In a box next to the door I have all of the yarn and beads that I use for recorder karate. I select a responsible student to cut belts so that I can focus on listening to students perform.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Recorder Karate
This idea came from Mrs. Maddy, a teacher in my county. By my door I have a stand with a binder of all the Recorder Karate songs. Each song is copied onto a piece of cardstock that reflects the belt color. At the end of our lesson students line up and I listen to students play for belts until their teacher arrives.
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I am starting Recorder Karate for the first time and looking for an idea pertaining to the belts that is more cost effective. I see you have yarn. Can you explain how you utilize the yarn as belts and what holds it into place?
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I hear you on cost effectiveness. My school started out at just under 600 total population and now we are at around 900. I have always used yarn for belts and honestly, I have not had to buy new yarn in the 6 years I have been doing recorder karate. Since I only use this with my 4/5 graders, it takes a while to go through. If you want to go the yarn route, I would buy the larger packages of yarn. JoAnn's/Michaels/Hobby Lobby coupons are great. I took several trips in order to get all the yarn I needed. You can also ask parents for donations. Since this isn't one of the more expensive items, I have had parents donate a package here or there.
DeleteAs far as tying the belts on, the kids just double knot them onto the end of their recorder. If they don't have their own, we staple them to their recorder karate packets. Another way that I save on yarn is by being very stern about not replacing lost belts. If they lost their string, they don't have to start back at that belt, they can continue on. But, I don't just hand out replacement belts. Instead they have to replay the belt for me and time for this is very limited because I always listen to students trying to earn new belts first. This policy seems to cut down on wasted yarn.
My kids are in charge of cutting the belts but I have to be specific about the process. When we first start RK in 4th grade, I teach them all how to cut them to the right length. I use a bucket in my RK box as a measuring tool. Otherwise, you'll have to listen to "my belts too short"! :)
I use electrical tape. You can buy all sorts of colors and you don't have to worry as much about them falling off :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea. Does it come in narrow sizes?
DeleteIn terms of picking songs to go with each color, which resource do you use? I've been using the Recorder Karate songs, but wanted to mix it up more this year! I love your idea and want to make a binder of my own!
ReplyDeleteI have used the recorder karate belt songs from the book in the past but now I use songs from Game Plan. Those songs fit better with the flow of my curriculum. I would suggest using songs that fit with the progression of your curriculum so that it fits more naturally into lessons. If you are teaching syncopa then find an appropriate song for recorder that supports that. You'll have to forgive me for not giving an example at the moment but I've just put the baby to bed and my brain feels mushy! Hopefully it will be less mushy in the morning. If so I'll try to post some suggestions.
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