PreK Back to School – Lesson 4
Teaching Procedures
Sing the echoes for “Time for Music”
Talk about beat.
This is an opening song that can be used for each music class throughout the year or throughout the first 17 lessons. In PreK, you can teach songs by rote or teach them by immersion. In rote teaching, you sing a phrase (or play a phrase in the recording) and the children echo. Then you combine phrases until children can echo the entire song. When you teach by immersion, you sing the song (or play the recording) and have the children do a movement while listening to the song. If teaching this song by immersion tell the students to copy your movements while they listen to the song. After doing the movements for several lessons, they will have “caught” the melody and can sing along.
When children know the song and are singing along, invite the children to create their own verses and movements.
At the end of each verse there is an eight beat interlude. During the eight beats continue the movement from the verse and count the beats. Tell the children that when they count to eight, they are counting the beats in the song and explain that beat in music is the steady pulse that you can feel, clap or dance to. I use hearts as a visual to show the beat, and print out 8 hearts to tap on to show the beat during the interlude.
Say the “Hello Beat Chant”
The beat chants are a great way to welcome your students to music class or music time. Some music teachers teach more than a thousand students each week and it can be very difficult to remember the names. Starting your class with a name chant establishes a routine, introduces the term “beat” and will help the teacher remember all of the names.
Say the preschool chant, patting a steady beat as you speak. Say hello to four students, then say the chant again. Say hello to them using high and low voices, quiet and loud voices, fast and slow. Also use speaking, whispering, shouting or calling and singing voices. When singing hello use a variety of solfa patterns: so-mi so-so-mi, so-la-so-mi-do or mi-re-do-do-do. In the chants where children say their own names, encourage them to use different voices.
Sing to Melody the Elephant
Practice distinguishing between speaking and singing voices by introducing a toy elephant named Melody. Melody the elephant will do what the children tell her, if they tell her in a “singing voice.” If they speak, she does nothing. Tell Melody to “jump up and down” using a speaking voice. Melody won’t move. Then sing to Melody to “jump up and down” and make your elephant jump. Invite the children to
sing to Melody what to do. This activity helps the students to learn the difference between singing and speaking voices. It’s also great to encourage solo singing. You can soon tell who is matching pitch and who you need to work with when they sing to Melody.
Melody became a requested part of every music class. If I forgot to bring Melody out, they asked for her. They all wanted to give Melody hugs after class, so we developed a routine where if they were sitting nicely in their places, Melody would come and give them a hug.
Introduce different instruments using the “Mystery Box”
Put 5-6 instruments in a box so the children can’t see what you're playing. Play it, and they identify the instrument. It’s a great way to introduce them to the timbre of unpitched instruments, and to help build their vocabulary as they learn the names of all the instruments!
Create your own instrument rhythms with drums and shakers
Copy and cut out the instrument pictures. (consider making 2 sets)
Arrange them, and play them.
Teachers - model first.
Invite students to suggest new ways to arrange them.
If you have extra time, invite the children to color them and create their own patterns.
Play along with “Play, Play, Play Along”
Review the “Music Room Rules”
If you've already taught/reviewed the rules, skip ahead.
Go over the rules one at a time.
Ask the students for examples - What would be good choice?
How can they be nice and kind?
Extension: Have the students draw a picture that shows them playing an instrument carefully.
Sing the song "If You're Happy and You Know it "
If You're Happy and You Know it - by JJ is in the Jump into Music section.
Sing and move as shown in the video
Review “Walking in the Farmyard”
Teach the song. With PreK teach the song either by immersion or by rote. Explain the game and demonstrate what will happen if you are holding the “farmer” at the end of the song.
Review the game for “Walking in the Farmyard”
To play the game, put your farm animal picture cards, or toy animals in the middle of the circle. Pass a picture of a farmer or a farmer toy around the circle as the class sings the song. At the end of the song, the child holding the farmer picture chooses an animal that he sees in the center and sings, “I see a ___ ___.” The class echoes. The child that sang should come to the front with his chosen animal. Pass the farmer again, and the next child to have the “farmer” at the end of the song chooses a second animal. Sing the second animal and then the first. Each child that chooses comes to the front of the class and sits in order to help remember all the animals that have been chosen. Sing all the animals each round, starting with the newest first.
Alternate way to play: Give each child a picture card. Sing the song, then several children can sing what they have, and all sing back, “You have a _____.” (We tried moving like animals and singing what animals the children were, but this was a spectacular failure. It was much too chaotic.)
Optional: Complete an All About Me activity
• Trace the words on the page.
• Color the things you'd like to do in music class.
• If you want to save paper, draw a picture of what you'd like to do in music class.
Omit if you did this in Week 1.
Review the actions for “Skinnamarink”
Do the actions and sing “Skinnamarink”
Skinnamarink is the song we sing at the end of every music class.
Watch the video and sing along!
The actions are given in the demo video that follows.