Teaching Notes, 20131212

We’re getting close to the end of the calendar year, and so it was definitely time to continue with holiday or cold weather songs. However, one cannot simply sing holiday songs all day, and I wanted to get in some more rhythm theory. For today’s class, I wanted to build on songs that we covered as backpocket items so that both classes would be a little more equal. I also wanted to spend time with music from the Nutcracker, as the students had just seen a live production of the ballet the day before. It was also getting cold, and so if there was the opportunity to sing about something involving snow, I’ll take it.

Down By The Sea	Teach movements, and immerse into the activity
At first I was thinking of reviewing Fine Friends are Here, but I wanted to do something a little more involved, and so I figured Down By The Sea would be interesting enough while being nearly 100% new to everyone. I had the students first mimic me (with no words) the actions found in the song, which of course led to a few giggles along the way. Then, I simply started singing the song - much more slowly compared to the original - and the students followed me as I performed the movements. The only movement that I didn’t pre-practice was “fall into bed”, and when I put my hands clasped to the side of my head, a few kids took that as the chance to flop on the ground and snore. Picking up with the song strongly helped get them up. The song ends with the same phrase, and so we ended with a few kids on the ground.
Rhythm Time	Review stomps, introduce high and low headed notes, introduce half note
Last time we did rhythms, the students ended with a pattern of four stomps followed by any number (1-4) of claps while keeping beat. This time, I wrote out four lines for stomps, but a little low on the board in blue, followed by three lines for claps (and one squiggle for a rest) to the right and higher on the board, also in blue. I told the kids that the lower lines were stomps and the higher ones were claps. There are several students who are clearly taking music (piano) lessons outside of school, and many said that the squiggle was a thing called a “rest”, and so while I acknowledged the term, I didn’t dwell on it much, other than to confirm with the students that they knew to do nothing during that squiggle. After practicing the pattern once, I noted that with lines, it’s not super-easy to tell which ones were stomps and which were claps, so I added heads to the lines to make notes - ones at the top of the lines for the stomps (like a lower voice), and ones at the bottom of the clap lines (like an upper voice). Again, there were chimes from the kids that I was writing piano notes. At this point, I wrote out in red, eight more beats’ worth of notes: three more claps and a rest, and then two large notes that were basically half note claps. I made the open head really exaggerated as a way to illustrate that these notes were “bigger” and therefore should take more time - in fact, double - compared to the ordinary notes. A few students noted that they knew that they were called “half” notes. I also had them hold their hands together when clapping so that they could show me that the clap was taking extra time. Anyhow, we practiced this red pattern for a bit.
Up On The Housetop	With students clapping the patterns, sing the song
I instructed the students to play either blue or red, depending on what I was pointing to. We practiced going back and forth for a bit, and then, with the students about to play the blue part, I started to sing the song. Only a few students knew the song well enough to sing it with me as they stomped and clapped. As for the patterns, I kept the first half of the song on blue, the 3rd quarter on red, and the last quarter on blue. Afterwards, we did the song this way one more time. I think the kids had a good time with this; most still weren’t singing at the end, but many were concentrating hard to make sure they were playing the right pattern.
Snowman Scale	Review and Sing!
We covered this last time, and so as a nice easy review, I went ahead and did the snowman scale again. And again. The kids seemed to like it just like the first time, and I think the kids sang along reasonably well. Just like last time, we used body solfege for the scale down at the end of the song.
Star Light Star Bright	Get students to recognize beat, sing song
I started pulsing my hands like they were stars, and while I did that, I asked the students if my hands were going at the same speed. I then started to sing this…. but I totally flubbed the second half of the lyrics. Oops - I didn’t spend the time to write them down just in case, even though most kids know the song… except these kids. After faking the rest of the song, I continued with the pulsing, and I asked the students if the pulsing changed. Of course they didn’t, and I told them that the pulsing was just like a beat that never changes and is always going. We then tried singing the song one more time, and again I had to fake the ending. I did this only with the second class, as for the first class, I did…
Deep And Wide	Teach motions and immerse into song
For the first class, I wanted to get the students some exposure to this song, since the second class had already sung this as a backpocket item. However, I didn’t have a lot of time, so I simply had the students practice the signs; afterwards, we sang the song twice. That was probably enough so that the next time that I do this (which I will), it shouldn’t be too difficult for the students to recall.
Pony Macaroni	Review, and zipper in different motions
To get the students ready to walk in a circle, I had the students raise their right hand, and then point that hand/arm to the right. Then, I had the students turn their bodies in the direction of their hands. This is surprisingly difficult to get right in Kindergarten, as students still don’t all know the difference between right and left. The other parent-teacher during a previous week covered Pony Macaroni, and so I knew that this wasn’t going to be foreign to the students, and indeed, once I started singing the first part of the song, the kids sang as well. After we finished the song, I had the students practice marching in a circle. We spent a little bit of time to make sure that no one was crashing by practicing taking steps without really moving. And finally, it was time to sing and march with the song. I wanted the students to get used to listening while singing, and so I extended the “trots and trots” line so that the horses kept trotting until the students were told to “stop”. I asked the students how they knew when to stop, and eventually I got the students to realize that they had to listen in order to know when to stop. We then practiced the song with sidesteps, going backwards, and tiptoeing.
Small World	Teach motions, sing
Like in past weeks, I had a little time with the second class, and so I wanted to try out this song with them. I had the students do motions first, and before we starting singing the song, a few students sort of figured out what song had the signs. We sang through once, and then one of the students noted that they had already been taught the song in Mandarin, and so naturally the students started singing the song in Mandarin. After that song was over, they noted that they also knew other sings in Mandarin, and so they kept on singing. This was a great way to end the music class with them.

I might be teaching next week as well, which should also be a lot of fun as it would be the last week before the holiday break. I also want to continue to bring the first class on par with the second class, in terms of back pocketed items. I would like the students to use instruments again for a bit, and perhaps we can also go outside for a bit.

Teaching Notes, 20131219

This was the last music class for break, and I wanted to get in some instrument time - something that I haven’t really been able to do with the classes, partially out of fear of the chaos that instruments tend to bring in a small area like we have in the classrooms. However, today I also wanted to take advantage of an unusually dry late fall, as it was sunny outside - perfect for an environment that might involve a lot of racket. There was a large circle that was large enough to have every child on the circumference without being in contact with any other child. Similar to the last time I held class outside, I started inside for the first class and then later moved outside, while for the second class, we started outside and then moved inside.

Fine Friends Are Here	Review song and hand motions
I started both classes with this, and I definitely got a better response with the first class, where the students could hear me more effectively. Outside, with the students in the circle, at best only half of the students could hear me (making it really important to have a second helper parent, which I did have that day), and sound really dissipates outside. While many students in the first class sang and followed my hand motions, most students in the second class did not. Either way, this was supposed to be a quick warm-up, and so I kept this one short.
Mail Myself To You	Talk about presents, act out the song motions and sing entirely in echo
We first started talking about the upcoming vacation, and of course presents. I asked the kids if they had ever given someone else a present, and how grown ups tend to mail presents. I then fabricated a story about how my grandparents’ only wish was to have their grandkids over as a present, and so I asked the students what it would take to send themselves as a present. We simply walked through steps that mirrored the song - wrapping a present in paper, using glue to seal the present, etc. I worked through two stanzas’ worth of steps just by asking the students how to make a reasonable present. I started singing the song one line at a time, asking the students to mirror my singing and motions, and they totally had fun doing this. I use the first stanza as the chorus, and after the second stanza, I had the students repeat the first stanza with me. Originally, I was planning on stopping right there, but the students were having so much fun that I went ahead and completed the song, interleaving the chorus after each stanza.
Instruments Outside	Have students walk around a circle of instruments, get students used to playing a variety
I had placed instruments in the middle of the circle outside before class started, and I led them out the front door to the circle. I already had some students from the first class reach in a grab the instruments, so I had to constantly remind them to stay on the outside. Once the students were on the outside of the circle, I had the students point to an instrument. If there were students without an instrument, or if there were two students pointing to the same instrument, I had students shuffle around the outside of the circle so that every child had an instrument. I then had them pick it up. At some point, I asked students to raise up their hands if they had an instrument with metal, or if they had an all-wood instrument. Students love playing instruments once they get their hands on them, and it’s hard to get them to stop if they are all playing them randomly (as opposed to following you). For the second class, I had the students raise their instruments above their heads which makes it harder for them to play the instruments randomly - that seemed to help reduce the chaos and keep the kids focused with less random noise. I then had the students practice the old 4 stomp, 3 clap pattern, except that the students were to play their instruments three times instead of clapping three times. After a few times, I had them continue the pattern while I sang Bongo Joe. Next, I had the students place their instruments back in the interior of the circle, and I told them to start walking towards the right (not straightforward to kinders, so I had to show them), as I played When The Saints Are Marching In. This arguably was similar to musical chairs except this time when the music stopped, the students were to stop walking and point to the instrument closest to them. Similar to before, I made corrections by moving kids around to ensure that everyone got an instrument, and I told the students that it didn’t matter if they got the same one. For this activity, it was important to have more instruments than kids; usually after all of the kids picked up an instrument, I picked up one that wasn’t chosen, and I used it to demonstrate whatever pattern I wanted them to try. This time around, I had the students practice the same pattern to Up On The Housetop (first stanza+chorus). We did the “musical instruments” cycle on more time, to which I sang the second stanza and chorus of Up On The Housetop. For the last class, I had the students practice a quarter-quarter-half pattern with the instruments (no stomping), which allowed me to suggest to the students that each instrument could be played for longer periods of time (e.g. a continuous shake). With the quarter-quarter-half pattern, I sang Jingle Bells, to which the students joined in while continuing to play their instruments. I was very happy with how this turned out. It could have been total chaos, but after the first “musical instruments” cycle, the students seemed to pay attention very well, and I didn’t have a lot of kids trying to play out of line as the day went on.

