The lesson plan had an interesting twist - the first class' teacher forgot about music class. (I ended up emailing the teacher in the middle of what would have been the class, and she later sent two students to tell me that she just plain forgot.) There was an assembly during the in-between time of the two classes, and in the assembly were both of my class' students. I had the first class' teacher check in with the other teacher to see if the latter would be amenable to a combined music class. With 5 minutes to go, I was told that they would be up for trying it out, sending me into a scramble to line up 19 stools in the back of the room, followed by two rows of about 21 mats. I was hoping that one whole class would fit on the row of stools (and I was banking on some absences), and they *just* fit.
| Everybody Oughta Know | Opener - substitute with "what music is" and "what a valentine is" |
| I debated back and forth whether to use this as an opener or instead using "Down By the Sea" by Red Grammer and having the students walk in while listening to the song. However, with 40 children, there were enough logistical challenges just to get everyone in the same room, so "Everybody Oughta Know" worked just fine. I did end with "what a valentine is" and asked them what they knew about Valentine's Day. What a cheap transition. | |
| L-O-V-E (Nat King Cole) | Sing the 1st half of the song. Sign L-O-V-E to each line, then teach via rote, line by line. Then, add the 2nd half of the song. Then, have them shape their body into L-O-V-E and sign again. |
| I started out saying that "if you sing this to your parents, they'll love it." I have to occasionally remind myself that why a certain song is neat isn't all that important - they'll pretty much follow anything that I do and sing whatever I sing. Having them sing and sign L-O-V-E was pretty easy, and then it left me with the realization that I had nothing for them to do when singing the 2nd half of the song. Oops! I did start doing simple signs ("two", "for you", shaking when singing "please don't break it"), but the signs weren't as quickly picked up by the class as L-O-V-E were. Having them stand up was also a bit of a breath of fresh air, since they were sitting for a while. I did remind them to not bump each other; I said "try not to bump", and a teacher quickly emphasized "you *will not* bump". | |
| Echo Clapping/Percussion | Have students follow me doing various tapping, hand/arm movements, clapping, etc., all to a beat. Later, introduce tap/clapping in 3. |
| I wanted to spend more time keeping everyone on the same beat (and also see if I could retain their focus), so I started out with a basic thigh tap-clap (a bit harder to do when you're standing), followed by other patterns like tap-tap-clap-clap, tap-clap-clap-clap, etc. I tried to keep the beat as simple as possible. Next, I practiced with them the 5-tap clap from "2 Hands 4 Hands", as I was going to end the day with the song; during this time, I had them also only clap while I did the 5-tap so that they could at least see where the clap fit in (rather than hear a messy roll then a clap). I also hoped that it would help them find their way in case they were lost doing the 5-tap. Then, I went into 3 (tap-clap-clap), and asked if the students noticed anything different; they did, but few could express what it meant to have a beat of 3. I had them do 3-beat measures for a while; then I had them just do the two claps (eliminating the downbeat), which they got the hang of eventually. Going back to a tap-clap-clap, I then started to sing... | |
| My Bonnie | Sing the song as students clapped in 3. Have students then learn the song by rote, and then sing altogether. |
| This went pretty well; a few students knew the song, and started to sing along. I pointed out how this song was "in 3", and that didn't quite click in with everyone. I did then try an experiment with half of the students clapping to the beat while others swayed during the song; I wanted to illustrate how songs in 3 often leads to more body swaying. I also mentioned what My Bonnie was all about. That went right over the heads of everyone. | |
| The Longer The Faster | Have the students line up, one line on one side (by the stools) and another line on the other side of the room. Have them do the game that goes along with the song, with one student crossing the room every 8 beats. |
| I wasn't planning on doing this at all, but as I was thinking about ideas that would work with a group of 40 children, I thought that this would be worthwhile pulling out again. I couldn't risk trying to run this as a circle - hence the 2 lines, and it worked out quite nicely, with the students on the mats forming the far line, and the students on stools on the other. This was quite fun. I reviewed with them again the rules of the game, reminding students to tap lightly on a shoulder and only on 8. (Note: the Shenanigans CD sleeve actually recommends the student to go behind the next student rather than tapping them on the shoulder. To each his own.) The students were pretty good about keeping to 8, until the song got faster (by the time the triangle showed up again in the song. I did notice that students tended to select their friends, and there was a greater than even chance that boys tapped boys and girls tapped girls, and so in the middle of the song, I and the 2 teachers started encouraging students to select someone who hadn't gone yet. It worked mildly; in the future, I'll probably make that a criteria; otherwise, you go into the middle (cookie jar?) or something. After the song had ended, the classes were no longer separated (stool/mat), but the students and teachers didn't seem to mind. | |
| Mail Myself To You (Woody Guthrie) | While seated, immerse them right into the song. Add hand/arm motions right after the first iteration. Get them singing the first verse before moving onto the second verse, and when they're comfortable, go back to the first verse. |
| A few students I think knew this, but this is overall a very easy song to teach them, especially with the hand/arm motions. It's a ton of fun, too, and when all 40 were singing, it makes for a wonderful scene. This, as you can imagine, was a setup for an extension next week, as there are 4 verses in all. | |
| 2 Hands 4 Hands | Review the song quickly, and have the class follow along to the song standing in place. Try to keep the beat when not singing (thigh tap-clap). |
| I couldn't line up 40 students by the door, so they had to stay where they were seated for this one. This second iteration of the song worked a little better than last week, but while students weren't singing, I still felt they were not getting a whole lot. The song does energize them though, just in time for lunch. | |
Teaching 40 children at the same time was quite a blast. Originally I was going to try teaching My Bonnie while having students pass a toy boat on the start of each measure, but since we weren't in a circle, that idea went quickly out the window.
Backpocket items again included Sarasponda (as usual), and Tuwe Tuwe.
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