Halloween note reading

I love the dollar spot at Target. That corner of the store sucks me in like teaching manipulatives wonderworld.  A few years ago, a colleague and I purchased little plastic pumpkins and cauldrons along with some small candy corn erasers to practice notes on the staff.  My new co-teacher and I have upped the ante this year with some new loot.  The addition of cats and small bonbon style candies give the class some rhythmic flexibility.

With cats representing quarter notes, two candies as eighth notes, and corn as the half note, classes have been playing a great mystery song guessing game with a combo of standard and iconic notation.

Super fun and easy to adapt for other seasons. I have little gold coins and rainbows for note reading reviews around St. Pats day.

Tutti - Together - A sense of belonging

First graders at the end of the day are .... a handful.  We have been learning the musical opposites of loud/quiet, high/low, fast/slow, and alone/together.  In teaching these I give the "fancy music names" of presto for fast and largo for slow, piano for quiet and forte for loud.  After being told it was fartay, and forgetay, I began solo and tutti for alone and together.

I have a student who has come from a Spanish speaking country and is in a monolingual English class rather than the dual language program. Whether this is the right placement has been a struggle for the teachers. There are arguments for all sides. As I start doing my solo vs. tutti bit with one finger for alone and all my fingers out for tutti a little voice starts reeling in Spanish. I understand bits and pieces. Suddenly, the student switches to English and starts all over.
They know solo.
Where they are from they were solo, they have no friends.
Here they are tutti.
They have friends.

Our classrooms create a place to belong.  I am so glad my little lesson creates that belonging.

Book Review: Litle Red and the Very Hungry Lion

I have a new favorite book right now. Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith. 

First, it is very cute. The illustrations are adorable. I also love this book because the little girl is smart and not duped by the lion in the way Little Red Riding Hood is by the Wolf in the traditional story.  I also love that this little girl is not white.  It has been a personal mission of mine to find more children's literature that features kids of color and this one is that without insulting caricatures depicting stereotypes.

As a book for music class, as Little Red is traveling to her Auntie's house, there are lines that go up and down that work great for showing melodic directions. I have my students use their voices to follow the lines . Little Red also works for loud/quiet if your voice matches the size of the font.  There is a great page where the lion yells very loud and my students think me yelling this loud is hilarious.  If you are like me, you might also read this book with voices for the characters to show small is high, big is low.

Get it, read it, share it with your class.

This is a great book.

I got my copy at the book fair but here is a link to Amazon