I am very excited to do my theme of Music Around the World. My students love singing songs from other countries and learning about other cultures.
Room Setup
My room is set up like an airplane, with 3 seats on each side, and an aisle down the middle. I will greet the kids with a welcome to Transworld Airlines (didn’t we used to have an airline named that?) and ask them to be seated.
After that, I will hand out their passports, will hand out pencils, and they will write their names on them. They will put their passports under their chairs, and I’ll talk briefly about our theme for the year and how it will work.
As we “take off” for Africa in our airplane, I will show this video of a 4-year-old playing djembe. See it HERE. As I show the video, I will give them a small cup of something to drink from a librarian cart I borrowed.
Behavior
I have been watching Power Teacher (see videos HERE). I will talk about expected behavior on the plane and in class using my own behavior plan (you can get it free HERE).
Exploring Africa
When we “land”, I will collect passports and we will tell the story of Nyyangara the Python from “the Singing Sack“. It is a great story with a lovely song. I changed the “beer” in the story to “drink”.
After the story, we will learn the song Tue, Tue, and learn the first part of the game with clapping. We will then return home and class will be over. On the way back home, I will show a short clip of children’s Wagago music. I will only have them listen to a short clip. See it HERE.
Motions for Tue Tue
For the song, Tue Tue, I pat legs twice, clap hands twice, then pat air twice (in later verses, you will be patting partners’ hands). On the very last patting, you do the rhythm.
My Pencils
