I had the ropes on the ground in a circle before the students came in.
| Indo Eu (Shenanigans) | Lead students into the room with the song playing, moving appropriately to the song |
Indo Eu features a steady, almost marching beat with a low-high call and answer, and I either crouched down or walked very tall in order to mimic the pitches that were being played. Instructions for something like this were pretty simple; I just asked the students to watch what I was doing, and that was enough. Not all of the students were following me entirely; some were just walking in a circle, but that was ok with me. | |
| I can sing up high | Have the students follow me in the song |
We did this last week, and so it was easy to get the students to repeat this activity. We went faster and faster until the students could barely keep up - instant fun. | |
| Keep the Kettle Boiling | Teach students the activity, then play the game |
With the students on the outside of the circle, I spent a few minutes explaining the game. The students initiallly were unsure about the activity, but once I got through the first few children, they really started to get the hang of it. The students started to chant louder, and they'd jump with more enthusiasm. I would then start varying the tempo, pitch, and volume of the chant, which provided some welcome variety. I'd also change up the movement just a little bit to see how well the students were watching me, rather than just listening to my voice. Anyhow, the students had a good time with this activity, even if it did take a decent amount of time. | |
| Itsy Bitsy Spider | Sing song in different forms |
Halloween would take place during the break, and so I asked the students what the next "holiday" coming up was. When we started talking about Halloween, I then asked them what things they associated with the holiday. Eventually I steered the students to talking about scary things like bats, ghosts, and spiders. We sang the Itsy Bits Spider, which of course all of the students knew. I then asked them what it would be like if the spider were really tiny, and so we sang the song in a high pitched voice. Spiders are quiet too, right? So, we repeated the song while whispering. However, tiny, silent spiders aren't very scary, so I asked the students to imagine a big hairy spider, and so we sang the song one last time in a big, low, booming voice. | |
| 5 Little Pumpkins | Teach via immersion slowly |
Keeping with the Halloween theme, I asked the students what other things are associated with Halloween, and quickly the students were talking about pumpkins. That allowed me to go right into this song. I sang the song all the way through, and a few students tried to keep up with the hand motions. (One student knew the song.) I then would have the students repeat the song and motions after me, one line at a time. After doing the repeating twice, we did the song together; I think I probably had about a half of the class following most of my movements, and perhaps a quarter of the students singing about half of the words. | |
| Halloween Surprise | Immerse students, one line at a time |
We talked a little more about what we do with pumpkins during Halloween, including carving them up, which allowed me to segue to this song pretty nicely. This song works well as a line-by-line, noncontinuous song, allowing me to break in between each line with the students and have them motion carving, scooping, etc. I only did this song twice through, but I think the students got more out of this song than 5 Little Pumpkins (which, admittedly, is much more complex). I forgot to hold onto the last word ("surprise!") and see if the students would follow me; I've done that in past years, which added a little bit of surprise to the "surprise" and forced students to watch me carefully. | |
| Tony Chestnut | Teach song, sing while doing movements |
I first had students point to parts of their bodies (toe, knee, chest, nut/head, nose, eye). I had the students repeat the sequence a few times, and then I just started singing the song. I didn't really expect any of the students to sing with me, and other than the one student who knew the song from before, the students were busy just trying to keep up with the motions and the body parts. I then sang through it a second time, a little faster this time, and a few more did start sort of singing with me. | |
A couple of thoughts:
- It was challenging to keep the students in a wide circle, as there was circle creep towards the center as the class went on. I had to have students step back a few times just so that we weren't so crowded.
- I had to use Show Me a few times in order to refocus the students. The second time I used it, I varied the lyrics, and I ended up singing "Show me, show me the ceiling, show me the window, show me how you're feeling" - it was not quite what I had intended, but it still worked.
There was perhaps a minute or two if I wanted to squeeze in one more activity, but for these Kindergarteners, by the 25th minute or so, you could really tell that the students were getting a bit tired. It helps to have them move around (hence, Tony Chestnut near the end of class), but it was noticeably harder to keep the students attention near the end of the day.
Teaching Halloween for this particular school is always a bit of a challenge, because of the 3 week break that follows; this year, I had no classes the one week before the break because the entire week was a half-day week for parent-teacher conferences. I still am not quite sure about teaching Halloween songs more than 4 weeks in advance of Halloween, but perhaps next year I'll just try it and see what happens.
My two-class stint as a Kinder teacher was a wonderful experience. It is really great to lead a bunch of students who don't question you, and even if they don't quite understand what they're doing or why they're doing it, in the back of my mind I know that they're (1) having a good time, and (2) learning something whose purpose will become more evident as they grow older.
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