quickly assess their understanding of how to count rhythms together. This fun activity


Click on the picture. Here is the power point
I used for our Patriotic Sing-A-Long Lesson.

was done by playing the music "Stars and Stripes Forever" and performing whole notes with balls going in a full circle around your body. Half notes were done by bouncing the ball on the floor on count 1 and catching the ball on count 2. Quarter notes we done by tossing the ball up in the air with one hand on each beat. Eighth notes were passed from hand-to-hand in front of your body. Start the music and then the teacher will call out a rhythm such as (whole notes ready go) and the class would begin demonstrating whole notes around their body. Throughout the music the teacher will switch to an new rhythm (half notes, quarter notes or eighth notes. 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Please take a moment to leave a comment below about what works well with your older students.
 Want more fun activities and ideas for your class? Be sure to Sign-up by email on my side bar to claim a monthly freebie, teacher tips & tricks. I would love to hear what tricks you use or other thoughts you might have in the comments below. Enjoy!

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