Pentatonic Dice - Composition Game

As I was looking around Pinterest for some new ideas like the ones in my last post, I came across this blog http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/  She has some great game ideas! I was reading her post about Composing with Boomwhackers.  I absolutely loved her idea!  I just changed it bit to fit my needs. 

So, the first thing that I did was to go to Hobby Lobby.  Make sure when you go to take your 40% off coupon from your local Sunday paper or do what I did and download their free app which has the coupon code.  Just show your device with the coupon to the cashier and you are good to go. :) I picked up a pair of wood cubes so that I could make my own dice.  They were $1.99 and I received 40% off.

I then headed home and colored each of the dice to match the C Pentatonic boomwhacker and bell colors.  Just remember to leave out the Burgers and Fries.  Basically you have a red, orange, yellow, green and purple.  I then wrote note values on dice.  Quarters, Eighths, Halfs, Quarter Rest, Half rests.

What I'm planning on doing is having one side of the dice being a free choice. Allowing them a little artistic creativity.  ;)  So, the students will each get a piece of manuscript paper with a key on it.  The key will have notes Middle C - G above the treble staff. These are all notes that my students in grades 1st-4th  are familiar and very comfortable with.  I will also have a rhythm key reminding them of note values.  I will add that key to this post as soon as I get it done. I am planning on using this as a great review at the beginning of school.  We will then get our instruments and perform our amazing compositions.  As we get comfortable, I will begin changing the time signature.  I would like to have a 2nd Level with sixteenths and dotted notes.  Well, I hope that you can get use out of this wonderful game. Don't forget to check out   http://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/ which is where I adapted my idea from.  She has some amazing ideas!

So, Let's Talk Centers

So, I haven't posted in quite sometime.  Once the hustle and bustle of school started, I started teaching piano again and my student load rose to to a record 19 students.  So that along with my mom and wife duties I decided that I had to let go of a few things.  But I have a lot of new ideas  and can't wait to share them with my fellow music teachers.

I have been really wanting to focus my summer on putting together some centers for my classroom.  I have spent quite a bit of time checking out ideas on Pinterest and have put together what my students need to review when we get back to school.  Those things would be note names, rhythms and musical terms.  I'm including some pictures so that you can see what I have so far.  For more ideas follow my Music Games and Music Centers folders on Pinterest.  There are some amazing teachers out there who are sharing their amazing ideas, so why reinvent the wheel.

For this center, each frog has a note value.  You then match that frog to the corresponding log.

Each barrel has a word which you need to then match to the monkey.  I call this one Barrel of Monkeys.

For this one match the note on the cone to the note name on the scoop of ice cream.  I chose not to add a clef symbol so that the game could be interchangeable between both the bass and treble clef.

The ideas for the centers above came from http://katietraxler.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=466

I used the game Lucky Ducks for this one. Though, I took out the batteries because I can only take quacking ducks for so long. I'd personally rather be in a classroom full of 35 beginning recorder students.  lol Each of the 12 ducks has a music symbol on it.  Students turn over a card and have to match with the ducks. It's basically an old fashioned matching game.  I think that my students will love this! Here is the link to the original game that I came across on Pinterest http://musicclassideas.blogspot.ca/p/music-games.html
The second center is Lego Rhythms.  I took it directly from this website http://elementarymusicresources.blogspot.ca/2013/05/centers-lego-music.html 

This year, I will be assigning my students to small groups for these centers.  These groups will be changing quarterly.   Within each group I will have a variety of students. They will be grouped in a way that all students feel successful and feel that they have contributed.  This will be a great way to assess student learning.



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