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Now that we have gotten back into the swing of things, February is a great month to celebrate love, honor the achievements of Black Americans and keep students motivated while having fun throughout the long and cold winter months. Here are some book suggestions: Love Grows Everywhere by Barry Timms and Tisha Lee  This is a brand new title that just came out in January of this year. What I love about this book is that there is a rhyming text that students can keep a steady beat to. The characters in the book are also diverse, which makes this a great addition to your classroom library. Use this book to talk about love and the different ways we can love one another. Pair with song options such as Heart Songs for Kids and Valentine’s Day song by Jack Hartmann, and you have a wonderful lesson about love for your young students. Little Blue Truck: Valentine’s Day by Alice Schertle  This is another classic from the Little Blue Truck Series which I love to use with my students around Valentine’s Day. This book is a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a child-appropriate manner since it focuses on the truck delivering cards, which is what most of the students do during this time. Since this is a series that I enjoy so much, I have created a lesson and song specifically for this book. The lesson focuses on practicing solfege by having the students sing to the truck at the end of the story when the animals yell “Surprise!”. In addition, I have created a song that goes with this book so you can sing it after reading to your students. To access the song, please click here.  Since February is also Black History Month, there are many resources including books that celebrate the achievements of Black Americans. Here are a few artists that I choose to focus on in my classroom. Before John Was a Giant by Carole Boston Weatherford  Jazz is a quintessential American art form which was founded by African American musicians in the late 19th century. John Coltrane (who happens to also be one of my favorite musicians) pioneered the use of modal music as well as the concept of free jazz which was an experimental approach to jazz improvisation. I love to either read this book followed by a video, or show my students the video read along that goes with this book. I love to use this book because it is concise, and very accessible for young learners to learn about this great musician. The pictures are very well done. They showcase his instruments and create a sense of constant motion with long lines symbolizing music weaving throughout the book. A Voice Named Aretha by Katheryn Russel-Brown  Another icon whom I love to read about and show to my students, is Aretha Franklin. Well known for songs such as “Respect” and her singing of “Amazing Grace”, Aretha has earned her place as the Queen of Soul in the music world. She worked hard to not only entertain and be the best musician she could be, but worked to break barriers that prevented people who looked like her from being treated equally. This is an inspiring musician that I love to introduce to my students. I then play videos of Aretha’s music for them to listen to as examples of her work as well. Some of the videos that I play are Climbing Higher Mountains from 1972 and Amazing Grace. To conclude the lesson on Aretha, I then do this routine to the song “Respect” with my students. Hope that these can help you in the upcoming month! Musically yours, Polina
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I always love celebrating Mozart in my classroom, especially since his birthday falls several days after mine! I have gathered some resources that I would love to share in this blog post, which could help you introduce Mozart to your students. I have used these books and videos with students from PreK up to 2nd grade. Feel free to use and adapt these materials in the best way for your classroom. Play Mozart Play by Peter Sis  I like this book for the pictures, which are very attractive for younger learners and just enough text to convey the story. I usually start with this book as an introduction to the composer. I like to then play the variations for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and have them listen to the original and the variations while keeping a steady beat. The Story Orchestra: The Magic Flute by Katy Flint  The next book that I like to use is The Magic Flute, as a great example of an interactive book that tells the story through words and sound, that my students really love! This is one of many books in The Story Orchestra series. It does a great job of telling the story of The Magic Flute, and showcasing highlights from the opera. The book has a button you can press on each page to hear a highlight from that particular section of the opera, which matches with the story. Videos After I have read those two books and we have done the listening, depending on the grade level, I like to show a history of Mozart’s life which can be found here. If I am working with particularly young learners, I like to play this clip of a cartoon version of the Rondo Alla Turca, which features several different instruments. It is funny and I use this opportunity to ask my students the names of all of the different instruments that are in the video. Scarves  My final activity is this movement activity, courtesy of Mikaela Sammond. She created this wonderful scarf activity to one of Mozart’s many menuets. In this video, she gives very clear directions on what to do during different sections of the music, which can then be used to explore form in music with the older students. I love to do this as the final activity in the lesson on Mozart. Students get to move and play with colorful scarves as the culminating activity.
I hope this was helpful to you and you can use some of this in your teaching. Best, Polina Now that winter break is over and we are all back in our classrooms, I thought I would suggest some books that I like to use with my students in the winter months. Sorry for the delay, as I have been battling Covid which is why this came out a bit late! One Mitten  While there is a more famous version of this story, this one is also a wonderful tale which allows students to get creative with their uses of the mitten. I often start out reading this book by asking the students about ways that the mitten can be used. Then we read this book and then we read this poem that I composed for the book. I like to ask students about the words in the poem whether they rhyme or not. Then I have follow up activities in the form of decoding worksheets and rhyming words worksheets. For more on that lesson please click here.  Bear Feels Sick Since it is cold and flu season, this is a good book to do with students. I like to discuss some ways to make someone feel better when they are sick. This is a great title to start a conversation about this.  In addition to the rhyming text, I have composed a small chant that can also be sung for this book. To check out that lesson click here. Here is a small sample of that chant:  Bear Snores On  Another classic from the Bear Series which fits the season since many animals hibernate and sleep. This is a lovely tale of a bear who snores on despite all of the happenings around him, only to wake up from a small pepper fleck. A great seasonal book to keep a steady beat as well as talk about hibernation and why that is important for certain animals. I created a small chant for this as well-here is a small sample:   This is one of the books from the Old Lady Series which I like to use during these months. The rhyming text is perfect for keeping a steady beat and I usually use this towards the beginning of the lesson. I also created a chant to go with this book that students can use so that they can be more engaged in what they are reading. Here is the chant:  Froggy Gets Dressed  This is a great book for the snowy winter days. The frog gets up and gets ready to go outside only to discover that he is partially dressed each time that he is outside. By the time he begins to dress himself the third time, he realizes he is too tired to go outside and falls back asleep. What I love about this book is the possibilities for vocal exploration and instrument play that it offers. While the frog is getting dressed, there are different sounds that are made while he is putting his clothes on. These can be done as vocal exploration or you can have students play instruments to the different sounds. This is a great book with which you can start your first day back with your little ones.  Hope these suggestions help you start your January off right!
Snowingly yours, Polina |
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