Framework of Choice Sub-Plan Ideas, Part II
Whether it’s you or your sub, having a list of possibilities to use for your music class is reassuring and helpful to everyone. Create a framework to work within. Maybe begin with a video, followed by quiet background music while students color or do puzzles. Or perhaps it’s a rotation of centers, each with games and relevant worksheets or coloring. Choices keep students’ attention. Here’s a small smorgasbord of ideas you can use to create a framework for sub-plans.
Videos:
Pre-K-Kindergarten
Any Rafi videos, are terrific for Pre-K, like:
- Rafi-Owl Singalong
- Penny Penguin
- RAFFI – Time to Sing – In Concert with the Rise and Shine Band
- Coloring pictures that relate back to one of the songs (i.e. Baby Beluga Coloring Page)
- Move It, by John Feierabend, has been used by others to create a variety of movement activities to follow along with.
First Grade/Second Grade
Zin, Zin, Zin A Violin (worksheets on TpT to choose from)
The Remarkable Farkle McBride (worksheets on TpT to choose from)
Tubby the Tuba (worksheets on TpT to choose from)
Third Grade/Fourth Grade
Musicals like The Sound of Music; Singin’ in the Rain; Annie
Poison Rhythm (psst! In the search bar type, poison rhythm with sixteenth notes, or for grade 4, or whatever, and you will find more challenging games), and
Other games like these are on YouTube.
Boomwhacker Warm Up: Together with students, encourage the substitute to watch and clap through this at least twice before pulling out boomwhackers. You will find many other boomwhacker play-alongs. Only you will know what suits your students best.
Fifth Grade
Beethoven Lives Upstairs (this may need some context for your students and further explanation.) Beethoven Lives Upstairs Worksheet
Stomp Out Loud
Any of the musicals, play-alongs, and/or poison rhythms listed above that are appropriate for a particular grade level will work.
Games:
Using a class or two to teach students how to play these musical versions of some classic games would make for smooth sailing on that day you’re absent. Set the games up in stations or centers in which students rotate through (practice the pattern of rotating, listening for the timer, stopping, etc). You can make the games relevant to what you are currently teaching. Create yourself or search Teachers Pay Teachers for cards that connect to subjects like classroom instruments, instruments of the orchestra, rhythmic values, pitch names, musical symbols, and more!
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- Go Fish/Memory: 2 different games, one set of great cards! I made 10 sets of cards, laminated, cut out, voila!
- Bingo: This one at MIE is Bingo for musical symbols, but you could make your own using rhythmic durations, 4-beat rhythmic patterns, and more.
- Kaboom: Players take turns drawing a popsicle stick or pieces of paper from a bucket and reading the rhythm/solfege snippet/pitch name. If done correctly, the player keeps it and adds it to their pile of points. If the player can’t read it, the stick or paper goes back in the bucket. If a player picks a stick or paper that says “KABOOM!”, he or she returns all of their sticks to the bucket.
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- Jenga: Without tipping the tower over, students carefully extract a block. If the block has a rhythm on it, it must be clapped to gain the point, then put to the side. Blocks without a rhythm also count as a point, as long as the tower isn’t knocked over
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- Go Fish/Memory: 2 different games, one set of great cards! I made 10 sets of cards, laminated, cut out, voila!
- Bingo: This one at MIE is Bingo for musical symbols, but you could make your own using rhythmic durations, 4-beat rhythmic patterns, and more.
- Kaboom: Players take turns drawing a popsicle stick or pieces of paper from a bucket and reading the rhythm/solfege snippet/pitch name. If done correctly, the player keeps it and adds it to their pile of points. If the player can’t read it, the stick or paper goes back in the bucket. If a player picks a stick or paper that says “KABOOM!”, he or she returns all of their sticks to the bucket.
- Jenga: Without tipping the tower over, students carefully extract a block. If the block has a rhythm on it, it must be clapped to gain the point, then put to the side. Blocks without a rhythm also count as a point, as long as the tower isn’t knocked over.
- Kahoot!: Kahoot! Is a web game-based learning platform that allows you to create trivia games in minutes. Students will need an iPad. Players scan a QR code that the game generates which allows them to be signed in. Answers are timed and a leaderboard pops up to show how many players answered correctly and who is leading in points. I learned about Kahoot during online school while teaching in China. I created trivia about classroom instruments, orchestra instruments, and rhythm and symbol notation. The kids LOVED this!
- Jeopardy! This has been a real success for me! As the facilitator, you will have to keep track of what slides/categories have been answered. Here is mine, it’s a little wonky, but it gives you the idea.
- Word finds, crossword puzzles, coloring, and more can also be supplemented to your sub-plan framework. Check out these resources for more activities!
If your students have iPads or Chromebooks with headphones, consider:
- Garageband Activities: Students can explore the touch instruments, and record audio samples using the audio recorder-kids love hearing their voice and playing around by modifying it.
- Chrome Music Lab: You will probably have to have some prior experience with students before assigning this with a sub, but consider using Song Maker
- Ask students to create a 16-beat composition (4 measures).
- Encourage them to experiment with both the melody (upper section) and rhythm (lower section).
- Put a timer on the activity to keep them on task, then if time allows at the end, have students do a “show-share.”
- The Music Substitute Sourcebook, Grades K-3 & 4-8
- Help! I’m A Substitute Music Teacher
- Sub-Survivor: Strategies, Songs, and Listening Activities for Music Subs
- Fiddle Over The Moon
- Games Galore: Reproducible Music Activity Sheets
Resources for Activities & Lessons:
And of course, TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS for oodles of worksheets, games, and other lesson plan ideas.