The students already had one session (taught by the other returning docent), and that session covered Hello My Friends in 4 languages, followed by a number of Mandarin songs. I don't really have a repertoire of Mandarin songs (even though the school is a Mandarin immersion school), and so I planned on mostly covering what I'd usually do for the start of the year.
The class starts right after lunch, and so leading them into class with a song was a natural way to start the class. I relied pretty heavily on the set lesson plan for Kindergarteners, which is something I know I shouldn't do too much so that the new docent can use those plans, but I figured I'd try it out just to see how the students would respond.
| I Like You | Lead students around the classroom and vary the activity after each phrase |
| Kindergarteners are small and slower than 2nd graders, and so I had to have a number of the students follow me into the classroom before I started singing so that most could hear. The first iteration has no activity (other than walking), and before I went to the next iteration ("we will clap"), I told the students to clap with me. I then proceeded to jumping, hopping, stomping, walking backwards, and just walking; each time I told the students what was happening next. Walking backwards actually was pretty challenging for the Kindergarteners. By the time I ran out of ideas, there were still had some students that didn't quite make it back to the carpeted mat, and so I had the remaining students shuffle into the circle. | |
| Hello Echo | Introduce myself |
| This was nothing more than singing in sol-la-sol-mi things like "Hello Boys and Girls, my name is Mr. Chen… can you sing back Hello Mr. Chen?" At first, few students responded after that, and so I encouraged the students to try it again; during the second time, I got a better response. However, not everyone was responding, and so I had the students to go through a warmup with me by standing up, stretching to the sky and stretching voices high. I then had them hang their arms towards their toes while dropping their voices down low. That allowed me to segue to… | |
| I Can Sing Up High | Teach song by echo, and lead the motions/td> |
| I first just started singing along while stretching, and after going high and low, I asked what was in between. Eventually we converged on "the middle", which allowed me to finish the song. I then asked the students if they knew what an echo was. I received a variety of mostly accurate answers, including a cave-related answer, and so I asked the students to be my cave. We walked through the song in echo a few times, a little faster each time, and finally we sang once together. | |
| Hello in Many Languages | Return to my name, and talk in a few different languages |
| I asked the students if they remembered my name, and they were mostly successful. At this point, I mentioned that they students would have multiple music teachers during the year, and that they'll get music in different forms, including different languages. Since I was still trying to introduce myself, I offered to the students that even the word "hello" could be spoken in different ways - i.e. languages. I then had the students echo hello in English, Spanish, Mandarin, French, and Swahili. One student really wanted to also contribute hello in Portuguese, which we then shared with the class. | |
| Blow The Balloon (Ella Jenkins) | Tell the story behind the balloon, and have the students sing/act it/td> |
| I basically copied the song and the story as recorded by Ella Jenkins on one of her CDs. It allowed me to have the students say certain words with me such as "Padma", "India", "Hindi", "Lotus", etc., which aren't words that Kindergarteners might say in everyday K-level conversation. When I had the students "blow the balloon", their reactions, especially when I clapped, were almost exactly like the recording. This was the first time I did this song, and it worked out fantastically. However, I don't think I can re-use the story. | |
| Animal Sounds | Talk about the sounds of animals heard today |
| I asked the students what sounds they heard during lunchtime, and they immediately gave me sounds from their fellow students - laughing, screaming, etc. While I had the students replicate laughing, I didn't have them replicate screaming. I quickly moved to animals, and we covered the usual things like dogs, birds, etc., and while I didn't overtly make the connection that small means high-pitched, I did consistently ask about whether or not things were small or large before having the students replicate the sounds of the creature. I then moved the students to insects, which included crickets, mosquitoes, and bees. Of course, that was nothing more than a coerced segue to… | |
| Bee Bee Bumble Bee | Get students to chant, follow beat |
| I told the students that the bee reminded me of a chant, and then I started the chant while keeping beats with my hands and thighs. I then asked the students to be my echo again, and while I didn't ask them to copy my movements, many did! I changed the movements this time so that during the second line, I tapped my knees. During the 3rd line, I kept beat on my nose, and fort the last line, I threw my hands up at the end to signal that someone was "out". The students really caught onto the motions, and it made it easy for me to get the students chant with me. | |
| Thank You and Goodbye | Get students to chant, follow beat |
| I was just out of time, and so I wanted to have the kids echo me saying "Thank You" in Arabic, Hebrew, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Mandarin. I then sang "Goodbye My Friends Goodbye", and knowing that the students had heard "Hello My Friends", I knew that they'd quickly sing along (and they did). | |
I realize that I didn't really do any activity that had the students mention their own name, which is a bit of a departure from most every other class opener that I taught. Perhaps it was because the students already had a music class. But, no matter, I'll have the students get a chance to introduce themselves to me.
There was another observation that I'd like to note: a few students knew who I was, and some called me "Mr. Erik". It turns out that I had taught some of the Kindergarteners knew me from that one class that I taught at the school's preschool last year. I was impressed by their ability to remember that!
I had also ready The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Razzama Tazzama just in case I ran out of activities.
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