Week 5: PLN Post 2

Help Kidz Learn Website

Click here to visit the Help Kidz Learn Website

I found this website this week when someone I follow on Twitter posted a link for it. After I got over my pet peeve of using "z" instead of "s" ("Kidz" instead of "Kids") :), I found that I really like this website. From the hompage I had the option of choosing activities for the "early years," games, stories, creative activities, and more. Not all of the options are musical, but by clicking on each category I found at least some that focused on music.

One of my favorite "early years" activity is called "Peeping Musicians". When a person playing an instrument peeks out from the side of the screen, the student can click the image to hear the cartoon person play the instrument. Sure, the instrument sounds are not very authentic, but they're close enough that you can tell what the instrument is. I also like that the cartoons and music choices are pretty fun. I believe they would appeal to young students and make band and orchestra instruments look "cool," not just grown up or "stuffy."

Something I think would even help my middle school students is the "Making Music" keyboard, found under the "Creative" category. This operates like a real keyboard: when I click on a key it plays the note. The keyboard, with white keys (well, ok, they're actually rainbow colored!) and black keys, contains an octave plus a third. I really like that each key also has the name of the note inscribed on it. We do have a keyboard lab in each middle school, but sometimes my students really struggle with remembering where the notes are. Maybe using this interactive keyboard might help them with that. It might also be a good choice for teachers who want to do a keyboard unit but do not have keyboards (or at least not enough for all students to be playing at the same time).