Teaching Notes, 20090320

Because last week I taught only one of the two classes (class #1), I did have the option of preparing new material only for class #1 and then having class #2 do last week's session, but I felt that it would be better to keep both classes on roughly the same schedule.

It's a Very Good Day	Opener, sing while seated, introduce middle verse.
I primarily wanted to teach the middle verse to the song ("I can feel the sun..."), but the middle verse was a bit sun-oriented, and I was making contingency plans with regards to the opening verse in case it was still cloudy/foggy when the students rolled in. Fortunately, there was just enough sun for us to sing about a sunny day.
Each Of Us Is A Flower (Charlotte Diamond)	Teach song (both parts), with hand motions.
I continued to talk about springtime (sun, warmth, changing time, etc.) in order to introduce this song, and when I sang it once, about half of the students said they knew it... from preschool! Anyhow, I went long and taught the song, going over the first half, then adding signs, then teaching by rote the second half with signs immediately. Some students noted that in other songs, we signed moon with the hands above our heads, similar to how Charlotte Diamond tries to sign sun. Anyhow, the students seemed to pick up the song without much of a problem, although I don't know if they were terribly interested in it. Perhaps it was too easy? I'll plan on trying to overlay the two halves together as a future challenge.
Tritsch Tratsch Polka	Have students dance/march around in the a circle, watching me. Ask them about what they observed with the music and the dance that went along with it.
I think the most students seemed to get out of this was the opportunity to let loose and get their jitters out. The students were mostly giggling through the march, and fortunately most followed my directive to not crash into the person in front of them. I totally forgot to ask the first class about their observations. When I asked the second class, few really noticed that I was tiptoeing during the softer parts of the song, while taking larger, more pronounced steps during louder parts of the song. It is possible that the students were merely preoccupied with moving around in general, or perhaps the dynamics of the song (and the recording that I chose) didn't have enough range and change during the song.
Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar	Review the game quickly, and then have students pick their target. Try keeping a beat during the game with hands/thighs.
Students were eager to play this again. In fact, when I asked "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?" plenty of students volunteered to be the thief; I thanked them for their honesty. I unrolled a few modifications as we played - first students were to pick their own target (as opposed to last time). After two names, I then added the fact that you could not repeat a name; the first class was able to do this perfectly (and they also ended the game by choosing the teacher - an easy out), while the second class near the end needed help to cover everyone. Later, I had to remind the students that when they picked a name, they were to continue the entire phrase (e.g. "...stole the cookie from the cookie jar") rather than just blurting out the name. I also had to remind the rest of the class that after "then who", we all had to chime in with "Who stole..."; I oftentimes signed "who" (asl) in order to get students to jump in and keep the beat. This was the first time I had a student who was ill and obviously uncomfortable. When someone picked her to be the cookie thief, she started to cry. I had to quickly ask the class to help her with the chant, and then I went ahead and picked the next thief. The student recovered enough to do the later tasks.
Razzama Tazzama (Orff)	Immerse the students into the chant while seated
This was maybe a top-10 moment. The students were still sort of chatting after the Cookie Jar chant, and this chant not only caught their attention, but they loved it! I modified the movements slightly - clapping on Bim, and then waving hands on each of Razzama and Tazzama. I purposely paused after each Wally-Woo-hoo and the end of each middle verse (e.g. "put your hands in the air"); the students needed the catch-up time, even if it were just for a second or two. Anyhow, this was so well received, and after each Wally-woo-hoo, more and more students threw their arms in the air on "hoo" such that they rolled backwards onto their backs. This was fun, plain and simple. I have to be careful not to re-use it; perhaps I'll invent my own middle verses to keep it fresh.
Sarasponda	Review quickly, try out boonda ostinato again
This didn't seem to be all that successful. I tried to keep the boondas together, but it didn't seem like they blended well with the rest of the students. I used 8 boondas for the first class, and 5 for the second class. I tried having the boondas come back to the whole group at "A do rey o" to see if that would provide some unity, and it did to a small degree, but the boondas singing boonda never really morphed into a product I was hoping for. I actually recorded this for both classes, using both the iSight camera/firewire plus a tiny mic attached to my iPod to see what recorded better. I haven't gone back to see what the recordings sounded like, but I fear that the iPod recording may have been mostly me, since I was sitting right by it.

