Students in 1st grade had a blast in music class! At the beginning of the year I spend a lot of time playing interactive games with and between students in order to establish routines, safety and building a classroom community that feels safe to take risks. They love games, I love games and we get to play a lot of learning games together.
In music we are asked to sing, dance and play in ways that children may not be used to at home or in the regular classroom. In order for them to take these risks they need to feel safe. In August and part of September we spend a lot of time playing games that involve risk taking in small groups or with partners. This allows students to make mistakes that aren't going to be seen by the whole class. The more they can fix mistakes or practice trying again in a small group they realize that making mistakes, and taking risks don't have to be embarrassing, they help us to learn! Later on when we start playing games in the larger group they are more comfortable and feel safe in their classroom community.
Below are pictures of one of our partner games. This game is called, "Handy Dandy." Students hide a bingo chip behind their back, so their partner can't see it. They then chant the rhyme while moving the chip back and forth between their hands. When the chant is over they close their hands into a fist and place one up high and one down low for their partner to see. Their partner then has to point to guess which hand they think the bingo chip is in. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they get it wrong. No matter the outcome, it will be their turn to play. Early on in the game they may be slightly sad they didn't guess correctly but then they quickly realize they still get to try again the next time and they get the chance to guess correctly. It is so fun and I love seeing all the smiles when they get it right or wrong:)
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