My students need Egg Shakers and a Cajon to improve our fine motor skills, practice counting (by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s), and to create other rhythmical songs.
My students beg for music. I don't just mean "Music Class", but music throughout the whole day. They sing and dance for a variety of reasons. Often it is simply for the pure enjoyment that music can bring. It's just not a complete day unless we can get the guitar out at least once.
We are a PreK through 6th grade building, and my class is 1 of 5 kindergarten sections.
It is a public school, and our class consists of 21 students who are at various stages of their learning process.
My students are ages 5 and 6. They are working hard at reading, writing, math, and many social skills. They are very eager to learn, but like any child at this age, they will become restless if they are required to sit and work for too long. With more and more demands being placed on them, they are craving for a break from the regular routine of learning.
Music seems to be the needed ticket to break up this monotony, and at the same time learn many required skills. They love to exercise and use their creativity through rhythmical dancing. After 10 or 15 minutes of singing and dancing they are ready to get back to the daily grind.
My Project
I am a firm believer that Music can enhance the learning process, and their has been plenty of research that supports this. That is one of the reasons why I have used my guitar and other sources of music to help my students learn over the past 21 years.
The first way that I will use these materials is in our counting. I will create different rhythms on the cajon and my students will copy the same rhythm on their egg shakers. Once they got the beat, we will add counting to the rhythm. We will count by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's using the different rhythms we create on the instruments.
I will also give the students a chance to use the cajon and egg shakers to create their own rhythms, music, and songs. I would like to see the students creating their own rhythmical patterns, and then teaching their patterns to the other students. I know many will want to try their skills at interpretive dance as the beat goes on.
Learning to play a musical instrument requires the students to have good listening skills.
This skill is a huge part kindergarten. My students will have to listen to me and the other students playing in order to keep to the same rhythm and beat. At the same time they will be hearing their numbers as they count.
Through the use of these instruments they will learn about different cultures use of music and gain appreciation for music. Students will also gain coordination skills as they play.
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