Grade 2 Lesson 31
Warm up with "Father Abraham." Teach it by rote. It’s an old children’s favorite that will get everyone ready to sing. This is a great physical warm-up for your choir.
“Rain on the Green Grass” is a reading song. Have the students read the rhythms.
Have the students read the melody using solfa, or if you don’t teach solfa, sing the melody to them, showing the melodic contour with arm motions.
Play a game with the song. Stand in a single circle. While you sing, pass a mini umbrella around the circle. In the umbrella, place rhythm cards using rhythms that you are currently working on. The student who has the umbrella at the end of the song is to pick a rhythm from the umbrella and clap it for the class. The class should clap it back. The flashcards can be found in the Printables section.
Teach the Orff arrangement for "Rain on the Green Grass." If you don't have Orff instruments, the students could create their own accompaniment or create rhythmic or melodic ostinatos to accompany this song.
Ask the students to think of ways to make a sound like falling rain. They might try snapping fingers, patting legs or two finger clapping. Explore and try out all the sounds that your students suggest. Ask them if they can think of an instrument that might sound like falling rain. Try out any instruments that the students suggest. Introduce the song with rain sounds and/or use the rain sounds as a B section between repetitions of the song.
