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I have been enjoying my summer this year and have been trying to spend as much time in nature as I can, particularly at the beach. One of the things that this pandemic has taught me is to appreciate nature and how enormous and glorious it is. I love spending my days gazing at the water or swimming and watching the sunset. It reminds me of how small I am in relation to this big world and helps me keep my life in perspective.  I found this book at my local Barnes and Noble a while ago and thought that it was fitting for the times that we are living in. This book describes how we have progressed to being and enjoying the outdoors to being inside and disconnected from the outside world. The book goes on to describe the beauty of the outside world and how it reminds us of all of the magic that still exists in nature.  I feel that this book is well fitting to use with your students to remind them to enjoy being outdoors in a time when we are overwhelmingly stuck indoors. I was so inspired by this book and its evocative pictures that I composed a poem that I would like to share with you. Feel free to use this in class activities, or set it to music if you like, just credit the lyrics to me. Click here to purchase this book if you wish.  Enjoy the rest of your summer and do let me know if you end up using this poem in your classroom! I would love to see what creative ways you can incorporate this in!
Polina
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 How to Use Puppets in Your Music Classroom Have lots of puppets and don’t know how to use them? Don’t have any puppets and want somewhere to start? You’re come to the right place! In this blog post I will discuss some of the ways that I use puppets, provide some product links as well as link some lessons where you can use puppets to engage your students. Snowy the Owl My first puppet is probably my favorite and I use this one all the time. Snowy the Owl was one of my first acquisitions and I have used it for many purposes. The first way is that I use Snowy is for classroom management. The turning head of this owl allows me to turn its head and tell my students that Snowy sees and hears everything. Snowy is thus my assistant in the class and is either traveling with me (if I am on a cart) or sitting in a prominent spot in the classroom where all children can see the puppet. For more tips on fun classroom activities (especially for first day of school) click here. The second way that I use Snowy is for vocal exploration! I love to have Snowy fly in the air as the students follow Snowy’s path with their voices. Another fun trick is to stand behind the piano and have Snowy fly up in the air and when it is flying down, have Snowy hit a key. Students burst into laughter every time and it makes the process of warming up so much more fun! I often turn to Snowy and scold the puppet for not following directions. In this way Snowy becomes more real and engages with the students. For some more activities for different types of voices please click here. Yet a third way is to use Snowy as part of a book lesson. There are many books written about owls but one of my favorite is Goodnight Owl by Pat Hutchins. I have used this book with my students and even wrote a lesson plan for this book. I sing the lullaby while Snowy is in my lap, and invite all of my students to sing along to Snowy to put the puppet to sleep. This helps to give the lesson more focus since students have someone to sing to, instead of simply singing because they were asked to.  Sally the Squirrel I love to use this puppet to do a movement activity with my students. I have named this squirrel Sally after a suggestion from the students, but you can have the students come up with a name. This works great as a transition activity for students or can be great to begin or end a lesson with. I love to use the song “Hop Old Squirrel” which can be found on the Musicplay Online website. I ask the students what the squirrel is doing (I am hoping they will say she’s eating) and then tell them that the squirrel also loves to hop. I then sing the song while hopping along with my students and holding the squirrel in my hands. I then ask what else the squirrel could do and usually get a variety of answers. I try to do as many of them with the puppet to show the children that the squirrel can do a lot of these motions. This is a great way to give students a movement break while engaging them in the activity!  Alligator Al I love to use this puppet as a way to show my students how to keep a steady beat. The flapping of the mouth helps students see the alligator keep a beat. I have the alligator keep a steady beat while chanting the lyrics to the song Alligator Alarm. The first time that we chant, I have the alligator bite my arm at the end of the chant. After that, I ask the students what other body part the alligator should bite. I have the alligator bite only me for hygienic reasons. The students (particularly PreK) love this activity, and get to keep a steady beat while coming up with different body parts for the alligator to bite.  Elephant I use this puppet along with the book “Wakey, Wakey, Elephant!” by Linda Ravin Lodding. I keep the elephant in my lap and tell the students that the elephant is sleeping and we are going to try and wake him up. I don’t have a name for the elephant but you can ask the students to name this puppet. Using the chant I wrote for the book, the students chant out loud during specific points in the book. I check on the elephant puppet to see if it has woken up and then keep going until the elephant wakes up. This keeps the students motivated to wake up the elephant and they love it when the puppet finally wakes up and waves to them. Link to the lesson here.  Narwhal This puppet is fabulous to teach about conducting! I got this idea from David Row who is a fabulous music educator that presents weekly Facebook lives with great ideas. I have used this puppet along with the book “Wendell the Narwhal” by Emily Dove. I read the book to the students first and discuss what a conductor is. Then, using the puppet, we practice conducting without music first. Then I put on the piece “Morning” from the Peer Gynt Suite and we practice conducting to this music. Depending on the level of the students I also show them a Youtube video "What Does a Conductor Do?" about conducting, featuring a female conductor where they can get additional practice conducting with a real life conductor! Product Links: Snowy the Owl Squirrel Alligator Narwhal If you need help with curriculum or more songs in your classroom, please click on the links provided! Hope that these suggestions help you in your puppet journey! As always, feel free to email me with questions! Side note: As a new blogger, I am always trying to learn from others. If you or someone you know can benefit from learning from one of the masters in her field, head on over to http://kaysemorris.com/blogpost to learn how to blog like a boss! Polina Ever wonder how to go about choosing books for your music classroom?
