TME Tuesday: An Old-Favorite Repurposed

I love it when ideas pop into my head fully formed. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it is almost magical. Some of my most popular TMEs with my students are those types of ideas - almost meant to be, if you know what I mean.

So, yesterday I was sitting in my spot at work. During the morning transition period, I am in that place to be "spy" on the older students who now have "independence" to transition from the breakfast room to their classrooms without walking in a straight line. No one has realized that my function in the morning is to be hall monitor. They be-bop past me saying things like, "Mary Jane, I get to walk down the hallway BY MYSELF!"

Anyway...

I was sitting in the sunshine, keeping myself occupied through making origami fortune tellers (or some know them as cootie catchers), and the idea popped into my head.

I struggle with teaching my students about notation. I've figured out how to teach rhythm and rhythm notation, but I cannot seem to crack staff-based notation. They don't really understand note placement and how it relates to instruments, so this is something I try to chip away at once per month. This is the week for notation...

I decided we would still work on making melodies and bringing them to the piano. I looked down at the fortune teller in my hand and an idea popped into my head. Fortune telling notation.

It worked. Here's how we did it.

I made the fortune tellers this time around because I wanted us to get to melody development as soon as I could. The outside was labeled with four types of notes - eighth, quarter, half, and whole. (They had to remember their first choice in order to develop the melody - long term memory). Inside was labeled with notes on the treble staff. The inside portion included the note names written on the staff in their proper location.

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Kids worked in pairs, one using the fortune teller and the other making the decisions. Once they got to the end of the process, the fortune teller had to tell me the type of note and then describe where the note should be placed on the master staff. Then they switched roles.

Some got it right off. Others had difficulty coordinating the movements (fine motor skill development). Yet others were unable to figure out how to describe the note location. I'll be working more on that skill with those kids (assessment).

We will use these in different ways in the upcoming weeks, and I'll be writing up a formal TME with goal and objective areas for my sing about fun and games coming in June.

Let me know if you use this with your clients. I'd like to know how you use the idea. How do you change it to work with your clients in your area? Comment below!!

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