Archive for the ‘music’ category

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Songs That Teach Grammar & Parts of Speech!

August 3rd, 2011

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, August 3, 2011 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Garden of Praise: Grammar Songs

Age Range:  5-10 (approximately, with parental supervision)

This ad-supported website was created by a veteran classroom teacher and provides free songs that teach grammar along with online and printable activities and materials to reinforce learning. The idea here is that learning rote grammar rules and parts of speech is easier when set to music.

When you get to the site, you’ll see a menu of parts of speech including:

  • Nouns
  • Verbs
  • Pronouns
  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Prepositions
  • Conjunctions
  • Articles
  • Punctuation

Below the menu, are instructions for how to teach the lessons using the songs and printable cards and posters.

Click on any menu item, and a new page opens with a definition, examples, a link to the song (with music and lyrics), as well as links to downloadable activities. (For example, if you click on “Noun,” you’ll be able to access a crossword puzzle in pdf, and a link to another website containing an interactive noun game.)
 
NOTE:  I did NOT review the links to other sites. In addition, this site has randomly generated advertisements – so what looks good today, could be inappropriate tomorrow. Therefore, AS ALWAYS, parents must preview the websites to determine suitability of content and supervise Internet use.

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Be A Virtual Orchestra Conductor!

July 23rd, 2011

Hi! It’s Saturday, July 23, 2011 and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Play Music

At this site you can become a virtual orchestra conductor and try playing a variety of musical instruments!

When you get to the site you will see a picture of a kid conductor. Click on the conductor and you will be taken to a stage filled with instruments divided into the sections in an orchestra — percussion, strings, brass, woodwind, etc.

When you click on a section of the orchestra, for example “percussion,” it will take you to a screen where percussion instruments are defined. You will have an opportunity to play an interactive game where sounds are played — and then you try to repeat them.

At the top of the screen you will see a display of all of the instruments that are classified under “percussion”. Click on any of them — cymbals, triangle, bass drum, etc., and you are transported to another screen where you can learn about that instrument — from its history to its parts — and you can listen to a short music clip to hear the instrument played!

You can literally spend hours at this site exploring the various instruments. The animation, sound, and ease of use makes this a terrific site for music education.

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The Golden Number – Phi

June 13th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Monday, June 13, 2011 and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:Phi: The Golden Number

Age Range: 9 and up (with parental guidance)

This website is devoted to the exploration of Phi — an irrational number like Pi — that is the ratio of the line segments that result when a line is divided in a special way. You’ll find many demonstrations of Phi along with its history from ancient Greece and Egypt, to the Renaissance, to modern day with its appearance in quasi-crystals — a form of matter discovered in the 1980s.

When you get to the website click on the words “START HERE“  (near the top of the page under the “welcome” message) to get a basic introduction to the number and where it appears.

Then, return to the “Home” page and use the menu to see Phi demonstrated in all of these areas:

  • Mathematics – Including Means, Fibonacci Patterns, Pascal’s Triangle, and more.
  • Geometry – Look for Phi in Bucky Balls, Circles, Triangles, Orthogons, Quasi-crystals, Spirals, and more.
  • Life — Explore Phi in Human Anatomy, Animals, Plants, DNA, and Population Growth.
  • Design/Composition – Phi is in Art, Architecture, Color, Music, Poetry, Marketing, and even Credit Cards.
  • Stock Markets – See how Phi and Fibonacci numbers are used to predict stock market moves.
  • Cosmology – Phi appears in the Solar System, Universe, Quantum Matter, Quantum Time, etc.
  • Theology – See a demonstration of Phi in the Bible. Note: The creator of this website calls himself “The Phi Guy,” and in addition to mentioning his credentials, credits his Christian faith for this website’s inspiration. He allows that everyone must ponder the natural physical laws of the universe and determine for themselves if it is part of a divine plan.

This is an ad-supported website that provides a fascinating demonstration of mathematics (and particularly Phi) in all aspects of life. It is beautifully illustrated and clearly written.

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Happy Birthday Tchaikovsky!

