A free resource for Movement & Music Educators
Dinosaur Stomp Intended Grade Level(s): 4-5 grade levels with paired readers* from 2-3 grade levels Materials: Saturday Night at The Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields; ISBN: 978-0-7636-3887-0 Choose rhyme stanzas from the book suitable for paired reading*. You can choose longer or shorter stanzas depending on grade level. Create sentence strips with the selected rhyme stanzas so pairs,… Read more »
What’s Cool for Back at School? Lynn Osborne shared this lesson in our “Back to School Lesson” contest from last year, and was the first runner up from our entries. In this lesson she shares her process for getting to know what her students like about school and a variety of ways to explore sing, say,… Read more »
Fun With Composers: Marriage of Figaro Fun with Composers, by Deborah Ziolkoski, is an Orff approach to classical music that provides an integrated approach to the arts. Classroom teachers and music specialists can successfully incorporate their user-friendly interactive listening lessons that highlight children’s literacy, art activities, drama, movement, instrumental play and more! Marriage of Figaro is a… Read more »
Name Games “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie Name games are a fun way to brush up on remembering students’ names from last year and learning the names of new students. Roger Sams shares two name games that are musical, fun, and… Read more »
Body Engagement: Multiple Functions of a Movement-Inclusive Classroom For many, the joy of attending a music workshop is interwoven with the interactions we have with the other participants in the room. When we apply our own creativity to the work at hand, we develop a stronger investment in our learning and emerge with more than… Read more »
Take it Outside! As the weather gets warmer, and classrooms get much warmer (especially for those of us without air conditioning) taking the kids outside can be a nice change for music learning! I’ve compiled a selection of lesson ideas for meaningful and engaging music lessons in the out-of-doors. Games: Any of the singing games you… Read more »
Colors Springing, Voices Ringing Orff Schulwerk and New Beginnings This lesson will use a process in which important nouns, verbs, and descriptive language are chosen and used as a springboard for individual and group creativity. A canon will serve as a unifying piece of music and a music literacy component will take shape as this piece… Read more »
Drip, Drop, Pitter, Patter, and Explore! Spring is in the air, or so we hope! The weather is often a topic of conversation, and the sounds of spring offer a wonderful opportunity to sing, say, dance and play in the music classroom. Music educators usually agree that some important goals for the youngest learners through… Read more »
Venturing into Vocal Improvisation One of the beautiful parts of Orff Schulwerk teaching is that there are so many different avenues toward creativity. Every teacher, during their Orff training, finds areas where they feel comfortable expressing themselves, and others that feel less natural and more exposed. This is part of the beauty. Everyone finds areas… Read more »
Fairy Tale Tableaus – A Lesson for Dramatic Play The element I find that separates Orff Schulwerk from other teaching processes is the creativity factor. I had no problem setting students up for success and giving them the tools to improvise and create with untuned percussion and the barred instruments. I felt I covered the… Read more »