Sol-Mi with the Bumble Bees

DAY 1

1. The teacher plays the recording of “Bee, Bee Bumble Bee” (For this lesson I used the Spotlight on Music recording found in grade 1 page T-250, CD 11:24), or the teacher may wish to sing it with the piano.
2. By using “Sol-Mi with the Bumble Bees” PowerPoint (slide 2) on the interactive board or screen, the teacher leads the students in singing “Bee, Bee Bumble Bee” while using the pointer to point to each word. Also, the students pat the steady beat on their legs.
3. The teacher instructs students to read and clap the rhythm of the words of “Bee, Bee Bumble Bee” saying oink for quarter notes and buzz buzz for eighth note pairs.
4. The teacher sings the song to the students using Kodaly hand signs for sol & mi.  To show the high/low placement of sol/Mi use the Kodaly ladder when showing sol & mi. Repeat and have students echo sing using hand signs for every 2 measures.
5. Teacher sings and uses hand signs for the following question and student answers with hand signs and singing “My name is _________” (Slide #3) Teacher marks on the                                                       (Sol – MiMi -  Sol – Mi  )  assessment sheet Yes/No “Sings on Pitch”.

           6. Echo sing Sol & Mi: Teacher sings & uses Kodaly hand signs a 4 beat sol-mi pattern, then the class echoes it. The teacher uses the left hand for hand signs so students can mirror her with their right hands. (Ex: SMSM, SMMS, SSMM, etc.)

7. The music teacher goes over what we learned today and reviews the standards addressed for that day.

 DAY 2

1. The teacher leads the students in singing “Bee, Bee Bumble Bee”.
2. Teacher shows hula hoop diagram (slide #4), and lets the 4 students figure out how to hold the hula hoops and at what level. (Students are working together – cooperation!) The teacher asks the class how these hula hoops relate to sol and mi.  (Students discover that the sol is higher than mi.,)
3. Using 4 hula hoops students hold hula hoops high or low showing the order of sol-mi-sol-mi. .The teacher uses the bumble bee stuffed animal to bounce on the hoop (the beat) as the class sings the song. Bounce once for “ta” (quarter note) and twice for “ti-ti”(two eighth notes). Kids love this!
4. Using the PowerPoint (slide #2) the teacher locates “sol” and “mi” on the staff. Teacher says, “When the ‘sol’ is on a space then the ‘mi’ is on the space under it. And if ‘sol’ is on a line, then the ‘mi’ is on the line under it. This is also done on the staff on the rug in the classroom. Since the bumble bee song is in the key of D the teacher explains that “in our song sol lives on the 2nd space and mi lives on the 1st space.” (The teacher may need to go over the staff lines and spaces.) The teacher tosses beanbags to students and instructs them whether to place them on sol or mi on the staff rug. (Students  this activity.)
5. While pointing to each note on the board, the teacher leads the class again in singing the song using sol-mi hand signs.
6. The teacher demonstrates an accompaniment using sol and mi on the hand chimes as the class sings the song using words.  As time permits, the teacher will let a few students play the hand chimes.  (The notes A and F# are used for my recording is in the key of D.)
7. The music teacher goes over what we learned today and reviews the standards addressed for that day.

DAY 3

1. The teacher demonstrates an accompaniment using sol and mi on the hand chimes as the class sings the song using words.  Using a random picker, students are picked to accompany using sol-mi on hand chimes. Each student has 2 hand chimes; right – left (sol-mi).  
2. Next, a broken bordun (sol-mi) on xylophones is added and taught to students. Random picker continues to pick students to play the xylophones. (It is suggested that ½ of the class should be picked to play instruments while the other ½ of the class are the singers.) The chimes and xylophone players practice the sol-mi pattern. (Teacher says the note names, sol-mi, or strong/ weak to help with playing on each beat.) In the end, students play with the recording as others sing. Then new students are selected to play. The teacher observes and makes notes on Assessment sheet “Play sol-mi pattern”.
3. The music teacher goes over what we learned today and reviews the standards addressed for that day.