I also tried to squeeze in Polly Wolly Doodle in the first class, but it was so rushed that I don't think the students really got it at all, save for the handful who knew it before. For the second class, I ended with A Rig A Jig Jig and had the students pick up their mats and place them in the mat stand.

Other backpocket items were My Bonnie (with the 'b' movement), and Energy (by Laurie Berkner), and 4 Hugs A Day (Charlotte Diamond. It seems that the students are well versed in Charlotte Diamond songs, and so I have to balance learning new material and just singing for singing's sake (not a bad thing) with other Charlotte Diamond songs.

Teaching Notes, 20090313

This week was a little unusual. I was still suffering from a cold that involved coughing and rough voice, and so I informed the teachers that I didn't want to get them sick, and that it was at their discretion whether or not to have music class. The second teacher cancelled, but the first teacher never responded, and so music class for them continued. That actually worked out pretty well, since typically the first class doesn't cover as much material as the second class.

Down by the Sea	Opener, march to the beat while doing the hand motions associated with the song
It took a little more than usual to get all of the children seated and in a circle. I tried to emphasize the beat with my feet (stomping), and only a few students followed my lead with the feet. They seemed to remember to song well, though, doing all of the motions with little help with the exception of "feeding the gulls". After the song was over, I did ask them about what my feet were doing; students responded with things like "I was stomping evenly", but none said "beat".
Rhythm Instruments	Revisit the same 1-2-3-4 plan from two weeks ago with various instruments.
This was my way of teaching while eating minutes and saving my voice. Again, I passed out a variety of instruments, including the kpanlango, djembe (two), shekere (two), guiro (6), tambourines (4), and talking drums (2). I split the class into the large drums(1), shekere and talking drums (2), guiro (3), and tambourine (4). I returned to the single hit on a beat exercise, still starting with the big drums on 1. Then, I went to the board, and wrote out four vertical lines, illustrating four even beats. Next, I wrote a line underneath, with two lines for beat 2, to illustrate an even double hit for the shekere and talking drums. I didn't tell them that they were playing eighth notes. After the 1-2-1-1 pattern, I then drew out a 1-2-1-2 pattern, which the students then played with reasonable success. Next, I had the students do a 1-2-3-2 pattern, which drew some oohs and aahs. The triplet sounded a bit like mud, but the students had fun trying. It was a little helpful to also have the set of 3 be the largest group, and with the instruments that could make the shortest sound (if you hit the guiro instead of scraping it). I realized that the talking drums are easier to play with mallets, as opposed to a hand. That made the talking drum holders a lot more satisfied.
I Am A Pizza	Review 1st stanza while putting away drums, then teach 1st stanza in French, then Spanish.
One of the things I hope my students take with them by the end of the year is that music is universal and transcends typical languages. I was able to cover the first stanza while putting away nearly all of the drums, and then I started talking about how one could sing the Pizza song in any language. Students immediately chimed in, asking to sing in various languages, including Spanish (which I was actually hoping to do), and Chinese. Teaching them in French wasn't all that easy. The students had no idea what I was saying, and while I tried briefly to teach them what some of the words meant, they weren't exactly equipped for a foreign language lesson. I reminded them that they had to watch and listen carefully. I spoke the phrases, and they repeated them, sort of. Then, I sang the song slowly, and they did a pretty good job responding, except for the unison "Je suis une pizza" near the end, which they couldn't exactly get. In fact, they were pretty lost by the end of the stanza, and so I quickly moved back into English for the last two stanzas to recapture their attention. It didn't make sense to try Spanish after that, so I ended the exercise with the pizza that was now a mess.
Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar	Review the game quickly, and then have students pick their target. Try keeping a beat during the game with hands/thighs.
I didn't get to this.
Bonanopstekker	Review the steps and song
This was an easy way to close out the class. I reviewed the dance, and emphasized how important it was to keep connected when on the outside of the circle. When students entered the circle during the song, it was still chaos, and when going out of the circle, I never got the class to recover enough to change directions. Near the end of the song, I had the students follow me clockwise, and I led them to the door.

