Let Us Chase the Squirrel

I love using this song for the Fall season.  The melodic content is a great review for my 3rd graders at the beginning of the year (before we add "La" back in and then move on to the extended Do pentatonic scale).  You can download it here for free: Let Us Chase the Squirrel.

The students can use the title slide as a pitch ladder and create patterns for their friends to sing by pointing to the pictures.

Here are the lyrics of the song.  Try having students create their own motions for the lyrics - they love this!








 Have the students keep the beat by tapping their fists lightly on their open palms.  Transfer this to a woodblock.  Talk about why a "wood block" might be a good instrument to use with this particular song.

My kiddos love to "predict" which rhythm will appear based on the iconic representation.  Have students track the pictures while they say the words.

Have the students clap the rhythm while chanting the words.  Then, have them clap the rhythm while saying rhythm syllables of your choice.  Last, have them clap the rhythm while saying the words "in their head" (audiate)

Since my student have already used all these pitches and we are simply reviewing, I don't include any iconic representation of the pitches in this lesson.  The students simply sign the pitches while tracking the song as I play it on the piano.  Then, the students sing on solfa and sign while I play the melody.  Third, the students sing and sign without me playing the melody.  Then, they sing on the correct lyrics (they continue to sign).


On this slide, I have students come up and identify: all the do's, all the re's, all the mi's, and all the so's.  We also identify where repeats, steps, skips, and leaps occur.  We also add in the 2nd verse.

Here's the orffestration of the song.  The woodblock is easy enough to add (have students clap the rhythm then transfer), as is the SG part (have students snap on the "rel" or highest pitch then transfer).  For the BX/BM part, have the students pat it on their legs, keeping their right hand in the same place but moving their left hand in and out to mirror the movement they'll use on the instrument.  Transfer.

Students love this game.  Those that aren't playing the orffestration will enjoy singing and playing this.







This year, I've added another activity to this song that I think hits so many topics in one - I know I need it!  The printable cards below can be used by students in a variety of ways:

labeled

unlabeled

Singing Practice: The students can practice singing the patterns on the cards. They could evaluate the singing of others.
Listening Activity: The teacher sings (on neutral syllable if using the cards with solfa on them, on a neutral syllable or using the solfa if using the cards without solfa) or plays a pattern and the students locate it.  The teacher can play more than one pattern to make the listening activity more difficult.  Students could also sing or play patterns for their peers to find.
Composition Activity: The students can compose their own melodies, using one squirrel card first (the squirrels have melodies that don't end on "do") and ending with one hickory card (melodies that end on "do").  You can label the squirrel cards as "question" phrases and the hickory cards as "answer" phrases.  Students can add lyrics and instrumentation to their composition.  Print the cards on regular paper and then have the students glue their own two-card creations to brown construction paper to create a bulletin board display. 

Grandma Grunts

I've always thought this song was  a little silly, but kiddos love the lyrics (and like to act them out).  It is great for adding so back in (or in the first place) after you've taught do-re-mi.

Here are some examples of the slides that are included (38 total):

Slides for introducing pitch

Slides with pitches labeled for singing practice

Pitches on the Staff

Rhythms on the Staff

Final product (version with solfa labeled on it also included)

This fall, when I use it as review with my 3rd graders, I'm going to have them add two ostinatos I created to the song.  They are homo-rhythmic, which means they are a bit easy for the kiddos to sing and play.

Part one can be whistled (depending on their skill level) by some of the boys, as well as played on the BM.  This slide is labeled for instrumental use, but there is also a slide with the solfa labeled.

Part two can be sung by some of the girls, or played on the soprano glock or metallophone.  This slide is labeled for vocal use (although one labeled with absolute pitches is included also):

If you're using this with more advanced students (reviewing with 4th or 5th), they would also enjoy playing the song (and some of the ostinatos too) on the recorder.

Create a form for performance and add some movement and bam - you could put it up on the stage for public consumption. ;)

This slide has been added to my Do Re Mi So lesson bundle which includes 5 other Do Re Mi So songs.

Matarile

This song is fun and easy to sing in both Spanish and English.  My 2nd graders are working on solidifying our work with "Re" and this is also a great song to practice that concept.  It is also an easy way for students to use common action verbs in both languages (and to discuss what action verbs are).

To begin, get students thinking about ways they can move.  This can be as simple as brainstorming a list and then having the students move to words on the list for 8 beats (for example, run in place for eight beats).  Students can take turns writing words on the board, leading the class in creating the motions, or playing the eight steady beats on rhythm instruments.  If you have a bilingual class or you also intend for your students to sing the song in Spanish, have them brainstorm Spanish action verbs and then write the English translation next to them.

Student can then learn the notation of the song using the Matarile powerpoint:

This slide can be used a pitch ladder and can be used in many ways:
1. Sing a pattern while pointing to the butterflies - students echo the pattern
2. Point to the butterflies (in a short pattern) and have students sing the pattern back to you
3. Play a pattern on an instrument and have students sing the pattern back to you (one student can go and point to the butterflies)
4. Have students create patterns using the butterflies for their classmates to sing

Note: I used butterflies because they reminded me of the spanish word for butterflies, "mariposa" which also starts with "m".  "Matarile" is a non-sense name in Spanish, so I like to say that Matarile is a mariposa.
 
I created the PowerPoint in English (although there is a spanish translation slide - see below) because the actual rhythm that would match with "quiere us" of "que quiere usted" would be tika-ti (two sixteenths and an eighth) which my 2nd graders haven't learned yet.

I like to add the steady beat while also adding the claves.  If you have a butterfly net (which I do - thanks to the Target $1 bin), you can have the students go up to the screen and "catch" each butterfly by pointing to them while the class chants the words.  Then, we organize the music:

Students can also use the butterfly net as a pointer and go point to each symbol.

Next is the rhythm preparation slide.  On the pair of butterflies, the students say, "but-ter" and on the single butterfly, they say, "fly".  Then, they track the pictures while saying the correct words.

Students love to predict which rhythms will appear based upon the pictures above.  Usually, I'll have them make the predictions in their head, then "check their work" when I reveal the next slide.  They say, "Yes!  That's exactly what I thought I would see!"

Students can then chant the rhythm then the correct text.  I like to play the claves on the steady beat while they play the rhythm on rhythm sticks.  We can discuss the difference in timbre between two similar-looking instruments.  I then tell the students to match the claves with their feet while their hands match the rhythm sticks (select a few students to keep playing).  This is a mini "beat vs. rhythm" reinforcement opportunity.

Afterward, I like to pass out my scarves to the students.  I ask them to "float" their scarves through the air and sing on a soft "loo".  We talk about the melodic direction and how our voices can follow the scarves up and down.  I select students to come to the front and lead us with their scarf - we follow what they do while singing.  Sometimes the students like to "float" all over the room while singing and moving their scarf.  However, if their scarf floats too high or too low, I think this year I'll snatch it with my butterfly net.

Then, students can learn the correct solfa of the song:

Eventually leading up to the full notation:

Then, incorporate the motions that students brainstormed earlier to complete the movement activity: