Submitted by Karen Stafford
Idea posted January 7, 2004
I'm trying something new (to "steal and adapt" Barb Philipak's idea!!!) with getting kids more excited and comfortable about singing. I made a bulletin board using strips to resemble football yardlines, and put a goal post at each end. Each grade, 4th through 6th, has a different, short warm-up they can sing individually to advance 10 yards. For instance, 4th graders individually can sing "do, re, mi, re, do," and they advance 10 yards. They must demonstrate the following: proper posture, diaphragmatic singing, tonal production, and a full sound (nothing shy and mousy!). Each 10 yards is progressively more difficult by grade level. When they get the touchdown song passed, they'll earn about 20 composer bucks. So far, kids are scrambling to try, and I've had kids who will NEVER sing give it a try! It's amazing the voices that they've been hiding from me for years!