With the younger groups, I've been doing a version of this song that I learned from Raffi. When I first started teaching, Raffi was a very popular children's performer at the time. His stuff still holds up. We have been using the song, "You Brush Your Teeth" to support Braque in Science who has been talking about teeth. It is a good exercise in breath control and warm up for the beginning of music class, not to mention the fun and silliness of ignoring everything around you to brush your teeth. Here is Raffi's version: Finally, Spring is here. We have been singing a book by Ezra Jack Keats called "Over in the Meadow" with the younger groups. It is a good example of a book that you can sing instead of just reading. It also works well for counting, rhyming and lyric recall. We often move around like the characters in the book, too. There are a lot of different versions that are sung on Youtube, you can look up a few and listen to compare how they are the same/different than our version. I chose this one because it has the same lyrics (different pictures) that we sing here at Gillen Brewer. It is simply read but, perhaps you can view it with your child and ask them to sing it to you (turn down the volume and give it a try). This time of year (St. Patrick's Day) we dust off the old song and line dance called, "Rig a di jig." We line up the chairs in two rows facing each other and one person walks down the lane to the song that I am playing on the accordion. They lyrics to the song give the directions on what should be done next in the dance sequence. For example, it starts with a classmate asking another classmate to dance and then the two hold hands and sashay down the lane back and forth to the music while the others clap along. I let the students know that the expectation is that when someone asks you to dance, you will say, "Yes." This encourages all students to interact with all the other students in their group and encourages consideration of their feelings. It also helps to develop patience, body control, turn-taking, and group appreciation - not to mention just having a good old time with other live human beings like they used to do before TV, computers and video game consoles existed. Kate (Art) and I have taken on a collaborative project to create a stop-action film with the Joeys and Cheetahs on the Ipads. It is based on the musical story, Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev where each character in the story is represented by a musical instrument. After exploring the story, acting it out, and identifying the instruments used, we are in the stage of filming the scenes and recording the dialogue. Here are a few pictures of the children working on their scenery in art and recording the story here in music. |
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September 2018
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