As this was the last music class for the calendar year, and since the students were only a day away from the holiday break, I kept the class shorter than usual, especially for the second class, and I didn’t reach into the backpocket this time around. I did have Highway Number One and Boanopstekker (Shenanigans) ready for the outside in case I ended up with a lot of extra time.

The outside circle turned out to be wonderful. It was close to the classroom, and yet still far away from the kinder playground, so I wasn’t worried about losing students to the jungle gym. So long as it is dry outside, I’ll be sure to use that area plenty of times in the new year.

Teaching Notes, 20131120

This week was the only week in November that I was scheduled to teach, and so I wanted to include some references to Thanksgiving. At the same time, I also wanted to try a new approach to teaching rhythm.

Fanfare for the Common Man	Have students listen and move to the music
I had yet to have the students listen to famous pieces of music, and so it was time to have them hear a piece of significance. Originally this was going to be the Flight of the Bumblebee, but since the first class' students were slowly making their way over to the carpeted area and forming a circle under the direction of the teacher, I decided to go with Fanfare, which starts slowly and works well when the students are still gathering together. I sat in the middle of the circle and made motions with the music - hands going up with the higher pitched trumpets, and tapping the ground when the drums were booming. The students got the idea mid-way through the song, which was what I was hoping for. When the song was nearly done, I had the students slowly stand up. When the song was over, I asked the students what they heard - some described highs, lows, and booms, while some named some of the instruments (or added their own instruments) featured in the recording. I also asked them when I was raising my hands or tapping the ground, and the students were able to provide good answers - they were really following me and making the connection.
5 Fat Turkeys	Teach motions and words in echo
I started with holding my hands up and waiting for students to copy me. I then slowly turned or contorted my hands to make a two-handed turkey, and then I started to sing the song. The song has hand/arm motions for every line, and I made the gestures with enthusiasm so that the students knew that they should follow my motions. I then proceeded to teach the song with motions in echo, one line at a time. We did this twice through, and then we tried singing through all at once. I decided I'd surprise the students later with this song…
The Turkey Ran Away	Sing the song and zipper in other foods
We first talked a little bit about different foods from Thanksgiving (apple pie, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, etc.). I then pointed out that 5 Fat Turkeys was a song about turkeys running way from the dinner table. That allowed me to sing The Turkey Ran Away as a natural segue. I had the students echo me one more time through, after which I started substituting the other foods. I thought the students got the hang of the song pretty quickly. It's a short song, and each new stanza substitutes two different terms, which was manageable even for the kindergarteners.
Keep The Kettle Boiling	Teach song, get students to respond partially to each line
I usually do this song early in the year so that I can learn the students' names, but with all of the songs regarding food, I felt that this was a good thing to try now. I had to remind the students to remain on the outside of the carpet ("pot"), and that even though it's a big pot, only one person could be in the pot at the same time, since adding more could splash the soup everywhere. It took a little bit of reminding the students about the one-person limit, but the limit also made it easy to explain that someone had to jump out before someone else could jump in. This activity takes a lot of time, and so we had to speed things up as we went along. However, since this isn't week 1, the students seemed comfortable enough to go at a pace faster than had we been doing this during the early part of the school year.
Fall Song	Teach song (1st half), zipper in a few different reasons why it was a good day
Once we were all outside, we started marching around the circular outline formed by the outer edge of one of the play areas, and I started singing the song. We didn't cover this song with the first class, so I sang it in entirety one time through. I managed to get the students to gesture with their arms "Why?", and I had them do the gesture on cue as I sang the song again. It was time to modify the song, and so I changed it to "running through the wind", "jumping in the rain", and "flying through the clouds". We ended back with the original "playing in the sun", since after all it was a sunny day that day. Unfortunately, not too far away, the preschool was having their Halloween parade, and that meant a lot of distraction and noise for my students (and probably for the preschoolers too). As such, I quickly led them back into the classroom after just this song; I used Marching Marching to get them back inside.
5 Little Pumpkins	Sing story
I talked to the students about Halloween again (which is very easy), and then I had them count with me with a hand from 1 to 5. With all 5 fingers and hand extended, and with all the students copying me, I started singing the song and continued with the associated motions. In both classes, there were students who were very eager to point out that they had sung the song before, and so I encouraged them to sing along. I actually never remembered exactly what the hand movements are for the last line of the first part (i.e. "ready for some fun"), and so I instead use ASL signs for "ready" and "fun", and so I took the time to teach the students those two signs.
Fall Song	Review and introduce a new line
I started singing the first line ("red and yellow"), and the students remembered the song before I finished, and so I moved on to a new line: "the air is crisp and colder…". This was pretty easy to teach; we sang it twice, and ended with the first stanza. I didn't want to take all that long, but it served as a nice distraction for…
5 Fat Turkeys	Jump right into the song
After we finished the Fall Song, I simply held my hands out again, similar to what I did for 5 Fat Turkeys the first time around, and then after forming the two hand turkey, we sang the song together. Most of the students remembered the song enough to sing with me, and nearly all followed the hand motions.
Rhythm Time	Have students follow me with various combinations of quarter notes and quarter rests
Before I get into this part of the class, I wanted to note that I ended up borrowing a technique from my own child's piano teacher for reaching basic rhythms. I had the students count to four, and then after they repeated my count in the same tempo, I stamped my feet while counting to four. The kids copied me as well pretty easily. I then followed up with four claps after the four counted stamps, which the students copied me just as easily. I then wrote out for vertical lines on the board, and I repeated the stamp-clap 4 count pairs - which the students echoed again. After reconfirming with the students that there were four stamps, four claps, and four lines on the board, I proceeded to erase the last line. I then still did the four count stamp, but I followed up with only three claps, and when the students echoed me this time, about half of them clapped that fourth clap (which I did not do). Some students gleefully noted that they could still see the line (the dry erase mark sort of smeared), and so I ended up drawing a squiggle, serendipitously looking like a quarter rest. I instructed the students to clap on the straight lines. We proceeded with different patterns: CCrC, CrCC, CrCr, CrrC, rCCC. That last one is always one of the more difficult patterns since the first clap/beat is a rest. In order to help the students do nothing during the rest, I had the students put their hands out during the squiggles. I didn't talk about quarter notes, or rests for that matter; we just were clapping on the straight lines. If I feel the students are ready for it, I might talk about the rhythms using more music-like terms, but in the meantime, it's just a clapping game to the students.
Deep And Wide	Have students learn songs and delete words
I had a little bit of time at the end of the 2nd class, and so I pulled this from the backpocket stash. At first I would just do the hand motions - no words, no singing - and I just had the kids follow the motions. I then started singing the song with the motions. Only a few students noted that they knew the song from before, but it's such a short and easy song to learn that the kids really didn't have a problem learning the song. This was important, since I then asked them to not sing a particular word ("wide"); as we sang through it, I think a little less than half the class remembered to avoid singing the song. We continued with deleting river, and deep. I didn't want to have the kids try to work with multiple deleted words quite yet. But, it seemed like the students handled the challenge pretty well, as at the last iteration, perhaps only one or two students continued to sing the deleted word, particularly near the end of the song.

This class was a lot of fun, and I think the students fared well despite having zero chances of going outside due to inclement weather. I also used the backpocket again today; in the next few classes, I'll want to cover the songs and other material that only the 2nd class saw.

Teaching Notes, 20131204

For today’s class, I wanted to build on songs that we covered as backpocket items so that both classes would be a little more equal. I also wanted to spend time with music from the Nutcracker, as the students had just seen a live production of the ballet the day before. It was also getting cold, and so if there was the opportunity to sing about something involving snow, I’ll take it.

March of the Toy Soldiers	Have students listen to the music as they gathered
I turned on the song in the background as the students gathered onto the carpet. Plenty of students knew where the song was from, and particularly with the second class, the students wanted to keep moving to the music. And so, I started marching to the music, which also got the students following my lead happily. I didn’t really plan on diving into the music just yet, but I wanted to seed the music in their minds for later…
Let’s All Travel Down the Music Road	Teach song with hand solfege
Similar to Fine Friends Are Here, I wanted to get the students to do more hand solfege, even though I have yet to really introduce why the students are making the motions, nor connect the motions with specific pitches. I started singing and signing through twice, and then I instructed the students to follow my hand signals and not to worry so much about the words yet. After going through the song much more slowly, the students started singing with me (it’s an easy song). We did this two more times through.
March of the Toy Soldiers	Listen to the three different patterns and recognize them
I asked the students if they recognized the song that they heard when they gathered around the carpet, and plenty of the students knew that the song was from the Nutcracker. I then told the students to listen to the first of three different “forms” found in the song. After playing that snippet, I asked the students how they felt as they listened - I got a really wide range of answers, but there was convergence around “happy”, or “marching” or “walking”. I did the same thing with the other two distinct snippets of the march, and again I asked them how they felt; for the second snippet, the students offered “mad”, or “fighting”, and for the third snippet, students offered “running”, “scared”. I then asked three students to come up, and I assigned each student to a one of the three students. Then, I asked the students to listen to the whole march, but also indicate which student’s snippet was being played. As the song progressed, I put a check mark next to the student’s name after verifying with the class. In past years, I’d write the student’s name or initial, and so if you end up doing something along those lines, it helps to have three children with three different first initials. Students eventually realized that the third pattern wasn’t played anywhere as often as the first pattern. They also noticed that the song went from 1st pattern to 2nd pattern to 1st pattern during the early and late parts of the song. I’ve done something similar with older kids in past years, and it was really refreshing to see the kindergarteners have so much fun with this.
Highway Number One	Introduce movements, then execute song
Highway Number One was a backpocket item that I did with the second class, and it sort of led to a bit of bedlam, as I didn’t really prep the students with the activities. This time, I deliberately spent a lot of time providing background on the song (where is Australia? what is highway number one? how long is it?, etc.). We also talked about what parents need to do when they drive (e.g. pay attention, watch for others), and the problems that arise when one crashes. I think I mentioned to the students not to crash several times using different encouraging words each time. I then had the students practice different movements that the song mentions. When it came to running, naturally some of the students gleefully took that as license to run and crash, and thus I had to remind the students again about not crashing, and how crashing meant that you no longer had a car and had to sit out. That seemed to strike a nerve in some, but what seemed to help the most is that I had the students practice jumping and running in place. Running in place for kindergarteners isn’t exactly natural, and so we practiced this a bit (e.g. “look down at your space, and then make sure you end up there”). When it was time to start the song, I told the students that they had to keep listening for instructions, just as if they were driving a real car (not exactly typical, but it still made sense to the kinders). As we started moving, students got a bit rowdy, but fortunately HNO has breaks frequent enough that I was able to get the students to freeze and listen for instructions. Having practiced the movements in advance helped, and by the time we were done, the students all were asking to do it again. Of course, you have to keep them wanting more for next time…’
Things I am Thankful For	Teach song, zipper in things
During the first class, there was a planned lockdown drill, which means that students had to sit quietly on the carpet, the lights were turned down, the doors were locked, and we had to be relatively quiet. This actually took place before HNO for that class, and so I inserted Things for the lockdown. With the students already hushed, I started singing the song quietly, and when it came to the 2nd half of the song, I made gestures with my hands and arms for the students to follow. This fit perfectly as a good lockdown drill song! I had the students practice the gestures with me and we went over the four things mentioned during that 2nd half of the song. I then sang the song one more time through, and a few students followed me either singing or moving (or both). Originally I wasn’t planning on zippering into the song, but with the lockdown practice, I figured I might as well try, and the students did a good job. Thanksgiving wasn’t all that long ago, and so it was easy to ask the students what they were thankful for during the holidays. We were able to come up with either ASL signs or simple signs for each of the ideas that the students came up with, and we then sang along. I didn’t want to get too carried away with the ideas, so we did the zippering for only one iteration of the song (three items).
Snowman Scale	Sing scale with signs and body solfege
It was cold, and so we talked about snow, building snowmen, what snowmen had (carrot nose, etc.), and then I sang the song with some motions. While the students didn’t sing with me, they tried to mimic my motions, which was all fine for me. The end of the song features a downward scale, and for that I showed the students body-solfege, which some also tried to follow. I didn’t have a lot of time left, and so I simply sang slowly through the song one more time, although this time the kids echoed me after each line.

The students I thought did really well this time around, especially with an activity like Highway Number One on the schedule. I was sort of thinking of doing more rhythm steps and claps, but I’ll do that next time.

Teaching Notes, 20131031

It finally happened: I got to teach on Halloween! If you ever have the opportunity to teach on this day, always take it - move your class day if you have to. The kids are always in a great mood, and you can use their costumes as material for class in so many different ways. There are also of course an assortment of Halloween-specific songs and activities that you cannot really use any other time of the year.

This was also the first class back from break, and so I definitely wanted to do a lot of different activities since it had been so long since our previous class. And so, I planned for a little bit of review and a lot of Halloween material. Like the last class (4 weeks ago), I also wanted to spend a little bit of time outside, but not for the whole class. Because the first class started inside while the second class started outside, I'll list the activities based on the order used in the first class

Fine Friends Are Here	Jump right into the song
With the students on the carpet, I started singing the song, and when it came to the response, a few students remembered the tune, but most didn't remember the hand signs. However, by the 2nd response, the students, watching my hand signs, mostly recalled the motions. I sang through the song twice, and by the end of the 2nd iteration, the students pretty much had the response and hand signs down. We did this four weeks ago, and it was good that the students were able to recall their role. It's still too early I think to teach the stanzas to the song, but I think I can always use it to recapture the students' attention.
Singing Costumes	Have students sing their costumes in sol-mi
I asked a student what they were, and when the student responded, I sang something like "He's Captain America" (replace with the costume as needed) in sol-mi, and I had the students echo me. The students of course were very happy sharing what their costumes were, and so I kept going on for nearly half the class.
Halloween Surprise	Teach in chant form, then add song
One of the students in each class dressed up as a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern, and so it was easy to talk about pumpkins, and of course, the steps to carving a pumpkin, aka a pumpkin surprise. I did this with the second class during the previous class, and so for them, this was review, but I still did it from scratch (talking before singing), and it was just as fun as the first time.
Bongo Joe	Teach song, get students to respond partially to each line
I didn't have a good segue into Bongo Joe, so I simply started singing the song. It's a short song, so I sang it twice, and during the 2nd time, I clapped the last three beats for each line, and b the 3rd line of the 2nd iteration, the students were mostly clapping along. I then asked the students to try filling in the blank, and I sang the song once more but omitting the last word of each song. Students were able to repeat "beat", "street", and "land", but no one remembered "grand", which probably is a word that kinders probably don't use very often. We did this twice through, and the students seemed to enjoy this, as it became a little game for them in order to remember just those four words. I wanted to go outside for the next activity, and so I had the students quickly assemble a line, and I had them follow me out while I continued to sing Bongo Joe.
It's A Very Good Day	Teach song (1st half), zipper in a few different reasons why it was a good day
Once we were all outside, we started marching around the circular outline formed by the outer edge of one of the play areas, and I started singing the song. We didn't cover this song with the first class, so I sang it in entirety one time through. I managed to get the students to gesture with their arms "Why?", and I had them do the gesture on cue as I sang the song again. It was time to modify the song, and so I changed it to "running through the wind", "jumping in the rain", and "flying through the clouds". We ended back with the original "playing in the sun", since after all it was a sunny day that day. Unfortunately, not too far away, the preschool was having their Halloween parade, and that meant a lot of distraction and noise for my students (and probably for the preschoolers too). As such, I quickly led them back into the classroom after just this song; I used Marching Marching to get them back inside.
5 Little Pumpkins	Sing story
I talked to the students about Halloween again (which is very easy), and then I had them count with me with a hand from 1 to 5. With all 5 fingers and hand extended, and with all the students copying me, I started singing the song and continued with the associated motions. In both classes, there were students who were very eager to point out that they had sung the song before, and so I encouraged them to sing along. I actually never remembered exactly what the hand movements are for the last line of the first part (i.e. "ready for some fun"), and so I instead use ASL signs for "ready" and "fun", and so I took the time to teach the students those two signs.
Fall Song	Immerse students into the song, add small responses
Since typically the students are in a blue and white uniform, this was really one of the few times when we can do something that involves the colors of the students' clothing. After singing through the song (the 1st stanza) one time, I had students who were wearing any sort of red to raise their hands when "red" was sung; similarly, I had students show were wearing yellow raise their hands when "yellow" was sung. Some students had both colors, and some had none. As we sang through with the color instructions, I then asked the students who were wearing neither red nor yellow to pretend to bite into a really big apple, and we paused the song to practice this a few times. This was similar to what I did during my very first class that I taught six years ago. Since it was Halloween, I also then taught the students the "Noisy Crows" line with the scarecrow. I casually had the students flap their arms when singing the lines, but when it came time to sing "beware" for the scarecrow line, I had the students say in an eerie, low voice "Beware!". That was a lot of fun, and we all pretended to be frightened by the line.
Highway Number One	Have students "drive" to the music
This was something that I only had time to do with the second class, and on top of that it was a back pocket item, something I didn't really intend to use unless I completed my lesson plan early. I normally have the students practice certain movements (e.g. slide together, wiggle), but since this was a back pocket item, I didn't prepare for this as well as I normally would have, and I couldn't remember all of the movements. Nonetheless, I then started the song and off we were driving. This turned out to be more chaotic than I thought, and students were definitely driving into each other. I was able to get the class to quiet down and listen during each issuance of instructions, but it was still kind of nutty, and I could tell that some of the children weren't too happy about being pushed around. We took a bit of time talking about the activity after it had ended, including what worked, and what wasn't so good. It was actually a surprisingly good conversation, and I think some (albeit not all) understood that the crashing wasn't such a good idea. Students did ask to go again, but I'll leave that for another day. This probably is better suited for outside, and I did check to see that there was a power outlet accessible from the play area, which I'll use in the future.
Victor Vito	Teach the responses in the chorus
We still had some time left, and so I decided to use this fun and reliable song. There's always a good chance that some of the students know this song from preschool, and in our case, we had about a quarter of the students recognize the song. This actually is a pretty good way to get students more experience doing partial echo, as the last line of the chorus is sung together.

Since the second class started outside, we started with Marching Marching in order to get the students into an arc. (By this time, the preschoolers had gone inside.) We then covered Fine Friends, followed by It's A Very Good Day. We then went inside, talked and sang about costumes, sang Halloween Surprise, Bongo Joe, 5 Little Pumpkins, and the Fall Song Then, we finished with the two back pocket activities.

I'll end up using Highway Number One and Victor Vito in my next class plan so that both classes end up knowing it.

Teaching Notes, 20131003

Amazingly, this was going to e the very lsat day I'd be be teaching the kids before the first break, as I had to cancel my class that was scheduled for the previous week due to illness. I was actually still recovering somewhat from being ill (call it a medium flu), and I wanted to minimize risking getting my own students ill. In addition, since it was still nice outside (it typically rains all winter), and since the students were about to start their 3-week intersession break, I thought I'd have some fun with having class outside in the play area where they typically have recess.

Class outside has its risks, of course - there are more distractions outside (the area after all has a play structure), there's more noise, and sometimes there might be just too much sun. And so, here's what happened.

Marching, Marching	Have students march, then jump, hop, slide, etc.
The first class is before recess, so the students were still inside; I had to get them outside somehow. I ended up using this song/activity to get the students lined up and out the door, but it was quite the challenge to have the students hear me, particularly the ones at the end of the line, once I stepped outside. I wanted to go through a few different motions while all of the students were outside, so we ended up walking/marching/moving a bit until we got to a somewhat open area near the back of the play area. For the second class, the students were already outside, and so instead I had the students march around; we got into the other motions a lot earlier.
I Can Sing Up High	Review, get kids moving
Since we were outside, it was easy to have the students stretch, which always provides an easy segue into this song. The students remembered more or less the song and movements, although I still wasn't able to ratchet up the tempo much without losing the students. Alas, this was really just a warm up song anyway.
Criss Cross Applesauce	Get students to follow me in the chant
I quickly came across the next complication - the outside area doesn't really lend itself well to sitting in a circle. There's a good arc formed by the end of the crash mat for the play structure that I ended up using to seat the students, thus, allowing me to then lead the students as they sat on something soft. The only problem is that the arc was a bit on the long side, which translated to me moving around a lot just to make sure all of the students saw what I was doing or heard what I was saying. Before chanting, I did hand motions for the chant (one handed-X in the air, tap on the knees for "applesauce", followed by a rumble on the ground for the pizza), for about 3-4 iterations until most of the students were following me. I then simply added the chant, and by the 2nd iteration, most students were following me, chanting and doing the motion. After a few more iterations, I then had the students continue with the motions but just vocalize the pepperoni pizza; this seemed to capture the students' attention well, and the students were anticipating jumping in with forte. Next, I would say "criss cross", while the students responded with "applesauce" - the students still got to say "pepperoni pizza".; this was even more fun for the kids. I then split up the class into two groups, and only one half of the students would respond with "applesauce" based on who I said "criss cross" too. The kinders really responded well to this sort of game, and we tried it a few times. I did want to alter pitch, volume, and tempo, but I never did.
Fine Friends Are Here	Get students to respond with kodaly hand signs
I wasn't planning on really teaching this song, and so I just had them practice the two "Fine friends are here" responses - each time with hand signals (sol-mi-re, mi-re-do). I didn't tell the students why I was making the signals; I just wanted the students to copy me. The two responses have a difference that is a little subtle, and so the hand signals really help. I ended up singing two pairs of stanzas twice, for a total of 8 responses from the students. I do intend on using this song again later in the year.
Oats Peas Beans	Review song, teach dance
After Fine Friends, I quickly jumped into singing OPB, and the students immediately also singing along. We sang the first stanza, and before the students sang the chorus again, I then instructed the students to watch me, as I sang "Looking for a partner…". We weren't in a circle, so I sang "open the line" instead of "open the ring", and then I danced, using one of the other parent volunteers to demonstrate the dancing. The dancing was a huge hit. The dance of course is very lighthearted and almost goofy, and so the kids really enjoyed watching. It didn't take long to get a volunteer to be the person looking for a partner. We sang through the song a few times, and rather than letting the person who just picked a partner return to the line, that student remained alongside his or her partner, and during the next iteration, both picked a new partner. This geometric expansion can only go so far, and so when we had 16 students dancing, I had those who were not picked become the final group of dancers. Everyone wins. :)
Blow the Balloon (Ella Jenkins)	Tell story, have students explore being a balloon
During a past refresher training course for docents, there was an exercise taught where students were to pretend they were bubbles or balloons traveling to a beat. However, before I got the students trying that, I used the Balloon (Padma) story, borrowed from Ella Jenkins. The students did well with the story, and when they were blowing the balloon (still with the Ella jenkins story), the students mirrored exactly how the recorded students responded. It was time to have the students try to be balloons themselves, and so I had them "blow" themselves larger with their arms. Since we were outside, it was easy to make sure that no two balloons were too close to each other. I didn't have a large drum, and so I tapped a tambourine to send a gentle shockwave to all of the ballooned students. It worked for a little bit, but quickly the students were moving far away, which made it nearly impossible to control them all at the same time; students started wandering all around the play structures, and my parent helpers were constantly trying to coax the bubbles back to where we started. I tried to correct this with the second class by having the students between the arc and the closest fence, but a few students eventually leaked out the sides and started wandering happily around the rest of the area.
It's A Very Good Day	Have students march to song
For the second class, I had some extra time, and so I had the students start marching around the arc to this song. I wanted the students to focus marching and not worry so much about singing. However, during the end of the song, when the song asks "Why?", I stopped and asked the students. Of course, they didn't know how to respond for the first two iterations. I then asked the students to pretend that it was a good day for running through the wind, and when I asked the students why, a few students said it was a windy day! I asked the students to also pretend it was raining, since the next time I see them, it might be raining - this time more students answered correctly. I had to bring the second class back inside, so I went back to Marching Marching in order to get them inside again.
Halloween Surprise	Immerse students into the song
I still had a little bit of time with the second class now inside, and so asked them about Halloween, and what things reminded them of the holiday. It wasn't hard to lead the kids to talk about pumpkins, and before I sang the song, I simply had the students make the motions and with regular conversational words, I walked them through the song, in spoken form. I then did it again, while singing the song. I didn't expect many students to sing with me; they were more focused on the motions, which was fine. They seemed to have a good time with this, and after singing through the second time, I told them that this was supposed to be a surprise, so they should sing as if they were surprising someone at the end. That led to a fantastic, energized ending during the next and final iteration.

The first class ended up being a lot more chaotic, and I had an abrupt ending to the class when the recess bell rang; we were already outside, and other kids started streaming in, so we didn't even have a goodbye song. I'll have to manage that better if we end up going outside again. The second class, however, couldn't have ended any better, and it was really good to have them inside. I do wonder whether or not having the students outside for the entire time was a good idea, and so the next time I try this, I might have the first class spend a good portion of the class time inside before venturing out into the wild unknown.

It was a bit of a bummer having to miss the previous week's class. This year, however, I will have one class after the break before Halloween, and so I'm excited to be doing more Halloween material close to the holiday; I haven't had that chance for several years.

Teaching Notes, 20130911

It's been two weeks because of the alternating schedule, and so I was really itching to get back into the classroom. The other docent had reviewed Oats Peas Beans, and introduced Five Little Monkeys, Rain Rain Go Away, and I Can Sing A Rainbow. I want to make it a point to bridge activities from the previous week while still roughly following the general K lesson plan since the 3rd K class is also roughly following the plan.

Unlike last week, I deputized the other parent volunteers to getting nametags out to everyone once we were all in a circle. Now, about getting into a circle...

