Teaching Children to Sing

Here are two consecutive clips of my teaching singing to a Yr 3 class.  The focus here is revising a core song and preparing for singing assessment.  The song is called 'Busy Buzzy Busy Bee', and I have used a strategy of 'buzzing' rather than counting the children in.  This strategy and using a bee-like hand shape engages the children into the story of the song.  Another learning objective was revision of the song and criteria for good singing, such as pitch and melody (in tune singing).  So, I chose to use the bee-gesture to support the transmission of the melodic contour of the song.  I continued the contour when I changed my hand shape to a pointing gesture in order to help the children recognize the downward pattern of the melody in the last system.  I also spoke to the change of facial expression to convey that change in the story.