“Thunder & Lightning” Polka Drawing

We learned that composers sometimes wrote music to make us feel a certain way or imagine something in our minds. Without knowing the title beforehand, the children drew what they heard and experienced “Thunder & Lightning” polka drawing.

Start with a story

A good story always sets the stage for memorable learning. Telling the children about my fear of storms as a child opened the door for brainstorming all of the different sounds that might be heard during a thunderstorm.  For each sound that we could imagine, the children came up with an instrument the composer might could use to represent that sound. When the anticipation was sufficiently built up, and the clouds in the room were heavy and dark, “Thunder & Lightning” polka drawing began.  Sweet release! In the video above, it’s easy to see the children completely engrossed in drawing as they hear every boom, every raindrop, every crash of lightning.

End with a smile

After the drawing is complete, we watched an orchestra play Strauss’s Lightning Polka. First, I showed them little Jonathan (4 yrs) conducting the orchestra.

As they listened their ears were tuned and their minds were focused on discovering which instruments play their part in the storm. “Thunder & Lightning” Polka Drawing is such as simple lesson yet it is always the most memorable for the children… and me. Nothing compares with the smiles on my students’ faces as they respond to wonderful music. Do you agree?

I love my job!!

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Cherie Herring

Music/Technology Integration at Hammond School

I teach elementary music, am passionate about integrating technology into my teaching, am obsessed with my SMARTBoard and iPad, and enjoy creating lessons and sharing ideas. I love technology almost as much as I love cheesecake, and with more energy and ideas than I know what to do with, I can't wait for the sun to come up each morning! I'm wife to Prince Charming and mom to three incredible girls who keep me balanced. . . sort of!

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