Come And Follow Me	Lead students in the song and mimic activity
Similar to the last time I taught, the first class was already on the colored mat, and I was hoping to end this activity in a circle. And so, I told the students that I would tap students on their shoulder, at which time they were to follow me. I remembered that the first class students were a little particular about being in a particular favorite spot in line, so I reminded the class that it didn't matter how they were following me - just that it was important to follow me or a fellow student that was following me. So that I maximized my time on the perimeter of the carpet, I tried to tap a bunch of students closer to the middle of the bunch as I proceeded to sing the song. The song went predictably well - I went from airplane arms, to tiny steps, to hopping, to walking backwards, etc., and the kids had a fun time with it. Once I had everyone around the mat reasonably well, I stopped the song, and I had the students sit down. The second class of course starts with the kids outside, and so it was easier to get the students in a line. However, the students, when coming back in from recess, are carrying snack bags, and so I had to make sure that they had a good place to drop them off.
What's Your Name?	Get students to sing their name in sol-mi
I first sang to the students "Hello everyone, what's my name?" in sol-mi-sol-mi-sol-la-sol. I didn't expect the kids to respond back in sol-mi, and I had forgotten to instruct the other parents (who were busy handing out name tags) to model the response in sol-mi. As a result, the students simply shouted my name. I also asked the class if they remembered the names of the other parent volunteers. I then went around the circle singing-asking what their name was, and I asked the students to try singing the response. Few students responded in song unless I reminded them to do it, and while I got to hear how students pronounced their names (and also noting that a few students decided to provide names of siblings instead) and I sang their names back (e,g. "Hello [name]"), this took a lot of time. :/ For the second class, I didn't ask their names, and fortunately the parent volunteers had the nametags distributed quickly, allowing me to simply go around the circle and sing "Hello [name]", expending far less time.
I Can Sing Up High	Explore high and low sounds, sounds, and then immerse students into the song
I asked the students if they brought their instrument - nobody in the first class really answered, while a few students in the second class shouted that their voice was their instrument. I had the students then put their fingers around various parts of their head/throat/face while they sang high and low sounds. We talked a bit about the vibrations that they felt, and how sound always meant vibration and that you had to have something moving in order to make sound. After having the students voice some exaggerated high and low sounds, I had the students stand up, and I had the students mirror me as I walked through the song, one line at a time. I had the students echo me one more time, after which we tried singing the song together once, reasonably successfully. I tried having the students sing through again a bit faster, and I started losing the students pretty quickly. Typically with older students I can make the speedup a bit of a game, but for the Kinders, I didn't feel like I could push them to go any faster. For the first class, I also had the students make a buzzing sound, passing it as just another sound that involved vibration. But that allowed me to re-introduce the Bee Bee Bumblebee chant, which we did a few times. I wanted to get this in since I'd use it later. However, I forgot to do this for the 2nd class! :O
Oats Peas Beans	Review song, teach all stanzas
To the tune of the song, I asked the students to sit down "e.g. [name] and [name] and [name] sit down", which they all did pretty quickly. I then had the students, now all seated, sing the chorus of Oats Peas Beans. After singing, I then passed around a container of Oats, followed by packages of Peas, (red) Beans, and Barley. After Oats, I asked the students what came next, and they roughly were able to sing the appropriate food. While the packages were still making their way around the room, I asked the students to sing with me the first stanza, which they already knew. I then asked the students whether or not, based on planting seeds whether or not we would have our crops, and that allowed me to continue singing the next stanzas. Students who had viewed the package of Barley were asked to stand up with me while we continued to sing (or move) to the song. By the time we had sung the chorus after the 3rd stanza, all of the students had passed around the Barley, which meant that everyone was standing and ready to re-sing the whole song in entirety. I think the students had a good time with this; they appear to be very comfortable singing the song, and they had no problem singing (with movements) the other stanzas.
Rhythm Sticks	Introduce sticks, have students echo me
Before the sticks were passed out to the students, I demonstrated how to hold the sticks in a ready position with my own sticks - one stick resting near each shoulder. This makes it of course impossible for someone to make a sound with them, which was part of the purpose. For the first class, I also told them that they could also keep the sticks on the ground in front of them, but I would later discover that doing so meant more delays when getting the kids ready to play - and the motion of picking up the sticks always invites the urge to click them. While the students were receiving their sticks, I sang variations of "10 Little Indians" (e.g. "10 little kinders", "10 little rhythm sticks", "pick up sticks and put them on your shoulder"). First, I had the students click their sticks once, on my cue. After doing this a few times, I had the students try rubbing the sticks together; most students had a ridged stick, which allowed for some additional textures or vibrations to be felt. I then had the students practice mixing clicks and rubs, giving two beats' worth of time to the rub. I then had the students keep a beat slowly while singing Bee Bee Bumblebee (for which the 1st class of students chanted along). Next, I had them chant while mixing beats and rubs. Finally, I wanted to get students thinking about rests (without using that term), and so I had the students alternate clicks with simply raising their arms in the air (cued by the word "up"). With the click-up pattern, we then chanted Bee Bee one more time. I thought that the students did pretty well with the sticks - they, for the most part, followed my lead, and the chants definitely helped. One thing that I wanted to note - I had sticks that were bright red, while all of the other students' sticks were blue. That seemed to help a lot, as the students who were watching me could follow my sticks - they didn't blend in with the sea of blue. Also, I would usually wait for near silence (100% silence is hard to achieve with kinders) before moving onto the next step with the sticks, and keeping the sticks on shoulders definitely helped. We collected the sticks while I sang the same songs.

When we had all of the sticks gathered up, the recess bell rang for the first class, so I simply altered my song to ask the students to line up. For the second class, we sang "Goodbye My Friends", just as we did two weeks ago.

I thought the class went well - certainly we had some early hiccups with the first class, and even though the first class appears to be generally rowdier than the second class, I thought they all did well near the end of the class - particularly (surprisingly) with the sticks. I had a fair amount of backpocket items in case I ran out of things to do, but fortunately I didn't have to dig in there. Looking back, I didn't do the usual constant changing of activities, but I didn't sense that the students were disinterested at any time. Props and instruments definitely do help. :)"

Teaching Notes, Kinder, 20130828

We're back! And yes, as you can see from the title of this post, I'm teaching Kindergarten this year! This was somewhat unexpected, but for good reason; our school is now receiving professional music educators for grades 1-5, leaving Kindergarten for volunteer docents like myself. I also have the added bonus of teaching my own daughter this year, who also started Kindergarten.

This year's schedule is going to be similar to last years' schedule, in the sense that I am co-teaching with another volunteer docent, and for the majority of the year, we will be alternating weeks. However, for the first week, both of us co-taught the first class. We roughly broke the class so that the other docent started, while I finished, and I'll talk about the entire day's activities.

Also a little unusual for teaching two classes this year, we have a break in the middle. The first class is right before morning recess, while the second class is after morning recess. That obviously leaves a lot of time to re-prepare class. It also meant that for the second class, the students could line up and march in. In addition, both classes are in the same classroom, which certainly should make set-up a lot easier.