Here are some tips that I use when choosing books to use and create resources for. 1) Artwork-A well designed cover and book will instantly draw the attention of your students and hopefully keep them interested in what you are presenting to them. Also, beautiful artwork is a reflection of the love that went into the book, so I always look for this when choosing something! 2) Wording-Are there many words on a page? Not many? What is the ratio of words to pictures per page? Do the words distract from the picture or allow children to enjoy the artwork? I like books with roughly 2-3 sentences per page so that the book can be a visual as much as an auditory experience for my students. 3) Rhyming-Do the words rhyme? If so, is it easy to read these rhymes? Usually when all of the words of a book rhyme that gives it several advantages. The first is that the reading of it has a natural flow which help the lesson on this book flow better. The second is that even if a rhyme or song does not exist yet, the book already rhymes which can help students practice keeping a steady beat while reading it. If there is an additional song/rhyme added then one book can cover multiple concepts in one lesson, which is always wonderful. 4) Pauses-Does the book have convenient stopping points which invites an additional rhyme/song at that moment? This is one of the principles that I have built the majority of my lessons around and thus I try to look for this when book shopping. 5) Interesting storyline-If I cannot add a rhyme or song.....can I make a songtale about the book? If you need suggestions on great books, check out Melissa Stouffer's Ultimate Book List here: https://mrsstouffersmusicroom.com/the-ultimate-music-education-book-list/ Hope these tips are helpful to you when choosing literature for your classroom! Musically yours, Polina I have been waiting for a long time to finally have a digital platform to share all of my ideas with the world and here I am! I started this journey in October of 2020 and have since continued working on my TPT store and online presence to share my work. I have created a Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram account for my store as well, however it has taken me a while to create a website. This first blogpost will focus on my process and why I decided to start Creating Musical Literature. I became interested in using books when I realized how much more engaging music class can be when I am using them. However, the problem was in relating what the book to music class. Oftentimes, there weren't any songs or chants that went along with it and the book was simply a way to set the tone for another lesson. Thus, I began looking for ways to add songs or rhymes to the books. One way to do this is through looking to see if there are repetitive sections/phrases in the book, after which students can chant or sing something. This gives students an opportunity to be more involved in the story and keeps their attention as they are waiting for the next moment they can make music along with the story. Another way was to simply write a song tale about what is happening in the book to sing after the students have finished reading it, with some song tales offering possibilities for students to insert their own words into the tale, particularly those that talk about wishes and dreams. After I have found a repetitive section, I look for what can be done there..a chant, a song, perhaps both? Then I add instruments if the chant/song calls for it. Here are some guidelines that I use when choosing a book to use in my class as well as to write material for: 1) What is the topic I am focusing on-is it loud vs. soft, fast vs. slow? Is it an animal themed lesson? A season themed lesson? Then I pick a book that can fit with one or more of the topics. 2) What are some questions I can ask prior, during and after reading the book? I always try to engage my students through questions so they can practice critical thinking. 3) Are there pre-existing songs/chants that exist for this book? 4) Are there repetitive sections throughout the book where you can insert a chant/song if there isn't one already? This is where I usually look for opportunities to create something to go along with the book. 5) Are there places where we can do a movement? 6) Is there a puppet that you can use to help you engage the students even more? Since my material is from the primary grades, I use a lot of puppets to have a visual aid that the students can sing/chant to or to demonstrate motions with. I like to use Folkmanis puppets which can be found on Amazon, Ebay, Mercari, etc. 7) Can you use instruments with the chant/song? If so, how? Hope that this helps you understand my work further. Looking forward to connecting with and learning from you. Musically yours! Polina |
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