CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Glass Bottle Xylophone This music lesson could be incorporated into a science unit on volume and/or sound when discussing pitch. It could also be used during a measurement lesson in math. Start with 6, 20 ounce glass bottles. Fill each bottle with the designated amounts of water (you could use ounces or milliliters, or give them milliliters and have them convert them to ounces and vice versa). Line the bottles up from greatest amount at the left down to least and label 6 down to 1). Students tap the bottles with metal object (spoon, fork, rod) to make noise and compare pitch changes as they tap the bottles. Students can try to play a tune. Have available sheets with prearranged notes that play a tune. ** Measurements: 19 oz (570 ml), 13 oz (390 ml), 11 oz (330 ml), 8 oz (240), 6 oz (180 ml) ** Camp Town Ladies: 5 5 35 6 5 3 3 2 3 2 ** Rain Rain: 5 3 553 5 53 6 55 3 ** I Came From Alabama: 13 5 56531 2 3 3 2 1 2 ** Mary Had a Little Lamb: 3 2 1 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 5 5 2. Rain Sticks This is a common music/art project that students love to do and can be incorporated into a Social Studies lesson on culture and studies of other countries such as Africa, the Aztecs and other early South American peoples, and Native Americans, all of whom used rain sticks. After learning about these other cultures and their customs or traditions, I would introduce the rain stick and give a brief history of its use. For the project I would need cardboard tubes and end caps (paper towel rolls with milk carton caps or mail tubes with caps already put in). For paper towel rolls, I would toothpicks and for mail tubes, short nails. For younger kids I would put the toothpicks and nails into the rolls ahead of time but older kids could do that themselves. The students would draw a spiral down the length of the tube and poke the toothpicks or nails into the spiral at intervals. Cap one end of the tube (use hot glue and milk caps for paper towel tubes). I would have bowls filled with such things as uncooked rice, popcorn kernels, beads, dry beans, gravel, pebbles and seeds that the children could use to fill their tubes a little bit. They could test the sounds by covering the open hole and tilting their tube. When finished filling, cap the other end. Children could then decorate their rain stick with symbols of the culture that is being studied. During a large group time, children could play their rain sticks in a song and act out a rain dance ceremony. (Try to have music and/or video of such a song or dance). 3. Peter and the Wolf This is a Language Arts activity that incorporates music into its theme. Students will learn musical themes and instrument timbres while listening, moving, creating and composing. The students will be able to identify musical themes and instrument timbres of Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and will be able to respond to the musical themes through pantomime as they listen to the recording of "Peter and the Wolf."

After reading the story of Peter and the Wolf we would talk a little about the book a nd I would tell them that the book is set to music. The recording is set up by theme representing each character and so I would play each theme, pausing in between to talk to the children about the character being represented and how the music describes them and what instruments they hear. Students will be asked to recall what music went with each animal after the playing. 4. Woody Guthrie This music lesson will be incorporated into a Social Studies lesson discussing the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Students will learn about folk songs by reading Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People and discussion of his life and music as well as the timeframe from which he lived. The students will listen to, discuss the meaning behind, and sing the songs So Long, (about the migration to California), and This Land is Our Land. 5. Weather Songs This is a great lesson for teaching children about weather and weather related terms. The activity will follow class discussion and learning about weather, weather patterns and weather terms. The class is split into 5 groups. Each group receives printouts of songs about or with reference to weather from a particular decade (40s, 70s etc). Doing this activity by decade will give students a glimpse into the types of music that came from each of those decades and how music has changed over time. Song lyrics are printed double spaced so students can make notes in between lines. Students receive a handout of weather related terms. Students will modify the songs, keeping the tune to include multiple weather terms and definitions making them more educational and explanatory. Actual recordings of each song should be made available to students so they can listen to them and keep the rhythms. Groups will choose one song from their list to perform (in its altered form) for the class.