There were actually a lot of other things I wanted to do, including "Each of us is a flower", and talking about the elements again. I also wanted to re-try Sarasponda with Boonda, but there was clearly not enough time for that. Other backpocket items included My Bonnie (with the 'b' movement), and Energy (by Laurie Berkner)

Teaching Notes, 20090306

This week, I added something new - homemade nametags! I didn't want teachers to burn through labels in case they didn't have nametags handy, and this way, I could bring them back and for as needed. However, I realized as the day went on that the tags were as valuable as individual cards - I could shuffle through them, and they were just as helpful as tags on a string.

Well I'm On My Way	Opener, get kids singing as they got seated
It seems like it's near impossible to get the students to march into class and continue to march in a circle. And so, it was easier to have them sit while I sang (and they responded) the song. I only needed to go through the song once until everyone was seated.
Bonanopstekker (Shenanigans CD)	Teach them each dance transition without the music. Then play music and see if they follow me and the music.
I spent a decent amount of time explaining rules and what each phase of the dance was. Using the circle of mats as the barrier between inside and outside, I had to make sure the circle was small enough so that everyone could hold hands and be outside the mats, while the circle had to be big enough so that when the students walked inside, it wasn't mass chaos and collisions. Other rules included making sure that everyone held hands while outside the circle., and not colliding into others. The CD insert appears to have a counting error inside with regards to the beats when the kids went in and out of the circle, so I basically had the following plan: 16 beats to the right 16 beats to the left 4 beats going inside 4 beats waving hello 4 beats clapping 4 beats stomping 4 beats going outside 4 beats going inside 4 beats waving hello 4 beats going outside Now, going inside or outside takes a bit of time - especially going outside, so by the end of the whole cycle, we were a little behind. That cut into the 2x16 beat procession, and oftentimes I simply deleted the direction change and continued to go to the right. The few times that I did do a direction change, the students bunched up and collided a bit, but they did a good job trying to stay connected. The students were completely amused by the waving hello portions of the dance.
Tuwe Tuwe	Review the song sung twice in a row without stopping, with clapping. Then record the song, then play back the recording while recording the song again, starting 8 bars after the recording.
The review went quickly, and the students were very intrigued at the prospect of being recorded. I used an iSight camera to pick up the audio from about 5 feet away from the edge of the circle. I played the first recording back to them before using it to do the round; they loved it, and the second class actually clapped to it. Recording the second iteration wasn't too bad, although it was hard to make sure that we kept up properly with the speed of the first recording. Students really enjoyed hearing themselves. I had them count instances of "Tuwe Tuwe" when listening to the combined recording.
Cookie Jar Chant	Teach phrase by phrase, focusing on the call-response. Don't worry about beat.
About 2/3rds of both classes were familiar with the cookie jar chant, but when I tried to make them keep a beat, it didn't work at all, and students weren't all that quick to pick names. So, instead, I was always the speaker for the first two phrases (students eventually joined in). The chosen student responded with "who me" and "couldn't be" with varying degrees of chutzpah; full class responses of "yes you" and "then who" were generally strong. I used the nametags to go through everyone in random order, and even when my cards were missing a student or two, some students in the circle were keenly aware of my attempt to get everyone a turn, and they ended up pointing to those who hadn't gone yet. I made myself the last person in both classes, and admitted to taking the cookie..
Sarasponda	Review quickly, and try introducing boonda as a ostinato for the first half of the song.
I only did this for the first class, as for the first time, the second class took longer (particularly Tuwe Tuwe) than the first. Students didn't seem all that jazzed with Sarasponda again, but when given the new part of boonda, they were into it. I selected a group of 8 students to be my boondas, and I inadvertently also had them tap their thighs (they were all seated) on the beat (the 'b' of boonda), which provided them a nice beat for them. As the boondas were singing something very different, it wasn't hard to get them started, then turn my back mostly away from them while conducting (blindly) with one hand behind me. Getting everyone to come in at "A do rey o" wasn't hard either, and it was a nice way to bring the two sections back together.
I Am A Pizza (Charlotte Diamond)	Teach by echo, note non-echoing next-to-last line i each stanza.
About 3/4 of each class already knew this song, but I tried to teach it as if few knew it in advance. This is a remarkably easy song to teach in general, as nearly everything is echoed. Of the 3/4, only about 1/4 of those knew the song beyond the first stanza, which gave me a nice feeling that they were learning something new. I don't know if there are a lot of hand motions until the end (out of the oven, into the box, etc.), but the song was moving so quickly that the students didn't need much motion. (Plus, they were all getting prompted by virtue of the echo anyway.) I went through the first stanza twice, then moved onto the 2nd and 3rd stanzas (and the 4th mini-stanza). One student noted that she could sing part of the song in French, which is exactly what Charlotte Diamond does in her own recording. I noted that we'd do that (French) another day.
Nature Song (Sweet Honey In the Rock)	Teach signs for rain, sun, wind, sand, sea, and stars, and then just play the music on the boombox, and see if students could follow the songs and do he appropriate sign.
Students seemed ok with learning the signs. Each section of the song is a little on the long side, and I could see that students were a little bored (how long can one keep signing "rain" ?), and I quickly realized that the amount of time spent on one section changes way too dramatically for the 1st graders (i.e. rain the 2nd time is one measure, while rain the 1st time is 8 bars.) For the first class, because of time constraints, I had the students line up by the door in order for the song to be the very last thing that they did; I had the second class moving to the song while standing in the circle. The students were a little unsure of the long times for each stage, but when the song hit rain for the 2nd time, the students became amused by the quick changing. The song ends in chaos, which was a good way to end the day.

