Spotlight on Sources:
Welcome to Renzulli Learning’s Spotlight on Sources, some of our most engaging resources to excite and inspire your students!
This week we are featuring our favorite Music activities to excite and engage your students in this summer heat!
Music can be integrated with every single subject! Take the time to explore other cultures through music! Look deeper into history by exploring how music has changed throughout the years. We hope your students are inspired to make music of their own.
Check out a few of our favorite activities below!
Don’t forget, if you want to assign a weekly activity simply search the title of the weekly activity from your Teacher Dashboard and then send the activity to a student as a favorite! To locate these activities within Renzulli Learning you can SEARCH Enrichment Activities and type in the title of the activity you would like to locate. For more ideas to infuse enrichment activities with your curriculum, please visit the Unit Supplements on the Teacher Site, under “Teach.” We can also link these enrichment resources to your regular curriculum if you send us a theme or topic.
Grades K - 2
Catch the Beat
Creativity Training
Who would think that math and music could have anything in common? Clap, snap, or sing along to see how. Click the link to see if you can catch the beat! You’ll need an adult to help you with this activity!
Chickadee Song
Websites
Have you ever wondered what bird you were listening to outside? With this online activity, you can listen to a chickadee's song. Impress your friends the next time you name that tune from a bird.
Daniel's Art and Songs
Websites
Watch and listen to Daniel Tiger's songs together. They can help in all kinds of everyday situations. Each song page also includes lyrics, sheet music, and a coloring page.
Dreamhouse Nursery Rhymes
Websites
Need help with those nursery rhymes? Go to this site for every nursery rhyme you can think of and then some. They are listed alphabetically so you can find them easily and then practice your memorization skills.
Grades 3 -5
Bang that Xylophone
Websites
Did you know that pigs were trained to play the xylophone in the 1800's? Learn all about the history of this unique percussion instrument by clicking the link above.
52 Homemade Musical Instruments to Make
Projects & Independent Study
Do you want to get the attention of kids? Tell them you are going to make musical instruments. Not only will they want to make, or help make the instruments, but they'll also love playing them! You'll find a nice variety of homemade instruments in this article and many are pretty simple and easy to make.
Fact Monster - Musical Instruments
Research Sites
Four different families of musical instruments are present in a symphony orchestra. Learn about each one at this cool website! You can click on the name of an instrument to read about it.
Artopia: Music!
Creativity Training
Whether it is classical or rock and roll, almost everybody loves music. Music lovers can explore this site to listen to performances, learn the names and sounds of instruments that make up an orchestra, and write about different kinds of music. Be sure to check out the "Music Studio" link to experiment with your favorite kinds of music.
Grades 6 - 9
Allen Organ Company Factory Tour
Virtual Field Trips
Find out how pipe organs are built, tested, and assembled.
Artopia: Music!
Creativity Training
Whether it is classical or rock and roll, almost everybody loves music. Music lovers can explore this site to listen to performances, learn the names and sounds of instruments that make up an orchestra, and write about different kinds of music. Be sure to check out the "Music Studio" link to experiment with your favorite kinds of music.
Cup Guitar
Projects & Independent Study
An electric guitar made with string and a plastic cup? In this independent study, you can learn how to make a guitar with a couple household items and a little bit of technology. Follow the steps with the help of pictures. Experiment with different lengths of string and hear what happens!
Design a Musical Themepark!
Projects & Independent Study
The mayor has written a letter to your school asking for your help. As a person who loves music, your mayor wants to build a theme park about music. Choose any genre or time period; then work as a team to decide what entertainment, rides, games and food to have inside the park. Create a blueprint or model of your park for the mayor and show it to the class.
Grades 10 - 12
CymaScope: Sound Made Visible
Websites
The science of cymatics explores the vibrations in all matter by making them visible. Discover a tool called the CymaScope, and watch videos that show how it is inspiring new insights in science, math, history, art, and music. You can "see" a wolf's howl!
Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project
Research Sites
The first sound recordings produced and sold for home listening were on tinfoil and wax cylinders. At this site, you can listen to thousands of songs and comic stories, recorded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Browse by genre, instrument, topic, or ethnicity.
EdX: Introduction to the Music Business
Online Activities
Learn the latest about the rapidly changing music industry from recording, publishing, and distribution to legal issues confronting music commerce.
American Cultural History 1950-1959
Websites
The 1950s is the decade where everything changed: Barbie dolls, Rock and Roll, Disneyland, and Elvis. But there is much more to the 1950s. From civil liberties to television, take a look and see how all aspects of society changed during this exciting decade.
Each week, we will send you teaching suggestions and a few examples of our best and most popular resources. For more ideas to infuse enrichment activities with your curriculum, please visit the Unit Supplements on the Teacher Site, under “Teach.” We can also link these enrichment resources to your regular curriculum if you send us a theme or topic.
Thanks for being a part of the Renzulli Learning family and we hope you find these resources helpful.
Your Renzulli Learning Team