Music For Kiddos Podcast
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How do I take one lesson plan and I use it over the course of an entire month?
If you haven't had the chance to listen to last week's podcast, I really encourage you to go listen to it because I give the rationale of why taking one lesson plan and using it over a whole month is ok (it has to do with repetition being necessary for kids to learn!).
I used to think this wasn't okay. I used to think I was repeating too many songs. But I am so convinced now that this is actually the right thing for me and the right thing for the kids.
On this post and on episode 49 of the Music For Kiddos Podcast, I'm going to walk you through a monthly lesson plan and what I do to introduce it gradually over the course of a month; I'm going to give you a timeline for a lesson plan, assuming that you see your classes or your students once a week.
Disclaimer: There are so many ways to do this. There are so many ways to plan lessons and I'm just going to share with you my very imperfect way for doing it. Also, each class brings its own set of circumstances and often challenges and various things that come up, so, all of this is done with flexibility in mind.
A Monthly Lesson Plan
In my lesson plans, I include a familiar hello and goodbye song. I usually have those for an extended period of time; the same hello song and the same goodbye song. Then in the middle, I have 6 or so songs, including movement songs, because I LOVE movement songs and they address several multi-sensory needs.
And these multi-sensory experiences usually have a book that I've put a melody to, specifically, a music book that introduces the lesson plan theme. I usually have a cognitively challenging song, some kind of finger play song or an acapella type of song that has some gestures to it. And then typically, I have a cool-down song at the end. Sometimes I've got an instrument song in there. Sometimes I've got a prop song.
Let’s Break It Down
If seeing my students every week of a month, generally speaking, I would introduce two new songs the first week, two new songs the second week, and two new songs the third week. So there are six new songs and then the fourth week would be all repetition, running through that same exact lesson plan.
What things do I look for? Sensory overload. I'm looking for kids that maybe don't look like they're interested. Often, if a kid doesn't look interested, they're just processing. Try that song again the next week, and you will find that their brain has processed some of that information (unless they hate it for some other reason or if they really have an aversion to an instrument, etc). But if you just see them looking, not very engaged in the song and not very excited about the song, try it again another week, because sometimes that is just their brain needing to process all of that complex musical information.
Week One
I like to introduce the lesson plan’s theme, and specifically, I like to introduce the book as a way to introduce the theme. And also alongside that, I like to introduce a really engaging fun song. I take the song that I think that kids will be most interested in and most excited about and I put that in week one because we get to do that for the following weeks as well.
So sometimes that's a finger play song that I know that kids will find silly. Sometimes that's a movement song that I feel like the kids are really going to respond to. And so, I do the book and a really engaging song in week one.
Another thing to consider is that, especially if you're working one-on-one and you have a child working on a specific goal, then you need significant repetition. You need four weeks of repetition so you might put in the song with that specific goal area in week one so that you cover it for four weeks.
I consider this week the week of engagement and attention. And it's fun because we have two new songs in there; the book and the really engaging song. Then, I fill in the rest of the songs with their familiar favorite songs from past lesson plans. So Week One ends up being really, really fun because you get to play four to five familiar songs that the kids sing along to.
Week Two
I repeat those two new songs I presented on Week One and I attempt to add two more. I might just add one more, but I attempt to add two more. Ideally, this is where I add in my cool-down song, which I do at the very end so that they have that experience of grounding or settling down.
I might also add here a movement song. But if it seems like it's too much, I just won't add it and we'll do familiar songs for the rest of the session.
Week Three
Week Three is kind of a magical week in my mind because they really have some mastery over those two new songs that you brought them weekly. So you should be seeing lots of engagement in those songs that you introduced Week One, so now it's usually a really good time to introduce a couple more new songs.
I think this is a really good week for props and instruments or it is also good for that finger play song, if you didn't add it in at the beginning.
The idea is that “in a perfect world”, you would have introduced all six songs by week three.
Week Four
During Week Four, you would have presented all six songs and you will now walk through the lesson plan and make adjustments as things come. It may be that in Week Two or Week Three you decided not to introduce a specific song, and that is completely fine. Maybe a song didn't go that great and you really don’t think it was a processing thing. Maybe it was just that they didn't like it, which happens. So maybe you don't play one of your songs, maybe you are able to walk all the way through the lesson plan, or maybe you still have one or two new songs that you can try and enter in this week.
I have people ask me: “What if you only play the song one time?” I think that's okay. And if you only play this new song on Week Four, then you also have to remember that you have all of these opportunities to bring this song back during Week One and Two and Week Three in your following months. There's a lot of flexibility to continue using the songs. My hope is always that I can use the songs at least twice over the course of the month and use some of the songs with the bigger goal areas or the more cognitively challenging songs around three or four times, if at all possible.
What if I'm just getting started with a class and I don't have a backlog of songs in my back pocket that they have liked from previous lesson plans?
I think it's completely okay to bring brand new music. There are two things that I would watch out for:
Keep it very simple. If you are bringing all brand new music, just allow them processing time and consider simplifying instruments and props, doing a lot of finger play songs, a lot of acapella songs, etc.
Look for that overstimulation factor. Kids can get easily overstimulated with new music.
There are some songs like Old McDonald Had A Band, an adaptation of Old McDonald Had A Farm that are really fun and are probably familiar by now and a little different enough that would be a good song to bring into a completely brand new group. It's very possible that they are familiar with a song like this to some extent. So a little change to it is kind of fun and will bring some variation to it but it’s not completely brand new.
What do you do in Week One? Do you make a quick transition straight to your new theme for the month?
I don't think there's a wrong answer here, but I'll tell you what I do. Usually at the end of four weeks, if we are on a particular theme, we find ourselves ready to move on to something else. I generally move on and I take favorite songs from lesson plans or sessions that we've done before, even in previous months. On my first day in a brand new lesson plan, it feels pretty different; you have the book, you're introducing the theme, you have some other song that you're doing, and then you have these very fun, playful, familiar songs. I like to make that week, this special “we're going on to a new theme” kind of thing.
Doing this also gives me some energy for that first week. You can get the kids excited about this special transition into a new month and a new theme.
Listen to this episode of the Music For Kiddos Podcast!
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