Academic Projects 2

I've noticed the children are interested in the farm animals in our room lately. One day I heard Emmett say, " OINK OINK." So, he grabbed the pig and played with it on the floor, then he turned around and grabbed the cow and said, " MOOO." He then proceeded to make both of these animals play together. Zyler noticed that Emmett was playing with the farm animals, so she grabbed the Duck, showed Emmett and said, "Duck yellow." Both children were playing together with the farm animals and mimicking their sounds. This play lasted for roughly ten minutes. I then thought I could play the " Old MacDonald" song and see what that would lead to. Sure enough, Aariv, Conner, and Sami were dancing. They were moving their bodies, singing and jumping. So, I asked the children if they could pick up any of our instruments and try and use them to go along with the music, some didn't understand, so I demonstrated how to shake along with the beat. They instantly loved the idea that they could make music along with the song. These two separate observations showed me that the children would like to know about farm animals and make sounds while hearing music. The children and I are all excited to incorporate both farm animals and music together. This leads me to think of our music activity, "Shaking with Old MacDonald." 

When I entered the classroom, I went to a table and put the toy farm animals and the music shakers on it. Then, I asked, " Connor and Lillian, do you like the book, Old Macdonald?" " Yes!" they answered. Then, three other children sat down with the boys. So, I took a chair and started reading our storybook. Then, when I was reading the book and the parts where the animals would say their sound, I would say, " And the cow said?" to each child. Then, once all the children had separate turns, they joined in the animal sounds together. Then, after we were done reading the book, I asked the children if they wanted to use "special music shakers" that Ms. Shandi made and sing and dance to the song "Old Macdonald Had a Farm," and they all shouted, "YES!" So, I gave each of them a music shaker and turned on the song. I told the children to sing, dance and make their "own sound" to accompany their hearing. Then, as soon as the music came on, they sang, danced, shook their shakers loudly, and, most importantly, smiled. Then, after a couple of shakes, one child noticed that there were building blocks beside us, and he took an interest in those. I tried to redirect him, but he was too involved in the building; once he noticed that another child had taken his shaker, he wasn't too happy and was trying to get it back, with success. Then, in all the fun, I noticed that the children were really into shaking their shakers more than dancing. So, I got up and started singing AND dancing, encouraging the children to dance with me. Some children joined me; some didn't; I just kept dancing and singing with the children. Once our song ended, the children immediately said, " AGAIN, Ms. Shandi, AGAIN!" I played the music again and let the children express themselves how they wanted.

My strength during this activity was getting the children excited to participate without them knowing what they would do. I talked excitedly and expressed excitement about doing something fun with my "friends." I included all five children fairly, and no one felt left out. So, I made sure that each child had my attention. Participating in singing and dancing with the children was a strength because it showed them that everyone could act silly while singing and dancing; it was fun! Even when that child was distracted with the building blocks, I called him by his name and said, " Come and dance and shake with us!". At the end of my activity, one child said, " Ms. Shandi, I'm so proud of you! This was a fun experiment!"