Help with lesson plan surrounding songs

[mikey36]

hello all

i have just started my job and last friday i had a 'song' class. i had to teach a song to a group of level 1 and level 2 ss over 50 mins

the songs that i ahve been given and cannot change are very simple and short. Chorus- 'lolly lolly lo' and verse ' I know a girl her name is nancy, she wears clothes that are really fancy' etc.

anyway the kids learnt this song and became bored soon after. i guess i was a bit flusted, first time in front of a class trying to sing (tone deaf) and as such became stuck trying to liven up the remaining 30 mins

i take this class in a huge gym room so space is not an issue, does anyone know any ideas/ games/activities that i could do surrounding the lyrics (often very few) so as to keep the kids entrtained. last week was a disaster and this week i have 5 by 50 min lessons

arrrgh!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks

[Sally Olsen]

You could do some play acting I guess with the lyrics or change them to include other items of clothing that they could display - Nancy -Fancy could become Ted - red, or Jack - black. The children with those colours of clothes can stand up when the colour is referred to or run to the other side of the gym and back. Can Nance dance or Trip skip? You can sing the songs in a circle, holding hands and on the chorus ask someone to go into the middle and demonstrate an action (which you give an English name to) and the whole group does it to the chorus - wave you right hand, stamp your feet in time to the music, etc. You can make teams and have the first person run to the other end of the room on the first line or have them exchange words or build up words of the song if you print them out. Split the team so are half on one end of the gym and half on the other and each person runs saying a word of the song the whole way until the team has finished the song and sits down to signify this. You can sing in rounds, starting one section of the group singing and bringing in the next section at the end of the frist line and so on. You could provide large paper and lots of coloured crayons or pencils and have them draw the song a team. Once you have learned a number of songs you can have a silent song contest where they stand in front of the group and sing without sound and the group has to figure out what song it is or they can act out the song and have the group guess. You can make instruments from junk and play these along with the songs. You can march singing the songs and make intricate patterns. You can sing loudly or softly. As you think of different things to do, give the activity a name and put this up on a poster and let the children choose what how they want to practice the new songs. Put up a list of the names of the songs and any pictures you have made so they can point to which songs they want to practice in which order. Make up dance routines or have them make a dance routines to do with the songs. Use props - long scarves to wave around as they sing, or sticks to twirl or make patterns with. They can make patterns with their bodies on the floor and change on cue. They can sing with their eyes closed. They can be blindfolded and find the singing person who is not blindfolded. While they are standing in a circle, one person can go in and out around the group who are holding hands and can raise their arms as the person goes round the group singing or the whole group can sing. You can play musical chairs. You can have spots on the ground made of newspaper or hula hoops or whatever and when the music stops they have to find their spot. You can take spots away so they gradually all have to fit some way on the last few spots. If you can let them have tapes of the whole semesters worth of songs they can take them home and practice them with family. You can make a final presentation to parents of the best of the roles plays, the best of the dance routines and best of the fancy marching, etc. Your can learn specific dances -square dances, or line dances or old fashioned English dances to the songs or waltz or jig or boogie. You can hide the words of the song, all cut up, around the room and they have to find them and put them in order. If you have team, write the words on coloured paper and they have to find their colour of word. Just watch some of the games that they play at recess and see how you could fit in the songs. They can skip rope to the songs or skateboard to the songs. You can put up a list of actions - hop, walk, jump, skip, run, etc. with pictures of the action if possible and then point to one and they have to do it in time to the music. Make pictures of the nouns in the song - Nancy, fancy and so on and they have to put them in order or find them where you have hidden them around the room.

[mikey36]

Sally

thankyou so much you have given me sooo many ideas. i will print it out and start some planning.

thanks again

[lionheartuk]

There is a web site called onestopenglish where you can download some childrens songs for use in the classroom. They have a partner site called the Bus stop and there are a few good songs on there. Old macdonald. Don't forget your toothbrush etc. They also come with worksheets.
I used these in one of my former schools and the students enjoyed the lessons. I added a few extras and got the students role playing in groups.
The sites are free to join