Learning
Objectives
- Students will identify living and non-living things in the story “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
- Students will take turns singing parts of twinkle twinkle little star to become more confident in their solo and group singing.
- Students will begin to narrow down their options for the setting and main plot for their opera.
Lesson
I started
the lesson with a fun opener game. We sang, “Oh here we are together, together,
together. Oh here we are together all sitting on our chair.” When we sang the
word “chair,” the children had to be sitting on their chair with both hands
holding onto the sides of the chair.
We then
reviewed the characteristics of living things (movement, growth, and their
ability to breath). I then introduced the idea that living things reproduce. We
briefly discussed how plants reproduce through seeds.
I really
wanted the children to have a place where they could write down any ideas they had
for the opera, so I then introduced to them “brain-vomit” notebooks. I
instructed them to write whatever ideas they might have, whether they be good
or bad, in the back of their writing journal. They all loved the idea and many
immediately began writing some of their ideas.
Then we all
went to the carpet and I read/sang the book “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”
After reading it and identifying the living and non-living things, we took
turns singing parts of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If I pointed at the class,
they would sing, but if I pointed to myself, only I would sing. Then I asked
for volunteers to sing alone. There were about 10 kids who had the opportunity
to sing by themselves and they did really well.
Then they
went back to their desks and we discussed their ideas for their opera. After
our brainstorming, the children had come up with the following elements for
their story:
Characters
- Amelia
- Amanda
- Chase
- Animals
- People
- Dinosaurs
- Elsa
- Billy Bob Joe
Story
- College students somehow get lost on an island of Dinosaurs.
- A tornado comes and spits out Zombies.
- Zombie invasion.
- Snow Storm—Elsa (from frozen).
Overall the lesson went really well. The children were
engaged in all of the activities, they liked the games, and they really enjoyed the story. I was also really impressed by the children who
sang by themselves. One thing that I
really need to improve is to help all of
the students participate. There are some students who are really creative and they
speak out; however, many of the other students rarely share their opinions. I
might try instigating a rule that before a person can comment a second time, they have to wait until five other people have commented.
Laurann,
ReplyDeleteI am still so impressed that your students are working on an opera! Their ideas were so cute, and so dramatic! I love how you are helping their imaginations bloom. I don't think anyone could come up with a more imaginative storyline even if they wanted to. I think it's great that you are teaching your students to be independent and sing by themselves. Another idea you might use to get everyone involved is when you questions, give everyone a minute to think about it and tell them that you are going to pick someone at random to answer, so everyone needs an answer. This way, even if they don't get the chance to give their answer, you've gotten them involved and thinking about the question.