Submitted by Pat Price, Gwinnett County, Georgia
Idea posted November 26, 2001
I just finished the greatest, most fun lesson with my fourth graders ever! First we started with the Macmillian Share the Music book's first lesson for fourth grade on p. 2 - Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke." We talked about the five musicians whose names he mentions and whose pictures are in the book. Later on, I played them an example of a piece of music from each musician - Count Basie's "Take The A Train;" Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World;" Ella Fitzgerald singing Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing;" and Glenn Miller's "In The Mood."
Well, I knew that "In the Mood" was my art teacher buddie's favorite song, and when I played it, I opened my door and turned up the volume! Her class is right across the hall, and sure enough, she came running over, and she and I proceeded to start swing dancing for my class! What a hoot! The kids loved it and were really getting into the music. After just a minute, she went back to her own class (of course) and I dropped into my chair - huffing and puffing!
The kids couldn't get enough of the music. They moaned and groaned when the 40 minutes was up! The first half of class was on the opera "Carmen" (yes, I know - from the sublime to the ridiculous), because Bizet is our composer of the week, and believe it or not they want to hear the music from that again, too!