Teaching Notes, 20090410

One of the consistent pieces of feedback I received from both teachers was that the students could use some more movement. While I don't have quite enough material to keep them marching for the rest of the year (and how many circles do I want them to march through), I thought I'd try to do more rhythm exercises with hands.

Energy (Laurie Berkner)	Sing the first lines, and then start the song on the computer. Start marching in a circle during the 2nd iteration of the chorus.
Similar to the previous week, I said "good morning", and fortunately I got a sleepy response. When I sang the first lines without the music playing, I moved around a bit, which got the students a little excited. The students didn't sing along much, and I don't know if I'll use it again as another opener, but it did get the students moving. One student in the 2nd class had a birthday that day (he was wearing a crown), so I had the class sing happy birthday right before going into Energy.
Body Percussion/Criss Cross Applesauce	Have students follow my lead, then go into 4-beat patterns.
I first would clap or tap my knees to see if I could get the students' attention; the 2nd class didn't have much of a problem, but it took several hits to get the 1st class to focus on me entirely. I did try to wait longer than I normally did for a silent classroom this time around. When I got the students into a tapping motion, I did have to remind them periodically not to rush the beat. The patterns I used were T-T-C-C, T-T-C-H, T-C-C-H, T-CC-C-H, T-C-CC-H, X-X-CC-H, X-X-TT-B, where T=thigh, C=clap, H=head tap, X=half of a crisscross, B=body tap (around the collarbone). I tried to make sure that the majority of the class was following before moving onto the next pattern. After a few iterations of the last pattern, I then started chanting "Criss Cross Applesauce". When I did the chant, one student in the first class knew the usual version of the chant ("Spiders Crawling Up Your Back"), but I intended to do the Pepperoni Pizza version; Pepperoni Pizza involved pounding the ground for each syllable. Students were getting fatigued with all the hand/arm motion and started dropping out until Pepperoni Pizza. After enough Pizza, I then went into T-C-E-E (E=elbow), and then introduced the next activity...
Who Stole The Cookie From The Cookie Jar?	Review while continuing the beat. Have students choose each other in circle order.
The first few times, students really weren't keeping any sort of beat, so this time, I wanted to take something that the students really like to chant and force a beat onto the song. This was difficult to keep up; students lost interest in keeping the beat midway through the song, and I had to be very emphatic in my motions to maintain the beat. When students missed the beat, I'd try to recollect the students and restart the song with that person, which did help to get the students' attention a bit. I never repeated a student's attempt more than once. The first class actually by the last quarter of the circle got louder and louder, while the 2nd class started fading by the last quarter of the circle. After we finished, I admitted that I ate the cookie, but students again claimed that they had indeed stolen the cookie. I thanked them again for their honesty. Students' hands were pretty tired at this point, so I had them shake out their hands or blow air on their hands.
My Bonnie	Review song, then remove "Bonnie". Then play the 'b'-movement game with "Bonnie" silenced.
Students quickly reviewed the song, and then I asked them about the last time we removed words from the song. A few students remembered "Deep and Wide". When propositioned with removing "Bonnie", the students were extremely eager. However, it took a long long time for them to remember removing Bonnie during the 2nd half of the song, and even then we didn't get good removal coverage. That's when I decided to do the up/down game with My Bonnie, but instead of toggling crouching/standing on every b-word, I had the students toggle only when we'd normally sing "Bonnie". It seemed to help a little bit more, especially for the 2nd half of the song. Students asked if they could play the up/down game with B-words again, and I said we'd do that during another week.
Two Hands Make...	Have students mimic signs, then introduce the rhyme, then revisit the rhyme in beat.
This was pretty easy to do - I introduced each sign (rain - which they knew, umbrella, spider, mountain (not an ASL mountain), butterfly, sunshine (the big-O version), sailboat, and pillow). During the first iteration of the chant, I paused after each phrase so that students had a chance to do it. During the second iteration, I just went right on through.
If You've Got One	Repeat the same lesson that I did on January 16th
Students remembered this - I started with twiddling my thumb, and most caught on right there. The only deviation I did this time when compared to January 16th is that during "4", I indeed wiggled my knees and signed "more", rather than wiggle my whole body. I didn't exactly plan it that way - it just came out like that, but the students didn't seem to care. I quickly went into the recorded song, and some students did sing along, even though it's way lower than their voices really support, and neither class seems to want to sing an octave higher than the recording or how I sing. Originally I didn't think I'd have time for this, but I did just manage to squeeze it in.
Old King Glory On The Mountain	Review the song, and then teach the dance. Try to end the dance with the students lined up to leave.
This time, I had a little more time to keep the students in line, as rushing the song the last time may have led to more chaos. I deliberately explained every step of the dance before doing it, and I emphasized the importance of keeping the circle looking like a circle. During the first class, I forgot to put in something in the middle to symbolize the mountain, but for the second class, I did put in a stool. The dance went pretty well, and although there was some giggling, it wasn't disruptive, and students made a pretty concerted effort to reform the circle after each iteration. When we were two iterations before completion, stopped the singing and I introduced the very last line ("We all bow down to the mountain") so that they'd be prepared for it when it came. During the first class, there was one student left, who received all of the bowing and was dancing at the end with his hands clasped and his arms forming a mini-circle), and for the second class, the mountain was completely empty, which worked out well with the stool left there. I didn't quite get the students lined up by the door at the end, but it didn't matter much.

This was probably one of my most active classes, as I was trying to keep the class moving as quickly as possible, with little intro talk between activities. Looking back, it was 7 items, which was pretty cool in my book. Backpocket items included comparing bumblebee recordings (strings vs. Bobby McFerrin), Polly Wolly Doodle, Bushel and a Peck, Wake Up You Lazybones, and Pass The Shoe.