Leavin' Old Texas

Leavin Old Texas: A song to teach Whole Note

Ahhh!  This is the first year I used this song and I just love it.  The students responded very well and had a fun time with this cowboys lament.  

Here is what I did: 

  

Day 1: 

Sing the song for students while they tap the beat.  If you have a ukulele or a guitar this would be a good time to bring it out and accompany with it!  

Ask the students who might sing this song? (a cowboy) Does this sound like a happy or sad song? What is he/she sad about? (Texas has no use for his long horn cow anymore!) 

If you have some stick ponies it would be fun to act out the song! 

Day 2: 

Sing the song for students again. Echo sing each phrase to learn the song.  Have students stand up and for every whole note the students act like they are holding a lasso ready to throw. They slowly swirl their "lasso" in the air for every whole note.  

Just for fun I let my students line up in four lines and after singing the song each person in the front threw a hoola hoop to "lasso" a stuffed animal. (Landing the hoola hoop around the animal). We switched until everyone had a turn, singing in between each round.  

Reveal where the whole note is in song.  They happen so evenly on each phrase, each class had quite a few students who could figure it out very quickly.  Even some the first day I presented it. 

My Classroom Currently: Kinder

Kindergarten: Fast and Slow

I am presenting fast and slow to my little kindies this month and there so many resources that have helped me out with leading them through.

Mrs. Miracle's Music Room

There are so many great nuggets in here from a full presentation lesson to assessments. 

Hip and Hop Don't Stop

I love this book.  It is a bit long for the attention spans but usually they can just make it through.  The plot is about a rabbit and a turtle that love to rhyme but of course Hip (the turtle) raps slow and Hop (the rabbit) rhymes fast.  Read with that in mind and students can hear the rapping at both speeds.

Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move!

This book is a gem.  Everything out of it works so well for k-1.  The particular activity is called "Allegro and Adagio".  I attended a workshop where the presenter did his own twist on this particular lesson from the book.  I was sold! This is nice to teach in the practice phase too because you can transfer the simple terms (fast and slow) to the "fancy" ones.  My first graders this year still play it for their free day every time.  Some classes I think have probably repeated six or seven times!