I had the second class pick up the mats in a circle with a song whose title I forgot. Oops.

Backpocket items included My Bonnie (with bouncing on 'B' words), and Each of Us Is A Flower.

Teaching Notes, 20090227

After two weeks off (one for being out of town, one for school winter recess), I hoped to have a good lesson plan ready. I really wanted to introduce something that would be appropriate for African-American History Month, and so I thought I'd finally use the assortment of large drums found in the music room.

Everybody Oughta Know	Sing as opener, students are seated
This is turning into an easy opener; I zipped in "music, rhythm, and drumming" as things that everyone ought to know. In both classes, children streamed in, and I started the song when the class was about 80% seated (and all children were at least in the room).
African Drums!	Introduce an instrument to pairs around the room. Then have students play while those on the larger drums provide a clear downbeat.
This consumed a fair amount of time, and was very rewarding. I introduced several different drums, including the kpanlango, djembe, talking/squeeze drum, and other instruments such as the agogo, and the guiro. I passed out about 10 instruments in all, and that required pairing children up - one child would get to play and then after some time we'd switch. First, I had the students with the large drums (kpanlango, djembe) to try to play on '1' (of 4 beats) - getting them to play consistently was pretty darn hard. Originally, I wanted the children to experiment and play improvisationally while the large drums continued to play on '1', but that more or less led to chaos in the first class. The second class, I had the large drums play on '1', and other groups/instruments play only on the other beats. I still focused on getting the large drums to play on the beat, in unison, and when it happened it was vey satisfying. I emphasized how the big drums were so important - it kept everyone together, and it was always present.
Tuwe Tuwe	Review the song while putting away the instruments. Try to do a round, with half of the class starting 4 bars after the other half.
The students picked up the song very quickly despite the 3-week layoff; I guess it was helpful that the song is pretty short, and the clapping really helped key "Tuwe". The round for the first class was messy at first, but then the teacher offered to help; that made things a litle easier, as the students had at least someone to follow. However, the students oftentimes still followed me or children on the opposite side, which made things a little difficult for the round to be successful. I told the class that I'd record the song the next time, and the teacher offered to record it on her laptop, but after a few minutes she couldn't figure out how to get the recording to work. So, I just did the round again, but this time I started the second group after 2 bars, and it sounded pretty good. The second class' round went ok - it started well (possibly because we did a round during the previous class), although we only got to do a round that started with the second group 4 bars after the first. Originally, I had hoped to also have a student or two hit the kpanlango to keep a beat, but it was simpler to just focus on the singing and round.
Cookie Jar Chant	Teach phrase by phrase, focusing on the call-response. Don't worry about beat.
I never got to this.
Fresh From the Kitchen	Review activity, and play it for about 8-10 children's worth.
Students from both classes did not at first remember the activity, but after one iteration, most remembered it well enough to go across the room. (Some thought we were playing the game from "The Longer The Faster".) While in the first class students simply walked from one side to the other, I encouraged students in the second class to do something fun while they walked from one side of the circle to the other. At the end, students from both classes complained that they didn't get a turn.
Sarasponda	Review song, introduce boonda.
I was going to try to get the class to sing this again, and then introduce the boonda/boonda, but I simply ran out of time after reviewing the song. In both cases, I had the class line up to leave and we sang the song standing. One student complained that I was hurting his diaphragm with all of the singing. I couldn't be prouder! :)

Backpocket items included My Bonnie (with bouncing on 'B' words), and Each of Us Is A Flower. The drumming really did take up a lot of time, although I didn't mind so much since it had been a while since the students played with instruments.

