Staff Reading Manipulatives
What?
I laminated large, blank pieces of staff paper and purchased about 60 emoji erasers for students to use. Students can use these at all grade levels to practice reading notes on the staff. I used this activity as part of our station work. This station they worked with me. For K-1, I introduced them to the idea of lines and spaces. We practiced lines by making sure that the lines ran right through eyeballs of the emoji face. For 2nd grade, I introduced them to lines and spaces, and the idea that we count the lines from the bottom up, and that the spaces spell the word "FACE." For 3-4 grades, students practiced spelling words on the staff and checking each other's work. They had a list of 12 words and needed to spell 10 of them correctly on their staff before moving to the next station.
So What?
Manipulatives are a great learning resource and help students get more engaged in the learning process. This activity set the foundation for several music standards, including reading music and composing/creating music. The faces on the emoji gave students a good measurement for how notes needed to be placed. This seems like a really basic discussion, but the fact is that writing something on the line means very different things in the general education classroom than it does the music classroom- on the line in music means that the line runs through it, and that concept can be confusing for students at times. This manipulative allowed them to experiment with this concept. For older students, we are working on getting ready for fluent note reading on the treble clef. In the fall, we had created acrostic poems to remember the line order, and now, they are having to take their thinking up a notch and work on utilizing the notes out of the order, and work on looking for patterns.
Now What?
I will continue to use this as one of our rotations and choices for music. Students didn't come back to this station as a preferred station, but it also wasn't one that students resisted when they were there. I think it was the right level of difficulty, with some added fun using emojis, and effectively taught or reviewed the concepts. Students will continue to use this activity to help learn the next step in music fluency.
I laminated large, blank pieces of staff paper and purchased about 60 emoji erasers for students to use. Students can use these at all grade levels to practice reading notes on the staff. I used this activity as part of our station work. This station they worked with me. For K-1, I introduced them to the idea of lines and spaces. We practiced lines by making sure that the lines ran right through eyeballs of the emoji face. For 2nd grade, I introduced them to lines and spaces, and the idea that we count the lines from the bottom up, and that the spaces spell the word "FACE." For 3-4 grades, students practiced spelling words on the staff and checking each other's work. They had a list of 12 words and needed to spell 10 of them correctly on their staff before moving to the next station.
So What?
Manipulatives are a great learning resource and help students get more engaged in the learning process. This activity set the foundation for several music standards, including reading music and composing/creating music. The faces on the emoji gave students a good measurement for how notes needed to be placed. This seems like a really basic discussion, but the fact is that writing something on the line means very different things in the general education classroom than it does the music classroom- on the line in music means that the line runs through it, and that concept can be confusing for students at times. This manipulative allowed them to experiment with this concept. For older students, we are working on getting ready for fluent note reading on the treble clef. In the fall, we had created acrostic poems to remember the line order, and now, they are having to take their thinking up a notch and work on utilizing the notes out of the order, and work on looking for patterns.
Now What?
I will continue to use this as one of our rotations and choices for music. Students didn't come back to this station as a preferred station, but it also wasn't one that students resisted when they were there. I think it was the right level of difficulty, with some added fun using emojis, and effectively taught or reviewed the concepts. Students will continue to use this activity to help learn the next step in music fluency.
It sounds like your class is very interactive and this interaction and movement helps get students engaged in the learning at varies different grade levels. So you also give students choice in their day to choose come back to areas of interest. How might you help them identify areas that they need to work on during these times of activity?
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your class is very interactive and this interaction and movement helps get students engaged in the learning at varies different grade levels. So you also give students choice in their day to choose come back to areas of interest. How might you help them identify areas that they need to work on during these times of activity?
ReplyDelete