Submitted by Tami Mangusso, Colorado

Idea posted September 15, 2011

Here is what I do with Kinders:

  1. We sing the opening song as we walk in and around the tape on the floor (in a U-shape). We sing the song two times. The leader will end up on the orange tape by the Promethean board. The leader (which is me right now, but will be a student pretty soon) looks around the rectangle to make sure everyone is ready to sit down.
  2. Recite the music rules: I use Whole Brain Teaching, so we say the rules with hand gestures.
  3. Fingerplay: "Ride A Little Horsey." We say the poem twice, then I chant some rhythms on a neutral syllable (e.g., ba ba baba ba). I do about four to five rhythms, then we say the poem again.
  4. They move to the risers in their assigned seats. As they move, they echo some more rhythms.
  5. Pitch Exploration: I am using a slide whistle. I play a short melody, and they sing back.
  6. Song Fragment: We are doing "No More Pie."
  7. Singing Attendance: I sing "(student name) are you here today?" they respond with "Yes, I am here today!" I sing on S-M-L-S-M.
  8. Come back to the floor echoing rhythms.
  9. Beat Buddies: We bounce beat buddies to the song "Frog In The Meadow."
  10. Lullaby: Rock Beat Buddies. We sing it two times. During the second time, they get up and gently lay their Beat Buddies in their basket where they sleep.
  11. Go to the risers while echoing rhythms.
  12. GamePlan: I just started to use this. We are working on "Little Ducks" and "Listen To The Ducks." We will follow the lesson in the Kindergarten GamePlan book. I will do as much as I think they can handle. I will probably only spend five to seven minutes on this.
  13. Come back to the floor while echoing rhythms.
  14. Dance: "Mack Chicken" from Greg & Steve's Big Fun CD.
  15. Sit on the floor and do a stick routine to "Mary Wore A Red Dress."
  16. A Star and A Wish: This is a debrief session. Students share something they liked (a Star) and something they saw was wrong (a Wish). We pass a Koosh ball around. The one with the Koosh ball is the one who shares. Not everyone gets a turn, but we try to get to as many as possible.
  17. Go back to the risers while echoing rhythms.
  18. Line up: Right now I am calling them down to "Line up on the tapes." Once they get the idea of how we line up, I will use "The Line Up Song" (from Music K-8, Vol. 20, No. 4). I use this song for all the other grade levels. They have to all be in a line by the time the song is done. There is no talking, because they should be singing the song.

This looks like a lot of stuff, but each activity is only about two minutes long. The GamePlan stuff will take the longest. My classes are 45 minutes, and I do use John Feierabend's First Steps in Music: Preschool and Beyond book.