Transition Tuesday

Hi all!  It's late and I had  a"run-in" with a piece of gym equipment so this will be a real quick Transition Tuesday as my head hurts.  (Note to self: make sure the bicep curl rope is securely under your foot as the rope hurts really bad when it slips off your foot, the handle slips out of your hand and slams into your forehead.)

So, here's a transition that worked well with third grade today and it was mainly to get them from the open space in my room to their seats on the risers so we could work on rhythm of a song we were singing.  First, they had done the dance to "Over the River":

2.         (We’re) Tramping down the weevily wheat,

            Tramping down the barley;

            Tramping down the weevily wheat,

            To bake a cake for Charlie

3.         (Oh) Charlie is a fine young man,

            Charlie is a dandy;

            Charlie loves to kiss the girls

            Because it is so handy.

(Alternate text)

3.         (Oh) Charlie is a fine young man,

            Charlie is a dandy.

            Charlie loves to go to town

            To treat the girls to candy.

Game:

Boys in one line face equal number of girls in opposite line.  Join hands along the lines.

Verse 1:          on first 4 beats, advance toward each other.  Next four beats, lines retreat (repeat)

Verse 2:          lines drop hands.  On the first 4 beats, line approach, pass through to opposite side.  (repeat)

Verse 3:          The head man swings out between the lines and prances to the foot  this shifts partners.

Variant: the head lady may prance to the foot to be with her original partner.

After their dance, I gave them a short direction: "Sing the song in your head but sing the rhyming words out loud as you go to your seats".  With that they were off, some of them clapped the rhythm (which I was NOT going to complain about or correct them on as that's what we were going to work on once we got back to their seats.)  Aileen Miracle blogged once about an idea that she got at a conference of the students inner hearing the song back to their seats.  I've tried that too, this was just a variation and it worked really well.  Sometimes I ask the students to sing the song back to their seats, sometimes they clap the rhythm back to their seats, sometimes they sing the rhythm (if it's known) or sometimes they sing the solfége.  The older the kids you have (assuming that age=experience) the more variations of moving back to their seats you can try.  I've found that changing it up keeps them on their toes, keeps them engaged and keeps them musically active.

I hope you all are having a great week!