Saturday, March 22, 2014

Minions Invade the Music Room!!!


My student teacher and I recently designed two lessons inspired by the Despicable Me movies. Both flipcharts are available for free download on Promethean Planet.

The first lesson focused on rhythmic ostinatos and complementary rhythms. It also finished a unit which had introduced sixteenth notes to fifth graders. We had a few students playing an ostinato on Bass Boomwhackers to accompany the chorus of "Despicable Me" (the title theme for the first movie). The rest of the class was assigned rhythmic ostinatos performed in pairs as complementary rhythms. You could add instrument sound effects for the rhythms, but we added body percussion. Unfortunately, I did not think to take a video of this lesson. But, the flipchart is now uploaded to Promethean Planet and is available for free download! The slides of the flipchart can be seen in the collage below.


The next lesson reviewed harmony and introduced chord building. Students learned how to build chords by alternating letters and stacking alternating pitches on the staff. We used Boomwhackers to play chords along with Pharrell's "Happy" from Despicable Me 2 (Oscar Nominee 2014!) The students also learned about call and response and chorus/verse structure. The flipchart is available for free download on Promethean Planet. Images from the flipchart can be seen in the collage below.


I also have a video of a class performing Boomwhackers for this lesson. It is far from perfect and my dancing is pretty embarrassing, but I will share it anyway! Please, don't judge! lol


I hope your students enjoy these lessons as much as mine did!

6 comments:

  1. Hi! I enjoy your blog and am trying to contact you regarding a permissions matter. I will email you back with additional information if you will email me at pitch publications(at)gmail(dot)com. (trying to avoid spam - sorry for the parenthesis).

    Thanks so much!
    Musically,
    Shelley

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  2. Hi there! Thanks for emailing me - I emailed you back and am afraid it got blocked by spam filters! Please email me at tomich(at)fultonschools(dot)org if you did not receive my reply. Have a lovely day! Thanks again!
    Shelley

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  3. Hi! I was wondering if you had the files as something other than a flip chart. Maybe a Smart notebook file? Thanks!

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  4. Hey I was really amazed with this lesson. I am a first year music teacher at John W. Carpenter Elementary in Dallas, Texas. I wanted to know if you have this Lesson in another format like powerpoint or PDF. We do not have Promethean Boards yet and im hoping we get some soon. If you have It could you send it to me KGRAYatDallasISD.org. Thanks

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  5. This lesson looks so wonderful and engaging for students. But I was wondering the same thing as Hanna and Kermit... is it available in another format such as PDF or Smart notebook? I know some of your files you have available on TPT if they aren't in flipchart format. Is this one?
    Thank you!

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  6. I am wondering the same thing as everyone else...are these files available on PDF? I don't even have a smart board in my room yet! please e-mail me at clelond.sd83.bc.ca thank you! I'm so excited to give these a try!

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