Dinah/Pick a Bale

I'm working on a few new lessons for my older kiddos (4th and 5th).  This lesson is a review for the beginning of the year.  The students learn "Dinah" by using reading skills and have fun with movement for "Pick a Bale of Cotton" (which they learn by rote at first but we will revisit it later as they learn "fa").

I love it because:
1. Vocabulary: We review TONS of vocabulary as we learn the song (vocabulary words are defined on nearly every slide)
2. Pitches: We review the pitches Do Re Mi So La to prepare for a review of high Do, low La, and low So
3. Rhythm: We review the half note, quarter note/rest, eighth note pair, and sixteenth notes (in prep for learning more 16th-note variations).
4. Instrumentation: I love transitioning from fun body percussion (including clapping, tapping shoulders, and patting) to a three-part Orff arrangement (BX/BM, AX/AM, and tambourine)
5. MOVEMENT: I created this movement myself inspired on a few "getting to know you" activities I did with my family at summer camp this year.  They did a version of "rock paper scissors" that even I loved.  I decided to adapt it to the song and give it a "farm" theme - we've got the "farmer", "wolf", and "bull".

Here are some slides from the PowerPoint:

Steady Beat

Adding organization

Rhythmic Icons

Prep for Tika-Tika

Rhythm Slide

Melody Prep Slide

Melody Prep on Staff

adding solfa pitches

solfa melody

solfa on staff

rhythms on staff

entire song - talk about phrasing

 Instrumentation and movement activity is included.  You can download the file here Dinah/Pick a Bale

I also like this line dance for the song "Pick a Bale":