Lit Lesson: A Spooky Story

Halloween is such a cool opportunity to make awesome, spooky music with children. It’s always one of my favorite times of the year! It’s also conference month, which means we always end up with a week of weird schedules and half-days. It can be hard to find a lesson that is engaging but also enrichment. Spooky books are a great solution. We try to stay away from things that are exclusively Halloween and do spooky things instead, so all students can participate. Last year, the kids hada blast with the Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle book A Ghost Story. This year, we are exploring another Bill Martin Jr. book: A Spooky Story.

The book, the cards I use to help students remember their character, and a few of the instruments kids commonly choose.

This book is a very formulaic counting book. “Out of the shadows, out of the flum,” is followed by a number of spooky characters including a cat, witches, skeletons, and werewolves. The end of the book has those characters doing several things like wailing and turning, and we use that as an opportunity to crescendo. The characters finally go back into the flum, a good opportunity for a decrescendo.

Inevitably, a kid always asks, “What is flum?” Because the author made it up, kids use context clues to decide what exactly the flum is. Usually kids decide it is some kind of home world or portal for the spooky characters. Yay cross-curricular opportunities!

We begin by reading the book a few times, until the kids can identify the form of the book. We then add in D and F on tone bars to lay a spooky, minor sound blanket over the story. Students choose instruments for “shadows,” “flum,” and each of the 10 characters. This is a great way for students to explore instruments they don’t get to play very frequently like the ratchet, the thunder tube, and my piano. It’s also good practice to model the correct way to choose an instrument to fit a theme or character. My kids are always tempted to choose an instrument just because they like it, not because it is the best choice for the sound they want. So we go over the fact that we may love the bell tree because it sounds like Tinker Bell, but it’s probably not be the best choice for a spooky werewolf.

Students play through the book several times, switching instruments each time. I have cards for each of the characters so they don’t forget who they are. One student also serves as the narrator and reads the book. When the kids are ready, we record. Kids get very excited about sending a recording to their teacher, and beg me to play it for the kindergarteners to see if it scares them. You could very easily have kinder classes choose the spookiest recording.

Hope you have a spooky time with this fantastic book!

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!

Summer Book Haul # 2

Anyone who knows me also knows I am a huge fan of children’s literature in the music classroom. I use it constantly. To that end, about once a year I go to every thrift store in town and raid the children’s book sections. I get some funny looks, but I find great books! Here’s my haul from this week’s thrift store adventure. I’ll include a brief description of the book, an Amazon link if you want to check it out, and how I think it could be used in the classroom. (You can find the first book haul of the summer here.)

Holler Loudly, by Cynthia Leitich Smith

This is an adorable book about a cowboy who is naturally LOUD and finds that there is a time to holler and a time to hush. This lends itself well to loud/quiet and piano/forte, and could easily transition to crescendo and decrescendo. It could also be a fun way to introduce fortissimo.

Elephants Aloft by Kathi Appelt

This sublimely simple book is full of prepositions as you follow elephants in a hot-air balloon on their way to see their aunt. The art is beautiful as well. This book would make a great tone bar exploration activity, so students can explore what “above,” “below,” and “through” might sound like.

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes, by Eric Litwin

This fun book is part of the Pete the Cat series. It focuses on verbs and their appropriate locations (like eating in the cafeteria). This opens it up to be a fun locomotor movement activity. Where could you slither? If you were in gym class, what is a movement you could be doing?

Bear AboutTown, by Stella Blackstone 

A book focusing on the days of the week, Bear About Town opens with, “Bear goes to town every day. He likes to walk all the way.” Each day has a new activity Bear does. The opening sentences could easily be a refrain, and the various activities could tie to a song or be group compositions. There is also a map of Bear’s town in the book, which could be used to extend the activity.

Where’sSpot? By Eric Hill

Where’s Spot? tells a story every parent is familiar with: looking for their kid. Each page has a hiding place for Spot to be, and a flap to open to reveal if Spot is there. This could be a great book for kids to play a “drum roll” as a way to explore drums (or any new percussion instrument, really.) Kids love to play fast, and this would give them a productive way to do that so later we can move on.

