At the end of our monster unit this term my Kindergarten class co wrote a song with me about monsters. The song is based on all the things the children discovered about monsters through books, movies, songs, monster play, monster sensory boxes, artworks and poems during the term.
Here it is! Enjoy!
We Love Monsters (A description song about monsters)
Monster clipart by Maria DiCesare
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/MONSTERS-Clipart-1114649
To start the song writing process we revisited the different descriptions about monsters we had jointly constructed during the term. This was a great stimulus for the children. After reading these descriptions again we brainstormed all the things we could think of that described monsters.
- what they look like
- what their personalities are like
- what they like to do
- where they like to hide
- how they behave
The children were so enthusiastic about the brainstorming it generated some great discussions. I recorded all the things the children said about monsters on the whiteboard.
Using these ideas I was able to strum a few chords and come up with a bit of a melody and some lyrics. We talked about making the song rhyme like a poem for example bed rhymes with fed, mean rhymes with scream. We also talked about that when you are writing a song sometime you can use words that half rhyme like eyes and surprise.
Using these ideas I was able to strum a few chords and come up with a bit of a melody and some lyrics. We talked about making the song rhyme like a poem for example bed rhymes with fed, mean rhymes with scream. We also talked about that when you are writing a song sometime you can use words that half rhyme like eyes and surprise.
I was able to go away with these ideas from this lesson and develop the song some more. I took the song back to the children and after some discussion about what they liked and didn't like about the song I was able to come up with the final version. We sung the song many times! The children enjoyed playing along with percussion instruments and making up monster dances! By the end of the two weeks many of the children had learnt all the lyrics.
Next I recorded all the instruments (guitar, bass, drums, lead vocals and backing vocals) on my laptop at home.
Hmmm which guitar should I play?
Once that was completed I made an animation to along with it.
Once that was completed I made an animation to along with it.
The Monster clipart I used is from the very talented Maria DiCesare have a look at her TPT store.
The children then engaged in sensory play about monsters and collaborated with each other to dictate stories to me about monsters. They were very focused on using descriptive language in their play and story telling. I read the stories to the class and the children acted out the stories as I read them! We collected all the stories and put and made a big book of monster stories.
The final step was to get the children to use the "We Love Monsters"song that they helped to write as a stimulus for their independent descriptive writing. The children drew monsters, labelled them then wrote about their own monsters. It was great fun! The children had the song stuck in their heads and enthusiastically took the the task!
Here are some great monster resources:
Monster Spray song and activity pack by the amazing Debbie Clement.
Debbie also has a great monsters board on Pinterest! It has lots of great monster related activities.
http://www.pinterest.com/debbie_clement/monster-spray-song/
Monster Guided Drawing lesson by the wonderful Heidi Butkus from Heidi songs.
A monster wrote me a letter by Nick Bland
Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
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I hope you enjoyed reading about my colaboritive song writing with Kindergarten! Until next time keep rocking and learning with Rocking Dan Teaching man. For more songs and animations check out my YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCImSxYV3FEQ-skkY67kFcxw
The online story I need my monster by Amanda Noll
http://www.storylineonline.net/i-need-my-monster/
There are so many great teaching and learning activities you can do with the movie Monster Inc
There are so many great teaching and learning activities you can do with the movie Monster Inc
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCImSxYV3FEQ-skkY67kFcxw
