represent personal thoughts, images, and feelings experienced in classroom repertoire
Context (Self and Community)
It is expected that students will:
demonstrate a willingness to participate in music experiences
demonstrate respect for the contributions of others
Overview
Kindergarten students participated in daily songs and singing games. Evaluation was based on teacher observation of students' participation and developing skills.
Planning for Assessment and Evaluation
The teacher selected 10 to 12 singing games for classroom repertoire. These were sung daily with students throughout the year. (The teacher recognized that students' voices, rather than the teacher's voice, needed to be heard and that their whole bodies were involved in the development of good vocal production.)
For all song and singing game activities, the teacher varied the starting pitch within the appropriate soprano range. After several months of daily singing, students were encouraged to "song start," so that they learned to match the starting pitch of other students as well as that provided by the teacher.
Students learned one another's names by playing the game "Oh, I know __________________________." In this game, students sit in a circle and substitute names for lyrics in "The Farmer in the Dell." For example:
Oh, I know Yoshi
And you know Yoshi
Hi, ho, the derry-O
We all know Yoshi
Once students knew one another's names, the activity continued as a memory singing game: "There's Yoshi and Susan and Davinder. . . ." In this game, three students changed places during the 4-beat phrase "Hi, ho, the derry-O."
To explore vocal sounds, the teacher asked students to sing familiar songs such as "Come and Follow Me in a Line." Each time students came to the end of a song, the teacher demonstrated a vocal sound for them to copy (e.g., a sigh, siren, snake hiss, balloon filling up with air). Once they understood the game, students volunteered to provide the sounds. Students also used body movements (e.g., stretching, bending) as well as facial expressions (e.g., happy, sad).
In a "chinning" activity, the teacher sang several familiar songs from classroom repertoire, using nonsense syllables in place of words. Students tried to identify the songs.
In a circle, students played the "Singing Valentine" game. One student walked around the inside of the circle carrying a fuzzy valentine heart and, when the song stopped, offered the heart to the closest student. Students had the option of accepting or refusing the heart. The game continued for several turns.
Students sang and played the game "I Am Going to the Grocery Store." One student moved around the circle. At the end of the song, the closest student sang or spoke the name of an item to be purchased at the grocery store, and followed the first student around the circle as the song was sung again. The game progressed until all students were part of a line, then the game was sung in reverse.
Defining the Criteria
The teacher focussed on the following assessment criteria:
sings songs from classroom repertoire
distinguishes one song from another
contributes own responses in participation songs
listens to and repeats the singing ideas of others
Assessing and Evaluating Student Performance
Before each reporting period, the teacher used a rating scale to summarize observations about students' participation and developing skills. Students shared ideas about their participation in and enjoyment of singing activities during conferences with their parents.
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