Teaching Notes, 20120216

Last week, I had mixed results trying to have music class outside for the first time. One class did well, while the other class struggled. This time around, I wanted to try dancing again, as last time I was unable to have either class do a Valentine's Day dance successfully. Today was also a no-uniform day (due to class pictures) and so I wanted to do something special with all those colors.

You'll Sing A Song, and I'll Sing A Song	Lead class while singing the song
This was almost exactly like last week's intro - I had the students walk in while I hummed the tune and played it on the ukulele. When I started singing, most of the class started followingm me. I didn't spend too much time on this song, as it was just a way to get the students in the mood for more singing.
Jenny Jenkins	Immerse students into the song, insert their names
Before diving into the song, I asked the students why they were dressed in all different colors. That of course makes a very easy transition to singing this song, with a student's name inserted that matches the color being sung. After two iterations, I knew that I wasn't going to have many students following the Roldy Foldy chorus, so I revealed the words to the chorus (hidden behind the moveable whiteboard/map) and continued picking out students and colors. In both classes, I managed to include the teacher, which the kids really enjoyed.
Tommy Tinker	Recap song with body solfege, recreate notes and rhythm
Tommy Tinker, arguably a K-1-maybe2nd grade song, actually works well for this sort of activity, where I had the students try to write out notes on a staff and add rhythm. After reviewing the song with body rhythms, I gave the students a starting note on a predrawn staff as "Do" (it happened to be G, so that everything would be on the staff). We then proceeded to try singing each changing note and I had the class decide (and a volunteer draw) that next note on the staff. For time constraints, we only went up the scale, drawing four notes. Next, on the portable whiteboard, I had pre-written the entire set of lyrics, with the words broken up by syllables. (The words were also drawn under a staff, but I never really did anything with the staff on the whiteboard). We then proceeded to clap a steady beat while singing the song, and I asked the students which syllables were being clapped on. This exercise consumed a few minutes before we had all of the beats marked on the board. I never really spent much time talking about the importance of the beat, and so I had them try singing the song to various tempos based on me clapping a beat: normal, fast, slow, and accelerating.
Heel Toe Down The Line	Teach dance moves inside, then try it outside
This was the same dance that failed badly with the second class during the previous week. However, this time I decided to go through all of the steps and motions inside. But, before I even tried that, I turned the portable whiteboard around to reveal the map, and I talked about another country named Germany (while pointing to it on the map). We then practiced saying "Ya" and "Nein", and I encouraged the students to cross their arms when saying (abruptly) "Nein". We continued to go through the motions, and like last time with the 2nd class, I had the students turn in place when singing "Would you be my valentine". We went through two iterations of the words before marching back outside. This time, I had the students stand around the innermost circle (of concentric painted circles), and I picked two students out for demonstrating the proper way to change positions. I had to remind students that no handholding was required, but for the second class (again!), there was still a fair amount of squeamishness. There were also a few cases where some students simply didn't want to partner with whoever was next to them, even though they were told that they'd end up changing partners. When going through the motions for the first few times, I would chant, rather than sing, the song, and I think that helped a lot, as the students didn't have to worry much about singing while they were familiarizing themselves with the movements around a circle. After each "Nein" and subsequent half-turn-jump, the students would shout out a playful mini-scream; I'd then give a count to 4, and start the chant again. Eventually, I would start singing instead of chanting, and many of the students sang along. My first class got comfortable with the dance pretty quickly, and so we stopped to talk about where the students were compared to their starting positions. I also ditched the 4-count in between iterations, and I had that class do the chant three iterations in a row. The second class wasn't as successful outside, but I was able to get the class to complete 5-6 iterations before time ran out.

I ended the first class back inside the music room with another iteration of the Donut Song, while the second class marched directly from the outside to the classroom while doing the Team Chant. Overall, the class went pretty well, but the second class, as successful as they have been during most of the year, still has a while to go before the class is comfortable doing dances. One student last week asked about playing on instruments, and so perhaps we'll revisit instruments again.