HungryHarry, Joanne Partis

Poor Harry is a frog who just wants a meal, but every critter he encounters can’t be eaten for one reason or another. Different animals could be represented by different instruments. “You can’t eat me!” could become a sung refrain.

The VeryHungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

A classic! I want to do an Eric Carle unit with my kinders, and this fits right in. All students could play their instrument to match the number of items the caterpillar is eating, or students could be split up into each food. (With the green leaf counting as only one, there are 16 kinds of items, 26 total, on the caterpillar’s menu.)

Down by theCool of the Pool, Tony Mitton

This is a great book. Frog and his friends jam out with different movements, and the book is very rhythmic. There are great opportunities for refrains, too.

Yo Ho Ho!A-Pirating We’ll Go, Kate Umansky

I am collecting any primary poetry book I can get my hands on, and this one is pirate-themed. I would really like to use these for a group project to close out a unit. Students could use instruments to show sound effects that go with a poem, use the words as a basis for a pentatonic melody, transcribe the rhythm into notation, or create an ostinato to go with the poem. I don’t have it completely worked out yet, but collections of poetry like this one open a lot of very cool doors.

Fables,Arnold Lobel

Similar to my intentions for the primary poetry, this collection of short fables could be used for a group project. This would allow older students opportunities to add musical elements to a story. My intermediate kids have extensive experience with me dictating how a story could be made musical, and I would really like to see what they would come up with when given the opportunity to make their own choices. A whole-class version of the project could be used when short weeks prevent you from getting to see more than one or two of your groups.

Summer is flying by, so I hope you find some great materials for your classroom!

Summer Book Haul #1

One thing I love to do over summer break is visit all the thrift stores in town and sort through their children’s book section. I love having my own classroom library, and one of my biggest goals the past few years has been to add to it. I have a pretty good idea of what the book could be used for as I buy it. (Here’s a post on what I look for in books.) I don’t have complete lessons for these books yet, since I just got them, but I’ll post what they are and my ballpark of what they could be used for, as well as amazon links if you want to check them out.

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, Eric Litwin

I’m kind of shocked I don’t have this one yet. The lesson has definitely made the internet rounds, and there’s a great Youtube video here with an extensive handout linked in the comments. One thing you could add is changing the dynamics or tempo for each color. You could also use it with older students for a lesson on theme and variation.

Over in the Garden, Jennifer Ward

This is a counting book with bugs. Each bug has a different locomotor movement. This book could be used solely for movement, you could add instruments, or you could split the class and do both. Bug finger puppets (or craft sticks with pictures of bugs on them) could be fun, though you would need a lot of them.

Going to Sleep on the Farm, Wendy Cheyette Lewison

This book explores farm animals and how they sleep, so lullabies would be very easy to tie-in.

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? Dr. Seuss

The book calls itself a “book of wonderful noises,” and it definitely delivers on that. Each page is a new sound effect, which is just begging to have those sounds transferred to instruments. I think I know what Kindergarten will be doing for Dr. Suess week!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything, Linda Williams

Spooky enough for Halloween without actually saying anything about Halloween, this book is an add-on adventure with loads of sound effects. Eventually all the noisy parts following the old lady around make a scarecrow.

Caps for Sale, Esphyr Slobodkina

An oldie but goodie first published in 1940, this book follows a sleepy cap salesman who has a run-in with monkeys. He has 5 different types of hats, and the monkeys love to copy what he does. There are several things you could do with this book. Kids could echo with instruments or voice, be split into cap-groups for improvisation, or learn form using the caps/cap manipulatives. It could easily be adapted for a program as well.

Oh No, George! Chris Haughton

Similar to the Bad Kitty series, this book is a bit more accessible for music because George does one bad thing at a time. There are several repeated phrases, so it would be easy to create a song or two to go with this book.

Dinosaurumpus, Tony Mitton

This book features several dinosaurs movin’ and groovin’ and an obvious refrain that is begging to have a pentatonic melody. Movement could be a focus, as well as singing and playing the refrain.

