Bringing Children’s Literature to Life in the Elementary Music Room
Erin Toscani
General Music Teacher, Nursery - 3rd Grade
Rosemont School of the Holy Child
Twitter:
@erintoscani
@RSHCmusic (classroom account)
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Why Children’s Literature?
● Reach many types of learners
● Reach across the curriculum
● Keeps children engaged
● Much room for creativity, improvisation
Book #1: Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes - Dean/Litwin
(PreK/K)
Roles:
● Instrumentalist (Xylophone, Metallophone, Glockenspiel)
● Drummers for steady beat
● Scarves (White, red, blue, brown)
Ideas:
● Orchestration for “refrain”
○ Children can vocally improvise the melody with a steady beat instrumental accompaniment
○ Steady beat bordun on C/G
Book #2: Hide and Snake - Keith Baker
(PreK/K)
● Used for vocal exploration
● Students can vocalize “oo” each time they see a picture of a snake
● Create their own snakes using pipe cleaners and then sing them
● Take turns drawing snakes on the board and then sing them
Book #3: Going On a Lion Hunt - David Axtell
(Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade)
Ideas for this arrangement courtesy of Melissa Blum and Drumming Up The Fun!
www.worldmusicdrumming.com
Roles:
● Drummers (low drum, high drum, medium drum, cowbell for full ensemble or simply 1-2 for steady beat accompaniment)
● Glockenspiel players: over/under
● Stir Xylophone: around
● Slapstick: through
● Cabasa/sandblock: long grass
● Ocean drum/rain sticks: lake
● Frog: swamp
● Temple Blocks: cave
● Thunder Drum: lion
● Crash: ALL
● Triangle: tomorrow instead
Book #4: Tikki Tikki Tembo - Mosel/Lent
(1st Grade, 2nd Grade)
Roles:
● Rhythm Instruments (rhythm sticks, hand drums)
● Melodic Instruments
Students will decode the rhythm of the main character’s name, and then determine how to write that rhythm. Students can play the rhythm on small percussion instruments or improvise melodies on barred instruments.
Book #5: Casey Back at Bat - Dan Gutman
(3rd Grade, 4th Grade)
Roles:
● Rhythm Instruments
● Melodic Instruments
Create “Casey” theme - to be played on p. 1, p. 4, etc.
Use World Music Drumming Ensembles as rhythmic accompaniment with the narration.
Book #6: One - Kathryn Otoshi
(a great book for any grade!)
A beautiful book, loosely about bullying and how we treat others.
Create your own!
Other Book Suggestions for Music Teachers
Books to bring to life:
● Leaf Man: Lois Ehlert (from Melissa Blum’s Drumming Up the Fun! class)
● The Quiet Book: Deborah Underwood
● The LOUD Book: Deborah Underwood
● Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!: Wynton Marsalis
● Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type: Doreen Cronin
● The Empty Pot: Demi
● Fortunately: Remy Charlip
Books to Pair with Music:
● The Rainbow Fish with “Aquarium” from The Carnival of the Animals
● The Snowy Day (Ezra Jack Keats) with “Forgotten Dreams” by Leroy Anderson
Books that are songs:
● John Feierabend First Steps in Music Series
● Don’t Laugh at Me: Seskin/Shamblin
● Follow the Drinking Gourd: Jeanette Winter
● I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie: Alison Jackson
● Down by the Station: Hillenbrand
● Going Around the Sun: Some Planetary Fun: Marianne Berkes
● How Much is That Doggie in the Window?: Iza Trapani
● Over in the Meadow: Ezra Jack Keats
● America the Beautiful: Illustrated by Neil Waldman
● John Denver’s Grandma’s Feather Bed: Christopher Canyon
● My Favorite Things: Rodgers/Hammerstein, ill. Renee Graef
Books about instruments:
● The Composer is Dead: Lemony Snickett
● I Know a Shy Fellow Who Swalled a Cello: Barbara S. Garriel
● The Philharmonic Gets Dressed: Karla Kuskin
● Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin: Lloyd Moss
Books about musicians/pieces of music:
● Getting to Know the World’s Composers: Series - Mike Venezia
● Ella Fitzgerald: Andrea Pinkney
● Duke Ellington: The Piano Price & His Orchestra: Andrea Pinkney
● The Carnival of the Animals: various authors
● Peter and the Wolf: various authors
● The Nutcracker: various authors
● In the Hall of the Mountain King: Allison Flannery
● Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre: Anna Harwell Celenza
● Gerswhwin’s Rhapsody in Blue: Anna Harwell Celenza
● Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Anna Harwell Celenza
● If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis Armstrong: Roxane Orgill
Books with a steady beat:
● Brown Bear, Brown Bear: Carle/Martin
● Polar Bear, Polar Bear: Carle/Martin
● Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb: Al Perkins
● Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed: Eileen Christelow
● Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?: Bonnie Lass and Philemon Sturges
● Any Dr. Seuss book