Imagine That - SWIS Lesson Plan 13

Today's lesson has a lot to do with sequencing and musical form. We are going to start the Hello, How do you do? song in a musical rondo. A rondo is a musical form distinguished by the return of the first theme within a series of new themes ( ABA, ABACA, etc). It is not as complicated as it sounds ;-)

For example, to sing the Hello song in a musical rondo of ABACA pattern, a sample of three different motions would be A - clap hands, B - pat knees, A - clap hands, C - tap head, A - clap hands. Get it? Try it while you are reading this....not that difficult right? And can you see how this is tied up to sequencing? Sequencing is a vital aspect in music, and maths...and many other aspects in life in general.

We will also do a musical rondo with the Goodbye song to give you an idea of how it is done.

We will reinforce the learning of sequence by singing The Green Grass Grows all Around, which is known as a cumulative song because we will add additional verses as we go along and hopefully the kids will slowly grasp the sequence that emerge as we add more verses. Cumulative songs can be a fun way to help children stengthen their skill of remembering things in sequence!

We are then going to move to another more challenging activity with patterns which is locomotor movement. Using the On Our Way activity, the kids will be expose to patterns in rhythm. I will use the drum as a cue and we will be moving to the ABAB movement pattern. A sample of it will be A - walking B- jumping . I will attempt not to give any verbal directions ie the kids have to really use their ears to know when to walk, run and stop.

I quote from " Early Childhood Today Interviews: On Math, Music, and More" by Douglas H. Clements:

"Any kind of rhythm is setting children up to understand patterns, and mathematics is filled with all kinds of patterns. That doesn't mean that music equals mathematics, but the two are connected. Research tells us that children deal with patterns all the time. In fact, some mathematicians have even defined mathematics as the study of patterns of numbers in space."

We will also be playing in an ensemble to Shoo Fly, a song that the children have enjoyed tremendously. This week, we will even have a special story book that is entitled Shoo Fly, which will be such a treat for them.

Didn't we have fun with La Cucaracha last week with parents? This week, we will be doing it just with the kids, to reinforce the idea of different sections in a piece of music.

Parent sharing time this week....you will have to help me hunt for my missing dogs who ran away in the park. This activity involves the kids power of observation and counting. You'll see what I mean when you come to class! Then we will All Join Hands and end with a dance!

I'll see you all in class this Saturday. Bye.....