Hello My Friends	Sing Hello [name] to each of the kids, and encourage the students to sing along
We wanted to be able to welcome the students to their first music class and also get familiarized with their names. In order for this to work, I had prepared name tags (on lanyards) for all of the kids. However, distributing them, even with another parent helper in the room, was quite challenging, and we consumed about 3-4 minutes just handing them out at the start of each class. Not helping was the fact that many of the lanyards were tangled. For the first class, with the lanyards distributed, we sang "Hello [name], hello", and filled in the name of each child. In some cases, we couldn't see the name tag, and so we had to ask the rest of the class to help us - that actually got some of the children to sing along and figure out what exactly what we were doing. During the second class, we had them march into the room, which actually took some work, as the students brought in their snack bags from recess and broke up the line when dropping off their bags. Anyhow, while students didn't all sing along, I think that most, if not all, at least had the general tune etched in their mind. That would be useful later on.
Do Re Mi	Teach full-body solfeggi, immerse into song
To start off, we asked the students to help stretch out, and then we had the students follow us in body solfege, from a low Do to a high Do. Many of the students already knew the Solfege scale, although some just moved along. I didn't have a lot of expectation that the students would really follow in tune, as many Kindergarteners actually cannot sing a full octave with control, but that didn't matter much, as we just wanted the students to move, and to hear the solfege notes - especially if they were new to them. We did try to take the students back down the scale, but few actually sang with us at that point. We then broke into the Do Re Mi song (sung twice). The students sort of kept up a bit - many knew the song (even if they couldn't recite the 8 notes of the scale). Again, Do Re Mi is difficult for kindergarteners to match pitch, but at least most of them kept up. In the second class, we introduced "Piano" and "Forte", and we led the students while singing with the different volume levels.
Head Shoulders Knees Toes	Immerse students into motions and song
HSKT is obviously a pretty classic song for kids, and even when we were just asking students to shout out what body part we were pointing to (e.g. Head), many of the students remarked that they knew some sort of song that involved those body parts. Great segue - we then jumped right into the song. We actually ended up singing a variant of HSKT that I never heard before - one where after the 2nd line, "I know how to find my head, shoulders, knees and toes" is sung instead of "Eyes and ears and mouth and nose". It seemed to work, although it didn't seem like most of the students had heard that particular variation.
Oats Peas Beans	Teach students to chant part of the song
I would end up teaching the remainder of the class. Taking a page straight out of the suggested Kinder lesson plan, I asked the students if they had a garden - of course lots of students raised their hands, and then I asked if any planted strawberries. I then had the students all sing out in sol-mi "I like strawberries", and then I sang-asked them (also in sol-mi) if they liked various other kinds of produce - blueberries, apples ("Who has an apple tree?"), peaches, green beans, peas, etc. I then asked "Who likes oatmeal?", and of course lots of students answered back. I then asked (without singing) how does one plant oatmeal in a garden. I expectedly received a lot of confused looks and giggles, and so I talked about oats, and how they grew in a way similar to wheat. I'm not sure if that made any ore sense for the children, except I think they understood that you grow oats from a plant, and yet you eat oatmeal, not straight oats. I then had the students echo me in saying Oats, Peas, Beans. This grabbed the attention of the entire class pretty quickly, and it certainly helps that all of these words are monosyllabic. I proceeded to teach them a new word about another grain called "Barley", and it took a little more effort for the students to recite "Barley". After having the class echo me, word by word, the four foods, I then started chanting them one at a time without waiting for an echo, albeit very slowly. I also wanted the students to follow my arm/hand motions, and so I tried doing a little tap-clap-etc. motion to get the kids' arms moving as well. I realized during the first class that while you can do single motions to keep a beat, it helps to do a double-eighth rhythm for Barley. I wanted to then break into a chant of "Oats Peas Beans and Barley grow", and in order to do that, I had to (1) go back to a single beat rhythm, and (2) slow it down. I did have the students echo each of the four lines (while still keeping a beat with arms), and the students seemed to keep up ok. We then chanted together all 4 lines, after which I asked "do you know how these things grow?" Students would nearly unanimously say "I don't know" (or similar), and so we chanted again. I had the students chant one more time, after which I told them that next week perhaps we'd explore this a little more.
Show Me	Teach students the response
I typically spend the first day of class doing a lot of little exercises to see what is most effective in capturing the students' attention, and Show Me is something that almost always works with Kinders. I first sang "Show Me", and then I had the students practice echoing me before advancing to the next phrase. I did this using the standard words (door/window/floor), and the kids seemed to be amused - some thought it was a game.
I Like You	March to the song, insert actions
With the kids sitting on the mat, I wanted them to make a circle around the outside of the mat. For the first class, I asked the students to make a circle - I forgot that that's an evolving skill eventually learned in Kindergarten. So, I had groups of students move over to the outside of the mat. (For the second class, I gave clearer instructions about who moving to where.) I had the students all held hands (no squeamishness in Kindergarten!), and then I asked them if they knew which way was towards the right. I actually had little expectation that everyone would correctly identify the desired direction, so I walked around the inside of the circle, telling students which way they'd be going; it was important to make a lap around the circle so that two opposite ends knew they were going in opposite directions. Part of this exercise was to get the students used to marching in a circle, and so I had the students practice taking a step to the right, on my vocal command. We took all deliberate, single steps initially, and after I got an easy rhythm going, I then had them march to a beat. I then started the song. After the first verse, I then told the students to watch me as we continued to march - I then sang "We can clap", of course, accented with a clap. I then proceeded to add jump, stomp and hop into the mix, and in each case, the students were able to follow along just fine. Again, this seemed like a game to them
Show Me II	Add different lyrics
At this point, this was a great time to add in another variation to Show Me (face, ceiling place), which worked out well. During the second class, the students were still sitting, so I had them point down to their space, at which time I reminded them that underneath them was indeed their space. This allowed the students to all sit down. This was also in stark contrast to what happened to the first class - when I asked them to sit down, more than half the class scrambled for a seemingly random yet favorite spot on the mat, and of course sometimes more than one kid favored the same particular square. You can imagine what happened there.
Itsy Bitsy Spider	Talk about sounds, sing song in various ways
I asked the students what sounds they heard in the morning, and unlike in past years when I've asked this, most of the students gravitated around sounds made by people. It took a little bit of time to get them to talk about animal sounds (I should have asked if anyone had a pet), and eventually someone mentioned a bird (yay!). We tweeted as a class the tiny sounds of the bird, but I had a bit of a difficult time to get the kids to suggest something that produces a low sound. I steered the conversation towards a train (we all made appropriate noises), and then I asked the students which one was a higher sound. Now, most of the students chose the train instead of the bird, and I suspect that the students focused more on volume levels rather than pitch. I didn't have a lot of time to go into pitch differences, and so I simply moved onto talking about spiders. In the first class, we actually talked a bit about bees, and I interjected the Bee Bee Bumble Bee chant, but after chanting it once (ending with "you are out!"), it seemed like such a nonsequitor that I moved on quickly, and I didn't even bring this up in the second class. We sang the spider song, and I asked the students what sounds does a spider make. Spiders, as many kids pointed out, are pretty quiet, so we re-sang the song quietly. I asked the students how the song would be if the spider was really tiny, and then I let them in a rendition as if we were all chipmunks. Spiders come in all sizes, and I asked the students if any had ever seem a huge spider. A few said that they did, and then I led them in a rendition of the song with a low booming voice. (I didn't point out that it was "low" - I just sang it in an exaggerated, low voice.) I then asked the students what the song would be like if we sang about a very fast spider, or a nearly motionless spider, and we sang the song with different tempos.
Goodbye My Friends Goodbye	Immerse students into the song
It was time to go, and so I told the students that I wanted to sing a goodbye song. Of course, this is particular song has the same melody as Hello My Friends, and so once I started singing it, many of the students tried singing along. It was good to see so many of the kids try the song out without having heard the lyrics before.

That was a lot of fun. There are still some additional introductory activities that I would like to try out with the students before really settling into a good lesson rhythm (no pun intended), but with every-other-week classes for me, it will be another two weeks before I get to teach again.

Behavior-wise, Kindergarteners are far easier to teach than the older grades. Granted, the students still chat on the side, and sometimes they get into mini-spats with each other, usually centered around where one is supposed to sit, but it's a lot easier to recapture their attention. There were some kids who, initially weren't really participating much, but an extra smile here and there oftentimes works well to break the ice and get those students to contribute to the fun.

I'll be sure to break out I Can Sing Up High during my next class. Hopefully that will serve as an easy way to introduce the concept of pitch to the students

As for the name cards, we will definitely have to figure out a better way to distribute these, or perhaps we'll have some of the parent volunteers distribute them with class already underway.

Teaching Notes, 2nd, 20130613

We didn't have another class during the week of the Spring Sing, and thanks to a field trip for 2nd graders on 6/20, the class on 6/13 was going to be our last for the year. Both myself and the other docent co-taught this last class.

Haul Away Joe

Lead students into class in song

The students always line up before entering, and this time, I had the students practice the response to Haul Away Joe ("Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe") a few times, including as a response to my singing a line. I had them walk in to form a circle while I sang a variety of verses. It seemed like the students had a pretty good time with the song, although I sensed that once we were fully in the room that we didn't want to drag the song out for more than 1-2 more verses. Haul Away Joe is one of those old traditional work songs like Pay Me My Money Down, with lyrics that aren't always so kid-friendly, and so I had to use a combination of lyrics from various variants of the song, including a few lines from the Okee Dokee Brothers. But, I certainly had enough verses and more to last us while we got all of the children into the room. Note that I didn't bother singing the bridge of the song, since that didn't involve the same response that the students sang.

Abiyoyo	Recite/sing song
I asked if the students were hot and tired (of course they said "yes"), and so I had them sit down for story time. I figured that this was the last music class for the year, and so I thought we'd treat the students to a classic musical story (more story than song, in this case). There are several people/groups/shows that have told the tale of Abiyoyo, and I tried to model my rendition based on Bill Harley's telling of the story. The students were captivated by the storytelling (as if they hadn't had a story read straight to them before), I brought my uke to class that day, and of course I used it during the story. There were a few students, particularly in the second class, that knew the story, and there was a little bit of distraction during the activity when students blurted out parts of the story (not necessarily corresponding to where we were in the story). But the story seemed fresh for all. Just like Bill Harley's recording, we all sang together as a group the Abiyoyo song.
Spring Sing Video	Show video recording of the spring sing
I wanted the students to see themselves sing, even if not all of the 2nd graders made it to the Spring Sing. The students always love hearing or seeing themselves in action, and in some cases, the students started singling along with recording. I even grabbed my Rubber Baby Buggy Bumper lyric slides to help them with the chorus
Auld Lang Syne	Teach and sing
The other docent led this song; she had prewritten the lyrics to the song on the whiteboard for the students to sing. But, before we started with the music, she spent some time talking about the meaning of the words "Auld Lang Syne", and what the song meant. She had a recording of the background music on an iPad, which she played for the students, and then we all started singing. Mid-way through the iteration I picked up my uke and started accompanying the students. After singing it through twice, she had the girls and boys split the song, which seemed to work well with two docents in the room.
Haul Away Joe	Reprise to get the students lined up again
I had treats for the students to be distributed after the spring sing, but the students departed too quickly for me to give them out. So, I brought them to this last class. In order to give them the treats, I had the students reprise Haul Away Joe, and as we sang the song, I had them walk slowly so form a line out the door from which they came. I then rushed to the front of the line and handed out treats to each student as they walked out.

