Distance Music Lesson Ideas: Found Sound

If you haven't done a found sound lesson in this distance learning scenario, are you even a real music teacher?!? Just kidding, but seriously, found sound is a natural topic that's perfect to do at home. No need to save your own recycling for months, collect donations, or ask students to bring things in. And no matter what their home situation may be, they're sure to have something they can use to make music, even if it's just the floor or a stick! Here are some of my favorite lessons using found sound.

Online Teaching

There are so many amazing videos out there that are perfect for inspiring students and showing them the endless possibilities with found sound. Here are two favorites, but you can see several more in this playlist (I've shared this playlist with my students when I've done these lessons).

I also like demonstrating some different found sound ideas in my own video, just showing them how to find random objects around the house, whether it's a can of corn or a cardboard box or a spoon, and make lots of different sounds with those items. In my experience students have an easy time coming up with objects to use, but have a harder time thinking past the obvious to come up with different ways to use those objects. 

Once they have some ideas for how to create music with found objects around their home, there are lots of ways to frame it in a lesson!

Exploration

Honestly my favorite assignment to do with found sound is just to encourage them to come up with a song, any song. No rules except they can't use any actual musical instruments or their singing voice. Depending on the platform you're using and your district's regulations, it's ideal if they can submit a video through something like Flipgrid or Seesaw. But they could also upload/ email an audio recording or simply describe what they used to make sounds and how, and even give their song a title.

Soundscapes

One of my favorite ways to get students of all ages composing without notating is through soundscapes. Ask students to create the image of a particular scene, like a beach, or even a feeling like sadness, using found sounds. Another similar idea is to show them a picture- I grabbed an abstract painting from the internet- and ask them to create a piece that goes with the picture. You can read more details about how I use soundscapes in the regular classroom in this post for more ideas.

No Tech / Packets

If you're sending home packets of assignments rather than using an online platform, a lot of the lesson ideas for online learning will still work- students can still create their own songs or soundscapes using found sounds- they just won't be able to submit any recordings and you won't be able to directly share the videos with them unless you give them the directions to find them.

Of course my favorite idea for take home packets is a choice board! Here is a choice board for found sound that you are welcome to copy and share with your students:

Virtual

Group Playing

In addition to the online options mentioned above, with live virtual music class sessions you could also use found sound to have students echo back patterns or take turns improvising 4-8 beat patterns. With the sound lag they won't be able to play things together as an ensemble, but anything where individuals take turns will work, and since you can see them in real time you can help encourage them to come up with new ways to make sounds using the same item as well!

Books

One of my favorite ways to use found sound, especially with younger students, is to add sound effects to stories! Since there's no reason the timing has to line up perfectly, this is a great way to do something together as a class over live video. Assign individual students to different sounds in the story, and have them make their sound using whatever items they find as you read their part of the book. There are a million books that are great for this, but if you want to see some of my favorites here are some ideas:

I hope this gives you some ideas to use with your students in this confusing and difficult time! If you've come up with more great ideas using found sound through distance learning, please share them in the comments below. Don't forget, I'm compiling all of my posts for school closures into one page for easy access- head to that page for more ideas:

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Surviving Quarantine with Kids

To be perfectly honest, last week was pretty rough for us. I think my 8 year old daughters and I all just hit a certain breaking point and there were lots of tears, tantrums, and arguments. No matter how hard we try as parents, there's no getting around how tough this situation is for everyone. Today I want to share some ideas I'm trying to make staying at home a little more bearable.

1. Find Holidays

I realized that our best days were the ones when we had something to celebrate, whether it was a holiday or birthday or school spirit day. It breaks up the monotony, helps inspire ideas for things to do when we're bored, and gives us something to look forward to. So I hopped on the internet and looked up what holidays were happening each day this week and picked out one for each day that I thought would be fun for us. For example this week I picked:

Mon 4/27: National Tell a Story Day
Tues 4/28: National Superhero Day
Wed 4/29: International Dance Day
Thurs 4/30: National Bubble Tea Day
Fri 5/1: School Principal's Day
Sat 5/2: National Fitness Day
Sun 5/3: National Two Different Colored Shoes Day

Of course some days there will be *actual* holidays, but having these frivolous holidays to look forward to has me excited already! We may not actually do anything with them every single day, but we can if we feel like it, and that is enough.

2. Lists

Of course it should come as no surprise to see list-making as a coping strategy from me! There are so many ways lists can help. I made lists for my daughters of all their assignments they have for distance learning, plus a list of activities to choose from to get them off the computer in between each assignments (you can get a copy of my lists and read more about how we do that in this post).

We've also started making lists, on days when we have more free time, of things we'd like to do. We sit down as a family and we compile all the ideas that each of us has. Some of mine are things we *should* do, like laundry, but the rest are things we've thought about that would be fun. This is something we did on occasion before quarantine and it's really helpful for avoiding the frustration that can come in the afternoon when young children realize they missed their chance to do something they had hoped to do but never voiced. Seeing the whole list and talking through possible ideas for the day prevents the "I'm bored" moments, encourages my daughters to communicate more proactively, and gives me the chance to help them manage their time so that we're all more likely to be able to do the things we're hoping before the end of the day.

3. Virtual Play Dates

Getting together with their friends has been one of the biggest things my daughters have been missing since schools closed! But the truth is, young children don't do very well with video or phone conversations. Most of the time it's just awkward silence! The key, I've found, is to have pre-planned group activities. Our most successful virtual play date so far has been a game night with another family. We played charades and scattergories, and the game where you have a collection of items in front of the camera, one side closes their eyes while the other side changes something, and then they have to guess what was changed. Of course there are other fun games that would work over video conferencing, but those all worked really well with our elementary age children!

