How to Add Storybooks to Your Music Classroom the Easy Way
Keeping it short and sweet again this week teacher. I know how busy you are cleaning and boxing and all the end of the year things.
I talk a LOT about planning storybook lessons. The planning and designing part of storybook lessons is totally my jam. I love teaching you how to plan them . . . giving you little tips and tricks, telling you what kind of storybooks to use and giving you info on how to go through the planning process.
But what if you just don’t want to be a storybook lesson planner? What if you don’t like the planning part? What if instead you just want to by some ready-made lesson plans and have someone else do it for you? I can help with that.
I’ve got you covered. I have a book of resources especially for music teachers who want to add storybook lessons to their activities but don’t want to do the planning. It’s called Stories That Sing and is the reason I call my business Stories That Sing. I love alliteration, and when I was thinking about a title for my resource book, I wanted something that had a bit of alliteration, but I also wanted it to be really apparent what kind of lesson plans would be featured. Thus, the name was born.
I am currently putting the finishing touches on Stories That Sing TOO! A follow up to my first resource book. I’m hoping that it will be published at the beginning of 2023.
What if you already have this resource and you’re looking for more. What can you do while you’re waiting for my next resource book to come out? Here are some easy ways to use storybooks in your classroom without going into a lot of planning:
- Create a tiny melody or rhythmic phrase using a storybook with a repeating pattern:
- Find the repeating pattern.
- Think about the mood of the story.
- Say the pattern out loud.
- Compose a melody or rhythm to accompany the pattern.
- Use the movement words in the story to create movement for your students:
- Find the movement words.
- Think about how your students can move safely to reflect these words.
- Find accompaniment music that fits the mood of the story.
- Use the sound words in the story to teach basic rhythm skills:
- Find the sound words.
- Think about what instrument words best for each sound word (crash = cymbal, plop = drum)
- OR think about how 1 instrument can create many timbres and teach your students to play each sound word on the same instrument (best for little ones)
- Sing the story:
- Pick a rhyming story.
- Find a well-known song the goes with the story.
- Sing the story to your students, using your voice as a model for your students.
While these strategies don’t work for every storybook, if you want to add more stories to your curriculum, this is a good place to start.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be adding more storybook lesson tips and tricks to save you time when planning storybook lessons. Don’t want to wait weeks for more learning? You can join my private Facebook group where you’ll find tons of content geared towards helping you learn to plan storybook lessons. Here’s a link!
Don’t forget to check out my resource book of lesson plans, Stories That Sing!