Seeing through an educator's lense: Music Lab: A Developmentally Appropriate Approach to Music

I teach music to Pre-K and Kindergarten children at a Reggio Emilia inspired public school in Washington, DC. Up until this year, I was asked to teach whole group lessons for a 50 minute period to 4 classes a day. The school schedule did not allow me to work with small groups. I designed my lessons to be as child-centered as possible, but I still felt that some of the deeper learning was not taking place in the large group format.

This year I have had an amazing opportunity to work with Kindergarten students in small groups. Here is an example of what I call Miss Rachel's Music Lab.

Feel free to comment, ask questions, and share your own small group teaching experiences.

Music Lab

March 15, 2012

Rachel Ann Cross

Carrington, Bailee, Natalie, Sophie, Josie

We pass around a tuning fork. What is it?

N - Part of a mixer for dough and cakes

C – A tool

B – It’s something you use for ……?

S – I don’t know

J – I don’t know

I strike the tuning fork on my shoe then touch the end of it to the children’s hands.

C – It’s a massager

S – It wiggles on your skin

N – It’s bumpy

J – It feels weird

B – It feeled like something going back and forth. It was touching my hand and making it move around

I strike the tuning fork again and this time, I hold it by the children’s ears.

N – It sounds like a tiny bug wiggling in your ear

S – It feeled like a trumpet. If you touch it, it will stop.

N – It definitely is part of a mixer

The kids take turns striking the tuning fork and touching it to their chests.

N – It feels like little squiggly worms on my body

B – It feels really funny and it feels like somebody is touching your heart

J – Like a squiggly line

S – It feels like my heart is moving. It tickles my ear when I hold it near my ear.

I bring out cards that show different colored hand bells and the musical note they represent. I also bring out 2 boxes of hand bells. Each child picks 8 cards.