Similar to past years, I was hoping to cover many different activities while learning the students' names. However, new somewhat to this year is some subtle differences. The first class (the 1-2 split) starts basically right after lunch, and so the students could line up from the outside, allowing us to walk in. That class also has a hard stop right at the 30 minute mark as 2nd grade math class, which requires the 1st students to leave and other 2nd graders to enter, takes place at that point. The second class is already in session, and so there is no line-up opportunity. That class too also has a 30 minute hard stop so that the teacher can end the day with some final instructions or activity. As you might have guessed, there's no music room - at least for now. The music room is supposed to be attached to the gym, but the gym is still under construction. The music room should be available again in January.
| Come and Follow Me | Lead students around the classroom and vary the motions/walk |
| For the first class, this was easy to start off, as I simply had students follow me into the room; I asked the students to memorize who was in front of them, and asked if they could follow and copy that person. (Of course, they all nodded.) For the second class, all of the students were on the carpeted area of the classroom, and so I started at a corner of the carpet; when I started moving and singing, the other docent fed the line one student at a time. In both classes, I snaked through the room, and wasn't quite able to get all of the students back onto the carpet in a circle (there were too many students still left among the desks), and so I had to end the song earlier than I had hoped, and I asked the remaining students to fill in the circle. The students had a good time with this. After each "this way", I stopped, and the line stopped pretty effectively; I recall really only one instance of someone crashing (and it did not require any teacher intervention). I varied my steps, step height, volume, and the kids followed well. I even turned around and walked backwards at one point, which presented a little challenge to the class as they were trying to copy the person "in front" of them, but it still worked well. One quick observation: 2nd graders are noticeably smaller than 3rd graders; they all fit in a circle pretty well, albeit tightly, especially with two music docents and one classroom teacher in the circles. | |
| Hello in many languages | Introduce the word/phrase in several languages |
| After introducing myself and the other teacher, I asked the student what "music" meant to them. I received responses ranging from dancing to singing to something close to the definition of "rhythm". I then asked if music had to be in English, and I got many students saying "no". And so, I noted that since today was our first day meeting everyone, we'd practice saying "hello" in various ways - first with variations in English ("hello", "hi", "howdy", etc.), and then in Spanish, Mandarin, Swahili, French, German, Polish, and a few other languages. This was pretty much the same thing that Ella Jenkins did in a recording that I have of her introducing different languages to her students. In keeping with this mini-theme of different ways representing the same thing, and given that the students had just had lunch (even the second class - I stretched the situation there), I asked the students what they had for lunch. As the students were spouting off what they had just consumed earlier, the other docent was preparing four dishes of grains/legumes... | |
| Oats Peas Beans and Barley | Teach song, with props in hand/td> |
| The four dishes contained (in order) Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley. The other docent led this exercise, and initially passed around the dishes for all of the students to see and observe. Many of them took their time sniffing the contents. (Oats, apparently, smells better than dried beans or barley.) The students were initially immersed into the first stanza of the song, and then they were taught both the first and second stanzas by echo. A few students recalled the song from last year, but for most, it seemed like they didn't recall enough of the song from last year to be able to sing it without help. In order to transition to the next exercise, I asked the students about the last line, where the farmer was surveying his land - I asked the students why a farmer had to stand high to see the land. After talking a bit about high-growing crops, planted from the oats, peas, beans, and barley, I then had the students stand up, pretend they were surveying the land… | |
| Keep The Kettle Boiling | Teach game/td> |
| I started this by simply telling the students, "let's play a game" - and I had the students imagine that they were boiling something in a big kettle. (Note: this may come in useful around Halloween when the witches are out brewing goo in their kettles.) This meant that I had to ask the students what a kettle was, and I had them motion as if they were stirring something with a big kettle. I then had them imagine that they had a huge kettle, big enough to fit the whole carpet, which meant that we needed something bigger than a spoon to stir the pot - we needed ourselves! I had them do a body shake (which they'd end up doing during the chant), and then I jumped into the pot. I had them practice with me reciting "in jumps…" - which also forced them to get used to saying my name. Next, I led them through the main chant, at which time I jumped out while chanting "out jumps…" Then, I had the student to my left jump in, and off we went! I deliberately took a lot of time framing this exercise, and I think it paid off well, as the students understood once the second student jumped in. After 6 students or so, I stopped the class and told the students that they had to not only watch the students, but they had to watch and listen to me - multitasking for the 2nd grade world! And then, I started changing tempo, pitch, volume, all to the students' delight. Near the end, in the 2nd class, I found myself out of ideas, and so I tried doing the chant on one foot, and most of the students followed. I had enough time to switch feet for the last two students. Anyhow, this was a blast. The kids had a ton of fun. | |
| The Doughnut Song | Sing, and teach the ending/td> |
| I told the class that it was nearly time to go (and indeed it was), and so I had them practice singing (not saying) "goodbye" (ti-do) a few times. I then had them do it after I clapped, which they did successfully on the 2nd try. I then told the students to wait for me to clap - I started singing the song. I really like this particular song as a class-ender, since the students don't have to do much other than listen for most of the song. After singing the first half, I asked the students "what is a 5-cent piece?" To my mild surprise, I didn't get an immediate answer, but eventually someone fessed up that it was a nickel. I then proceeded to sing the rest of the song, ending with "Thanks for the doughnut" and a clap. Most of the first class remembered and shouted (not sung) "Goodbye", but few students in the 2nd class remembered; in that class, I asked if the students could try again, and the second time around (through the whole song), they did. | |
This was a very successful first day, I must say. The students in both classes were well behaved - better than I had anticipated, and I think significantly better than past years at this school. I never had to stop and pull a student out, and that was wonderfully refreshing. I'm definitely looking forward to the next class, even if it is two weeks away.
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