This week at Westwood – March 28 Grade 1 Updated with some videos.

It has been awhile since I have posted. I am developing a new website which will house the new blog site but it isn’t quite ready yet. However, I miss connecting with all of you so I am going to keep writing and sharing through the growing pains of expanding Just Orffin’ Around.😊

I am sitting and planning my week and I find myself wondering what others doing this week at their schools? What songs, instrument, and movement experiences are being planned for students across our country? Do you wonder the same thing? I thought I would begin a weekly blog entry sharing what I am doing with my kiddos. Let’s take a peek inside music at Westwood Primary for our grad 1’s.

When I plan, I alternate between movement experiences and non-locomotor experiences. I do believe children learn and make sense of their world through movement, so every song or poem I teach has a movement component.

Oh Mr. Sun – Source Gameplan Kindergarten

I love this song for the beginning of spring. You will notice the source is from a kindergarten resource but that’s ok. Remember resources are suggestions. When a song speaks to you, it’s ok to use at other levels. Resources, for me, are a place to find material and then I create my own teaching processes.

Burnie Bee – Source Purposeful Pathways

We have spent a lot of time moving, playing, and reading iconic notation for high and low. Lots of practice and experiences before labeling a concept, makes a meaningful connection for 6 years olds. This week we are going to label so and mi. I found it really frustrating when teachers talked about isolating so and mi without providing context. From the very start, I teach all my students how to sing the diatonic scale using solfege. It provides the context. We sing the scale, then I can say today, we are using so and mi and I remove them from my solfege ladder. The students can see which is high and which is low. Easy connection. I use jamboards like the one below. (If you click on it, you can make a copy😍)

Lock and Keys – Source Wibbleton to Wobbleton

This is a quick fun game to assess pitch matching. It is not a deep learning experience but a tool to do a quick check in.

Jump Frog Jump – Source Gameplan Kindergarten

I try to follow the MISS principal when planning my lessons – Movement, Instruments, Singing, Speech. This little book has an ostinato “Jump Frog Jump”. We will be playing it on non-pitched percussion instruments. I place the 4 families – skins, woods, metals, and shakers in 4 different spots and the students rotate through so they get a chance to play everything.