Submitted by Chandra Sadler

Idea posted January 8, 2004

Continuing with my S.A.I.L. Theme For Music, I used a writing exercise for my bulletin board. After studying dynamics I had the 3rd graders brainstorm things that made loud sounds and soft sounds.

I then found a fish, colored it 30% gray and put five lines on it's body. I printed some on yellow and green paper (blue Gingham fabric background). I passed out one to each student. I actually alternated so they couldn't check their neighbor for answers. Students wrote either FORTE or PIANO vertically, one letter on each line. They then wrote five words, using the letters in FORTE and PIANO as the first letter for each word (clear as mud)? The title for the board is "Dynamic Words." An explanation of what we studied is posted on a vertical banner on the side of the board. It was simple and scores a lot of points in a school where displaying student work is a good thing.