[HANASHIR:7400] Re: Best Way to Teach/Display Lyrics?

[Meris Ruzow <meris...>]

Beth - You may want to try this:  You say "When we do something new
(songsheets) give them something to look at."   You might try doing away
with the songsheets and have them look at you; have them do a motion to
associate with the words; the more they look at you the more engaged they'll
be, not to mention how much better their sound will be because they'll be
looking up, their posture is sure to be better and they'll open their
mouths.   I don't really think it's our jobs to "get them reading."  Let
their other teachers worry about that.  Our job is to get the singing and
teach the intent of the song or prayer and if they're looking at you they'll
be much more involved with everything that's going on.!

You say also, that it "lets them see how it works."   The kids won't need an
indented paragraph to see where the chorus is, or they won't need to see a
physical change in words to find the split in the binary form.   Let them
use their ears and you'll get faster results!   (Of course with middle
school aged kids and lots of text, wordsheets are a necessity for a few
sessions).  But with primary kids I find it better without - take Ellen
Allard's "Count Your Blessings;"  that song has a lot of words I feel, for
1st and 2nd grade.  My kids automatically concocted many many hand signals
and motions and I was just delighted.   They sang with smiles on their faces
and with such excitement.   At first I wasn't sure whether they'd get it
all.  PS - It's one of their favorites!

Of course we all use what works best for us, just thought I'd put in my two
cents.   ;-)
Meris Ruzow
-----Original Message-----
From: SingingGr8 (at) aol(dot)com <SingingGr8 (at) aol(dot)com>
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org <hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 10:27 AM
Subject: [HANASHIR:7399] Re: Best Way to Teach/Display Lyrics?


>I use song sheets for 2nd grade up.  I still do simple songs for second
>graders but it gets them reading and actually helps with their reading
>becuase when we do songs they already know they hear a familiar song and
see
>the words.  Also when we learn something new it gives them something to
look
>at and see how it works.
>Beth Goldstein
>
>
>

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