NEW WORDS! for the word wall!!! - FINALLY

So I've been busy getting ready for school and in the midst of that crazy two things happened.....

1.  One of the folks who wanted to use my word wall words had great suggestions that should be included in an new list of words 



AND

2.  I found a similar list that a faithful reader had given me in FEBRUARY (gasp!) that I started and completed and seriously just forgot to post!!!



So, with great apology to my friend who I corresponded with about the word wall without delivering as promised and with the hope that these new words would fill in some gaps for everyone,  I decided that I couldn't rest until I got both of those lists completed for the new school year. 

As always, I publish the word wall words in two formats..... 

You can either print your words on sentence strips which makes them slightly larger and includes a color border that sorts the words by topic, OR you can print off the words using standard 8.5 x 11 paper which makes the words slightly smaller, and doesn't include the borders.

NEW WORDS (sentence strips)

 

NEW WORDS (8.5x11)

 

 

 

You might find this free tutorial helpful! 

 

HOW TO PRINT ON SENTENCE STIPS

 



For a complete list of word wall words follow these links:

Original Word Wall Lists

UPDATE #1

UPDATE #2

UPDATE #3

UPDATE #4






 

My Music Classroom has a Word Wall - NOW WHAT?

So - You've finally found the time to go to the extra effort to create a word wall just like in everyone else's classroom.  You've got the words, you've got the letters up, you staple and staple and staple, and then you realize.....

If this is all the word wall is, then it is just a fancy dust catcher!


That will never do!

So, if you are like me, you start trying to do some homework to figure out how the regular folks (classroom teachers) use their word wall.

Here is what I've found so far in my very hairy scary quick searches.

First I went to Pinterest and found this awesome blog called Excuse Me Mrs.C  Which as it turns out was a great place to start.

Then I did some basic searches and came across a great site ALL about instructional strategies.  This one is a site we should probably all keep in our back pocket when we go to meetings because it is one of those sites that can alleviate a great deal of confusion by providing common definitions to all of those instructional terms and methodologies we throw around at meetings expecting that everyone has the same definition.  A site like this can create a shared understanding YAY!   It's called Instructional Strategies and wouldn't you know it?  They have a page dedicated to word walls and how to use them. At the bottom of the page there is an awesome bibliography.  I bet your school already has copies of some of those books referenced in the site that you could take a closer look at.

Here is what I gleaned from my very quick read of these resources.

1. One very basic use of a word wall is to provide a reference point for students as they practice spelling and reading common words.

That is just fine if the words on your word wall are common..... but what if they are uncommon? or content specific words as most musical words are?

So I kept digging.

I came across a study that followed the use of word walls with older students study from the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy  This article gives lots of insight in how to help students be meta-cognitive about how they use the word wall. Great Questioning strategies for older kiddos!

And then FINALLY, I found the article I had been seeking!  An article about word walls in the music classroom  Here it is.  It was published in General Music Today , entitled Making Your Word Wall Work by Angela Leonhardt. AND it's AWESOME!  VERY useful, VERY practical, and VERY easy to read!

So here are the things that I am going to do now that I am informed about how to use my word wall more effectively.

1. I'm going to take down the words that I haven't introduced.

2. I'm going to use my colorful small pocket charts to sort our current words by grade level. Then as words are introduced I will add them to the big word wall.

3. I'm going to provide an opportunity for students to personalize their word wall.  Since my older students have music folders this will probably take the form of a paper added to their folder on which they can add words that we know.  Except on their personal chart, we will have the words categorized by theme....i.e. rhythm words, tempo words, etc....With my younger students who don't yet have folders and who need the support, I'll have to be a little more creative.  I'm sure that as the idea arrives, I'll share it on this blog....so stay tuned. 

September YUMMY AWARD! - Bling Blang by Woody Guthrie and Vladimir Radunsky

for September 2012

goes to 

Bling Blang by Woody Guthrie, Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky

This book has so much to offer a music teacher in search of a book that will exemplify great literature and great music for kinder and first grade. 

First - The lyrics are very poetic and picturesque and when this book is studied in conjunction with Howdi Do and My Dolly you've got a really solid composer/author study.

If you are lucky enough to find a copy of Howdi Do WITH a CD, you'll get a recording of all 3 books.  Now - each recording is very different and not all of the recordings are created equal, but Bling Blang is awesome!  

Recording
In the recording of Bling Blang the violin creates a very convincing hammer and saw sound while the really nicely played tuba carries the melody.  There is an very proper and operatic baritone solo for all of the verses which serves as a great example of male singing.  The children who are singing in the recording are NOT the best example of children singing, but I rarely find recordings in which I like everything.... so I'll take what good stuff I can find.  overall Bling Blang is nicely done.   The recording also offers nice instrumental interludes that can serve as great preparation for playing rhythmic patterns.

Rhythm patterns:
Here are the ostinati that I use with this song.



