Grade 5 Lesson 19A – song-based lesson
Teaching Procedures
Review “George Washington Bridge”
Teach “George Washington Bridge” by rote. Play the game. Use this as a fun warm-up activity. In the second lesson, try this at different speeds.
Do the movement activity with “George Washington Bridge”
Teach the song in unison. When they know it well, divide the class into three groups. One group sings all the “George’s”, one group sings all the “Washington’s,” and one group sings all the “bridges”. Stand up when it is your turn to sing. Sing at different speeds using the correct tempo terms
Play “Which Rhythm Do You Hear?” (dotted quarter and eighth notes)
Teach “Hot Potato”
Teach the song by rote and play the game. Use the song to teach the dotted quarter note - eighth note rhythms.
Play the “Hot Potato” game
Sit in a single circle. Pass a potato (or a bean bag) to the beat. The student holding the potato at the end of the song is ‘out’ and must sit inside the circle. When there are enough students inside the circle, the game can be played in the inside and outside circles. One small change in the way you play may help your students to keep a beat more accurately with the “potato”. Instead of passing the potato from student to student, have each student that gets the potato do this pattern with it: floor, knee, knee, pass. In other words, they touch the floor, touch each knee, and then pass; this means they cannot rush the beat as much when they get to the end of the song and see who’s going to go out.
Add a rhythmic ostinato while singing “Hot Potato”
Sing the song with this ostinato: ta titi ta ta. Create other ostinati to accompany the song. Try some of your ostinati on cups and play the cup game as you sing.
Teach “Scoo Be Doo”
This song was written by Australian jazz educators Susie Davies-Splitter and Phil Splitter. The song introduces the students to scat syllables. Since jazz was primarily an instrumental form of music, when singers perform jazz they sometimes imitated the sounds the instruments made. This evolved into the use of scat syllables for singers. You can use this piece as part of a unit introducing your students to jazz.
Add a melodic ostinato while singing “Scoo Be Doo”
Play the first ostinato on barred percussion or Boomwhackers®.
Have your students try improvising and creating a new ostinato that can be performed with part one. You could put on the accompaniment track and invite students to improvise. After, ask the students if they would like to share their creations with the class. If they work, use them as part of the composition.
