Feel the Beat! A lesson on Hip Hop History

If you follow me on social media, you've probably already seen some of my favorite books to teach during Black History Month. Of course, we shouldn't be waiting until February to feature Black excellence in our music rooms. That should be happening year round! One thing I do differently in February is focus more on historic events and biographies to tie in with the theme of the month. 

My students are always fascinated by this book, When the Beat Was Born, written by Laban Carrick Hill and illustrated by Theodore Taylor III. In the past, I would read it, discuss some of the terminology in the book, and then just move on. This year I decided my students needed something a little more hands-on, so I've included a technology component, along with a written check for understanding.

Let's dive in!

1. First, read the book
   You can purchase a copy of the book here (Amazon affiliate link.) In my classroom, I like to project a read-aloud version so that students get a better view of the illustrations and get to hear someone else's voice besides mine reading the story. Here's one that I recommend by Mr. Alicea's Arcade of Knowledge on Youtube.
   
   
2. Reading Guide
   
   
   
   
   For students who need a little more guidance to focus on the story, I created a reading guide with ten questions about the book. I will often pause the story to discuss the answers to the questions as we go along. You can sign up for my free insiders newsletter to get access to the reading guide.
   
   
3. Dance
   
   
   
   Depending on the age/maturity of the group, I might play some old school hip hop recordings and have my students try breakdancing themselves.
   
   If I'm doing the lesson with younger kids, I've found that they benefit from more guidance with the dance moves, so I've been opting to play a couple of hip hop dances on GoNoodle: two that I like to use are Jump! and Can't Touch This.
   
   
4. Google Doodle turntables
   
   
   
   The final way that I have my students interact with this content is by giving them a link to this Google Doodle, which begins with a brief introduction to DJ Kool Herc and then allows students to take the reigns and become a DJ themselves. My students LOVE to look at the album artwork as they select their records, and some of them figured out how to scratch the records on the turntables, too!

Have you used this book in your classroom before? I'd love to know what else you do to teach hip hop in your elementary music lessons! 

Un Amigo: A Guatemalan Children's Song

For Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to share some of my favorite songs in Spanish. I'm starting off with this adorable song for primary students: Un Amigo.

I learned this song a few years ago from Rachel Gibson at the 2019 OAKE national conference and it has quickly become a staple in my primary music lessons! Every kid loves making animal noises and this song is a fun way to get kids singing and playing. 

I start by teaching the song and projecting different animal images on the screen. We practice making the different animal sounds as a group so that everyone knows what sounds they make. (For some animals, it's also fun to add movements, too!)

Here's a slideshow with the song lyrics, notation, game instructions and animal pictures:

Click here to make a copy of the slideshow.

When it's time to play the game, I give each child an animal picture card and tell them not to show anyone what animal they got! We sing the song as a group and then one student is chosen to make their animal sound while the rest of the class tries to guess what animal it is. Then, we sing the song again and move on the next student. It's so much fun to hear my students get silly and creative with their animal sounds!

Here are the printable animal cards to use with your students:

I hope you and your students have fun with this game!

5 Ways to Use Google Slides for Remote Teaching

Are you teaching music remotely and interested in incorporating Google Slides in your lessons? I have been using Google Slides for about three years BC (that's "before Covid") so it was already a comfortable choice for me. When my school system shifted to full remote learning, I started using it for every single lesson. Here are just a few of the ways that you can use Google Slides remotely as a music teacher.

1. Welcome Screen

I always start my synchronous video conferences a few minutes early to give students a chance to log in and get themselves ready for class. While we're waiting for class to start, I share a slide like this:

On my welcome screen, I usually play a timer video that counts down to the start of class. I also include a picture of whatever materials we will be using that day. If I want to do something like a cup game, box drumming, or movement with scarves, I want to make sure I give my students a few minutes at the beginning of class to get those things ready. This helps with transitions during my lesson because I don't have to stop in the middle to send them on a hunt for materials.

2. Flashcards and other visuals

Google Slides is the perfect way to keep all of my flashcards and visuals together in one place. I love it because I can access my slideshows from any device, so if I'm browsing facebook at 10pm on my home computer and suddenly have a flash of inspiration for tomorrow's lesson, I can easily open my slides and make those edits instantly. I import .mp3s and videos that I plan on using and can seamlessly transition through every step of the lesson this way.