   DAY 4

1. Using the Bumble Bee PowerPoint (slide #5), the teacher points to the bumble bees as she leads students in singing the song while clapping the rhythm of the words.
2. The teacher explains the beat bars and shows which bee icons to use for one or two sounds to a beat (slide #5). The teacher selects volunteers to drag appropriate bee icons to beat bars. (Slide #6) (Note: Bee icons can’t be dragged if you are in slide show mode. So I just use the PowerPoint as is and students can drag bees to the beat boxes. Once a bee icon is dragged to the beat box it can’t be dragged back. If there needs to be a correction after a bee is dragged to the box, then use the back arrow button to go back.)  The teacher says each line while pointing to each beat box and volunteers fill in the beat bars with the bee symbols.
3. When this is complete the whole class will clap while saying the ta’s and ti-ti’s. The teacher explains to say “ta” (for one sound) and “ti-ti” (for two sounds) per beat as she points to each symbol.
4. The teacher explains to students how the rhythm symbols represent one or two sounds per beat. (slide #7)   The teacher selects volunteers to drag appropriate rhythm symbols to beat bars. (*Repeat previous directions)
5. The teacher introduces Popsicle sticks showing how one stick represents one sound per beat (ta); 2 sticks joined together makes 2 sounds per beat (ti-ti); sticks joined together like a Z represents no sounds per beat (rest). (Slide #8)
6. The teacher puts a 4 beat pattern on the magnetic board (I use a music stand or a little whiteboard) using Popsicle sticks with magnetic backing and demonstrates by saying/clapping the rhythm. She emphasizes that even though the Z represents no sound, it still has a beat of silence, and we show this by holding our hands open. We clap for “ta” or “ti-ti”. The teacher displays different 4 beat patterns as the class claps and says the rhythmic pattern - 4 times for each pattern. (Slide #9)
7. The teacher shows examples of rhythm patterns and demonstrates how to read them by using rhythm sticks. Students get rhythm sticks and say/play rhythms as the teacher displays a 4 beat pattern on her board. A backing track can be played as students play the 4 beat pattern four times.
8. The music teacher goes over what we learned today and reviews the standards addressed for that day.

     DAY 5
 

1. Using “Random Picker” the teacher groups partners to divide the class and distributes to each a box of Popsicle sticks and rhythm sticks.
2. The teacher puts patterns on the board and instructs students to copy her pattern with their Popsicle sticks. working with others in a group. The teacher continues to display different rhythms on the board while students say/clap the rhythm. (Slide #9)      
3. Individuals continue to work in groups creating 4 beat patterns and playing them as the teacher goes around the room assisting students. She reminds them about cooperation and making strong choices when working in groups. Volunteers share their patterns, using a backing track to keep the steady beat each student plays his pattern 4 times.
4. The music teacher goes over what we learned today and reviews the standards addressed for that day.

            DAY 6

1. The teacher shows how the rhythm symbols relate to quarter and eighth note pairs.(slide #10) The teacher says each line while pointing to each beat box and volunteers fill in the beat bars with the quarter note or eighth note pairs. When this is complete the whole class will clap while saying “ta” for a quarter note and “ti-ti” for a pair of eighth notes.

        2.  The teacher instructs the class to clap the steady beat for each phrase, and then clap the rhythm of the words. The teacher divides the class in half and instructs one group to clap the steady beat and
the other group to clap the rhythm of the words as they sing the song
      3. The teacher uses  quarter note and quarter rest and pair of eighth
            notes to create 4 beat patterns on the magnetic board. She emphasizes that the quarter note is “ta”, the pair of eighth notes is “ti-ti” and the rest is a beat of what? (silence) The teacher displays                     different 4 beat patterns as the class plays on sticks and says the rhythmic pattern - 4 times for each pattern. Then individuals are asked to play a pattern and the teacher makes observation notes on                           assessment sheet for “Play & read rhythms”.
           4.  The music teacher goes over what we learned today, and reviews the standards addressed for that day.

DAY 7

1. The teacher instructs students to sit in a circle. (Depending on size of class you might want to have ½ of class participate in the circle and other ½ can be the singing group. Then at the end of the game, the groups can switch.)
2. The teacher explains how to play the Bumble Bee game. The bumble bee beanbag will be passed around the circle to the steady beat of the song as everyone sings it. Say “Grab, Pass, Grab, Pass” on each beat to practice (speak it, then whisper, then think it; do this with the song as teacher plays the chimes to accompany them). Because of the tempo of the song first graders need to do it this way, instead of passing on every beat. (Older students can handle passing on every beat “Pass, Pass, Pass, Pass” and even have multiple bees, or cups, going around the circle.) The bee gets passed around the circle to the beat as everyone sings the song, and whoever is holding the bee on the last word, “OUT,” leaves the circle and goes over to the “xylophone” hive and picks an instrument to play the bordun as the song is repeated until everyone has made it to the hive to play.
3. The music teacher goes over what we learned today, and reviews the previous days and the standards addressed for each day.  

Instead of using a recording, the teacher may want to play "Bee, Bee Bumble Bee on the piano or some other instrument. You might want to do a Section of this unit  if you wish to focus on one standard. The first graders have fun with the different activities. 

I like to assess:
sing sol mi pitch Y or N
Play sol-mi pattern on xylophone or chimes  Excellent (E), getting there (GT) or needs work (NW).
Play and read rhythms on rhythm sticks. Ex   GT  or NW