I dropped by Boulton Elementary recently, and I wanted to be a student in Jeanette's class! My wish was granted without me even asking, and Jeanette welcomed my in with my own chair and bucket drum set-up.
The students learned a Rondo using a Halloween poem. Jeanette first taught them a rhythm that would be their A section. This was their first time drumming with drumsticks! They are doing so great!
After the students learned the A section, they learned the rhythms for each of the lines of the poem.
In the end, they put it all together to make a Rondo. Fabulous!
Jeanette did some fabulous things that helped her students to be successful:
She gave clear directions and modeled how to hold the drumsticks before putting them in the children's hands. She used fun, easy to understand analogies, like hold your hands like a turtle shell, and make sure there is a tail coming out from behind the drumstick.
She had a stop signal. She practiced the stop signal with the students, so they would be ready to stop as soon as they hear it. ("Ready and a stop.")
The setup was great. The students had enough room to play their instruments. They could all clearly see Jeanette, and she could clearly see them. They could all see the music notation. They were given enough time to practice so they could be successful, but not so much time that they would get bored.
Dallas Johnson is the new music teacher at Bluff Ridge Elementary. Dallas started teaching late in the year last school year and decided to stick around for 2016-2017, and we are so glad she did! Just a little about Dallas, she is working and going to school full time trying to finish her degree. She is working on a composite degree in History, Spanish and Music. Talk about a go getter! In the short time that I've known Dallas, the one thing I can say for sure is that she is not afraid to try new things!
A week or so ago I was able to spend some time in her classroom. Dallas was playing some fun games she had learned at the opening training with Susan Kenney and the kids were just eating it up! This day was the first time she had tried song mapping with the kids. Here is a little bit of Dallas's process. I loved watching the kids map out the song and self-correct like Susan talked about. I also loved how engaged they were in the process. What I appreciate about this process is how easy it is as a teacher to readily assess all your students at once AND, can you imagine the effect song mapping has on a student's reading, recall and ability to summarize what they have read? So Cool!
I was really impressed with all the different types of maps the children came up with. Below is a collection of song maps the students made with Clickity, Clickity Clack and Sally Go Round the Sun. Watch for the kids who really get the phrasing!
I am so appreciative of Susan and the time she has spent with us here in Davis District. I know that her influence has reached many, many classrooms. I hope that as you see a brand new music specialist try new things you will also be empowered to try this is with your classes!
On Monday October 3rd, I got to take a field trip to the Utah State Capitol. Did you know the State Capitol is having its Centennial Celebration this year. More specifically this month and even more specifically this week! So cool! Lucky me I got to spend time in this beautiful building listening to students from all over Utah perform.
All around the Capital Rotunda there are these beautiful statues that signify what standards are important to the state of Utah. At the bottom of this statue it says "Arts and Education". I appreciated this today as the Centennial Celebration was filled with Choirs, Orchestras and other ensembles. Arts are an important aspect of a well-rounded education. I am grateful to be a part of arts education in Utah and I am grateful for so many schools and teachers who support arts education.
Bright and early at 9am South Clearfield Elementary arrived ready to sing. LeAnna Hamblin is the new Music and Art teacher at South Clearfield. She has only been working with these kids since September (that's 1 month). What I love most about what LeAnna has done, is that she has made herself part of the school community by collaborating with classroom teachers. She has also provided a safe and successful opportunity for the students of South Clearfield to be creative.
Today, the 5th graders at South Clearfield came prepared to sing songs celebrating Utah. They were the very first performers of the day. The students at South Clearfield sang 3 songs. Here is my favorite:
A couple of hours later Kimberly Graff and the Lincoln Elementary Ukulele Choir performed on the steps of the Rotunda. Last year Kimberly wrote a grant and received $500 from the Davis Education Foundation to purchase Ukulele's for her classroom. Well, she didn't just buy the ukuleles, she taught students how to play them in her class and began a Ukulele ensemble. What a cool thing! I happened to be sitting next to a parent who has 2 students at Lincoln Elementary, one of which was playing in the Ukulele Ensemble. This parent works at a charter school. I asked her if she had thought about taking her kids to the school where she works. She said she had thought about it but decided not to because of all the wonderful programs Lincoln Elementary has going, including the Ukulele choir. What a great compliment to Kimberly Graff for the work she does to reach students and support them in their learning.
Lincoln Elementary also performed 3 songs. I loved this little medley they prepared.
Overall, today was such a fun day! I loved being at the State Capitol and hearing so many children share their love of music and art with the visitors, parents and tourists from around the world.
