Rondo Read-Along

• Emily Church
• Posted 2/1/21
• 0 comments

Rock What Ya Got & I Promise

Suggested Grades: 3-5 

National Core Arts Standards 

1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. 
2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work 
3. Refine and complete artistic work. 

Objectives: Composition  

Materials: 

• Rock What Ya Got by Samantha Berger  
• I Promise by Lebron James  

Overview

Interactive Read-Alouds bring books to life through moving, singing, and playing along with key moments of the narrative. 

Suggested Teaching Process

Creating a Read-Aloud experience for your students should be personalized and fit the needs of your school.  These are two of my favorite titles to inspire student compositions.   

Rock What Ya Got

I LOVE this book!

1. Teach the poem. 

Rock what you got and rock it a lot. 
Don’t let anyone say what you’re not. 
Find what is yours and carve out your spot. 
Take it, and love it, and Rock it a lot! 

2. Add body percussion. Teach each part individually and then layer together.  Divide students into four groups assigning each a different layer of body percussion 
   – Clap on Rock (alto xylophone) 
   – Snap on the last word of each phrase (glockenspiel) 
   – Pat on the first two beats of each measure using the words “Rock it!” (tambourine) 
   – Stomp the pattern using the works “Rock, Rock, Rock what ya got!” (hand drums) 
3. Transfer body percussion parts to classroom instruments. 
   – Teach the alto xylophone and glockenspiel  
   – Add bass xylophone 
   – Add tambourine and hand drums 
4. Students play the Orff arrangement with the poem in the book. 
5. Students work alone or in small groups to create poems – here are a couple of examples created by my students. 
   – I will rock math in the new year, adding and subtracting without any fear.  
   – Basketball is where it is at! Free throws, Jump Shots, and 3’s just like that!  
6. Create a Rondo using the Poem and accompanying instrumental parts like the A section.  The student compositions become the other sections of the Rondo. 

I Promise

1. Read the story to the students. 
2. Teach the poem. 

I Promise to be me. 
I Promise to be me. 
I will let my magic shine. 
I Promise to be me. 

3. Add body percussion. Teach each part individually and then layer together.  Divide students into three groups assigning each a different layer of body percussion 
   – Clap the words “I will let my magic shine.” 
   – Snap the words “Promise to be me.” 
   – Pat the words “ Change…Be the” 
4. Students work alone or in small groups to create poems. 

Extension:  

Add melodies using Chrome Music Lab – Song Maker. 

1. Students write lyrics for their poem or couplet.  
2. Students notate the rhythm of their poem or couplet using stick notation. 
   – I help students to ensure their rhythms match what they are vocalizing and want to hear.    
3. Students choose a color in Song Maker (each color is a different pitch) for each phrase of their poem 
4. Students enter the melody. 
   – We assign each column in Song Maker as a single eighth note.   
   – Older kids could think of each column as a single sixteenth if you would like them to be able to utilize more complicated rhythmic patterns. 
   – This step often takes some teacher help/ guidance, especially for the younger students 
5. Students decide if they would like to change any colors- either whole phrases or use new colors to highlight specific words.   
6. Students add a rhythmic accompaniment using the triangles and circles in the percussion line of Song Maker.  
7. My groups are typically 4 people, so they each choose a shape and then repeat the pattern.  

Examples created by students using Chrome Music Lab

• I promise to be nice, I promise to be kind, I promise not to be mean.
• I promise to fight for what’s right, I promise to be kind, honest, fair, I promise not to make fun of others.

References

Berger, S., & Kerascoët. (2018). Rock what ya got. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. 

James, L. (2020). I promise. New York, NY: Harper, an imprint of Harper Collins. 

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