Cross-Curricular Mini-Lesson Assignment

EDUC 3871 – Fall 2020

Brianna Nolan

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Objective(s): Students will be able to recognize and identify patterns through sound and sight.

 GLO: Use patterns to describe the world and to solve problems.

 SLO: Demonstrate an understanding of repeating patterns (two or three elements) by
identifying, reproducing, extending, and creating patterns using manipulatives, sounds, and
actions.

Song Materials: The Counting Song (p. 190, The Kodaly Method (Choksy))

Tone Set: so-mi

The Song:

Rationale:

I chose to use ‘The Counting Song’ for several pedagogically sound reasons.

1. The notes of this song, so and mi, are singable for children at this grade level – these are the
most common sounds that they hear and sing. These common pitches, combined with the
repetition found within it, make it suitable teaching material to use with this age group.
2. Although I have chosen to work on patterns in this mini lesson, this song could also be used in
other areas of the Kindergarten curriculum. One possibility would be counting and becoming
familiar with the number sequence from 1 to 10. The simple nature of this song involves saying
the number sequence from 1 to 10 which is another outcome for this grade level. Additionally,
this song could be used in other subject areas such as language arts when students begin
learning about rhyming words.
3. This song can be the basis for several key melodic and rhythmic concepts to come, so by
introducing it at such a young age, it will become familiar for students in further learning.

While there are many other benefits to using this song, as described above, this song will help students
be able to recognize and identify patterns. When hearing this song sung by the teacher and by singing it
themselves, they will have the opportunity to hear and identify that the melody is repeating.
Additionally, when shown basic notation, or objects/manipulatives to represent the notation (what they
are hearing), they will be able to visually recognize that there is a pattern. To further this learning in an
extended lesson or other lessons, students could use manipulatives to extend the pattern, or to recreate
a pattern that is like the one in this song.
Potential for Further Musical Learning:

As mentioned above, this song is a valuable resource for the Kindergarten music experience for melodic
and rhythmic concepts. It can be effectively used for in-tune singing as well as preparing, introducing,
and reinforcing the important concepts of higher/lower then so-mi, faster/slower, then ta and ti-ti,
keeping a steady beat, AA form, and 2/4 meter.

Lesson Outline:

Prior to this mini-lesson, students have learned about repeating patterns in math class including ABAB,
AABB, and ABCABC, and have had practice identifying each of them. This lesson should help students
grasp the idea that patterns can occur with more than just physical objects (i.e. they can also occur in
sound/music). In music, students are familiar with singing with the words “high” and “low” as they are
preparing to learn the pitches of so and mi.

Step Time Length Procedure

Review the song 2 minutes  Teacher sings the song to students
with students.  Students sing with the teacher
 Teacher and students sing the song with “high” and
“low” instead of the words
Ask students to 2 minutes  Teacher asks students guiding questions like
describe what they o “What do you hear?” (repetition)
are hearing o “Can you describe it?” (sounds are repeating
each time we start counting)
Notate (in 3 minutes  Teacher starts by asking students where they should
simplistic ways) place a manipulative – in this case, coloured laminated
circles – on the board.
o When students are asked, the teacher will place
the first few circles based on students’
suggestions, and then students can start placing
them where they belong.
o (The coloured laminated circles for this lesson
will be pre-organized by the teacher and given
to students strategically when they are placed
on the board)
 Singing of the song with either words or “high/low”
continues as students identify where the objects should
go on the board
Review the pattern 2 minutes  With the use of strategically planned out coloured
created circles, patterns will have been created by placing them
on the board.
 Using what they have learned about patterns previously,
students will recognize that the notes in the song made
a pattern.
 Teacher asks students guiding questions like
o “What do you see?” (patterns)
o “What kind of pattern is that?” (ABAB pattern)
Closure 1 minute  Teacher explains from this learning, that patterns can be
represented in sounds as well as with manipulatives
(this is the first time they are formally focusing on
patterns in sound – by representing what they hear into
something they can see, their learning is being
strengthened.)