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If you don’t think anything can prepare you for teaching kindergarten during back to school season… you’re probably right. Kindergarten back to school music lessons can be ROUGH because they are just so little– and so not used to school or to you. The good news? There are fun things you can do with kindergarten and first grade on the first day of school and the first month of school that won’t make you lose your mind. I’ll be sharing tips and tricks as well as lesson plans for teaching first grade and kindergarten music easier.
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Making Back to School Easy with Routine and Scaffolding
The key to back to school kindergarten music lessons is ROUTINE and SCAFFOLDING.
Routine is all about practicing the routines that you will use on a normal basis. We want to learn how to stand up, how to sit down, how to line up, how to get into a circle, how to get instruments and play them, and more.
Everything will take 4 times longer than normal, because you have to explain AND SHOW the routine– and maybe even have them practice it.
It seems tedious, but the more time you spend on routines with kindergarten and first grade during back to school, the better your year will go.
Make a list of all the things you typically do in music class, then spread them out over the first few weeks so that you can practice them. I typically don’t have them get supplies or play instruments on the first week– we’re focused on procedures like standing up, sitting down, getting in line, etc. Then the next week, we might add instruments.
It’s also extremely important to scaffold, especially with the kindergarteners. This is very new to them, especially those who have not been to school year.
If you’re doing a movement song, start by staying in an assigned area. Stop frequently and have them check their feet. Then maybe have them move out of their dots– and stop often to make sure kindergartners are in their area.
When playing instruments, don’t start with barred instruments. Use something easy and durable first (egg shakers are great!). Then rhythm sticks. Then we can look at the barred instruments. We really need to work up to it.
Routines and scaffolding will make all of the difference in your classroom.
Also read: How to Teach Music on the First Day of School
Songs for First Day of School Music Lessons in Kindergarten + 1st grade
The following are some of my go to songs for kindergarten and first grade on the first day of school in elementary music. They are simple, and they are FUN. Your students will love them!
PS I sing them all in the video.
Kirisu
First off, this Japanese song is a really fun back to school music lesson! Your littles will love this one.
Here’s how to play:
- Students sing the song and walk to the beat in a circle.
- One person is the grasshopper, and they hop around the outside of the circle in the OPPOSITE direction
- At the end, both circles stop
- Whoever is next to the grasshopper joins the grasshopper line
- Game continues until everyone is a grasshopper
PS This slide is from my Back to School Bootcamp, a minicourse that teaches you everything you need to know to start the year off on the right foot– plus it has ready to go elementary music lessons for the first day of school!
Well We Walk
This is a great first activity, because we get to practice moving AND STOPPING. That means that we can stop and check our feet, stop and make sure we are following directions, etc.
For this song, we walk, and then we stop!
You can change the words to jump, wiggle, swim, etc.
I typically go back and forth between locomotor and non locomotor activities to cut down on some of the chaos.
This can be done in our seats or moving around.
On the first day, I’ll pick the actions, then on another day, I’ll let the students choose.
This is my Place
I found this one from @HolmesSweetMusicHome on Instagram (if you like movement and book based lessons, follow her!) and I loved it with kinder last year.
I like this one, because it emphasizes where we should be. We get to practice being in out spot. We get the wiggles out. And we get to try different types of movement.s
Throughout the year, I’ve gone back to this song after a movement activity as a reminder.
Also read: Movement activities for K-1
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Finally, I love a good book based lesson for the first day of school in elementary music. This one is super fun, and super simple. Plus, there’s so many different versions! I like to use this one at the beginning of the year so that I can use the other ones throughout the year and use the same activity.
We read this story and act it out, then I sing it and we act it out. We just add actions to each of the verses, so you can show the spiders, the flies, the dogs, etc.
Then throughout the year, we can do all the fun seasonal ones too!
I use this at the beginning of the year as we talk about the different between our talking voices and singing voices.
Plus you can pair it with songs they already know like Itsy Bitsy Spider.
There‘s a few ideas for back to school music lessons for kindergarten and first grade!
If you want more lessons, ready to go activities and slides, ideas, and training to have the best back to school season, you should join the Back to School Bootcamp!
This is a mini course that has a ton of information and activities to help you start off this year strong.
Plus, it has ready to go lessons WITH SLIDES to use on the first day of school in each of the grade levels.
Happy teaching!
Becca
