Connecting songs, instruments and movement to stories has been a rewarding way to engage the younger classes. Making a story come to life by creating simple melodies and sound effects played on un-pitched or pitched percussion, moving to the story or adding a melody to words makes it easier for children to learn. They are experiencing music in its entirety as they develop their listening, fine motor, gross motor, and hand eye coordination skills. Additionally, they are working toward creating, exploring, improvising, moving, singing and reading.
Kindergarten has been reading the story
'Jump, Frog, Jump' by Robert Kalan. The repetition of the words 'Jump, Frog, Jump' throughout the story was the perfect way to introduce a 3 beat clap on those words. The 3 beat clap was then transferred to un-pitched percussion, such as wood blocks and to pitched percussion, such as xylophones. Movement was also added to this ensemble so that the children would leap in the air on the words 'Jump, Frog, Jump'.
The classical music piece (click to view)
'Jazz Pizzicato' by Leroy Anderson was introduced with the story 'Jump, Frog, Jump'. We asked ourselves: Why does this music go with this book?
We also learned the song '
Frog's in the Meadow' where we worked on keeping a steady beat, and we even played a guessing game!
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| Keeping the beat. The beat can be fast or slow but it is always there, just like our heart beats. |
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| Can you guess which lily pad the frog is under? |
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