Xylophone Karate

Let's visit a grade I haven't shared about yet: 3rd! This years third graders are super ready, responsible, and respectful, and love to sing. Although I've been capitalizing on that as much as I can in the classroom, we have also been conquering the staff. We have been practicing learning our treble clef notes, lines and spaces. Some crazy line-sayings [EGBDF} we have include:

"Every Giraffe Buys Dragon Feet"

"Every Gorilla Bangs Dirty Fur"

"Every Goat Buys Doughnuts Fast"

This past week we have started talking about musical intervals (doing some aural training) and applying our note reading to actual music instruments. I was fortunate to inherit these xylophones that were left in a classroom closet for me. They have proved incredibly useful in my music classroom. They require a lot of structure and specific directions, however they provide endless opportunities for learning and LOTS of smiles and teamwork.

Here are some snapshots of the very beginnings of our 3rd graders reading music. I took the various leveled songs for Recorder Karate and have them work in pairs to play the songs on the xylophone. One person is the player, and the other is the music guider (who has to have special powers of reading music upside-down so they can guide their partner in where they are). So proud of these kids for working so hard and playing in their first "xylophone ensemble."