Felt Staff Board

I've been posting a lot of my electronic files that I use in my teaching lately and not so much of my hands on manipulatives.  Well, I had to get a bunch of these out this week when my LCD projector's bulb burned out. . . it made me realize how much I use my computer during the day!!!

This is one of my favorite (and cheapest) teaching aides and it's very versatile!  It's a giant felt staff board:

It's very easy to make.  I bought one of those thick foam presentation boards- you know the kind you find next to the poster board at Walmart or Target.  Then I had a large piece of white felt left over from something (you can buy that at Walmart too!)  I folded it in half, sewed it along two edges, turned it inside out and slide it over the white foam presentation board.

Next, using a thick sharpie and a yard stick, I drew the lines of my staff.  I made mine about 2 inches apart.  With two pieces of black felt I made a hand full of 2" black circles.  Voila!  I have a staff board.

Here's where the versatility comes into play.  You can find some fun things to use as note heads.  One year, in the sticker section of Michael's I found these balls for Bounce High:

Here's the ball up close:

To make it "stick" to the felt I took the little Velcro dots that come with the recorders I ordered and I stuck them on the back of the ball.

Here are some foam leaves I found at Hobby Lobby in a GIANT tub. Here's it's showing "Little Leaves are Falling":

Here's a leave up close:

I was out of my Velcro recorder dots so I used a piece of adhesive Velcro:

I have lots of felt pieces, here an example of the turkeys that I got through Oriental Trading:

This month I'm breaking out my snowflakes and next month we'll use my hearts.  I like to use this a s a break from the "technology".  It's also nice for whole group instruction and letting the kids come down and add the notes to the staff.

For you Colorado Folks, I will be posting soon some of the manipulatives that I will be presenting at my Manipulative Mania Session at CMEA.  This is sponsored through ROCKE and that presentation will be on January 25.  I'll be presenting another session, "Upping the Ante" at 10:20 on Thursday, January 24, please come to that one two!!!

Based on some reader feedback, I've created some more "Slug Bug Games."  The rhythm files are posted now at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. ..  the melody ones will be coming soon.  I'm also working on some Valentine's PowerPoints and a Valentine Game, similar to my Christmas Tree Reading Game.  Please follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers to get a monthly freebie, the first one is coming on February 1st!!!

Happy Friday everyone!