First we "play" these rhythms with our hands and mouth sounds.  I don't know how to type the sound that kids make when they click their tongues, but all of my students LOVE doing it, so we use it as part of our pattern when we are using our hammers.  Then when we are using our saws, we switch sounds and rhythmic patterns.

Part work
I like to split the class into two groups with one group being hammers and the other being saws.  Then we pass the pattern back and forth, and work toward independence so that they can do the two patterns simultaneously (in harmony)  some classes can, some can't.....yet.....

Then we add instruments.  Woodblocks and tone blocks become hammers while guiros, cabasas, and sand blocks become saws.

Good Singing
We are working toward being able to accompany our singing with a different rhythmic pattern.  The book provides an awesome structure for the practice because just about the time that things start getting shaky or start to fall apart, it's time to regroup while we listen to the CD or the teacher sing another verse.

Early Writing
If your school, like mine, is working every minute to close that old achievement gap, this book is also a GREAT prompt for writing!  The last two pages of the book contain illustrations of houses created by children. We all know that the beginnings of writing are imitation, so I have my kindergarten students write the chorus and illustrate their writing with their own houses.  Then we put the book together and read it.  They LOVE reading their own music book and they practice their rhythms and singing the simple melody the whole time.

Book List - Pete the Cat

I have joined the Pete the Cat craze!

I purchased the books this summer and they are an exceptional hit with my students.  They ask for these books again and again.  I decided to purchase the books after I saw a video of a a music class playing an orffistrated version of one of the Pete books on Pinterest.  I thought to myself.... My students would LOVE playing instruments while reading that book..... sooooooo I took a trip to the book store and have since fallen in love with Pete the Cat.  I'll let you know how our we do when we get ready to accompany the book.  HarperCollins has recordings available on their website of each book.



Here is the Pete the Cat book list for your reference

Word Wall Update! - Forgotten Words and Great Suggestions!

Hey Ya'll!

I don't know about you guys, but my beginning of the year has been typically CRAZY BUSY!

But the nice thing is that I'm beginning to hit my stride into a routine.

As school was starting I got some really amazing feedback about the word wall. I was amazed at some of the basic words that I forgot to include.... you know some obvious ones like "snare drum" and "spaces"...... There was also some really great suggestions that were mostly "duh" words that everyone wants.

My suggestion list got long enough that I'm even having to break up my updates into smaller groups of words.

SOOOO without further ado..... Here is update number 3

Remember - when I say sentence strip size, I mean that you intend to print your words onto sentence strips.  If I say 8.5 x 11, I mean that you intend to print your words on sheets of card stock and then cut them apart.

Update # 3 - Random words - 

UPDATE #3 (sentence strips 3 x 11.5)

UPDATE #3 (8.5 x 11) 

You should notice that all of my clip art either came from msn clipart OR was purchased through a subscription from iclipart. 

I had more than one suggestion for "tubular bells".  I have not included it here because I have yet to find the right image.  If you come across a picture that I can use for tubular bells that might work, send me a link and we will check it out.  

If you are just coming across the music word wall posts, 

Check out the following links

Musical Word Wall

Update #1

Solfa Word Wall Update #2 

August Yummy Award - Back to School Edition!

AUGUST 2012

"Howdi Do" by Woody Guthrie with pictures by Vladimir Radunsky

This is my FAVORITE book to use with young children during the very first days of school.  If you purchase the hardback edition the melody is in the jacket cover.  Each verse sets up different scenarios in which people say hello to each other.  This book is filled with well wishes and camaraderie.  My favorite portion of the lyrics is when we sing "I feel glad when you feel good, you brighten up my neighborhood".  What a sweet thing to sing to each other!

Typically, because I use this book at the beginning of the year in kindergarten and first grade, I sing the verses and they join me on the fun tongue twister chorus.  I typically sing it unaccompanied at first because the chorus is super fun to sing but a real doozy of a mouthfull. We have a chance to shake hands with the folks sitting nearby and we talk about the book.  There are two things in this book that your students will love! 

1. the dog - he makes an appearance on every page

2. the twins - there are several pair of twins

The chorus that we all sing together goes something like this..... (my copy is at school ready for the first day..... so I'm typing from memory)

Howjee Heejee Hijee Hojee Howdi do sir doodle doo

Howdi doogle doodle doozie Howdi Do Howdi Do

Howjee Hojee Heejee Hijee Howdi Do

SO MUCH FUN!!!!!  

Especially with the young ones I try really hard to include a "song book" in essentially every music lesson.  Sometimes if we are adding instruments or dramatizing the book, then the book is the lesson, but equally as often, the book is just a book that we sing.  I read this book after we've had a full lesson of musical play and we don't have time to introduce a new idea, but there is just enough time to listen to a story or read a book.  They love it and ask for it again and again..... 

We should never underestimate the power of just plain old singing together!  Sometimes the song is the soup that holds the whole meal together! :)

Ya'll have a great school year! 

Musical Alphabet in COLOR! = better letters!

Today I put up my new word wall!  I was so excited to put together all of my musical vocabulary words and my musical letters. 