As they say, the rest is history. This was the first year that I tag-team taught a class, and while it meant that I couldn't cover as much material that I normally would have liked to, it was still a lot of fun, and I know that the students were exposed to other songs and activities that I normally wouldn't have used. I do feel that over time, especially during the spring and in May-June, the challenges of keeping the students engaged, particularly with the second class, improved somewhat; I can think of a few kids who were typically challenging during the earlier parts of the year who became consistent participants, if sometimes a bit more enthusiastic than others.

It's unclear whether or not I'll tag team again, as next year's schedule may change altogether. I may even finally teach Kindergarten for the first time for the whole year, as my daughter will be entering as K in the fall. Speaking of which, "fall" for this school is actually only 5 weeks after school ends, so I'll be back here not too long from now. Have a great summer!

Dress Rehearsal and Spring Sing, 20130603-20130604

June 3rd was a Monday, but I wanted to have our classes have a dress rehearsal for the Spring Sing, and so we had music class moved to the day before the Sing. We also combined both classes of 2nd graders, since they'd be singing together during the following evening.
Our music class typically starts right after lunch recess, and so the students ended up coming back to the classrooms, only to be led back to the open grounds where the amphitheater was located. This led to a lot of chatty children, and while I was planning on having the children sing as they walked, it was more important that they did not disturb the other classes as they walked by, and so our travel was mostly quiet.
It took about 3 minutes to walk over, followed by nearly another 5 minutes just to get all of the children set up. The stage area did have risers, but they were too small to accommodate all of the kids (even with a row of shorter children in front of the risers), and so we had to let some kids trickle over the sides on stage ground.
We practiced first Oh My Goodness, focusing more on the transitions from girls to boys, and the bookends of the song. We then practiced Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers with some of the tongue twisters printed. However, I didn't print out a slide that said "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers" which appears in the song many times, and I realized quickly that when the students were watching the printed slides go by, they halted singing when it was time to sing "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers", as there was no slide for that. We had a hard time stop for the dress rehearsal, and so we really only got to go through this song once.
The following day was the spring sing, and while we had a very chaotic 10-15 minutes to practice (during which time we were only able to go through each song once), the children did very well in their performance. Children always seem to pay attention more and sing with more control than they ever do in the classroom or in the dress rehearsal, and I'm glad that was true this time. The students didn't always know the lyrics well enough to sing the songs at a constant volume (less confidence means less sound), but they at least were able to complete both songs (which, in retrospect, were pretty difficult songs for 2nd graders) successfully, while having a lot of fun on the new stage.

Teaching Notes, 20130523

It's roughly two weeks before the spring sing, and so I had the task of trying to review the Spring Sing songs without making it seem like a chore. You can't really have a class that is 100% review, and so I had to reach back into past years' archives to introduce some material new to the students.

The World Is Big and the World Is Small (Ella Jenkins)	Lead students into class in song
Before I led the students in, I asked them to split themselves up with the boys on one side and the girls on the other. I had used a row of chairs (upside down so that kids wouldn't sit on them) to divide the room. (It's fortunate that the room is large enough to do this; I couldn't have pulled this off using the standard classroom.) Then, I started playing on ukulele the chorus of the song one time through as the students walked in, and then I started simply singing the chorus while playing. With most of the students in, I then taught the students the chorus; I did have the chorus lyrics projected, and so I had the students echo me two lines at a time. On one side of the board, I had written "Boat", "Plane", "Dance", "Game", and I then had the students echo, one line at a time, the stanza of the song, using these words. On the other side of the board, I had written "Bus", "Train", "Song", "Name", and again, I had the students echo me. The students picked this part of the song up very easily, and so after we finished the song (with another echoing of the chorus), I had the students sing the entire song (chorus in unison, stanza in echo, chorus in unison).
Oh My Goodness	Review song, sing in roles
I started off simply by singing the chorus of the song, and the students chimed in. During the Spring Sing, I wanted to introduce the song myself, much like the recording, where I would sing two lines of the chorus, while the class finished with the last two lines (followed by a repeat of the chorus). I explained to the students that this was one way to set the pace of the song as well as the starting pitch, and that seemed to make the students pay a little more attention than usual. The big twist I added today was that I had the students answer each other. The first stanza went to the girls. Rather than have a chorus in between every stanza, I had the boys follow the girls with the second stanza immediately. The original song has a short interjection-type line after the last line of each stanza, and I had the boys interject after the girls; the girls would also interject after the boys completed their stanza before everyone fell back to the chorus. Removing roughly every other chorus seemed to make the song flow a bit better (not to mention be less boring for the students), and the responses seemed to make the students pay attention more when they weren't singing and waiting for the other half of the class to finish. At the end of the song, the students repeated the last line while being prompted by myself. I also added a four-clap to the very end, which hopefully gives the students something to think about as they are finishing the song. I do have to remember to clap myself (and at the right times) during the singing of the regular chorus - something that I'll have to work on over the next week.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers	Revisit and review song
By this time, the students had spent time singing the entire song, and with nothing particularly new to add to the song at this point, I simply had the students review the song. The students still had a hard time with the various tongue twister words in the chorus, so we spent a little extra time repeating and covering the changing-word chorus. We also emphasized the extended (fermata'ed) note near the end, as well as the ending line itself. In all, though, we probably only spent enough time to sing through the song twice.
Old King Glory on the Mountain	Teach, have kids play the marching game
It had been a while since I had the class do some sort of significant movement, and with a dividing line (group) of chairs in the middle of the class, it was natural to have some sort of dance around an object. OKG features a very short song and a fun activity, and so I used it as a lighthearted way to end the day after a class that was mostly review. When getting the students in a circle and marching, I realized how infrequently I had the students moving in a circle - something that I used to do nearly every other class when I first started teaching. (I also had a lot more room back then.) I had to do a little bit of remedial stepping to the beat clockwise, and then we started the activity/song. Students had a pretty fun time with this - especially those who were picked late and figured out that they'd have more fun trying to avoid me as I counted "1, 2, 3". In both classes, we were left with some students and they were declared the winners, being left on top of the "mountain" of chairs.

For a class that was mostly review, this actually went ok - I still had a mixture of new and old material. The next time I'll teach is going to be the dress rehearsal for the Spring Sing; although the kids sort of understood the split roles today, I know that we still have a lot of work to do.

Teaching Notes, 2nd grade, 20130509

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers! I already had some students muttering (hopefully, in a gleeful way) those four words outside of music class for the past two weeks, so I was excited to teach them the second half of that song. As for musical themes, I've been wanting to have the class explore the movable Do as well as articulation, and I wanted to set the stage for doing a round in the near future.

Down By The Sea	Lead students into class with recording in the background
The last (and only) time I had the class play with this song, I did it live. This time, I wanted to use it as a way to get the kids into the class, and so I used the recording by Red Grammer. Enough of the students remembered the beginning of the song such that they were able to do many of the motions with me, and by the 2nd stanza, we had everyone participating. I wanted to find a way to get the students thinking about making a circle, and so I had four chairs on the ground, arranged in a square. Before I led the students into the class, I instructed them to stay on the outsides of the chairs. I suppose I really had a square rather than a circle, but nonetheless, I wanted the students on the perimeter rather than in the center of the room. The chairs mostly worked - they were impossible for the students to miss, and only a few students tried to meander into the inside of the chairs. There were a few students who would sometimes play with the chairs, but as resin-and-metal stackable school chairs go, the students weren't able to manufacture many distractions with the four chairs.
Little Tommy Tinker	Revisit Song, change starting pitch, talk about articulation
Similar to two weeks ago, I started with doing the full-body solfege signs, and some students started calling out the note names while following my motions. I had the students try to sing the scale with me, and we did that up and down. The students still don't really sing the scale in tune as well as I would have hoped at this stage, but arguably we haven't spent a lot of time trying to do any sort of pitch training. When it was time to sing the song, I expected most students to remember this song, and indeed most did. We sang it just once through, and then I asked the students what the first and last notes were. When they answered "Do", I talked about the importance of Do, and how most songs ended on Do, no matter what. When asked about the note that we ended on, a few students did say "C", and I told them while "C" might be the exact pitch, no matter what it always ended at Do - that gave me a great segue as I plucked a different note (it happened to be a D) on the ukulele, and I used that as a starting pitch to sing the song; the students followed me, as well as the same hand motions that I used before. Again, I asked the students what was the name of the last note, and this time everyone said "Do". We experimented with different starting pitches. Next, I asked the students if they remembered how we changed songs in previous weeks. People talked about changing speeds (great tim to remind the students about "tempo"), but none in either class remembered dynamics. After a quick mini review, I then asked the students to sing with me as I sang Tommy Tinker in (rather exaggerated) staccato. I didn't tell the students about that term yet - I just wanted to see how the students perceived the difference in texture. Some students though that the song was faster; some thought that I speaking louder (or, to some, softer). I sang it again in staccato one more time, and eventually a student remarked how I was singing in starts and stops, with blanks in between each sound. It was at that point when I introduced the term "staccato", and I had the students repeat it, in staccato, of course. We all then sang together the song in staccato. I did more or less the same kind of introduction to legato, and I had the students sing the song in exaggerated legato. The 3rd articulation was marcato (accent), and I had a paper with "marcato" on it, with an accent over the "ca". I wanted to emphasize how marcato was a strong, louder sound for only one syllable or note, and so while the students sang Tommy Tinker, I'd raise the paper to signal for the students to emphasize the next syllable. The students seemed to get the hang of it after just one iteration of Tommy Tinker, and a few marcatos thrown in.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers	Revisit song, and cover the 2nd part of the song
This song is still my target #2 song for the spring sing, so it was important for me to cover the rest of the song. I simply took my ukulele, started strumming, and then starting singing the stanza, hoping that the students would follow me. Some did, and by the time the stanza reached "rubber baby buggy bumpers" and in fact, they did without the lyrics displayed on the overhead. By the time it was ready to sing a chorus, I displayed the 2nd chorus on the overhead, and walked the class in echo through the 2nd chorus. The 2nd chorus, like the first, had several additional tongue twisters, and the children enjoyed trying to say. Near the end of the chorus is a line that, in the recording, has an extended note, and so I decided to introduce casually the fermata, and I had the students practice singing an extended note, ending at my signal. We then sang through the entire song from start to finish, again practicing the fermata'ed note, as well as the ending. The ending that I had the students use was nearly the same as the ending to the Donut Song (which, surprisingly, few students recognized), but it made it easy for the students to learn.

