General Music Reviews “Freddy the Frog” Books 1-4
Written by Sharon Burch. Illustrated by Tiffany Harris
A review by Deanna Bell, Music Teacher at Vestavia Hills Elementary East.
I have been using this book series in my classroom for years. The stories are full of adventure, laughter, and musical knowledge.
In book one, “Freddy the Frog and the Thump in the Night,” Freddy meets his best friend Eli and they have a summer full of adventures. The story includes an introduction to the Treble Clef and line and space notes. In this series, Sharon Burch uses character association to help with learning the names of the notes on the staff.
In book two, “Freddy the Frog and the Bass Clef Monster,” students learn about the low notes in the Bass Clef. This is a great time to talk about high/low up/down and the bass clef. This is my favorite story to read the last week of October because one of the characters is a monster!
In book three” Freddy the Frog and the Mysterious Wahooooo,” Freddy and Eli visit Tempo Island and learn about quarter notes, sixteenth notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests. Students also learn tempo terms such as presto, allegro, andante, and largo.
In book four “Freddy the Frog and the Secret of the Crater Island,” students learn about note names that are above and below the staff. There is also a great science connection where students learn about blowholes on the seashore and the location of the most famous
by Deanna Bell
blowholes in the world. This is a great chance to get out the globe for a quick geography connection.
The Freddy the Frog series also includes an interactive, free webpage where students can play games as an extension of each story. They can also print free coloring book pages with characters of each book, and listen the author read selections from the books.
If you are
looking for an iPad or Chromebook activity for your students, this one is a great one. Each book is about 15 minutes and it takes about 10 minutes to complete each online game on a device.
My favorite part of the series is the sweet friendship between Freddy and Eli. This is a great example for teaching, kindness, patience, and courage.
Best wishes on a successful school year! Deanna Bell
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14 August/September 2019
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