Incorporating Music And Literacy

From Stephanie Menefee in Tacoma, Washington:

One way I incorporate music and literacy is through an activity I call "Music Discovery." You will need for the students to have a piece of paper and a pencil, or other writing utensil (crayons work well, also). I choose a piece of classical music (or it could be jazz, I guess). DO NOT tell the students ANYTHING about the piece or the composer YET (this will come later). Explain that music can have descriptive elements, and that often times people hear stories, events, or objects described in the music. Encourage the students to relax and listen, but let them know that they also will need to write down what they hear in the music/see going on in their head. (Sometimes I get instruments identified, others hear scenes/see pictures.)

I actually used this activity for an observation one year and received really nice feedback.

From Suzanne DeVene in Ohio:

I've used a couple of activities in this area that the students really enjoyed:

1) Songbooks: I have about four boxes of books that are songs, (i.e., the words in the book are the lyrics of the song) like Down By The Bay, The Wheels On The Bus, Skip To My Lou, The Old Woman Who Swallowed The Fly, etc. During the first part of the year, I teach my first graders the songs of many of the books, hitting on musical concepts with each song. Then midway through the year, when the first graders are really getting better with their reading, I have a "Music Book Day." I take in about 30-35 of my books and they spend the whole music time "reading" their books. (Except, they usually sing the words of the song. It is too cute to hear the whole class singing to themselves!) When they finish one book, they take it back to the table and get another one. They love this, and find that they can read the words of the book very easily, since they have sung the songs. They don't just sing the song, although you can see them following the words with their fingers. Even the poorer readers are able to read most all of the books. And they are so proud to read/sing them to me individually.

2) Creating new verses to old songs: I've done this with younger students, but also with 4th through 6th (in this case, they were creating new books for the first graders). Just take a song that has lots of verses and create new verses. The two times I've done this, I used "Down By The Bay." You can divide the class into partners, or work individually. One person makes a title page, one person draws pictures and writes words to the beginning chorus words... "Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow," etc. Then, all the rest of the pages are the new verses... example: "Did you ever see a dog, sitting on a log?" or "Did you ever see a mouse, painting the house?" After writing the words neatly, they must use the rest of the paper to illustrate the new verse. The students find they have to create rhyming words that will make sense, and they also have to write something that they will be able to draw!

If doing this with younger children, I would write the new lyrics together as a class, then let small groups illustrate the verse. With older students, all verses need to be approved by the teacher, they love to sneak in blood, guts, and crude slang words! But the illustrations of the older kids can be outstanding!

After writing the new words and illustrating, they can be laminated and put into book form. I punch holes in the sides and use rings to hold it together. (You can also make 1/2 page size and staple together.) With the older kids, this took about three 35-minute class periods.

I've done an illustration-only activity, too, where I give them the words to a song and they illustrate them. Then, we make them into a Big Book. We did this at Halloween with "Skin & Bones" and "Ghost Of John."