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.