Past projects 39
Classroom Group Materials
Funded Aug 3, 2024Thank you so much for the gift of "stuff" to make learning centers and small group activities for my classroom! I think I have created some really fun activities for the children with the materials from this project that I wouldn't have been able to make without your support.
I have made cute cookies and milk manipulatives for the students to create simple rhythms for one and two sounds. My classroom has chalkboards for quick around the room lessons of understanding. I have made some games for the students to play in small groups focussed on rhythm, melody, and composers.
I plan to continue making additional centers for my students to enhance the learning objectives for future lessons. We have so much to learn this year and these materials have given me the chance to be creative, spontaneous, and fun. My students are loving the centers!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
Puppet Passion!
Funded Apr 29, 2024Thank you so much for these adorable puppets! My special education classes have loved using the puppets to perform steady beat activities and to tell the story in our music lyrics. They have learned to share, take turns, and to listen to the order of the information in each song in order to act out the main ideas of the song. They can tell me the beginning, middle, and end events in our musical stories through play in our puppet time.
When I opened the box, my students squealed in excitement and wanted to try all of the animals during our steady beat games. They called them "Beat Buddies" which warmed my heart.
I want to continue musical story telling with the puppets and expand on the songs used in class. I truly believe my special education and kindergarten classes have loved the newest addition to my lessons. Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
Musical Math
Funded May 8, 2024Thank you so much for your generous donations for this project. My students are having so much fun combining music and math during our classes. We have created our pool noodle patterns to show long and short sounds which have been so much fun to move around the room to perform. The children are creating differnt ways to show the patterns in movement! The laughter in the room is overwhelming!
The placemats and Wiki Sticks have enabled us to create our musical notes and perform them during partner time. The children have truly improved in their formation of ta and ti-ti notation by manipulating the wiki sticks. They love the bright colors of the placemats (which I laminated) and are excited when I remember their favorite colors. They ask for this activity every class!
Our next step is to learn new rhythmic notes and create more patterns on our placemats with the Wiki Sticks to clap or move to during class. The pool noodles will continue to help us understand the length of our music notes in the music that we are learning.
Thank you again for bringing more fun and laughter to my classroom with these materials!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
This classroom project was brought to life by General Motors and 3 other donors.Tables for Our Percussion Instruments
Funded Aug 19, 2024Thank you so much for supporting this project with your generous donations! My students love to play percussion instruments during performances. These tables will enable us to keep our instruments within reach for increased safety and accessibility as we perform. I can't wait to see the expressions on their faces when the box arrives to my classroom! Thank you!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
This classroom project was brought to life by The Gates Foundation and 6 other donors.Performance Speaker to Go
Funded Apr 4, 2024What a difference you have made to my performances in the community and in the lobby of our school with this amazing portable speaker! My chorus and ukulele ensemble are now extremely successful in concert in all environments.
My chorus visited several nursing homes after the speaker arrived and our music was well heard by the children and audience. I found the microphones to work well as I announced our tunes and special notes of worth for the audience. Even the soloist sounded amazing using the handheld microphones. The ukulele ensemble played several times for the students and families during events this spring. The speaker added just the right amount of volume to our backing tracks.
When I wrote this project, I was anticipating a good experience for future performances, but I am thrilled at the quality of the sound for such a small speaker. Thank you for helping us present our music to others in such a special way. This speaker will enable us to perform more often in our school and community.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
More Jammin'
Funded Apr 3, 2024So many giggles! Thank you so much for your donations towards this fun instrument. My students love exploring and practicing their sounds by playing the Jam Bocks. We have had so much fun learning our concepts on these colorful cowbells which produce a variety of sounds. The students love quizzing each other. "What sound do you hear?" "Is it high or low?" "Am I playing loudly or softly?"
I cannot believe how excited they are when I set the Jam Blocks in the room for the lesson that day. Our compositions have expanded to include more concepts which the children love to identify. Theur understanding of opposites have increase by hands on playing. Many of my younger students can now identify and play long/short, high/low, fast/slow, soft/loud, and accented notes based on the Jam Blocks. It truly has been amazing to observe and plan lessons for in my classroom.
I think the next step is to set the Jam Blocks to songs we are learning. This is a project for next year! Thank you again!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
Just Jammin'
Funded Mar 13, 2024Thank you so much for your generous donations for this project! My students love the jam blocks! We have been exploring high, medium, and low sounds using this amazing instrument to produce a variety of tones which we can identify using musical vocabulary. The students love to come into my room to investigate sounds on the jam blocks.
We are writing our own compositions based on colors to perform for each other. The students are labeling their creations with a title, dynamic marking, and preference for hard or soft mallet. They are coloring their composition paper to match the desired jam block for each part of the composition. They have learned so much about composing, identifying sounds, and performing from this lesson.
Our next step is to extend this lesson to other musical terms such as tempo, additional dynamic markings, and articulation (staccato, accents, etc.). Thank you so much for the opprtunity to teach these concepts with a new approach. The children truly love the Jam Blocks!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
Krazy Kazoos for Kids
Funded Aug 13, 2023Thank you so much for your generous donations towards this fun-filled project! My students are having a ball humming in their kazoos to their favorite songs. It has truly helped so many of my non-singers to fully participate in the music making in a less scary way. We are humming, laughing, and making memories galore!
One student told me that he never considered himself a "vocalist" until using a kazoo in my music class. He has increased his participation so much and has many recommendations for the next song to do. He even encourages others to join him in small group performances of hit tunes. Kazoos + boys = instant fun!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
This classroom project was brought to life by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 7 other donors.Mariachi Mallet Madness
Funded Sep 18, 2023I cannot thank you enough for your generosity towards this project. My students have learned a few songs on our Orff instruments with our new mallets. We have explored the melody and chords, lyrics, and background information to this folk songs. The children have been so excited to play the instruments in class...especially with the new mallets. They were so excited when the box arrived and we opened it together to find five sets of new yarn mallets.
We are currently learning folk songs from other parts of the world and will continue to use the mallets to play the chords, ostinatos, and bordun accompaniments. The children are creating their own versions of chord accompaniments in tempo to each folk song.
It really has been so much fun!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
Magical Musical Books
Funded Mar 30, 2023Thank you so much for the gift of reading in my Music classroom! I love to share wonderful books with my students that correspond to the lesson objectives I am teaching. When reading to them, I love watching the expressions on their faces as I make each character in the book unique and memorable with changes to my voice, speed of their speech, and volume of their texts. We then compare these traits to our music vocabulary. It is amazing to see how easily my students can grasp the musical concepts from the stories in the books.
It is also wonderful to hear the students imitating the characters based on my interpretation and then changing the sounds as they create a new version of the story. This ability to create a new musical example is a higher level skill for children. For example, I might have made a character sound loud and mighty, but the student may decide to make the character quiet and shy with a high pitched voice. I love the creative process happen in front of me!
Thanks again for bringing books to my classroom! We are really enjoying each story!”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Andrews
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community and 5 other donors.