This situation is not easy for any of us, but I hope these ideas help you find some inspiration and joy amidst the stress. I've written other posts already about managing online learning for children, setting up schedules, meal planning, and more- don't forget to check out my centralized page for all things closures both at home and as a teacher:

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Distance Music Lesson Ideas: Dance

One of the first messages I got from a student when we first started distance learning was a 4th grader telling me about how her whole family was dancing around the house singing along with the songs I had put together for her assignment. That image has been seared in my mind ever since. What's better for all of us right now than dancing? Today I want to share some ideas for getting students (and maybe their families too) dancing through distance learning.

1. Online Teaching

If you're teaching online, there are tons of ways to get students dancing! Share my dance playlist and encourage students to dance along. Of course there's nothing wrong with leaving it there and just encouraging students to have some musical fun, but there are also lots of musical concepts you can review at the same time:

Dynamics

Tell students to make their dance moves bigger and smaller to match the dynamics of the music- take the opportunity to review some vocabulary when you introduce the lesson!

Steady Beat/ Tempo

Give students some examples of moves that show the beat and moves that don't, then tell students to show the steady beat with their dance moves. If you pick out a few specific songs that are contrasting tempi, you can also ask students to identify the speed after they move with the beat.

Form

One of my favorite concepts to practice with dance is form. Have students pick one dance move to use for each contrasting section- whenever the music changes, they change their dance move. Review the concept of form and ask them to identify the form with letters (ABA, etc) after dancing with the music.

2. No Tech

For situations where you're not relying on technology, dance is a perfect way to get students dancing! 

Hand Wash Dance

Tell students to choreograph their own dance, incorporating at least one of the hand washing techniques recommended by the WHO. Show this video as inspiration, then encourage them to make up their own!

Choice Board

Choice boards are always a great idea when you're sending something home and don't know what resources students will have available to them! Here's one you can save and use with your students, or use the ideas to make your own:

3. Virtual Teaching

If you're hosting live class sessions online in some way, of course you have more options of doing things more like we would in a regular classroom setting! Even if dance isn't the primary focus of a lesson, taking time for a "dance break" can really help lift everyone's mood and foster a sense of community. If you do choose to have everyone dancing together, keep in mind that there will be a delay with the audio and visual for each person's video. Make sure all of the students mute their audio, and tell everyone to just watch you and not follow each other or they'll get very confused! You may even want to show them how to "pin" your video to show as the big picture on the screen rather than watching everyone in a grid view, depending on the platform you're using.

I hope this gives you some ideas to use with your students in this confusing and difficult time! If you've come up with more great ideas to get kids dancing through distance learning, please share them in the comments below. Don't forget, I'm compiling all of my posts for school closures into one page for easy access- head to that page for more ideas:

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Quarantine Cooking: Tips for Managing Meals

One of the biggest challenges with this whole stay at home situation is all the cooking! And as we try to avoid going out in public where we can, planning ahead to avoid frequent grocery store trips has become a necessity. This is also the perfect time to get the whole family more involved in the kitchen since everyone is at home! Here are my tips for planning out meals and minimizing shopping trips, and getting children- no matter their age- more involved in cooking.

1. Meal Planning

If you weren't a meal planner before I'm betting you are now! I've been meal planning for years now and it truly does not have to be complicated. The key is to have some reliable recipes on hand, know how to be realistic when you are choosing your meals, and getting organized before you go to the store (or order your groceries). Here are some specific tips for simplifying the meal planning process so you don't have to stress so much over what to cook or what to buy.

2. Family Cooking

There is no reason for one person to be shouldering all the cooking responsibility for the whole family when everyone is home, and this time while they're not at school is perfect for introducing some kitchen skills to kids! My daughters have been helping with cooking in some form or fashion since they were very young, and now they are each in charge of one dinner per week, from planning to cooking. Here are my tips for getting kids involved in the kitchen:

I also highly recommend getting everyone involved in the planning process for other meals, even if they aren't cooking. I don't have my daughters cook more than one meal a week, but I do have them pick out one breakfast each week as well. Half the battle for me is just coming up with ideas for what to eat- meal planning systems help a lot with that but having others share in the decision making is so helpful.

3. Use What You Have

One of the biggest epiphanies for me during this time at home has been the realization of how much food I have laying around. It's a little like looking at a full closet and lamenting having "nothing to wear"- I have all these staples that I keep on hand that I don't really count when I'm looking at what I have available for next week's meals. I've been trying to start limiting my grocery store trips to every 2 weeks instead of weekly, and it has been a lot easier than I thought! Here's what has worked for us to make this happen:

• I still only plan 1 week's meals at a time. My brain can't handle that much decision-making at once right now to plan out 2 weeks of meals. So before my grocery store trip, I plan out the week's meals with my daughters and make a list of what I need for those meals like I normally would. 
• When I go to the store, I pick up a couple of extra fruits and vegetables that will last longer, like sugar snap peas, potatoes, melons, etc. If we're getting close, I might grab an extra milk or carton of eggs. But otherwise I just buy for the 1 week we've planned.
• For the 2nd week my daughters and I come up with meals using what we have left. It has been amazing to me to see how much we can make with the random stuff we have left in the pantry and fridge! The first time we did this I truly thought we would be eating scrambled eggs and mac and cheese all week, but actually we ate different meals every day and it wasn't that difficult to come up with ideas. 
• I normally save leftovers from dinner to take as lunches to work. Now I freeze the leftovers instead. That gives me another dinner I can pull out in a couple weeks! 

I'm compiling all of my posts related to school closures/ stay at home social distancing for school and home in one place to make it easier to find. Be sure to head over there for more:

I hope these ideas make quarantine cooking a little less stressful! Stay safe and happy cooking :)

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