Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern

The book starts off with a man who is crabby about his noisy house.  His floor squeaks, his bed creaks, the tea kettle whistles, etc. so he goes to the village wise person who tells him to buy a cow.  Now he has all the house noises plus a cow.  About 10 animals later, the wise man tells him to get rid of all the animals.  Suddenly the floor squeak, bed creak and tea kettle are quiet, pleasant sounds. I always scan the pictures, make a slideshow, and project the pictures while reading the story so my hands are free and everyone can see.

Each house and animal sound gets an instrument assigned to it.  I assign an instrument and sound to each student. Every time that sound is mentioned in the story, the student plays their instrument. By the end of the story everyone in the class has an instrument to play that represents a sound in the story. It’s also fun to let the students pick which instrument will be best for each sound.

This book is great for a substitute since there is no singing involved.