2nd Week of Lessons

In my second week of school, I've had several excellent lessons! In kindergarten, we learned about our 4 voices! The students loved this activity. I had them sit in a circle around the rug. I told them we were on a came show called "My 4 Voices". I grabbed my light up microphone and they went wild. We talked about each of the voices: Singing, Speaking, Shouting, and Whisper. I demonstrated each of them and the kids loved my "opera voice". Once I demonstrated, we passed the microphone around the circle and each student was able to show me one of their voices.

I was worried everyone would want to show their shouting voice so I made this chart. (Bad picture, but this is all I had. I left the chart at school) Each voice has a cover, so once that voice was demonstrated, I covered it up. I was very surprised that I really didn't need the chart. I only had a few shouting voices and even then, they were mild. I had some really good singing voices and a ton of quiet whispers.

After everyone demonstrated their voice, we talked about where we use each voice. The kindergarteners did really well with this. I thought that it could possibly turn into chaos but they were really well behaved and handled it extremely well.

In 1st grade, we learned Charlie Over the Ocean. Since we are learning echo songs, this was the perfect piece. Once we learned the words, I had different groups of students help me sing the solo part. I even had some students who wanted to sing a real solo.

I added motions for the fish that Charlie caught. It helped us remember the order. We then talked about what kinds of animals live in the ocean. I used the examples with two syllables to create new lyrics. I didn't even have to explain syllables; they started explaining them to me! The kids came up with some great motions to go along with their new lyrics. 

The most successful lesson has got to be the Dinosaur Stomp. Every class has LOVED this dance! I turned it into a competition between the classes of 1st and 2nd grade. The winning classes are now posted online as their reward! I can't wait to tell them tomorrow.

I taught the dance by demonstrating each of the moves before we started the music. I turned the music on fairly quickly since the song tells the dancers what to do. We practiced it once and the I recorded it. We had a lot of fun with this activity.

It was really easy to facilitate. I placed the students in their "dance spot" and we practiced. Placing the students took extra time but when it came time to film I could see everyone. I only had to remind them to stay in their spot so the camera could see them.