*Week 10*

This week one of the first concepts we worked on was Binary. We actually began working on this concept last week when we did a dancing activity with the song Hit the Road Jack, but we expanded on it much more this week. The concept of Binary is that a song can be broken into two distinct sections, A. which is the chorus or refain, of B. which is the verse. The chorus is what gets repeated over and over again, and can be seen quite often in pop music. On Monday we did an activity to go over Binary form with a song about a butterfly. We made two circles that moved in opposite directions and when it was the verse we just skipped around the circle, but once it got to the actual chorus we did a butterfly motion. It was a good way to help us remember Binary form.
Also, this week we did several other activities focused towards the children's literature project. Last week we focused on how music enhances creativity in literature, but this week we focused on how music and literature can be used to teach other subjects as well, such as social skills, social studies, science, and math. The first activity we did was with the chicken little story. This was really great because it encorporated a ton of the classroom instruments. Usually we will use some of the basic instruments, but for this song we used just about everything. It was awesome to hear everything come together. Our class actually sounded like an musicians, so it shows that you can teach children who do not usually play instruments a few simple things to do, but when you combine it all together it makes something really great. Not only does this help the literature lesson, but it also enhances teamwork.
On Wednesday we also read a book called Thunder cake. We were asked to all bring some sort of recycable trash with us back to class on Friday. Most people brought back things like waterbottles, pop cans, cerial boxes, or things of that nature. We were divided into groups based on numbers and given sounds that we had to come up with using our recycled garbage as our instruments. This is a great idea because in our classrooms chances our we will not have fancy instruments like we had used on Wednesday, so this is a much more realistic lesson plan for us. It also gave us an opportunity to be creative, which we said was important. This book was excellent to use though because it taught several others concepts, such as science, home economics, social skills, social studies, importance of recycling, math, and a few other things. It was great how many different concepts it taught, so it showed us that using one book we can teach a multitude of different things.

*Week 9*

The main focus this week has been on how music can be incorporated into children's literature. We were assigned a children's literature project which we will be working on in the next few week. It is very important to mix music with literature because not only does it help enhance the creativity of children, it also helps them stay interested in the story and the concepts that are being taught. As an example we were read two different books that incorporated music in different ways.
In the first, The Listening Walk, everyone was assigned a certain thing and we were supposed to come up with out own interpretation of how we believe that thing should sound. For example, some people had different types of cars or different animals. What is interesting about this is although many of us thought of similar sounds, there were many sounds that people made for their particular object that I honestly would have never thought of. This just shows another way to enhance the creativity of a child. By having them come up with a musical sound they have freedom because there is no right or wrong answer, so they can try to think of things they have heard before and express it however they want. Hearing what other children chose would also help them because it gives them more ideas and enhances their creativity that much more. What is great about this project though is that it also works on some of the actual music concepts that we have been focusing on, such as dynamics. Again, the listening walk is a great example of this. The children have to decide whether their sound is loud or soft, forte or piano, so they're using that whether they realize it or not. These concepts can also be incorporated directly into the lesson somehow, like we had explained with having the children place pictures of their object in paper bags labeled piano or forte.
The next book that we were read was Boo Hoo baby. Rather than everyone coming up with their own sound, we were given the tune of "what do you do with a drunken sailor," and came up with the new words, What do you do with a boo hoo baby, for it instead. When a particular part came up we were given a cue and knew to sing it. This can help children with melody as well because they will try to keep a particular tune and pitch. By children realizing that there can be a musical connection with the stories they are hearing, it makes it much more interesting for them and helps their creativity that much more.
Student centered learning is enhanced in an activity such as this because you are giving the children the freedom to come up with different sounds, pitches, and dynamics the story. The entire idea of the activity is focused around their ideas and allowing them to come up with different things, be creative, and play around with the ideas, rather than having a teacher at the front of the room lecturing about music or reading. It is an interactive activity that gets everyone in the class involved and active, and helps to sustain the attention of the children.
This week we also worked on the recorder a little bit more. I feel like we haven't been spending that much time on it so I haven't been doing as well on it as I had in the beginning of the year, but we D and E, and are now able to play quite a few more notes. I am really enjoying playing the recorder and feel like if it is something that I become good enough at I will definitally encorporate into my classroom, I just need a bit more work on it as of right now. I also think instrument such as the recorder or handdrum can be used in the childrens literature project as another way to get the students to have fun while singing a melody or coming up with a sound.