12th Street Rag

As I have said before, I LOVE GamePlan.  While I don't use it exclusively to teach my kids, I do enjoy many of the lessons and games.  One I have used this year was from the 3rd Grade Book.  The lesson is playing rhythms along to 12th Street Rag (Rhythmically Moving 5).  My kids have always loved this and it was a great way to reinforce rhythm patterns, especially the whole rest.

This year when I taught the lesson, I added my own twist.

Lesson:

• Review known notes and rests using people rhythms. 
• Look at the form (Randy and Jeff have a nice visual for this in their curriculum.)
• Review Intro, Interlude, Coda
• Have a student perform the A section rhythm pattern.
• Class echoes
• Repeat with B, C, and D.
• Perform along with recording of 12th Street Rag (clap patterns)                                              (After performing the first time through, I add my twist.)
• Divide students up into 4 groups.
• Assign each group a section of the piece.
• Groups have 5-7 minutes to create a movement that can be performed using the rhythm from their section.
• Have each group demonstrate movement.
• Play music, each group performs during their section.

I have found that this twist on the lesson really helps the kids with playing the rhythms accurately.  They can create and discuss among themselves what works and why.  I find these more independent moments are when the light bulbs go off.  I wish I had video of the lesson in action!  It's interesting to see how the kids discuss and play with the idea of how to interpret a whole note with movement.  I hear them saying things like "What if we bounced our hand four times like this!"  "No, that's more like quarter notes."

Another addition I have made to this lesson is playing instruments.  I didn't include them this time but rhythm sticks are nice.  I like this instrument choice because it isn't a heavy sound, so you can still actually hear the recording and playing whole and half notes are accessible.  When students have one smooth and one bumpy stick, they can scrape the sound of the half/whole notes.  This gives them a feeling of how long the notes last.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love the holiday season!  For me it starts with Halloween and runs through New Years.  I just love everything about this season; the food, family, music, lights, etc.  Today I started my series of holiday lessons with my students and it really made going back to work a bit easier.  The kids eyes sparkle every time they hear music from the Nutcracker and it is just precious to watch.

This year I am trying out Artie's Parachutes and Ribbons and Scarves, Oh My!; there are some wonderful Nutcracker lesson ideas and I am loving them already.  Now, I was a bit of a slacker over Thanksgiving break, I was supposed to go out and buy 3 sets of plastic plates to use in a lesson for March from the Nutcracker but do you think I got it done?

Well, I remembered this morning about 20 minutes before my kids arrived for our lesson, so I had to improvise.  Here's what we did:

1.  First listen:  enjoy, think about where you have heard it before.
2.  Discuss the piece where it comes from and composer.
3.  Second listen:    listen to a section at a time and decode the form.  (This turned into a great
     discussion of the music and differences between sections.)
4.  Talk about Rondo Form
5.  Learn movement for A - I gave them movement for this.
6.  Create movement for B and C.
7.  Move with the music.

While I could have used one of the other lessons Artie created, I liked doing this because it turned out to be a great foundation.  I feel like from here we can move on and try out some of  the other fun activities from the book.  It was a happy accident.

Something else I'm trying out is focusing on a holiday per grade level.  I'm starting this year out by trying it with 1st grade.  We will be focusing on the music and traditions of Hanukah.  I have found that it can be frustrating to try and fit every holiday in, especially on my extended rotation, so I'm hoping this will be more impactful than jumping from holiday to holiday.  My plan is to continue with this by selecting a holiday per grade level with music that supports our goals during that time of the year.  I'm just trying out my lessons this week, I'll let you know how it goes.

Hope you like the holiday design!  My home is semi-decorated, so I thought my blog should have some holiday cheer too!  :)