ration on their pages (see figure 4). They then recorded the class singing it. Once finished, their ebook was published and shared with their parents through Seesaw, a digital learning portfolio. This was done during a class with one iPad con- nected to a screen for all of the students to see.
etc. The students love this project, especially knowing that the next year’s third graders will be able to read them.
Figure 5 3rd
Figure 4 Kindergarten’s pitch exploration ebook
Recorder Tips Ebooks When my third graders are learning to play recorders, I want to assess what they know. After a few weeks into their studying, I gather the students into small groups. I group three to four students per iPad. Since the web-based “Book Creator” version has the ability to collaborate in real-time, I could do this in a 1:1 classroom with chromebooks and have them col- laborate in this way on the project. Though, I prefer grouping them so that they work together in person. However, the real- time collaboration could be very helpful in a classroom with a large number of students. I give them a problem to solve: there are no introductory
recorder books in our classroom and the students must create a “Recorder Tips” ebook for next year’s third graders. I show them the basics of “Book Creator” and give them a rubric of what their ebooks must contain: a cover, an audio recording of recorder playing, a video recording of a recorder perfor- mance, tips about how to play the recorder, and pictures of either fingerings, posture, or other necessities for playing the recorder well. When taking pictures, the students are reminded to not
show their faces because these will be published online. This is accomplished by the students zooming in on the recorder and the fingerings. Some students used stuffed animals as their stand-ins when they wanted to video a performance. Students begin the activity by writing a thinking map to
help them with their ideas. After that, they create the cover (see figure 5). Using items from their thinking maps, the stu- dents then write complete sentences as captions for their vid- eos, audio recordings, pictures, or their recorder tips (see fig- ure 6). They bring the ebooks to me to proof, make changes, and then present them to the class. Once this process is com- pleted, we publish the ebooks and we can also export them as a video to share with their parents, with other music classrooms,
JANUARY 2019
Grader’s Recorder Tips ebook
Figure 6 Recorder Tips ebook
Composition Ebooks My older elementary students use noteflight (noteflight.
com) to create four to eight-measure melodies using the pitch- es and rhythms that they have been learning for the past few years in music class. Once the melody is completed, they ex- port it to Soundtrap-EDU version (
soundtrap.com)-to create an accompaniment in a certain musical style using pre-made loops. Guidelines are given such as they cannot have dueling drummers, they must have a bass, and they can only have up to four instruments performing with the melody. Finally, the melody must be heard over the accompaniment. This helps the students listen and begin to understand how to mix a re- cording. This project is usually done as groups with a few de- vices in the classroom. However, it could also be done with 1:1 devices in the classroom. Once they are finished, they export the recordings as an mp3 file. I take screen shots of their melodies and place them on their own page of one large ebook in “Book Creator”. I import the recordings and add them to each page. We then share the ebook with their parents or other music classes via a website or a digital learning portfolio (see figures 7 and 8).
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