Kinder+High-Low,+Soft-Loud

TEACHER: Ian Rose

SUBJECT AND GRADE LEVEL: Kindergarten General Music

FOCUS CONCEPTS/SKILLS: Soft and Loud, High and Low

For wee-ones such as Kindergarteners, it is imperative that activities in the lessons move along quickly from one to the next and include varying levels to avoid stagnation. I also focus more on experiencing musical concepts rather than labeling. Today’s lesson includes identifying and performing soft and loud, high and low, however, students will not learn the labels piano/forte or go into greater high/low detail until later.

NATIONAL STANDARDS: 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. 7. Evaluating music

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: -The students will be able to identify and perform “Grizzly Bear” with soft and loud dynamics. -The students will be able to move their voices high and low. -The students will be able to identify sound direction, moving high or low

MATERIALS: Grizzly Bear Game: “ Grizzly Bear a Grizzly Bear is sleeping in a cave, (perform mf) Grizzly Bear a Grizzly Bear is sleeping in a cave, (perform mf) Please be very quiet, very, very quiet, (perform pp) If you wake him, if you shake him (perform crescendo) He gets very mad! (perform forte)” Students sing moving in a circle around a lone Grizzly Bear. Change direction and create gesture for “very quiet.” Upon singing “mad” the Bear awakes and tries to tap, with two fingers, the toes of any child who has not yet safely and quickly walked back to his/her chair. The “captured” child/ren become new Grizzly Bears until all the children but one are Bears. “Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin!” by Lloyd Moss and audio examples of the 10 instruments mentioned (a “Sound Bank” is included in the Silver Burdett Making Music series) Small colorful balls

SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES 2. Ask students to listen to which sections are soft and which are loud i. N.B. Practice having the students SAFELY walk quickly back to their chairs only on the word “Mad.” Test them by playing a game where you sing everything but the last word a few times, slowing down, speeding up, and they’ll get the gist. ii. Stress being safe!!
 * 1) Have students perform rhythmic and vocal echoes (on nonsense syllables focusing on Sol, Mi, and La)
 * 2) Sing some sort of welcome song. I use “Hello There!”
 * 3) Grizzly Bear Game
 * 4) Sing the song once, then ask students what it's about. As a tool to help them listen closely, have students count how many times you sing the following words as you perform the song multiple times: “Grizzly” “Bear” “Very” (pretty much anything you’d like)
 * 1) Have students echo sections
 * 2) Perform together
 * 3) Play game
 * 1) Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin
 * 2) Have students echo your voice sliding up and down
 * 3) Use a ball to reflect the changes
 * 4) Give students their own balls, and have everyone explore moving up and down with their balls for a minutes. Observe each student during this section, reminding them to stay focused.
 * 5) Assess by moving your ball up and down without singing and have them move their voices and balls.
 * 6) Read Zin Zin Zin having students move their balls quietly when they hear a musical example. It’s interesting to see what students do when hearing the contours of an actual melody and not just a gradual slide up or down.
 * 7) Have student evaluate their movement after the activity.


 * 1) Extension Activity (of your choice)
 * 2) Examples: A Chee Chee Cha, I am a copycat, My mom gave me a penny

ASSESSMENT: During the Grizzly Bear game, watch for students who follow instructions when moving safely, change dynamic levels, and accuracy of pitch-matching. During Zin Zin Zin, the minute of self-exploration helps individually assess students. You will also be able to see their accuracy in identifying high and low by how they move their balls. There will of course be students that “copy” others, so if you notice that happening, have your students turn “off” their eyes and leave their listening ears “on.”

//I absolutely love the grizzly bear game, I have played it with my kindergartners also and they love to sing along and a great thing about the "if you wake them, if you shake them, they get very mean" part is to make it speed up or slow down and really have them listen and wait until you say "mean" to touch the "sleeping bears". I have played this with 4 and 5 year olds and even the 2nd and 3rd graders want to play the game if we have free time so its definitely a favorite!

- Jenn Bede//