Today, I’m continuing my "Three Things" linky party, in which I blog about three things that worked for my and my students this week. Thanks to Whimsy Workshop Teaching, Kimberly Geswein fonts, and Jax and Jake for the cute clip art and fonts!

#1: Instruments of the Orchestra website

My third and fourth graders are learning about instruments of the orchestra right now. I'm having my third graders focus on the strings family, since they are doing a dulcimer unit, and my fourth graders focus on the woodwind family, since they are playing recorders. After showing this strings slideshow to my third graders and this woodwind slideshow to my fourth graders, I wanted to delve a bit more into each instrument family. I was really excited to find this page on the Dallas Symphony Orchestra website; click the screenshot below to see it!

Once you click on a specific instrument, it takes you to that instrument's page. For most instruments, you can hear a sample of just that instrument playing, a sample of that instrument playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and a sample of that instrument playing with the orchestra. Here's what the violin page looks like:

What a great opportunity to focus just on one instrument, and to discuss timbre! I had students describe what each instrument sounded like, which I hope will help them distinguish between instruments later.

#2: Ghosts in the house

Since it's almost Halloween, and since I want to do as much vocal exploration with my Kindergarteners as I can, I read this book to them this past week:

Click on the picture above to see it on Amazon. The book is just adorable, and is a great way to have students explore their voices. I had students explore in the shape of each ghost's pathway throughout the book. When the ghosts are hung like sheets on a clothesline, I have them just echo a straight tone. Simple and cute!

#3: We are dancing powerpoint

I've blogged about this awesome file by Amy Abbott again, but I have to mention it again because the kids just love it! (Click on the picture to see it in her store.)

My second graders are practicing 2/4, or 2-beat meter, so I use it as a way to practice identifying measures. Each time the wolf swoops and steals a beat from one of the measures, the students squeal with delight! Then, I have them identify from which measure he stole. Love it!

Those are my fun activities for this week! Make sure to check out the activities that have worked for other bloggers below. Happy teaching!

An InLinkz Link-up