File Folder Music Learning Center

Last week, Kindergarten and First Grade students had the opportunity to experience File Folder Centers as a way to enhance their learning of musical concepts.  The students appeared to enjoy the opportunity to work on these centers and it an ideal way to teach students even when I had lost my voice!

Students sit in a large circle on the floor.  I had two sets of each of the following centers created and spaced evenly around the outside of the circle.  I paired students together with a student that was sitting next to them and they began working on the center.  I set the timer for 3 min.  When the timer went off, students rotated by sliding on their pockets to the next center clockwise (we have practiced clockwise rotations a lot this year as we play instruments so this was easy for them).

Handel Puzzle	Print a picture of the composer. Cut out long strips. Put the strips in an envelope. Provide a picture of the completed project if you want to give students a hint.
Handel Coloring Page	Find a coloring page with information facts about Handel. Print pages. Put in a file folder. Provide crayons.
String Instrument Sort - Grade 1 Left side shows starting folder.  Right side shows completed folder.	Cut out pictures of string instruments.  Place in an envelope or pocket (mine is orange chevron) Write the names of string instruments on the file folder. Students take the pictures out of the pocket and set them under the name of the instrument. You could provide a picture of the instruments under the names if you wanted students to be able to self-check.
Color the Instruments - Grade K	Print coloring pages of Percussion Instruments (or any family). Provide crayons. Students color the page.
Sort the Instruments - Kindergarten Kindergarten students in our district need to be able to classify percussion instruments into three categories: shakers, scrapers, and strikers. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3	Write these words on separate papers or strips:  Shakers, Scrapers, Strikers.  Place these inside a file folder. Turn a hand drum upside down.  Inside the drum, place small percussion instruments such as jingle bells, sand blocks, finger cymbals, shakers, maracas, and tone blocks. Students lay the word strips/papers out on the floor. (Step 2 Photo) Students play the instruments and lay them down next to the word strip/paper that classifies that instrument correctly(Step 3 Photo).
Play Handel Music	Write out music using alphabet notation.  I chose this piece because we were supposed to learn about Handel.  For extended rhythms, I chose to have students play the note more times (i.e. Dotted Half Notes on a letter C would be written and played as CCC). Provide a xylophone or glockenspiel and mallets.