I'm really not fond of spending so much time on non-new material, especially songs that are squarely aimed at the spring sing. However, we don't have many more classes left, and I really need the students to pick up the lyrics quickly. I might have to provide printed lyric sheets for everyone for the next class, and I do need to possibly trim down some of the songs, or at least introduce something so that the students aren't just singing.

At some point, I do want to turn Tommy Tinker into a round. I also want to get the students to try a few more dances, since we do have the space for it. I just hope I have enough time, given that I'll be covering both spring sing songs again the next time I teach.

Teaching Notes, 2nd, 20130425

Last week, we spent time exploring tempo, and so this time I wanted to have the students work with dynamics. I also was thinking of having the students fiddle with the movable Do, but I didn't think that I'd really have enough time, so I wanted to introduce a short song for future starting pitch changes. I also wanted to experiment with a potential second song for the spring sing.

Pay Me My Money Down	Lead students into class with ukulele, introduce song
I started leading the students in while strumming my ukulele, and I started singing the chorus of the song a few times. With all of the students in the room, I had the students practice singing "Pay Me My Money Down" (just that line); I would point to the students, and they'd sing. I tried both a chorus and a stanza this way, and the students mostly got the hang o fit. The response shows up with two different sets of pitches during the song, but the students seemed to figure this out, possibly from my original singing. Pay Me is a worksong, and it certainly have lyrics that can generate a lot of questions from children. ("Go to jail?" "Pay me money?") And so I told the students that the song was indeed a worksong. I asked the students where they thought the people were working, and although I tried providing some hints by re-singing a few stanzas, the students couldn't figure it out, and so I simply told them that the song was sung by workers working at a shipyard or at the docks. I then had the students pretend they were pulling a rope whenever they sang their response; we tried this for a stanza and a chorus pair. The movements really help with the students' response; unfortunately I did this only with the first class as I simply forgot to try this with the second class.
Little Tommy Tinker	Teach Song and Movements
I've typically taught Little Tommy Tinker with the full body Kodaly signs. This time, I started with just doing the motions in silence, and I had the students mimic me. I then sang the song once through, still doing the signs. I thought some students might have known the song, but it turned out that none did, and so I then taught the song in echo, one line at a time, twice. We then sang through the song together once through. In the second class only, I asked the students how we could change the song. The first few answers all were around changing the words, but then someone noted that we could change the speed, similar to the previous class that I taught. I then suggested that we could also make it softer. At this point in time (in both classes), I told the students to try singing it quieter, which we did (still with motions). I then asked the students to try to sing it even quieter. I asked the students right there what we changed, and the first answer was that we sang it "lower". However, I explained to the students that we didn't lower our bodies when we sang the 2nd and 3rd times. I had preprinted "piano" and "FORTE" (in all caps) on sheets of paper, and I then taught the students the meaning of the terms, in a music setting. I also taught the word "dynamics" to the students. We sang Tommy Tinker once in piano, and once in forte. The students, when given permission to be loud, always try to be as loud as possible, and so I clarified that forte wasn't top-of-your-lungs loud. Also on separate sheets of paper, I had "p" and "f" printed out. I then proceeded to tell the students that for some reason, music doesn't have a perfectly centered "medium" dynamic; instead I showed a piece of paper with "mf" on it. Some students knew it was mezzoforte, but I had the whole class repeat it. I didn't have "mp" on a paper (mainly because I didn't want four dynamics for the next exercise), but I did explain what mezzopiano meant.
Oh My Goodness	Review while changing dynamics, tempo
I displayed the lyrics to the chorus on the overhead projector, and the students sang it with no issue. (I was glad to see that no students had that "not again!" look on their face.) I didn't even have to sing along with them past the first line. However, as I was about to display the first stanza, I asked the students to sing the next part in piano. As the song went on, I would change the dynamics on them. Later in the song, I started changing the tempo as well, but I would have to snap the beat with my fingers and then lead them into the song lyrics. Near the last few stanzas, I started changing the dynamics during the middle of a stanza, which really captivated the students. I did notice that the later parts of the song weren't sung with the same crispness as the other parts. Certainly the later parts are less known to the students, but even the regular recording by Sweet Honey In The Rock is 3:20, which is long. I likely have to cut some stanzas from the song (there are 6!) in order to make the song easier to learn and sing for the Spring Sing. That said, I think the students had a good time with the changing dynamics and tempo.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (Trout Fishing In America)	Teach first half of song very slowly
If you try to search for this song, you won't find much, because it hasn't been formally released by Trout Fishing. I was inspired by this song after hearing it performed at a Trout Fishing concert only a few weeks ago. It's a really great song featuring several tongue twisters, and it is so new that even the band admitted that they had "never sung it correctly yet". A web search, in fact, yields only one little video, found here. This is the only resource that I have, in fact, in order to learn the song myself. I had Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers pre-written on a hidden board, and so it was time for the big reveal. I asked the students to not say anything until I said it first, and so I had the students repeat me, word by word. I don't think any of the students understood what was going on yet, and even when I had them echo all four words at a time slowly, still the students weren't quite sure what they were saying. I then had them say it a little faster, then even faster, and finally some of the students realized it was a tongue twister. I really wasn't expecting the students to really learn the song well, nor was I planning on having them sing everything, so I had the students simply practice saying, then singing, Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (those four words only), when prompted by myself. I then proceeded to sing the stanza (without the students singing along or echoing), but when those four words came up, I pointed to the students (and they answered). There were times when I would prompt them by counting 1-2-3-4, which helped their timing and helped keep a steady beat through the song. When it came to the chorus (which contains a bevy of additional tongue twisters), I had the students echo each line. One line ("three grey geese in the green grass graze") I had to split into two separate echoes, just so the students wouldn't get lost. I wanted to cover only the first stanza and first chorus, anticipating that the song was going to be pretty hard for them. After finishing the chorus for the first time, I displayed the full words to them on the overhead, and so I again ran through the song in the same way; this time, however, some students tried to sing the stanza with me. (It's a very simple stanza.) I found it difficult myself to try to speak or sing the tongue twisters correctly, and while the students clearly noticed this, I don't think it bothered them much or detracted from the song, as they were having similar issues. But, they all pretty much were giggling while struggling to sing the right words, and that still was good fun for all. The song ends with the same tune found at the end of the Donut Song (but with RBBB), and so we ended up practicing that a bit. I had some extra time with the second class, and so I ended up asking them where they heard that tune before - eventually settling on the Donut Song, which we practiced one last time.

That was actually a lot of fun, even if in the second class I still had my typical struggles keeping the students in line. (I had to send a student to the office, which is no fun for anyone.) Originally I had imagined that I could have students choose the tempo and dynamics rather than myself, but that is going to have to happen later in the year. I also do plan on doing something similar with a changing Do (or starting pitch), and that should amount to more fun.

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers went pretty well - better than I imagined - but it is still going to take a lot of work to get it to performance shape. The song actually has a bridge with spoken words, and that (mild apping) might be something for the students to try. Some of the stanzas in Oh My Goodness in the original recording also are spoken rather than sung, and I might also let the students try that.

I'm starting to think that if we ever have to use a song for an impromptu sing for these students, it would have to be the donut song. If Oh My Goodness or RBBB are not ready for the Spring Sing, at least I'll have the Donut Song, which I'm sure the students would enjoy performing over and over again.