Teaching Notes, 20151208

Today was... more bell day!  That's right - I wanted to revisit the tone bells, and this time, get everyone a chance to play them.  I definitely still wanted to throw in some theory while we were at it, so here's what happened.

1. Intro: Down By The Sea.  I originally was going to do this second, but it has always been a great starter activity that I promoted it to be the opener.  I first asked the students about what life on the beach would be like, and in doing so I had them unwittingly practice a lot of the moves.  Anyhow, I then dove right into the song, and the kids followed
2. Everybody Gather 'Round.  I wanted to review this song for a bit since it may end up being a Spring Sing - we covered the first stanza, and then I had the students echo me the first bridge.  Next, I told the students to pretend that we were singing the beginning of the song again, and I started singing the second stanza - to responses of "Fine Friends Are Here".  It was great!  I did bring my ukulele with me for this one.  Note - I did change "battered cases" to "colored cases" for a slightly softer phrase.
3. Forte/Piano review.  I wrote p, mp, mf, and f on the board, and we quickly reviewed forte and piano.  I then asked the students about mp and mf, and what it might mean (especially in the ordering that I wrote them), and we talked about the middle volumes.  I then had one of the teacher aides point to one of them as I sang Everybody Gather 'Round; the students responded in the volume that the aide pointed to.
4. Tone Bells!  I had the students arrange themselves in three rows, and I had two students from each row come up, holding either a C or G bell.  I spent a little bit of time covering how to hold it, and then I had the six students practice playing together.  However, I knew that I didn't have a lot of time since I wanted to get all of the students a turn, so the practicing was limited to about 8-12 beats before I started singing various songs, such as "Row Row Row", "Bee Bee Bumblebee", "Round and Round the Garden", and "Oats Peas Beans".  I ended with "Tony Chestnut" which led to...
5. Tony Chestnut.  I covered only the first half of the song, with all of the movements; about half of the students remembered.  I then repeated this a bit faster, which the kids seemed to enjoy.
6. Chubby Little Snowman.  It's getting cold outside, so I talked with the students about snow - that of course led to this song, which I had the students copy with me as I sang.
7. Closing: Make New Friends.  I tried this before, and few students were able to sing along with it, and this time, only a few more remembered.  We sang in echo, and then I had the students go to their desks as I sang it.

The Tone Bells really took up a lot of time, leaving me with only 7 items today.  The students were however still captivated by the opportunity to play the bells.  The next week is going to be the last class before the winter break, so I'll be sure to throw in a jingling bell here or there...

Teaching Notes, K, 20151203

I wanted to change things up a bit, so for today, I decided to change a few standard songs around, while also reintroducing both sticks and tone bells.

1. Intro: Hello, Ev'rybody.  I wanted to try a different introduction song, and this is one in particular that allows for a lot of different movement possibilities.  The students seemed to enjoy the movements, and some were able to pick up the pattern of the song.  I covered four different movements (clap, jump, skip, turn around) before moving on.
2. Bears and BunniesRabbits.  I moved directly to re-introducing the animals, and the students seemed to collectively decide that the two-beat animal was a rabbit, not a bunny.  This is actually fortunate, since I can now also refer to the animals by their first letters.  I had the students practice clapping to a few simple patterns.
3. Round and Round the Garden.  I took a bear picture and moved it around while singing, and the students quickly focused on the moving bear.  It is a pretty easy song to teach; the students learned it pretty quickly.  However, then I took the song, line by line, and tried to have the students sing the animal rhythm (e.g. "rabbit rabbit bear bear" for the first line), and the students seemed to understand what I was asking for, even if I didn't really explain it like I would to an adult.  I tried the same with Oats Peas Beans as well as Bee Bee Bumble Bee.
4. Rhythm Sticks.  I passed out the rhythm sticks, and with the sticks, we practiced a few different rhythms.  I did have them try rubbing the sticks together to make use of the channeled stick.  I introduced the "alligator" as the next animal, and after trying to stick to alligator (it's hard for kinders!), I allowed them to beat "alligator" on the ground; that seemed a lot easier.  I also introduced "butterfly", but I didn't spend a lot of time on it, since I wasn't about to embark on triplets quite yet.
5. Old Joe Clark.  I had the students listen to the song (performed by Dan Zanes and Friends) and I would call out stick patterns, and the students tried their best to follow.  This song is particularly long so we covered only about two minutes' worth of the tune.  I collected the socks while singing Choo'n Gum.
6. Tone Bells.  This time, I properly introduced the tone bells, and covered proper usage.  I then had students come up, two at a time, to attempt to play the bells on the beat.  Each time, I asked the students to play four beats and then I had the rest of the class sing a short song...
7. The Turkey Ran Away.  With a pair of students ready with their tone bells, I had the class sing this song (and its variants).  We covered three iterations of the song.
8. Closing: Make New Friends - indeed, I had a new song here, but the students didn't really pick this one up as easily as the other songs from today.  We sang it once through in echo, but then I simply fell back to using "Goodbye My Friends" - which also made the students instinctually return to their seats.

While I had the sticks out, I did try to get the students to think about sticks at rest, whether they'd be on shoulders, or with the blue stick out steady, ready to be tapped.

Teaching Notes, 20151125

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and so I was prepared to do another round of Thanksgiving-oriented activities.  But, just like last week, I wanted to start introducing more theory and perhaps a tiny bit of Orff.

1. Intro: Fine Friends Are Here.  I did the same thing as last week - I encouraged the students to sing along, and we sang together the entire first chorus.  I then sang through the stanza, followed by the chorus with the students again.  I then tried walking the students through the stanza by echo, but I've realized that I may need something else - perhaps some hand motions - to go along with the words, as it may be a lot to memorize if I'm to have the students sing this in the spring.
2. Tony Chestnut.  I didn't expect the students to remember much of Tony Chestnut from last week, so I reprised the entire first half, mirrored and all, as if it was new.  However, after singing it through with the motions, I then introduced the words/names and motions for the second half of the song.  The second half to me doesn't have quite the active tune that the first half does, and plus it has "how it ends" - a phrase that left me wondering what to do (without having the students point to their bottoms).  I ended with singing the first half of the song one more time, a bit faster.
3. Rhythms.  I printed out pictures of a bear (four total), and four pictures of a rabbit/bunny, and I had the students speak (and then clap) the combination of bears and bunnies that I had attached via magnet to the whiteboard.  I typically also have a butterfly and an alligator picture, but for now, bears and bunnies were enough.
4. Rhythm Sticks.  With the students keyed onto a few simple rhythms, I then passed out rhythm sticks, and I had them practice sticking to bears and bunny combinations, still limited to four beats at a time.  I then played "Town Town" (by Dean Jones) and I had the students follow me and play with the sticks to the song.
5. Turkey Ran Away.  This was surprisingly the only Thanksgiving song I managed to get to, but after singing one iteration (with the turkey), I then took out two tone bells (a low C and a high C), and I had students try to keep a beat with the tone bells (including giving the rest of the class four beats to establish a tempo).  I was able to have three sets of two kids come up.
6. Exit: Goodbye My Friends Goodbye.  I have been meaning to replace this with a different song.  I'll do that next week.

The tone bells were something I decided at the last minute to use, and typically when I introduce tone bells, I take a more deliberate amount of time to talk about holding them, and how the lengths of the bells affect the pitch.  I didn't quite do that this time, and I'll be sure to cover that properly next week.