A couple weeks ago I posted my Kindergarten unit and mentioned that it would be culminating in a lesson using Eric Carle's beautiful illustrations in I See A Song. The first time I taught this lesson, I used photocopied visuals from the book, which were effective, but the students had too many choices of instruments and once they told me what they wanted to do, they immediately forgot once we performed it.
So, a few days later I got another chance at the lesson (thank goodness for 3 sections of Kindergarten!) I created a SmartBoard file with the visuals along with 5 pictures of handheld percussion instruments (egg shakers, sand blocks, triangles, tambourines, and drums). As we looked at the pictures, we decided which instrument would go well with each picture, and whether the instrument should be played loud or soft, and sometimes even fast or slow. We circled the chosen instrument and wrote the describing words on the board.
This way, once we had decided what to do for each page, I could pass out instruments to groups of students and they would know what to play by looking for the visual on the page. If you were holding the sand blocks, you only played when your instrument picture was circled.
Here is the link to the presentation I created: I See A Song.
It worked wayyy better the second time around! The students had a visual to follow, and they got to switch instruments several times, so that their skills of "following" a musical plan were honed by the 2nd or 3rd go around!
The end of the presentation has a link to the YouTube orchestral representation of the book- a treat for the students after creating their own. :)
Hope everyone is staying warm this week!!
~Molly
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