Activity Plan Mixed Ages: My Special Music

Children will learn more about their classmates’ backgrounds as they swing and sway to lively rhythms!

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Materials:

• CD player, record player, or cassette recorder
• collection of multicultural music
• collection of multicultural children's instruments and rhythm instruments
• favorite personal music selection
• chart paper

Objective: Children will listen and dance to a variety of music that reflects the various classroom cultures.

In Advance: Send a note home asking families to send a favorite musical selection that reflects their culture or selection that their child enjoys at home. Remind families that the music must be appropriate for the classroom.

Activity

1. Start by sharing a musical selection that reflects your culture or is special to you. Explain why you like the music. Tell them the name of the music, where it is from, and the names of the musicians. Invite children to clap or dance to the music.
2. Now tell the children that they will each have a day to share their special music with the class. Begin each day with one child's music. Write the child's name and a short description about the featured music on a sheet of chart paper to review during morning meeting.
3. Provide opportunities for the class to listen to and dance to the music during the day. Provide rhythm instruments to play along. What do they notice about the music? Is it fast or slow? Have they ever heard this type of music before? Does it remind them of other music they have heard in the classroom or at home?
4. Is there a special dance that is done with the music? Invite children or other family members to teach the dances. Children can also create their own dances to accompany the music.
5. Keep the music in the listening area so that children can have additional opportunities to listen.

Curriculum Connection: Social Studies

Bedtime Ritual. Encourage children to share the name of their favorite bedtime story, to sing their favorite lullaby, or to describe how they get their hugs and kisses each night. Develop a language experience chart to record children's different bedtime rituals. Compare their answers to note differences and similarities.

Activity Plan Mixed Ages: Look How I Can Move
To develop self-- esteem, listening, and large-motor skills, and cultural awareness, children will think of special ways to move their bodies to music in this ready-to-use teaching idea for mixed ages. Activity: Music/Movement.

Infants & Toddlers: Singing with Babies
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