Submitted by Stephanie Menefee, Tacoma, Washington
Idea posted October 9, 2003
I just got done with two full classes of kinders - that's 48 children TOGETHER (team teaching, fortunately), and the last thing we did was "Freeze!" (from Music K-8, Vol. 14, No. 2).
We had them sit in a circle (chaos free, thank you!) and listened to the music for the first time, patting our hands on our legs (bilaterally!) on each "move" and stopping on "freeze!" Then, I numbered the students one or two, had ones stand up and twos stay sitting. The ones could move out into the middle of the circle walking one step on "move" and freezing on "freeze." I was out there in the middle of the circle - I had turned into a "Mama Duck" of sorts - with a brood of kinders behind me! When I changed directions they followed me!
It was a riot. I felt like I was in that old McDonald's commercial with the kids all in their yellow rain slickers following an adult, chanting "waddle, waddle, quack, quack!"