Too Many Rabbits, Kay Cooper

This is a book of very short stories and poems with hand movements. It would be easy to add a melody to them, or have students add a melody to them. There are several about weather (rain and thunder is particular) that would work well with non-pitched instruments.

I’m Tyrannosaurus, Jean Marzallo

Animal Snackers, Betsy Lewin

 

Both of these books are collections of short poems. I love collecting poem collection whenever I can, because they can be great fun to transfer to drums. You can also have students use them as a base for composition. I like to isolate pitch or rhythm when students first compose so they don’t get overwhelmed, and a given poem is a great way to have students focus on pitch.

I hope you have fun finding the perfect book (or books!) for your kiddos!

Lit Lesson: Blue Hat, Green Hat

It is very important for primary kiddos to have opportunities to experiment with instruments. We spend so much time teaching kids how to play instruments correctly… but what really intrigues them, of course, is how to do it dead wrong. I’ve found that you can constantly correct, or you can find ways for students to experiment with how it feels to play incorrectly so they know what not to do without constant reminders. They’ve already done it wrong, so there’s not a need to do it later. Blue Hat, Green Hat is a great way to do just that. (Get it from Amazon here.)

The premise of this book is very simple. Four friends are trying on clothes that are blue, green, yellow, and red. Three always do it correctly, but one always finds a way to mess it up. The colors change each page, so the “oops” is a different color each time.

After we read the book, the students are sorted into four groups: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. We do a movement that corresponds to the clothing item (like moving your head for the hat). The three colors that are “correct” do the correct movement. The “oops” color gets to do a silly movement instead. Once they have the concept down, we move to instruments. The correct colors play their instruments the correct way, and the “oops” group gets to play their instrument incorrectly. I make sure to stress that you can be silly, but you can’t hurt the instrument or any humans. The example I use with the kids is blowing into a guiro instead of scraping it.

I love how versatile this book is. You can have all the kids have the same instrument or have each group play different instruments. Students could play each time or be sorted into color coded groups. I have also done this book as an exercise in how to hold mallets. I eventually split students into color groups, because it makes an easy transition to Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. I like to use a lesson I saw Thom Borden present with that book that involves color-coded groups composing using colored squares. This lays the groundwork for it, and is a great activity by itself.

I hope your students have fun making experimenting with “oops”! 

Lit Lesson: The Jigaree

I completely lucked out with this book! I found it in a “free” pile from the library and it is PERFECT for blending rhythm reading and locomotor movements. I use it with quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests.

The book is a “read-together book” from the 80’s and is very simple. The format of the book is,

I can see a jigaree. 
It is (locomotor motion)ing after me.

(LM motion)ing here, (LM motion)ing there, 
jigarees (locomotor motion) everywhere.

The book can be found here. It is out of print, but there are used copies available. If that isn’t your cup of tea, you could easily use the chant with a different animal.

First, we read the book. Then we go through the locomotor motions listed in the book. Next, we add our own locomotor motions. I have a movement wall that they can use as a starting point.

Once we have the movement portion of the game down, instruments are added in. I have a big set of rhythm cards that each have four beats of rhythm. We take one, students have a short amount of time to figure the rhythm out, and then we play the rhythm on instruments. For this activity I use tubanos or frame drums, but we do similar activities on many kinds of instruments and body percussion. Kids are used to rhythm-reading before we add in the book and movement. Through one activity or another, students have read each rhythm card before.

Once we are ready to put everything together, I split up the class. I usually have 5-7 on instruments, one conductor, and everyone else moving. Most of the instrument group are on tubanos, but one will be on finger cymbals.

During the chant portion of the book, the student conductor shows a rhythm card to the kids on drums. Students on tubanos have time during the chant to practice the rhythm. After the chant, the students on tubanos play the rhythm they have been assigned until one student, on the finger cymbals, signals them to stop. The movers also have to stop when they hear the finger cymbals.