Teaching Notes, 20090206

Today was going to be another chance to get more Valentine's Day-oriented songs into the children's repertoire. February is also African American History Month, and because I was out next week (and there was a scheduled school vacation week during the following week), i wasn't going to have much of an opportunity to do much during the month in general for AAHM. So, I decided to put in at least Tuwe Tuwe and hope that the children would remember it in 3 weeks.

Down By The Sea (Red Grammer)	Have children walk into the room in a circle, and follow my hand motions while keeping beat with feet.
During the first class, children quickly streamed in. I have to find a better way to get the students in if I want them to march to music right when they pass through the doorway; perhaps I'll need them to line up outside first - something difficult to do when there's a rainout gym class right outside the door. As a result, I had the first class sit down around the mat circle and we simply did the hand signs seated. I did manage to get the second class marching, although that class also had children streaming in irregularly; I think I simply wanted to try the march. The march went ok, although few children were keeping a beat with their feet, even as much as I tried to emphasize it with my own feet.
Skinamarink	Teach by rote, then add hand symbols. Kid are seated.
While this is a cute song, it's pretty high up there in the register. My voice really had trouble maintaining the higher pitch, and certainly by the second class, my throat was hurting. This particular song was reasonably well received by both classes, especially after the hand signs were added. However, I don't know if the students would retain much of the song - especially since I wasn't planning on reviewing it any time soon.
L-O-V-E (Nat King Cole)	Review while seated using hand signs only, then have them stand and redo the song with whole body symbols.
This was a nice review, and it got the students up and moving again, which they always love. The students did a remarkable job of remembering the words to the song. I didn't extend the song at all, and so this turned out to be a very short review.
Tuwe Tuwe	Teach by rote/echo, add clapping
Although I didn't intend to do so (and in retrospect, I should have planned for the extra time, since I didn't plan enough stuff in general this day), I spent about 5-7 minutes with this song, even though it's so short. I spent a little bit of time talking about how it was from Africa (like Funga, etc.), and the fact that these weren't English words gave me free license to take this very slowly. However, the students actually picked it up pretty quickly. Adding the clapping was a lot of fun, and it kept the students' attention. The second class was doing very well, and so on a whim, I decided to try out a round, since the song was so short, and the second class teacher was participating along with the children (read: free helper/leader). The round was ok - it sounded far better than I expected, although the students may have not noticed. It would have been nice to bring a recording device for that day.
Mail Myself To You (Woody Guthrie)	Review the first two verses. Then the latter two verses, adding a review of the first two in between. Then lead the students by reciting the first line, and singing the entire song as A-B-A-C-A-D-A
The students seemed to enjoy the song and the extra verses, and the one line prompt (similar to what they do with hula) worked well. But after the 8th stanza (after doing some repetition), the students started getting tired of it.
Magic Penny	Teach by rote only the first verses and chorus, followed by the same first verses. Then, add some hand motions to the chorus.
Students seemed to be ok with the song, although their energy and enthusiasm might have been a little low after too many Mail Myself To You's. Adding the hand motions to the chorus provided a little bit of variety for the students since there isn't a lot to do but sing during the main verse.
Sarasponda	Teach by rote.
This was really a backpocket song, but I found myself having a lot of extra time. Students seemed ok learning the song but again they also appeared a little tired. Having two songs that didn't involve English may also have been a little weird for them. I also gathered that many first graders don't know what a spinning wheel was. For the second class, I had them clap to "ret set set" to emphasize its shortness, which they mostly got.

This time around, I didn't really have a good ending song, particularly for the first group, so I had them simply line up while doing sarasponda. For the second class, I had them march to Magic Penny and do their typical mat grabbing and dropoff while walking in a circle.

With sarasponda I do hope that I can extend the song such that we have a group of "boonda" kids vamping until "a do rayo". In the meantime, I thought this was a fun class, although I can tell that the children do get tired when we spend more than 5 minutes on any one song or activity, unless it involves dancing.

The other backpocket item would have been A Bushel and a Peck.