Submitted by Gretchen Taylor, Illinois

Idea posted August 18, 2004

Here's the play-by-play breakdown for the first few sessions (45 minutes each) for my sixth through eighth grade classes:

Day One:

  • Welcome and choose seats
  • Quick roll and possible redo of entering procedure (depending on whether or not they followed my instructions for coming in).
  • A mixer game called Concentration: Form a standing circle. Establish pattern of two palm pats to each neighbor followed by two claps. I begin the following chant. The game continues by going around the circle and naming topic items on the pats:
    • This is a game (clap clap)
    Of concentration (c c)
    No repeats (c c)
    Or hesitations (c c)
    I'll go first (c c)
    You'll go second (c c)
    The topic is (c c)
    "Summer" (c c)
    Baseball (c c)...swimming (c c)...vacations (c c), etc.

    When there's a repeat or hesitation, that player is out. We'll play a few rounds with the "summer" topic, and then change the topic to "names." That is, I'll start by saying someone else's name, then THAT person says someone else's name, etc. No names can be repeated (unless there are shared names in the class), they can't say their own name, and no hesitations are allowed that break the rhythm.

  • Put music folders together. They supply one pocket prong folder and 15 sheets of notebook paper. I supply an expectations/procedures sheet, manuscript paper, and a SQUILT journal page. We put everything together in a specific order together as a class.
  • Go over the expectations/procedures sheet. May even role play a few of these so that everyone understands them clearly.
  • Begin filling out Music Profiles. This is a two-page form asking them questions about their experience/interests in music, etc. I keep these and give them out to the students at the end of the year. I play some background music while they're working on them. (I don't allow enough time for them to finish these because we'll do that on day two).
  • Introduce whatever song I have planned for our "kick off the year" song. I'm leaning toward "Put On Your Thinking Cap" from Music K-8, Vol. 14, No. 2 for seventh and eighth grades, and "Discovery" from Music K-8, Vol. 14, No. 1 for sixth grade.
  • Gather materials and dismissal bow.

Day Two:

  • Welcome and assign seats.
  • Concentration (This day's topic is "music").
  • Review Expectations/Procedures
  • Finish music profiles (those who finish early may decorate the front/back of their music folders while music is playing in the background).
  • Continue the "kick-off" song in more depth (vocal warm-up, punch out pitches, discuss text, explore the score, identify form, etc., which helps kick their brains in gear to "think" musically again).
  • Go over our "year at a glance" in music.
  • Go over grading & grading contracts.
  • "Get Comfortable" Listening Time - a few minutes of simple quiet listening
  • Gather materials and dismissal bow.

Next three classes:

Warm-Up Song/Activity - My seventh through eighth grades will be creating math movement equations to music. I'll ask them to come up with various simple equations that add up to 8 (4+4, 6+2, 7+1, 5+3, etc.). I will list four of these on the board. For each of the four, they are to come up with a hand movement that moves upward toward the ceiling on the first part of the equation. The second part we'll simply pat that many times on our lap. So say for 5+3, a motion could be "flicks" (we call them booger flicks) to go with the 5, and then 3 pats. They should flick 5 times in a gradual upward motion so that "5" is highest in the air and then 3 pats. (I use a fun upbeat song with four eight-measure phrases that repeat four times total.) During these phrases, the kids do their math movements (one equation for each set of four phrases). On the refrain, they just keep a beat somewhere (clap, tap foot, snap, whatever).

On a subsequent day, we'll do this same warm-up in four groups as a round robin. Each group will choose an equation/movement accompaniment. Then they'll be assigned a verse. They'll do their math moves on their verse only, but all will keep the beat on the refrain.

If the music profiles are all done, we'll move on to our Tutti WOW (Word of the Week) list. Using song material from our Get America Singing Books, I'll present/review Beat, Tempo, and Meter the first day. Subsequently we'll cover Pitch, Melody, Unison, Phrase, Dynamics, etc.

As each concept (word) is introduced and experienced, the students record it plus its definition in their music folders under "WOW List." (This will be ongoing throughout the year.) The Tutti words are those that all third through eighth graders must know. (I also add grade-specific words in addition to the main list.)

Also, we begin to do some WOW analysis using additional song material. For example, I'll take a request from the GAS book. Before singing the song, I'll ask what they can tell me about it in terms of our WOW: meter, tempo, form, phrases, etc. Then, we'll sing it and possibly make dynamic changes, tempo changes, etc. to continue to analyze and experience as many WOW concepts as possible.

During the first several sessions, I'll also begin my Rhythm Gym. Usually to kick this off, we'll create chair rhythms. I'll clap a pattern, they'll echo, then I'll choose someone to notate the pattern in chairs with students. Four chairs are in front of the room, each representing one beat. Quarter = one person sits in chair, two eighths = two people sit on same chair, half note = one person on one chair with legs stretched across to the second chair, etc. You get the idea. They LOVE sixteenths! Then, they'll draw rhythm pyramids in their folders. One pyramid has notes from whole note through sixteenth, the other pyramid has rests. (This is for later reference purposes.)

I'll also bring in their first active SQUILT lesson. I use a SQUILT journal page as a guide that each student has in their folder. We'll go over this sheet first, and then I'll lead them in a directed listening activity utilizing this journal page.

Finally, I'll review instruments of the orchestra with a game of four corners using instrument families and instrument bingo. We'll follow that up with another SQUILT activity with an instrument focus.

Each day too, we'll continue learning/reviewing our "kick-off" song.

In terms of business, I'll take a recorder inventory to see who needs what replacement materials, get my sixth-seventh graders ready to resume their regular recorder study, and begin handbell preparations with my eigth graders.

I cram a lot into my opening sessions, and there's little to no dead time. After these initial sessions, we begin the first big unit (American Musical Heritage) and resume recorder study/handbells.