Printed in Teach Primary Magazine,
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Sing it loud
Do you hate singing and dancing in front of the class? Sticky Kids’ Anne Butler has some suggestions on how to conquer your shyness...
Early in my teaching career I realised that, for many teachers, music and movement can be the most challenging (and embarrassing) aspect of the profession. And yet, in terms of children's development and sheer enjoyment of learning, nothing beats action songs or singing, dancing and jumping around to familiar tunes.
For very young children, repetition and singing encourage speech development, personal confidence, physical stability and self-expression. Increasingly, children start school with poor language development - is this because parents and carers have forgotten the art of singing nursery rhymes at home? Or perhaps pre-school centres aren't utilising music and movement as much as they should?
Music and movement reaches out to all kinds of learners - visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. In this, it is genuinely democratic and is especially valuable as a teaching tool for children with additional support needs. Regular sessions of songs with actions can help gross motor co-ordination (for pupils with dyspraxia) as well as assist children with English as an additional language. Rhythm and repetition also improve memory, concentration and retention of information for dyslexic pupils. It is important not to consign music and movement to the Early Years - older children can benefit from self-expression and enjoyment too!
Teachers are often inhibited by a sense that they are "not musical" or "can't sing" or are shy about doing set-piece actions in front of colleagues. My answer to this is to use good quality, age-appropriate and well-presented songs that are already recorded for me - all I need to do is press 'play'. The best CDs will supply teacher/parent information sheets, which suggest actions and movements for each song. Using CDs gives me a real confidence to be creative, to be bold and to have fun with songs.
1. Build a large repertoire
As with everything else in the classroom, preparation is crucial. Choose four or five songs for each session. They can cover a curricular theme (eg. healthy eating, emotional well-being, numeracy) or just provide a balance of pace and skills. If you have enough space, there are great running-around action songs and circle songs. Listen to them a few times on your own and then try out the actions. Change any actions that you don't feel comfortable with.
You can also modify your choices depending on the children's mood. For instance, try changing tempo from an exhilarating song to a relaxation song if the children are tired. It is important to gradually build up the children's repertoire by adding in new songs over time and repeating well-known favourites again and again.
2. Let the children decide
Once pupils know the songs, you can allow them to make their own selection within each lesson and be prepared to accommodate this. 'Choosing time' will always be a favourite moment. Sometimes you can have a vote between two favourite songs, which models good citizenship!
I often choose one or two children to help me with a song, and ask them to demonstrate the actions. It's best to teach key actions, words or the chorus first. Practise these several times before moving onto the verses. The children immediately feel confident and skilled. Always start your session with a familiar song before teaching a new one.
If a pupil struggles with rhythm and movement, this may be an indicator of motor co-ordination difficulties so ensure that the child is encouraged to keep trying, reduce the quantity of actions or try to simplify them.
3. Be creative
Many songs on good CDs develop gross motor skills by balancing, clapping, stretching and stamping. However, there are also many songs which lend themselves to role-play and the use of props (scarves, beanbags, hoops). Role-play and props can be used to emphasise rhythm, rhyme and meaning. Ask the children for ideas about adding in props or movements so that you can all enjoy a song more, or get them to suggest completely new actions.
4. Customise songs
We are inherently rich in resources: nursery rhymes (from many cultures) form an excellent starting point as they are free from copyright issues and are easily adapted. They can be modernised, localised, injected with humour or made more sophisticated lyrically for older children. If you are confident about singing, then change the lyrics of well-known songs to promote different educational themes. For example, "Brush, brush, brush your teeth" instead of "Row, row, row your boat".
5. Play along
Children can also make their own percussion instruments. Another favourite activity of mine is to put on a sing-along CD and to pick out percussion instruments from a basket one at a time, before passing them out to pupils, until every child is playing along. If you have microphones available, you can keep these for a special slot when children take turns to sing along.
6.Monkey around
Have fun with actions, props, funny movements and shouts. If you think a song needs a lift, try sitting for a verse and standing for a chorus. You can move around the room in different ways. Expressive development and personal confidence can be significantly boosted by music and movement. Try out songs that make the children laugh - I've written a song called Funky Monkey, which can be done with monkey faces. Children enjoy adults doing the unexpected - acting like a monkey. A well-known song like Five Fat Sausages is a great one to do with props such as five 'sausages' made of rolled-up bubble wrap inside the leg of a pair of tights. Get five volunteers to throw them on the 'BANG!'. Listening and concentrating skills are all developed, as children wait for the climax of action songs.
7. Share the experience
It is well-documented that group singing gives us all a sense of well-being. Dancing and moving in a circle brings a particular pleasure, as everyone can see each other and co-operate as a group. All the benefits of the more usual sedentary circle time can be enjoyed: mutual respect and collective participation. Every teacher and parent likes to see the lit-up faces of energised, happy children. Music and movement creates so many opportunities for learning and enjoyment - if you focus on this, it's easy to overcome any initial self-consciousness!