Teaching Notes, 20160608

A business trip eliminated my originally scheduled 6/1 class, and so today happened to be the final class for the year.  As such, I tried to make it a fantastic review of nearly everything that we did, with not too much new material.  It was sort of like the very first class where I switched quickly from song to song, except this time I was arguably switching even faster since the material was somewhat familiar.  Also, though, since this was the last class, I wanted to end the year with a story.

1. Intro: Choo'n Gum.  While I never really made this a focused song, the kids were indeed able to learn this during the course of the year, and knew how to respond.
2. Rhythms: I wrote out four vertical lines representing four beats, and I had the kids clap it.  I then introduced the rest, and a pair of eighth notes, and we proceeded to try out different rhythms made of a combination of quarter, eighths and rests.  Next, I added a second measure (I never covered "measure" - it was just another 4 beats to the class), and we then tried clapping patterns that were twice as long.   I then wrote out patterns representing different songs, and I asked students to first clap them and guess what songs they were; we tried Bee Bee Bumble Bee,  Oats Peas Beans, Bow Wow Wow, 2-4-6-8, Hey Betty Martin.  Each time a song was revealed, we sang it.
3. I Can Sing A Rainbow.  This was all review, particularly around the ASL of colors.  I didn't want to spend a huge amount of time here, so we ended up going through the song pretty quickly.
4. Jenny Jenkins.  Since I had the students already singing about colors, I switched over to singing this song one more time, and while the students still understandably struggled with the chorus, the still had a good time with it.  We covered 6 different colors before moving on.
5. Story Time: Abiyoyo.  As in past years, I have used a Bill Harley-esque version of this story, and the children always have a fun time with it.
6. The World Is Big and the World Is Small.  With the last few moments I had with the class, I wanted to cover this song one more time, since it's a simple song and hopefully one that the students can remember easily.
7. Exit: Goodbye My Friends.  The students walked back to their desks, singing this for the final time.

It is always bittersweet for me to finish a year.  The students however, never seem to be weighed down on it being the last day, and it's rather refreshing to see the students go back to their normal routine, even if I won't be their music teacher any longer.  With that however, I do complete my sixth year at the school, and every so often, some of the older kids still remember that I taught them, and on the rare occasion, they'll let me know what song they remembered from that year.  That's a wonderful feeling that I will always cherish.

Teaching Notes, 20160525

Are you looking for 5/18?  Well, that turned out to be the dress rehearsal for the spring sing - for kinders as well as grades 1-4, which I and my fellow other kindergarten teacher led.  We ended up splitting the upper grades during the spring sing, which worked out fantastically, even though each upper class only sang one song apiece.

And so, today was the first class after the Spring Sing - and since the kids spent many weeks prior preparing for the Spring Sing, I decided to keep today's class simple, and mostly outside

1. Intro: Down By The Bay.  Yep, I decided to use this once again as a starter.  Kids still love the song, and it was quick way to warm the class up.
2. Sasha (inside).  Today was going to be the day when I tried to get the whole class to dance to Sasha.  To prepare them, though, I had them try the partner sequence, but without a partner - that included the claps, as well as the "spin" - for which I just had the students turn in place.  We did this pattern a few times, and then it was time to go outside (to "Paw Paw Patch").
3. Sasha (outside).  After the whole class was outside, I had the students practice the partner sequence without a pattern again, and they seemed to have a reasonable sense of the pattern.  Next, I had the students pair up and try the partner.  I always stress the important of thanking your partner.  Finally - I had nearly forgotten to introduce the song title, and so I took a minute or two to talk about "Sasha" and how it could apply to everyone.
   The dance went quite well - the kids took one or two iterations to get a feel for the pattern, but then they were able to follow it effectively.  It definitely became chaotic near the end of the song when it speeds up considerably, but that was ok.
4. Boanopstekker.  We had a few more minutes outside, so we ran through this dance one more time.

Believe it or not, that was pretty much the entire lesson.  Sasha practiced both inside and outside consumed a huge amount of time.  However, I would certainly think it was worth it, as the kids were really enjoying the pair dancing aspect of the activity.

I may not have the opportunity to do more dancing later, so I'm glad I was able to cover this.