For the first 10 years or so of teaching music I was free to use any lesson plan template that I chose. I'll admit that mostly I just made my music plans fit on whatever was available. Then around the time that I really started thinking about what would be most useful for me and really playing with templates, my school district handed down a required online template.
I used dutifully used that template with as much success as could be expected and had actually made plans on asking for a special exemption this year when much to my delight and relief we were told that we didn't have to use the "mandated" template any longer and that several templates would be suggested, but that we were to focus on using lesson plans that worked for us. HALLELUJAH! And there was MUCH rejoicing!
So - I took all of my favorite elements of what I liked and got rid of what didn't work for my class and came up with my own template.
I write in the cells that are open and I highlight the parts of the template that I need for the lesson. My favorite part of the template is the bottom where I can make notes about the needs of individual classes.
I am leaving this in spreadsheet form so that hopefully you can edit it to meet your own personal needs. Let me know how it goes. If you run into trouble or are unable to edit the form, please let me know and I'll gladly send you the file. Due to damage to the file, here is an updated version in a PDF form. Feel free to print.
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.
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 are a few (51) of my favorite composers listed in word wall format.
I've got their names fixed up into two formats. You can print them on 3 x 11.5 sentence strips, OR, you can print groups of them on 8.5 x 11 card stock and cut them.
There are lots of great composers out there, but I have found over the years to be the most common both in my own use, textbooks, listening resources and trips to visit the local symphony.
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.
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,
