My school closed last year and I'm back to being a homeless one man rhythm band, or what is commonly referred to as an itinerant teacher. I dread the first day back to school because we have to play getting to know you games and I find the activities to be artificial, inane and a waste of time. If I want to get to know someone, I am perfectly able to introduce myself and speak a few words. I sat there thinking about the incredibly high salary administrators get for thinking up our ice breaker activities, and how much more modest my salary is, yet my ice breaker activities are anything but inane (that's what I tell myself because I haven't had any major eye rolling or groaning from the students). And plus, my activities (they're mine in the sense that I've commandeered or stolen many of them) actually teach some music concepts. So feel free to steal, add on, or roll your eyes.
How do you Do Ti, a game from Australia.
poem (in 6/8)
How do you do ti?
How do you do ti?*
How do you do today?
Do you live where you used to live
Or have you shifted away?
I’m sorry to be disagreeable (say this line in a disagreeable way)
I only came to say
How do you do ti
How do you do ti
How do you do today?
Process
1. Say the poem and ask students to identify expressions that are not common (how do you do ti/shifted away)
2. Have students form circle and cross their arms over each other and pulse the beat while you say the poem.
3. Invite them to join in when ready
4. Have students take their neighbor's hands and pulse GENTLY while saying the poem. I don't know how your kids react to
hand holding, but it isn't high up on their favorites list. I tell them they can have a cootie shot if need be, and if
that doesn't work, I say that I'm only asking them to hold hands, not get married and ride of into the sunset together.
I also have to remind them not to try and pull their neighbor's arms out of their sockets. This is the kind of stuff
that doesn't come out when you learn it with adults.
5. When ready, change the arm crossing at the end of phrase on today and away. They will probably get confused. Have
them drop hands and practice by themselves and they will see how easy it is.
6. Make sure they use a disagreeable voice on appropriate phrases and this time drop hands and fold arms in front and turn
to their neighbors while they say it. For the question phrase, put both hands in the air, palms facing the ceiling, as if asking a question, and pulse the beat On the words shifted away, take both arms and sweep them in front of the body from right to left. The last last three phrases are the same as the first three.
7. After the poem is learned, count aloud to 8, keeping the same tempo. (Go to 16 if large group/room). During that time
students have to change places in the circle. The first time will probably go well. The second time they will run
around like their hair's on fire as they collide in the middle of the circle like a highway pileup on a foggy day. This
is a good time to pause and ask them if they could supply some alternate paths that don't involve body slamming.
8. Next, stop counting the beats out loud and have them feel the 8 beats while changing places in the circle.
Extension
Have the students pair up and shake hands on the first two phrases. Instead of changing places, they change partners. I have a
partner system that I use at this time. Anyone who can not find a partner by beat 6 raises a hand and comes to the front of the room to scout out the other unwanted ones. I also have to tell them not to pick the same partner twice.
I do this activity with grades 2-5. With grade 2 I usually leave out the changing places in the circle unless I think they have a bit of spatial awareness. Otherwise they make an amorphous blob instead of a circle. I used to have a circle marked out in my room, but I am itinerant this year and have to make do with whatever watershed closet they offer me as teaching space. Sigh.
*Make sure you REALLY pronounce the T sound in Ti as well as making that second syllable as unaccented as possible. I'm just sayin.
Hickety Tickety Bumble Bee ....Not just for the little ones I do this either seated or standing and when they say their name, they can use a silly voice and/or add a movement for the class to echo.
Willoughy Wallaby, a 3 chord guitar song Instead of always singing "an elephant sat on _______", I change it up and sing an elephant tweeted to ______ or an elephant texted_____or an elephant backed up into, or whatever else strikes my fancy. I generally finish with " an elephant married_____" and choose the angriest looking boy in the group.
A Tisket A Tasket
This is a partner activity. I stole the following partnering idea from Erin Wang.(I try to credit the ideas I steal, but sometimes I have been doing an activity for such a long time that I can't remember who taught it to me, so if any of you recognize your ideas, let me know and I'll credit you.) When choosing partners I start with usually the most meekest looking ones and point to each student one at a time. I count to 6 and that student has to find a partner or else I will assign one. The rule is that no one is allowed to say no if chosen, and if they do, they are sent to the bad manners zone, wherever that may be. They may return to the group when they've changed their minds.
Shake hands right 8 counts
Shake hands left 8 counts
Step slide step slide fist bump 4 x (no hand holding is a plus!)
change partners on b section.
Students should be able to identify phrase length at the end of the activity
Name game
BP pattern: Clap, Right Snap, Left Snap. Pat I'm sorry, but I'm too lazy to put in a BP notation chart, but it's not hard to figure out. Also, I have a hard time reading those things. I think I might be a little special.
On the first snap everyone says his/her name.
Repeat until secure.
On second snap everyone says name of person on his left. (You will undoubtedly have some left/right befuddlement, so beware. I have Left Right hand signs on my wall, which you can download in the free stuff section of my blog. )
Repeat until secure.
Instead of all together, take turns. Start with a designated leader and each person says his own name and the name of the person on the left. The group echos.