First I put it here on my cabinets..... and then I thought..... NOPE!  That will only last 5 minutes.... my students have to walk by my cabinets to get in and out of the room and things that I put on my cabinets tend to walk off.  

Then I decided to place it here and thought..... This is WAY better!..... BUT I can't see the letters!  

See - they blend into the wall....

Especially the yellow letters

I'm glad that I was able to get up to school a couple days early to problem solve because this is a problem I can solve!  I redid the letters so that they will be easier to see.  I thought I'd share my "better letters" with you! 

Click HERE to download the alphabet cards in COLOR

I got the clip art that I used in these letters from the following sites MSN clipart, ICLIPART, Clip Art ETC, WP Clipart .

Now my new word wall looks better than EVER!

MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to see! 

The yellow letters are much easier to see now! 

Poor "I" doesn't have any words  : ( as I was putting
up my word wall a teacher friend reminded me of the word "Imitation".... I'll have to add it! 

Musical Word Wall - Proof that Learning is Doing

I took some pictures of my "word wall" adventure.  I hope that these pictures might answer some questions that you may have.

If you would like to download my word sets click HERE!

Got these at Teacher Heaven

1. Here is a picture of the sentence strips that I purchased. The key to printing on them as I did is that the back side is blank. I printed them on the blank side.

What I saw on my screen.

2. Based on this picture on the screen and my printer settings, I thought I would have a white edge all the way around the word.  

3. This is what my words looked like when I got finished printing them..... They had 3 sides? of white and many of the shorter words were in need of trimming.  I LOVE my paper cutter!  Without cutting the the words didn't fit into my mini pocket charts..... I don't know if I'll use them with the pocket charts, but I want the choice to do so, so before I was done, I ended up cutting all of the words.       

I got these from Lakeshore!  Aren't they Awesome?

4. Here is what they looked like after trimming

5. See - they fit in the pocket charts just fine!

A Musical Word Wall!

So all summer I've been working on creating a word wall that will work in my classroom..... maybe my word wall will work for you too..... Feel free to download it and print.

You might also enjoy the  Musical Alphabet that I created earlier in the summer. 

There are two versions of the word wall.  The first is intended to be printed on 8.5x11 card stock and does not include the colorful background.   The second version is intended to be printed on 3x11.5 sentence strips which depending on how the supplies work at your school may be easier to get a hold of than regular card stock.  I first learned about printing on sentence strips from pinterest.  Please visit the awesome blog that provided those very detailed and useful instructions click at  "A Turn to Learn" .

The pictures give an example of each sub group of words.  Don't be fooled by the pictures.  The height of each word and most font sizes are identical throughout the entire collection. The clip art I used came from the  following sites: MSN clipart, ICLIPART, Clip Art ETC, WP Clipart .

Instruments

Set 1 (Instruments) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 1 (Instruments) 8.5 x 11

Notation and Theory

Set 2 (notation and theory) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 2 (notation and theory) 8.5 x 11

Musical Elements, vocal and instrumental words

Set 3 (Musical Elements) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 3 ( Musical Elements) 8.5 x 11

(Musical Elements 8.5 x 11 corrected on August 21, 2012) 

Ensembles and Occupations

Set 4 (Ensembles and Occupations) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 4 (Ensembles and Occupations ) 8.5 x 11

Types and Elements of Song

Set 5 (Types and Elements of Song) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 5 (Types and Elements of Song) 8.5 x 11

Performances and Genres

Set 6 (Performances and Genres) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 6 (Performances and Genres) 8.5 x 11

Tempo and Dynamics

Set 7 (Tempo and Dynamics) 3 x 11.5 sentence strips

Set 7 (Tempo and Dynamics) 8.5 x 11

Pictures of this word wall in my class are coming soon!

MelodySoup YUMMY! Award: July 2012 - Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

July 2012

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!
by Karen Beaumont, Illustrated by David Catrow

I love this book! Now just by looking at it, you might not think this is a book that could be used in a music class..... however, it is such a fun read and when I use this book with students I always sing it......I've included the melody I use, which I don't think is original and may have been intended for this book.... I don't know.... in any case, my students love this book so much that I look forward to adding instruments the next time I use it.  

Children's Books in Music - Part 4 Songs as told and illustrated by Iza Trapani

Here is a new book list just in time for the new school year! Iza Trapani is one of my favorite authors, but when I decided to create a book list for her, I'll admit that I was unaware of just how prolific an author and illustrator she is! Open Library has 39 titles listed for her!

Because of her amazing repertoire and because I've highlighted both Twinkle Twinkle Little Star AND Froggie Went A-Courtin, in previous YUMMY Award posts, I decided to limit my book list to books she has created that are based on songs.  I like the way she says it on the cover of her books..... "as told and illustrated by Iza Trapani." 


Please notice that in early 2012 Iza Trapani released a new book "The Bear Went Over the Mountain".  It is the only one that I don't have, so I'm very curious to hear from anyone who has this book already.....  

Click on the picture to get your copy of the list. 

For more music class book lists check out my book lists for music teachers page