Lit Lesson: Listen to the Rain

One of my favorite activities when teaching dynamics is having the students create a rain storm. I start by reading the book. It walks through a rainstorm from start to finish. The book, as it is, is best to demonstrate crescendo. If I want to demonstrate a decrescendo, I read the sections in backwards order.

Listen to the Rain, By Bill Martin and John Archambault

Students start by watching this video to see how body percussion can show a rain storm. Then we try it as I read the book. When students are confident in when and how to crescendo/decrescendo, we add in paper. I get paper I plan on recycling and crumple it up, then have students use 1-5 fingers to control dynamics.

If you have them, rain instruments are a great add-in. Students play rain sticks and ocean drums the whole time and control their volume just like the students using paper as an instrument. I have a thunder tube (that the kids LOVE) and we only add that at our loudest volume. One of the best things about this activity is you can specialize it for several grades, depending on what dynamics they know and are learning.

It is also easy to tie in a rain song somewhere in the book. Here is a list of rain songsfrom Beth’s Notes that are a good start. Movement with scarves to represent clouds, rain drops, and the sun could also be added. With additions, this book could make an excellent program.

I hope your students have a blast creating rain storms!

Classroom Tour 2015-2016!

School started this week, so I’ve been spending some time in my classroom getting ready for the new year. I decided to completely redo my room so it was quite a lot of work, but I’m excited for the results! Prepare for a LOT of pictures and detail. :)

I know many people have different views on classroom decor, how you should do it and how cute or finished a room should be. I focus on making my room as functional as possible, with visual displays to help students remember vocabulary terms. Instead of a specific theme I chose a consistent pattern (chevron) with clear color-coding to help streamline the visuals.

At the back of the room is my word wall. Usually there are instruments set up too, but I won’t get them out until the third week of school. Each grade has its own board. The color is coordinated to the displays around the room, so kids can easily zoom in on their color. Above are smaller movement word walls, organized by locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

The front of the room has a thin table for my computer, document camera, supplies, and serves as my desk. There are steady beat light-sabers, a few chairs (I use them to teach rhythm, admin use them when they come in to observe) a SMART board, and my TAD display.

On the front wall I have a vocabulary display for tempo, articulation, and dynamics. Each term is color-coded to match the back wall and the grade level the term is introduced. That way, students can focus in on the terms we will be learning about.

This is the question board. My school is big on accountable talk, so the top are some phrases that students could use in music. Many of them relate to tempo, dynamics, and preference since that is prominent in the state standards. Below are essential questions for each grade tied to the concepts we are learning.

On one of my cabinets I have an audience and performance behavior display. It’s helpful to have a side-by-side comparison, especially for primary.

I love love LOVE my musical alphabet display. I used the alphabet found here, and color-coded them to match boomwhackers colors. I also have chord cards for I IV and V, as well as examples of what each chord is in the key of C.

Kids love the drum wall. Each are labeled and fit in spots outlined by washi tape. Below are non-pitched percussion instruments in labeled bins that have both a picture of the instrument and the name. On the floor are my two staff carpets.

I finally redid my library this year. Each bin (from the Dollar Tree, naturally) is organized by how I use the books within the classroom. Above are the boomwhackers in cardboard book boxes from Ikea. I copied mini musical alphabet cards that match the larger display and have those as labels. In front of the books I have a rest area for kids to use as a cool-down space.

Above the piano (covered currently with cloth because there isn’t a cover attached and I don’t want kids kerplunking notes when they walk by) are some staff posters I made in college. One day I’ll end up redoing them, but it is not this day. :)

The back cabinet houses my Solfege display and THINK, a strategy for questioning your own behavior that is really helpful when students work in small groups.

Here are my tone bar rules. It also included how we move when we rotate instruments.

This is right above my door. I’m a huge fan of Vlogbrothers, and “don’t forget to be awesome” is something I say fairly often. My kids love it and have started using it too! I used stickers on top of contact paper so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting the stickers off the wall.

Outside my room is one of my favorite boards, the meme board. I’m a huge fan of using memes in my teaching, and this year used a meme generator to create simple memes aligned to the specific skills each grade is learning. Again, it’s color coded to match the word wall. I also use these memes in class; students use them to review concepts. Above I used the Star Wars welcome banners found here.

 

The whole set-up!

EDIT: Here's the Rhythm Wall, one of the only things in my room that stayed the same this year. I love this thing. I has the rhythm, name, and number of sounds/beats. (That is how my curriculum defines rhythms.)

Whew, that was a long one! I hope you got some great ideas, and I hope you have a great school year!