We got so many great ideas from Susan for Halloween! When she taught the Skin and Bones song, it brought back so many fun memories of teaching that song. Below are a few videos from when I taught There Was an old Woman All Skin and Bones.
This one is first grade.
This one we added instruments. (3rd grade)
This one I just love how the little girl walking around is feeling the music.
I can't remember exactly what my purpose was for the child walking around. My best guess is that he/she was the old woman. If I taught it again, I'd ask the "old woman" to act out the verses rather than just walk around.
This would be fun to try in upper grades and have the student accompany the song using barred instruments...
Here's a link to some Halloween ideas shared on the blog last year:
What a fabulous training we had last night. We are so grateful that Susan Kenney was willing to come share her knowledge and expertise to inspire and empower us. This post will have some ideas from the training, but we gleaned so much more there than can ever be shared in a blog post. :) Some of my favorite take-aways:
Expect Precision - "if we get sloppy, they start to behave sloppy." Students brains will thrive with the approachable challenge of precision, and it will help immensely with management.
Reason for repetition - every time you repeat something, give the children a reason, a challenge, or meaning.
A Kenney Rule: Don't sing a round with a song the same day you just taught that song.
We reviewed songs from the last training at marathon speed. We talked about adaptations to Rig a Jig, and here are the ways Susan discussed to play Rig a Jig:
Teacher takes a turn by approaching each student. Students stay seated.
Teacher takes a turn with a students. The teacher then takes the student's seat, and the student takes a turn with another student.
Snowball - teacher starts, each time she takes a turn with a student, that student joins in. The next round the teacher and the student each find a new partner, and numbers double. Follow the pattern and eventually all of the students will be up and moving.
Mystery Song Game Susan played the mystery song game with us, and we had to guess a song by the rhythm. She gave us some ideas of giving the students clues..such as clapping the rhythm but singing just one word, slowly adding words or pitches until the students can guess the song.
Video clips: Old Grumbler
Susan asked about how to choose students for this game. I love that she emphasized there is no right answer. Do what works best in your classroom. Here is a way that I love to choose students for this type of song: Using a drum, ask students to make their best tree shape. Praise differences...look at that tall tree, this tree with jagged branches, this tree on a low level, etc. Do this several times, and then choose your three trees based on which students you think will lend the best success. Repeat this process for an old lady, Old Grumbler, and the wind. Teach the lesson this way, and you have dance, drama, and music all in one. :) (here's a link to some great descriptive words for dance: click here Ghost of Tom
Breathing to change cells
Old Abram Brown (in a round)
Song Dotting to Beethoven Symphony no.7
This song is just so powerful. Here's a link to a youtube performance of it. Movement 2 starts at 14:50.
Several times throughout the course of the school year, Gayle has invited me to come see something exciting she is doing with her students. I love these opportunities. Gayle is a wealth of ideas, she loves her students and teaching them, and they love coming to music.
At Easter time, Gayle did this lesson that gave the students experience with notation and playing drums in layers. As you read on, notice how much is being taught from the DESK standards in this one lesson. (Sometimes when we teach a concept, we're specifically labeling that concept. Other times, we're simply giving students experience with that concept, so that later they'll be able to label it. Experience preceeds understanding.)
In small groups, the students were instructed to solve the following: place the word strips in order to create a poem. There are 4 lines, the first word is "Easter," and the lines marked with an "X" rhyme.
Once the words were in place, the students figured out how the notation fit with the words. The students were all actively involved and engaged in the problem solving process.
For the last part of the class period, the students played phrases from the poem, layered together, on hand drums. This could be adapted a lot of ways to your students ability levels (unison, round, adding in different instruments, etc.). The students had a blast playing the rhythms on the drums. Gayle rotated them so they got to try different rhythms with different size drums (different timbres), and the students worked really hard to play together and start and stop appropriately.
Last night I got the opportunity to attend the District Community Equity and Literacy Night. It was a fun filled event at Northridge High, with food trucks, face painting, book signing, and all sorts of booths. Part of the night included a program, and Foxboro Choir closed the program impressively.
Way to go, Foxboro students and Akeila Romney!
I have to add, their first choir practice this school year was on the 15th of September, which is when they started learning these songs. This is an after school program. The tone and sound these students produces was simply beautiful, and I hope the iphone video captured it and did it justice. To sing unison, unaccompanied with that sound, tone, blend is phenomenal. Adding parts and movement to that unaccompanied, beautiful sound in the second song was icing on the cake.
