Looks Familiar!

I started this blog hoping to fill it with ideas I've used in my classroom, and I'll admit I've done a terrible job keeping it up to date. I hope I can get better about it, but of course we'll see.

Just like many teachers, I'm spending part of my summer already planning for next year. I was recently looking online for a good game to play to review instrument families, possibly with the whole class. Using the same idea as the game "Spoons" that I used to play in middle school, I came up with this game which I call "Looks Familiar!" I went online searching for instrument pictures to use as cards, and came across these coloring pages from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: http://www.bsomusic.org/bsokids/main.taf?p=4,3 They're great because they have 4 instruments from each of the 4 families, which works perfectly for this game. I plan on just printing them at a smaller size to make cards.

Looks Familiar!

Object

Be the first player to hold a set of four different cards from the same instrument family (example: trumpet, trombone, french horn and tuba).

Deck
For each player, you need a set of four cards from the same instrument family

Playing the Game
1. Everyone sits in a circle
2. Deal 4 cards to each player
3. Every person takes one of the cards they were dealt and passes it to the player on their right
4. Each player then receives a card from the player on their left
5. Each player may not have more than 4 cards in their hand at a time.
6. Players try to collect an entire instrument family (may not have any repeated instruments)
7. When a player collects all 4 instruments of any family, (s)he shouts out "Looks Familiar!", the teacher checks their cards and if the family is correct, they are the winner!

High and Low Woes

I know it's been a long time since I've posted, and I apologize. It's been a crazy few months here!

Kindergarten has finished their steady beat unit and has now moved on to the most difficult concept I have to teach them: High and Low sounds. This concept is especially hard because we constantly ask to have the volume of the television, the radio and the computer turned "up/higher" or "down/lower." So when it comes time to discuss high and low in music class, about half the class is convinced I am talking about volume. As with most abstract concepts, the best way for the kids to get a grip on high and low is to experience it.

I introduce high and low with a lot of movement up and down as we experiment with our voices. I also show them a xylophone turned on its side so that high is up and low is down. I also use the sentences "High and squeaky like a mouse" and "Ho, ho, ho, I speak low" to solidify the feeling of the high voice and low voice in their minds.

Last year, I came up with a game to really reinforce the concept, and the kids absolutely love it. I call it "High and Low Hide and Seek." One student is chosen to be "it" and has to close their eyes. Another student is chosen to hide an object somewhere in the music room (my room doesn't have many places to hide a person, so we use a hand drum mallet). The class's job is to guide "it" to the object using their singing voices. When "it" is far away from the object, the class sings low, and as "it" walks in the correct direction, the class's voices begin to rise. The highest sound is always right near the object.  After "it" finds the object, they get to hide it for the next student. It is great seeing the kids use their voices to help out their friends, and I especially love seeing the "it" person turn around the instant they hear the voices starting to get lower.

If you have any great ideas for teaching high and low, please share!