Submitted by Martha Stanley, Tallahassee, Florida

Idea posted November 18, 2004

I thought I was going to have a repeat class in every grade this year. (The repeat slot rotates to every classroom once a year.) We're currently so crowded that the idea went kaput. However, I had mapped out some ideas for what I wanted the kids to do. It was wonderful contemplating teaching music through a movement focus; my little hyper self was so looking forward to doing this every Friday.

I had decided that any repeat classes would be completely dedicated to movement. My suggestions for an extra kindergarten class:

  • ANYTHING with movement. First make sure that the students understand the concept of personal space (i.e., You should have enough space between you and your neighbor that you could be inside of an imaginary bubble). Once that has been established, the students can move into: stop and start, steady beat, using body percussion, etc.
  • Act out anything with a process (the rain cycle, egg to chicken, caterpillar to butterfly, and my favorite - water to ice to water to steam). You can improvise at the piano to stimulate and lead.
  • Improvise at the piano countless stories such as the bird (way up high) who sees the alligator (down low) swooping, flying, and snapping. Trust me, the stories do NOT have to be great fiction for them to be loved and requested by the kids.
  • Teach them beginning group dances that don't require right/left expertise but rather expose direction to them. "Old Brass Wagon," for example.
  • Do as many story/songs that include action as you can. "Eency Weensy Spider," "This Old Man," "Going Over The Sea," number songs, etc.
  • Act out nursery rhymes while singing on sol-mi. You can get a whole lot of mileage with Jack jumping over a candle (which looks exactly like a can on the floor...amazing!).
  • Act out ta's, ti's, and rests on chairs. (One chair = one note)
  • Play singing games and go on a bear hunt.
  • Experiment with locomotor and non-locomotor patterns, for example, "In this piece, do four jumps and four claps." Although I wouldn't just give them a command, I'd go through the Weikart process of say-see-do first.
  • Allow free movement exploration with short pieces, maybe up to two minutes.
  • Do a lot of mirroring and scarf activities. Don't always be the leader!
  • Do a lot of making up patterns (ABA is great with that age because it's so clear whether they get the ABA concept).

I guarantee that they will be so far ahead of the other kids when they enter first grade that you will be shocked.