Teaching Notes, 20100222

And, after a week layoff (ski week!), we're back!

Everybody Oughta Know (Sweet Honey In The Rock)	Use as an entrance song, sit class down after entering, and then zip in suggestions from the students.
This was a pretty nice song to start with, as I was able to get the class quickly in with them singing something. I then welcomed the students back, and asked them what they did during their week off. After one student responded, I picked out the key activity/place/person, and immediately sang Everybody Oughta Know, with the student's activity/place/person zipped into the song. After doing this once, the class's attention immediately shot up, and everyone was ready to describe their entire week to the class. After a few iterations, I encouraged the student providing details of their vacation to sing their own line (a solo!) for the zippage, and for the most part, they did, with a scattered assist from the class.
Ee Yay Yay (Sanna Longden)	Review Rock/Paper/Scissor, song, activity
Two weeks ago, both classes really didn't have enough time to learn the activity, so I did this again, although I didn't have to spend a lot of time reviewing. I had the students pair up, play RPS once, and then we formed 4 trains. Despite explaining in detail a lot of groundrules, the first class after one iterations merged into two trains! Anyhow, we were able to play a few iterations of it, and by the 3rd or 4th iteration, I could clearly hear the students try to sing the song, even though it covers a pretty wide vocal range. Both classes had an even number of students, which worked out well, until I had to pull one student out in the second class for being disruptive. That sort of messed things up temporarily, and the student was allowed back in somewhat quickly.
Oh My Goodness, Look At This Mess (Sweet Honey In The Rock)	Immerse students into the song
I tried this three weeks ago with not a lot of success, but it's such a fun song that I figured I'd try it again. I had time only in the first class to do this, and after singing the chorus (which the song starts with), only a few students were able to sing with me with a lot of forte. I went ahead, sang a verse, and then instructed the class to sing the chorus again, which was a little more successful. I only covered one more verse (followed by another chorus) before moving on.
Heel Toe Down The Line	Review, replay the game
This was something the students really liked two weeks ago, so why not do it again? I noted that while Valentine's Day was over, one could still play the game with "Would you be a friend of mine" as the second line. This worked out very well. I challenged the class to try to continue with the next iteration while keeping in beat, and for the most part, they did it, with some help from me immediately and loudly vocalizing the next iteration's tune. I used two rhythm sticks also to keep the beat. After playing the game, I focused the students' attention to the board, where I had a clefless staff again on the board. I asked the students to tell me what was missing, and they were able to correctly identify the missing piece as the clef. I then wrote the song notes on the staff, and spoke in generalizations about steps and jumps or leaps. I think a lot of the interval discussion floated way over the heads of the students, so I didn't try very long to get the point across.
Jenny Jenkins	Sing the song
The students' attention was a little scattered after the musical staff mini-discussion, and so I immediately broke into Jenny Jenkins. I also had the chorus hiding behind another board, which I revealed to the delight of the class. This song always works, and students are very willing to offer the colors of their clothes as the next color in the song. What's funny is that someone suggested "tan", and I was left struggling to find a rhyme. I think I settled on something like "I'd look like I'm in a band". It was bad meter, but it still was enjoyable for the class. Similar to the previous time I used the song, I found myself reaching for the ukulele, but I never really played it.
How Do You Do Todee (Sanna Longden)	Teach chant, have students form a circle and try the activity
This was yet another Sanna Longden activity, where students would chant while holding hands while having their arms crossed. This forced the students into a pretty small circle, which is always quite the challenge with my classes. Introducing the chant was pretty easy, as I was able to tie skiing w/ Australians in Tahoe as Australia was in the middle of summer and thus had no snow. I also explained how the Australian jargon was a little different ("shifted" for "moved", etc.), and the accent was distinctive. The students got a bit of a giggle trying to speak with the Australian accent. I had to go through a few different iterations before allowing the students to walk through the circle and find a new spot and join hands in the the timespan of a single line. It's pretty impossible during the first class, and probably unlikely if I try this again. But the students did indeed try. It seemed like they had fun with this. Similar to Oh My Goodness, I had time only in my first class to try this out.

I thought I had did a closing song, but I can't remember what it was. It might have been Everybody Oughta Know, but I don't recall what I did. That's what I get for blogging more than a week after the class.

Retaining the focus of the students was a constant struggle, but for the 2nd class it was really really difficult. At the end of class, I mentioned to the class that I really wanted to cover a lot more than what we did, and in order to do that, the students had to pay attention more effectively. They're 2nd graders, though, and so I don't know if that little plea at the end of the class was going to translate into anything different behavior-wise. It just leads to a reversal compared to last year, where my first class is covering more material than the second class.