After a round, the conductor and one of the tubano students switch groups and are replaced by new students. This is a great opportunity for small group assessment, both for movement and rhythm reading.

What's in a Book?

I recently attended my state's music education conference, which was fantastic. I noticed a lot of good clinics on children's books, and was talking about with some teachers from my district. I happen to love it and use books as often as possible, but I know some teachers are wary of using books in the music room. One concern I heard about books was how to choose them, and what you should look for. I definitely struggled with this at first, but thanks to several hours in thrift stores and the library I know what I want in a book. Here's my list:

1.) Type of activity

There are as many types of books in the music room as there are activities. Books to accompany major works or composers, books that lead the kids to instruments, books that lead to singing or speaking, and books that lead to movement are some of the major categories I keep in mind as I thumb through stacks at the thrift store or library.

2.)  Reading Level

Think about it: Even with fourth or fifth graders, every word in the book will need to be read out loud, or summarized quickly. So keep it simple. I keep my books at a primary reading level; the older kids won’t mind as long as the lesson is engaging. If they are taking some convincing, have them create a recording for the kindergarteners so the intended audience is younger.

3.) Repeated Structures and Refrains

Simple structures and refrains allow students multiple opportunities to move or make sound, and allow them to know what’s coming next without constant reminders. Rhyming can also help, though it isn't always necessary.

4.) Onomatopoeia

Sound effects are very easy to transfer to instruments. This is especially effective for K-1. I like to have students explore the sound effects and then choose which instrument fits, which increases rigor. (Plus, the students think it is very fun!)

5.) Vocal Exploration Opportunities

You pretty much can’t go wrong with a roller coaster. Animal sounds are also good opportunities to explore.

6.) Connection to common or folk songs

If you find a book about a lost cat, it is simple to connect it to “Ding Dong Digga Digga Dong”.  A star book can be connected to “Twinkle Twinkle,” and the list goes on and on.

7.) Lots of verbs

This can lead to movement activities, or can lead to making noises that represent each movement on instruments or with sound effects.

8.) Abstract books without words, or books that focus on a line or simple shape

                The possibilities are endless! 

9.) Common Themes

There are some themes that do a good job of lending themselves to onomatopoeia and folk songs. They include (but are certainly not limited to):

·         Farm Animals

·         Stars and Moon

·         Trucks, Cars, and Trains

·         Cats and Dogs

·         Rain

·         Sleep, Lullaby

·         Halloween

·         Opposites

·         Eric Carle

Complete Lit Lessons

                Here are books I have posted about, complete with lesson ideas. 

·        Ghost Story, by Bill Martin Jr. (lesson here)
·        Listen to the Rain, by Bill Martin (Lesson here)
·        Blue Hat, Green Hat, by Sandra Boynton (Lesson Here)
·        The Jigaree (Lesson here)

·         Going on a Lion Hunt, David Axtel (lesson here)

·         Wide Mouthed Frog, Keith Faulkner (lesson here)

·         Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel (lesson here)

Starter List

                Here are some additional books I've had success with in my classroom:

·        Muncha Muncha Muncha, Candace Fleming (Instruments, gardening songs)

·         From Head to Toe, Eric Carle (movement)

·         Blue Hat, Green Hat, Sandra Boynton (instruments, pattern, quarter/eighth notes)

·         Mortimer, Robert Munsch (Instruments, up/down patterns, np perc., words for song in book)

·         How to Speak Moo, Deborah Fajerman (Vocal Exploration and head voice)

·         The Squiggle, Carole Lexa Schaefer (Movement)

·         Tanka Tanka Skunk, Steve Webb (Drumming, Quarter/eighth notes)

·         The Jigaree, Joy Cowley (Movement)

·         The Wide Mouthed Frog, Keith Faulkner, Jonathan Lamber (instruments)

·         Grump Groan Growl, Chris Raschka (Sound effects, instruments)

·         Bear Snores On and Bear Feels Scared, Karma Wilson (Instruments, sound effects, dynamics)

·         Fortunately, Unfortunately, Michael Foreman (Vocal exploration, instruments

