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.