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Be sure to check out my other pages:
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2nd-3rd Books
4th-5th Books
Christmas Books
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Music Teacher Resource
(more coming...)
(by Pressnall)Great Books for 4th and 5th grade
Be sure to check out the other age-graded pages at left
The Erie Canal
by Peter Spier
This book has the words to the song by that name. It has great pictures and tells the story of the Erie Canal in the back of the book. Works great with the recording of "Erie Canal" in Music K8 magazine, Vol. 15, No. 3. I've had difficulty getting kids interested in this old song until I found this book.
Do-Re-Misize: 11.1" x 8.6"
This was a great story about the beginning of written music, and the processes it went through to become what it is today. It is written in a light-hearted style so the story is entertaining. This is a great way to teach children that we didn't always have written music and how cool it is now to be able to read music!
Moby Dick
by Alan Drummond
size: 12.4" x 9.6"
We had a lot of fun with this book. The Kids were very fascinated
with it. It is written a little like comic book style, but
it managed to tell the whole plot of the story--with the violence toned
down for children. I used to it to talk about whales and the history
of the whaling industry, and we sang some sea chanteys/shanties like
"Blow the Man Down", "Blow Ye Winds in the Morning", and "A-Rovin'." We
also talked about the chanteyman who led the work songs on the ship.
I also got a book on sailing ships and showed the kids pictures.
They learned about the work on a sailing ship and how music improved
the lives of the men and helped them work.
"Shenandoah" is also a example of a Shanty. There is a beautiful
version of it in Music K8, Vol. 12, No. 1.
This is a good way to introduce them to some American literature.
I tried several youth/children's versions of Moby Dick and
this is the only one I liked.
Be sure to check out this website about Sea Shanties and
their history.
Barn Dance
There is also a Reading Rainbow video by Burton. I've checked it out of my public library, but I haven't been able to locate one to purchase yet. It is a fun video. Along with reading the book the video also demonstrates blue grass music, the musicians and their instruments, the making of a hand-made violin, and clog dancers at a barn dance.
Check out other Reading Rainbow
books.
by Barner
(some versions have a CD with it)
This is a cool book (with or without the CD) using the old spiritual. On the CD it sings a line of the song, then stops to talk about each bone mentioned, while music plays in the background. Then it plays the whole song unbroken.
Beethoven's
Wig
by Perlmutter
This book is a satire of Beethoven's 5th Symphony with funny lyrics about his wig.
There are 4 Beethoven's Wig CDs with many different classical songs
and funny lyrics. These are really great to use when you introduce
a classical piece, because the funny lyrics help the kids remember
the tune.
Beethoven's
Wig
Beethoven's
Wig, Vol. 2: More Sing-along Symphonies
Beethoven's
Wig
At these links, you can purchase the whole album or just one
piece for $.89
Hello
Muddah, Hello Faddah
(by Allan Sherman)
Size: 10.2" x 7.6"
Tie in the original music, which is "Dance of the Hours" on Fantasia
You can buy a recording of the song, sung by Allan Sherman, on
iTunes for 99¢ or get the original CD from Amazon.com
Allan
Sherman CD
includes 19 crazy songs by Allan Sherman
Patriotic Songs
Yankee Doodle
(by Qualey & Owen)
aize: 11.3" x 9.3"
This is a great picture book about the song. It has 3 verses
and lots of large pictures.
This is a good way explain the history
of one of our favorite patriotic songs.
It was orginally sung to make fun of Americans,
probably beginning in the 1750's. Some say that the New York
Dutch settlers' word for Johnny was Janke, pronounced "yankee,"
and "doodle" was a simpleton, thus Johnny Simpleton pretty well
described what the British thought of their American cousins. Of
course the funny part of it is that the Americans adopted the song
for themselves, and at the surrender of Cornwallis to Washington in
1781, the Americans played "Yankee Doodle" while the British filed
by and laid down their arms.
You might also want to listen to "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" by George M. Cohan
There are several books in this series, some better than others. The other ones that I like are:
The Star-Spangled Banner
& You're
a Grand Old Flag. These two books are the words
to the songs.
Along this same line, I also really liked
The Star-Spangled Banner
by Winstead
size: 10.4" x 10.4"
This is the story of the night the song was written, Sept 14, 1813, during the Battle of Fort McHenry. A good book to use on the anniversary (Sept 14) of the song.
The Music Teacher from the Black Lagoon
(by Thaler & Lee)
This is a really cute book with lots of musical terms worked into the story in humorous ways.
The 39 Apartments of Beethoven
size: 10.3" x 10.1"
This is a fun book for older kids, pointing out some of the strange (but interesting) behavior of Beethoven, including his habit of moving often, and how the frustrated movers managed to move all his pianos every time, sometimes into small and difficult to reach apartments.
This Land is Your Land / CD
This is a great CD collection of Woody Guthrie songs that kids will love. It was released in 1997, and the songs are from the 30's and 40's, but they are songs that your kids will have fun singing.
It includes:
1. Howdi Do
2. Riding in My Car
3. Jig Along Home
4. Mail Myself to You
5. This Land is Your Land
6. Bling-Blang
7. All Work Together
8. So, Long, It's Been Good to Know You
There is also a Video of this CD:
This Land is Your Land: Animated Kids' Songs of Woody Guthrie
Released in 1996, you can probably pick one of these up (used at Amazon) for a few dollars. And it is so much fun the kids want to see it again and again! The best thing is, kids K-5 like these songs, and they are learning songs from the past.
You can also do a unit on Woody Guthrie and his contribution to American folk music.
OTHER GREAT BOOKS for 4th-5th graders:
• Bach's Goldberg Variations
(by Celenza & Kitchel, w/CD)• The Heroic Symphony
(by Celenza)| |