time structure of a kindergarten and pre-K classroom

Time Structure of a Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten Music Class

(And the beginning of the year for 1st Grade)

By

Carol Roskos

2/20/2009

I have 40 minute classes, but this can be adapted to 30 minutes or 20 minutes by taking away some activities and/or shortening the length of your main lesson.

5-10 minutes: review and build song repertoire (some suggestions in parenthesis)

· Greeting song
· Finger game 1 (I do The Finger Band)
· Finger game 2 (Mr. Wiggles and Mr. Waggles)
· Song 1 (Open Them, Shut Them)
· Song 2 (some type of action/movement song)
· Song 3 (optional, any type of children’s song)

5 minutes (optional): Movement. If you have a lesson that does not involve much movement, insert a movement activity here. I sing “If you’re wearing (call a color like red) stand up. If you’re wearing (color name) stand up”. And then I ask them to tap their toes, or head, or skip, or hop, etc… while I play a steady beat on the drum.

20-25 Minutes: Main Lesson

· Movement
· Singing
· Playing instruments

5 Minutes: Cool down. Either a slow mirroring activity with music, a quiet story, line up according to colors, or a time to reflect and share about today’s lesson (what did you like about…?).

Kindergarten-things they need to learn and do

This is a new series of posts that discusses what each grade should know. It's not all inclusive, so please feel free to add to it. This would be a good handout to keep for yourself and for student teachers.


Kindergarten
What Should They Know?

Melody:

sol-mi
High-low

Harmony: singing with accompaniment

Rhythm:

steady beat
simple rhythms (tah tah tah rest); tah; rest;
Beat vs rhythm (second half of the year)
Dynamics: loud/soft

Tempo: fast/slow

Meter:

2/4
experience moving in many

Form:

same and different


Timbre:

4 types of voice (whisper/outside voice, talk/sing)
Types of instruments (woods, metals, skins; rhythm/melodic)
Sound effects to poems and stories

Movement:

based in play: walk, run (not usually used inside unless it’s safe), jog, tiptoe, hop, jump, leap, gallop, skip (not usually developed in K), backwards (safely), sideways, slide, etc…
Symmetrical movement
Usually do not know left from right
My place in space
Free movement in their own space
Steady beat movements
Beginning circle games (listening for directions within the song)
Folk Dance: Very simple longways set (Kindergarten Reel by the Amidons) (second half of the year!!!)
Instrumentation: Exploratory in nature on unpitched and pitched instruments
How to play the instruments (good playing technique vs. bad)
How to let the instruments rest (on the floor in front of you, hands in your lap)
steady beat on rhythm instruments,
simple rhythms (tah tah tah rest)

Other:

Following directions (free movement, within a simple circle game/dance, playing instruments/not playing instruments)
Taking turns and dealing with the concept that not everyone gets chosen to be the leader in every single class
Finger games/finger chants, familiar songs from preschool,
Picture books
Animals; trains (transportation, cars, airplanes, boats); ocean (sailors, sea, fish), seasons,
learning how to sing alone (hello song)
echo/imitate
opposites (fast/slow; sound/silence; high/low; loud/soft)