Here's a video I made at the beginning of the school year, walking through the components I put into my daily lesson slideshows:

3. Curate groups of YouTube videos

YouTube recently removed the ability to put children's videos into playlists. While this change makes total sense for children's safety, it's kind of inconvenient for a music teacher trying to compile teaching materials. Google Slides is a great workaround to this problem since you can embed YouTube videos directly into your slideshow. (And as an added bonus, there's no ads before the video and nothing autoplays afterwards!)

I recently made a slideshow with tons of YouTube videos related to The Nutcracker and it has been wildly popular with my students and other teachers! Click here to make a free copy.

4. Self-Correcting Games in Present Mode

With Google Slides, it's easy to turn objects into links that will direct students to another page within in the presentation. This means that if a student plays through the activity in present mode, they can click on an answer and it will automatically take them to a different page if it was the correct answer or the incorrect answer. Here's an example of a self-correcting game I made that uses embedded audio files and beautiful, high-resolution images:

5. Interactive Activities in Edit Mode

For more tech-savvy students, you can also create interactive activities that students can manipulate by moving elements around the screen in edit mode. This is a great way to have students compose music! For this activity, you can move the rhythm tiles onto the squares to arrange them any way they want. It takes a little bit of work at the beginning, teaching students how to drag items without accidentally resizing them or deleting them. However, I've found that kids tend to pick up these tech skills pretty quick- even faster than many adults! 

Click here for a free preview copy of interactive rhythm tiles!

I hope these five ways will inspire you to use Google Slides in your music room this spring. Happy teaching!

End of School Random Song Generator

Well, we made it! Summer vacation is upon us here in Maryland! For those of you who still have a week or more remaining, don't despair: now is the time for fun review activities. Time to celebrate all of the great learning that has taken place in your classroom over the course of this past school year.

I wanted to share a review activity that was very successful in my music room for the past two weeks: the random song generator!

I used the Smart technology random name generator and plugged in the names of the most popular songs, games, and listening activities for each grade level.

In class, I had a student (this can be a good behavior incentive for unruly classes during the last week) come up and press the "select" button. It will then randomly pick a song for you to sing.

I did this with PreK up through 2nd grade and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I'm happy to share this SmartNotebook file with you; to put in your own songs, simply double-click each song title.

Download here!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day 2016!

To all of my fellow teachers out there "in the trenches" as we finish up our school year: Happy Teacher Appreciation Day! We are in the home stretch now. Here in Maryland, we go until mid-June, so I haven't quite made it to the end-of-year-review stage yet, but I'm already starting to plan what activities I will be doing to help my students celebrate their learning.

Keep reading to get the link to download a new free end-of-year review activity that you can use with your students!

I love doing review centers during the final weeks. I usually set up one center for each of the major units we've studied during the school year: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and timbre. If you follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store, then you already know that I love games that use clothespins. In a recent trip to the grocery store, I happened to find a pack of 24 multicolored plastic clothespins and I just knew that I had to create a game to put them to good use.

I created Instrument Families Clothespin Clip so that students can sort the families of the orchestra according to the colors of the clothespins. If you don't have multicolored clothespins already, you can use a marker to color regular wooden clothespins. Or if you'd like to purchase a set, this set on Amazon is similar to the one I found in my local grocery store. (Please be advised that this is an Amazon affiliate link and I will receive a small commission from purchases made through this link.)

Just like any other clothespin activity, the most important thing to remember when assembling it is that you want your paper to be on a sturdy backing. I'd recommend printing on a thicker paper like cardstock. If you don't have that available, you can do what I did and glue the game card onto a piece of cardboard. I just took the side off a cardboard box and trimmed it down to size. 

Once I bring it to school tomorrow morning, I will also run it through the laminator to help ensure that it lasts a long time. I'm looking forward to adding this resource to my arsenal of activities for the end of the school year and I hope you enjoy using it, as well!

Valentine's Day Pencil Toppers: A 400 Facebook Follower Freebie!

I checked my facebook page yesterday and realized that I made it to 400 followers! I'm so grateful to have people following my facebook page, since that's where I announce the release of most of my new products and announce every time I've written a new blog post. Following me on facebook is the best way to keep in touch. Since I've made it to 400 followers, I decided to create a fun freebie for valentine's day!

All you need to do is buy a class set of cute valentine's day pencils and print enough pencil toppers for everyone (Each sheet has 16 toppers.)

When I made these at home, I had some kid-friendly pencils lying around already, but you can get a class set of pencils fairly cheap on Amazon.

When you cut out the toppers, make sure you carefully cut along the gray lines to make the slit where the pencil will go. I printed on regular paper, but if you can get these printed on cardstock they will be even more durable!

Ready to get started? Download the freebie file from my store here:

Thanks for following!