Musical Storybooks on iPads

Here is another of my handouts from my 2013 NCMEA/TI:ME presentation, "iPad Projects that Work." This plan uses the app Book Creator ($4.99), and is especially effective if your students are already creating books with their language teachers. If your school has iPads and your classroom teachers AREN'T using this app (or something similar), you might want to show it to them!

Musical Storybooks
Level: Grades 1-4
National Standards: Depending on how the lesson is implemented, it may include: 2. Performing on instruments, 3. Improvising melodies, 4. Composing and arranging, and/or 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
Purpose: To create a soundtrack for an original story, created independently or as a joint project with your students' language arts teacher.
Materials: iPad(s) loaded with Book Creator app or similar, and one or more student-created storybooks; virtual instrument apps and a variety of classroom instruments.
Lesson:
1. Show your students a video clip that demonstrates the importance of soundtrack. Possibilities include excerpts from Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Star Wars, etc. For students in grade 4 and up, also consider the video "Star Wars Without John Williams" available on YouTube for a humorous example of how much music can affect the impact of a scene.
2. Depending on the length and scope of this project, decide whether students will work individually on their own stories (longest), in small groups with one story per group, or as a class, with each individual/group assigned a page, scene, or character.
3. Depending on step 2, students plan where to insert music into their storybook.
4. Students create music depending on your guidelines, the scope of the project, and the age of the class. Any sound file that can be put into iTunes can be used in Book Creator. If you have enough iPads, consider using virtual instrument apps or GarageBand. You can also record live performances directly into Book Creator.
5. Share your completed stories with each other, your students' language arts teacher, and/or a younger class of students!

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