A Scale Group Lesson Activity
Are you looking for good group lesson activities for pre-twinkle students? Teach the A scale in group lesson with this activity. It uses gross motor skills, visual skills, and helps students work on their sequential processing. We have been working on learning the A scale in my weekly pre-twinkle group lesson. Here are the steps that I am working through. These steps will take almost 3 months to complete. Stay on the step for a few weeks until students can do the step confidently and easily.
Step 1
My two group classes are absolute beginners. For the first three weeks of class we sang up the A scale using these motions:
- A – feet
- B – knees
- C# – hips
- D – arms crossed over chest
- E – shoulders
- F# – touching face
- G# – top of head
- “High” A – reach our arms into the air and wave
Step 2
For the last three weeks we have tried coming down the scale. We do the same motions just coming backwards. Most of the time singing up the scale is easy. Coming down the scale is much more challenging. We just go through it a couple times. The 5 and 6 year old students pick up on it much more quickly than the 4 year olds, but with weekly repetition they start to get it.
This is a great class activity for gross motor skills. I will often do this activity when we need an action point in class. So I will put this in my lesson plan after we have done an activity that required concentration, focus or a small muscle motion. In other words, we get the wiggles out during this time.
Step 3
Tomorrow we are going to add this activity after we sing up and down the scale with motions. Sitting on the floor I will show them individual alphabet cards and have them tell me the letter. Then we will mix them up and see if we can put them in order. I’ll let each child take a turn putting the next letter in order on the floor.
Step 4
Then I will send them back to their parent with a set of letters. With parents offering assistance as needed, each child will put their A scale alphabet in order. This will be the take home “worksheet” for this week. They can work on putting the letters in order at home while they do their CD listening this week.
(I printed these off and cut them apart the day before class to save time in class. You could give the paper out the week before and ask parents to bring them back cut apart… but …. I’m sure someone would forget. I separate them into zip lock snack bags so that I don’t loose them and so that each set has all the needed letters.)
Step 5
Next week in group class, we will sing the scale together up and down one time, and I will send them back to their parents to put their letters in order. Then after they have all the letters in order, instruct the students to close their eyes, and ask parents to turn one card over. This card should be face down but still in the line-up of the scale. The students then open their eyes and tell the parent which letter is missing. Turn it over to find out if they were right. You can do this a couple times with the student closing their eyes and then discovering which letter is missing. A variation that kids love is to have the parents and kids switch roles. The parents close their eyes, and the student chooses one letter to turn over. The parent then has to say which letter is missing!
(A side note: This is a great activity to keep parents involved. While I could do these activities at the front of the room and give each child a turn. I also want to keep the parents engaged in the class and off of their phones. So, having them do an activity with their child in class helps them participate!)
Step 6
Up to this point, the student has seen the whole scale laid out before them. At this step, we are going to work on finding neighbor notes without seeing all the letters of the scale. Students will be required to think through the order beginning on any note. I will demonstrate this step at the front of the class then send them back to parents to do it with them.
Mix up all the letters face up on the floor. I will choose two consecutive letters letters and set them in front of the student. Set the letters facing the student ascending. Ask the student who lives on this side? I will point to the empty space on the right. (The student’s right, the teacher’s left). The student will have to find which letter comes next in the sequence. For example if I set out “C#” and “D,” the student would then have to find “E.” Be sure and demonstrate “F#” and “G.” Remember that a new concept for both parents and students is that “A” comes after “G#”!
Step 7
Next is descending. If I set out C# and D in front of the students, I will point to the space on the left and ask who lives here. I still set the letters out ascending sequentially left to right. The student will need to find the letter “B” to put on the left side of “C#” and “D.”
Step 8
Now I begin working on skips. Setting out two letters that skip one letter. I ask the student who lives in the middle. For example if I set out “D” and “F#,” the student would need to find “E” and place the “E” card in the middle.
Conclusion
This is a great activity for visual learners. This has implications for note reading and seeing notes go up and down on the staff and understanding the letters going up and down. It also helps students on the instrument to understand moving from finger to finger. When we start to skip notes and learn intervals, they are confident in how to step and skip through the music alphabet.
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