May 7th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Saturday, May 7, 2011 and time for Music at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
San Francisco Symphony’s “Keeping Score”
Music History and Appreciation: Tchaikovsky

Age Range: 8 and up (approximately, with parental supervision)

Today, May 7th, is the birthday of one of the world’s great musical composers, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky who may be best known for his ballets including, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. 

At this website developed by the San Francisco Symphony, you can explore a multimedia biography of Tchaikovsky’s life and work, as well as see and hear the instruments of the orchestra that he used in his music.

When you get to the site, you’ll see two options that include:

*Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony – Click on “Enter” and a new page opens where you can learn about the four movements of his 4th symphony, “a musical diary of his emotional life during a period of intense crisis.” Be sure to click on “Tchaikovsky’s Story” to examine an interactive timeline of his life and
work.

*Primal Moves – Click on “Enter” and learn about the emotions (happiness, anger, sorrow, and wonder) depicted in various classical compositions. Click on an emotion and listen to a classical piece which expresses it. After your ear has been attuned to this sort of listening, you can try your hand at matching the musical excerpts with classical paintings. There are no wrong answers!

Bookmark this site, because there are other composers here too including Beethoven, Stravinsky, Copland, and more.

Teachers/parents looking for lesson plans can find them by clicking the “Education” tab at the top of the page and then scrolling down to the appropriate section.
 

 

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Carnegie Hall Music Appreciation Games

April 9th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Saturday, April 9, 2011 and time for Music at
ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Carnegie Hall: Games & Listening Guides

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12 and beyond, with parental
guidance)
 
The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall offers four, free interactive modules that helps students and their families
develop music appreciation skills.

When you get to the site, turn on your speakers and look for icon menu that includes:

*An Interactive History of African American Music – This
interactive has lots of educational content geared for older
students. Trace the development of African American musical
styles and learn about the pioneers who helped define various
genres from gospel to hip hop. See photos, listen to audio
clips, and learn the history of African American music from
the 1600′s through today.

Note:  When you click on the icon, a new page opens where
you’ll see the icon again. Look for the word “Launch” below
the icon and click on it to start the interactive.

*Carnegie Hall Animated History – This is fun for kids! Gino, the
Carnegie Hall cat, will be your guide to learning about the
history of Carnegie Hall through engaging videos. Then, play
an interactive maze game featuring important historical
figures from Carnegie Hall’s past.

*Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 – Listen to Dvorák’s classic, From
the New World. Learn about the 4 themes in each movement of
the piece. Then, play challenging interactive games that test
what you’ve learned such as “Melody Mix-up” and “Unscramble
the Themes.”

*The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Go on an
instrument safari, guided by animated characters, to collect
all the instruments of the orchestra while you listen to
Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

This is a terrific resource to engage students of many ages
and interests in music appreciation.

 

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Art & Music Activity Books

March 19th, 2011

Hi!  It’s Saturday, November 23rd, 2010 and time for Electives at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
MightyBook.com: Art & Music

Age Range: 5-10 (approximately, with parental supervision)

This commercial website offers a variety of illustrated, animated, and narrated children’s books available (without advertising) for a paid memembership. They also offer free books in the ad-supported section of the webiste. In fact, in the “Art and Music” section you’ll discover some free activity books that introduce kids to works of art masters set to the music of classical composers.

When you get to the site you will see links to these engaging art and music books:

*Bach and Van Gogh – This delightful book plays beautiful Bach symphony music while slowly showing you images of artwork by Van Gogh.

*Remington & Dvorak – This mash up combines powerful images of the American West by Frederick Remington accompanied by the strong and adventurous sounds of Antonin Dvorak.

*Carnival of Harlequin – Drag and drop puzzles pieces to assemble the whimsical art of Joan Miro while listening to the airy sounds of Tchaikovsky. Links in this book let you learn more about the artist and composer through pictures and narration.

*Mona and Beethoven – This silly little booklet features a talking Mona Lisa, barely tolerating Beethoven’s jokes as he makes attempts at comedy.

When you’re through exploring the Art and Music section, check out some of the other free activity books also available on this site. 

 

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