Instruments of the Orchestra - Key Word Dance
Am I allowed to congratulate myself on making a good decision? I hope so. My Grade 7 and 8s stopped playing their instruments last week so that I would have the chance to clean instruments and mouthpieces. The big challenge, now that reports are done and marks are in, is coming up with valuable lessons that keep the students engaged and allow me to maintain my sanity. With the intermediates, I decided to introduce them to the ukulele. That was the best thing I could have done. This benefits me in two ways:
1. The kids are focused and making music.
2. I get a chance to try out some ukulele lessons before I start them in the Fall with my Grade 6s.
Sadly, my Grade 5s and 6s are not using the ukuleles yet so I had to come up with another lesson idea to use with them - The Key Word Dance. I wanted to make sure that my Grade 6s were exposed to a few of our band instruments for next year.
1. I started my lesson by explaining that we were going to be creating a Key Word Dance or in other words, a poem about instruments of the orchestra.
2. I read the students a paragraph about the Clarinet and had them identify what they felt were the most important words and wrote them on the Smart Board and continued on in this manner for the rest of the article until we had about 15-20 key words.
3. Then came the tricky part: Turning our words into a poem. We worked together as a class and I helped out a little bit but the students came up with most of the ideas on their own. (See class examples below straight from my Smart Board).
4. I copied some information about a few band instruments (Flute, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba) and divided the students into 5 groups.
5. They completed the same process that we undertook as a whole group in their small groups.
6. Students presented their Key Word Dances and I played a sample of each instrument from the "Story of the Orchestra" book and CD.
Here are some of the Key Word Dances my classes created:
TPT #6 - The Key Word Dance
1. The kids are focused and making music.
2. I get a chance to try out some ukulele lessons before I start them in the Fall with my Grade 6s.
Sadly, my Grade 5s and 6s are not using the ukuleles yet so I had to come up with another lesson idea to use with them - The Key Word Dance. I wanted to make sure that my Grade 6s were exposed to a few of our band instruments for next year.
1. I started my lesson by explaining that we were going to be creating a Key Word Dance or in other words, a poem about instruments of the orchestra.
2. I read the students a paragraph about the Clarinet and had them identify what they felt were the most important words and wrote them on the Smart Board and continued on in this manner for the rest of the article until we had about 15-20 key words.
3. Then came the tricky part: Turning our words into a poem. We worked together as a class and I helped out a little bit but the students came up with most of the ideas on their own. (See class examples below straight from my Smart Board).
4. I copied some information about a few band instruments (Flute, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba) and divided the students into 5 groups.
5. They completed the same process that we undertook as a whole group in their small groups.
6. Students presented their Key Word Dances and I played a sample of each instrument from the "Story of the Orchestra" book and CD.
Here are some of the Key Word Dances my classes created:
TPT #6 - The Key Word Dance
- After a lesson, students select 15-20 key words from their notes that they believe help them understand the content
- Students create a Key-Word Dance
- Share poems in small groups and explain why the words they chose represent the big idea
- Volunteers share in front of the whole class or with a Chalkboard Splash
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