Teaching Notes, 20160203

Today it turned out was going to be my only chance to have the children do anything related to Valentine's Day, as I will be out the following week thanks to a business trip.  Because of the rainy season, I also hadn't brought the students outside yet this calendar year.  It was clear today, so I took the opportunity to address both issues.

1. Intro: I'm in the Mood for Singing.  While I was able to start this as the students were finding their seats on the carpet, and the students were able to respond initially, they still continue to sing the 1st response as the 3rd response, and so I reminded them what they should be singing. I changed the song to clapping and rowing (arm motions), and even then the students didn't remember what to do with the 3rd response.  They did however, require no help for the 4th and 5th responses, so that's progress.
2. Austrian Yodeler.  I had not planned to do this, but as I was reviewing my lesson plan in the parking lot, I realized that it would be apropos to talk about snow (it was sunny but still cold outside), and Austria (next to Germany, see below).  And so, I talked about snow, taught the kids what it meant to yodel, and how yodeling around mountains could lead to echoes... and avalanches.  What I didn't anticipate was that when I had the students mimic an avalanche, many of them launched themselves from a seated position into the center of the carpet, diving at each other.  That made the song a bit challenging.
   I ended up covering avalanches and the grizzly bear, but I didn't want to go any further since it was quite challenging to keep the kids focused when they were strewn over the carpet.
3. If You've Got One (Justin Roberts).  This is a quick and easy exercise that I've done many times with kinders.  I simply started having students mimic my motions, followed by asking them what each number meant, followed by having them follow me while I sang.  I didn't expect any kids to sing with me, and that allowed them to concentrate on following my motions.  I then told them that I wanted to test them to see who was paying attention (it was already challenging today in that department), so I started the recording of Justin Roberts, while I had them do the motions with me.
   The song ends with 1, 2, 3 in French, and I asked the students if they knew what "un", "deux", and "trois" meant - none did, and then I told them it was in French.  This was important since the next song involved other languages.
4. Heel Toe, Down The Line.  I verbally took the students back to Austria, where people speak German, and after reminding the students how wonderful it was that they were learning so many languages (which I do every year), I taught them "yes" and "no" in German.  I then told them it was going to be Valentine's Day soon, which meant that they should be prepared on how to answer the question "Would you be my valentine?"... in German, of course!
   I wanted to teach the children this activity inside before trying this outside, and so I covered heel, toe, stepping three times, and turning around.  They also weren't partnered yet, which was a deliberate choice on my part, after seeing time and time again classes devolve a bit when partners are involved.  I then had the students go outside (while I sang "My Bonnie") where there was a painted circle, had the students stand on any part of the line, where we practiced again without partners.
   It was time.  I demonstrated using the teacher how to substitute a switcheroo for the turnaround, and I had the students practice it twice.  Next, it was time to add the second half of the song, with the jump at "nein" - and the kids absolutely loved it.  The kids caught on quickly that they were suddenly paired with someone else, and we performed five more iterations.  Before moving onto the next activity, I had the students point to where they started, and it was all over the map.
5. Highway Number One.  With the students already outside, I had the students practice movements from the song - heel and toe and stamp, for instance, which was a nice connection to the previous activity.  The students were then set free to drive their vehicles to the song, and even though they started getting a bit crazy, they more or less stopped in their tracks in order to hear each set of instructions.  It was a nice way to end the day - after the song was over, I marched them back (singing "My Bonnie" again) into the classroom where they went back to their desks.

And so, I thought it went pretty well, and it was so far the most successful day featuring a partnered activity.  Even though my next class will be after Valentine's Day, I'll probably revisit this if it's dry outside.