·         Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear?/Brown Bear, What do you See? Eric Carle (Singing)

·         Down By the Station, Will Hillenbrand (Folk Song, Singing)

·         Hush! Minfong Ho (Singing, lullaby, instruments)

·         Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (instruments, dynamics, singing)

·         A Frog in the Bog, Karma Wilson (Instruments, dynamics)

·         Rain Drop Splash, Alvin Tresselt (Instuments, Movements, dynamics)

·         Cat Skidoo, Bethany Roberts (instruments, movement)

Lit Lesson: A Ghost Story

Halloween is around the corner, and that means it’s time to make some spooky music! This lesson provides an easy way to tie music to a book, and because the activity is so general you can shape it in several ways to fit in with what you are already learning.

One of my favorite Halloween lessons uses A Ghost Story by Bill Martin Jr with pictures by Eric Carle. Here is the book on Amazon. If you prefer to use Dark Dark Room, that is here. Since it doesn’t exclusively list Halloween, most of my students who don’t celebrate holidays also feel comfortable participating. I usually have something ready for them to do just in case, though.

The book is similar to the common story I remember reading as a kid, “A Dark Dark Room.” It is very formulaic: In a dark dark (noun) there was a dark dark (noun), and in that dark dark (noun) there was a dark dark (noun), so on and so forth. We eventually discover a ghost, who eventually discovers your pocket, and then… HE’S GOT YOU!

This book has so many possibilities! You can compare and contrast major and minor, talk about mood, focus on chords, focus on dynamics and crescendo in particular, really the options are endless.

For the older groups, we play an A minor chord on “dark dark” on tone bars. I allow them to choose what to play when, as long as it is A, C, or E. Students can choose to play the same thing each time, or change it up each time. (Yay for self-differentiation!) With the younger kids I dictate what they play, usually octave As or AC.

Once the kids have the basics down, we decide what we can do to make the book even spookier. My school uses thinking maps, so we use a bubble map at this point to brainstorm. Common choices the kids make include using chimes for the ghost, adding in my bigger drums later in the story, and adding a rainstorm with rain sticks and a thunder tube. I also like to have a few kids play Bb to add dissonance to the A minor chord.

Recording is a must for this book, students love hearing themselves play! I use a cheap plug-in microphone (similar one here) and audacity (free and awesome program, available here) to record class performances. We choose which take we like the best, and send it to their classroom teachers.

I hope you and your students have a blast with this ghost story!

Lit Lesson: Going On a Lion Hunt

Man, my first graders are loving this book! It is very similar to “Bear Hunt” but in a different climate. The African setting sets up good opportunities for students to be on many instruments, including drums.

The plot of the book is simple. Two girls go looking for a lion to hunt, but instead find that they have to go through long grass (swish swash), a lake (splish splash) , a swamp (squish squash), and a cave (tip toe).

I start by reading the book without sound effects, then with them. We review sound effects and how we make them, and then read the story again with sound effects.

The next step is my favorite: taking sound effects to instruments! With kindergartners I just tell them which instrument we should try, or give them a few to choose from. But with first graders, they are on their own.

We look at four categories to determine which instrument we should use:

• Loud or Quiet
• Long or Short
• Wood, Metal, or Other
• Click, Scrape, Ring, Jingle, or Rattle

My district uses thinking maps, so I use a bubble map to get students thinking about how to describe the sound. Then, we find an instrument that fits our map. I like using the map, because it stops kids from choosing instruments just because they are fun. I used to have students who wanted to pick the thunder tube for EVERY sound, because they just liked it so much! This helps to streamline the process and keep kids on track. Once we have instruments for the sounds, we do the book again with sound effects.

  

Map 1 with the sound effect, map 2 with the instrument we choose that fits the adjectives.

Next, we add melody:

I like using a pentatonic melody, but you could easily use the camp song melody.

Eventually, we add in drums to the rhythm of the song. I have the students decide which words should be a bass sound, and which ones should be a tone sound.

This is a great book to do in class, or it can easily be extended to be a program.

I hope your kids enjoy this book as much as I do!