National Poetry Day 2012 - ideas for music

This Thursday 4th October 2012 is National Poetry Day. The theme is 'Stars" and there are some fab lesson plans and resources on the National Poetry Day website

However as I teach music I have decided to use this Pie Corbett poem

When I heard the music by Pie Corbett

I am going to play "Say Ladeo" from Vocabularies by Bobby McFerrin and then see what it inspires the children to write!

 

I am going to start collecting poems about music so if you have any suggestions to get me started please leave me a comment!

My music room displays

Using class music lessons to teach maths

One of my schools is concerned that some of their able girls are under performing in maths so they have decided to have a whole school focus on improving maths standards. I believe music lassons can play a real part in improving kids maths so the challenge is on for me to do just that. I am going to start by looking at what attributes successful learners have and try to identify some of the barriers that stop some children making progress are. Then I am going to have a go at seeing how they can be explored in our music making.

 More ideas:

1.I am planning to create a "Maths loves Music" display. Tweeter @DWar has very helpfully suggested I put up 2 lists of maths and music words and get the children to draw the links between them as they occur in lessons.

 2. I shall be listening to this In our Time radio 4 episode exploring the relationship between maths and music

 3. Explore the nrich website which makes the kinks between maths and the real world explicit and is a fantastic celebration of the power and beauty of mathematics. Here is an example of a music maths problem from them

 4. Find out more about the "Count the beat project"

Playing for Change Day 2012

Just come across this organisation - it looks fantastic. They have picked 22 September to be a creative day of musical action to create positive social action. Will have a little think about how I can get my schools involved. Have a look at their website. Some fantastic videos to show classes. Play for Change.

The joy of wordle

HMI guidance for anyone observing music lessons

Guidance From HMI Observing Music Lessons I was very pleased to find this document! It can be quite traumatic having a music lesson observed by a member of the senior leadership team that has a template approach to what makes a successful lesson. Music teaching needs to deviate from the set piece lesson formula which may (or may not!) work for other subject. The document above makes clear that we DON"T have to start with sharing objectives or put unnecessary stress on literacy objectives. It gives real clear guidance for staff who may not be familiar with teaching music about what makes a successful music lesson. I found this document on the Teaching Music website. I would heartily recommend signing up if you are a music teacher. Lots of interesting discussion forums and some brilliant teaching resources to be found there.

Does good music teaching make kids better at maths?

This year one of my schools is focusing on raising attainment in maths. It has got me thinking about how music lessons can contribute to children's mathematical development. I can see immediately how a number of the activities we do in lessons are very mathematical but the challenge is how to make it transferable to other situations other than music games. I am going to go in search of some maths experts and see if I can get some ideas. I plan to create a corridor display for the children showing how many mathematical concepts we explore during our music making. Plan to get in touch with Nrich - and get some advice from them Watch this space!

The Simpsons theme tune by Nick McKaig

Found this via pinterest. Plan to use it with year 6. Nick McKaig is definitely worth looking up on YouTube. He has done lots of vocal arrangements of well loved shows and films. His Star Wars is awesome!